Simplifying IT, Amplifying Knowledge

Android notifications troubles

I have come back to the programming of my "Dailies" Android app and realised that I am still stuck in the same place. I am trying to implement notifications for the events scheduled in the app.

The notifications work when the app is in the foreground or when it is "minimised". However, when you close the app, the notification never arrives, even though I have tried many approaches to make it work.

I have read dozens of articles and documentation pages about this problem, but I am still unable to make any improvements.

Now I have no idea what to do. Debugging is not possible in this case as it works when the main application is running. However, I am absolutely unable to log the background registered processes that should be handling the notification.

Have you encountered this problem before? How did you solve it? Please help as I have no idea what to do with this and move on.

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Haul of 5.25 floppies

My friend brought me a bunch of old PC stuff. The thing I like the most is a really large amount of 5.25 inch floppy disks. I always wanted to have some for my archive of old media, and maybe make some nice displays out of them. However, I have much more than I really need, so I will give some of them to fellow collectors. So if you need some, feel free to send me an email and ask for them.

The collection contains about half DD and half HD pieces, and also five or six QD which I did not know about, so I had to do some research.

I also have some 486 mainboards, some expansion cards, power supplies and HDDs. As I do not collect the desktop stuff in the first place, I would also give it to someone who does.

Floppy disks 5.25 inches

You can also see the old monochromatic CRT, which I have no use for, but I already have someone who would like it, so I will find a way to send it now.

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Spa of the Soul - Litomyลกl

An annual, partly recessional event organized by the town of Litomyลกl, where volunteers gather in period costumes and set off on a traditional parade through the town. One of the most interesting cultural events, in which people can make fun of themselves, but also show off their skills, and present their art.

Like every year, I went to soak up the atmosphere, and on this occasion to document the sights. There were subjectively fewer people and attractions this year, and the festive parade of masks was delayed by a record hour. Nevertheless, this year's event was also a success, and we were lucky to have sunny weather, even though it had rained heavily the previous two days





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Scan and Fix removable drive

After many, many years of knowing about this function, I have finally used it successfully.

I have to say that I have not used Windows as my primary or secondary system for more than ten years, but I have it installed on many of the old laptops in my collection, and I also have a virtualised installation on my main PC for those rare times when I want to spend some time playing GTA V (the only "modern" game I play).

But back to my topic. I have had an old PocketBook e-reader for a long time and I really like it. However, it is sometimes a bit buggy, especially when the battery level drops to somewhere around 10%. Then it is a bit tricky to switch it on, and usually I have to charge it and then open the covers, short the battery for a very short time and then it can be switched on.

However, about a month ago I discovered that I could no longer boot it. It displayed some information about a damaged drive. So after some more research, I discovered that the 'memory' was a microSD card soldered to the main circuit board. Amazing... And the microSD card ...

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Another interesting DVD pack

While going through the box of DVDs I found another interesting piece. It is a preview package of Microsoft products from 2007.

The most interesting is probably the Windows Server RC1. It has an expiration date, but I guess it would work with time shifted in the BIOS, and I bet there is already a hack to get around this limit permanently. However, I have not tried to install it yet.

Windows Server RC1 DVD

Also, Windows Server 2008 is based on Windows Vista, which was not really the pinnacle of quality, so I guess it would be fun to give it a try and see what it does in the RC version.

The envelope also contains trial version of Visual studio 2008 Professional, which would be quite interesting, and i must have a look to archive, if it is already there, and if not, make a copy and upload it there.

And the last piece of SQ given is a MS SQL server trial version, which is least interesting on. Also there are two more DVDs with some content, but the 64bit versions of OS and SQL server, so they have divided them.

MS SQL server DVD MS ... 	</p>


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Olivetti PR2 plus - FInally dot matrix printer

I have been looking for a dot matrix printer for many years and have not been able to find one. I would even like to have an old one with a parallel interface and at least the ability to print generic text. But none were available, and when they were, they were incredibly expensive, or the seller was unable to ship them.

And then my friend Tom texted me that he had an opportunity to get one for me. It was extremely cheap and relatively modern. Olivetti PR2 PLUS. He also warned me that there were some problems with the drivers, so I took up the challenge and today it arrived.

Olivetti overall look

It was well packed, as usual when I get something for Tom, but even so, the hardware came a bit disassembled. I just made a few small fixings, put the tape holder back in place, clicked some covers back on and was ready to go.

Olivetti inside look

So I went down to the basement to get some cables. I found both power and USB-B cables in white to match the printer and took them home. Plugged everything in and switched the printer on. And, ...

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EPROM AM27C010

I received 10 boxes of EPROMS, each containing 11 of them. They were supposed to be thrown away, but I thought it was a shame to lose them. So I took them and I have to store them somewhere and wait for some enthusiast who needs them to give them to him.

EPROM EPROM

I have absolutely no use for them as I got rid of all my old PMD85 and SAPI computers due to lack of spare EPROMs. As usual, you can have the machine with the missing parts, or the missing parts... never both.

So if you need some 128kB EPROMS, feel free to contact me. I do not know what to do with them, but I do not want to throw them away.

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Some old CDs

Yesterday I received a large box full of old CDs. Some operating systems, devkits, drivers etc. It came from some company's warehouse. And it is full of interesting stuff. I just had a quick look and discovered some interesting ones.

old install CDs old install CDs old install CDs

Perhaps the most interesting I have found so far is Compaq TRU64 UNIX. It is a pack of 5 CDs, and after some quick research I found that similar boxes of this system are selling on eBay for between $450 - $600. So I would definitely have to do some more searching if it is really that rare.

I was also told that there was a developer preview version of some Windows server (maybe 2008?) and other stuff in the box, so I will have to go through it later and find out what I have.

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April fool on HryProDva.cz

According to my git history, it was a few months ago that I added the April Fool's page to my website hryprodva.cz. It was a day when I discovered some "interesting" filters in CSS, which are able to invert colours in whole document, just in one line of code. So I created a CSS class for HTML document, which applies this CSS rule, and set my program to assign this class to all main pages. I tested it with the current date, it worked, so I set the 1st of April as the day when the class would be applied to the page, committed to master and after some time I forgot about it.

So today it was a bit of a surprise for me too, when I saw the inverted colours on the main page. However, nobody complained about the "broken" design. So I wonder if everyone counts it as the first of April, or if all my players are colour blind and do not care. We shall see, there is still time until midnight when the filter disappears.

However... I am still thinking about what can be usefull on this CSS property, instead of april fool. Still cannot find a ...

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Mouse wheels

Buggy mouse wheels are really weird. I think all we know is when you scroll down and the document jumps one step down, two steps up. It can get really annoying.

But the weird thing is that sometimes it is just a matter of cleaning. You remove a couple of screws, open the mouse, blow on the wheel a couple of times and put it back together again. But sometimes this procedure really does not change anything. And then I have absolutely no idea what is happening. And it happens with the optical sensor for the wheel, just like with the mechanical rotating 'counter', and I really am not able to find a way to fix it. So I would appreciate any opinion on what causes this behaviour, because especially with the optical sensor I cannot imagine any material fatigue.

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