Lighttpd and Vue.js Router History Mode Server Configuration

So lighttpd isn't listed as one of the server configurations on this page of Vue's documentation nor could I find a solution on Google, so I figured I would put it here in case anyone is looking for it in the future.

url.rewrite-if-not-file = (
     "/.*" => "/index.html"
)

The key is using url.rewrite-if-not-file. If you don't and instead use url.rewrite-once then even your js, css, etc. will be routed to the index.html file causing your app to request it instead of your actual js, css, etc.

Put this in your vhost configuration, or your lighttpd.conf at /etc/lighttpd/.

I've never had a worse experience than upgrading to Windows 10

Where do I begin?

So first of all, let me just say that I don't really care for Windows as is, or Microsoft in general for that matter. I tried to stay away from Windows 10 as long as I could because frankly, I just don't trust Microsoft when it comes to new operating systems.

However; because I enjoy gaming so much, I am practically forced to use this awful OS.

Recently, from E3, I found out that MS is now pushing "Windows 10 Exclusive" games. This basically means, that a game that you may want to play is only available from the Windows 10 market. Obviously, this has nothing to do with that fact that the games won't work on an older OS, it's simply another method for MS to force you to upgrade.

Of course, there will almost definitely be work-arounds to get these games working on older operating systems, but this time I decided to go ahead and give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt here, and upgrade my machine to Windows 10...

*Cue dark ambient sound*

The upgrade itself actually went pretty smooth, I have no complaints for this process... but the absolutely insane issues I had afterwards prompted the writing of this post.

Upon first logging in, I noticed that all of my desktop icons have been completely moved to random positions (so much for the "All your files are exactly where you left them" 10 boasts). This isn't really a deal breaker because I can simply move those back to where they were.

At the time though, I didn't even really feel like messing with it and launched steam to play the game I was planning on playing before the upgrade.

First time launching Steam after the upgrade, and it has to update. No problem right? Shouldn't be a concern....

So now my SSD is junked up with old windows files among other things... So I went ahead and removed some things and freed up about 10 gigs just to get me through for a while.

Now I can finally enjoy my game, right?

Right! For about 20 - 30 minutes that is, followed by a random lock up of the entire system.

I never had these issues with Windows 7, so I decided to give it a second try and sure enough it happened again.

Obviously at this point, I knew something was up so I did some digging and a little research. After a couple hours of troubleshooting and trying different things to no avail, I came across a forum post that suggested a BIOS update had fixed issues for some people in the past.

Seemed like an odd thing to fix issues like this, but I hadn't updated my BIOS in some time and figured I'd give it a shot, what's the worst that can happen right?

So I go to my board's website, download the utility to flash the BIOS and give it a run. Seems to be going okay, the flash process gets to about 70% and then I get this screen...

Lovely, a BSOD during a BIOS update.

Remember when I said "What's the worst that can happen"? Well, a bricked motherboard is probably the worst that can happen.

After this happened, my PC essentially would not boot at all. No display, no POST, no BIOS, no splash screen, only spinning fans and powered LEDs.

To save some time on this part, I'm going to skip the details behind fixing this issue, but essentially I was able to find a version of my board's BIOS and load it onto a USB and re-flash my board's BIOS again (*phew*).

At this point, I'm already pretty frustrated with this entire thing. So I'm doing some research on the issue, after I'm able to get back into the OS, and I notice something strange happening.

Roughly about every 10 minutes, the entire system just stalls for about 30 seconds.

Getting increasingly angry, I check my event viewer to see if anything strange is happening around the time of the lock ups. Of course there's nothing there that really jumps out at me, so I decide to shut down and call it a day.

That was about 3 days ago, and even now, my PC is still a Windows 10 infected mess.

As a final resort, I'm in the process of wiping my machine and simply going with a clean install of Windows 10.

I'm really trying here Microsoft, but somehow you still wonder why so many are unwilling to upgrade their machines.

If this is the experience I've had as a relatively techy person, I can't even imagine the hell typical everyday users have gone through trying to upgrade their machines.

