Filed under: tronix, video games, wii · 0 Comments

“Check out this drum machine. It’s from India. I circuit-bent it!”

Filed under: circuitbending, tabla, tronix, video · 0 Comments

There was a terrible fire down by the RaNCh this weekend. Five neighboring warehouses burned to the ground. Somehow the ranch survived. dreameleven has a writeup of what happened. Craig started a flickr pool of photos of the fire:

Filed under: fire, photos, rAnCH, san francisco, tronix · 0 Comments

Pink Saturday was amazing.. there were at least a trillion people there!

Peliom took this picture of TikiTV VJ’ing on the main stage at Castro and Market:

Filed under: beats, pink saturday, pride, san francisco, tikitv, tronix, video · 0 Comments

RaNChTroNiX
has the same spelling as
RANchTronix
(or maybe every1 already knew that 8-)

Filed under: meta, tronix · 0 Comments

Filed under: support, tronix · 5 Comments

near 12th and south van ness

Filed under: design, tronix · 0 Comments

I hooked up my first-generation MacBook Pro to my Samsung LCD TV with a DVI->HDMI cable. The mac was able to output 1920×1080p at 60Hz to the TV. There was noticeable judder when trying to view 24fps content. I searched the net and no one seems to have gotten their mac to output 24p to their Samsung TV.

OK, here is how to get your mac to output 24p to your Samsung series 6 (or higher) TV:

1. Connect your mac to your tv with a DVI->HDMI cable
2. Install SwitchResX, which will let you customize display settings on your mac.
3. Launch SwitchResX and create a custom resolution, using the settings below.
4. Reboot your mac.
5. Launch SwitchResX again and confirm that the new 1080p24 setting is available.
6. Activate it and rejoice!
   

Here are the setting I used, which might still need a bit of tweeking. I’m still trying to get the vertical refresh to be exactly 23.976Hz. I cribbed from these settings that are known to work for a sony bravia. The judder seems gone, but I still see some occasional choppy playback, I think due to dropped frames during h.264 decode. I’ll investigate further.

I’m mostly happy with my new TV (in true redneck fashion, I traded my pickup truck for it). I originally got a Series 5, but It could only do 1080p60, and I really wanted 1080p24, so I had to upgrade to the Series 6. Unfortunately, the Series 6 arrived with a dead pixel. I don’t know what to do about that..

Filed under: howto, ln46a650, osx, samsung, support, SwitchResX, tronix · 1 Comment

Our Frigidaire gas dryer broke! It seemed to be working properly except it produced no heat. Replacing the gas coils for the solenoid valves fixed the problem. Here is a guide on how to replace the gas coils in your dryer:

Our Frigidaire dryer is model GLGQ332A, and is manufactured by Electrolux. The parts catalog shows where the solenoid valves are and which replacement coils to buy. Since the primary and secondary coils are sold together, I replaced them both without actually troubleshooting which part was bad. I needed parts 71 and 72 (part numbers 5303307291 and 5303307292). I got replacement kit 5303931775 (which contains both coils) from Reliable Parts in SF (on Howard and 12th) for $37. This same package is available for $10 online, but I paid extra so I could get the parts the same day.

OK. Let’s get started. First step is to UNPLUG YOUR DRYER.

Next, we are going to lift the top up. There are two clips in the front of the dryer holding the top on, and two hinges on the back. Use a putty knife to press the clips in so the top pops off. Here is how to detatch the clip on the left:

This is what the clip looks like when popped off:

Now lift the top up and look on the right side, near the timer. You should see a 9-pin molex connector, which you need to detatch. To make my life easier, I always use a sharpie to mark the connector direction. There is a zip tie holding the wires to the frame of the dryer. You are going to take the front of the dryer off, so you will have to cut this ziptie.

Now we are going to take the front of the dryer off. There is a screw on each side of the dryer holding the front on, and there also a few clips. This picture shows both a screw and a clip on the left side:

I think there were three clips on the left and two on the right. You can get them off by pushing up on them and pulling the front out. They are kind of a pain to get off. Since they are designed to snap under force, I think repair guys just yank the front off and then replace them with new ones.

Once all the screws and clips are out, you will be able to pull the front off. Pull the top part of the front towards you and the front will disengage from the tumbler. There are two clips on the bottom. Lift the front off of these clips:

Set the front aside. You can take this opportunity to clean out any lint stuck in the lint chute, seen here in the lower left:

This is what the inside of your dryer looks like:

The gas valves are on the lower left:

Unscrew and remove the metal cover holding the coils in place:

Now lift the coils off of the solenoid shafts, unclip the connectors, and put the new ones in place:

You are now ready put everything back together. Hopefully your dryer now has heat!

If you want to be more rigorous, here are some resistance measurements I made on the new coils. Supposedly you can tell which coil is bad if the resistance measurement is different, but my old, bad coils seemed to have similar resistance:

Filed under: dryer, frigidaire, gas coil, howto, solenoid valve, support, tronix · 3 Comments

Filed under: dorkbot, tronix · 0 Comments

When in dino form, Slag (on the left) was stupid but impossibly strong. When transformed, he was stupid and inexplicably weak. He was one of our favs.

The one on the right didn’t transform, but he had a remote control shaped like a cricket, or maybe a pterodactyl…. I forget. He also shot orange discs out of his mouth for some reason.

Filed under: transfromers, tronix · 0 Comments

The eighties were a time when robots were praised for their transforming ability, instead of feared for there strange customs and weird accent.

