~ Order Pizza with USB Pizza Button

Recently I bought a big shiny red USB-button. It is big, red and shiny. Initially I planned to use it to deploy new versions of websites to a server but I found a much better use: ordering pizza. Graphically the use case translates to something akin to:

If you would like to enhance your life quality leveraging the power of a USB pizza-button: you can! This is what you need:

1. A PC running Linux. This tutorial is specifically geared towards Debian-based distos. YMMV.
2. A big, shiny red USB button. Just google “USB panic button” if you want one.
3. A location where you can order pizzas via a website. I live in Ghent, Belgium and use just-eat.be. Other websites can be supported by modifying a Ruby script.

Technically we need a driver to check when the button was pushed, a way to communicate the fact that the button was pushed and lastly we need to be able to react to the request.

The driver: on the internets I found a driver for the button. Another modification was done to make the driver process a daemon.

The communication: The original Python script executed another script on the local pc. A more flexible approach is possible using sockets. With sockets it is possible to notify any computer on a network.

  
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if PanicButton().pressed():
  # create a TCP socket
  s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
  # connect to server on the port
  s.connect((SERVER, SERVER_TCP_PORT))
  # send the order (margherita at restaurant mario)
  s.send("mario:  [margherita_big]\n")

The reaction: a ruby TCP server waits for message from the driver. When it does it automates a HTTP session on a website. It executes a series of HTTP-GET’s and POST’s. It uses the mechanize library.

  
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login_url = "http://www.just-eat.be/pages/member/login.aspx"
a = WWW::Mechanize.new
a.get(login_url) do |login_page|   
  #post login_form
  login_form = login_page.forms.first
  login_form.txtUser = "username"
  login_form.txtPass  = "password"
  a.submit(login_form, login_form.buttons[1])
end

Some libraries are needed. For python you need the usb library, the python deamons lib needs to be installed seperatly. Setuptools are needed to install the deamons package.

  


  
sudo apt-get install python-usb python-setuptools

Ruby needs rubygems to install the needed mechanize and daemons library. Mechanize needs the libxslt-dev package. You also need the build-essential package to build mechanize.

  
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sudo apt-get install rubygems libxslt-dev
sudo gem install mechanize daemons

To automatically start the daemons on boot you can use the crontab @reboot directive of the root user. E.g.:

  
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@reboot /opt/pizza_service/pizza_daemon.rb
@reboot /opt/pizza_service/pizza_button_driver.py

Code, Poging tot humor, Projecten, en Hackerspace Ghent

order_pizza_with_panic_button.jpg, pizza_daemon.rb.txt, pizza_server.rb, usb-panic-button.png, en pizza_button_driver.py

~ Text To Speech Recognition

Om Python wat te leren kennen heb ik een “Text To Speech Recognition” programma geschreven. Het roept SAPI 5.1 aan om een tekst voor te laten lezen door Microsoft Sam. Het voorgelezen stuk tekst wordt daarna meteen via microfoon opgenomen en Sam probeert het zelf, via Speech Recognition, te verstaan. Het resultaat van de speech recognition wordt dan gelezen door Sam enzovoort… Dit is een voorbeeld van Sam in dialoog met zichzelf:

I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again.

I’m sitting in a room different from the one U.N. NA I’m recording the sound of my speak English and I’m going to play it back into the room against

I’m sitting in a room different from the one you could in a LAN recording the sound of my speak English and I’m going to clamp back into the room against

I’m sitting in a room different from the one you put in a LAN recording the sound and I speak English and I’m going to clamp back into the room against

I’m sitting in a room different from the one you put in a LAN recording the sound and I speak a Mac into ghent

I’m sitting in a room different from the one you put in a LAN recording the sound and I speak a match into ghent

De broncode is hier te vinden.

Code en Poging tot humor

~ Bureablad achtergrond

Dit is het resultaat van een brainstorm van Pieter Van Leuven en mezelf. De bedoeling was een zo verkeerd mogelijke bureaubladachtergrond te maken. Oordeel zelf of we daarin geslaagd zijn:

Poging tot humor

~ Foutje van Bill

Narrator Reads Password Aloud in Terminal Services Client



The information in this article applies to:



• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional




This article was previously published under Q243243





SYMPTOMS

Microsoft Narrator is a synthesized text-to-speech utility for users who have
low vision. When you are using Narrator, keystrokes that you type are read
aloud. When you log on to a Terminal Services server in a Terminal Services
client session, Narrator reads your user name, domain name, and password aloud.





CAUSE

Terminal Services simply sends bitmap images to the client computer. It does
not send any code describing which fields for which it wants data, so Narrator
does not know to mask the password keystrokes.

WORKAROUND

Many people who use Narrator use headphones so as not to disturb others. In
this case, the password may not be heard by others. To work around the problem,
you can turn down the volume on your speakers while you type the password.





STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that
are listed at the beginning of this article.





MORE INFORMATION

When you log on to a local computer, or in Microsoft Internet Explorer,
Narrator masks password fields by calling out the word "password" instead of the keystrokes.

Poging tot humor

~ Broers en de canon s45 powershot

Poging tot humor

~ first post :p

Code en Poging tot humor