Monday, 4 July 2011

[Solved] Front LED Too Bright

One of the issues we have with the MP45-BDR (which otherwise is an awesome little HTPC for the living room) is that the blue LED on the front is VERY BRIGHT. It also blinks when the little one goes to sleep, almost as if a pulsar is approaching.


I looked into tweaking the voltage to the LED but the risk/reward pay-off wasn't there.


Instead I have opted for a small piece of transparent plastic which I shaded in with a Sharpie.


Further Info:

Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Saturday, 21 May 2011

[Solved] To NAS or Not to NAS

After the stupid Inspiron 5150 died, we got the Asus Ezy PC. Then we relocated the HTPC to the study and started using Ethernet over Powerline to stream from the HTPC to the MP45-BDR.  This set-up works ok and even has WAF.


BUT
Somehow we filled up the 2x1TB drives on the HTPC, so the question becomes, is the Next Project a NAS or is it a new media PC (Sandy Bridge?) to replace the one at Lorne?  In particular, I am intrigued by the promise of WiDi 2.0, which might solve the problem of the bad connection infrastructure at Lorne.


SOLUTION?
In the end I went with upgrading the HTPC HDDs to 2x2TB HDDs.  I used WD Caviar Greens (combination of low power consumption and "brand name" reliability) so now we have 4TB of storage capacity (plus the old 1TB drives can be used in the Next Project).


Switching over the drives was fairly standard but, partly for fun, I installed a new USB3.0 card, and then used a cheap HDD dock to transfer the files (max speed observed was about 49MB/s - not earth-shattering but much faster than the USB2.0 speeds I was looking at, plus now I can use USB3.0 devices).


Now to copy those archived files onto the new HDDs and fill them up too.

Saturday, 30 April 2011

eBay Results

Netcomm NP204 Powerline Adapters $102.50









Cotton Hammock $5.00 (donated to charity)











USB Multi-Display Adapter $20







DVico FusionHDTV DVT-T Nano $11.83











Intel 2.4GHz 4MB Core 2 Duo T7700 $60


Bose 301 Series IV Direct/Reflecting Speakers $208.50











Aiwa HV-MX100u VCR $25




 Alan Pinkus Ladies Gold & Silver open toe heels size 9 $1.25
Bose Lifestyle 5 Series II $415

Monday, 21 March 2011

Saturday, 12 February 2011

Windows 7 Starter Kit

The stupid Dell Inspiron 5150 finally died (well not really, it hangs on boot, but I can't be bothered to reinstall everything again).


Time to upgrade! Especially since Ezzy needs a new laptop for her Ph.D.


We chose the Asus Ezy PC 1215N (Black) based on size, looks, and ability to run some basic apps.


Here's what I'm installing this afternoon:


Further Info:
Windows XP Starter Kit
2nd Baby Arrived (father doing well)
Baby News
RKHTPC

Thursday, 30 December 2010

Xmas 2010 Menu

  • Chicken drumlets in honey & soy
  • Beijing "lobah" duck
  • Cha siu
  • Potato salad
  • Bok choy noodle salad
  • Pumpkin, pine nut & pomegranate salad
  • Fresh cooked prawns

Thursday, 11 November 2010

Sunday, 10 October 2010

Who said...

Genius is born - not paid.


One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.


This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.


Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.


Thought: Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage.


Happiness depends upon ourselves.


An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.


If you're at Thanksgiving dinner, but you don't like the stuffing or the cranberry sauce or anything else, just pretend like you're eating it, but instead, put it all in your lap and form it into a big mushy ball. Then, later, when you're out back having cigars with the boys, let out a big fake cough and throw the ball to the ground. Then say, "Boy, these are good cigars!"

Further Info:
Good Memes Never Die
Jack Handey Quotes

Tuesday, 21 September 2010

New Puppy!

iPhone 4
Time to customise ringtone + SMS tone = 1 hour + #ERR

HTC Legend
Time to customise everything = considerably less

Further Info:

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

T-Shirts &/Or Android Apps I'd Like to See

REGION FREE

KDE 4.4 ≠ Gnome 2.3

CONTAINS ACCELEROMETER :)

小皇帝

R.I.P. MIX. BURN.

WE'RE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT

Try fewer keywords, dude

204 ERROR

PSEUDORANDOM PANDA

Monday, 7 June 2010

Who said...

"Who's doing what with huh?"

"Donald where's your trousers?"

"I know what that word means."
"And yet you still won't tell me!"

"Because one egg is un oeuf!"

"It all makes sense, in the comics you know who the arch villain is going to be. He's the exact opposite of the hero! And most time's they're friends like you, and me."

"Oh, we got both kinds, country AND western!"

"An angel doesn't make love. An angel is love."

"It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible!"

"Can everybody just notice how much fire I'm not on?"

"Hi, my name's Plenty"

"You just shot at your imaginary friend next to a truck full of 400lbs of nitroglycerine!"

"I'm a mean hm... hm... servant of God."

"No, the towels you can keep."

"I could stand to hear a little more."

"Or the fact that you steal my clothes?"

"Miggs is dead."

"Oh yes! A bolt of lightning into a huge copper conductor. I thought you lived at a school?"

"I'm not locked in here with you! You're locked in here with ME!"

"Bite my shiny metal ass!"

Sunday, 9 May 2010

Windows XP Starter Kit

I can sense another imminent failure of our crappy Dell Inspiron 5150, so I'm setting out a list of software installed on this 'computer' to help with future re-installs:

Alternatively, I may just give up on Microsoft and give Kubuntu 10.04 a try.  Or on the other hand, maybe it's time to put the second child to work.

Further Info:

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Saturday, 16 January 2010

Who said...

"IT MEANS HE GETS RESULTS, YOU STUPID CHIEF!!"

"Did any of them manage to miss you?"

"That's not strictly true. You still have your teeth."

“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster by your side, kid."

"I aim to misbehave."

"Inconceivable!"

"I'm no punk bitch!"

"The details of my life are quite inconsequential."

"Protection from who? Zee Germans?"

"Get away from her you BITCH!"

"Don't even think about it. I'm better off on my own."

"It's not a tumor!"

"He doesn't know about the three seashells!"

"I'm sorry my responses are limited."

"I'll go. I'll go. I'll go. I'll go. I'll go."

"I think I speak for everyone here when I say, 'huh?'"

"Live every week like it's SHARK WEEK!"

Tuesday, 29 December 2009

NYE2009 Menu

Finger Food:
  • San choi bao (veg)
  • Chicken drumlets in honey & soy
  • Steamed dumplings (veg)
  • Cha siu rolls
  • Bok choy salad (veg)
  • Assorted chips/snacks
Dessert
  • Summer berry sorbet
  • Fresh fruit