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Steve and I did our first trip.  Almost 300 miles to the dot from Grand Junction to Gateway, Bedrock, then up to Moab Ut and back home on I70.

Make Model	Yamaha XS 400R
Year	1982
Engine	Air cooled, parallel twin cylinder, DOHC, 2 valves per cylinder.
Capacity	399
Bore x Stroke	69 ? 53.4 mm
Compression Ratio	9.7:1
Induction	2X 34mm Mikuni
Ignition  /  Starting
Max Power	45 hp @ 9500 rpm
Max Torque	3.5 kg-m @ 8000 rpm
Transmission  /  Drive	6  Speed  /  chain
Front Suspension	35mm Forks, 145mm wheel travel,
Rear Suspension	Single shock adjustable spring preload, 96mm wheel travel.
Front Brakes	Single disc
Rear Brakes	Drum
Front Tyre	3.00-18
Rear Tyre	4.10-18
Dry-Weight	169 kg
Fuel Capacity	18 Litres
Consumption  average	52.0 mpg
Standing ¼ Mile	14.0 sec  /  92 mph

Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 in one of our labs was only doing about 1 second or 15 frames of  video playback for any network user. It would do this with any video track and then just stop, or start those 15 frames again.  I thought at first it was a file permission issue and it turned out is sorta is.

To fix the problem log in with a admin account.

Open Adobe Premiere Pro  and start a blank new project

Next go to Premier Pro -> Preferences -> Audio Hardware

Next Change  Built-in Output  to System Default Input/Output

My first clue this was the problem was when this was done under a network account the application would crash.

This sets a default for all other users and fixes the playback problem we were having.

Good: Work buys IT guy iPad.
Bad: The Apple iPad case is sold out until mid July

My new iPad came in yesterday and i’m loving it, but caring with out a case it leaving me feeling “exposed to theft”.   I needed a case also to protect it from scratches, but didn’t want to spend any $ because I have a real case coming in July.  Last it would be nice to have a place for a cleaning cloth, cables, wall adaper, camera kit, and so on.

This is what I cam up with…

What you will need

1. Old pair of blue jeans
2. Gorilla Glue
3. Utility knife
4. Old hard drives / or other weight

Step 1.

Remove a back pocket from the blue jeans.  If you mess up you have a second try.

Step 2

Lay our iPad below the seam of one of the pant legs. Then cut off the leg about 3/4 of an inch below the iPad


Step 3

Turn the cut off pant leg bottom inside out and role back one edge.   Place a drop of Gorila glue every 1/2 inch or so on both sides of pant leg.   We will role the seam “up” to create a stronger hold then just gluing the two sides together.

Roll edge up toward top of case to create a seam
Place weights on edge and lest set for 45 minutes or tell glue has firmed up.

Step 4
Place a dab of glue every 1/2 inch on back side of the pocket.  Try and keep back form the outer edege a bit, the glue expands and a white hard “bubble” will appear if too close to edge.

Now attach cut jeans pocket to side of case

Place old hard drives on pocket, or other weights, to hold in place until the glue sets up.

All done

This case will protect from any tools in my bag.  The case also doesn’t scream, “iPad here, grab it” when you’re caring it.

I wanted holidays in my iCalendar and found a great little link to do so.

webcal://ical.mac.com/ical/US32Holidays.ics

To use it open iCal and under Calendar click Subscribe and past the link above in.     Works like a charm.

Found it here http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=228670

I bought a GlobalSat 615m a few years back for a great price of around $150. The GPS watch works great and it’s very handy to have both hands “free” while climbing around looking for geocaches.   The one big problem is lack of software for uploading geocaches. After doing some Googleing I found this project Replacement for the craptastic software shipped with the Globalsat GH615This allows you to easily upload waypoints to the GH615M.     Now the problem was getting a Geocaching loc file to a waypoints.txt file.    http://www.geocaching.com/waypoints/default.aspxWorking with my friend Eppler made this site EpplerSoft It converts the loc file to the format needed by Gh615 project.

