Welcome
Latest News:
I haven't forgotten the robots. Just updating the little links.
The Gerb's Tech Blog the Arduino/robotic stuff is here..
the ongoing adventures of Linux and the Thinkpads will move to a page of its own, some day..!
and now for the recent news...
Umm, forgot to update the side links!! must fix stuff...
If you haven't tried LibreOffice - get it now! Free, open - works...
busy, exams.
The Thinkpad's problem was related to an obscure Win 7 issue fixed by a requestable MS HotFix, it had me going round in circles on my Laptop - couldn't connect to Samba shares or see them at all after an update, did a system restore rollback, it came good for a while then the shares vanished again. the XP virtual machine shares worked fine. Applying the hotfix got rid of hundreds of hidden network devices (6to4 virtual adaptors). They were being created each time Win 7 was restarted. When the hotfix was applied, it fixed the problem instantly after a reboot.
Sigh, anoth hot day (over 39 Celsius)... The Thinkpad L512, after a Win 7 driver update, refused to see our Samba servers! After a System Restore to undo the driver changes, everything worked again..odd.
I must organise the Ardunii and their brethren. There are far too many breadboards and their associated plugpacks lying about..
Cup Day - replaced Xerox 8400 front door assy - the paper feed door kept flopping open, because the plastic latches
were bent. Works OK now. Must do more clearing out of bits on eBay.
The Asus laptop has found a new home up north. The R61 was replaced with a new Lenovo L512 Thinkpad, which as it has more grunt that my desktop machine has, is now replacing Eeyore as the machine of choice. It has the Thinkpad nipple - much better than the slidey pad thing; on the desk, a wireless mouse plugs in nicely.
The new server cabinet is very handy for parking things on top; have to leave some breathing space for the servers! Have a folding plastic table from Bunnings now as a small workbench; it frees up a lot of deskspace..Fixed the timing on the Phaser 8400 printer which was causing paper jams and ink buildup on the drum during duplex printing; just a small gear adjustment.
All our 1U small servers, (finally replaced all the existing boxen) have been mounted in a brand new 19" Rack cabinet with doors, 1m high. The noise from fans has decreased considerably! Must clean up and build shelves - the cardboard boxes are taking over!!.
The Gerb's web server is now on a proper 1U small server. Wallace has moved to Kanga on another 1U server. The server migration is now complete, now to do other stuff..
Upgraded to an ASUS x81s laptop from the ThinkPad R61, Has Win7 upgrade. Very smooth machine despite some install hiccups.
Updated kanga, tested the LPro again, still working after dropping it! am running out of room - must put more stuff up on eBay..
Finally tested my LPro Rubidium Standard Oscillator that arrived last week (a eBay find..). It works in the check out mode, unlock light goes out, frequency is 10.000 Mhz into 50 ohms on the Fluke 1912A, waveform looks ok on the Tek 2465. It gets hot and will require a heatsink when it goes into a case...
Oops! markup issues! gotta watch those A HREF's...Fixed a recent purchase - Fluke 8050A DMM - U7 and U8 (LM358) had given up, causing display overrange on all settings about 2 seconds after startup...
one of the BBBduino's is done - see the Tech Blog...
Wallace has been resurrected as a SMB server for me so that I don't have to keep copying stuff from Eeyore to the thinkpads. Small (an X40 that has had a hard life) is waiting on a rebuild when the recovery disks arrive. It is a cheap alternative to netbooks and older eyes can read the screen!
Still haven't finished the BBBduino's yet, and the Rabbit RCM3720 has arrived and I must do something about the PIC 16F877A's. The shed needs some attention; the empty drawers have to be installed and filled up.
updated kanga. must assemble BBBduinos!!!
It is 46 degrees C outside; a change (of sorts) is coming. I hope the car will start. The AVRs and the PICs are still waiting!