Tag Archives: Gadgets and Nerdery

FreeCycle didn’t work, so maybe one of you wants it.

Posted on by

So, I’ve got this TV that -almost- works. It’s pretty old tech, so I thought someone here might be interested. ? Anyway, this is what I posted in the local FreeCycle group:

I’ve got a Sanyo 91C82 20″ television that I’d like to get rid of.

I’m fairly certain that this was the first color television that my parents ever owned. It’s got rabbit ears, and places for both UHF and VHF antennas. It has an adapter that my brother added, which makes it cable-ready. It does not have any RCA inputs.

The sound works perfectly. The picture, after the TV warms up, seems to have a few issues. There are horizontal sections (not small enough to be lines, really) that are pulled to the right, and this happens 2/3 of the time. When this happens, the color goes way off, but returns to normal when the screen returns to normal.

There was a remote control with it (literally, a “clicker”, I remember the loud click sound the remote would make when you pressed one of the buttons), but neither I nor my parents have any idea where it is. So, no remote control with the television.

I am no TV repairman, but I thought that someone here might be interested in taking this off of my hands. First come, first serve. Please contact me via email only.

Edit: There’s even a service manual listed on eBay. Heh.

Sans Angst

Posted on by

There was a speech that was made before the President’s speech. It was made by a New Yorker, and one who lost friends in the destruction of the World Trade Center. This person is a veteran sports broadcaster, and one smart cookie. I recommend reading, watching, or listening to his speech.

I also recommend, if you intend on speaking with me about politics, or about this disaster, that you have sources ready to cite, and facts that have been checked. Christopher Chase has a good example of this right here.

In unrelated news, I have a nagging suspicion that the hard drive in my iBook is on its way out. Either it’s a self-contained group of sectors, or it’s a growing fault. Apple’s disk utility doesn’t see a problem, but I’m getting some pretty consistent read/write errors. I think I may pester to see if I can boot my iBook as a firewire drive and have Norton take a look at it. Hey, wait, MSU’s computers have Norton Systemworks installed. So all I’d need is a firewire cable and some free time. Huh. The benefits of studenthood.

got the job at LiquidWeb! Yay! More tomorrow, as my computer has defeated me and my belly is full.

Bits and bobs.

Posted on by

From Jim Macdonald, in the RSS feed:

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/makinglight/267969.html

—

Apparently, I need to upgrade my OS to MacOs 10.4.x to be able to sync my Motorola Razr v3c, with either bluetooth or USB. Turns out, no matter what I do, I can’t transfer files over USB – it has to be bluetooth.

So, the mini USB port on the phone is for charging, and for contact/calendar syncing only. Is it me, or is that stupid? I mean, allowing -some- data on the phone to be accessible via both connection techniques, but not all.

If you’re going to enable USB data transfer -at all- on a phone, just go whole hog. Let the filesystem be recognized as a USB drive. For serious.

I’m all for adding Bluetooth to my iBook, but it looks like I’m going to have to hack my Mac to do it. Or deal with an annoying little dongle/USB adapter.

Then again, this is certainly tempting.

That would mean the upgrade process would go something like this:

  1. Replace dying CD/ROM drive with used Combo drive (from eBay).
  2. Upgrade to MacOS 10.4 (from eBay), or 10.5, if it’s out by then.
  3. Add aforementioned Bluetooth mouse with USB bluetooth adapter.

If I wasn’t planning on making these upgrades to my iBook eventually anyway, this would seem crazy. :) I still hold firm that old hardware is both useful and upgradable, especially with the miracle that is eBay.

Hell, I just got a 512 SODIMM for ‘s iBook (traded gaming books for it) for $28 on eBay.

—

has a new website. A home page, even.

http://stormtheworld.us

—

In the category of news that is also good, I have this guy now:

His legs have to be positioned -just so- to not look like they’re broken. Side-effect of his alternate mode, methinks.

—

More later, I’m certain. :)

Optimus Prime and Elita-1

Posted on by

My bookshelf is lighter to the tune of $400 worth of gaming books. ‘s backpack is heavier to the tune of a G4 iBook.

Good trade. :)

She named it Elita One, so in response, I changed my iBook’s name from Magnus to OptimusPrime. Magnus is all yours, .

What do you mean, we’re nerds? Geeks? I don’t grok what you’re saying. ;)

I move from morning to afternoon shift for tomorrow. Gotta remember to call to see if he’s planning on giving me a ride. Also, MSU bill gets paid off tomorrow, and I need to finalize/get an override for my upcoming 日本語 class.

RANTY McRANTerson, Esq.

Posted on by

I bought the PS2 so that I could play both games (mostly PS1, though the access to both PS1 and PS2 libraries is fantastic) and watch DVDs in my office. I have a small TV (13″ or so), that happens to be a TV/VCR combo unit.

