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Show HN: Teach your friends to lock their computers

npmjs.com

7 pointsbuiltbyproxy24 comments

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Had issues:

$ sudo npm install -g weebg

[sudo] password for dave:

/usr/local/bin/weebg ->

/usr/local/lib/node_modules/weebg/index.js

/usr/local/lib

└─┬ weebg@1.5.0

  └─┬ wallpaper@2.5.0 

    └── pify@2.3.0

$ weebg

2. Image Should Be Saved

3. Image Should Be Set

1. Image Should Be Located

events.js:141

      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
      ^

Error: EACCES: permission denied, open

'/usr/local/lib/node_modules/weebg/weebgReferenceBackground'

    at Error (native)

Hey Davey that was my mistake with variable declarations. Could you test the latest version please?

Thankyou!

We aren't having much luck here. :).

$ weebg

/usr/local/lib/node_modules/weebg/index.js:24

async function setImgName(){

      ^^^^^^^^

SyntaxError: Unexpected token function

    at exports.runInThisContext (vm.js:53:16)

    at Module._compile (module.js:374:25)

    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:417:10)

    at Module.load (module.js:344:32)

    at Function.Module._load (module.js:301:12)

    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:442:10)

    at startup (node.js:136:18)

    at node.js:966:3

Ah damn!

Could you confirm your version number and your node version please?

For Version Number: npm list -g weebg

For Node Version: node -v

I believe this could be because this functionality was implemented in node version 7.x, At least that's where i remember encountering this issue

If possible could you make an issue on github so we can clarify it there, this article has no link to the project unfortunately :)

Thanks again for the continued support in trying to get this to work! I broke it completely with a recent push because I was using a global request module instead of adding one to the actual project.

Outside testers are fantastic!

Thanks again@

Oh man this takes me back! We used to do this as a practical joke when someone would get up to grab a print out. Except instead of cutesy anime characters we'd put hard core pornography.

What made the joke work even better was that most people didn't know how to reset the desktop background. So you'd watch them squirm for a minute, give up, and finally shutdown the computer.

Yeah but pornography these days is just a 'Oh der, he has been hacked', weird anime seems to make people more squeemish

Since i'm a programmer I work with computers all the time, duh. But hardly anyone leaves their computers locked when they get up to head to the toilet and so on. Time to teach them a lesson.

No one really cares if their background is a 'big black dick' that's obviously a hack and yeah whatever. But if their background is a cringey anime chick, specifically a NSFW anime chick, thats a bit more believable. More embarassing if you ask me.

I made this stupid module to both mess with a coworker and how to make a CLI Application. Then i wanted to learn NPM, specifically the way it works, so I kept it private, mentioned it on twitter once and slowly pushed releases with documentation updates and minor code changes.

How it got popular I genuinely have no idea, but check it out, file an issue if you have one, pretty cool learning experience and eventually it will be updated to scrape wallhaven's NSFW section. They have a dependencie for that so i might go elsewhere to make an actual scraper.

A little unsolicited advice from an old man. There will probably come a day, not too long from now, where you'd rather this were never associated with your real name. It's a fine and interesting thing to try to build it, or maybe even use it on a close friend. But it is very immature. It's probably a turn off to a number of potential employers and collaborators. Maybe enough to matter to you, depending on your current prospects.

By no means is it the worst thing you could make or publicize about yourself. But I don't think, in the grand summation of things, it's a net positive.

Hey Man the advice is absolutely appreciated, It's a bit to late to change the association, the internet is forever and so on. But for the most part I don't mind. I would never hide my quirky side from an employer its what's gotten me in the door in the past 9/10 times. At the same time i wouldn't want to work for someone who didn't want me to have fun. Making stupid shit on the side is fun.

It doesn't use porn, it's not dirty or gross, it's an applicable experiment that i did to learn NPM and all in all it was a valuable experience. The fact that it received attention has driven me to actually work on it :)

It would be my hope that any future employer could understand and appreciate thhis

A brief glance at the source seems to indicate that it only sets the background to https://github.com/builtbyproxy/Weebg/blob/master/weebgRefer... , which seems pretty bland and SFW. Ironically, I've seen worse from the Win10 lockscreen ads...

Yeah for now, I put in the readme its a WIP eventually i will scrape, maybe the wallhaven NSFW section. Still not sure where i'll take it but i definitely have plans. Just didn't expect people to want it.

Ideally i'll have scraping for SFW and NSFW that you can configure upon installation

Took me back almost a decade. I'd take a "Print Screen" of the desktop, make that the new desktop background, and hide all the desktop icons after that. It was great fun to watch them struggle, trying to click on the "icons" which are actually embedded in the background wallpaper. :)

yeah or the image with the 'My Computer' logo so it kept opening up something 'appropriate'

Was checking the source and it seems to be a reasonable choice of methods trying to set the BG, I was half expecting it wouldn't work. In my case, you'd have caught me with "feh" - but it would have been replaced at the next reboot latest.

So good job on the portability. :)

Thanks Wink! The background setting isn't me but I hope you like the way it works currently. The module is linked to a git repo which has issues and polls if you'd like to offer feedback on the development

So, this only works if your friend has npm already installed?

Yeah it's an NPM module sorry man, it's fairly common on my systems, I can't help out much if they don't have it

On many systems

Heh, more fun to run something interactive. Something that puts some fish, roaches, or whatever walking around and hiding behind windows.

I've never done that before! Nor have i looked at it, might be a cool place to take it! Thanks for the advice

For linux look at xroaches for a good example. Had a friend who used emacs, mostly in a big single window. He used a glossy/reflective screen. He moved windows 2-3 times and then madly looked around his desk trying to figure what was running around.
Finally figured it out and I just about fell out of my chair laughing.
Gnome has (or had anyways) an easter egg, hit alt-f2 and type "free the fish". You could click on them to get them to go away.... for awhile.

Hey man that is seriously awesome! I didn't even consider this functionality
I really want it to be multi platform though, do you know of a way for windows and mac as well?
Feel free to post an issue in the github with a request for it and I can add it to the project feature list!
Thanks again for the support!

I have 2 words for teaching friends to lock computers:
"loadkeys dvorak"
They may learn something in the process ...

hahaha god no! This was suggested to me by the original friend. I don't want it to be satan :P Just a learning experience

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