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Until something goes wrong...
Then you still need a chip (unless you flashed the on-bard TSOP, assuming you didn't have one of these in your system.

Silver is better than gold all the way around with only one exception: it oxidizes.
If you want the *best* signal quality possible, it's silver plated copper stranded wire (or Coax if that's the app) with silver connectors both on the cable and console. The connectors need to mate very tightly and ideally have a small gasket to seal them.

That's what I use on my GHz frequency equipment. I'd use it on my video editing gear as well, but some conspiracy has landed me with only gold plate beryllium copper contacts as the best I can find...

for average joe consumer though, they buy overpriced cables with high-end looking terminations badly assembled ending up with this as the result.
-nB

I dare say, even powered on things frost up pretty good at my job...

I give you FROST
and its source
It's cheating, I know... but considering my crap works this cold, how dare they claim to only work to 0 degrees (other than K & R).
-nB

I dare say, even powered on things frost up pretty good at my job...

I give you FROST
and its source
It's cheating, I know... but considering my crap works this cold, how dare they claim to only work to 0 degrees (other than K & R).
-nB

Fourteen hours after the story posts and the server is still hammered:
http://networkboy.net/scientology-frank-oliver-osa.pdf
And in case some wing nut wants to sue me:
Piss off.

It's better than this (not mine)
This is one of mine as is this and that

-nB

It's better than this (not mine)
This is one of mine as is this and that

-nB

It's better than this (not mine)
This is one of mine as is this and that

-nB

It's better than this (not mine)
This is one of mine as is this and that

-nB

hooray for the url: tag's innate mangling ability of anything without www or http leading it....

proper link

Cable quality matters just as much with digital as with analog.
Here's why: http://networkboy.net/hdjitter.shtml. To be fair, of course, there is little to gain once you have reached the "decent quality" tier.
-nB

Case in point:
http://xbx.networkboy.net/modules/gallery/album09/ Dimona_compare_SpyVciv_sat_corona_vs_SPOT This shows a comparison of a commercial sat and a military sat of the same location (many many years old, thus you can bet the military gear has gotten vastly better, whereas the commercial gear is now about where the military gear was then).
-nB

I would tend to say that I am quite familiar with LN2. How 'bout you?
You're assuming the construction guys are too?

Also, dewars tend to leak atmosphere to the vacuum over time, and those transfer hoses do get cold enough to weep LOX if you are not anal about not moving them when cold (insulation cracks, LN2 seeps out, boils on metal armor, LOX wets the ice) and in a production there's always someone who doesn't pay attention and bumps frozen lines.
Once we had someone (terminated on the spot) lick a frozen line... you thought a frozen lamp post was cold? He'll never taste "sweet" again.

OT Ever put your bare, un-gloved hand in LN2? Quite an experience.

I would tend to say that I am quite familiar with LN2. How 'bout you?
You're assuming the construction guys are too?

Also, dewars tend to leak atmosphere to the vacuum over time, and those transfer hoses do get cold enough to weep LOX if you are not anal about not moving them when cold (insulation cracks, LN2 seeps out, boils on metal armor, LOX wets the ice) and in a production there's always someone who doesn't pay attention and bumps frozen lines.
Once we had someone (terminated on the spot) lick a frozen line... you thought a frozen lamp post was cold? He'll never taste "sweet" again.

OT Ever put your bare, un-gloved hand in LN2? Quite an experience.

I would tend to say that I am quite familiar with LN2. How 'bout you?
You're assuming the construction guys are too?

Also, dewars tend to leak atmosphere to the vacuum over time, and those transfer hoses do get cold enough to weep LOX if you are not anal about not moving them when cold (insulation cracks, LN2 seeps out, boils on metal armor, LOX wets the ice) and in a production there's always someone who doesn't pay attention and bumps frozen lines.
Once we had someone (terminated on the spot) lick a frozen line... you thought a frozen lamp post was cold? He'll never taste "sweet" again.

OT Ever put your bare, un-gloved hand in LN2? Quite an experience.

I would tend to say that I am quite familiar with LN2. How 'bout you?
You're assuming the construction guys are too?

Also, dewars tend to leak atmosphere to the vacuum over time, and those transfer hoses do get cold enough to weep LOX if you are not anal about not moving them when cold (insulation cracks, LN2 seeps out, boils on metal armor, LOX wets the ice) and in a production there's always someone who doesn't pay attention and bumps frozen lines.
Once we had someone (terminated on the spot) lick a frozen line... you thought a frozen lamp post was cold? He'll never taste "sweet" again.

OT Ever put your bare, un-gloved hand in LN2? Quite an experience.

Winzip (at least 6.3) works fine.
I'll round up my sample image and post it...
http://networkboy.net/imageofgdf.jpg This will be removed shortly as my available bandwith is questionable.
-nB

you're both right.
The spec calls for 500mA but most vendors connect the port to an *unfused* 5V line. This (IMHO) is a BadIdea (tm). sure you can draw 2A, you can try to draw 100A too but something's gonna give.
Case in point: http://xbx.networkboy.net/modules/gallery/albums/a lbum18/P1000121.jpg
It's a design flaw (in most cases) that you can draw that much current from a USB port.
-nB

ask and ye shall receive :-)
http://networkboy.net/clippynuke.bmp
-nB

Check this our:
http://qadcms.networkboy.net/cgi-bin/QAD_CMS.pl
It's close and easily hackable.
-nB

Right, so after scrolling down a while and finding nothing on the actual topic of tools:
1) 2 metcal re-work stations
2) 2-3 rolls of solder, varying diameter
3) 2 bottles of liquid flux (someone will steal one)
4) IPA, swabs and cloth wipes
5) Machinist chest (small) loaded with the RightTools (TM) (ESD safe snips, strippers, pliers, etc.)
6) bin box for scrap devices and solder soaked wick for "proper" disposal
7) PC w/ 17" LCD, mounted on a swivel arm.
8) the kitchen sink.

other:
* One bench with an inspection microscope for taking nice pictures like this: http://xbx.networkboy.net/modules/gallery/albums/a lbum24/TEEPE_2X402S_TO_1_603CAP_TO_GROUND_SHOT2.pn g (should have a pair of very fine tipped soldering irons for re-work)
* Community station with a Zyphertronics and low temp solder (you can recover and reuse the solder a couple times, feels chincy to do, but that shit is pricy)
* Solvent tank, if you can afford it and the OSHA regs, etc. Makes cleaning boards a breeze.

All the above is with re-work in mind, and if you need to do debug I highly suggest a seperate station or two with a good scope (I like Tek) and Logic analyzer, DMM (should have lots of these floating around any lab), etc.

If you want some pics of my bench setups for my lab let me know (email the admin of the site the pic came from).
-nB

Lock the hard drive. The ATA and SCSI spec both have provisions for locking the drive's electronics to dis-allow writes or reads for the disk's data. your copy utility or machine will not work without these keys.
HOW HDD LOCKING WORKS
The above is a quick little write-up I did to explain to all the Xbox people who want to use/access the drive that ships with the Xbox (after they've ruined their MB or sold it on e-bay) why they are really quite screwed. This is not definitive, but it is fairly accurate in what it says.
-nB

hehe I'm crapflooding the comments section of his website. I wonder how long before he notices?