Ask MetaFilter posts by odinsdream

How do I fix a thermometer if the mercury has separated?

odinsdream — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:46:38 -0800

How do I fix a thermometer when the mercury has separated? I purchased a freezer thermometer. After getting it home the mercury (or whatever liquid they use in them now) had separated near the top of the scale, so there are bands of air between bands of red.

I tried heating it up, but this just compresses the band separation, then it returns to normal.

Instructions online say the fix is to get it cold enough that all of the liquid is pulled into the bulb. This thermometer goes to at least -35F on the readable scale, and a little past that before it reaches the bulb, probably -50F from the looks of it.

How can I fix it? Alternatively - do you work with liquid nitrogen and would you like to fix my thermometer?

Apache2, mod_php, suexec security confusion.

odinsdream — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:58:46 -0800

Apache2 security theory; mod_php versus CGI php and the use of suExec: What is the non-theoretical problem with running Apache2 with mod_php and thus without using suexec on a dedicated system? I'm setting up a typical LAMP environment. I've used phpsecinfo to evaluate my current environment and implemented all of the recommended changes except for two, Group ID and User ID.

The distribution is the most recent Ubuntu Server with the mostly-default Apache2 configuration, and the mostly-default PHP installation, with the exception of the changes recommended by phpsecinfo.

These warnings indicate that my group and user ID numbers are below 100 (33 to be specific), and therefore may be a problem. I am not sure how to interpret this.

I followed the documentation links and was about to implement SuExec when I realized that this meant doing a lot of other reconfiguration, like not using mod_php, and that meant changing a lot of other things, etc.

This is not a shared system. It will only be used to host one company's applications through several virtual hosts. The applications will be PHP-based, and most frequently will use the Symfony framework. Apache currently runs as www-data, whose shell is /bin/false. SSH access to the system is by public-key authentication only and is further restricted at the daemon level to only specific real users.

What do I need to do to run this securely? Resources, guides and real-world examples would be greatly appreciated.

How can I import a 46GB database into MSSQL without ending up with a 46GB transaction log?

odinsdream — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:13:57 -0800

I need to import a database into MS SQL but I do not want to end up with a transaction log as large as the database. What's the best way to do the import? We're working with a software vendor to migrate their database into MS SQL. They set up an ODBC connection to their database and then use Enterprise Manager Data Transformation Services (DTS) packages to copy the tables into an MS SQL database.

However, at the end of their test pass we had a 46GB database file and a 46GB transaction log.

What's the best way to do this without creating such a giant log?

How can I use my TV speakers as the center channel on my receiver?

odinsdream — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:02:13 -0800

How can I use the speakers in my TV as the "center" speaker on my receiver? I have a receiver hooked up to four normal speakers. I'd like to use the speakers in my TV as the center speaker.

My TV has audio inputs for each set of video inputs. These are normal RCA red-white connectors.

Is there some way to connect powered speaker wires to these without breaking the TV? My first thought was to open the TV and disconnect the speakers from the internal wiring and substitute my own. I'd prefer not to do this since the TV is new and still under warranty.

The other problem would be that the TV has two internal speakers, left and right, which I want to treat as one.

Any thoughts?

How do I get my Mac to auto-detect my monitor again?

odinsdream — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:36:25 -0800

My Mac no longer auto-detects monitor and resolution after trying out SwitchResX. How can I get this working again without reinstalling OSX? I have a Mac Mini with 10.4.11 hooked to an HTDV (resolution 1366x768) with a VGA cable.

The first time I hooked it up the Mac automatically detected the correct monitor (the model name and number showed up in the Display preference pane) and it set the resolution correctly to the native.

I wanted to try and get it working on one of the HDMI ports, and part of that process led me to install SwitchResX. I gave up on this and went back to the VGA port and uninstalled SwitchResX, then restarted the computer.

Now the Mac no longer detects the display correctly. Instead it's shown as a "VGA Display" and the native resolution is not one of the options any more.

I tried reinstalling SwitchResX since it shows product and vendor information too. However, this now shows up as "unknown" as well.

I've tried to repair disk permissions without any luck.

Can I reinstall something from the OSX disc, perhaps with Pacifist, to get this working again? Are there preference files I can delete so they will be recreated?

