16
Dec
Found an interesting presentation online that talks about Google’s Gmail service quota.
http://www.slideshare.net/kuchmuch/gmails-quota-secrets
Enjoy,
Marc
22
Oct
Hey!
You want to learn to fly an RC helicopter and do all these crazy 3d acrobatics?
Hold right there… you will need time and a lot of concentration before you can even keep your helicopter off the ground without crashing. A lot of people will buy a helicopter, crash it, get discouraged and next thing you know it is in a basement somewhere and chances that it will ever fly again are usually very low.
Over 50% of all single rotor hobby grade RC helicopters sold to and built by first time fliers end up crashing in the first few minutes of their maiden flight.
Here is a very good website that will show you what to buy, where and how to start: http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/how-to-fly-rc-helicopters.html remember to take your time through the exercices, it is possible to learn how to fly these without crashing once. Your main goal should be to bring your helicopter back home in one piece after each session.
Cheers,
Marc
18
Oct
Without any warning my computer restarted by itself and upon seeing the Windows XP load screen, I saw a glimpse of a blue screen of death. Right there the boot loop started.
By starting windows in safe mode I determined that the SPTD.SYS driver was the last thing windows was loading before crashing miserably. SPTD.SYS is used by a few softwares like Alcohol 120% and Daemon Tools.
Here is what I did so that I could at least start my computer and start backing up files:
- I booted the computer using a BartPE boot cd
- Clicked on “Go” then on “Command Prompt (CMD)”
- In the black “Command Prompt” type:
- c: <enter>
- cd c:\windows\system32\drivers <enter>
- rename sptd.sys sptd.bak <enter>
- exit <enter>
- Then click on “Go” followed by “Shut down” and to finish “Shut down”
Started windows again and the boot process went all the way to a login screen. The problem is not really fixed at this point, what I did was only a patch so that I could start windows again, daemon tools is currently showing an error message upon boot saying that sptd.sys is required to start.
I then tried to install a new version of the sptd.sys driver from http://www.duplexsecure.com/downloads/ however this did not work, upon restarting the maching I was caught in the same error loop as before and had to deactivate sptd.sys again.
Still looking for a permanent solution, note that this problem started occuring “out of nowhere” without any software update or new software installation.
13
Oct
Still practicing with my Blueray 450 PE RC Helicopter, working on the hover but things are looking good, will likely start nose in flight sometime soon.
10
Oct
My first CNC project will likely be my nCode logo, I generated the g-code and made a dry run video
22
Sep
Wanted to experiment with a FPV / POV Camera like http://www.xheli.com/sm18gmihew2g.html
You will notice a blurry image from the onboard camera, was most probably affected by the EMI from the helicopter Alpha 400 Brushless motor.
Also I’m still learning RC Helicopter control… need to start somewhere 
21
Sep
Most of the parts are in, time to build a machine.
The machine itself is a CNC Mini Milling Machine Kit from www.modularcnc.com, the machining and cutting quality of the various parts was done in a minutiously with very thin margins and the end result is sturdy and very well built for a machine this small and at this price. I would recommend it for anyone who want to get into CNC. There is however no step by step instructions on how to assemble the machine and that is ok and not really required since detailed schematics of the linear slides and motor mount is provided and the rest is common sense. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the diagrams, parts and pictures before starting assembly.
The step motors, drivers, power supply, parallel breakout board, emergency shutdown button and various other electronic parts that you can see in the pictures have been purchased from ebay or DIY made.
A picture gallery of parts used for the nCNC project.
23 Photos
A picture gallery of the assembly process of the machine.
59 Photos
First video of the CNC machine in action for a travel and Axis test!
nCode Logo Dry Run
I will be adding even more pictures and videos later on, stay tuned.
27
Jul
Good evening,
I have designed and sent the schematics of the 3 axis unipolar stepper drivers to batchpcb.com for prototyping a few weeks ago. I have now received the end result: (click to zoom)
This controller will be powered by an Arduino Mini and will be accepting commands via I²C bus and Serial TTL 5V.
The schematics won’t be released until thorough testing is completed. I will start testing and assembly in a few weeks.
Cheers,
Marc
30
May
You probably heard it before, you have a big expensive headphone but still you heard a beep coming out of your computer box. There is a “legacy” speaker in there, it used to play tunes in the old ages, it’s only use now is probably only to grab your attention on something or for boot-time diagnostic/troubleshooting.
Here is how you can disable it on ubuntu 9.04:
Open a terminal window / console
sudo vim /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
add: blacklist pcspkr
restart the machine
