I've been very happy with the device, no real complaints. However, about 8 months into owning it, it just stopped working. When it was plugged in, there were no lights, and no response to any button presses. The thing was bricked. I hypothesized that some of the internal electronics had gotten fried. I don't expect today's made-in-china electronics to last 10 years, but only 8 months for a $100 purchase is not acceptable. Luckily, when I checked the manual, it stated that there was a 1 year warranty.

I put off calling the support phone number for a long time. I was not looking forward to an hour of waiting on the phone to get the chance to talk to someone who would ask me questions like "did you plug it in?". Much to my surprise, when I called, a human answered within a few rings. He did walk me through some power cycle diagnostics and a factory reset of the unit. However when the troubleshooting process was over, he apologized for my trouble, and said they would send a new unit out to me the next day. I was expecting to have to send my existing unit in for repair, but to get a brand new unit with just a phone call? That's standing by your product. Well done Adaptive Sound Technologies. I was told to dispose of my existing device in an "environmentally safe manner".

As with all broken electronics, if it's headed for the trash, it never hurts to open it up, and see what's inside. Maybe there is a burnt out component that can be replaced with a little solder. If nothing else, I figured, I could recycle the speaker inside.

When I disassembled the device, there wasn't a lot to it, just a tweeter speaker driver, a woofer speaker driver, and a single circuit board:

The use of the standard SD card is interesting. It appears they are storing their firmware and sound recordings on the SD card, rather then some expensive flash chip.

I checked the board for any obviously burnt out resisters, capacitors, etc. Everything seemed fine. Then I checked the AC/DC wall plugin adaptor, which said it is a 5.0V, 1.2A. When checked against a multimeter, it was putting out the appropriate voltage, both by itself, and when under load while plugged into the circuit board. No problems there.

Then I noticed an interesting thing. When I removed the 1 GB SD card from the board, and applied power, the various LEDs would blink in a rhythmic pattern. This tells me the board wasn't necessarily bricked, but that there might be a problem with the SD card.

I placed it in my computer's card reader, to see what was on it. Nothing. The computer didn't even acknowledge the card was there. I couldn't even format it. The card was fried.

So this means, if I could just replace the bad 1 GB SD card, maybe I could revive the broken device. But where could I get a replacement SD card with the appropriate files on it...

The answer is, of course, I was being sent one in the mail. When my replacement device arrived, I opened it up, and took a look at the circuit board. It looked essentially the same as the previous one, however it said version 1.1 on it (the previous said version 1.0) and it used a micro SD card (also 1 GB) instead of a standard size card. I extracted the micro SD card, put it in a full size adaptor, and placed it in the defective board. It worked!

The next step was to see what was on this card. I placed it in my computer's card reader, and saw that it had a single file:

With any luck, all I would need to do is copy this file to a new 1 GB SD card, and I would be in business. However, it didn't go that smoothly. The first time I tried it, I had a SD card that was formatted with FAT32, and upon closer inspection, the working micro SD card from the new device appeared to be formatted with FAT16. Even after reformatting the card to FAT16 and re-copying the image file, I couldn't get the board to work with my newly created card.

I just couldn't figure it out. It should be working. Finally I decided to make a bit-for-bit copy of the working SD card. And here are the steps I took to do that.

First, I used an Apple Macbook, however any Unixy computer will do, Linux included.

Now If I had two SD card readers, I could have just copied the data from one card to the other card directly. However since I only had one available, I had to first copy the data from the good card to my computer, then swap cards in the reader, and copy the data from the computer file to the new card. The first step is to copy the data from the working card to the computer. I figured out the SD card file descriptor was at /dev/disk1. When I first tried this, I did so with the disk mounted, and that didn't that didn't work. So I had to have the card reader and disk plugged in, but not mounted.

From a command line, I ran the following:

sudo dd if=/dev/disk1 of=/tmp/SDCard.image

The resulting output I received is shown below:

Users-MacBook:tmp User$ sudo dd if=/dev/disk1 of=/tmp/SDCard.image
Password: (entered password here)
1930240+0 records in
1930240+0 records out
988282880 bytes transferred in 432.534941 secs (2284863 bytes/sec)

Note that the process took several minutes.

