OneDrive for MacOS Desktop Sync

Posted on by Greg

My wife has a MacBook and likes to use her desktop to organize all of her folders and files. For her graduate school, she needs to share some of these files with computers running Windows 10. The university uses OneDrive to sync files between personal computers and lab computers. 

Syncing the desktop is not default supported behavior on OneDrive for MacOS. Could the user change their workflow to adapt to the tools provided? Sure! Personally, cluttered desktops bother me and the users’ workflow is greatly distressing. I’d love to have a completely clean desktop to admire the background image. However, in this case, I can provide better business value by providing a free and easy technical solution that adapts to the users’ existing workflow than to attempt to train the user for a modified workflow. 

On a Mac, the OneDrive folder must be named “OneDrive” and the application complains if you change the name. I put it in the users home folder at “~/OneDrive”

The steps below work great on MacOS Catalina 10.15.6. I turned off iCloud sync for the Desktop and Documents before making these changes to avoid any conflicts.

  1. Make a desktop folder in the OneDrive folder at ~/OneDrive/Desktop
  2. Open Terminal and move everything from the current desktop to the new folder
    • mv ~/Desktop/* ~/OneDrive/Desktop
  3. Create a symbolic link from the Desktop folder 
    • ln -s ~/OneDrive/Desktop ./Desktop
    • sudo chflags -h schg ./Desktop
  4. Organize the files on the desktop to be arranged similar to how they were before if there was some semblance of organizational structure

Notes: 

I originally used ~/Desktop as described in reference [1]; however, that put a folder shortcut to  “Desktop” on the Desktop. Using ./Desktop, as described in reference [2], actually used my cloud Desktop folder for my Desktop folder and the files were accessible from the desktop. The ./Desktop in reference [2] is superior, hence why it appears in my instructions above. 

References:

  1. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44834712/how-to-change-the-desktop-folder-from-desktop-local-to-a-different-folder-on
  2. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44834712/how-to-change-the-desktop-folder-from-desktop-local-to-a-different-folder-on
  3. https://ifyouwillit.com/auto-sync-your-mac-desktop-folder-with-dropbox/

MariCAR Okinawa

Posted on by Greg

MariCAR is a unique experience exclusive to Naha or Tokyo. You get wear a custom and drive a street legal go-kart around the city. The go-carts easily keep up with 50 KPH traffic and the entire trip is a hoot.

Cons: It’s expensive. It’s ¥90,000 for a two hour trip, though they’ll reduce the rate to ¥75,000 if you leave a review on a Social Network Site (Facebook). On top of the cart rental fee, we decided to rent two cameras as well. When you rent the camera, you have the option to buy a 16GB micro SD card for $10 or a 32GB micro SD card for $15. We decided to get the 32GB SD cards. Since you’re reading this, you probably won’t be impulsively buying a SD card, but, if you do, the 16GB is probably sufficient for the trip. On our two hour tour at night, our recordings each totaled about 13GB. You’ll also get to decide whether you want to use a head or chest mount for the cameras. We chose to try each option. You can tell the difference in our video below. I like the perspective from the chest mount, but it definitely captures a lot more vibration and you can’t focus it at interesting things.

The cameras were fun, but definitely not necessary. The guides took pictures at almost every stop light and they came out surprisingly well. They took about 90 pictures over tour hours and provided all of them when we got back to the shop.

We went for impromptu evening ride. The costumes are lightweight, but they’re still essentially one piece pajamas. If I was wearing it in the heat of the day, I would have been sweating profusely. The evening ride was a very pleasant temperature. The downside is you can’t see as much. The 2 hour course takes you to Senagajima Island, which has beautiful views during the day. You won’t see anything at night. The first hour went by really quickly and we were glad that all of the one hour slots were already booked on the day we wanted to go. As you drive down Kokasai street, expect lots of people to wave and take pictures of you. Kokasai was a slow, relaxing drive, which is unique to go-kart driving. The constant stop lights would be maddening in a regular car, but in the go-karts I felt like a celebrity.

Cost:
One Hour – ¥60,000/person
Two Hours – ¥90,000/person

Hours: 1000 – 2200

Website: https://maricar.okinawa/en/

Location: 7-1 Higashi-Machi Naha City Okinawa, Japan

Reservations: Facebook messenger is the easiest way to make a reservation. Alternatively, you can call them or just show up.

Using Sticky Keys to Reset Windows XP Password

Posted on by Greg

I forgot my old Windows XP password. Sure, it went end of life 4 years ago, but I like to live dangerously. Really, I just wanted to get my old XP VM running so that I could use it in the labs for Practical Malware Analysis.

This is an old technique, and since Windows XP is almost two decades old, it still works. Boot from a live Linux CD and temporarily replace SETHC.EXE with CMD.EXE.

