Daniel E. Markle's Blog

From Motorcycle Adventures

Attended Carlisle Bike Fest 2011 this year. Enjoyed looking at the rides people came in on; much of the show is the bikes people bring which they park in the middle of the show in wide enough aisles to easily wander up and down.

Other enjoyable attractions included the demo rides (which I didn't qualify for this year due to only having a permit, but watching and listening to new bikes was still cool), Biker Billy's cooking show (watch out if you're in the audience at one of these, he actively seeks victims to roast), and the Disc Connected K9's.

I drove in via a cage this year, scared off by the threat of rain which never materialized. By next year I hope to be more adventuresome.

Although Apple uses standard protocols for Airprint, the service is very picky about the exact broadcast settings before the printer will show up on iOS devices. The easiest way I've found to Airprint to an office workgroup printer:

• Configure the printer to be printable via a Linux / CUPS server. On Debian install the cups and cups-pdf packages then log in via port 631 and configure the workgroup printer, making sure a test page prints.


• Add ServerAlias * in /etc/cups.conf; this prevents "Request from x using invalid Host: field" errors.


• Install avahi, on Debian use the avahi-daemon package.


• Run this handy airprint-generate script. Copy the resulting file to /etc/avahi/services/ and restart avahi and cups.

Airprint should now be working for your iOS devices on the local network.

From Miscellaneous

This Eastern Garter Snake was waiting for me on my shop workbench this morning. As soon as I saw him I ran to get my camera, fortunately he was still there for a portrait.

At the motorcycle store this week a kiosk for the GoPro HD video camera caught my attention. I had been looking to pick up a helmet mounted camera for on-motorcycle recording and this one fits the bill nicely.


This first video is a short one headed out the lane.


Then this longer video shows the helmet mounted camera in use on a longer ride.

Next time I will likely try to point downward more as the front of the motorcycle is not visible and I like that effect on other YouTube videos, but I am not disappointed with this 'flying through the air' look either focusing more on the scenery.