Make your Own 3D Printer using Junk, Old Paint Chips and Plastic | SolidSmack - SolidWorks 3D CAD Technology Design Blog

Make your Own 3D Printer using Junk, Old Paint Chips and Plastic | SolidSmack - SolidWorks 3D CAD Technology Design Blog

Looks interesting....

How to R&R broken laptop hinges. Toshiba Satellite A45 manual.

How to remove and replace broken laptop hinges. Toshiba Satellite A45 manual.

I used this guide for my older laptop, as one of it's hinges was shot. I'm glad I ordered both sides, as I the second one gave way during the dis-assembly process.

I don't know what it is about this machine, well actually, I do. I love this hardware. This machine has it's stock install of XP on it, and yea, It's about time for a fresh re-install due to the installed-uninstalled stuff over the past 5 or so years. I've upgraded its Ram and the Hard drive twice, and it just keeps on ticking. It lacks a built in WiFi Adapter, and DVD burner, but hey, it's solid with XP and every Linux Distro that I've tried with it runs 100% right out of the box. The lack of a built in WiFi card helps with that number. It's only down side is it's size and weight, and power consumption.
My newer Satellite is lighter has a larger screen, but the sound card and Ubuntu aren't playing nicely. But Elive did. - Might try that one day, but still prefer something that I can setup that has more of a XP feel to it, so my mouse finds things easier when I go from one machine to another.

Note to self. Send a donation their way.

Urban Golf

OpenOffice.org Training, Tips, and Ideas: Printing Envelopes in OpenOffice.org Writer (Repost)

OpenOffice.org Training, Tips, and Ideas: Printing Envelopes in OpenOffice.org Writer (Repost)

This was a real help when I was trying to get OpenOffice setup for an envelope. I've fought with the envelope goblin's in the past, and knew that rather then struggle with it, Google it. :)

Here is Solveig Haugland's Tech Target article.
http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/1,289483,sid39_gci1146815,00.html

The OGG days of Summer OR The Joy of a MP3 and Me.

You know, I was chatting with Nathan Hale on Twitter about MP3 players. 140 characters is not enough. So I'd like to add what my experiences have been with my MP3 Players.

Lemme start with the first one that I've ever bought, and will never by again. Mind you, this was around 2005 A 128 Meg Rio Forge. I picked this model as it had a SD Slot and would work with Audible.com's DRM'd audio books. I bought 2 of them, both of them craped out after a month or so of what I'd consider normal use. The second one was a refurbished model, so after the luck with it, I moved on to Creative Lab's MUVO models. I will NEVER recommend one of these or purchase another RIO product.

I LOVE the Creative Labs MUVO's. Sturdy, and reliable. I've I expect that after a over a years worth of serious use, I've gotten my money's worth. I have had the 128 Meg, 512 Meg, and 1 Gig models. None of these have an external drive slot. But will work well with with Audibles DRM, but no joy in hacking their Firmware. Other the the lack of OGG support I'd HIGHLY recommend any of the Creative Lab's products. I've thought about getting a Zen. One of the little nuances that one finds with listening to a Podcast or Book is that you want your player to start up right were you left off if it powers down, or you turn it off. One of the downsides of a Muvo is that if you've been listening with it for 4 hours straight, and the battery goes dead while you're listening to it, it will go back to the last place saved. Eh, I can live with that. Powered via a AAA battery. A rechargeable or Cheap-o battery lasts about 8 hours of use, a New Duracell will last closer to 12 of constant use. So if you're planning on taking one camping, keep this in mind.

SANSA: I have two Sansa e250's one I Rock boxed, and when trying to update the version of Rock Box I ran into a snag, so I went to completely remove Rock Box and ended up bricking the dang thing. I should have left well enough alone. But I'm a hacker and tinkerer. Do I Blame Sanasa for this? Nah. They weren't the one's messing around with it. I was going to do something fancy with a second e250 that I had bought, but since I bricked the first one, and until I find out where I can get the e200tool, as it's supposed to help un brick the sucker. Until then, I'm going to hang out with the standard interface on the other one that I have. But up until the time that I started mucking around with Rock Box on the 1st Sansa e250 it was working ok. Battery was draining a little faster then I expected, but oh well. But these charge off the USB port, and charge should last at least a day of normal use.

