More on BCI, waiting for OpenBCI

Continuing to experiment with the NeuroSky Mindwave. Using Mindwave OSC on a Nexus S (Thanks Carrie!) which communicates with my iMac over OSC. PureData grabs the OSC stream and presents the data in my pd patch. Getting some interesting results -- the biggest problem is that the data stream seems quite erratic, which makes it difficult to correlate my thoughts with the results. 

Missed the Kickstarter for the OpenBCI interface, but looking forward to trying it out. All of the interface software is open source, which should make it easier to experiment with the different brain wave types. As a bonus, the Open BCI interface is capable of processing EKG (heart) and EMG (muscle) sensors.

Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI)

Commercially available, relatively low cost Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) and related software

Is it possible to create music with brain waves? It's a work in progress.

You can find all of my links here : http://delicious.com/tkarches/search/EEG

An incomplete summary :

Mindwave Mobile (Neurosky)

• Retails for $99 (Brainwave Starter Kit)
• Works with Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
• A number of iOS apps (search iTunes store with "neurosky") - most cost $$$
• Brainwave Visualizer (Mac, WIndows) shows all brain frequency bands - almost too much data

BioZen software : http://www.t2.health.mil/apps/biozen

• Neurofeedback software
• Free
• Developed by the military to help soldiers
• Runs on Android devices
• Most input devices supported are based on Neurosky headsets

MindFlex and MindFlex Duel - Toys by Mattel that use the Neurosky electronics. Only uses Attention parameter. Headsets can be modified for full EEG output. These are available relatively cheaply on eBay and Amazon (around $50)

Muse - no product has shipped as far as I can tell - currently taking pre-orders

Melon - another EEG headband, shipping Summer 2014

Bitalino - not for EEG, but is a set of physiological sensors for EMG, EDA, ECG along with a light sensor, an accelerometer and an LED. Can be split up into individual modules. Cost is $150 Euro.

I miss record stores

My son and I went to the local mall yesterday where a new FYE store had opened. While the selection is not great, it was just good enough that I noticed that one of my favorite bands, "Los Amigos Invisibles" had a new album. Actually, they have had 4 albums since I last paid attention.

While the internet is a great resource for finding music, being in a record store provides a much better experience for serendipity. I really miss record stores. I used to stop at the old Record Exchange at least twice per week. I loved their $1 bin. You can take a chance on a $1 CD like you would never would for a $15 CD. Some I bought because I liked the cover.

I need to make the effort to go down to Schoolkids records once/week and buy something there at least once/month, or pretty soon it won't be there.

Switching from AT&T to T-Mobile

I recently switched my phone service from AT&T to T-Mobile. I did not have any particular problems with their service. Other than the typical crazy business practices that only mobile phone providers can get away with. I have 3 iPhone 4 devices on my account, and two of them are out of contract. Since T-Mobile has separated the phone subsidy from the service costs, I was able to reduce my phone bill from $190 to $90. This did involve paying the Early Termination Fee for one of the iPhones, which was $145. This was a no brainer as I can make back the savings in under 2 months.

I investigated the differences in coverage, and AT&T's 3G coverage is slightly better than T-Mobile's. Interestingly, T-Mobile's Edge (2G) coverage was slightly better than AT&T.

Having done this, There are other carriers (MVNOs) that will let you "bring your own phone", so your options are not limited to T-Mobile. Understand that these MVNO carriers use the infrastructure of AT&T and T-Mobile, so your coverage will not get any better than it would be with either of those carriers

I have some observations and suggestions for those that may want to consider changing carriers :

• If you are planning to use unlocked phones, make sure you can get them unlocked. AT&T policy is that they will unlock iPhones that are out of contract with no outstanding charges (including ETF fees)
• Carefully calculate your ETF liability. Payback is much longer if you have a substantial amount of contract remaining.
• As contracts on your phones expire, get them unlocked, then test with a non-AT&T SIM to confirm the unlock
• If you wish to keep your existing numbers, initiate the change process at the destination carrier. If you cancel service for your existing phone lines, the numbers will go back into the pool of available numbers
• As for timing, I would switch less than a week before your billing date. This will minimize the time you will have to wait to close out your old account. If you will need to pay ETF fees, the unlock process may be delayed until the final bill was paid. I mistakenly switched a few days AFTER my billing date, and had the potential of having that third phone unusable for 3 weeks. Fortunately, AT&T was cooperative and performed the unlock once I called them to explain the situation. I did have to call them twice, but everything was very cordial.

So far so good. The only thing I miss so far is being able to forward emails to SMS. Setting this up in GMail involves typing in a confirmation code to verify that the destination address is valid. Unfortunately, T-Mobile's gateway cuts off the message after 160 characters and the confirmation code does not make it through.

Ubuntu does not remove old kernels

Ubuntu 12.10 does not do a good job of cleaning up old kernels. If you do a default install and allow Ubuntu to partition your disk, the /boot partition may fill up with no warning. Easy solution : install Ubuntu Tweak to clean out the old kernels.

Once installed :

1. Run Tweak and click the "Janitor" button
2. Click the checkbox next to "Old Kernel" under "System"
3. Click the "Old Kernel" checkbox on the right, then the "Clean" button at the bottom right.

If you want to keep some of the old kernels, click the arrow next to "Old Kernel" checkbox, and they will be listed individually. You can then choose which to delete and which to keep.

Don't recycle electronics, repair them

Don't recycle, repair. My wife is now using two 20 inch Samsung LCD displays that I repaired with a well documented fix found on the internet. Spent about $4 in parts and an hour of my own labor. They were about a week away from being in the landfill. If your late model Samsung or Phillips LCD display/flat screen TV has recently stopped working (my Samsung LCD TV died about 4 years after its' purchase), it is probably easily fixed. --tom

Java is a 4 letter word

Got this today from a friend : Java users beware : Exploit circulating for just patched critical flaw So, Oracle just patched Java (again) and almost immediately that patch is being patched. If we were to sum up the cumulative misery (lost time, lost work, endless patching) that Java has inflicted on humanity, it would be a big number. The whole concept of "the same code runs everywhere" NEVER really worked. Whose time are we saving? --tom

I found an Optigan!

This past weekend, I found something from my musical "Holy Grail" list....an Optigan! The Optigan was built in the 1970's by Mattel Corp. (yes, that Mattel) in Compton, California (yes, that Compton). Wikipedia has a pretty good overview : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optigan The Optigan used samples recorded on circular film stock that looks like a vinyl LP, but you can see through it. Each key on the keyboard was mapped to a separate track on the optical disk. There were also tracks for the chord buttons and 5 special effects buttons. The Optigan was built by a toy company, thus the dodgy build quality. Some internal parts would disintegrate, the rubber idler wheel would get hard and the disk would slip. Nonetheless, the Optigan and its' low-tech sampling capablity has appeared in many commercial recordings (and still does to this day...check out the Optigan Facebook page). My main interest is historical. Here is my Picasa album of the teardown. When I brought it home and plugged it in, for the most part, it worked (this is unusual for Optigans). The special effects buttons were intermittent so I had to take off the top to access the buttons. To remove the top, the sides must be removed because they cover the screws that hold down the top. Yay. The pictures show the state of the internals. Not so bad. While reassembling, a small wire which moves the disk assembly fell out. In order to reinstall the part, I had to pry out an internal panel, replace the part (with forceps) and screw it back together. Another common problem is the idler wheel. The rubber has turned hard and slips on the disk. It can be resurfaced, but requires major disassembly to remove the part. Once I have a service manual (or at least a procedure), I may attempt this.

Raspberry Pi, Puredata and MIDI

My initial test with the Raspberry Pi running Puredata did not go as well as I had hoped. Noticeable noise in the output audio. In my MUS306 class today, MIDI was the topic of discussion. Why not MIDI? Connected my $5 no name MIDI interface to the Pi and started Puredata. Changed the configuration to turn off the audio output and set the MIDI ports. Used my Yamaha QY-10 as the MIDI tone generator. Everything worked perfectly. Now I'd like to see if I can attach controls directly to the GPIO port. This would save me from having to attach another MIDI device.

Hammond Tone Generator - Part 3 - FInding the usable tonewheels

I have tested the outputs of the tone generator...there will be about 60 usable outputs. The other 31 outputs consist of the lower frequencies..the windings on the tonewheel cores include resistance wire which drops the levels significantly. I will have to further dismantle the TG to see if the resistance wire can be bypassed. I don't think that further dismantling is worth the potential of damaging the TG. I know that at least 2 or 3 of the tonewheels are stuck and will be looking at those to see if I can get them working. Fortunately, there appears to be a correlation between the color of the wire from the tonewheel and whether I am seeing usable output. For example, none of the red wires produce usable output. Most of the orange wires provide usable output. If I'm not getting output from an orange wire, something is probably stuck or broken. I have documented all the wire colors and whether I am seeing output. Next step is to recheck the outputs that should be working.

