Monthly Archives: December 2009

Vivitar 285HV Flash power selector

This project started a while ago for me (probably back in July 09), when I got my first Vivitar 285HV flash.

By default, this flash has 4 manual power settings. Full, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/16.
I never liked the fact that there was no 1/8 power. So searching the web I came across some DIY projects to add a selector knob to select different power settings. Continue reading

WD TV Live hacking

I’ve only used the WD TV Live a few times since I bough it a couple on months ago. I had built a XBMC box, that played most SD content, and Iw as content. I was actually very impressed with the pretty interface, and the abilities of XBMC.

But having trouble playing a few file types, and the thoughs of using the XBMC hardware in my car pc have gotten me thinking about the WD TV Live again.

I am going to flash the WDLXTV_LIVE-0.2.2.1 firmware.

Forum info is here.

Instruction from WD on upgrading firmwares is here.

rtorernt and wtorrent (How to)

So I came across this tonight. I’ve been looking at a way to get a web interface for rtorrent, but could never get wtorrent to work properly (actually, at all).

So this guide may be what I need. I’m sure I can adopt it to use under openSuSE (if not I can just install Debian Lenny as a VM, and try out the tutorial)

Compile And Set Up rTorrent and wTorrent In Debian 5 Lenny [Complete How-to]

XenServer 5.5.0 and IDE drives

A few days ago I moved from runing a openSuSE DomU host to the Free XenServer 5.5.0 that Citrix is offering.

I had noticed that the VMs were running very slowly. Much slower then I remembered them running on the openSuSE DomU. So I did some tests, and it came down to the  fact that hdparm -tT /dev/sda was reporting about 1-2MB/sec for the buffered disk reads. This was taken at the console of the xenserver terminal, not on a VM.

After some research, I found out that the generic IDE drivers don’t allow for UDMA to be enabled. So I did the next best thing. I had a SATA drive of similar size in another machine, and swapped the two.

Now I get about 60MB/sec buffered disk reads. That’s what it should be. And from within a VM I get about 55MB/sec, but I don’t quite believe that. Will have to do some more extensive testing with bonnie++.

Wish list

This list will be updated on an ongoing basis, with things that I may want/need, so check back often if you want to get me something.

Canadian Tire

Mastercraft 4-piece Nail Set : $9.99

Memorex Air Duster 10-oz. : $9.99

DeWalt Reciprocating Saw Blades : $15.79

Backpacker First Aid Kit, 46-Pc : $10.99 Got it.

Coghlan’s Clip-On Mantle : $3.49 Got it.

Coghlan’s Fire Lighters : $5.69

Mastercraft Electric Nailer : $79.99

Princess Auto

3/8″ drive torque wrench : $39.99

39 pc sae tungsten alloy tap & die set : $18.88 Got it

10″ hand riveter : $9.99 Got it

Chapters (books)

Type Talk : $22

The art of Speed reading people : $22.99

My voice will go with you: Teaching tales of Milton Ericson : $ 21.00

100 Simple secrets of happy people : $13.95

Patterns Of The Hypnotic Techniques Of Milton H. Erickson : $19.95

Sourcebook of Magic: Comprehensive Guide to the Technology of NLP : $24.75

Please Understand Me: Character And Temperament Types :$15.95

Stumbling on Happiness : $15.96

Other items

– Eneloop batteries
– Light stand, with mounts for flash
– Umbrella for light stand (with mounts)

HowTo: OpenSuSE 11.2 PV running on XenServer 5.5.0

I’ve been running virtual machines for a while now (maybe 3 years?) and they have all been running on some bare minimal OpenSuse installation (in Dom U) with Xen being the hypervisor.

I decided the other day to give XenServer 5.5.0 (the free version) a try. I had a few days of unhappiness, mainly because I love openSuse, and it seemed that nobody knew how to get it installed in XenServer, as a PV guest.

I finally got it working. Finally got openSuSE 11.2 running in XenServer, as a PH guest, with the Server Tools installed and working. Continue reading

rtorrent config file

Since I decided to get a new motherboard to try to solve what I thought was a memory problem, I also decided (on a whim) to look into the rtorrent rc file.

Came across this site. Turns out the reason the xen server kept hanging may have been related to the max memory usage option… I’ve made some changes… we’ll see how they work.

I need to re-visit that site since there’s so much info on there, that I’d like to read and absorb. Continue reading