HOWTO: decompress WOFF2 fonts

Once upon a time you can stumble upon a WOFF2 font file; it's in WOFF 2.0 format, an improved version of Web Open Font Format.
And it's quite easy to unpack such compressed files to get the usual TTF (and maybe OTF) fonts -- just use the woff2_decompress utility from the woff2 Google project on GitHub:

$ woff2_decompress myfont.woff2

(please note: you need to compile that project before use, and it's much easier to do in GNU/Linux and other Unix-like environments, than in MS Windows).

Websites: BugMeNot (shared logins)

Have you ever visited an ugly site requiring registration to access some ordinary info? Tired of countless one-time registrations?
BugMeNot can help: it's the site where you and other ordinary users can share their useless login info (disposable email addresses are usually used for such registrations) for a variety of useless sites :-)

Disclaimer: no warranties, only for educational use, some sites get blocked from the site, and please don't abuse it etc. ;-)

External links:

0. BugMeNot: share logins
   
   -1. microsoft.com passwords - BugMeNot
1. BugMeNot - Wikipedia

HOWTO: base64 manipulations in Linux

Do you want to decode some base64-encoded strings (or any other data), or convert some binary file to text (in base64)?
It's quite easy to do that in Debian GNU/Linux: base64 utility is a part of coreutils package (that package has a "required" priority, i. e., it's an essential package for the system to work).

When you finish typing your strings, don't forget to press <Enter> followed by <Ctrl> + <D> (or <Ctrl> + <D> twice, if you don't like newlines).

$ base64
Hello, world!
SGVsbG8sIHdvcmxkIQo=
$ 
$ base64 -d
SGVsbG8sIHdvcmxkIQo=
Hello, world!

But it may be safer to use file input-output, e. g.:

$ base64 -d in.txt > out.dat

References:

1. man base64
2. GNU Coreutils: base64 invocation
3. Base64 - Wikipedia

See also:

• base32, a related thing found in the Debian coreutils package;
• basez, another similar utility from other developers (official site, Debian package).

Hardware test drive: old Fujitsu SCSI HDD

Old Fujitsu SCSI HDD spinning up & down...

HOWTO: quickly restore a deleted bookmark in Mozilla Firefox

If you have accidentally deleted some bookmark from your Mozilla Firefox bookmarks collection, you can quickly restore it. No need to close the Firefox browser and restore backup files manually.

1. Just open the bookmarks library: <Ctrl> + <Shift> + <B>
   1. (sometimes (e. g., in GNU/Linux), you should use another hotkey: <Ctrl> + <Shift> + <O>);
2. press <Ctrl> + <Z> once;
3. you can now check if your favorite bookmark is back (just check the "Bookmarks" menu, or by checking "All Bookmarks" → "Bookmarks Menu", or by using the "Search Bookmarks" feature).

Notes.

1. <Ctrl> + <Shift> + <Z> performs a generic "undo" function; therefore, it can undo not only bookmark deletion, but also bookmark addition or edit operation;
2. if you press this key combination several times, it will undo several last bookmark changes (though I'm not sure what's the depth of this "undo queue");
3. don't worry either if you've undone some useful bookmark changes: there's also a generic "redo" key combination: <Ctrl> + <Shift> + <Z> (or <Shift> + <Ctrl> + <Z>, if you prefer);
   1. sometimes (e. g., in MS Windows), there's also another working "redo" hotkey: <Ctrl> + <Y>.

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Last updated: 2017-03-21