Zach Schneider - Zach's Blog (Page 2)

Fixing My Apartment Door Buzzer

The door buzzer system for my apartment building utilizes a landline phone to grant access to the building without having to run downstairs to let visitors in. The problem with that, is that I don't subscribe to a POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) line, and I don't have a "landline

October CMS

Configure Default Values in October CMS Backend Settings Model

I just spent way too long Googling for something that I know I've done before, so here's a note for future me. I'm often developing October CMS plugins for side projects and the current documentation isn't quite complete yet, which occasionally leaves me hunting for some obscure details. To initialize

car

Ford Five Hundred: Steering Wheel Controls Intro

In this post about my car, I'll discuss how I can use the analogue signal from the steering wheel buttons with an Arduino. The steering wheel controls are a simple voltage ladder, and we can program the Arduino to read the voltage and determine which button is being pressed. Wiring

personal

Tips and Tricks for SimCity 4

I wouldn't consider myself a gamer, even though I've built my own computer, have Steam installed on it, or because I own an aging PS3. Although, I still play somewhat older games, such as SimCity 4 Deluxe, from late 2003. I would have only been three years old at the

car

Ford Five Hundred OBD-II: Part 1

The OBD-II port in modern vehicles allows the user to access the internal network of the vehicle's modules and sensors. This port exposes a variety of networks, such as CAN (Controller Area Network), SAE J1850 PWM, ISO 14230-4 KWP, or other proprietary ones. CAN Bus In my 2005 Ford Five

personal

New Blog (October CMS)

I've moved from a WordPress-based blog to one that is integrated with my primary website. WordPress was becoming a bloated and unmaintainable platform and didn't quite fit my needs. This new blog is built on October CMS [https://www.octobercms.com], which is fairly modern compared to WordPress. Don't get

guide

How To: Self Signed PowerShell Scripts

I've grown so accustomed to to using Linux shells, that using the Windows Command Prompt has become bothersome. Fortunately, PowerShell comes closer to the *nix shell experience than the Command Prompt ever will. PowerShell scripts are much more powerful than DOS-era batch scripts, but running your own scripts (unsigned, that

personal

Gift Giving Guide

This post is the answer to the question, "What should I get Zachary Schneider for his birthday?" Also suitable for holidays like Christmas.