Blood on the Rooftops

Festive TV has been a bit weird here. I have been busy messing about with an engine change (in but not finished) so i might have side stepped the usual array of inappropriate war films; but if you tune into the news, sadly there is enough going on in the middle east to offset any lack there. I watched El Laberinto del Fauno on film four and it was very good. Set in the mid 1940s, when facism seemed to be the disease of much of Europe, the brutalality of dogmatic military conflict is countered with the supernaturalism of a young girl's origin and destiny. Beautiful and tragic. Reminded me a little of the Klimov film, Come and See.

Merry Christmas

I know it's all about the joy of giving. This is very true, but you also have to acknowledge that you have a part to play in letting other people find joy and happiness.
So, I got a diverse and fantastic sack of loot. Satisfying my affection for power tools, computers, comedy, food, cooking and well dressed hand puppets.



Merry Christmas to all

Irritating adverts - It's beginning to feel a bit like water torture

The whistling one for McDonalds. No great loss there. I just hate whistling. It's all Roger Whitaker's fault.

The "It's begining to look a lot like Christmas" ASDA advert. I can feel them boring into my head with their insideous sonic treppanation.

That's it. I'm doing well :o)

Bike Shopping

I've been looking for a new bike to replace the very long in the tooth racer that I used to trundle back and forth whilst living in the Southside. And the still the easier thing to do is sit down make a list of what you'd like in a bicycle and then try to determine which one fits the bill. After trying this, I realised the quadruple espresso had altered my consciousness somewhat when the short list included:
A tardis, matter transportation, an elephant, an MR2, a jet pack, a sled and husky team, and my old bike that I was trying to replace.
These were all discounted for the following reasons:
Tardis: I suspect those that I see on eBay and amazon.com might not actually be fully functioning. And even if they were, the great risk in Glasgow and Edinburgh is that between me parking it in the morning and returning to it late afternoon it would have been taken over by entrepreneurial squatters and converted to a coffee franchise.
Matter Transportation: Doesn't actually exist as a viable technology. Even if it did, after The Fly, I'm not sure I could ever trust it.
Elephant: Too slow, parking would be only slightly better than a car, they can step sideways!! :o), no hazard lights, poo.
MR2: It's a car and apparently sounds like poo in French.
Jet Pack: Easy parking, could probably just wear normal clothing, could fly above the storms although I would be afraid of scorch marks.
Sled and Husky: This would be great! Girls love dogs, in summer we could put wheels on, stylish. However, lots of poo.
My old bike: I just put this one in as a joke. - Photo coming soon. This has been sitting in a lock up for about 3 years :(

Back to the list...
I have my eye on one, and the credit card is twitching.
Can you reliably use divination to determine a wise purchase?

I saw this! fantastic name! Bike Worry Beads needed

Hielp hielp...

Feeling a bit like a girl in a pink coat and, for reasons that were never adequately explored, a leather flying hat, I have been in distress with Ubuntu on my HP laptop. The same install on my breadbox found my 3G modem instantly and it was downloading updates within minutes of being plugged in. On the laptop, it's asking for a password. There is NO password. A quick look on the interweb revealed that I am not the only one to have this problem, but the answers/fixes really didn't help me. I guess I need to read more. This isn't a major problem, because I am exploring the Linux route with the knowledge that it will probably need more participation from me.

Happy Days

I have a job offer. Something that looks worthwhile and will be a challenge. So I'm kind of "over the moon" right now. Not much else to say, other than very happy with the prospects for 2009.
I don't have many new things today. So here are some picures:

View of the cobbler (in the background)


Hedgehog I saw scuttling onto the road, avoided running over, then had to have some harsh words with to stop it doing it again.


I can't remember where this was, i have the waypoint somewhere. It looked stunning though.

dell optiplex. open

i saw this as a search criteria from some poor sod in Canada. Basically, there are two darker coloured sections on each side to the rear of the case. press these in. Get a friend/collegue/parent/man servant/indentured worker to pull the two sections at the back apart. it will open like a clam.
:o# that looks like a cat :o)

Electronica!!

This is fantastic.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kKO9h-gG4Qg

Off Blast!!!

Ubuntu Speaker Grille

I should be sleeping, but I've been messing about instead. reading, having a beer, doing stuff. I was thinking about the grille pattern on my wannabe computer/radio. The machine is for linux use, and I installed Ubuntu 8.10 onto it, which worked very nicely. So I was thinking the grille could follow the ubuntu logo.
Anyway, I knocked this up on AutoCAD.



I'll add a nice stylised T from the tocsin.org logo in the centre.

