Gravity's an easy factor to adjust for. Particle size and abrasiveness lead to a much tricker set of problems, not all of which are obvious until you spend some time in the environment.
Heh. I was thinking "It might not suck if they bundle a bugmenot-plugin-like browser extension that automatically generates and fills in the number for you when you tell it to", but that would obviously only be a good idea if it were optional.
You've hit the nail on the head here. The more I learn about PayPal, the less I like them, but the alternatives aren't compelling either. Damn.
I'd rather leave the money in the consumer's pocket so they can spend it on something possibly worthwhile, instead of on something provably redundant, like another wallwart to replace the existing wallwart that was made obsolete before it failed.
For less power, there's USB. For more power, AC is usually appropriate, but the larger Powerpole connectors (SB 350 series in particular) are common on truck winches, tow truck jumper cables, golf carts, and electric forklifts.
Ooh, good call on the Cadex! I'm cheap, so I'm settling for the LaCrosse BC-900 battery analyzer, which has completely changed the way I think about my batteries. Using rechargeables without one of these is like driving without a gas gauge or speedometer.
I dropped my dad's Raytek IR thermometer a year back, and replaced it with a Tempgun PE-2 for half the price. I picked up a PE-1 for myself at the same time, and it's addictive. Being non-contact, I use it in the kitchen all the time, but the more important aspect is that it reads instantly. Hard drive warm? Point and know. CPU heatsink temperature difference between center and edge? Point, point, and know. I'm much too impatient for contact-based thermometers, and the IR thing is a boon.
You can build an adjustable DC load testing bank with any random set of giant transistors. Sometimes you'll find driver boards in surplus outfits that're just begging to be modded thusly.
One more thing no lab should be without is a good camera, or two or three. I carry a 5MP Canon for everyday shooting, but there's an old USB Vicam (aka 3Com HomeConnect Camera, aka Digi IONetworks Watchport/V) on the bench that comes in surprisingly handy. It was five bucks at a fleamarket so I don't hesitate to do things like record arcs and sparks with it, and it'll focus right down to its nose if you spin the lens really far out. Comes in handy for silly electronics closeups that're sort of difficult to see with the unaided eye. I should have a microscope for these things, but the camera's small and versatile.
At least two good bench multimeters, the old red LED digital kind are good to see from a distance.
Clocks, too. A stable timebase with 1pps and 10MHz outputs is handy in a lot of situations. Get one that's GPS-disciplined if budget allows. It's a shame these weird ones were a limited-quantity deal, because the IRIG-B output would let you drive your human-readable clocks from the same sync source. Other such units are available but not at such a nice price. Telecom-style clocks with redundant oscillators and failover are probably overkill, but if you find a surplus unit you might get lucky.
You can't go wrong with a Bitscope, USBee, or DigiView, three computer-based logic analyzers with various extra features.
Consider using genderless Anderson PowerPole connectors in lieu of, or in addition to, banana plugs on your test leads. It's nice to be able to just mix and match 'gator clips, micrograbbers, screw terminals, and what-have-you into custom test leads. You can do this with stacking banana plugs too, but they leave the male plug exposed when you're done. You could cover it with a plastic "screw protector" cover, but PowerPoles are cooler. Powerwerx also sells the "floppy noodle" rubber-insulated test lead wire, if you're like me and prefer to just build your own.
Run a big tinned-copper-braid ground strap across the back of the bench. Get the kind with grommets in it so you have easy attachment points for anything, plus the fine braid means it performs better than a busbar at high frequencies.
I've collected a pile of fun links in http://del.icio.us/myself248/electronics, which might also give you some project ideas. Read the Toolmonger archives if you're bored, and post some of your favorite finds using the "submit a tool" form.
As for test gear, you'll always find a reason to have a PC on the bench, and not just so you can run your bitscope. Hell, you'll probably want to play some tunes in the lab, so include some speakers in the plan. Anyway, look at swing-arm monitor mounts, most of which are modifiable to hold a whole laptop. Getting it up off the bench will save a lot of space and discourage clutter. Get an older machine, or a Toughbook, since you'll want a real hardware parallel port for some projects.
If you do RF work, get a Unidapt kit. Mix and match connectors between BNC, N, SMA, TNC, UHF, and so on. They now offer "wifi" connectors like RP-TNC, MMCX, RP-SMA, etc. Thus proving that the FCC's "nonstandard connector" mandate doesn't really stop anyone, it just forces a proliferation of unnecessary "standards". Bastards.
