May

13

From the ’so simple why didn’t I think of it’ category

Filed Under How to, Musings | 3 Comments

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From the so simple why didnt I think of it category (image: scancard)A friend of mine pointed me to this brilliant post (via iPhone Central)

The concept is ; the front and back of all your barcoded membership cards, and carry them around in your .

To test it out I went to the local store and asked the girl
behind the counter if she could the barcode from my . The
first look I got was pure amazement. To her the physical card was
transformed into a picture on a shiny device. On top of that the
barcode was scanned successfully. The result; a slightly confused girl
and a happy me.

My take: I’m going to try this on my card and see if this works on my Pilot T|X.

Apr

18

It’s tiny, cool, and giving me an administration headache

Filed Under Doing, In the life | 2 Comments


Its tiny, cool, and giving me an administration headache (image: )

Recently we’d picked up an ASUS eee PC as a replacement for my ill Compaq R3200. Well, not really as a replacement. You see, anytime we start looking into a purchase, Tess and I our need for the purchase.

To make a long story short, I’m inheriting her little Dell M1210, and she’s taking the eee PC, after I get it configured…hence the headache.

  1. Wireless networking — it seems that the native installation (Xandros) has challenges. It manages wired networking fine.
  2. Can’t find SMB / workgroups — I’ve got 5 or 6 other wireless devices easily finding my server, but not this one…yet. I’ve not tried it wired yet…that’s next.

But those things aside, it is a very little unit, with many possibilities. Out of the box it’s a more-than-capable surfing and basic office box, using standard open source applications. Of course, I want more :)
Currently I’m looking into setting it up to dual boot Ubuntu and XP. This will enable greater compatibility with my home network (I hope) and with other networks. We’ll see.

As for the somewhat ill Compaq? Since it’s the backlight that’s gone, I’ve plans to convert it to a Centre box.

Jan

5

Logitech G15 Keyboard upgrade (v1 - v2)

Filed Under Doing, In the life | 7 Comments


Logitech G15 Keyboard upgrade (v1 - v2) (image: 300px-G15) After a lengthily exchange with Logitech customer support (started October 22, 2007), I’ve just received my replacement Logitech G15 keyboard.

The key problem (pardon the pun) was that the black paint on a few of the keys was wearing off, allowing the backlighting to shine through obscuring any key lettering. This was around a year old..maybe less.

Now, since I’d started the process, Logitech updated and revised the G15 with:

  • Logitech G15 Keyboard upgrade (v1 - v2) (image: 300px-Logitech_G15_v2)Reportedly improved paint
  • Orange backlit (the first one was blue)
  • Reduced the number of programmable Gkeys from 18 to 6(!)
  • Reduced the size of the LCD display by appx. 40% though keeping the number of pixels HxW
  • Removed the ability of the LDC display to swivel
  • Removed the volume control wheel

Frankly, I was hoping for them to send me another v1 G15. I was comfortable with the footprint it had (huge), I liked the availability of all those programmable keys, and I liked the size of the LCD display.

But now I’ve got a v2, and here are my initial impressions:

  • Key depress feel is soft…maybe mushy?
  • sits differently on my …I have to hunt initially to place my fingers on the home row properly
  • footprint is smaller. I like this. I now have more for my mouse and Wacom Bamboo tablet.
  • LCD Display is very slightly out of alignment in it’s housing. Not too noticeable, but when I do it’s a minor annoyance.
  • The drivers and were easy to install and setup
  • Logitech maintained compatibility with LCDStudio, so my custom displays run properly
  • Not sure I like the smaller LCD display…we’ll see how it goes.
  • I *think* I’ll like the orange backlight. It seems to glare less.
  • The volume buttons work ‘ok’, but the wheel seemed nicer — like the wheel on an . Upside is I can still use the wheel/spot on the Wacom Bamboo :)
  • Marketing: the Box and some literature do NOT mention that the has 2 USB ports. I was worried because the v1 G15 does have these, and I didn’t want to lose the ability to plug in thumb drives..etc.
  • Am I missing the extra 12 macro keys? I’m not sure yet. The layout is different, but since I also have a Nostromo n52 , I’m sure I can map any missing functionality over to it.
Logitech G15 Keyboard upgrade (v1 - v2) (image: ) Logitech G15 Keyboard upgrade (v1 - v2) (image: )
Logitech G15 Keyboard upgrade (v1 - v2) (image: ) Logitech G15 Keyboard upgrade (v1 - v2) (image: )

Conclusion: For now I’d say I’m satisfied. The process took a while, I’m not convinced the paint on this will last better than the last. The reduced LCD display size could be an issue…but I’ll reserve judgement on it for now…and I think I like the orange backlight.

