You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2007.
A review is not in order here. An enjoyable watch, except for the few quick, atypical attempts at comedy that I’m sure most people laugh at. I also quickly became sick of looking at Katie Holmes’ funny looking face. I still think Michael Keaton best played the role.
I’m not interested in writing reviews, of movies, at least. So, for now, I’m going to post links to movie reviews that I feel reflect my opinion. Why re-invent the wheel?
As you may have noticed in the “My Computers” Post, I have a hardware firewall running IPCop.
I’d like to eventually turn that box into more of an “appliance” than a traditional Micro-ATX mini tower computer. The goal is to eventually have a fanless CPU, power supply, and CF (Compact Flash) hard drive, which result in less noise. Having 2-5 computers running at once, in my bedroom, creates lots of white noise.
Step 1: Replace IDE HDD (noisy, moving parts) with CF “hard drive”, which is simply an IDE->CF adapter (just a board) and a CF card.
I ordered a Kingston 512MB Elite Pro Compact Flash Card on 01-09-2007 ($18 with shipping, pricegrabber is handy) and already have a IDE->CF adapter that I briefly tested (it works), which I picked up from Fry’s about a month ago. My research has determined that a CF card can last for years when used as a HDD, and that the bigger the card, the longer it will last. At least 256 MB is recommended, so I went with a 512 for insurance.
Status: Complete! IPCop has been running fine so far, using a CF card as a HDD. Oh, the IDE->CF adapter has 3 LEDs, so it’s also a win for Project Neo Tokyo.
Step 2: Research the temperature range of that CPU (K6-2/350) and see if I can get away with simply unplugging the CPU fan by simply monitoring the temperature after it’s unplugged. It’s a small fan, so considering it runs at high RPMs, it’s very noisey. Thus, this is more important than the power supply. Alternatively, I may be able to find a passive (fanless) CPU cooler.
Step 3: Find a quiet power supply around the house, or buy a passive power supply. This one may even be quiet enough – need to test. Or, get a low wattage power supply and remove/unplug the fan (but safety concerns me there).
I drank a 50-something oz Simply Orange today at work because I’m feeling a little sickly. My old boss once suggested to me that when when you feel a cold coming on, drink OJ. I’m guessing it’s for the Vitamin C.
It’s now close to 5 and my stomach feels bloated, although I’ve been to the men’s room plenty of times. And I have one more coffee cup’s worth (we’re out of plastic cups). Isn’t this exciting?
I’m glad I like orange juice. Mmm, pulp.
This stuff is tasty, by the way. It’s more expensive than most brands (I think this was four bones), yet much less expensive than Good Flow. I go with the HEB brand since I use OJ in smoothies – otherwise, I’d probably buy it for my orange liquid vitamin c proactive anti-cold beverage solution.
How’s that for hating advertisements?
Interesting tidbit from Wikipedia:
“The Simply Orange® brand is a product of the Minute Maid division of The Coca-Cola Company and was launched in 2001. Unlike Minute Maid orange juice products, the Simply Orange brand does not publicize the fact that it is a Coca-Cola owned product. There is no mention of Coca-Cola on the Simply Orange website.”
“Who dis gobi?”
Whoever he is, his father is also generous and gave me the shit you see below. He’s done this before, about 7 years ago, if I had to guess. The Gateway (Athlon 1.2 GHz) has replaced the peetwopee role of a P2 400 MHz machine. RIP hostname “optiplex”.
This sheet of paper was scanned with a HP ScanJet 4p, which I recently installed in the retro gaming PC. It has a SCSI interface and uses a proprietary Symbios ISA SCSI adapter. My grandpa gave me this scanner years ago when he upgraded to one with a USB interface. It works like a charm and was surprisingly easy to install in Windows 98. The glass is 17″ diagonal – 2″ less than my USB scanner, so I’ll keep this one in my room and continue to let my brother borrow my USB scanner. Thanks to HP for still offering the driver/software.
Spare AC adapters can be very handy. Ever bought something that runs on a battery, yet has an input for an AC adapter? The rule of thumb is that it’s OK if the adapter’s current output (measured in amps or milliamps) is higher than the device’s current input, because the device “will only pull as much as it needs”. Besides that, always make sure the polarity matches (center negative or center positive) – I believe that most devices are center positive. Last, of course, make sure the voltage matches. If the device requires more voltage than the adapter provides, this will strain (eventually melt?) the adapter. It may be OK if the adapter provides less voltage than the device requires – it can’t hurt to simply try it and see if the device powers on. Oh, one more important thing (lesson learned from brother): If you’re using a DC-powered device (which 99% of electronic gizmos use), make sure you’re using an adapter with DC output! Brother accidentally used an adapter with AC output, which fried the “force feedback” (?) component of a racing wheel.
1. 2 x 5-port Linksys 10/100 switches. I brought one to the office for our lab.
2. D-Link switch.
3. Antec 350W SmartPower power supply (nice!).
4. Yes, that’s a Microsoft brand NIC. And it’s a POS like brother suspected. It gave me ndis.sys BSODs in peetwopee. Some poor soul at Goodwill will likely end up with it. From what my research concluded, this NIC (chipset-related?) can act up under heavy traffic conditions, so it may work fine for a typical end-user.
5. 4 x older ADSTech USB/Firewire enclosures.
6. CD-R/RW?
7. P3 CPU (? MHz).
8. Netgear travel router w/ built-in 802.11g access point.
9. RAM – ???
10. Promise IDE controller card w/ ribbons. UDMA 33/66/100/133?
11. Case fans.