Whatever you're doing, you'll find a use for a Panavise. You'll want several heads, I'd suggest starting with the standard 303 head and the extra-wide 376. Get two bases instead of swapping heads into one base, it'll give you more versatility.
I can't believe I survived so long on five-dollar pencil soldering irons. I recently picked up a refurbished Edsyn soldering station from EAE Sales and the difference just blew me away. Not only does it work more easily, which I expected, but it warms up in no time flat, since it has a big honkin' heating element that it normally runs at a very low duty cycle. If I'm heating something large, it simply runs more, which means this little featherweight iron is actually capable of much bigger jobs than the clunky Radio Shack unit it replaced. I've relegated the cheapies to toolbox duty, and the Edsyn perches proudly in the center of my workspace.
Speaking of soldering, consider ventilation. Another poster mentioned a fume hood, and that's a fine idea. Look into a flexible-arm fume extractor too. Actually, just get the whole catalog from Lab Safety Supply and order one of everything.:)
Ergonomics are important if you're spending a lot of time in the lab. Look at rubber floor mats, with whatever level of chemical resistance you feel is appropriate. Jigsaw-style interlockable sections make it easy to replace worn or damaged pieces, though they can allow spills to reach the base layer. Consider sound absorbing walls too, if you'll have blowers or other noise-generating equipment running a l
I've long said that hackers are just greasemonkeys with clean(er) fingernails. This is good stuff, I hope it gets the talent it needs.
I'd be happy with an open firmware for regular car computers. Just let me redefine the auto-headlight logic (to avoid getting lynched by astronomers) and the auto-wiper logic (no really, after a squirt and 1 swipe, it's clean! no need for 4 more swipes!), and the remote control logic (If I want to leave the engine running with the doors locked, I should be able to unlock them with the remote control. Disabling the remote when the engine is on means I just locked my key in the car outside 7-11.), and I'd be happy.
What'll really be interesting is if they can reuse some interfaces (mounting bolt locations) so perhaps the open-source engine will be more or less interchangeable with a common, existing engine. Then people could share parts both ways, in and out of the open-source world.
Of course, I could post the YouTube link directly, but it's more fun to see what other Qwantz readers are saying about it.;) It's a CBC news story from the pre-www days, spends a lot of time talking about usenet as if it's the entire internet.
Some hilarious lines in there, including "the deep desire to be rooted". That one's exactly three minutes in. Enjoy!
I'm sure you've heard of StrikeStar, the networked lightning detector grid. I sort of wonder sometimes whether a similar map would've been doable in the pre-digital era, using delay lines and weighted amplifier inputs and such.
Some time ago the folks in #mi2600 got to talking about the possibility of postal helicopters, for packages weighing a few pounds or less. I'm a big proponent; I think the prediction went like this:
Sure, when you're expecting a package, you print out helipad.pdf and tape it to the middle of your driveway.
Avoid Panasonic. I absolutely adore the Toughbook sitting in my lap, but the pinouts for the internal connectors are apparently lost in Amelia Earhart's logbook or something. eBay is the best place to find parts, because Panasonic doesn't sell jack shit direct to anybody. It's depressing.
My dad broke the USB jack on his old Thinkpad, and I recently tore it down to the bare motherboard. The construction was nowhere near as elegant as the Toughbook (like 5 different types/lengths of screws, as opposed to 2), but the whole teardown process is documented in drooling-idiot detail in a PDF on IBM's site. Of course, when I got inside, I found that the USB jack does not in fact match any of the ones I can get from Digi-Key, so it was all pointless anyway. I got to marvel at some absurd IBM engineering though, like the rotary heatpipe fitting to send CPU heat up behind the screen. A cast metal chassis would be so much simpler...
Okay, deportation is a new angle, but there always seem to be problems when people sell in-game items. The stories keep coming...
I'd love to see a broad treatment of law-meets-games-meets-money from someone who actually understands the issues involved. I'm tangentially interested in all those things but I don't really have enough background to put these sorts of things into perspective.
I've learned to just sigh and say "the general public is so confused" when I hear mainstream media talk like the iPod is the only portable music player. I sort of expected Slashdot to be a bit more savvy than to use a term like "mp3 transmitter". Who edits this stuff?