I also have a Sansa e140 and it's ok, and but it does one thing that I simply hate, and won't keep it around for podcasts or books. It's fine for music, as it won't bookmark your current spot in a track. It runs off a AAA battery.

Part of the ensemble on my dashboard. (Over the road trucking will cause this) Is a VR3 FM modulator. Works good, can get blasted from outside FM signals depending on where you are, but you can move them around with the presets. Great if all you want to do is listen to music, as there isn't any bookmarking, if you loose power to the Cigarette lighter, it goes back to track 0. It works good to plug a USB cord into (say a Sansa e250) to charge you MP3 player. It also will play the non DRM tracks off of the Muvo if you plug it into it also. But it just reads the Muvo as a standard USB flash drive.

My Resume 06/25/08

Randy Noseworthy
Elyria , OH 450036

______________________________________________________________________

Objective:
A challenging and interesting position which will utilize my computer skills, and skill set as a customer service representative, as well as other jobs and duties that I have performed.

Technician - Technical service for Lottery Terminals, Medical Equipment, equipment usage, installing equipment, diagnosing and troubleshooting, maintenance, technical support, and training of all systems.

Customer Service Representative - Training retailers to use software and related equipment; liaison between Gtech and State Lottery Office; Was on original Start Up team, bringing the on line lottery to California.

Computer Consultant - Installed network peer to peer; wireless and wired systems; upgrade hardware and software on PCs

Web Master - Created and maintained web pages for various projects. Created and edited images using The Gimp, Microsoft Front Page 98, Photoshop 8, Adobe 4.0, and made use of Java Applets.

Work History

Truck Driver, Present
Arthrotek Inc.
Semi Logic Games
Gtech Corp
United States Air Force

Certifications and Soft Skills

• CompTIA A+ Certified
• CompTIA Network+ Certification (to be completed by Sept 30, 2008)
• MS-DOS, Windows, Linux
• Front Page 98
• Certificate of Completion for "Gtech Customer Awareness Program".
• Certificate of Completion for CSR/Communication "Last Mile Training Program".
• Certificate of Completion for CSR Retailer Training Program.
• Perfect Driving Award for 5 consecutive years.
• Certificates of Recognition from Director of Site Operations and Technical Service
• Manager.Human Relations Skills: Took course to handle situations in which retailers become hostile.

Freedom of the Net

I find it exciting to look back and see the personal computer go from the CoCo's, the C=64's , and the Atari to the machines we have today. Looking back, to what we have now, it is kind of amazing. From little machines that ran BASIC to the GUI interfaces of Apple , Windows, and Linux. Those little machines that ran Basic could only hope to connect via a modem to a BBS or one of the larger super systems like AOL. And the machines of today connect to the World Wide Web. And currently most of us have enjoyed pretty much an unlimited amount of time online, and a unlimited amounts of download capacity.

That's going to change. The places where we connect to the web want to start to meter our usage. All at the time when there's movies to download, or upload. YouTube videos to stream. Music to listen to via a stream or DL. All when Podcast content from creative and scrappy internet evangelists of our choice are offing content at an astounding rate. So much so, that I, and I'll admit I'm not the norm, don't spend much time with broadcast TV or Radio. Sure there's a few programs that I enjoy, but very few, and I find them from word of mouth recommendations.

Bob Frankston has written a few articles about the shape of the data transport of the future, or how it could be. Or as I hope. It will become. It's a little hard to wrap one's head around a new idea at times, but Mr. Frankston has it nailed down. I'm envisioning data being transported from little devices about the size and shape of our cell phones and using just as little power. Little enough that they could be powered via solar panels. All connected via a mesh network, and senders and receivers of data wirelessly. All it's going to take is for a neighborhood to connect themselves to each other. It wont matter if it's via Copper, or 802.11, or Packet Radio. Want an internet connection? Just fire up the machine that you own, choose a connection method that fits your needs, and you're on. As he's pointed out, we've already created the way to do it. It's right here. Right now. All we have to do is create it by connecting ourselves to each other without Ma Bell or ComCast.