I already happened to be located in the /tmp directory, where the file was created. If I hadn't been, I could get there with the command "cd /tmp". Once there, I can confirm the existence of the file with the command "ls".

The resulting output is shown below:

Users-MacBook:tmp User$ ls -la
total 1930240
drwxrwxrwt 7 root wheel 238 Dec 27 21:23 .
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 root wheel 204 Aug 25 20:02 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 988282880 Dec 27 21:21 SDCard.image

So everything looks good, I have a copy of the working SD card image in my temp folder, and now, once I swap in the new SD card, I can write that the data to it, with the following command:

sudo dd if=/tmp/SDCard.image of=/dev/disk1

The resulting output is shown below:

Users-MacBook:tmp User$ sudo dd if=/tmp/SDCard.image of=/dev/disk1
Password: (entered password here)
1930240+0 records in
1930240+0 records out
988282880 bytes transferred in 1129.365082 secs (875078 bytes/sec)

And that did it. Putting my newly blessed SD card in the defective board got it working again.

Adaptive Sound Technologies could have just sent me a replacement SD card, but I'm glad they didn't, since I now have 2 working sound sleep machines.

The self propel cable normally has some small amount of slack when the mower is idle, but when the mower handle is pushed forward, the part connected to the cable is pulled back. A small amount of movement by the handle tightens the wire. Additional push on the handle results in pulling the wire, tightening it further, which engages the self propel.

In the picture you'll see what happened. There is a small plastic loop on the push handle for the mower, which is supposed to be connected to the wire cable. Whatever was attached to the end of the cable as snapped off, leaving the cable unconnected.

To repair this, we'll need a pair of ferrules, which is a fastener which can be used to join two cables. The ferrule we need has two openings, one for each end of wire. It's made of a soft metal, such as aluminum, which can be crimped tight on the cables. You'll need the correct size for the wire, which in my case turned out to be 1/16''. We'll also need a small length of wire cable, of about the same gauge as the existing lawn mower cable.

Both of these can be purchased at your local hardware store. The ferrule and stop set pictured cost $1.25 at a Home Depot, and the store can cut you a length of wire cable, which will probably run at about 25 cents a foot (if they don't just give it to you). They'll both likely be located where they store keeps spindles of wire, chain, rope, etc.

Use the new length of cable to create a "noose" through the plastic handle bar loop where the cable used to be connected. Then use the first of the ferrules to secure the cable as shown in the photo below, so that the "noose" is tight. You'll need to crimp the ferrule tightly, such that the cable can no longer slide through it (more on that below).

Now we have two cable ends that need to be joined, which is where the second ferrule comes in. You'll need to cut off anything left attached to the end of the existing cable, so you are left with a clean end of the wire. Thread the existing wire through one of the ferrule openings, and thread your new length of wire through the other, joining the two. You'll need to crimp the ferrule tightly, while holding the wires so that they are taut in the self propelled handle bar's rest position. This can be a tricky job, and might require two people. Don't worry if you can't get the wires completely taut, a little bit of slack is okay.

Regarding the crimping, there is a special tool that does this. However it's somewhat costly, and you'll likely not need it again. If you can borrow it from a friend, great, otherwise a hammer, a regular screwdriver and a brick or block of wood will do just fine. With the cables in place inside the ferrule, hold it against the brick, and give it a few good poundings with the hammer. Then take the screwdriver, position the flat head on the ferrule between the two wires, and give it some solid taps to further crimp the wires in place.

Here is the finished result. The wire cable is once again connected, and the self propel on the lawn mower works great. And all for about $1.50 in parts.

However, before doing so, I did some searching on the internet. It seems that the power supply brick (AD/DC adapter) dying is a somewhat common occurrence. With this in mind, I looked on the label of the power supply, and noted that it puts out 5V. I plugged it in to the wall outlet and tested it with a multi-meter, which read that it did indeed supply 5V. So it seemed the power supply was not the issue. However (and this is the fun part), I opened the Roku box up, and plugged in the power supply to the main circuit board. If I measured the voltage with the powers supply connected and under load, the voltage dropped to near zero. So it was in-fact a bad power supply.

