Catwalker

Well, there are just a few days left in 2011, it has been a roller coaster ride of a year, in many respects. I haven't posted anything of significance this year, thought I posted more than last year. I may get up the steam to re-post some postings I took down earlier: A new electronic project on the go... (However I want to get it to the stage where it works, and some official twit doesn't think I'm building something unsavoury....) Also - some model projects coming up, including a scratch-build if I can get around to it. Stay tuned. じゃまた

What is wrong with the current crop of open source programmers? On the heels of Ubuntu's Unity and Gnome 3 shell is Firefox 4. Overall I don't mind Firefox 4, but why do the current crop of programmers have to change things so drastically? Sometimes users will install updated software and find old stand bys (which worked) taken and replaced by something grossly obscure. I am referring in this case to the padlock. What? The Padlock? Yes, the padlock. I went to a secure sight today (one which I had gone to in the past with previous versions of Firefox) and the padlock was no where to be seen. What happened, I thought to myself. Is the sight no longer secure? I looked and looked in settings but couldn't find that icon anywhere. Off to Google, my search revealed that it was gone and replaced by a more obscure "identity button". Well done guys. Why are programmers deciding they know what's best for the community? Why replace something which everyone who uses these features are familiar with? This is not a specific poke at the Firefox team, it's all of us who code or create interfaces. This seems to be an adoption of the Micro$oft way; changing things either for something to do, or changing things because you can. じゃ　また

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Yesterday Smart-UPS 1500 Today:

2 more smart-UPS 1500 units
PLUS these: 2 Smart-UPS 2200 Units
30 pounds heavier....
Each
Ouch.
Sum total: 8 units That's approximately 545 pounds of equipment...

One more (small one) to go...
One to move (put in the wrong location - oh well) 

 

じゃまた

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These:

Are APC Smart-UPS rack-mount UPS units.
I installed 4 of them today. Throw in the rack mount brackets, screws, a network card and they weigh in at close to 61 pounds (each). Ouch. No hernia (yet) But my muscles are a tad on the sore side. 

 

 

じゃまた

Who determines how one is to be productive, and what constitutes good work flow? I was always under the impression that when it came to MY work habits, I did However Ubuntu, with it's cripple-ware called Unity, and Gnome with Gnome 3 shell seem to think they do... I have been an Ubuntu user since the 4.x series and a Gnome user since it came out. I hope you folks can get it together, because your idea of a work flow doesn't work for me, sorry. However Mint 11/XFCE or KDE versions is starting to look inviting. As much as I despise KDE, I may be forced to switch until Ubuntu or Gnome (or both) get their respective acts back together. Ubuntu and Gnome both seem to be getting a run on jumping the shark.

I feel sorry for you.

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Albert Einstein, "Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium", 1941 US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955

 As I said before... I went on a bit of a parts buying, engineering sample requesting binge: Close up:

So many parts and projects,
so little time. :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

では　また

I will have another picture in a couple of days, but I went kind of crazy and went on parts buying binge... Oh Boy. では　また

Thought I would do a "Don't Ya Just Hate..." type of posting. In this case: Don't Ya Just Hate...
People who insist on pushing the crosswalk button a thousand times, probably thinking the more they push it, the faster it will change? Knock yourselves out folks, it aint gonna help. Whatever makes you feel better. :) But it's just that the buttons around here (Similar to the second image in this posting) beep when you punch them, and it is so annoying standing there for five minutes listening to it over and over and over and over..... Again.. .
Okay folks here's a clue, all they do (here anyway) when you push them is trigger the pedestrian crossing signal W*H*E*N the lights in the intersection change. Contary to some posts I have seen on some other blogs, yes they do something, not much, but they do something. If you don't push them (around here, anyway) the walk signal will not change from don't walk, to walk. では　また

I have this habit of taking forever to post... As promised, here is the completed Micro-controller programmer:
This is the Open programmer mentioned previously. It works very well, under either Windows or Linux. I used it to create this:
It's a mess, I know, but it works, the I.C. is a 16F84A PIC Micro-controller loaded with a test program. I just bought 4, 2x16 LCD panels off of ebay and needed to make sure they were good before I left any feedback. All 4 units functioned properly and now all the parts are back in the junk box. The breadboard is a unit I received from the estate of a local ham radio operator who passed away.



That was 30 years ago. YIKES! The purpose of this is the next set of projects:

• Transistor checker
• L-C meter
• Frequency counter

I will of course eventually get around to those guitar pedals. ;) ではまた