Apr

27

Latest Ubuntu release unleashes my laptop

Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments


Latest Ubuntu release unleashes my laptop (image: c00290658)As some of you may know, my household server and my ageing Compaq Presario R3230CA laptop both run Ubuntu. Well imagine my surprise when the latest upgrade to Ubuntu (7.04 Feisty Fawn) activated the dormant WiFi . Previous Ubuntu versions didn’t support the Broadcom 802.11g wireless, but judging from my happy results, the Feisty Fawn release does!

Woot!

I’d been keeping on the system to support my WiFi, but now, I can actually nuke it and run this puppy purely on Ubuntu. Sounds like an interesting experiment.

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Apr

23

When do you own the gear you buy?

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Two articles recently crossed my desk:

  • Content in lockdown - Tom Yager, InfoWorld.com
    I’m increasingly aghast at the erosion of the traditional freedom we’ve enjoyed to do whatever we please with our personal — but intrigued by the behind it.
  • Your Right to Repair - CAA Driver’s Seat
    Imagine taking your vehicle to your long-time independent provider only to be told he can’t fix your car. You have to take it to a dealership because he can’t access the repair information.

Both from completely different fields, yet both dealing with the same issue; your right to access the information on the you’ve purchased. This is not a new issue, but these two articles, from different perspectives, seem to intersect at the same issue; your right to do what you want, with stuff you’ve bought.

At first glance, this doesn’t even seem to be an issue at all. You paid for the , you should be able to do whatever you want with the . To make a analogy, you buy the pie, you eat the pie, or share the pie, or throw it out.

Ah, yes, but the developers would have you believe that the issue is really not that , with reasons like these:

  • Yes, paid money and have the in your possession, but what you really bought was a piece of paper with lots of legal text giving you the right to actually USE the . And no, once you’ve used the , you’ve implicitly agreed to abide by the terms of the licence… which clearly state that you can only have the serviced at a licensed centre.
  • The in our is super-secret. Only skilled, trained and licenced technicians really know how to fix our . Anyone else is just tinkering with your investment…and may actually break it!
  • We’ve invested significant research and dollars in creating your . If we allowed anyone to access it, why, they could easily copy it, or even make it better and compete with us.
  • You’re a thief. You only want to use our to copy the that our presents. You want to take dollars away from our licenced centres, our partners, and give it to other pirates. To keep you from copying our , we’re not going to let you access it, unless you can prove that you’ve paid a special fee to access it.

The list goes on, but you see the point. developers have invested a significant amount of money in product . Society has allowed them to put in place legal mechanisms that keep you from fixing your own car, copying your own , or making your computer work better.

Personally, I’m on the side of openness…freeing up the systems and to the benefit of all. But (cue the poll) what do you think?

{democracy:7}

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Jan

30

Vista? Not on my desktop, thank you.

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Hurray! Vista is released. Now we can all get back to doing whatever we were doing previously. Hype aside, I’m not excited about this release, for the following reasons;

  • My , laptop and server aren’t ‘Vista Ready’,

  • I’m not going to invest to upgrade (my do what I need them to currently),

  • I run Ubuntu and XP, dual boot,

  • My centres are first-generation Xboxes,

  • I don’t feel like being an unpaid beta-tester for Microsoft (I may be in a position to acquire a new computer with Vista when SP1 is released — as you know it will be),

  • Much of my existing is not currently Vista compatible — I’ll have to upgrade to newer versions, yet another pain I don’t need.

  • drivers — I’ll have to upgrade to newer versions, if they exist (or wait until they’re made), or toast my investment (joystick, game pad, scanner, printer…etc), yet another pain I don’t need.

And here’s a few articles about the vista release and launch, should you need more reason to wait:

…and finally:

{democracy:5}

Jul

13

Free Virtual PC from Microsoft — ArsTechnica

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Interesting read. ArsTechnica has an article/review about Microsoft’s Virtual PC, now available . Why would you want to set up another PC on your existing PC? Check out new operating systems, experiment, play…who knows.

I run a Ubuntu server for the home, on a stand-alone box. The article talks about installing Ubuntu on a PC…takes about 3 hours, but at the end of the day, you’ve got a computer that will run another OS within the .

Is it better than creating a dual-boot PC? Likely. This way, you don’t really have to work at the layer — formatting and partitioning your HD to support multiple OS. I’m tempted to try it out.

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Mar

23

Modding my Xbox…

Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments


[ This item originated at my previous (now defunct) blog .info -- copy retrieved from the Internet Archive]

A while ago I managed to lay my hands on a refurbished Xbox for a fairly reasonable price. Great, methinks. A game console and a DVD player, all rolled into one. And hey, it’ll even play from the built in hard drive too¦ but not stock from the factory. No, my , you have to void the Microsoft warranty and mess with the happy that lies buried within your game console. Once you do that, you then have unlocked the power of your Xbox, and created a Monster¦here’s how I did mine¦ Read more

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