Create A Website On Your Mac Without A Webserver

Do you need a Website set up right meow? Using netcat (nc), you can use your Mac to instantly set up a Webpage without configuring a Web server. This could be used to quickly share files via a Web browser (by creating a hyperlink with file:///some/filepath/), or it could be used as a temporary Website while maintenance is being performed.

This command will create a Webpage that can be downloaded once. After it is downloaded the program ends and the page will no longer be accessible. You would need to enter the command again in order to view the page. Continue reading “Create A Website On Your Mac Without A Webserver”

Send Commands To All Installed Printers

Using a simple for loop, you can send a PJL command to all of the printers installed on your machine. For instance, if you wanted to change the display message on all your networked HP printers, you could loop through all the IP addresses and send it a command. Continue reading “Send Commands To All Installed Printers”

Change The Serial Number On HP Printers Using Printer Job Language And netcat (or ftp)

Serial numbers sometimes default to XXXXXXXXXX after having a component replaced or the firmware being updated. The Web interface does not offer a way to set the serial number, but this can be accomplished with some Terminal commands.

For the sake of this walkthrough, it is recommend to use vim to edit the file. However, since it is difficult to learn (but not really), I will do a very detailed step-by-step so there are no issues. If you are already familiar with vim, then you will probably cruise through this. Continue reading “Change The Serial Number On HP Printers Using Printer Job Language And netcat (or ftp)”

Freak Out Your Friends By Changing The “Ready” Message On HP Printers

How The Trick Works

You create a file or enter some Terminal commands, which get sent to the printer. Instead of printing out what you typed, the printer recognizes that the text is actually a set of instructions, known as the Printer Job Language (PJL), which are then carried out by the printer. In this case, we tell the printer to change the message shown on the little display on the printer. So instead of it showing “READY,” you can make it say (almost) whatever you want. Continue reading “Freak Out Your Friends By Changing The “Ready” Message On HP Printers”