Archive for August 27th, 2010

Over-teching a minor problem.

August 27th, 2010 / / 3 comments

This is my first garage, and we’ve already invested a fair amount of effort in it, replacing the garage door opener (gears stripped by previous owner), redoing some of the wiring, and adding some exterior lighting.

As the only way in or out of the garage is through the overhead door the need to use the remotes was kind of irritating. I wanted to install a keypad or keyswitch on the outside of the garage, but the price on a standard sort of solution gave me pause. I felt certain that I could find a better option if I hunted around just a bit.

Sure enough Ebay had the solution in an RFID keypad, which gives me the option of using a token attached to my keyring to open the door or, if I am without my keys, using a PIN. Elegant, simple and 1/4 the price of the wireless device at home depot (with a lot more flexibility).

Sure a few minor hiccups were encountered, but in the end it looks pretty slick and works like a charm.

Damn! Ain’t technology great!

Fail to stop

August 26th, 2010 / / 5 comments

It doesn’t matter how slowly you drive through the rest of the intersection, we both know you didn’t stop when you were supposed to, and looking conscientious now ain’t fooling anyone.

Media distribution – Mark II

August 23rd, 2010 / / 2 comments

I’ve experienced some culture shock moving from our high tech home to one that has two phone jacks (only one of which works) and where the cable has been tossed through the cold air return.

Now I’ve had my hands full with the project list and decided that today was a day of sloth – of course this is a day of sloth in my world, which means I can play with low-priority projects that are more entertaining – and so it began.

At the old place we had a proper media distribution system that provided a two custom television channels, streaming video to the living room from the media server and had network access in each and every room (aside from the typical wireless).

So, with entertainment in the forefront I threw some temporary wiring together and hooked up the two “network media players” we have (an Egreat M34A Network Media Tank in the master bedroom, and an Egreat EG-R1 in the living room – the R1 streams video and music, but does not have the internet media capabilities of the M34A – which is fine as the PS3 can do all that), and connected them to a BT861 NAS, and in turn connected that to a 2TB Simpledrive USB HDD and Voila, home media network is up and running (and this time without having to drop a PC in the middle of the chaos.

So now we can enjoy ourselves and watch movies on both TVs at the same time, and this gives me a framework to experiment with.

I feel certain that we will introduce a newer version of the former “MeTV”, but am not sure what it will look like when the experimentation ends.

(Edited to add: The NAS seemed like a failed experiment, often freezing and/or generally disappearing from the network. Some reading suggested this was a known defect with the firmware, and an update to Snake OS appears to have resolved them – at least it’s survived a full day without service loss, and extensive abuse testing)

E-Bikes

August 11th, 2010 / / 6 comments

Do e-bikes scream “too many DUIs” to everyone, or is it just me?

Home Ownership – MkII

August 11th, 2010 / / No comments

We’ve been in the new house for a month, and while the significantly reduced commute has been enjoyable there are no shortage of items on our household to-do list.

We’re settling in nicely, and most of the main floor areas almost look like they are habitable.

I’m hoping to add some pics shortly, stay tuned.

 
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