This was bought in 1995, so that I’d have a TV for my dorm room. The VCR combo bit was hugely convenient, as I love movies.

The VCR part eats tapes now. I’m gonna fix it, but it doesn’t work. I CANNOT record anything with it.

And yet, when a DVD is played through my PS2, I get copy protection retardation.

I CANNOT PLAY A DVD THAT I LEGALLY PURCHASED THROUGH A PLAYER THAT I LEGALLY PURCHASED ON A TV THAT I LEGALLY PURCHASED. Okay, that my parents legally purchased.

Now I have to hook up an R/F modulator (that I already own because I’m USED to this horse shit), and consume more electricity.

Irate isn’t even the word.

All this makes me want to do is tape DVDs, once the modulator is set up and the VCR portion is fixed, and give them to people. Not that I will, but I freakin’ WANT to.

Death and destruction.

Update: Since the copy protection trigger lies in the TV itself, the R/F modulator does nothing. The irony, of course, is that while our big-screen TV, inherited from , is dead, this thing just keeps going.

Lesson learned: Never, EVER buy a TV combined with anything else.

Successful day as a consumer.

Posted on by

Holy crap, there’s a lot of email backed up in my Smart Networks account. Clearly I need to start making weekly time to get back on the horse for this. As it is, I’m working OT at LiquidWeb tomorrow, so tonight ended up being the only time.

Buying used has been a success today! I have scored:

  • USB-to-mini-USB 5-pin cable for my Motorola Razr.(got sick of borrowing the one from Benny’s Palm)
  • 512 MB of RAM for my iBook
  • A Sony PS2, so that I can play games and DVD’s in my office. Now all I need to do is fix the VCR part of the TV/VCR combo, and I’ll be all set.

also scored in the upgrade-what-you’ve-already-got category by purchasing an LED upgrade kit for her mini Mag light. I’m going to see how hers works out, then will likely purchase another from ThinkGeek.

All of the money used to purchase this was gotten from selling off things that I don’t need to those that will find a use for them. This makes me unspeakably happy.

I need to tell you these things.

Posted on by

I put that title on here, and my fingers freeze on the keyboard for thirty seconds.

I won these, and they are a sweet pair of headphones. They even block out the crazy Theio’s regular cackle and shouting. This makes me very happy.

I’m hoping that someone buys this, just like I hope they buy whatever else I’ve been putting up on eBay for the last couple of months. I mean, my Amazon.com Marketplace sales just never seem to stop, and eBay, for the most part, has followed suit.

The old Compaq laptop from Nate and Cheryl is next. Definitely for parts. Motherboard is very, very unhappy. Then there’s ‘s RAM and parting and selling Tom‘s desktop units. I am clearly going to have to purchase a postal scale.

Also on the list of purchases is more RAM for my iBook, a USB/mini-USB cable for getting images, movies, and such off of my phone, and hopefully a PS/2. I’m going to try to get these things used locally first (except for the cable), and then hit up teh intarweb.

It still makes more sense for me to buy used. Why would I encourage more new things to be made, when there are perfectly good used things out there that don’t need more resources to be expended in making them? Oh, I’ve got to remember to put up my copy of Asheron’s Call for sale.

Tonight is the season premiere of Stargate: SG1 and Stargate: Atlantis on the SciFi channel. and I are heading out to LiquidWeb and taking wholesale advantage of the mini theater in their lounge. Have I mentioned how much I’m loving my new job?

I’m tired, and it’s the kind of tired that makes me feel like my days have been really full lately. I’ve been learning SO much, and I still have to read a DNS/BIND book for work.

I have some thoughts that I need to get out about the Steven comic, but that will probably wait until tomorrow. For now, check this out.

Thinking about operating systems

Posted on by

The other day, got me thinking about switching window managers from Gnome to FluxBox on my work machine. Considering, mind you. Mulling it over. Swishing it around, so to speak.

This got me thinking about other things. Things like LiteStep from back in the day. I couldn’t remember the name of it when I was thinking about it, but this article about ReactOS, linked to by SlashDot, had a reference to it in one of the comments.

Good article, by the way.

Now, on the original topic of window managers, I decided to check out KDE. I was all like, “Wait, that’s what Knoppix uses!” I’ve used it on my own machines, after being introduced to it at a Penguicon.

I got to wondering, what if the K in Knoppix stood for KDE? I mean, it’s pronounced as if the K wasn’t even there, right? Kind of like the G in Gnome (if you’ve ever played AD&D, that is). So, I wonder if there’s a Gnoppix! Well, there is. Not only that, but Gnoppix is based on… wait for it… Ubuntu.

What cracks me up is that Gnoppix, Knoppix, and Ubuntu are all derivatives of Debian.

Well, it cracks ME up.

UPDATE: Looks like that article on ReactOS got slashdotted. Whoops.