Lubuntu Screenshot

Then boot back into Windows. Hit SHIFT five times and use net user to change the password.

You’ve successfully changed your password to hunter2. Now you can log in to Windows XP and Microsoft will remind you this is a bad idea.

XP is End of Life on April 8th, 2014

Bios on the Hill

Posted on by Greg

Look! A dragon!

Bios on the Hill is alright. I booked my trip through ITT which included the guided boat tour. It’s either a small lake or a large pond. Hard to tell. They call it a lake. The main benefit of booking through ITT is that you will have english narration of the boat tour. As you float around the pond, the tour guide describes the various vegetation that you see. Occasionally, the pilot will bump the boat into the bank to show you the plants that they are particularly proud of. You’ll pass a floating barge that features a traditional Okinawan dancer.

The dancing was pretty need and the pond was worth the trip. If you purchase the tickets for Bios on the Hill yourself, you’ll still have the option of paying about ¥600 to add the boat tour to the trip. It was my favorite part of the visit, so if you stop by Bios on the Hill, I’d recommend adding it. Unfortunately, if you book independently, the boat tour would be narrated in Japanese. You also have the option to tour the pond yourself on a rented paddle board or canoe for ¥1500. That’d probably be neat.

After completing the boat tour, we had time to explore the rest of the park. There was a playground for children that was made of natural logs. If I had kids, I’d think that was pretty cool. You could pay ¥900 to have a water buffalo pull you around the park on a cart. There are goats. You could walk on stilts if that was something that you were in to. I walked around the park. It’s not too big. There’s a nice swing, some hammocks, wooden chairs you can lay down on. It’s a nice park.

Cost: ¥810 plus extras

Hours: Daily 0900 – 1800

Cave Okinawa

Posted on by Greg

I was looking for something to do on a rainy day and I figured, underground is pretty much a roof, right? My wife and I decided to visit Cave Okinawa. It’s a sweet little limestone cave that is about 200m long. Apparently, no one else had the same idea.

The parking lot was empty as we pulled in at 11am. A friendly man greeted us at the counter. Since it was still raining, and we were completely unprepared, he handed us two umbrellas and walked us towards the cave entrance. About 100m up the road, he stopped, unlocked a electrical box, and flipped the switch to turn on the lights in the cave. The light was greatly appreciated. He brought us to the cave entrance and left us to explore the cave on our own. Okay, we weren’t really exploring. There is a single path through the cave. We stopped to take a few pictures at the entrance. Be quick! There are mosquitos!

The path through the cave is all elevated, which is good, because there was an active creek running all along the bottom. I enjoyed the sound of the running water as we walked through the cave. It was pretty alright. There was some limestone. There were lots of little bats. I hope I didn’t disturb them too much. We walked slowly and posed for lots of pictures. It took us 30 minutes to walk 200m.

Stairs to the cave exit.

When you get to the other side of the cave, you follow signs along the road back to the parking lot. We passed a cute cafe on the road that we would have definitely stopped at if it was open.

Cost: ¥500 per Adult. ¥300 per Child. (Yen Only. No Credit Cards)

Hours: Daily 0900 – 1700

533-1, Ishikawakadekaru
Uruma-Shi, Okinawa
Japan 904-1114

Okinawa Bucket List: Uruma

Posted on by Greg

Things to Do:

  1. Cave Okinawa. ¥500/¥300
  2. Bios on the Hill. ¥810 + Activities
  3. Ride a horse on the beach with Mihara Horse Club. $150.
  4. Katsuren Castle Ruins. Free.
  5. Watch Bull Fighting at the Ishikawa Dome
  6. Hike Mt. Ishikawa. Free.
  7. Janeh Cave. Free
  8. Complete the Ropes Course at the Ishikawa Youth Center. Free.
  9. Golf at Taiyo Golf Course
  10. Agena Castle Ruins. Free.
  11. Watch a local performance at Uruma Citizens’ Art Theater

Resturants:

  1. Forest Cafe
  2. Taiyo Steakhouse
  3. Very Berry Cafe
  4. Indira Indian Restaurant
  5. Blue Cafe Jerk Chicken

Beaches:

  1. Mihara Beach
  2. White Beach
  3. Kelp Beach
  4. Uken Beach. ¥500 Parking.
  5. Gushikawa Beach.
  6. Janeh Beach.

Okinawa Bucket List: Yomitan

Posted on by Greg

Things to Do:

  1. Visit the Cape Zanpa Lighthouse and park.  ¥200 to climb to the top.
  2. Zakimi Castle Ruins
  3. Happy/Sad Caves
  4. Make a glass cup at Ryukyu Glass Factory. ~¥3,000 per glass.
  5. Yomitan Pottery Village
  6. Make Pottery. ~¥2,500
  7. Visit a WW2 Japanese Pill box at low tide

Restaurants:

  1. Little Greek Kitchen
  2. Suien Cafe
  3. Fisherman’s Wharf
  4. Song Bird Cafe
  5. Jakkepoes Pancake House

Beaches:

  1. Zanpa Beach
  2. Nirai Beach
  3. Tori Beach

Summer Festival at Ocean Expo Park

Posted on by Greg

The Summer Festival is an all day event with live bands, performances, food, and the grand finale — the largest fireworks display in Okinawa.

