Category: howtos

I had a requirement to run a headless Linux device, coupled with a 3G USB dongle for communications. The Raspberry Pi 3 I bought about 9 months back came in handy.

Here are the steps I took to setup Linux on Rpi.

1. Download and copy the Linux image file onto a micro SD card.
2. Insert the micro SD card into the Rpi and start it up with the keyboard and mouse connected.
3. Log in, and run ‘sudo apt-get update’
4. Update gparted to expand the partition space. You will need to apt-get install gparted
5. Run gparted and expand the existing partition space.
6. Reboot
7. Insert the following string into the /boot/cmdline.txt file. ‘usbhid.mousepoll=0’ at the end of the string. This step removes the laggy mouse scroll.
8. Insert the two following lines into /boot/config.txt file ‘dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi’ and ‘dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt’ at the end of the file. Each lines on their own. This step disables the wifi and bluetooth.
9 Reboot
10. Insert 3G Dongle and update the APN configuration in network-manager.
11. APN: hicard, Username: , Password:

If you have registered multiple Office 2016 (standalone) to only one email address, Microsoft activation is likely to deny your second or subsequent activation even when you have valid product keys.

Why so? The reason is simple -> Microsoft Office activation was written by a bunch of kindergarteners.

if any of the microsoftie kindergarteners are reading this, go check out McAfee AV’s activation as a model to follow.

Here’s the steps to reset the second or subsequent activations, assuming you are comfortable with the Windows command line.

1. Determine whether 64bit or 32bit version of Office 2016 was installed. To find out, look for the OSPP.VBS file in the Office16 directory.

Go to the Program Files -> Microsoft Office -> Office16. There’s either “Program Files (x86)” or “Program Files”. If you find the OSPP.VBS file in the “Program Files (x86)” directory, means you are running a 32bit Office 2016.

2. If you are using the 32 bit version, go on to step 3. Else jump to the bottom then back to step 3.

3. Run the following to get the existing Product key
Look for the last line that says “Last five characters of the installed product key: XXXXX”

cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus

4. With this five chars, run the next command to remove the (incorrect) product key currently registered with, XXXX refers to the 5 chars from the above /dstatus output.

cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS" /unpkey:XXXX

5. Next, run this command, substituting the xxxx with the new Product key which you can find on the Office 2016 subscriptions page.

cscript “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS” /inpkey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

6. Then activate the licence

cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS" /act

If you are running the 64bit version, replace

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS"

with

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\OSPP.VBS"

I thought I had left the Spotify app running when I shutdown the Mac. It turns out that Spotify set itself up to start up after login.

The more interesting thing is that you can’t disable this automatic startup from the Spotify app.

The method to stop Spotify from starting up after login, is to:

1. Go to > System Preferences > Users and Groups > Login Items
2. Select Spotify  and click on the  (minus) icon.