Thanks very much!

How can I resell networking equipment, specifically Cisco?

odinsdream — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:16:26 -0800

How can I get a reasonable price for used Cisco networking equipment that I recovered from a bankrupt business? I recently recovered some Cisco networking equipment in perfectly fine condition from a bankrupt business. I found several sites online that sell used networking equipment, but logically this seems like the worst place to try and get a reasonable price.

I also noticed that the base model isn't necessarily enough to qualify the price appropriately, since there could be add-in cards that are worth a significant amount.

How can I properly determine what each is worth? Do I need to clear out any information before selling them?

I have a 3600, two 2950's, and a 1700.

Is there a dpreview-like site for LCD monitors/TVs?

odinsdream — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:42:16 -0800

Is there a dpreview-like site for LCD televisions and monitors? Alternatively, suggest a good LCD television or monitor. I do not have cable. I currently use a standard CRT television with coaxial input hooked up to a DVD player, a computer, and a VCR. All of those get routed through a receiver whose output is then sent through a modulator before going to the TV.

I'd like to replace this with an LCD monitor or an LCD television. I'm leaning more towards a "computer" monitor since I don't need speakers and would be mostly viewing things sent from the computer. Getting an actual television would give me the tuner input, which would be nice, but here's where I have some questions.

Almost every LCD television I've seen in person has horrible picture quality. I'm not sure why - but it looks like there are severe differences in software or hardware that does the scaling and rendering in the TV when showing something from the tuner input.

What I can find online only goes as far as telling me which inputs a product has and other technical specifications. Most sites don't have anything about picture quality. Is there a site like dpreview for LCD monitors that would help me pick the correct model by providing actual metrics related to picture quality?

Also, should I look into getting something with a digital tuner in preparation for the nationwide move away from analog broadcast signals?

Retaining form data when going back and still using PHP sessions.

odinsdream — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:36:34 -0800

When I altered a PHP web form to take advantage of PHP Sessions, I lost the ability to go back a page while retaining data in the form. Is this the expected behaviour, or is it caused by something else? There are two pages, newentry.php and processentry.php. The first page contains an HTML form whose action is the second page.

The second page does some error checking and alerts the user to go back if something is not correct. I have attempted both javascript:history.back, history.go(-1), and direct links to newentry.php. Before I added Session support, going back to the form returned you to a page with the data still filled in.

Since I added sessions, going back takes you to a blank copy of the form. Is this normal? Is there some other cause I should investigate?

What is the best way to handle this sort of thing? Should I not rely on the first behaviour at all?

Can Address Book (OSX) show all of the LDAP entries in the given search base?

odinsdream — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:10:06 -0800

Creating a shared address book on an LDAP server to be accessed from Mac clients. Can I somehow get the directory to show all of the entries without having to search for one? Goal: Company address book stored in the LDAP server on OSX Server, searchable and browesable by anyone authenticated.

Here's my problem. All of the tutorials I've found end with Address Book connected to the LDAP server, and the entries stored, but you have to type a name to get it to show up. There is no list of entries in the directory.*

How can I get Address Book to show all of the LDAP entries in the given search base? This is a very small company, there is no danger of queries returning thousands of entries.

This is not going to fly with the client. "What do you mean I type in who I'm looking for? I don't know who I'm looking for, if I knew that I wouldn't be looking for them."

How can I get full functionality out of MMC?

odinsdream — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:42:13 -0800

Help me better use MMC (Microsoft Management Console) for server maintenance tasks. I manage several servers. Each server has a bunch of stuff available under Administrative Tools. I can open these locally on each machine to maintain the various items, or, I can use one machine and add these snap-ins to one master MMC.

This is what I currently do. I have the Active Directory snap-in for our domain, I have several DHCP snap-ins, and a couple Event Viewers.

However, with the Active Directory snap-in, I cannot access some property pages on the master console that I would be able to access if I were directly working on the server.

For instance, I cannot see a user's Dial-In tab on my master console, but I can see it if I use the same area on the domain controller. Likewise, I don't have any of the user's Exchange tabs on the master console, but these are available if I'm working directly on the Exchange server.

What accounts for these differences, and how can I reconcile them?