Hammond Tone Generator - Part 2

I have tested all the outputs of the Hammond tone generator. Some of the levels are lower than others, but all are generating output. The levels are too low to be switched by anything other than physical switches, so they must be amplified. Many of the tone generator (TG) outputs are filtered through a LC filter to suppress harmonics and reinforce the fundamental. If I were to bypass this filter, I would have higher levels from each of the TG outputs. Unfortunately, the harmonics are clearly audible without the filter, so the filters must be retained. The lowest 42 tones have resistance wire wound into the coils, which is required when the TG outputs are connected to the various busbars in the organ, but not necessary if I were to replicate the Hammond wiring scheme (61 keys x 9 wires per key = 549 wires per manual). I plan to use the TG in a more novel way, which has yet to be determined. The TG output levels can be increased by moving the core closer to the tone wheel, but external amplification will probably be required.

The amazing Deacy amp

Was listening to Queen's Greatest Hits and was looking up the band members on the internet. Turns out the bassist, John Deacon, was an electrical engineer. In the early days of the band, he FOUND a amplifier circuit board on the street and decided to try and make it useful. He put the amp in a spare speaker cabinet and the Deacy amp was born. http://www.brianmay.com/brian/briannews/briannewsjun05.html In combination with May's Red Special guitar and a treble booster pedal, the classic Queen guitar sound was born. Expensive replicas have been built : http://www.astrings.co.uk/deacy_amp that achieve 85% of the sound. :-)

Hammond Tone Generator Project - Part 1

Early this year, I acquired a tonewheel generator (TWG) from a Hammond series H organ. The H series was rushed into production to compete with offerings from other organ companies, and suffered reliability problems as a result. Here are some photos :

The Tonewheel Chronicles

This TWG had already been removed from the organ and was headed for the dumpster when I picked it up. I have bolted it to a wooden frame to prevent flexing. The Hammond tonewheels organs were produced from 1935 until 1975. Tones were generated by spinning a toothed steel wheel next to an electromagnet. The wheels rotated at a fixed rate, locked to the speed of the synchronous motor. When operating properly, the TWG never went out of tune. This was an improvement over electronic oscillators, where at least 12 oscillators must be tuned to their appropriate pitches. Here is a more extensive description : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonewheel So, what can you do with a TWG from a Hammond organ? First, I needed to test the TWG to make sure that it was operating properly.

Synthesis on the Parallax Propeller

Have been experimenting with audio synthesis on the Parallax Propeller chip. The Propeller is a 8 core multiprocessor chip that can be purchased for $7. It is remarkably capable...the processors share the I/O bus on a time slice basis, so each processor knows when it has access to the I/O bus. Anyway... There is discussion on the forums about a SID Synth project. It runs an emulation of the Commodore 64 SID chip in 4 of the 8 cogs (processors). The processor accepts MIDI input and passes the note commands to the various cogs. Here is a link to the forum discussion : http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?133075-Polyphonic-SIDcog-synth-WIP Even more interesting, the circuit is capable of digital audio output via a simple RCA connector, using the S/PDIF protocol. I am using it with a $20 S/PDIF to Analog audio converter. I have the digital audio working, unfortunately not yet with the SID emulation. WIll be working on this. While this is nothing like having real SID chips, it is pretty impressive for what it can do.

Microsoft Family Security. Useful? Not Really.

I'm trying out Microsoft Family Security on our Windows 7 box. Following is the list of software that my son is "using". Completely accurate, but pretty useless. There are 3 real programs in here : Google Chrome, Nero and Snagit Most of this stuff runs in the background all the time. Apparently there is no way to exclude this background nonsense from the report. I don't want to disallow it, because then everything breaks :

Citrix online plug-in Connection Center 4 hours 8 minutes

Event Monitor User Notification Tool 4 hours 8 minutes

Google Chrome 4 hours 8 minutes

HP QuickPlay Resident Program 4 hours 8 minutes

HPWAMain Module 4 hours 8 minutes

hpwuSchd Application 4 hours 8 minutes

Internet Low-Mic Utility Tool 4 hours 8 minutes

Politics : Don't like the facts? Legislate them away

Our legislature in action : Climate change may be illegal So, if you don't like the science, make it illegal. This is the legislative equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears and saying "La La La, I can't hear you.

Project : Clavinova - where to go from here?

My attempt at repairing the Clavinova CVP-87A did not help (the audio output still sounds terrible), but there was a silver lining. It turns out that the MIDI out still works. I am currently using a Yamaha external MIDI sound module as the sound source. I disconnected the audio output of the mainboard, and connected the audio output of the MIDI module to the external input of the Clavinova. Unfortunately, there is no volume control of the external input -- the volume controls on the Clavinova do not work.

So, it is a perfectly good learning piano. I take my piano lessons on it. I love the way it plays. However, I can only control program changes. The first 10 are on their own buttons, the other 50 are available through more keystrokes. None of the other controls work, including the floppy disk interface. Every key has a corresponding LED, which is used to indicate the position of keyboard splits, among other things.

So my options are :

• Purchase a new mainboard for about $500, which leaves me with a Clavinova and its' 1993 era voicings. Next year it will be 20 years old.
• Do nothing and continue to use it as a piano controller with a bunch of non-functional controls. This is practical, but somehow dissapointing.
• Replace the electronics with something more modern. I have looked at commercially available MIDI controllers. Almost none of them provide for velocity sensing and very few provide for control of 88 keys.

I have thought of building a computer inside the Clavinova. There is plenty of space. I could probably salvage the amplifier boards, but not much else.

Logitech Orbit AF - Only in Ubuntu :-)

Grabbed an old Logitech Orbit AF cam to do some video conferencing. Logitech does not support this device under Windows 7, and Mac OS X does not recognize it. Finally tried Ubuntu 11.10 and the camera WORKS, though the audio does not. Amusing.

It's been awhile : new HP laptop series naming?

It's been a while since I posted. HP has just come out with a new line of laptops -- The HP Spectre. Looked up the definition of spectre on the Free Dictionary : spectre US, specter [ˈspɛktə] n 1. (Spirituality, New Age, Astrology & Self-help / Alternative Belief Systems) a ghost; phantom; apparition 2. a mental image of something unpleasant or menacing the spectre of redundancy Hmmm.

Success : Auto update of Ubuntu 11.04 to 11.10

Did the "click the button" update from Ubuntu 11.04 to 11.10. Zero problems. I did have to ask Mr. Google how to get the old Gnome desktop back. This is the 2nd time I have done a hands off (mostly) Ubuntu upgrade...previously from 10.10 to 11.04. That upgrade was also flawless, but I did have to answer a few questions about keeping files that were to be replaced. I have been using Ubuntu as my primary desktop for the last 3 months, and have been very impressed. The biggest problem with using Ubuntu at NCSU is the problem with configuring the VPN. Which is totally a Cisco problem....their client assumes that Firefox is installed and tries to save the certificate in a .firefox directory. If that directory does not exist, the VPN client fails with a generic message. Why this dependency even exists is puzzling.

Roland - Why such cheap connectors on expensive gear?

I just finished repairing the 2nd piece of Roland music gear in the past two months. Earlier, I removed the audio output jacks from a Roland SPD-S Sampling Pad and replaced them with a cable to an external breakout box. The 1/4 in output jacks are used more than any other connector on the device, but the parts are of poor quality, and mounted in such a way that guarantees their failure. No strain relief is provided -- all the stress of plugging and unplugging audio connectors is absorbed by the connector and its' solder joints. While the connectors are threaded for a mounting nut, the design does not allow them to be added. Original retail on this device was between $500 and $800. Earlier this week, I repaired a Roland RD-700SX Stage Piano. Original retail was likely between $1000 and $2000. The contacts of the power connector were totally mangled. Rather than use a replacement part that would likely fail again, I used a connector from an old piece of test gear.

Open letter to HP

Guys,

I know you are having a hard time right now (and by the way, my HP stock is way down), but this is not the time to be running from the hardware business. My opinions vary on your consumer products, but my ongoing good experiences with your server class hardware tells me that you should keep doing that. Your background in instrumentation and testing gives you a good perspective on how to develop systems that can be monitored and maintained effectively. Keep it up.

--tom

Hammond T-595

From Hammond T-595

My new, old Hammond T-595. The previous owner got as far as painting the organ to match the room. Has a built in Leslie. From the symptoms (hum, very low sound), I'm guessing bad capacitors or a bad output transistor.

The Hammond T-500's were the last of the tonewheel organs that Hammond produced. Tonewheels generate sound via spinning metal discs and electromagnets. The drawbar controls allow a specific mix of harmonics in the output.

Amusingly, the T-500 Hammond incorporates circuitry to eliminate the uniqueness, classic, Hammond B3 sound. Forutunately, The modifications to reverse these "improvements" are well documented.

Project KOW : Console design

The jOrgan software uses "dispositions" as configurations for how a virtual organ will look and sound. When these dispositions are very complex, the control scheme is also complex. Generally, the player will choose combinations of stops and apply them to "pistons" which are basically presets. These pistons are physical controls and are generally located below the manuals, though pistons can be displayed on the computer screen and selected with the mouse, or via a touch screen.