• Download the project files from http://code.google.com/p/gh615/
• I put the file contents in c:\gps\
• Using the read me in the folder configure the settings for your GPS.   I had to change com2 to com3 but that was it.
• Next go to Start -> Run -> and type CMD
• Go to your GPS folder.  cd c:\gps
• run gh600_console.exe
• Make sure your watch is on -> plugged in -> and under “configuration” set to “DATA LINK TO PC”
• At  ”=>”  type “e” to download any current waypoints.  This is an easy test to make sure it’s working.
• Next go over to your  geocaching.com account.  Search for geocaches near you
• At the bottom of the page click “Check All”  then click on “Download Waypoints”
• Save the geocaching.loc file to your desktop
• Next right click on gecoaching.loc and choose open.  It should show a list of program s and choose Notepad
• Select all the text, ctrl+a, then copy it, ctrl+c
• Next visit Eppler’s page http://epplersoft.com/gpx/?Paste the contents we just copied into the text box, ctrl+v.
• Chose the icon you want for your geocaches, I use flag
• Make sure XML type is set to LOC
• Click convert.
• Now do Ctrl+a and Ctrl+c  or Edit select all then edit copy
• Back in notepad click file new
• Next past the website content into this new window
• Go to file save as
• Save it as waypoints.txt in your GPS folder,,, c:\gps\
• Now back in the command window type in “f” at =>
• If all goes well you’ll see the GPS saying receiving waypoints and the command window say uploaded x amount of waypoints!
• Each way point will now show up on the gps with the cach name, such as GC1MKK7

It’s a little long but works well for getting Geo Caching data to your GH-615

Thanks to Steven Eppler & Speigei  for thier work

How I converted a “dead” Apple MacBook to a Mac Pro Ultra Mini.Digg it here

Welcome Digg, Hack A Day, engadget, & GIZMODO users

 A Little Background:  I was given a “dead”  13″ MacBook that had water poured on it.   After taking it apart and testing I found that the motherboard was still good but everything else was dead.   The screen, dvd drive, battery, hard drive, ram, left speaker, CPU fan, top case / keyboard all were fried.  Water seems to be a very good tool in making an $1,100 paper weight.A few hours of solder / hot-gluing I got it up and running with new ram and a new hard drive.  I re-soldered the cooling fan and the right speaker to get them working. The left speaker connection was dead on the motherboard.  The airport card “sees” wireless networks but fails when trying to connect, but the Ethernet port worked.  I ran the unit for a few weeks with an external monitor with no problems.  It works great as a multi-media machine for my LCD TV.Browsing the web I found a Mac Mini Mod to make it look like a Mac Pro.  I started thinking it might be fun to make 20% of a MacBook look like Mac Pro Ultra Mini.  Looking at the motherboard I found it was slightly larger than a full sized hard drive.  Next I found a few external hard drive cases that looked like a Mac Pro.  The first one I found was the iomega UltraMax Pro 33744 Hard Drive.  I couldn’t find a retail site  that sold just the case and at almost $450 was not an option. Then I found the Macally G-S350SUA Aluminum External Enclosure for only $40.It looked like a Mac Pro, front mounted power button, & all aluminum case.

The PDF manual and all the specs I could find listed did not specify the overall case size.  I enlarged the PDF to the actual size scale using the FireWire port to judge scale.   The MacBook’s motherboard is  4.83″ x 7″ inches and doing an estimation I found that the board just might fit in the case.  I also found a Flickr set that had these images.  Looking at the construction I figured I could mod the case to support the motherboard and still have it open up if needed for service.

Once the case arrived (UPS lost it for a week) I set to work taking it all apart and seeing what I had to work with. Click on the images for a larger view

I quickly saw the motherboard wasn’t going to fit without cutting off the bottom of the HD case.  I did see that the case would be tall enough with the legs to house the motherboard.  I also measured for thickness to see if  the notebook hard drive would fit once the motherboard was mounted.  Next I cut parts off of the inner hard drive mount so that all ports would be accessible from behind.  After a few extra cuts and grindings I was ready to attach the motherboard.

Looking at the old Macbook case all the motherboard support mounts were molded into the plastic case.  I decided to reuse some of the plastic, removed all of the metal frame, and cut it down to size. Next I placed small holes in the plastic near the hard drive mount holes on the external hard drive mount frame.  I then zip-tied the old case to the frame.   I was going glue or screw it in place but this gave me some adjustment room if needed.  You can see the cut case and frame below.

You can see the first dry fit below

 

Next came cooling.  I placed 3  1/2″ holes on the top for the cooling fan.  I placed the metal on a wood box to support it while drilling with the drill press.

Once all was aligned I tightened the zip tie and tested for strength.  Finding all was well I moved on to the next step of the power button.  You can see in the images below a small ribbon cable.  The cable runs to the keyboard / track pad / power button / and top-case.    Tracing the power button leads back to the ribbon cable was done with a voltage tester.   I found that if you went from the ground to the fourth pen from the left it would bring up the shut down message box.  This is important because I had the power setting set to “power up” after a power failure.  If I had ever done a shutdown instead of a reboot I couldn’t have powered the notebook back up.  Finding the leads was easy compared to connecting  them to the power switch on the front.  As you can see below they were very small.