The fireworks start at precisely 8:00 PM. Kadena ITT had four tour buses that left the baes 2:00 PM. The cost with ITT was $20 per person. The tour busses are great if you don’t want to drive, or deal with the traffic, yourself. However, you loose a lot flexibility. We left our apartment closer to 3:00 PM. It was a relaxing drive on the Okinawa Expressway, but from Okinawa-Minami to Nago, the toll is ¥590 each way in a Kei car. The drive through Nago was uneventful. About 2 km from the Expo Park, traffic came to a standstill. If you get to the event early, you might have a chance to park in the main parking. If you get their later, there is an overflow lot that has shuttles to take you to the event. We took the third option and found some street parking which had a 40 minute walk to the event. I’m not a patient person and I’d rather walk a long way than wait in traffic.

We finally got to the Festival around 5 PM. Our first objective was to claim spot on the beach. Some people had folding chairs, sun shelters, or pop-up canopies set up in their spots, but blankets, like we had, were much more common. The beach was crowded, but there were still plenty of open spots. If you want to look like a seasoned pro, bring four plastic bags with you, fill them up with sand, and place them on your blanket to hold it down. We are not seasoned pros, but I brought a camera tripod to try to take pictures of the fireworks, and it held the blanket down just fine. I would have had problems if it was a windier day. The entire Expo Park is filled with people. The beach has a view of the main stage and the fireworks, but some people are only interested in the fireworks and claimed nice shady spots on the hillside. Standing is also an option, but you’ll be at the event for several hours — more if your tied to an ITT tour group. Another option is to book a hotel near the Festival Site. The Orion Motobu Resort & Spa is located right next to Expo Park and has amazing view of the fireworks. On a regular weekend, it costs  about ¥40,000 per night. It might cost more during Summer Festival and it looks like their already fully booked for next year.

Around the Expo Park, there were about a dozen food vendors, including KFC. There was also a slide and some activities for small children. Most people appeared to be relaxing. We spent around ¥3,500 on food and drink from the vendors and brought it back to our blanket to enjoy the show. A Japanese band played some mellow acoustic music. It was followed by what may have been a comedy performance. I’m not sure. A group of people spent about 20 minutes talking. The group on stage laughed a lot. None of the people around me laughed. It was followed by a 20 minute set by another Japanese band that had a awesome singer. The final performance was a DJ that seemed to get the crowd worked up. At some point in his set, “Funtime Productions”, an American group, had a performance that wasn’t quite as good as “Entertainment Worldwide.”

The Fireworks started exactly at 8:00 PM. After a 20 minute show, there was a 10 minute intermission to allow the pyrotechnic crew to reset their gear before the final 20 minute show. The beach was extremely crowded at this point and there is zero chance that you would be able to use the bathroom during the intermission. The show was set to music, including some popular english songs. Lots of bright lights and loud explosions. It is the largest Firework show in Okinawa and is one of the best firework displays that I have ever seen.

Following the grand finale at precisely 8:50 PM, there was a mass exodus of people. It was a slow moving herd that was a pre-cursor to the traffic jam to come. If you parked in the main lot, you would be about to stay parked in the main lot. We trudged along with the group heading to the overflow lot. Hundreds of them stopped to wait for the shuttle, but it was only a 2 km walk from the Park to overflow parking. 8 shuttle busses passed us as we walked to the overflow parking. That meant there was still hundreds of people waiting in line. Getting out of the overflow parking lot would have been easy, but further down the street you needed to merge. As we kept walking, we passed all of the cars waiting to merge on the road. We finally arrived at our hidden parking spot at 9:50 PM. As we drove back towards Nago, we somehow found ourselves behind the convoy of four ITT buses. I followed the convoy as they cruised down the Expressway. They were probably back on base around 11:30 while we went directly home.

If you wanted to take full advantage of the 1.5 hour drive each way, you could add the Churami Aquarium to your morning and make it an all day event.

It's a picture of the lighthouse!

A Short Afternoon in Cape Zanpa

Posted on by Greg

Ocean's Pizza Buffet

It’s noon. You’re hungry, but you still don’t know what you’re doing with the day, or with your life. Perfect. Grab a friend and head on up to Ocean’s Pizza in Yomitan. For ¥1,200, you’ll get access to an all you can eat pizza buffet.