If it opens people's eyes to parties outside the usual two, I'm in favor of it. Play with the OkCupid politics test if you haven't already. It's run by the same mathematicians who designed TheSpark way back when, and features the same scarily-insightful ratings engine.
Jhead has a function to save the EXIF headers, spawn a process on the image in question, then restore the (presumably clobbered) headers. A watcher process could do the same with IPTC headers.
Okay, trying to take pictures of Beagle 2 was useful, because it could tell us whether the panels unfolded and give hints of the failure mode for consideration in future designs.
But what's the point of trying to take pictures of an orbiting craft? What useful data will we glean, if successful, that would either help restore MGS to functionality or inform future activity?
And then that requires that every program capable of opening an image file be rewritten to understand.imx!
I find that ACDSee's move/copy functions are better than Explorer's anyway; they have superior "file by this name already exists" handling. If there were a dupe-finder (like dff.sourceforge) that could reconcile different descript.ion tags associated with identical files, I'd be in heaven.
Sweet, I hope it understands lots of different description formats to import from. I'm using ACDSee Classic, which stores descriptions (which I use like tags) in 4DOS-style descript.ion files in each directory. When they went looking for a metadata mechanism that was format-independent, they found an established convention dating back a decade or more.:)
Anyway, in my copious free time, I'm going to set up Gallery2 on some hosting space, and wrangle some Perl to automatically tag uploaded photos in G2 based on their descript.ion text. If your code implements any of that functionality, excellent.
Have you noticed a distinct lack of USB 5.25" drives? I'm fine with a wall wart for power, but nobody even makes a USB floppy controller chip that recognizes 360k as a valid format. (There's one that'll do 1.2MB, but not 360k.)
Or better yet, an NTSC or VGA input so any old device could drive it, including iPods. Imagine that. No codec problems, no DRM issues, etc. Provide 12vDC power the same way they've always done. If they want to rent iPod-specific cable sets for video and charging, that's fine.
Slashdot Mirror
Gravity's an easy factor to adjust for. Particle size and abrasiveness lead to a much tricker set of problems, not all of which are obvious until you spend some time in the environment.
Heh. I was thinking "It might not suck if they bundle a bugmenot-plugin-like browser extension that automatically generates and fills in the number for you when you tell it to", but that would obviously only be a good idea if it were optional.
You've hit the nail on the head here. The more I learn about PayPal, the less I like them, but the alternatives aren't compelling either. Damn.
I should also mention this in the "power connector next to the USB connector" department. You can do that on the host side too. :)
I'd rather leave the money in the consumer's pocket so they can spend it on something possibly worthwhile, instead of on something provably redundant, like another wallwart to replace the existing wallwart that was made obsolete before it failed.
Yeah, the medium-power DC standard is called "twelve volts on a pair of Powerpoles", and all my DC-capable laptop chargers have been modded to take it as input.
For less power, there's USB. For more power, AC is usually appropriate, but the larger Powerpole connectors (SB 350 series in particular) are common on truck winches, tow truck jumper cables, golf carts, and electric forklifts.
Ooh, good call on the Cadex! I'm cheap, so I'm settling for the LaCrosse BC-900 battery analyzer, which has completely changed the way I think about my batteries. Using rechargeables without one of these is like driving without a gas gauge or speedometer.
I dropped my dad's Raytek IR thermometer a year back, and replaced it with a Tempgun PE-2 for half the price. I picked up a PE-1 for myself at the same time, and it's addictive. Being non-contact, I use it in the kitchen all the time, but the more important aspect is that it reads instantly. Hard drive warm? Point and know. CPU heatsink temperature difference between center and edge? Point, point, and know. I'm much too impatient for contact-based thermometers, and the IR thing is a boon.
You can build an adjustable DC load testing bank with any random set of giant transistors. Sometimes you'll find driver boards in surplus outfits that're just begging to be modded thusly.
One more thing no lab should be without is a good camera, or two or three. I carry a 5MP Canon for everyday shooting, but there's an old USB Vicam (aka 3Com HomeConnect Camera, aka Digi IONetworks Watchport/V) on the bench that comes in surprisingly handy. It was five bucks at a fleamarket so I don't hesitate to do things like record arcs and sparks with it, and it'll focus right down to its nose if you spin the lens really far out. Comes in handy for silly electronics closeups that're sort of difficult to see with the unaided eye. I should have a microscope for these things, but the camera's small and versatile.