During the performance, the pistons allow rapid changes of stop combinations that could not be achieved by manually changing the stop tabs. My first "proof of concept" organ used a ELO touchscreen, which allowed me to tap the screen to make changes.

So, now to console design. A touchscreen allows access to many stop tabs and pistons, but lacks the tactile feel of real switches. One can glance at physical switches to check and change configurations, but this is much more difficult with touchscreens.

I did extensive research online to help me decide on a design for my console. I have narrowed this down to Schlicker and Holtkamp consoles, as they often used a very minimalist design (some call it ugly) The console that most approximates what I am planning is this Schlicker practice organ :

http://mysite.verizon.net/dalderdi/organ/

Reducing the number of controls allows all controls to be "real" and eliminates the need for a computer display. This will allow me to concentrate more on playing, and less time fiddling. There will be likely fewer than 30 physical control elements, which also makes the console project much more "doable". The thought of wiring even 100 different controls is daunting.

Hardman Wurlitzer in Virginia

The theatre organ that Cameron Carpenter uses on his "Cameron Live!" DVD/CD is located in Great Falls, Virginia near Washington, DC :

http://theatreorgans.com/wurlitzer/

The reconstruction story is very detailed.

An entire building was built for the organ console and pipes. My understanding is that the local zoning board would not allow the owner to build a new structure that was bigger than his house, so the organ "barn" was built as an addition (connected by an enclosed corridor) to his existing house.

Project KOW : The portable organ project

For my current musical project I thought it would be fun to bring a virtual pipe organ to the recent North Carolina Maker Faire, but a traditional organ console was not very practical. I would need something more portable. Portability was necessary for my situation. But what if portability were a design goal rather than an inconvenience?

This requires a rethinking of the organ console, which has remained relatively unchanged for hundreds of years. Since I have only recently started piano lessons, I have no preconceptions of how an organ console should work.

The computer side is relatively easy if your goals are modest.

BUILDING AN ORGAN
The organ that I displayed at MakerFaire was rather minimal -- a touchscreen, a laptop and a 61 note MIDI keyboard. I ran the jOrgan software under Windows XP.

GOALS
My goals for the console design are :
AGO standard manual (keyboard) spacing - An organist can play it
Self-contained - No separate computer
Reduced size and weight - I can carry it
Appliance philosophy - The computer is there, but hidden
Don't reinvent the wheel - Use commercially available parts when practical
Flexibility - Be able to experiment with different interfaces without having to start the project over
Modularity - Be able to expand without having to start over

Next : Design

KOW (Karches Organ Works) at MakerFaire NC

The response to my VPO project at MakerFaire was tremendous. Thanks to everyone that came out. I will be adding more information shortly.

Building a VPO console

For those of you that saw my VPO setup at MakerFaire North Carolina, I have added some links in the sidebar to VPO related sites and resources.

VPO software
If you want to try out VPO software without having to install software to your hard drive, I would try the jOrganPup distribution which boots from a USB key and runs on most PC hardware. It runs very well on older hardware.

The MidiTizer software is an emulation of a theater pipe organ. It is more complex than jOrgan Pup and is intended to run under Microsoft Windows. There is a version that runs in the WINE Windows emulator under Puppy Linux.

The Hauptwerk software is a commercial product that run on Mac OSX or Windows. There is substantial documentation on line. It will run in a limited "free mode" or with a license key. The free and purchased versions are the same...the USB license key activates the additional functionality.

VPO Hardware
M-Audio Keystation 61es - this is a semi-weighted keyboard which is often used in DIY organ consoles. I have been buying my 61es keyboards from Unique Squared, an eBay vendor that sells B-Stock keyboards that have minor blemishes (usually on the case and are fully guaranteed) for $124. Since I am removing them from the case, the blemishes are usually irrelevant. Brand new are about $170, so this saves about $50/keyboard. I have ordered 2 and they are both fine.

MakerFaire tomorrow : KOW Opus 1.0 and Flag-O-Matic

Just about ready for MakerFaire tomorrow. Will have my VPO project (KOW Opus 1.0) and Dad's Flag-O-Matic prototype on display.

MacBook Pro : Post Mortem

I was recently given a 17 inch MacBook Pro by an acquaintance. A very DEAD MacBook Pro. His son had spilled a drink into the keyboard. Its' demise soon followed. I had the opportunity to tear it down completely, looking for usable parts.

If you own a unibody MacBook Pro, the most extensive repair I can imagine would be to replace the keyboard. Everything must be removed from the unibody to access the keyboard, which is held down by about 20 very small screws. There is an interesting variety of cable latches (standardization, anyone?) that must be undone. Some cables are connected via a friction fit.

So, if you own one of these Macbooks, and insist on keeping a drink close by, I suggest you invest in a good quality no-spill cup and use it (I personally like the Contigo, available at Target). The Contigo remains sealed unless the flow button is pressed.

If you do have a spill and mess up the keyboard, I would buy an external Bluetooth keyboard before I would do a keyboard replacement repair.

Project : Low cost organ (VPO) console

I've been on a pipe organ kick lately, more specifically Virtual Pipe Organs (VPO) and I'm thinking of building an inexpensive organ console for the upcoming Maker Faire to show what a VPO can do, and encourage people to build their own.

I've decided to combine inexpensive piano keyboards, a pedal board and preset switches --- materials I already have, and do it as simply as possible. I will be gutting the sound generating parts of the keyboards and using a Highly Liquid MIDI CPU to do the required interfacing. If one already has the keyboards, this project can easily cost less than $100. The MIDI CPU is only $44.

To work within the limitations of one MIDI CPU, I've decided to use 49 note keyboards. 61 note keyboards are the norm for organs, but they are much harder to find cheap or free. Using 49 note keyboards should allow me to interface everything with one MIDI CPU.

More details as I work them out.

Here is the Picasa album : https://picasaweb.google.com/tkarches/LowCostVPO

Dumb story on LED bulbs

Another crap study finds :

LED bulbs not as eco-friendly as some might think

Considering that :

- These lights will probably be burning after I am dead
(there is one in my ceiling fan)

- I don't plan to put them anywhere but a light bulb socket

Also, since LEDs last longer, there will be fewer in the landfill.

I'm not the least bit concerned. If the bulb burns out, I don't plan to pulverize it as they did in the story. What a worthless piece of journalism.

And quoting from the (stupid) story :

Incandescent bulbs, incidentally, contain very high levels of lead and mercury, while compact fluorescents are also high in mercury.

So what do they propose? We replace all our light bulbs with candles? Wait...lets do another study first...

Project : Clavinova - Ready for testing

Leaky capacitors have been replaced. I'll be replacing the main board this evening for the smoke test.

Floppy drives play Bach's Tocatta

Many levels of awesomeness here :

Flea Market find : HP Presario V6000

Picked up a laptop at a flea market this weekend....a HP Presario V6000. Powered up to a blank screen. This model had a lot of problems..specifically with the onboard nVidia graphics. The drive image was trashed, so I installed xubuntu, my current favorite distribution. Only problem seems to be a flaky Broadcom network card, soon to be replaced with an Intel W3945AWG ($3.99 shipped from eBay.) I have not been impressed with the state of Broadcom support under Linux.

Used my D-Link WUA-1340 USB wireless adapter to help complete the install. Linux works great with this adapter. This laptop will likely be used for video editing (OpenShot) and Puppy Studio 3.5 (with Rackarack guitar effects). The battery is toast, so this is effectively a portable workstation.

Dell e1505 in the media

I've been using my headless Dell e1505 for various projects. In the last two weeks, I have seen this laptop (with screen) in the media two different times : a Monk episode and a DelSym online commercial. What's the deal with this laptop?

Dent popping vs conventional body work

Had a big dent removed from my 1999 Quest van by the Dent Dominator today. GEICO pays me $775, I pay DD $200. Epic win, no bondo.

Alternative music keyboards : real or virtual

Came across a web site on alternative music keyboards. The Axis-49 keyboard from C-Thru is $439. An iPad running Musix is 99 cents plus the cost of the iPad (a refurb 16G is selling for $429). I understand that these are not the same, but this makes the virtual version quite attractive.

VPO Project : Success

Discovered the problem with running "jorgan-pup"on zombie (Dell Inspiron e1505 without a screen) -- needed more memory. Replaced the 512MB dimms with 1GB dimms. Works with LPK25 keyboard.

Plans now are to build a modern "portative organ", basically a portable pipe organ

• 2 manuals - 2 octaves each - staggered - I have spacer plates from the Baldwin and Gulbransen.
• Stop tablets from Baldwin
• Piston buttons from Gulbransen (or use switches)
• Dell e1505 as processor
• Internal audio
• 15 inch dell display
• external connections for keyboard and mouse (USB hub)

More details coming soon. Hope to have something working for FOSS faire next month.

The Problem with Jack

I have been working on two related projects : a virtual pipe organ (vpo) and a guitar effects processor. What they have in common is a PC running Linux. Most audio applications use a program called Jack, which is an "audio connection kit". Jack provides the connections between audio sources (like a virtual synth) and outputs (like the sound card in a computer).