Beautiful

Ocean’s Pizza sits on a cliff above the East China Sea. If you sit outside, it’ll easily be the best view you’ll ever have at a pizza buffet. Is the pizza good? It’s a Okinawan restaurant that’s attempting to offer an American style pizza buffet. Totally edible! You’re still going to eat to much.

Alright. Maybe it’s 1300 now. It’s time for activities. You’ve got two options a stones throw away: do you want to make pottery or blow glass?

In the same complex as Ocean’s Pizza is a swell pottery studio. For ¥2,500, the staff will assist you with a simple clay dish on a pottery wheel or a free form pottery creation. For the basic pottery wheel, expect to spend 10-15 minutes working on your creation — probably a small bowl. The staff provides lots of assistance and the project is suitable for small children. If you don’t want to use a pottery wheel, you can get a nice hunk of clay to make your own creation. Common projects include a Shisa dog or a plate. These projects are a little more complicated and don’t have the advantage of the pottery wheel. You could probably spend an hour here. After your complete your pottery, you’ll select the color of the glaze. It takes time for the pottery to dry and fire. Expect your pottery to be ready in about a month.

Instead of pottery, you could make a nice glass at the Ryukyu Glass Factory. They’ve got a nice facility, friendly staff, and lots of options to customize your glass. Expect to spend around ¥3,000 per glass. You’ll fill out a nice form to choose glass style, size, color, bubbles, dots, stripes, and highlights. The staff will set you up with protective clothing and prep all of the glass and molds. You’ll blow some air to expand the glass into the mold. The staff will heat the glass up again. You’ll use some sweet metal tongs to open up the mouth. Okay, so the staff does most of the work, but it’s still pretty fun and you’ll have an awesome one-of-a-kind glass! The whole process takes about 20 minutes and the glass will be ready for pick up the next day.

Besides Ocean’s Pizza, the pottery studio, and Ryukyu Glass Factory, there’s a dive shop, a gift shop, a “Salt Making Experience”, a stained glass studio, and an Ice Cream shop. The Ice Cream shop sells floats, but they don’t have any Root Beer. You can have a Cola float or an Orange Soda float. The Salt studio was full. I imagine they’re just heating up salt water. I suppose that could be fun.

It's a picture of the lighthouse!

Maybe it’s 1330 now. It’s time to head up to the light house! It’s a 5 minute, scenic drive from Ocean’s Pizza. The light house sits in a beautiful, rocky, cliff-face park with fantastic views of the East China Sea and Ie Island.

For ¥200, you can climb up 300 steps to the top of the lighthouse for a commanding view of the surrounding area.

Huh. I guess that’s it. Time to head home.

Honda Beat Radio

Posted on by Greg

I’ve been disappointed with my Honda Beat radio. The radio doesn’t work well. The sound quality is poor and the input options are limited. When you’re driving a convertible with the top down, you need some good tunes. The radio in the Honda Beat is smaller than the standard DIN size. There’s five common options that I’ve seen online:

  1. Buy a refurbished stock radio. It might work better.
  2. Buy a marine radio. Marine radios are smaller than car radios and you could install one behind the faceplate of the stock radio to avoid altering the appearance. Many marine radios come with bluetooth and a remote that you could use to control the radio, even if the head unit is hidden.
  3. Buy an aftermarket center console. Some people have purchased aftermarket center consoles that are wide enough to support a standard DIN radio. Generally, they do not match the color or texture of the original console and surrounding pieces. Currently, I can only find one seller on Yahoo Auctions Japan. The seller has bad reviews and the center console is pretty expensive.
  4. Mount a DIN radio somewhere else. I’ve seen several single DIN radios mounted under the glove box. The glove box is particularly small and becomes even less usable with this configuration. I’ve also seen the radio mounted sideways against the center console. These options require some drilling, but add a more modern radio with minimal hacking of the dash. You could mount a radio further away from the stock radio, but you’d have a lot of re-wiring to do.
  5. Buy a 20th Anniversary Radio. Honda produced 3,500 new radios for the Honda Beat in 2011. These radios maintain a stock appearance, but have improved buttons and add Bluetooth and USB support. Additionally, Honda released improved dash radios. The MSRP for the radio was ¥65,829 and the MSRP for the speakers were ¥33,943. Yep. About $1,000 for a new radio and speakers. I convinced myself that this was totally worth it and definitely a good deal. Unfortunately, I was 7 years too late. I went to the Honda Dealer in Chatan to see if they could still get their hands on one. The staff spoke limited English, and I don’t speak nearly as much Japanese as I should, but, fortunately, I brought a print out of the Honda parts page and pointing is universally understood. They needed my title before they could do a parts search. It took about 20 minutes for them to determine that there was no hope for them to get the radio or the speakers. They recommended Yahoo Auctions as the best possibility. There’s currently one 20th Anniversary Radio on Yahoo Auctions. It’s listed for ¥200,000.