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Month: February 2009

New Front Panel Material

Published February 14, 2009

Detail of black and white text on sample panel material. This is about 5mm tall. The detail seems limited to the grain of the metal.

Today I received some samples for a new (to me) type of front panel material which I may use on the SDrive NUXX. It is aluminum which has been colored and anodized in a manner which allows for very reasonably priced markings in black and silver (natural aluminum). As can be seen with the ~5mm text above, this method of marking has far more detail than what one sees in panels from Front Panel Express.

The downside to this new process is that I’ll have to order a fairly substantial number of panels (100) to get the price that I’m wanting, but hopefully they’ll sell.

After seeing how nice the sample piece looked, I began working up new artwork for the panels which takes advantage of this different marking method. Here is one of my first test results, showing a nicely Atari-ish font and what I feel is overall a more appropriate look for something which is to be used with 25 year old hardware. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to get the rear panel roughed in, and somehow (nicely) tie them together visually.

There is one thing I feel really guilty about, though. In my search for a good font for the button / slot / LED labeling I ended up using the font Interstate, which is the same as was used throughout the x0xb0x front panel redesign. I guess it still holds as a good stuff-labeling font.

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Lunch Which Shall Not Be Named

Published February 12, 2009

Close-up of the macaroni and cheese pizza at CiCi's Pizza.

Today my coworker Brian and I ate lunch at the place which shall not be named. That there is my second round of food, which included a cinnamon roll, some manner of apple strudle pizza, and macaroni and cheese pizza. Here is the first round of food, in which even the Caeser salad dressing was sweet.

Just like with Taco Bell I need to stop eating here. It sounds good, until I’ve actually consumed the food. It’s cheap, and one gets what they paid for. Today I paid for a painful, weird feeling in my stomach, and a salty, numb-ish, sour taste in my mouth.

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Finally a Clean Basement

Published February 11, 2009

After not picking up following far too many projects I finally took the time to give my basement a good straightening up / cleaning.

After working on all too many projects without taking the time to properly clean up my basement, tonight I did so. As can be seen in this photo taken by Marty while we were doing the MMBA website work and waiting for the forum data to migrate, I had a rather large pile of stuff to go through.

None of it was trash, just a lot of it was redundant, spare things which I had to go through, wrap up and sort, and generally find a place for or put back where they had been. I’ve also recently (Sunday) put a new shelving unit in the basement against the far wall (that one on the right), so my bike stuff can be stored down there instead of in the garage. While I don’t mind keeping parts in the garage in the summer, I don’t think it’s the best idea for longer term storage.

I’m just glad this is all straightened up. I feel much, much more comfortable working in a reasonably organized environment where I have room to do things. Now, if I could only get the terribly strong Pro Formula 409 smell off my hands.

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Unseasonably Warm Weather

Published February 11, 2009

My bike in River Bends Park, at the top of the hill leading down to the bridge over the Clinton River, on an unseasonably warm 54°F (12°C) evening. While the snow was rapidly melting, there was quite a bit left, along with lots of ice on paths.

Thanks to the bizarrely, unseasonably, but very welcome warm weather here (54°F / 12°C) I was able to get out on my bike tonight and go for an after-dark ride. Overall the ride went well, except the many places where people failed to clear their section of sidewalk / path resulting in a very bumpy ride over ice. Or, worse was when there was no bumpy ice and I had to fight through 4″ of slush or ride around it on sopping wet grass.

After I made it out to Ryan Road and was heading back I heard my phone make the familiar “new message” sound. It was 7:39pm, and checking it I’d found that I had missed a meeting about some MMBA stuff. At the time I didn’t think I’d be able to make it home in time, but some very hard riding (for me) resulted in my arrival at the meeting place only about an hour after the message arrived.

Still, I am glad I made it out tonight, as tomorrow’s weather will be warm but very rainy, then the forecasts for after that show more typical February weather for here in Michigan: just below freezing, snow, and ice on the roads.

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SDrive NUXX v1.0 PCBs Ordered

Published February 10, 2009

SDrive NUXX v1.0 PCB

Well, that’s that. Last night right before bed I sent off the order for 10 of the SDrive NUXX v1.0 PCBs. With any luck they’ll be here around the end of the month. If these work well I’ll begin taking orders

As mentioned last night I had to make the PCB 3mm larger to best use the case but no adjustment to the buttons was needed. Now it’s time to spend my evenings working on things like the documentation site, figuring out how to handle payments (PayPal? Google Checkout?), and doing non-electronicy things like actually keeping my house clean.

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3mm Larger PCB

Published February 9, 2009

Because the PCB can slide past the bezel I will be able to make the PCB 3mm longer so that it will sit directly against the front and rear panels.

Today I received the enclosures for the SDrive NUXXes and found that I forgot to take into account the 1.5mm thick plastic bezels. This meant that I had to make the PCB 3mm longer, so that it’s now 123mm x 100mm. Now I just have to finish tweaking how far back from the edge of the PCB the tactile switches sit and it should be time to call this v1.0 and order a prototype run.

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Home-made Enchiladas

Published February 9, 2009

Enchiladas which I am eating for lunch, made by Danielle the night before.

Today’s lunch is these enchiladas, which are leftover from those that Danielle made last night. They are fresh corn tortillas, steamed, filled with refried beans, cheese, and fried onion. The refried beans were made fresh, with nitrite-free bacon renderings and onion, and the onions in the enchiladas themselves were fried up in the pan the bacon was rendered in. Mmm. This is really, really good.

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Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Brown Shugga

Published February 8, 2009

Lagunitas Brewing Co's Brown Shugga Ale, poured into an MMBA pint glass. This is nicely hoppy, and has a very obvious brown sugar taste. It's great.

Tonight I’m having a bottle of Lagunitas Brewing Company‘s Brown Shugga Ale. It’s a really brown sugar-tasting, moderately hopped brown ale. It’s also 9.5%.

This is definitely a nice beer at the end of a nice, but productive, day. Danielle made an absolutely wonderful dinner of bean, cheese, and onion enchiladas, complete with freshly made refried beans. She also made the kitchen nicely clean, as I spent lots of time doing laundry almost to completion and beginning to straighten up the basement.

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