JohnFluxx, glad they were able to rescue your vision! So it's true what they say, Do Not Look Into Beam With Remaining Eye?
You can't go wrong with a Bitscope, USBee, or DigiView, three computer-based logic analyzers with various extra features.
:)
Consider using genderless Anderson PowerPole connectors in lieu of, or in addition to, banana plugs on your test leads. It's nice to be able to just mix and match 'gator clips, micrograbbers, screw terminals, and what-have-you into custom test leads. You can do this with stacking banana plugs too, but they leave the male plug exposed when you're done. You could cover it with a plastic "screw protector" cover, but PowerPoles are cooler. Powerwerx also sells the "floppy noodle" rubber-insulated test lead wire, if you're like me and prefer to just build your own.
Run a big tinned-copper-braid ground strap across the back of the bench. Get the kind with grommets in it so you have easy attachment points for anything, plus the fine braid means it performs better than a busbar at high frequencies.
I've collected a pile of fun links in http://del.icio.us/myself248/electronics, which might also give you some project ideas. Read the Toolmonger archives if you're bored, and post some of your favorite finds using the "submit a tool" form.
As for test gear, you'll always find a reason to have a PC on the bench, and not just so you can run your bitscope. Hell, you'll probably want to play some tunes in the lab, so include some speakers in the plan. Anyway, look at swing-arm monitor mounts, most of which are modifiable to hold a whole laptop. Getting it up off the bench will save a lot of space and discourage clutter. Get an older machine, or a Toughbook, since you'll want a real hardware parallel port for some projects.
If you do RF work, get a Unidapt kit. Mix and match connectors between BNC, N, SMA, TNC, UHF, and so on. They now offer "wifi" connectors like RP-TNC, MMCX, RP-SMA, etc. Thus proving that the FCC's "nonstandard connector" mandate doesn't really stop anyone, it just forces a proliferation of unnecessary "standards". Bastards.
Whatever you're doing, you'll find a use for a Panavise. You'll want several heads, I'd suggest starting with the standard 303 head and the extra-wide 376. Get two bases instead of swapping heads into one base, it'll give you more versatility.
I can't believe I survived so long on five-dollar pencil soldering irons. I recently picked up a refurbished Edsyn soldering station from EAE Sales and the difference just blew me away. Not only does it work more easily, which I expected, but it warms up in no time flat, since it has a big honkin' heating element that it normally runs at a very low duty cycle. If I'm heating something large, it simply runs more, which means this little featherweight iron is actually capable of much bigger jobs than the clunky Radio Shack unit it replaced. I've relegated the cheapies to toolbox duty, and the Edsyn perches proudly in the center of my workspace.
Speaking of soldering, consider ventilation. Another poster mentioned a fume hood, and that's a fine idea. Look into a flexible-arm fume extractor too. Actually, just get the whole catalog from Lab Safety Supply and order one of everything.
Ergonomics are important if you're spending a lot of time in the lab. Look at rubber floor mats, with whatever level of chemical resistance you feel is appropriate. Jigsaw-style interlockable sections make it easy to replace worn or damaged pieces, though they can allow spills to reach the base layer. Consider sound absorbing walls too, if you'll have blowers or other noise-generating equipment running a l
I've long said that hackers are just greasemonkeys with clean(er) fingernails. This is good stuff, I hope it gets the talent it needs.
I'd be happy with an open firmware for regular car computers. Just let me redefine the auto-headlight logic (to avoid getting lynched by astronomers) and the auto-wiper logic (no really, after a squirt and 1 swipe, it's clean! no need for 4 more swipes!), and the remote control logic (If I want to leave the engine running with the doors locked, I should be able to unlock them with the remote control. Disabling the remote when the engine is on means I just locked my key in the car outside 7-11.), and I'd be happy.
What'll really be interesting is if they can reuse some interfaces (mounting bolt locations) so perhaps the open-source engine will be more or less interchangeable with a common, existing engine. Then people could share parts both ways, in and out of the open-source world.
Just came across this:
;) It's a CBC news story from the pre-www days, spends a lot of time talking about usenet as if it's the entire internet.
http://qwantz.livejournal.com/67153.html
Of course, I could post the YouTube link directly, but it's more fun to see what other Qwantz readers are saying about it.
