nuxx.net

Herbs

July 30, 2006

(Click for full res…)

Well, the herbs are growing quite well. There’s parsley, green onion, dill, and basil almost fully grown. In fact, the basil has begun flowering. The small sprouts between the green onion and basil are cilantro, which I planted a few weeks ago. Hopefully that’ll grow nicely as well.

Now, what to do with it all… I’ve got no use for that much parsley, but the basil could become some great peso. If I only had cheese…

Ah well, I’ll worry about that later. For now I’m going to go finish building the last MIDIbox SID-NUXX PCB, the one for my MOS 6581-based box.

Stuff

July 30, 2006

1) Thanks to everyone who reminded me that Mail.app pretty much does what I want email-wise. I’m also investigating Google’s hosting of email. Not sure if I want to give up this much control, though…

2) I’m trying to figure a way to more simplify things around my office. That is, I’m looking at moving my computer and printer to the basement. I also want to hang the speakers and monitor off the wall, freeing up more desk space.

Just need to figure out how to best route a DVI cable through the wall, along with what to do about my CF reader and the occasional need for access to an optical drive. Maybe a USB hub mounted in the desk and a cobbled together external drive would meet these needs…

around the house computers moved from livejournal

Email with ‘views’ not ‘folders’.

July 30, 2006

More and more I’m finding myself wanting an email client which doesn’t have folders for sorting things, but instead has ‘views’. That is, everything goes into one giant bucket and where one would normally find folders there are what amount to canned search queries. For example, ‘LJ’ for all things from LiveJournal, or maybe ‘Honda’, for all messages which contain the string Honda.

Still having folders available would be good for some, but I’m not sure I’d use it.

I’m fairly certain newer versions of Outlook almost meet all these requirements… But why not Mail.app or some other simpler mail client?

< sigh >

computers moved from livejournal

Cicada Killer

July 29, 2006

While wandering around Holland Ponds Park today I came across three cicada killer wasps flying close to each other and regularly landing on some flowers. From what I’ve read, while they are very large, noisy, and somewhat intimidating, they are barely a harmful to people, and their sting (if they happen to sting you — which is rare) won’t hurt you, unless you happen to be allergic to them.

I managed to get that photo above, and these other two: 1 · 2

That one there was probably around 1 1/2″ long… Definitely big enough to make me wonder / worry slightly.

This page, Prof. Chuck Holliday’s Cicada-Killer Page has a bunch more info about them.

Now, to shower and get the DEET off.

moved from livejournal outdoors

Parts Oops

July 27, 2006

Yay! Leave it up to me to screw up yet something else on this synth project…

1) The black screws from McMaster-Carr are a bit larger than I’d figured, so they won’t sit quite right in the holes on the front panel. And since I want them to match on both panels… Well… I need to try and cancel the orders tomorrow, then resubmit them.

2) I ordered a $9 bag of 4-40 bolts with captive lock washers. Not bad… Except I needed 6-32. I must have clicked the wrong fscking thing. :\

Ah well…

electronics making things moved from livejournal

McMaster-Carr

July 27, 2006

Wow, McMaster-Carr has really impressed me.

Yesterday evening I ordered these parts and paid $4 in shipping. When I arrived home from work today, all the parts were waiting on the porch.

Wow. Just, wow.

Sure, I had to order 100 of each piece of screw which I wanted, but I was able to get the exact parts needed. And the cost was only around US$0.05/each anyway.

No trying to make-things-work with the hardware found at Lowes or Home Depot.

I’ll definitely be ordering from them again next time I need mechanical parts… Or whatever else they carry, for that matter.

acquired things making things moved from livejournal

MIDIbox SID-NUXX Update

July 27, 2006

I have just ordered the last of the parts needed for building the first MIDIbox SID-NUXX. Provided everything goes as planned I will simply have to wait for the parts to arrive, then assemble the synth. If that goes as planned, I can build one for Bryan, a second one for myself, then determine what will be done with the other two PCB sets. :D

Oh, I had to pull a weird hack to order the front panel PCBs. It will require me to cut out the center of each board, but that shouldn’t be too difficult.

Now I’m going home. :D

electronics making things moved from livejournal

Paper Models

July 26, 2006

Paper models of the front and rear panels and associated PCB for the MIDIbox SID-NUXX.

Making paper models of the mechanical parts for things is really handy. For example, the bottom two ones up above there helped me identify a problem with the alignment of the LCD and pushbuttons. Takes about 20 minutes to make, works out really well. Those bottom two are the front panel itself, and the PCB which is sandwhiched between the LCD and the front panel, in order to hold the LEDs, rotary encoder, and pushbuttons.

Oh, and yes, this project is starting to wrap up. As soon as I finalize the design for the front panel and order the parts, it’s all a matter of waiting. Then provided the parts all fit together, it’s all then a matter of final assembly and documentation and the MIDIbox SID-NUXX will be complete.

electronics making things moved from livejournal

Canon EF 35mm f/2

July 24, 2006

Do any of you have any experience with the Canon EF 35mm f/2?

I currently have the Canon el-cheapo 50mm special and while it’s a great lens, it’s a bit tight on a 1.6x crop body. I think that this 35mm should be more comfortable, as it should be more in line with a 50mm lens on a full-frame body.

Cost is $219 grey market…

I’m thinking it would be a good lens to keep on the camera when wandering around and not wanting a bulky zoom.

acquired things moved from livejournal

It fits.

July 24, 2006

MIDIbox SID-NUXX Paper Rear Panel Test Fitting

Huh. Imagine that. It fits.

That’s the paper version of the rear panel for the MIDIbox SID-NUXX being test fit before I order a metal one. I’m pretty surprised that it fits, but… I must have done something right earlier. I may make the Audio In / Out jack holes a little larger just to be safe. And I also want to reword the copyright stuff along the bottom, I think.

Oh, and those angled white bits at the top are vent holes. They’ll be open in the real panel.

electronics making things moved from livejournal