Monthly Archives: September 2013

How to install VirtualBox Guest Additions in Ubuntu 12.04

This is a step-by-step tutorial on how to install the Guest Additions on a VirtualBox Virtual Machine installed with Ubuntu 12.04 so that you can access a shared directory on the host computer. I initially tried to install the Guest Additions by selecting the “Install Guest Additions…” menu option under the Devices menu. Unfortunately, this didn’t work, and I’m not entirely sure why. So here are the steps that I took to get the Guest Additions successfully installed on my virtual machine.

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What is the difference between drop frame and non-drop frame timecode?

Early in my career, I needed to learn about timecode, especially the differences between PAL, NTSC, drop frame, and non-drop frame. For some reason, I simply couldn’t grasp the difference between drop-frame and non-drop-frame. I couldn’t even find the reason why there was a difference. Eventually, after many questions and many hours of reading, I discovered that the key to understanding the difference was in learning the reason why both flavors exist.

That was over twenty years ago, and if you’re anything like I was and would like some clarification, keep reading.

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Understanding UMASK with Linux and Samba

Have you ever been confused with the Linux environment UMASK? How about trying to setup permissions with a Samba file server? Displaying and setting the umask for both the Linux environment and a Samba server is very easy. In this article, I’ll explain what a UMASK is and how to display and change the current value. Afterwards, I’ll explain UMASK in the context of using a Samba File server.

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Time Code Converter

Have you ever needed to convert timecode from one format to another, say NTSC Drop-Frame to PAL? Over the years, I have needed this on countless occasions. I finally broke down and created a webpage with a time code converter, which I’ve included on this website. Click here to go to that page and feel free to bookmark it.

timecode converter

WordPress Tip: Change default thumbnail size for Featured Image

Here’s a quick little tip that took me a long time to figure out.

Within WordPress, multiple sizes of images can be created when a photo is uploaded, such as thumbnail, medium and large. This is controlled in the Settings/Media. However, none of these settings control the size of the thumbnail for a Featured Image. This is actually defined in the functions.php file of your theme.