Carefully removing the ribbon connection under the track pad and then removing the extra pins,  I soldered the red lead to the 4th pin.  I then scraped off some of the protection coating and soldered the black wire to the ribbon’s ground wire.  I did not connect the green wire which powers the blue LED built into the power button. The LED is much too bright when the lights are out in my living room.

After covering the connections with a hot glue gun I did several tests insuring  a good connection and that no short-circuits were occurring on the other pins. Side note:  I solder about as well as I weld, both are not pretty but they hold

Next step was to mount the hard Drive.   The original configuration used a long cable for the SATA connection so I had some options.  My first thought was about heat so I did not want to mount it above the cooling fan.   Looking at the old case the hard drive is stored inside a metal frame.  Removing  just the “cage” I made a few holes in it.  I used longer screws in one of the CPU heat-sink and the wifi card.    I added some hot glue to the bottom where any contact might be made to prevent shorting.  This still allowed the unit to slide into its  housing while providing a strong mounting spot.   I ran before and after temperature tests using Hardware Montior and found the new configuration runs just a few degrees hotter.

 You can also see I mounted the magnetic power connection on top of the Ethernet port.  I also temporarily added electrical tape to the top of the ram and board to keep down the chance of electrostatic sparking from the desk.  The working right speaker & “sub woofer” are also mounted up front.   The IR and white LED where damaged by the water.

Last I slid it back into the outer case and put a small bar with a screen on it in the center of the back of the case to keep the outer and inner case parts from moving.    That was it!  I now have a Ultra Mini Mac Pro.   I’ve watched a few HD Movies and did some stress test to make sure it would not over heat and all is well.    After a  week or so I’m going to take the out case down to the local high school and use the laser etcher to place an Apple logo on the side.   I will post the finished photos here along with more shots of the finished case.

26,000+ Unique Visitors in the last 3 days! Thanks for all the interest

Note: I didn’t write this list but I found it reddit.com and thought i would share.

1. If you ask me technical questions please don’t argue with me because you don’t like my answer. If you think you know more about the topic, why ask? And if I’m arguing with you…it’s because I am positive that I am correct, otherwise I’d just say “I don’t know” or give you some tips on where to look it up, I don’t have the time to just argue for the sake of it.
2. Starting a conversation by insulting yourself (i.e. “I’m such an idiot”) will not make me laugh, or feel sorry for you; all it will do is remind me that yes, you are an idiot and that I am going to hate having to talk to you. Trust me; you don’t want to start a call that way.
3. I am ok with you making mistakes, fixing them is my job. I am not ok with you lying to me about a mistake you made. It makes it much harder to resolve and thus makes my job more difficult. Be honest and we can get the problem resolved and continue on with our business.
4. There is no magic “Fix it” button. Everything takes some amount of work to fix, and not everything is worth fixing or even possible to fix. If I say that you just need to re-do a document that you accidentally deleted 2 months ago, please don’t get mad at me. I’m not ignoring your problem, and it’s not that I don’t like you, I just cant always fix everything.
5. Not everything you ask me to do is “urgent”. In fact, by marking things as “urgent” every time, you almost ensure that I treat none of it as a priority.

 




6. You are not the only one who needs help, and you usually don’t have the most urgent issue. Give me some time to get to your problem, it will get fixed.
7. Emailing me several times about the same issue in the same day is not only unnecessary, it’s highly annoying. Emails will stay until I delete them, I won’t delete them until I’m done with them. I will typically respond as soon as I have a useful update. If it is an urgent issue, let me know (see number 5).
8. Yes, I prefer email over telephone calls. It has nothing to do with being friendly, it’s about efficiency. It is much faster and easier for me to list out a set of questions that I need you to answer than it is for me to call and ask you them one by one. You can find the answers at your leisure and while I’m waiting I can work on other problems.
9. Yes, I seem blunt and rude. It’s not that I mean to, I just don’t have the time to sugar coat things for you. I assume we are both adults and can handle the reality of a problem. If you did something wrong, I will tell you. I don’t care that it was a mistake, because it really makes no difference to me. Don’t take it personal, I just don’t want it to happen again.
10. And finally, yes, I can read your email, I can see what web pages you look at while you are at work, yes, I can access every file on your work computer, and I can tell if you are chatting with people on an instant messenger or chat room (and can also read what you are typing). But no, I don’t do it. It’s unethical, I’m busy, and in all reality you aren’t all that interesting. So unless I am instructed to specifically monitor or investigate your actions, I don’t. There really are much more interesting things on the internet than you.

Steve Wozniak drives a Range Rover?

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