I have been trying for the past two weeks (on and off) to get my computer to make a sound. Any sound. I read the online tutorials. They just didn't click with me. Something was missing. I was using some Sound Blaster Live! cards because they had been recommended for use with the VPO software. I could never get the VPO software (jOrgan) to generate any sound.

I decided to try a different tact with software called Rackarack. I decided to remove all the Sound Blaster cards and used the internal audio. I loaded Ubuntu Studio but could never get the Jack server to run. It would always fail with an error. Via Google, I discovered that Jack didn't work with Ubuntu versions after 10.4 (I was using 10.10).

I loaded a distribution called Puppy Studio, a custom distribution with audio multimedia packages. I booted from the CD. The Jack server started running.

I was reading an article about how to configure the Jack Patchbay and I realized what I had been missing. The Jack Patchbay has "outputs" which come from applications, and "inputs" which interface with hardware. Which seems backwards to me. The audio hardware is managed in Linux by a system called ALSA, which normalizes hardware so Jack can connect to it via the patchbay. The sound hardware was recognized by a system called Pulse Audio, which is used by ALSA to provide the connection to Jack.

I launched Jack, configured the patchbay based on the tutorial, plugged in my guitar and finally....sound.

If you want to use Linux to build an audio appliance, find a distribution with Jack bundled to avoid incompatibility problems.

unexpected error?

My work mail is dead. The new GroupWise server is giving me an "An unexpected error has occurred".

So, would an "expected error" be any better?

Project : Clavinova

I was recently given a Yamaha Clavinova CVP-87A.

It is a digital electronic piano with 88 weighted keys, rhythm section and recording/playback features. What you would buy if you did not have room for a real piano, but wanted the "feel" of a real piano. Beautiful rosewood cabinet. The piano is non-functional due to a number of defective components on the main sound board that have failed. The solution from Yamaha is to purchase a $500 replacement main board. Apparently, these failures were common, but not common enough to be recognized as a factory defect. Most people make the financial decision to buy a new piano rather than spend $500 to repair a 12 year old piano.

Upon inspecting the main board, the component failures are fortunately obvious, but unfortunately numerous. All are surface mount electrolytic capacitors....which are in some ways easier than replacing through hole parts.

The service manual has been ordered from Yamaha ($16, on CD) and soon another project will begin.

If the piano turns out to be unrepairable, it will serve as an excellent chassis (and keyboard) for a future VPO (Virtual Pipe Organ) project.

Update - 1/6 -: Received confirmation from Yamaha that manual has shipped

Battery upgrade for 30G iPod - the patient lives

I was getting about 20 minutes on a charge, so the battery obviously needed replacing. Ordered a kit from OWC. Got around to installing it tonight. If I hadn't forgotten to re-install a (non-critical) insulator, it would have been totally done in about 10 minutes. You can see the piece I originally left out in the upper right hand corner.  Doh!

The online video warned about the problems with removing adhesive, but it was no big deal (2 small pieces of double stick tape). Here is the patient on the operating table, about to close up :

Musical electronics @ MakerFaire : NC 2011

I'm working on some other musical projects, mostly involving parts recycled from old electronic organs and vintage computers. Current plans include a MIDI pedalboard as part of a virtual pipe organ, and C-64 related projects.

Flag-O-Matic @ MakerFaire : NC

My dad developed a product called "Flag-O-Matic" in the 1950's. It was a portable traffic light controller for construction sites. He built a working prototype, but it was never produced commercially. I'm planning to open it up and check for potential problems, then have it operating at MakerFaire : NC 2011.

The timing circuits in the Flag-O-Matic are all electromechanical -- mechanical timers and relays. What could be built today with an Arduino and a shield board required much more complex circuitry.

More updates as I progress.

Let the public vote on science funding?

The hare-brained ideas have started even before the new batch of Congress-critters have entered office.

They are calling on the public to vote on which science projects should be funded by the NSF.  How about we save some time and just attach some pushbuttons to monkey cages?

Larson Scanner for Unicycle

How to make a unicycle more menacing? Add a Larson Scanner from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. I modified a Minoura Swing Grip by removing the crossbar and replacing with a piece of vinyl tubing to enclose the Larson scanner.

Here's the YouTube video.

Visited Durham Ukelele Jam last night

Attended the Durham Ukulele Jam at High Strung Music last night. Everyone was very friendly -- I played a loaner Denim Flea (Concert) and my jamming neighbor kindly let me play her tenor for a few songs.

My mind was pretty much set on a tenor until I played the concert. While the tenor was a bit easier to play, the concert had the more traditional uke sound. The Flea played well, but they run about $200. I'd like to find something a bit less expensive. The Fluke has a larger body and would probably be easier to hold and play. The Flea and Fluke have a reputation for being very consistent from the factory, which is a consideration if I'm ordering online.

I was able to pick up chords pretty quickly, though during phrases that required rapid chord changes, I often reverted to guitar fingerings. Oops!

Vacation experiences with Windows Vista

Our villa in Jamaica is equipped with 2 computers on which I dare not enter any personal information. I just spent about an hour working on clearing some disgusting spyware from a system running Windows Vista Basic. Even after updating Firefox, the same windows keep popping up. First thing I tries was to uninstall Firefox. Which solved the problem in an unsatisfactory way.

Since the infection was limited to the Guest account, I thought "I'll just delete the Guest account".

Apparently, that is not possible. Seems pretty dumb. Thankfully, it can be disabled. So I disabled the built in Guest account, reinstalled Firefox and and created another regular account, which can be deleted and recreated as needed. Problem solved.

Deconstruction : Mini Arcade on eBay

Just saw this slick little cocktail arcade system on eBay. With a few minor mods, it would be much more usable as a desktop computer. If the LCD were attached to the lid, so that when it is opened, it would be oriented for desktop use. External USB ports would allow for easier use of peripherals.

Very nice build, though and gives me ideas. I have an LCD display with no stand that would make a nice tabletop game system along with the headless e1505 laptop.

Project : Mister for recumbent bike

My friend Eric wants to build a water mister for his recumbent bike. He would like to be able to vary the speed of misting. Manual triggering may be an issue as he has limited use of his hands. I suggested that we want to keep the system relatively compact, to make it easier to refill and take on and off the bike.

We brainstormed some ideas and came up with the following :

• Triggering : use a windshield wiper control - it already does variable speeds and allows for arbitrary delays. Most of these systems require 12V, which may be more than the motor for the mister needs, so regulation would be required. I suggested perhaps an optical sensor, but that requires extra circuitry. I suggested we start off with a simple switch and work up from there.
• Power : I suggested a rechargeable battery pack. Eric's SO Jenny suggested a generator which would require attachment to the bike. Perhaps solar? Again, I'm thinking start with a battery (like for a portable DVD player)
• Mounting : probably attach to the handlebars. If we used a bike water bottle, perhaps any existing water bottle holders could be used.
• Spray nozzle : I suggested a tube connected to a flexible stalk. If the water bottle holder was close enough to the handlebar, then everything could be attached to the water bottle

The Evolution of Air Travel

Flew U.S. Airways from Charlotte to Jamaica yesterday.

Two new revenue generators :

• Drop the temperature on the plane and sell blankets 
• Advertise credit card offers during landing announcements

Replacing a GPS : New maps or new GPS?

I have a Garmin Nuvi 200W which I like, but I'm finding more and more mistakes in the maps. Turns out map updates are $69. A newer model, the Nuvi 255W is available for $99. It has a faster processor and locks onto satellites faster. The old Nuvi 200w becomes the backup GPS/photo frame and the 255W takes its' place.

Keeping visitors away from the beach

Found this blog post in my Drafts. This happened about 3 years ago, but it really happened. The parking pass system rebooted while I was trying to buy a pass. The clock was 30 minutes off. I saw a car being towed through gridlocked traffic.

Here goes ......

Just came back from a whirlwind trip to the beach. My son Liam was having his pictures taken for promotional materials. I arrived the day before, and decided to spend some time at the beach. It didn't take long for things to go wrong. I appreciate their attention to safety. They just need to rethink customer relations.

Keeping Visitors Away From The Beach

- Establish onerous parking rates. At least $1.50/hour
- Don't maintain the machines that generate the parking receipts. Have them periodically reboot while the customer is attempting to purchase parking time.
- Set the clocks in the parking machines 30 minutes in the past. This way, you can sell 30 minutes of parking for the price of an hour of parking. This also creates a prime opportunity for towing cars in expired spaces.
- Configure the systems so that they only generate 1 hour parking passes, requiring the customer to return hourly to add more parking time.
- Tow the cars of violators during prime beach hours, causing traffic gridlock
- Establish rules for proper conduct at the beach, but don't post them anywhere
- If you choose to document rules, do so in an extremely cryptic manner. For example, to demark a zone in which swimmers should not enter the water, like near a pier, stick a red flag in the sand. Everyone knows people don't read signs with words :-)
- When the rules are transgressed, use a bullhorn to inform the offender, assuring public humiliation. Toss in phrases like "you need to watch your kids..you are not at Disney World"
- Don't enforce rules uniformly. This keep your visitors on their toes.