Filed under: gobots, transformers, transportation, tronix · 0 Comments

From the wiki:

Cruel – An expert in combat Cruel uses his terrifying crushing grapplers to destroy any robot he meets. He is silent and indestructible which makes it easy for him to commit heinous acts. He also has two communication antennae on the upper sides of his head which allow him to communicate to others over long distances.

Filed under: RoboForce, tronix · 3 Comments

Check out the Kranti and Rubina zap guns. They are awesomely loud and used to shoot sparks, but the flints are worn out. Also, these two wooden tops have sharp metal points which are now rusty.

Filed under: india, tronix, zapgun · 3 Comments

This guy was made by Bandai in 1984. Bob remembered his name.. PSYCHO. Not to be confused with Cy-Kill. Bob can remember the names of *all* our old GoBots and Transformers…

Filed under: bandai, gobots, transportation, tronix · 0 Comments

And they are pissed!!!

Filed under: gobots, transformers, transportation, tronix, why are we here? · 0 Comments

Here is a intelligent little interview with Mark Hosler of Negativland talking about the creation of the CC Sampling License. I forgot this license existed; it is not linked anywhere on the CC site as far as I can tell, and is not offered by the chooser tool. Mark also talks about his general disagreement with CC.

“Let’s be Positivland for a moment here…”

Also, this music video remake of Negativland’s Time Zones was linked from MeFi today. It’s amazing how well old Negativland stands the test of time.

Miguel Soares, who made this video, has done lots of other great video and blinky-light pieces.

Here is a simple and awesome piece called Do Robots Dream of Electric Art?

Filed under: beats, CreativeCommons, MiguelSoares, negativland, tronix, video · 0 Comments

mang sends this video of blinky lights on the Olympic promenade:

Filed under: blinkylights, tronix · 0 Comments

After a long hiatus, George made an appearance at Mike’s 35th bday bbq!

Saz made George back in 2003 to preside over the TikiCrawler. Max made the tronix for the fire, and foo did the welding for the frame.

The TikiCrawler was an awesome group project.. We need a new project this year! Also, I need a TikiCrawler to drive around the city. Even hammocks are faster than muni :)

Photo credits: mike and catweasel!

Filed under: inspiration, mike, saz, tiki lifestyle, tikicrawler, tronix · 1 Comment

On Sunday, the government of Pakistan ordered ISPs to block access to YouTube in the country, for containing content that was offensive to Islam. (This occurred soon after videos exposing vote-rigging in the recent Pakistani election appeared on YouTube.)

In response to this order, Pakistan Telecom began advertising a hijacked route for YouTube, which caused all internet traffic to YouTube from around the world to be blocked for several hours. Here is a full writeup of how this happened.

I found this great Slashdot comment that explains how to use BGPlay to see an animation of Pakistan Telecom re-routed YouTube for the world.

Here is how the net looked during the hijack. The red dot on the left is YouTube, and the red dot on the right is Pakistan Telecom:

After YouTube announced new routes, traffic returned to normal for those outside Pakistan:

The animation is pretty neat! Also, Wikipedia has a good summary of the Border Gateway Protocol, which is the protocol that routers use to talk to each other.

Filed under: BGP, hijack, Pakistan, sucky companies, tronix, voterigging, youtube · 0 Comments

Tymm has developed a low-cost, breadboard-based Arduino. His Diecimila-compatible design separates the programming adapter (which you only need one of) from the Arduino board to keep costs down.

So after an initial investment of under $25, you can put together cores for breadboard-based Arduino prototypes for $8-10… the Diecimila auto-reset works… and you actually get 2 I/O pins out of the deal

Cool project, Tymm!

Filed under: Arduino, avr, breadboard, code code, Diecimila, tronix, Tymm, uDuino · 0 Comments

When you are building a digital library to provide Universal Access to Human Knowledge, how to you hold all the data?

You start with a few racks of machines to hold the data using redundant storage:

The red boxes are built by Capricorn. Each one is a 1U half-depth low-power server that can hold four 1TB hard drives:

Add a bunch of homemade routers:

And some BigIron: (this thing pushed 6Gb/s today!)

Now you need to power it up:

And cool it down:

And fill it with books:

For some reason, you need a 1980’s-era Connection Machine:

Finally, no Archive is complete without a world-class Linux kernel hacker:

Filed under: archive, InternetArchive, photos, shag, tronix · 0 Comments

May, Peliom, Barbara, Sasha, Mang, Greta, Furry, Lisa, Mr. Foo, Dodger, Herve, Jess, and I went to opening party for The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama at YBCA. Paba Phree and Catweasel worked on this 32-channel sound/video installation:

The installation was wonderful, but it was too loud to fully hear the soundscape. We’ll have to go back when it’s less crowded. The other pieces were great as well!

Here are a few more pics I took before a security guard came and told me there was absolutely no photography allowed at YBCA.

Filed under: Catweasel, DalaiLama, PabaPhree, photos, san francisco, soundart, TheMissingPeace, tronix, videoart, YBCA · 1 Comment

Check out this awesome project:

Using an IR led array and some reflective tape, you can track fingers in thin air using the Wii Remote by Johnny Lee, Carnegie Mellon University

Filed under: multitouch, tronix, video, wii · 1 Comment

Here is a short video of a test run of the Open Content Alliance’s Espresso Book Machine, an automatic print-on-demand robot that makes perfect-bound paperback books. The Espresso Book Machine was created by On Demand Books.

This video was shot during configuration of the machine, so you can see the printing/binding process, but the book gets stuck and comes out mangled.. I’ll upload another video after the machine is set up..

(press play to start video) (link to other sizes)

Filed under: archive, books, EBM, library, PrintOnDemand, tronix, video · 0 Comments