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.