Next I had a power supply for an Arduino Duemilanove which just happened to be 5V and 1.5A, although the plugs weren't the same size. I clipped off the plug of both power supplies and wired up the working 5V supply to the correct size plug to go into the Roku box. Guess what, the Roku box suddenly worked.

Interestingly, the failures must be common enough that Roku sells new power supplies (better ones) on their website.

http://shop.roku.com/SoundBridge-Products-and-Accessories-W11.aspx

The FBI agents investigating attempt to shut the site down, but every time they find the originating server, the site moves it's hosting to another IP, all of this, of course in countries outside of US Jurisdiction (China, Russia, etc). Presumably when this is done the website operator updates the DNS information such that www.killwithme.com will resolve to the new IP address.

So my question is why not exploit DNS to stop people from visiting the site? The FBI could go to IANA or whoever controls these things and have the 13 root DNS servers updated to resolve the domain to an FBI webserver? All the root servers are under "American control" and would most likely be able to comply. Or fail that, you could ask the countries largest ISPs (Comcast, AT&T, Roadrunner, Qwest, etc) to remove the entry from their DNS cache. That would probably keep a very large percentage of US citizens from being able to view the site.

http://volumeconv.appspot.com

Anything missing? Please contact me at pete {at} stoltenow {dot} com.

Old faithful is a Apple Macbook (black) 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 1 GB of RAM, circa mid 2007. I recently realized for the low price of approximately $20 USD, I could double the memory. And while the 2 year old machine still seems to be fast enough, for only $20, why not?

I could have gotten 4GB for $30, seems like a good deal right? Unfortunately, the laptop only "officially" supports 2GB of RAM. Doing some reading, it seems 3GB *may* have been possible, but for my web browsing, 2GB will probably be alright.

All went well with the upgrade, the little dude seems to boot twice as fast.

The old memory (2 x 512 MB SO-DIMMs)



The new memory (2 x 1 GB SO-DIMMs)



Battery Removed, Ready to upgrade memory



Inserting the new memory DIMMs

When a program is selected and starts streaming, the Roku box decides what is the best quality level you can get with the current internet connection. 1 star for the slowest connections, all the way up to 4 stars for the best speed connections, which is typically cable internet. (They're not actually stars, but I like to think of them as such)

I have a DSL connection (Qwest) with a 1.5 megabit download speed. When I first plugged in the Roku player about a year ago, my 1.5 megabit DSL connection, I would typically get the "2 star" level of quality. Occasionally, it would give me the horrid "1 star" level of quality. But I would never see anything above level 2.

Well in the past few weeks, I've been seeing "3 stars" of quality, over the same speed internet connection. Once I even got 4! I didn't change anything, and yet suddenly I'm getting better quality streaming video? And It looks great. It's on par with VHS quality, if not a touch above.

I can't be sure, but I *think* the audio quality has gotten worse. Could Netflix be sacrificing audio quality for better video?

That seems like a firmware problem. Looking at Netgear's website, there have been a few hardware revisions of the FVS318, a version 1, version 2, and version 3. This one was a hardware version 2, which means it could only be updated to firmware 2.4, which is the version it already had. I tried to go back to older versions, but it wouldn't take them. Nothing really else I could do.

The router was headed for the trash, when I figured something out. The device has 9 RJ45 jacks... a single "Internet Port", and 8 LAN ports. If I connect the cable from my modem to one of the 8 LAN ports instead of the "Internet Port", the device functioned as a simple switch.

So the FVS318 has now been given a second life as a 10/100MB, 8 port switch. Kinda a waste of such full featured firewall/router, but better then winding up in the landfill.

But now everything fell under the header of "Beyond Next Month". How amazing, I thought! Outlook knows about emails I haven't even sent yet.

As it turns out, I had accidentally changed the Windows clock earlier in the day; it had been bumped forward a year. When I set the system clock back to today's date, everything went back to normal.

So much for telling the future.

(I'm thinking this will go towards a new Apple Macbook)

Although they were supposedly giving these coupons out as early as February of 2008, it didn't make much sense to get one until recently. The DTV converter boxes weren't even available in stores until maybe late March. Now a days you can stroll into your local Walmart and pick one up without a problem.

Coupons can still be requested for a limited time. Go to https://www.dtv2009.gov to do so. Below is a copy of what was sent to me when I requested 2 coupons.