Could look good. Pictures to follow :o)

optiplex into breadbin will go

I had some problems with the install of the dell into the new box. Nothing major, but in a moment of laziness I went online and bought a new motherboard. Then I found that the MB was compatible with every issue of the P4 except the one sitting in the dell. So...
The X-QPack can have the new MB and we'll get that running when I get around to buying a processor.
The Dell...
I went to B&Q and bought a rather presentable pine box:



I stripped the Dell down properly, bining the plastic casing and keeping the metal work that will be of use.
This included the base, from which I kept the metal to locate the MB, and the sections that hold the PSU in place.
I decided to split the levels putting the PSU and the HD on the base, and the MB situated above that.
The optical drive will be replaced with a laptop sized drive and a card reader will be added later. The required space was calculated using a standard CD ROM and a 3.5" floppy drive.
I got to work with a router and produced this:



This seems to work ok. The space is used well and the cooling fans will be added when they arrive. Additionally, the HD will get an air in with an outflow fan placed on what looks like the base (but is actually the back of the case. A large inflow fan will be placed on the hinged lid with some mesh and speaker cloth covering it, as this is going to be modelled on a 1940s type radio.

Problem: The width on the expansion slots needs to be widened by about 2mm. The 13 mm is fine when it's only 1 mm thick, but fouls the VGA plug. Additionally, it seems I need to extend the height of the slot by 15 mm. Doh!!

lazy Playlist

I did intend to hunt these all down via youtube, but I simply can't find them. I must get around to making some kind of collage/video thing. This is how I feel today

Worlock - Skinny Puppy
These Remains - TKK
Corpus Hermeticum - Project Pitchfork
There is No God - VAC
Ghostman - Skinny Puppy
You Know What You Are - Ministry
Homeward - VNV Nation
Lady Vampire - Seelenkrank
Ice Isolation - Dream Metaphor
Melting on Analogue Waves - VAC
Barcelona - XPQ 21

busy busy busy

I have so much on the go just now that I feel a bit more focused, and weirdly have a bit more time to do those things that have been neglected. The fog must be lifting.

I had some problems with my computer build. Mainly that the box I bought had some weirdness. I made a new backplate out of aluminium treadplate, but something wasn't clicking. So I decided on a new motherboard. Got that to find that it wasn't compatible with the dell's CPU. So, until I buy a working processor it's back to the dell. I have decided to rehouse him in a manner befitting a 1930s radio. WE used to have one of these gorgeous valve driven monoliths in the corner of the living room. I got a box from B&Q which will require a lot of work but should keep me busy over Christmas.

Optiplex GX240 - X-QPack2

I mentioned the Dell optiplex didn't I?



Anyway, the new case arrived:




And whilst the old Dell motherboard spec is fine, its position within the case does not correspond to more conventional layouts.


This means, I need a new back plate.
After taking all the measurements and spending an hour or two on AutoCAD,


Off I went to B&Q to get robbed blind for a 50x25 cm piece of 1 mm thick aluminium tread plate.
I probably didn't need it to be so sturdy, but they didn't have 0.5 mm. The first attempt is fine apart from me needing to rebend the top outward angle above the ports. It's about 2 mm too high.


Apart from that, everything lines up. Just need to tidy up the edging and redo that erroneous bend.

Heartbeats - The knife

If anyone out there liked "heartbeats" sung by José Gonzalez and couldn't quite work out why, it might be because this is what it originally sounded like. That gorgeous caterwauling. The home made video is good apart from the rather cringy dancing in the middle. who's complaining? nope, no one. Good.
ahhh... MP3 players on random. :o)

Olá Sexta-feira

I was looking today at Google Earth and the weird things I had added, such as my jogging route in Guimarães shown below. And as I sit here looking over Glasgow there are some aspects I wish to transpose to here. But can you seriously compare two cities when the population is more by a factor of ten? I think it's time to engage with this place with new eyes.
Anyway, Good morning Glasgow and Guimarães. And if you are in the latter, help yourself to the jogging route. Be careful at Rua de São Torcato, road is pretty narrow.

Bom dia para todos! :)

Ubuntu Inside!

Did I mention the Suse install on the Dell rescue unit*? Anyway, I think the confusing things for the linux newbies are the different types (flavours, I know) of install. So I went on a big read and information search and despite a few issues, Ubuntu seemed closer to what I want. I installed version 8.10 which did a better job of recognising my monitor and general hardware (sound card, USB ports and associated devices) and also had my vodafone broadband modem up and running in about 30 seconds flat. This allowed the 170 Mb update to download. I'm still to configure the email and calender programs, and at the moment the codecs for sound and DVD playback are a little on the twitchy side, but I'm surprised at the instant functionality of most of the component parts, open office looks nice although I want to see how the excel equivalent handles 3D topographical data, and I'm looking forward to using the system as an everyday item. I should say that my problems with XP have been few, but if I can get an OS that is stable and does everything I need without eating all the system resources, I'll be a lot happier.

* It's a Dell optiplex with a 1.5 GHz P4, currently with 512 Mb of RAM. It has the amusing requirement of a half height AGP Graphics card and only 2 PCI sockets.
I have a full size graphics card in there just now, meaning the case is rather sinisterly ajar.

Today looks like this:

Nice and clear and wintery. I think a small walk up the Campsies is in order at the weekend.

vodafone broadband technical help.

Had a problem with the piddling speeds that my modem was connecting with. Anyway, the guy at VBTH suggested I try forcing the modem to connect only via 3G using the software and not the threat of immersion in a nice cup of tea. Result! it works.
Ha ha. ty ty ty