Saved from the dump - Dell Inspiron e1505

My sister gave me a Dell Inspiron e1505 that she found laying on the curb after the BGSU students moved out. Physically, it appeared to be in decent shape. I plugged it in and powered it on. I would get a one second visual of the Dell boot screen, then nothing. I plugged in an external monitor, and it appears to be working normally (other than the display). A little research indicates that screen failures were common on these laptops.

Otherwise, a decent laptop : Vista compatible, Express Card slot, SD card slot, 4 USB ports, external S-video/composite out.

As I recall, the LCD did not look so great, so "Off With Its' Head!" I removed the screen completely and powered it up again. System booted normally. Everything looks good. If I decide to add a touch screen to use with the virtual pipe organ project, I don't need to worry about integrating a touch panel onto the existing laptop LCD.

Just for grins, I started poking around on the laptop to see if it had any problems. It had 3 different anti-virus programs running simultaneously : Symantec, McAfee and AVG. Once I uninstalled those, performance improved dramatically.

Postscript : Finally figured out the part number of the inverter (note to manufacturers : don't use the letter I in part numbers). Ordered a unit from eBay for $9.

PostPostscript : Replacement inverter did not fix the problem. Found a $25 LCD display at the flea market. Using it headless. To get better wireless range, I pulled the antennas out of the lid and attached them to a wooden stand

I think I'll call him Mike : http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/

New keyboard for organ project

I had been working on soldering the wires to the Schober 61 note keyboards, but was not happy with the wire management. I had been keeping my eye out for controllers and found an Edirol PC-50 keyboard controller for $10 on Craigslist. Only $10? It had a bad key which I fixed with a pencil eraser. Planning to work more on the software, foot pedals and expression pedals and save the bulk of the soldering work for later.

Learning economics on the long drive

Spent almost 12 hours yesterday getting home from Bowling Green, Ohio where I spent the weekend "junking" with my sister. Spent most of the trip home listening to the EconTalk podcast out of George Mason University.

Especially interesting were :

• Boettke on Elinor Ostrom, Vincent Ostrom, and the Bloomington School
• Belongia on the Fed
• Gary Stern on Too Big To Fail
• Brady On Health Care Reform, Public Opinion

I always recommend Roberts' discussions with Nassim Nicholas Taleb :

• Taleb on Black Swans
• Taleb On The Financial Crisis
• Taleb on Black Swans, Fragility and Mistakes
  

C64 Muse ... almost done

C64 Muse
Originally uploaded by tom karches

Almost done. Need to add pots and figure out what to do with dead space with missing keys. Getting ready for maker Faire Sunday

Loudest Musical Instrument Ever Constructed

Part of my current pipe organ obsession. Found this amusing. In Guinness as the the "Loudest Musical Instrument Ever Constructed"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boardwalk_Hall_Auditorium_Organ

A quote from the page :

The Guinness Book also recognizes the Grand Ophicleide 16′ in the Pedal Right division to be the loudest organ stop in the world.

The Grand Ophicleide produces 130 dB at 1 metre distance

Check out the picture of the console. Largest in the world. Captain Kirk would be envious.

C-64 Muse assembled

C-64 Muse assembled
Originally uploaded by tom karches

Finally, everything is attached. Next test to make sure I didn't break anything in the process.

Maker Faire Projects

Maker Faire is coming up at the end of April and I'm busily working on the projects I want to show there.

- VPO built from Schober keyboards, Gulbransen pedalboard, Dell Mini 9
- Arduino pocket piano with full size 2 octave keyboard
- Home built Etherwave Theremin
- C64 Muse - C64 with full size 2 octave keyboard

I don't think the MidiBox SID is going to happen any time soon.

Last night I finally finished bolting all the C64 Muse parts together. It's not pretty, but it's movable.

The VPO keyboards are mounted to the keydeck. I purchased the heavy duty rubber feet yesterday. There is an amazing selection of samples of different pipe organs to use. I'm also thinking of using some of littl-scale's sample libraries. This would give me a VPO with chiptune voices.

Parts orders have arrived from Smash TV (Midibox DIN and CORE boards), Mouser (VPO, Arduino pocket piano, Theremin coils)

The Midibox stuff should go together nicely. The DIN boards only have about 15 components, thanks to the resistor networks. I will likely buy more DIN and CORE boards and retrofit parts from the old boards.

The Arduino Pocket Piano keyboard is wired. These have been a bear to get working right. I mounted the micro switches on coat hanger wire that run through the end blocks. If I do this again, I'll likely premount smaller endblocks to the wire and create an assembly that can easily be adjusted. I going to attach the switches to a DB-25 connector and use a DB-25 straight through cable to connect the keyboard to the CPU. I'm planning to either put the parts in a piece of PVC, or just have everything out in the open. I could build the PP as a standalone piece of gear, but I believe I'll just use the BBB Arduino and build the APP as a Arduino shield.

Acquired a Gulbransen Premiere Theatre Organ

After an arduous pickup operation on friday night, I am now the owner of a broken Gulbransen Premiere Theater Organ.

David came over Sunday and pulled the parts that he wanted from the
organ. Leaving me with a hulk containing 2 61 note keyboards, a bunch of transistorized electronics and a Leslie speaker.

David was a super nice guy. We both graduated from Cary High in 1978. He
has grandchildren. I have an 8 year old and a 13 year old. Different life paths.

The keyboards on the organ may be too complicated for my purposes, but
I'll hang on to them for now. Hoping to get rid of as much of the rest
as possible. The mechanics inside the organ are pretty amazing....like
"I would never want to fix this" amazing. There is a huge speaker in
there, hidden behind a bunch of filter boards. Will check the
condition as soon as I get in there. The amp is transistorized, with
paper capacitors which are probably shot.

What is most interesting is the stuff that David brought me in exchange for the parts he wanted :

Two 61 note keyboards with replacement tone generators from a Schoeber
Recital Organ :

http://www.users.cloud9.net/~pastark/sorecita.htm

Schoeber Organs were built from kits. The original tone generators
were transistorized and kind of unreliable. Along with these keyboards
I got are the original tone generators PLUS replacement tone
generators built by Devtronix (Model 243-3).

Mentioned here :

http://www.users.cloud9.net/~pastark/sotnot7.htm

They both use top octave chip technology like the Paia OZ Organ :

http://www.synthmuseum.com/paia/paioz01.html

These replacement tone generator boards were also built from kits.

So, assuming they work (David said they did), I have the guts of two
61 note organs. They boards are not that big. I could build a super
compact, standalone organ. I was thinking of something that I could
mount to the wall in Aidan's room, and he could fold up out of the
way.

He also brought in a bunch of filter boards for the original stops.
And full documentation for everything, including an article on how to
design your own organ stops. I have all those stop buttons from the
Baldwin. Perhaps they would work with this.

Perhaps you can scan these docs for me...they are double sided and I'm
not sure how I would reassemble them after scanning on the Epson you
gave me.

I believe there is also another tone generator for the pedalboard,
which may work well with the Baldwin pedals.

Interesting stuff.

Antibiotics can cause insomnia

I learned something new yesterday. Antibiotics can cause insomnia. Specifically Levaquin. Scary stuff.

Free wifi on delta today

On my way back from Dallas...discovered that I can get a free wifi session on my Delta flight. Coupon code "deltatrygogo" expires today. Enjoy....tom

C-64 Muse setback

I finished wiring the C-64 Muse keyboard, and it does not work. Actually, 5 of the keys work. I delved more deeply into the C-64 schematics and discovered that I can't piggyback a second keyboard matrix on top of the first.

What I'm planning now is to use the PC board from a C-64 keyboard and wire the matrix lines directly to the PC board. I'll remove the keyswitch tops for those keys that map to piano keys. I believe that I can still use one of the matrix axes to reduce the wire count. This will increase the wire count from 12 to (8+4) to 28 (24+4), which is not as bad as 48 (24x2). Just thinking it would be nice have this done by the time of my Dallas trip so that perhaps I can visit Paul Slocum while I am there.

Bizarre "Mobile Computing News"

I'm not sure what to make of this "Mobile Computing News" site.

Mobile Computing News

Here are some review excerpts. Decide for yourself.

Sony Vaio VGN-P31ZK/Q (who thought up that name?) :
"For instance you can check out the all new Sony Vaio VGN-P31ZK/Q which has a unique rectangular shape which looks pretty cool."


Asus Eee PC MK90H Disney: Decorated Netbook for the Kids
"The processor is the soul of any computer that is why this netbook is installed with a very powerful Intel Atom N270 processor."

Sony Vaio VPCW12S1E/P: Definitely One of the Most Attractive and Suave Pink Netbooks Around
"The device is provided with a warranty which makes it a reliable product. The fantastic rechargeable battery installed in this netbook offers long battery back up as well.

Netbook operating systems - Back to Jolicloud

This past weekend I tried out some different Linux based operating systems for my Dell Mini 9. Going into the weekend, I was running the alpha of Jolicloud, which for the most part, I have been happy with.