Here's to hoping a wipe and clean install does some magic! For now though, it appears that I've been Windows 10'd.

Edit: 2 things I wanted to mention and forgot about...

I had a couple of Virtual Machines installed before my upgrade, those no longer boot, and everyday I randomly get a free 2 GB added to my SSD!

I'm Making a "Magic Mirror"!

I haven't posted here recently, so I figured I would update this blog.

A while back, I saw a Reddit thread about a mirror that's essentially a smart mirror.

I found an awesome project on GitHub called MagicMirror, and decided to give it a shot!

Here is an "early stage" video of me testing my mirror as it is so far.

The MagicMirror software is modular, and the module shown in that video is actually one that I created and can be downloaded here.

If you're interested in this topic, you should check out the great community behind it.

Some Updates on My Personal Project - QuickVid - Imgur for Videos

So I said I would post updates on this, and I have yet to do so, so I will do it now!

Things are going okay with the site, traffic numbers are relatively still low (few hundred a day), and I'm obviously paying out of pocket to keep the server online.

There have been some uploads that were posted to Reddit that received quite a bit of traffic, and I'm hoping to see more of those in the future.

There's been a large amount of updates since I've last posted here, but some of my major achievements are the following...

- Complete site makeover and overhaul
- Added drag and drop to make it much, much, easier to upload
- Decreased upload time by 1/3 to maybe even half (still working on reducing this more)
- Rating system implemented
- Added a browse section to view public uploaded videos
- Insane amount of misc. fixes

You can check out the Reddit for all the updates at http://www.reddit.com/r/QuickVid/

And of course, the link to the site is http://quickvid.org

If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments or email me them. I'd love to hear feedback from people on this.

Phone / iPod Won't Play Music Through Aux Port Anymore?

So I had an issue with my phone today, where no audio would play through the auxiliary port anymore. It was working fine in the morning, and then in the afternoon it just stopped.

I could get some audio to come out if I pressed down really hard with the aux jack, but as soon as I would let go, it was out again.

I was thinking the worse, when I thought to try and just clean it out.

Turns out that's all it was!

From keeping my phone in my pocket, the auxiliary port had gathered up quite a bit of pocket lent. I simply used a bent paper clip to clean it all out, and voila, it worked!

So if you're ever having this issue, try the above and hopefully it will resolve your issue.


Also, I originally used a tooth pick to dig some of it out, but then the tip broke inside so I had to dig that out too... So I would suggest not using a tooth pick for this very reason. A paperclip is the way to go.

Launch of My New Web App - QuickVid - Imgur for Videos

It's finally here!

For the past couple of months I've been developing a web application to freely and instantly share videos without the need for an account. Basically Imgur for videos. I've finally got the working build online and you can check it out here http://quickvid.org. So if you ever just need to send a quick video to a friend and don't want to deal with signing into YouTube or creating an account, check it out. Also like the page, and follow the twitter if you want to help support the project!

http://facebook.com/QuickVid
https://twitter.com/quickvidd

Please, if you find any issues report them to me via the feedback page.

Comments, suggestions, and discussions welcome.

FFMPEG, Webm, libvpx, and Multithreading / Multiple Core Usage

Okay, so I've been developing a little web app to quickly share videos, and it's located here, if you want to check it out.

I am writing this very quickly, as I am already way passed the time I should be in bed from trying to figure this out! My boss won't be happy tomorrow.

Anyways,

Essentially, if you are trying to get ffmpeg to use multiple cores when converting to webm, and cannot for the life of yourself, figure out why it won't, then read this!

When using -threads <num of threads> you MUST put it right after -codec or wherever you declare your codec.

For example...

The following command will not work!

ffmpeg -threads 5 -i blah.mp4 -c:v libvpx -quality good blah.webm

but if you put the -threads 5 AFTER -cv libvpx it will use all your cores!

ffmpeg -i blah.mp4 -c:v libvpx -threads 5 -quality good blah.webm

I have no idea why this is the case, but I'm sure as hell happy it works.



Thanks to Jernej Virag from the comments on this post for finding this!