- 2019-05-11 Home server upgrade
#debian
#hardware
I thought it was time to upgrade my home server, virgil.
My home server runs a bunch of services:
Web server (for my own websites and a couple of other...
- 2019-01-28 Nostalgia + hardware story telling
#amiga
#computers
#free software
#hardware
I don't know why, but this mix of nostalgia and hardware story telling is really compelling: Arduino Amiga Floppy Disk Reader/Writer, by Robert Smith.
It's...
- 2018-11-04 Debian unstable sound gone [fixed]
#debian
#hardware
Yesterday sound stopped working on my Lenovo X1 Carbon 3rd gen running Debian unstable. The mute-light was on and pavucontrol(1) only showed one output; "Dummy...
- 2017-12-09 Updating Intel ME on a Lenovo Carbon X1 3rd gen
#commandline
#computers
#hardware
#security
No doubt to Andrew S. Tanenbaum's great joy recent news have revealed
that many Intel processors run a version of Minix on some kind of
extra "security" core...
- 2016-09-04 Jukebox upgrade - better USB sound card
#hardware
#jukebox
#music
Back in May I upgraded my jukebox to a Raspberry Pi 3, but couldn't get the cheap USB soundcard I had been using with the 2+ to work.
Fortunately the built...
- 2016-05-01 Raspberry Pi 3
#computers
#hardware
#jukebox
I upgraded my jukebox to a Raspberry Pi 3 yesterday, after becoming exceedingly annoyed by my Raspberry Pi B+ only managing to boot about half the time.
So...
- 2016-03-26 Soehnle scale usb connection
#hardware
#programming
Soehnle makes a scale with a wireless display that collects measurements, and can be attached to a computer using usb, called "Body Balance Comfort Select"...
- 2015-12-31 There, I fixed it
#cars
#hardware
- 2015-11-28 Glorious 4K
#computers
#hardware
#x
In the beginning of the year, I got a new 4K 28" monitor. At the time I struggled a little to get my desktop computer to drive it at full resolution, but succeeded...
- 2015-01-24 Hardware going belly up
#hardware
My Samsung 305T plus started flickering in a weirdly regular pattern.
My first guess was that it was the graphics cards, as the pattern did not show when the...
- 2014-12-06 Jukebox and NFC/RFID
#hardware
#jukebox
I just ordered some small RFID stickers and a USB RFID reader/writer. Planning to put the stickers on albums, and to have the reader near the stereo, and adding...
- 2014-06-16 USB utilities
#hardware
blink(1) - cute!
- 2013-02-12 Raspberry Pi powered USB hub
#computers
#hardware
#jukebox
Since I replaced my Mac Mini in the role as jukebox with a Raspberry Pi I went looking for a powered USB hub, because the Raspberry Pi didn't provide enough...
- 2012-04-21 Looking for a new CPU+motherboard
#hardware
I just noticed that the current crop of consumer motherboards now support 8GB memory modules, making a switch from 16GB to 32GB in my desktop computer feasible...
- 2011-10-01 Alternative music
#hardware
#music
There is a band that only plays Commodore 64 music - ok, so check this out: Imperial March.
Someone needs to make a band doing music only with floppy drives...
- 2011-06-11 Intel X25-M 80GB SSD - expiration time: 1 year, 11 months, 1 week
#hardware
#ssd
This is what a dead SSD looks like:
[ 1.126422] ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m1024@0xfe02f000 port 0xfe02f280 irq 22
[ 11.140107] ata4: softreset failed...
- 2011-03-09 Lenovo USB Smartcard Keyboard works on Debian GNU/Linux
#hardware
#keyboard
I ordered a Lenovo USB Smartcard Keyboard (17ef:6007) because I thought the idea of getting rid of the smartcard reader with the permanent green light cluttering...
- 2010-12-04 eBuddy USB device on Linux
#hardware
#programming
Quite a while ago I bought an "e-Buddy USB MSN/QQ Blinking and Flapping Audio Visual Message Angel" - just for fun. I thought it might be useful at work to...