First I tried Easy Peasy, which is a Ubuntu fork, originally developed for the Eee PC. Used Unetbootin to create a bootable USB key and installed. Discovered that wifi requires additional drivers to be loaded manually to support the Broadcom card in the Mini 9. Didn't notice a lot of difference from Jolicloud. Easy Peasy prompted me to upgrade to Ubuntu 9.1, which immediately failed due to lack of drive space. That's what I get for using a 4 GB SSD.

Next I tried Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) 9.1. Install went fine, but upon rebooting, I was greeted with messages of imminent drive failure. Some quick online searches show that the S.M.A.R.T. disk monitoring routines in UNR falsely indicate drive failure on Solid State Disks (SSD). My Mini 9 is running a 4 GB SSD. Just like Easy Peasy, the wifi did not work.

So, I reinstalled Jolicloud. This time, I left the default keyring password blank. Otherwise, the keyring password is required when connecting to wireless access points that require login keys.

Trying these 2 other systems made me appreciate Jolicloud even more. It just works.

Why not Windows? My Mini 9 shipped with XP, and I don't use it. Everything I do on my Mini 9 is in a web browser (Google Docs, Reader, Toodledo.com), so Windows is unnecessary. And slow. I've been quite impressed by Jolicloud on my Mini 9, and it runs on a 4GB SSD with almost 1G to spare. If your netbook is supported, I would try it.

Recycling the Baldwin 172 - the keyboards

Got a non-working Baldwin 172 from Craigslist for free. Took it home, it made some sounds, but could never quite get it to behave. The next day, all I could get was a single droning note. So on to the parting. What is the value in a 1983 vintage organ with cheesy built in sound effects? Even with non-functioning tone generation, it is loaded with useful parts.

- Two 3.5 octave keyboards
- A 1 octave bass pedal assembly
- Lots of control switches
- Spring reverb
- Volume pedal
- amplifier w speaker
- Furniture grade sides and top

Primarily, I'm looking for piano keyboard assemblies, the rest is bonus.

I've been taking photos. I'll get those pictures up shortly.

The keyboards, unfortunately, do not have a separate switch/key, they are wired in a matrix. The C-64/Cynthcart project requires a different matrix encoding, so the existing switches are not usable.

Fortunately, the switch mechanism is not recessed like in the gutted Oxygen 8 keyboard I started with, so replacing the switches should not be too difficult.

Another lucky break...these keyboards were designed to be easily adapted to different lengths, so creating a mechanically sound 2 octave keyboard should be pretty easy.

Music keyboards for the C-64 and Cynthcart

I've been playing with Paul Slocum's Cynthcart software for the C-64 :

http://www.qotile.net/cynthcart.html

The software is fun, but the interface leaves much to be desired. I would prefer a labeled control panel and a real piano keyboard. Of course, there are some complicating factors.

First, the switches on commercial music keyboards are matrixed completely differently than the C-64 keyboard.

See this diagram :

http://www.doepfer.de/DIY/Matrix_25.gif

This requires a complete rewiring of the keyboard. I tried to rewire one of these by hand, and it was a disaster. Consumer grade circuit boards were not designed to be modified. They fall apart. PC traces come off the board, etc.

The plan now is to build a panel to hold 25 micro switches, and I will wire the switches by hand. If I wanted to build just one of these, I would hack it out, but this may be more universally useful, so I'm considering designing a panel that would be cut on a laser cutter, with holes for the switches. I can then wire the switches however I wish.

Nokia 6350 for Mom

Mom prefers the old black and white Nokia phones, but they have started to become unreliable on the AT&T network. So yesterday, I got her a Nokia 6350 from the AT&T store. I wanted something that would be simple to use, and that would let me create a slide show for the wallpaper (for family pictures).

The slideshow feature I discovered by poking around in the phone. Google searches did not locate any mention of the feature.

I adjusted the fonts to the largest size, cleared out all the AT&T phone number cruft and added contact info for Kerry, Jennifer and myself.

I had purchased a 2GB SD card to hold pictures, but was unable to get the phone to properly recognize it. Instead, I configured the slide show to come from the "Recieved Items" folder. So all I have to do is send a picture over via Bluetooth and it automatically appears in the slide show. A more elegant solution anyway.

Big Junk Night : I'm 3 for 3

My sister lives in Bowling Green, Ohio, which is the home of Bowling Green State University. Every year, as the students are about to move out, they hold a "Big Junk Week" where residents load the curbs with unwanted "stuff" and turn the entire town into a week long free yard sale.

In past years, my sister scored replacement bathtubs and toilets for her early 20th century home. I've gotten functional music keyboards (some MIDI, some not). Last year, she brought me a first generation PS2, which required a laser adjustment.

This year's haul has been a fruitful one so far :

- Another 1st gen PS2 - disc detection on the PS2 uses the laser. If it gets dirty, no disc is detected. Fixed with a cotton ball and some alcohol

- PS2 Guitar Hero Guitar - Had a broken whammy bar. Fixed with 2 rubber bands.

- Wacom Tablet - not officially "big junk"...from my brother in law. Appears to work

- Micro USB cable - Generally not such a big deal, but we needed one at work to test a new SMS system, and no one else had one


It has also come with stuff that should have stayed "thrown away"

- A Sharper Image roll up piano - What a piece of junk. Totally unplayable.

I'm planning on making to trip to Bowling Green next year. Big fun.

---tom

Psychological Traffic Calming

I live on a street in old Cary which has turned into a speedway, especially near my house. I live at the end of a stretch of straight road that the leadfeet (leadfoots?) in my neighborhood can't resist. Here is a clever solution from a fellow in Hamburg : a Fake Traffic Camera.

Looks like a fun project. I have an official looking watertight box (thanks NCSU Surplus!) and stuff that looks like a lens (maybe even a lens...). Add a padlock to the box and I'm all set.

Bought another SSD for Mini 9

Picked up a 4 GB SSD pulled from a Dell Mini 9 for $8.50 (shipped) on eBay. Now I will have boot drives for OS X, XP and Ubuntu. Not exactly triple boot, but the changeover only takes a few minutes.

The MIOS studio software that is used to program the Midibox SID is unsupported on Mac OS X, but works under Linux, so this will provide me a way to reprogram my MidiBox SID after I upgrade the processor.

--tom

Saw III sampler figurines

These figurines are seriously creepy. First job was to remove and trash them. I'm thinking about recording scary sounds and have this activated by a motion sensor for a Halloween setup.

Another Dell Mini in the family

When Aidan saw the Mini 9 I bought, he was immediately jealous. So, we got him one for his birthday. Bought this one at the Dell Outlet, just like mine. In this case, I bought him the Vostro A90, which is a Vostro branded Mini 9. Only difference is that the black A90 is all black, where mine is silver below the keyboard.

Since I was planning on eventually loading mac OS X on mine, I didnt want to purchase another copy of XP. It adds about $50 to the cost. Rather than getting the Mini 9 with an 8GB SSD XP, I got him a Vostro A90 with a 16GB SSD, Bluetooth and the webcam for $10 less than the Mini 9. I figured we would use my XP license after I loaded OS X.

We fired up his Vostro and got to see Ubuntu. Visually, it just looks better than XP on the Mini 9. They have really done a nice implementation. The only problem that we had was the wireless was unable to properly negotiate a connection with my new 2Wire AT&T router. I had to explicitly set the 2Wire to PKA2, then everything worked.

Turns out now that Aidan wants Mac OS X on his Vostro. He is more familiar with my iMac than Kerry's Dell. Looks like I'll be doing the install sometime this week. I have a 16GB SSD and 2 GB memory upgrade on order for mine.

Merrill Lynch account liquidated

Finally liquidated my Merrill Lynch account. A 27% loss from it's peak. Sigh. Time to implement the Black Swan portfolio...

xpud - shortest path to the cloud....wow

Saw a forum reference to xPUD (http://xpud.org) as a lightweight OS to run on my Mini 9. Downloaded and installed it to a bootable 64 MB flash drive.

I changed BIOS options on the Mini 9 to allow booting from USB. Then I deleted syslinux.cfg, and renamed isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg.

Moment of truth. The Mini booted in about 30 seconds (maybe less). The entire OS loads into RAM (not SSD, the RAM) and then boots from RAM. This setup is amazingly fast. I can leave the default boot setup as Win XP, and boot xPud whenever I want. I am impressed.

Chronulator circuit board done

Finished the Chronulator circuit board last night and hooked up some meters. I haven't decided which meters to use yet, so I wired in some old transistor sockets and plugged in the resistors that control the meter scaling. Used the big meter for minutes and the small one for hours.

My next one will probably run on a small off the shelf arduino/freeduino kit with built in USB. That will give me a solid power source and the ability to control the meters from the computer.

Mini 9 is excellent

I've had a few days with the Mini 9, and I'm sorry I didn't get one sooner. Win XP runs faster on the Mini than on any other system I own. Excellent tool in the server room.

Refurb Vostro A90 available. Grrrrr.

