Truck bed removal made easy
Taking the bed off an 89-95 Toyota Pickup (Toyota Hilux/Volkswagen Taro ) couldn't be easier- no wait, yes it can, and I'll explain below.
To remove the bed, you simply unbolt the 19 mm fasteners (6 of them) that hold the bed. The bed is light enough that two people can easily lift it off. If you only need to push the bed back about a foot to work on the cab (as I had to do), one person can easily push the bed back by scooting it a little bit on each side.
The problem is the wires to the brake lights. You have to disconnect them or cut them in order to move the bed more than an inch or so. I figured I would be be taking my bed off again in the future, so to make bed removal even easier next time, I cut the wires one at a time and inserted them into a quick connector. I soldered the metal fittings to the end of the wires because that's how I roll, and to make sure water doesn't get trapped in the fittings, I filled them with non-corrosive silicon.
Wire Connector
Resources
- Quick connector (kontaktdon) from Kjell & Company.
Bypass Code Signing for Adobe AIR
This post describes how to overcome the publisher-identity warning you get when you try to install an Adobe AIR app with a free digital certificate, a self-signed digital certificate, or even a "real" digital certificate that is not a trusted authority. In theory, this method probably works for any app you need to bypass code signing.
So you've made a killer Adobe AIR app, but your self-signed digital signature is not a trusted certificate authority (CA), and you want to avoid this:
Adobe AIR Install Warning
You could buy a digital certificate from a trusted certificate authority, but for whatever reason you can't or don't want to. In my case, I was going to install my app to about 200 people at my work. There was no need to fork out the cash for a real certificate in this case, since it was an internal distribution from a trusted authority, me. But at the same time, I don't want to cause alarm to my less savvy users. So how do you get around the warning? I suppose I could've made a self-signed certificate and had one of the IT guys add it to the network as a CA, but you know how it is getting those guys to do anything. So here is what I did...
In a nutshell, you make an installation wrapper which:
- Registers you as a trusted certificate authority.
- Installs your AIR app which uses a home-made certificate, which is now trusted.
- Calls the Adobe AIR installation in silent mode.
Import the certificate and export a REG file
Before you can do anything, you have to make a self-signed certificate or obtain a free certificate. Then do the following:
- Start the Windows Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\ROOT\Certificates\
- Note the certificates that are already listed. In a moment, you'll add your own certificate, and you'll need to be able to distinguish yours from the others that are already there. If there are a lot of listings, take a screenshot to be sure.
- Open Internet Explorer and select Tools >> Internet Options >> Content and click Certificates.
- Click the Trusted Root Certification Authorities tab and click the Import button to import your certificate.
Certificate Import
- Go back to the Windows Registry Editor. You should see a new certificate listed in the location specified in step 1.
- Right-click your certificate in Windows Registry Editor and select Export. Now you have a .REG file, which you'll reference in the wrapper installer, to declare yourself as a trusted CA.
Now you're ready to make your installation wrapper.
Creating the installation wrapper
To complete the rest of this procedure, you should have:
- Adobe AIR runtime distribution (AdobeAIRInstaller.exe)
- Your AIR app (.AIR file) which is signed with the same digital certificate that you used
- You exported registry entry (.REG file)
Basically, all you do is create an installer that opens the .REG file and then calls the Adobe AIR silent install with parameters to install your app.
I made the installation wrapper using NSIS, which is the best free installer. The code below is a sample NSIS installation that shows how it works.
; helper defines
!define PRODUCT_NAME "Your App"
!define PRODUCT_PUBLISHER "You"
; MUI 1.67 compatible ------
!include "MUI.nsh"
; MUI Settings
!define MUI_ABORTWARNING
; Welcome page
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_WELCOME
; Directory page
;!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_DIRECTORY
; Instfiles page
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_INSTFILES
; Finish page
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_FINISH
; Language files
!insertmacro MUI_LANGUAGE "English"
Name "${PRODUCT_NAME}"
OutFile "setup.exe"
ShowInstDetails show
XPStyle on
; MUI end ------
Function .onInit
FunctionEnd
Section "MainSection" SEC01
;SetOutPath "$PROGRAMFILES\YourCompany\temp"
SetOutPath $TEMP
File "AdobeAIRInstaller.exe"
File "Your-App.air"
; Add your self-signed (home-made) certificate to the registry as trusted autority so AIR trusts it, even after updates.
File "55108CBC6D784844E7E662FEE717F469C01C089B.reg"
ExecWait 'regedit /s "$TEMP\55108CBC6D784844E7E662FEE717F469C01C089B.reg"' $0
ClearErrors
ExecWait '"$TEMP\AdobeAIRInstaller.exe" -silent -eulaAccepted -location "$PROGRAMFILES\YourCompany" -desktopShortcut -programMenu Your-app.air' $0
; AIR Error results
; 0 Successful install
; 1 Successful, but restart required for completion
; 2 Usage error (incorrect arguments)
; 3 Runtime not found
; 4 Loading runtime failed
; 5 Unknown error
; 6 Installation canceled
; 7 Installation failed
IFErrors 0 NoError
MessageBox MB_OK "Error: $0 \n 1 Successful, but restart required for completion\n 2 Usage error (incorrect arguments)\n 3 Runtime not found\n 4 Loading runtime failed\n 5 Unknown error\n 6 Installation canceled\n 7 Installation failed"
NoError:
; Cleanup
Delete $TEMP\55108CBC6D784844E7E662FEE717F469C01C089B.reg
; Cleanup
Delete $TEMP\AdobeAIRInstaller.exe
Delete $TEMP\Your-app.air
SectionEnd
Henry Jones Sr Takes Down Flight 1549 Animated GIF
So far, this is my favorite animation I've made in GIF format (animated GIF). It features Henry Jones Sr. (Indiana Jones' father) causing flight 1549 to land in the Hudson River. This is how it really happened!
Feel free to use this image if you link back to me and give me credit.
Henry Jones Sr Takes Down Flight 1549
I think this is my most theatrical GIF. I mean, the first 2 shots where the plane is coming in fast, and we zoom in on Sean Connery's face- it's so typical. I made the GIF myself, but major credit goes to a guy in a forum who asked why nobody has done this yet. I answered him by doing it. *BLAM*