I noticed the other day that my life was far too easy and that life was simply too much fun. To this end, I accepted a challenge from a friend that has shown me levels of frustration that I never imagined possible. I’m speaking, of course, of switching to the Dvorak keyboard layout. Although taken… Continue reading Dvorak Keyboard
Windows is Back
Now that I’ve had some time back from vacation, I decided to do a full investigation into what could be causing my primary Windows machine to fail. After a few hours of experimentation, I’m quite certain that the power supply is what was causing the issues. I currently running it from another 500 watt power… Continue reading Windows is Back
Lunar Eclipse
On Saturday, March 3, there was a lunar eclipse that was visible from my area, however, I was on a flight to Florida at the time as discussed in my previous post. I had assumed that I would not be able to see it due to being stuck in airports all evening and clouds along… Continue reading Lunar Eclipse
Flying Without ID
In addition to technology, politics and privacy are two areas that interest me as well, and although this blog does not encompass those areas, I recently had an opportunity to fly without showing ID of any kind and wanted to share the experience. The process was quite painless, although from what I hear it varies… Continue reading Flying Without ID
Bye Bye Windows!
The motherboard in my one and only Windows machine (aka ompy) has threw in the towel after a few months of agony. The Asus A8N-SLI Premium motherboard has had problems coming online from a cold boot. When I try to turn the machine on, it only stay on for about 5 seconds and then shut… Continue reading Bye Bye Windows!
Successful Bluetooth Transmission
After putting off working on this project for a bit, I’ve taken in up again this week and successfully used the bluetooth chips to send data between two computers. I set up one of the chips on my server (using a RS-232 adapter board), and used my D-Link DBT-120 bluetooth adapter on my desktop. Using… Continue reading Successful Bluetooth Transmission
Philips SPC900NC Camera On Linux Is A Go
In researching information about using a webcam as a low cost camera for astrophotography, many people recommended the Philips SPC900NC camera due to its use of a good quality 1.3 megapixel CCD sensor at a decent price. I bought mine from ebay, but its also available on Amazon and Newegg. My first attempt at playing… Continue reading Philips SPC900NC Camera On Linux Is A Go
LED Display
A while back one of my roommates bought 2 LED displays as part of a project idea. The signs kind of fell on the backburner as other things came up, but I thought that I could start playing with one of them since it shouldn’t need much work to get it operational again. The display… Continue reading LED Display
Webcam Astrophotography
An article in the December 2006 issue of Astronomy magazine about using cheap webcams for astrophotography got me quite interested. After doing some research this evening, it seems like it can be a cheap and fun project to undertake. I think I have my heart set on a Philips SPC900NC webcam, which goes for about… Continue reading Webcam Astrophotography
Internet Out Again
Time Warner just can’t seem to give me an internet connection for more than a few days. The longest streak of constant internet acess stands at 7 days. Then, it will go out for at least 3 days… just long enough so that when the guy comes to look at it it works fine. This… Continue reading Internet Out Again