Ordered my Dell Mini 9 from the Dell outlet earlier this week. Waited too long and all the Mini 9's with webcams were gone. Just discovered that the Dell Outlet Business section is selling the Vostro A90, which is the same as the Mini 9. With webcams. For exactly what I paid, $249. They even have units with 16 GB SSDs. Doh!

Dell Mini 9 memory expansion options

While waiting for my Mini 9 to arrive, I'm looking at SSD expansion. It comes with an 8MB SSD, which is fine for Linux, but a stretch for Mac OS X. There are basically 2 brands of SSD expansion : Runcore and Super Talent (STEC).

The Runcore is slightly more expensive : 16GB $78, 32 GB $127
than the Super Talent : 16GB $63, 32GB $109

There is a slower (2X slower writes, almost 3X on reads)
Super Talent : 16GB $49, 32GB $89

The big advantage of the Runcore is that the module has an integrated USB port. This allows Mac OSX to be installed on a Mac while the Runcore is attached as an external drive. This makes the install go much faster, and is simpler.

If you look at the high end Runcore vs. the Super Talent, the ease of installation on the Runcore is a slam dunk. For the 16 GB, the Runcore is only $15 more, with the 32GB, it is $19 more.

Comparing to the slower Super Talent is a different story. For the 16 GB, the Runcore is $29 more, the 32GB is $38 more.

Still, if this is something that you will use extensively, it's worth paying the extra $40 one time cost.

I'll probably upgrade the RAM to 2GB right away, install Linux and do the 32 GB upgrade down the road. It's somewhat hard to justify an immediate $130 expense to upgrade a $250 computer. Perhaps I can pick up a used 16GB from an upgrader.

This posthas a good rundown of Runcore vs. STEC

compromise

The mini 9's on Dell Outlet sold faster than I thought. By the time I checked yesterday, all that was left were Mini 9's without webcams. Ordered a 1GB, 8GB SSD, Bluetooth configuration. I could have gotten a 10, but I wanted small.

the evolution/devolution of netbooks

Our 21st anniversary was today; Kerry asked what I wanted. I think I'm going to get a Dell Mini 9 netbook.

As part of my job, I'm in the server room copying data onto printed spreadsheets. When back at my desk, I type in the numbers. It would be great to capture that data as it is generated and avoid double entries. It would also avoid repeated reprinting of my server data spreadsheets.

I like the Dell Mini 9 because it's small and light. The keyboard is a little small, but for my purposes OK. I'm really looking for small, goes everywhere. I don't want to think about whether I should carry it with me.

They discontinued the Mini 9 last month. Dell has stopped using the SSD, which I want for the durability and battery life.

They have black ones with 1GB of RAM, an 8 GB SSD and a .3mp webcam for $239. They have 512MB models for $10 cheaper without the webcam. The webcam would be worth $10 to me, so go with the 1GB.

I can always swap the SSD for a hard drive to run OS X. The Mini 9 is the only 100% OS X compatible netbook according to this chart :

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/12/17/osx-netbook-compatib.html

At best, the others have broken audio (HP) or broken ethernet (MSI Wind).

Had a discussion with someone at work today about netbooks. He talked about how he would need a hard drive so it could be loaded with Microsoft Office. This totally misses the point.

The netbook is the perfect interface to the...here it comes..."cloud". All your apps and data reside on the internet; the netbook is just a smart conduit. Local word processing is probably necessary, but bloatware like Word is just overkill.

The vendors (at least Dell) are missing it too. The netbook is evolving by losing its' SSD for a hard drive (bye bye battery life) and growing bigger screens (bye bye portability). Pretty soon netbooks will become ....laptops.

iPod Touch strangeness

I've been having problems with podcast listings on my iPod Touch where the podcast appears on the iPod Touch, but does not show up in iTunes. I could delete these podcasts on the Touch, but they would never go away. After reading about auto purging of listened podcasts, I played the podcasts in question, oldest to newest. The "phantom" podcasts were essentially empty (1 or 2 seconds long) and they all "played" in a second or so.

Once they were played, I could delete them on the iPod Touch, and after syncing with iTunes, they were still gone. Yay.

My remaining problems appear to be podcasts with improper metadata in specific podcast episodes. The July 8 edition of "On The Media" copies to the iPod and is visible on the iPod, but does not appear in iTunes on my Mac. No content is apparently copied as the podcast plays for a second then stops.

My workaround to make these broken podcasts playable :
- Convert podcast to AAC (from right-click menu)
- Copy podcast to iTunes
- Set Genre to "Podcast-Other"
- Create smart playlist on iPod to show these podcasts

Bjork, Volta, Voltaic, gestural controllers

I was listening to Bjork as the guest DJ on All Songs Considered. She has an esthetic I can appreciate ... blending electronic and natural sounds in her music. She is using a gestural control instrument from Reactable on her Voltaic tour that can be seen in this video from "Later with Jools Holland".

To get a feel for the Voltaic live show, here is a video of "Pluto" from the Paris show.

Just ordered a copy of Volta...looking forward to the listen.

Costa Rica Diary : Day 5

Today was pretty lazy. Woke up early -- 0630 -- even though I went to bed past 2230. Kerry and I went for a walk on the road leading to the villa. Saw some birds and of course lots of crabs. Nearly missed breakfast while reading on the patio, which would have been unfortunate as it was excellent. French toast, sausage, eggs, toast, pineapple and mango. Finished "The Black Swan", went swimming in the infinity pool.

Kerry, the kids, Stephanie, Carly and Darby walked up to Lookout Point. When we got back, had fajitas for lunch, which were OK. The beef was a little tough.

More afternoon lazy time....went back over "The Black Swan" to find favorite quotes. Got on the internet and looked at SD card based disk drive replacements for the C64 -- not sure what led me there. Went back outside, watched the kids play in the surf.

Kerry, the kids and I went on an ATV ride down to the beach. Took some pictures...then it started thundering, so we headed back. After about 45 minutes, we had a shrimp dinner.

Costa Rica Diary : Day 4

Slowly, I am becoming used to the keyboard on this computer -- it was designed for the Spanish speaking market, and the country settings in Vista do not quite match. I still don't know how to type a colon.

I tried to fix this once, but since Vista requires a reboot after changing the keyboard language, I decided to live with it. I feel like I am only one reboot away from a re-configuration marathon.

Today we did zip line rides through the canopy in Montezuma. I was at first somewhat reluctant to go, but glad I went. The height did not really bother me...it was so much higher than I normally deal with, that it did not really register that I should be afraid.

After that, a short ride into town and some shopping, then a ride back to the villa. Chicken quesadillas and fresh guacamole was served. I then went to the infinity pool to read some more of The Black Swan.

Costa Rica Diary : Day 3

Today we went ATV riding. Alan arranged it and all but Kerry and Stacy went on the trip. We cruised along the beach and through the forest adjacent to the beach. Crabs are everywhere. In some places it looked like the ground was moving.

Costa Rica Diary : Day 2

This was to be the day of the Internet Fixing.

Woke up around 0800. Had some breakfast, did some reading. Watched the ocean. I've always enjoyed the sights and sounds of the ocean more than swimming in the ocean.

So, I'm in Costa Rica, and I'm fixing problems. Can't get it out of my system.

I had been unable to get the wireless internet working yesterday.

Some additional complicating factors :

- The computer was running Windows Vista Home Premium
- Almost all the text is in Spanish
- The ISDN modem was a USB device

Normally, the USB network device would not such a big deal if we were connecting one computer. In our situation, the goal was to share the connection to the Linksys router, allowing wireless clilents to connect.

On Saturday, I had discovered and removed a redundant network cable from the router to the computer. I tried configuring the device for ICS, but could not get it to work. I spent my time on Saturday mostly trying to get the system back to English. Through some research with Mr. Google, I learned that this version of Vista did not support multiple language packs. We were stuck with Spanish.

I knew Alan would need the internet access, so when "Scruffy" arrived, I sat down with him to help him get it working. Scruffy arrived from the states 20 years ago on his sailboat, and never left. He is a good friend of the villa owner. He spoke Spanish and together we were able to move forward.

This was one of those situations where having two people working on a problem can be quite helpful. Especially since he could translate menus. We tried a number of configurations until we got it working. We also used Alan's laptop to help with the configuration of the router.

ICS - Internet Connection Sharing - wanted a dynamic IP address...and only the Linksys router could do that. If I set the range of DHCP addresses to start at 192.168.1.50, then the ICS connection would always get 192.168.1.52. I wanted to set the IP address of the router statically, but it would not allow me to set the gateway address to the same as the internet address -- 192.168.1.52, even though that appeared to be correct.

The implication of this was that wireless clients could never connect automatically, as DHCP was unable to deliver the proper gateway address. There was probably a way of fixing this, but I had reached the point where I just wanted it to work, and that any working repeatable procedure was acceptable.

Another complication we discovered -- the Acer PC had its' own wireless adapter, which would try to connect to the Linksys router. We turned it off to simplify matters.

