Geek Desktop

I had a small nerdgasm when I first laid eyes on this.

I wonder if it’s a resource hog.

Hoozyrdady.

Lloyd Kahn – “Shelter is More than a Roof Over Your Head”

SHELTER from jason sussberg on Vimeo.

Mad Chimp

I’m running a few virtual machines, and I try to give each a unique background wallpaper to ease ID’ing each instance. I couldn’t find one for my MadMonkey so I fired up Gimp and whipped this one out.

Turned out pretty good, huh?

Hoozyrdady.

Geek Projects

I've discovered Geek Dad. My favorite article to date is 100 Essential Skills for Geeks from last week.


As Geeks we are expected to have a certain set of skills that the majority of the population does not possess. This list is by no means complete, but I think it is a good sample of the skills required to be a true geek. I won’t pretend to have all the skills listed here. I even had to Google a few of them.
Like all good Geeks you should be able to utilize resources to accomplish any of these things. Knowing where to look for the knowledge is as good as having it so give yourself points if you are certain that you could Google the knowledge necessary for a skill.

1. Properly secure a wireless router.
2. Crack the WEP key on a wireless router.
3. Leech Wifi from your neighbor.
4. Screw with Wifi leeches.
5. Setup and use a VPN.
6. Work from home or a coffee shop as effectively as you do at the office.
7. Wire your own home with Ethernet cable.
8. Turn a web camera into security camera.
9. Use your 3G phone as a Wi-Fi access point.
10. Understand what “There’s no Place Like 127.0.0.1” means.

Read More http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/07/100-essential-skills-for-geeks-geekdad-wayback-machine/#ixzz0uLS6HDeW

Hoozyrdady

It’s Worth Learning

One or both of Darth’s front wheels have developed a squeal. Sounds like low brake pads.  While airing up the tires this morning I noticed the driver’s side front wheel rim is a lot hotter than the others… crap, does that indicate a bad wheel bearing?

Update: Duh! Most likely the heat’s from a stuck caliper. I’m off ‘til Tuesday, sometime this weekend I’ll pull he tire for a look.

Anyways. It’s time I learned how to do that stuff myself. I’ve watched & helped my brother fix brakes and replace wheel bearings a few times so I’m not completely ignorant.

What brings this up now is the Taurus is in the shop for brake work. Turns out I need new hardware at all four corners… New rotors, a caliper and pads in the front, new pads and pistons for the rear. All told it will cost a bit over $500, and a chunk of that is for labor.

I’d rather pay myself, if you know what I mean.

Next weekend I’m heading out to the Folk’s place where I can use their massive driveway and garage to continue my mechanical ed-joo-cation. Between my Dad and I there are no shortage of tools, and the nearest NAPA is all of 30 minutes away.

All I need is to find a good manual.

Darth also has a nasty case of rot down around his bottom edges. I’m going to get some spray on rust killer and hopefully stop further deterioration (check out the 6:30 mark).

Fun.

Hoozyrdady.

Road Trip Car Setup

We’d like to start taking road trips. There are plenty of places suited for mini-vacations within driving distance up here.

Some good ideas I would like to incorporate into Darth, along with the existing list of desired upgrades and fixes.

Power setup – inverter, batteries, volt meter, etc.

Space heater.

Roof rack (maybe a ladder)

Small fridge instead of a cooler?

Internet TV

I’m giving serious thought to ditching DirecTV via QWest. It was a good package deal three years ago; Two receivers, phone w/ voicemail and unlimited long distance (whatever that is) and high speed DSL all for $120 a month.

In three years, the monthly bill has crept up to $175 a month, and that’s after I dropped the phone line and switched to MagicJack. So $175 for Satellite TV (near basic package, no movie channels or sports stuff) and DSL.

Bah, I say!

Notes-

minimum pc specs for online tv

• Can I frankenstein a working box together out of all the spare parts I have on hand?
• OS -  MediaPortal (freeware for Win XP SP2)

Do I have enough bandwidth for more than one tv, plus online gaming and magicjack?

Remotes

Remote options

HDTV antenna.

• For internet outages, local broadcasts/news, those few programs not available online.
  
• Instructabels has a DIY antenna.
  
• Hometown gets crap HD reception, according to the FCC

How it should work -
1) Turn on the TV
2) Turn on PC (if off)
3) No login needed, straight to GUI
4) ONE Remote for TV and PC
5) Create a secure partition for sensitive objects/docs.