I arrived at the local middle school for the republican caucus shortly before 6:30pm. The crowd was very large, with little room to move. We were supposed to come in through the lobby and register at a small table, but with the amount of people, it was not possible. We were told we could register later, when we broke into smaller groups. First we were to all meet in the auditorium as a large group. The auditorium held about 900 people, and with the overflow, it was estimated that there was over 1000 people in attendance. I'm not sure when things were supposed to start, but they didn't get going until after 7:30.

The event started with the pledge of allegiance, and a prayer. Next the chairwomen for the local party gave us a short history of the Iowa caucus. There was applause when she noted how seriously Iowans take their roll in the presidential election. She then introduced representatives from the campaigns to speaker on behalf of the candidates. There were speakers for Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul. The man speaking for Mitt Romney was his older brother, Scott Romney.

Next she introduced our state senator, who gave a state of the senate address. This was followed by a short speech from a women who was running on the republican ticket as our state representative, and then a man who solicited attendees for the Marshall county republican steak fry fundraiser. Finally she announced directions to the rooms where we would break up into smaller groups for the actual vote.

My precinct was located in a small science class room at the other end of the building. Of the 1000+ voters that turned out from Marshalltown's 8 precincts, only 21 were from mine. I suspect this is because I live in a heavily Hispanic area, and many of them can't vote. The precinct Captain told us that we would need to elect 2 delegates to the county convention. Two people willingly volunteered. We then elected a secretary, and a helper for the precinct captain. The precinct captain then said that if any one person wished to have a secret paper ballot vote then we would do so. No one requested this, so votes were taken by a show of hands, and written on the white board. The results are below.

Mike Huckabee 8
Mitt Romney 7
Fred Thompson 4
Ron Paul 1
Rudy Giuliani 1

That was all, and everyone left. The helper stayed with the captain to call in the results, and to be certain it was done correctly according to the vote.

1. Support for wide screen displays

I have a Dell 2005FPW 20 inch widescreen LCD monitor. It has a native resolution of 1680x1050. This is getting to be a more and more common screen resolution. And yet Ubuntu doesn't use this resolution "out-of-the-box". Ubuntu set the resolution to 1280x1024, which looked squished. And it didn't give the option to set the resolution to the native 1680x1050, it only detected that the best the monitor supported was 1280x1024.

It's not just my monitor (which I think is a very common model), other 20 and 21 inch widescreens with 1680x1050 resolution cause the same problem.

2. Hard Drive Removal

When I did this Ubuntu installation, I did so with an extra HD drive attached. This had all the data from my old install, which I could copy onto the new install. This extra hard drive was mounted somewhere similar to /media/hd1. I point that out because this drive contained no system information, no partition was mounted as /home or /usr or something important. It was just a one partition drive with lots of media files on it.

When I had copied everything from the extra drive to the new install, I powered down and removed the IDE drive. On the next startup, Ubuntu displayed all sorts of drive mounting errors, and booted into the terminal interface. No GUI. I understand where the mounting errors came from, but no GUI? Windows handles this in a much more clean manner. When you remove an extra drive (of course, not the primary partition with the Windows install on it) Windows simply ignores the fact that the drive was ever there. It keeps on working fine.

3. Super User File Manager

Shouldn't this be available? I understand and agree with the arguments that a user should have a limited access account. But there are times when you need to move files around outside of your home directory. Say I want to drop a new icon for an application I installed in /usr/share/pixmaps. Or drop a program's executable binary I downloaded or built from source into /opt. I know this can be done from the command line, but someone coming from a Windows background will expect to do this in the file manager. All the other distributions have a super user file manager available in the menus. Any reason Ubunutu can't? The solution to this is to run "gksudo nautilus" from a command line window, or create a launcher with the same command.

4. Dual Monitor Support.

Ubuntu should detect this and have tools to configure it. There's no way to use dual monitors on an out of the box install. You shouldn't have to go edit xorg.conf. Or install additional programs or the restricted drivers. More and more users will be using 2 or more monitors, and it should be better supported.

Foo2zjs is an open source printer driver for printers that use the Zenographics ZjStream wire protocol. What is the ZjStream wire protocol? You can read more about it here. For trouble shooting, or to donate to the author (I did), visit his page here.