- 2010-10-24 Hacking Lenovo BIOS
#hardware
Steve Langasek describes how he coped with the braindead locked down Lenovo BIOS: '"ThinkPad wireless" is apparently code for "poorly supported RealTek chip...
- 2010-06-27 Lenovo ThinkPad X100e
#hardware
I finally grew tired of the crappy Intel GMA500 "Poulsbo" graphics chip in my Acer Aspire One 751H (read all about it), and went ahead and bought a Lenovo ThinkPad...
- 2010-03-27 Wires falling down behind the table
#hardware
Simple office supplies to the rescue:
Original dutch version
Adaption to unsuitably thick table
- 2009-07-06 Acer Aspire One 751H
#hardware
The Acer Aspire One 751H looks like a nice package: 11" screen (1366x768) pixels, slow processor, large battery.
For me, on Debian unstable, everything, including...
- 2009-06-24 Hardware, hardware...
#hardware
Matthew Garrett writes:
"It's an impressive turnaround from the recent days when the straightforward recommendation for mobile Linux hardware was ...
- 2008-12-06 Hardware sucks; Asus M2A-VM HDMI keeps blinking
#hardware
So, even though I could not procure any excuses by writing about it, I bought some new hardware for a desktop machine - an Asus M2A-VM HDMI motherboard, a 45W...
- 2008-11-02 Home computer half-time
#hardware
How often do you replace your home computer?
Every year? Every other year? Every third, fifth, seventh year?
I'm curious - leave a comment.
- 2008-10-14 Apple LED Cinema Display
#apple
#hardware
So Apple has announced a new LED Cinema Display - convenient as my trusty old 23" Apple Cinema Display HD is starting to show its age.
For the old one, I had...
- 2008-03-18 Buying fans
#hardware
Some weeks ago, just before leaving for FOSDEM'08, my closet-server virgil started to act up. I quickly turned on the cabinet-fan that came with the cabinet...
- 2007-02-20 New closet server
#hardware
My closet-server, virgil, is beginning to make a little too much noise and heat.
So, I am considering getting a new, smaller thing to replace it.
As it is...
- 2006-10-22 Harddisk upgrade, Linux
#hardware
Lesson learned from changing harddisk in my Debian GNU/Linux etch using udev-Mac Mini: Remember to create /dev/console on the new disk. Otherwise the kernel...
- 2006-03-30 An ideal desktop computer
#hardware
After Apple announced new versions of their small Mac mini, now with Intel processors, the various shops selling Apple computers lowered the price (all by exactly...
- 2005-10-14 Sound, microphones, all computers are crap
#hardware
Apparantly all I do these days is complain.
Well, so be it, here is the next installment:
I attached a microphone - actually I found two microphones and tried...
- 2005-09-06 Recording video rant
#hardware
I've wanted to record video occationally on my computer for quite a while. A long time ago I had to have Windows installed to be able to use a Rainbow Runner...
- 2005-06-06 Bill Gates in his Porsche, meet LINUX
#debian
#hardware
Fun story.
In other news, it seems Transmeta is going out of business. Whoops, good thing I got my Sharp PC-CV50F in time :-)
And SlashDot also reports that...
- 2005-02-06 Amiga 2000
#hardware
I found an Amiga 2000 in a pile of garbage, brought it home and peeked inside of it. It is quite ambly equipped for such a box.
Now I just need to find some...
- 2004-10-24 Colour of connectors
#hardware
Do you always forget what the colours around the different connectors on your computer mean? It's part of the PC99 Standard - and here is a nice colour-connector...
- 2001-07-28 C-433 -> P3-800
#hardware
The last month or so the trusty old Celeron 433 processor has begun to feel a little slow. I'm not sure whether the AMD-processors still (ever?) require a larger...
- 2001-02-20 "X-terminal" assembled...
#hardware
..."Mission accomplished", the ground crew reports to the tower.
Without mentioning beating up a defective diskdrive and ending up scavenging a drive from...