Some hilarious lines in there, including "the deep desire to be rooted". That one's exactly three minutes in. Enjoy!
I'm sure you've heard of StrikeStar, the networked lightning detector grid. I sort of wonder sometimes whether a similar map would've been doable in the pre-digital era, using delay lines and weighted amplifier inputs and such.
Ooh, curse you for being anonymous! You need to use that as part of your entry for the Anything but Ethernet contest, link in my sig.
Some time ago the folks in #mi2600 got to talking about the possibility of postal helicopters, for packages weighing a few pounds or less. I'm a big proponent; I think the prediction went like this:
Sure, when you're expecting a package, you print out helipad.pdf and tape it to the middle of your driveway.
Avoid Panasonic. I absolutely adore the Toughbook sitting in my lap, but the pinouts for the internal connectors are apparently lost in Amelia Earhart's logbook or something. eBay is the best place to find parts, because Panasonic doesn't sell jack shit direct to anybody. It's depressing.
My dad broke the USB jack on his old Thinkpad, and I recently tore it down to the bare motherboard. The construction was nowhere near as elegant as the Toughbook (like 5 different types/lengths of screws, as opposed to 2), but the whole teardown process is documented in drooling-idiot detail in a PDF on IBM's site. Of course, when I got inside, I found that the USB jack does not in fact match any of the ones I can get from Digi-Key, so it was all pointless anyway. I got to marvel at some absurd IBM engineering though, like the rotary heatpipe fitting to send CPU heat up behind the screen. A cast metal chassis would be so much simpler...
Okay, deportation is a new angle, but there always seem to be problems when people sell in-game items. The stories keep coming...
I'd love to see a broad treatment of law-meets-games-meets-money from someone who actually understands the issues involved. I'm tangentially interested in all those things but I don't really have enough background to put these sorts of things into perspective.
Anyone?
I've learned to just sigh and say "the general public is so confused" when I hear mainstream media talk like the iPod is the only portable music player. I sort of expected Slashdot to be a bit more savvy than to use a term like "mp3 transmitter". Who edits this stuff?
If it opens people's eyes to parties outside the usual two, I'm in favor of it. Play with the OkCupid politics test if you haven't already. It's run by the same mathematicians who designed TheSpark way back when, and features the same scarily-insightful ratings engine.
Jhead has a function to save the EXIF headers, spawn a process on the image in question, then restore the (presumably clobbered) headers. A watcher process could do the same with IPTC headers.
Okay, trying to take pictures of Beagle 2 was useful, because it could tell us whether the panels unfolded and give hints of the failure mode for consideration in future designs.
But what's the point of trying to take pictures of an orbiting craft? What useful data will we glean, if successful, that would either help restore MGS to functionality or inform future activity?
And then that requires that every program capable of opening an image file be rewritten to understand .imx!
I find that ACDSee's move/copy functions are better than Explorer's anyway; they have superior "file by this name already exists" handling. If there were a dupe-finder (like dff.sourceforge) that could reconcile different descript.ion tags associated with identical files, I'd be in heaven.
Sweet, I hope it understands lots of different description formats to import from. I'm using ACDSee Classic, which stores descriptions (which I use like tags) in 4DOS-style descript.ion files in each directory. When they went looking for a metadata mechanism that was format-independent, they found an established convention dating back a decade or more. :)
Anyway, in my copious free time, I'm going to set up Gallery2 on some hosting space, and wrangle some Perl to automatically tag uploaded photos in G2 based on their descript.ion text. If your code implements any of that functionality, excellent.
Have you noticed a distinct lack of USB 5.25" drives? I'm fine with a wall wart for power, but nobody even makes a USB floppy controller chip that recognizes 360k as a valid format. (There's one that'll do 1.2MB, but not 360k.)
I've been encouraging Jens Schoenfeld to make a USB Catweasel controller for those of us without PCI slots. I suppose it's probably easier to put PCI slots on a laptop, though.
Perhaps I'm just in it for the absurdity factor.
Or better yet, an NTSC or VGA input so any old device could drive it, including iPods. Imagine that. No codec problems, no DRM issues, etc. Provide 12vDC power the same way they've always done. If they want to rent iPod-specific cable sets for video and charging, that's fine.
bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.
(If you do a run of stickers with that on them, kindly tell me, and I'll buy some from you.)