News flash – the shop is opened!

amazon_logo It’s once againt time for a small update, so once again there is something new at this blog. At the top menu, a new item called “Shop” has been added. Yesterday I created an tiny aStore, that’s how Amazon calls its custom shops.
Therefore the products are not from me but from various retailers. The shop here in the blog is basically an selection of items from the Amazon range, handpicked by myself.
All products in the shop are either owned by myself, so that I can recommend them with a clear conscience or they’re products, which I think are worth to be recommend and relevant to one or more of my blog articles.
If you buy something, I get (on average) 5-10% commission of the selling price. With a purchase through the shop you can support me and my work. Among other things, […]

404Checkr – a fast and free bulk link checker

Posted by Raffael on 05/02/201312/16/2014 Posted in C#.Net, Downloads Tagged 404Checkr, bulk link checker, fastest bulk link checker, free bulk link checker, freeware, mass link checker

404checkr_logo This article is dedicated once again to a small self-creation. So it’s about a little tool of mine, which I have created acouple of days ago, as in most cases, out of necessity. So I was recently looking for a opportunity to check a large list of links as easy as possible to identify the dead links out of it.
The initial situation
At least if you have to check 20 or more links for their validity by hand, you realize that ther must be a better and faster solution. Therefore I have written a small program in C#, which helps you to check as many links/urls as you like for their validity. I have named the tool “404Checkr”, whereby 404 refers to the HTTP statuscode 404, which says that a page/file could not be found.
What does the 404Checkr?
The 404Checkr can handle an […]

Mastering OpenSSH – Part 3: How to secure login by using a key file

Posted by Raffael on 05/01/2013 Posted in Linux, Tutorials Tagged how to generate openssh keys, how to login ssh with key file, open ssh for beginners, openssh, openssh private key, openssh public key, openssh tutorial, puttygen, ssh, ssh-keygen

After we set up an OpenSSH server in the first part and completed the basic configuration to secure the server in the second part of this article series, we now want to configure the server to make use of a key file (hereinafter also “key”) for the login process.
The SSH key authentication is based on the principle of asymmetric encryption. So we need a key pair consisting of a public key and private key. The public key is then stored on the OpenSSH server and the private key goes to the client.
The top priority here is to keep the private key secret forever and in any case. If someone else comes into the possession of the private key, he or she can log on to your server.
As a small obstacle you can provide the private key itself with a password. But nevertheless, if the private key gets public or falls […]

The Restart Page – restart as the whim takes you

Posted by Raffael on 04/28/201304/28/2013 Posted in Web Tips

Some time ago, Falk (who is also responsible for NetzBlogR.com) shared a link on Facebook to a site which got my attention. Although it’s a small site, it’s very entertaining. The page is called “The Restart Page” and does not more or less, than it’s title promises.
Currently 17 operating systems are offered. By clicking on the respective “Restart” button for the OS, a realistic restart animation/simulation is offered.
the_restart_page
Whether the whole thing makes sense and offers great value, I doubt it. But anyway it’s nice to see it and thus all got a great job at such a gray Sunday like today.
What I would find interesting: Did Apple’s Rhapsody really started such slow? Because if so, you could cook a barrel of coffee and install Windows x-times, until Rhapsody is started. Phew, I love my Windows 8 – cold booting […]

globalCompositeOperation copy fix – how to paint transparent on JS canvas

Posted by Raffael on 04/28/2013 Posted in JavaScript Tagged Canvas, copy, ctx.fill(), destination-out, globalCompositeOperation, globalcompositeoperation = 'destination-out', globalcompositeoperation bug, globalcompositeoperation fix, JavaScript, js canvas opacity, Opacity, transparency js canvas

Below there is again a very special article. I think the people who are affected will understand what it is about. All others must be said that the next article will be for a wider audience again.
Some time ago I wrote an article about small progress bar script of mine, which is implemented entirely in JavaScript. Particular attention I had laid in part to the nice rounded corners. (See the following screenshot)
Javascript only Progressbar
Originally, I had realized the transparent corners using own paths, which I created and filled as shown below.

ctx.globalCompositeOperation = "copy";
ctx.fillStyle = "rgba(0,0,0,0.0)";
ctx.fill();

Unfortunately I had to recognize that the script was not working correct any longer. But the JavaScript console of different browsers (IE, FF, Chrome) curiously gave me no errors or warnings.
After some googling I found out that the globalCompositeOperation “copy” is not correctly implemented/supported anymore. […]