After a couple of hours, we got it working -- with the caveat that IP, netmask and gateway had to be set manually on any wireless adapters that wanted to connect. It had not been working, and on a whim, I entered the IP address of Google.com, which loaded. The ISP DNS was sucky.

Just as we got it working, the PC spontaneously rebooted. Sigh. This computer BSOD a number of times, which seemed to be related to the flaky ISDN modem.

When it came back up, the Linksys Easy Configuration software loaded and somehow blocked the ICS connection. So we uninstalled the "helpful" Linksys software and rebooted again.

Here was the final configuration :
- Acer PC connected to the internet via the Intracom ISDN modem
- ICS used to bond the NIC in the ACER to the Intracom network
- ACER NIC cabled to LAN connection on Linksys router

On the Linksys router
-DHCP turned on
-gateway set to the base DHCP address plus 2

For any connecting wired or wireless hosts
- IP set manually to a 192.168.1.X address not already used
- Netmask set to 255.255.255.0
- Gateway set to 192.168.1.52
- DNS addresses set to the public OpenDNS.com addresses. The DNS servers of the ISP were unreliable.

I entered the configuration into Alan's laptop and gave it back to him.

He needed to download some software from Nikon.com to process his photos. At a maximum data rate of about 18 kbps, this took a couple of hours.

The download speed went up and down as the ISDN B channel kicked in and out. But it worked.

Costa Rica Diary : Day 1

Woke up at 0400 Saturday morning...made it to the airport by 0530. Flight left on time for Miami. So far, all uneventful. Met some nice folks in Miami that were scheduled to be on the same flight from San Jose to Tambor on which we were booked. She spoke Spanish and called Sansa to tell them that we would be a bit late. Missing the Tambor flight would put us on the bus to the coast, a long ferry ride and final drive to the villa.

The flight left Miami on time. We discovered that the crew had forgotten the immigration and customs paperwork. We would have to complete those forms when we arrived in San Jose. We arrived on time and madly filled out the handful of forms. Just as we were getting in the first line, our family was diverted to a shorter line since we had 2 kids. Immigration went relatively quickly and we rushed to the Sansa terminal. We arrived at 1330 for the 1400 flight and got checked in. Fortunately, the folks we met in Miami arrived shortly afterward and we all got on the flight.

The 25 minute flight to Tambor was remarkably smooth. Liam slept through the entire flight.

We were met at the Tambor aiport, which consists of a landing strip, a parking lot and a porta-potty. We paid our $1 per passenger airport tax and were on our way.

The drive from the Tambor airport to the villa was actually rougher than the commuter flight to Tambor. We arrived at the villa and met our host, Hansel. We settled in, and 4 hours later the others arrived. In the pouring rain.

I discovered that the internet service was not quite working. More on that tomorrow.

Dinner, then bed soon afterward. A long day.

keeping us safe - The dangerous lithium battery

Our Sun servers have CR2032 lithium coin cell batteries. Thes batteries are obviously very dangerous, considering how replacements are shipped. When one goes bad, this is what you get from Sun : A large box with ominous stickers, which contains a smaller box protected by "packaged air". Inside the smaller box is an anti-static envelope (protected by foam). Inside the envelope is a single CR2032 lithium coin battery.

For what it cost them to send me one battery, they could have bought me 20 batteries.

Alien Autopsy : Wierd POS terminal

I found this item on a recent trip to the Raleigh Flea Market. It appeared to be some sort of custom point-of sale terminal. It had :

• smart card slot
• credit card scanner
• PC card attachment
• large rectangular touch screen

There were no external markings. It was only $1, so what the heck. As is usual with such items, I take them apart.

The internals are a spectacular mess. Wires go in every direction. Copious silicone caulk holds it together. The PC Card/flash connector on the back goes nowhere. Apparently a design change.

I am impressed at the volume of stuff they managed to jam in there :

• smart card reader
• credit card scanner
• processor board
• VGA PC Card
• thermal printer
• 2 rechargable batteries
• 2 alkaline batteries, caulked in place
• 4 AA battery holder
• 2 AA battery holder
  
• LCD touch screen
• 2 pushbuttons

And of course the case, which is the best part. It will make a nice case for an upcoming project.

King Charles Troupe : 44 years of unicycle basketball

On my ride into work today, a spoke with an ex-member of the King Charles Troupe, a unicycle basketball exhibition team founded in 1968. It's a small world.

iPhone Repair : The New Frontier

My son's 1G iPhone has started misbehaving. Looks like the sleep/power button gets stuck down, which causes a reboot loop. Needless to say, he is not particularly enthusiastic about Dad taking his iPhone apart.

For now, I told him to not use the Sleep button...just allow the iPhone to power itself off.

Mr. Google was not particularly helpful. I did find a few people that have had this problem and fixed it by taking the iPhone apart.

I was thinking that it might be possible to use some alcohol on a swab or contact cleaner to free up the stuck button. I am seeing issues with the Home button also. Sigh.

I have ordered the official Apple Spudger Tool (Apple Part # 922-5065) in preparation for the inevitiable.

iPod Touch : Apps that sync data locally

When I bought the iPod Touch, I realized that I would not have :

• phone capability
• GPS
• camera

but I wasn't willing to spend the $1200 out of pocket expense ($199 + 24 mo * $40).

Most iPhone apps work on the iPod Touch, but data is only available within the range of a WiFi hotspot. So I concentrated on apps that can sync when the network is available, and still function offline.

The apps that I use that allow offline functionality :

• Memengo Wallet - Secure document storage. Syncs to memengo.com
• Toodledo - GTD style to do lists. 2 way sync to toodledo.com
• NY Times - free - Syncs NY Times content locally
• BookshelfLT - free - book reader with access to downloadable content (it caches)
• Stanza - free - Another book reader, access to more, different, content
  

favorite iPod Touch apps

A short list of my favorite iPod Touch apps so far (not pre-installed) :

• AOL Radio (free) - Dozens of streaming radio channels, free from AOL. Personal favorites are "Video Game Scores" and "Anime Radio".
• Google Earth (free) - Still useful even without the GPS. Can do simple location determination based on information gathered from Wi-Fi hotspots by Skyhook Wireless
• Google (free) - GMail, Google Reader
• Pandora (free) - streaming radio
• BookshelfLT (free) - EReader with access to many public domain and free books
• Memengo Wallet ($2.99) - encrypt private data, store encrypted copy on the web
• Evernote (free) - Synchronized notes capability
• Phanfare Photon (free) - Local access to phanfare.com photo albums
• Toodledo ($3.99) - To do lists, synchronized and shareable

iPhone or iPod Touch ?

So, I've been watching Aidan use his iPhone, and have been impressed with what is available through the app store. I am still using my 5G iPod, but the screen is a bit small for watching video. So perhaps a new 3G iPhone?

Well, I have a work issued BlackBerry 8703e, and it's hard to justify paying for another phone. The BlackBerry has Internet service. I have a very nice Sony-Ericsson k790a Cyber Shot phone on a shared AT&T service plan as my personal phone. Up till about a week ago, I carried both.

Also, with the iPhone, I determined the actual cost of the iPhone to be about $1200 when the required data plan is factored in.

I looked at the iPod Touch, and decided that the feature set was right for my needs. With the help of a $100 BestBuy gift card, I bought a new 16GB iPod Touch. In order to pare back down to 2 devices, I've forwarded the calls from my personal phone to the Blackberry, and my k790a has become a very fancy camera. Once my new case arrives, the iPod touch will take the place of the k790a as the second device that I carry.

gadget update : Aidan's iPhone

So my son wanted an iPhone, but there was no way he could afford a $40/month service plan. Solution? Purchase a used 1G iPhone (thanks Hal) and activate it without a data plan. While the new 3G iPhones require a 2 year data plan, repurposed 1G iPhones do not. Big thanks to Esai at AT&T for making all the appropriate account settings to disable the data service on Aidan's iPhone. He wanted to be able to text message, but the iPhone data/SMS plan is a bundle. The only way to get just SMS is to purchase the Family SMS plan, which is $30/month.

I don't think he has really missed it. He usually has access to wi-fi, so he can watch his YouTube videos and download apps from the iTunes store.

Had to reset the iPhone this evening; it would not power on. Mr. Google filled me in on the details and all is well.

blog revival : work status

It's been a while since my last update. Many changes. We are into our second year as a merged IT organization at NCSU. I've been spending much of my work time deploying new equipment. There is something especially satisfying about starting with a box of parts and seeing the results shortly afterward. We will shortly be deploying our new VMWare ESX cluster. But enough about work.

re the Colbert incident

Recently watched the video of Steven Colbert's presentation at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. Funny and sad at the same time. The John McCain "salad fork" bit was cold, cold, cold. And priceless. Unfortunately, only our comedians have the balls to "undress" Emperor Bush and his conspirators.....tk

The transcript, for your enjoyment :

Other links :
http://www.radioopensource.org/stephen-colbert-court-jester/
http://www.edbatista.com/2006/05/debord_stewart_.html
http://billmon.org/archives/002417.html
http://thankyoustephencolbert.org/