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A friend gave me a dead DISHDVR625. All he wants is the video of his kid in the commercial. I was able to get the video files (*.TSP) off using the latest Ubuntu, but I can't identify which one I need unless I can play them. The program with the most promise is PVR Explorer Pro, but it crashes...

I know a number of politicians personally, and I wouldn't trust any of them as far as I could throw them. The only public servant that I actually like, and feel is a good person, is Leon Panetta. He was up the street at the boss' place for dinner a couple weeks ago.

Dual 1kW power supplies....wow. Considering this is less expensive than a whole-house furnace...

Sorry, what? I think that makes some assumptions that aren't true. Looking at the definition of tyranny, the words that come to mind are "arbitrary", "unjust", and "undue". Internet costing more for people whom it costs more to provide with internet is hardly arbitrary. In fact, saddling people...

Hydrogen is great, but I think the secret to battery powered cars is having the capacity be much larger. If the battery capacity is 750+ miles, then you can charge as you can when you can without hitting empty.

Around here it is standard practice to connect the Neutral to the Ground at the main box, with that Ground going to two 8' copper stakes set into the ground 8' apart, and also wired to the water main as it enters the house, with an additional bridge across the water meter.

I hadn't even thought of that. I'll have to check it out.

I don't think you are thinking of the product that I am using. This sprays on as a liquid, and adheres to all the surfaces in the framing bay, then it expands and hardens into a monolithic piece of closed-cell foam. Because it has sealed itself against all the surfaces, there is no way around it...

Even though the power comes in at 220, the only things that don't run 110 are the major appliances. Because of that the rating is in 110, with a 100A box being fused with a pair of 50A breakers linked together (one per phase).

Quite so. My house was built in 1960, and done quite poorly. I had first planned to leave the configuration alone and simply replace everything in place. Then I started to see how it was put together. 90% of the outlets and fixtures were on a single circuit done with #14 wire (max 15A). However...

Ah, but if we're watching a movie, the lights are off ;) So long as I have enough spare juice to run the popcorn machine, we're good.

200A is the standard now, but 100A is still the code minimum, and was considered enough in 1960. I've done the math and determined that 100A will be enough for us, though the panel itself and the supply line that I'm installing will be capable of 200A if I decide to upgrade later.

Bluetooth sounds good and all, but the thing just doesn't work well for mice in my experience. About once a month it drops the connection and doesn't re-connect without removing and re-adding a device (which is a PITA in windows, all versions).

At home I'm down to 7x 2TB drives, with about 8TB of data (before duplication). I keep my backups off-site because I can.

Also don't forget that most US homes have split-phase wiring (220v in, phases split to a pair of 110v lines used to power outlets and lights). If this tech is able to get past that, then it could (theoretically) propagate to other houses. The home automation stuff I'm using uses powerline...

Quite so. Which is 100A BTW.

Unlicensed labor is allowed to do the work. So long as it is all done to code, and the permit is signed off by a licensed electrician, all is well. (Unions suck! ;))

The codes are quite good. Of course, back in '60 when my house was built, people didn't always follow it. Thought through quite clearly actually. The fire department looks quite favorably at having a master switch on the outside. So much so that my homeowners insurance gets reduced. The...

Tonight I dismantled all but two breakers from the service panel. As my service panel doesn't have a master shutoff, this requires some attention. I'll be installing a new service panel in a new (to code) location later in the weekend, along with replacing every inch of electrical cable, every...

Off the top of my head, I can't remember the standard convention. In fact, I haven't even looked in my car. If where it is is unacceptable, I adjust it until it is better. Trial and error here isn't that big a deal...

Netbooks are very good at what they are. Small, light, and practically disposable. Many of my clients treat theirs in ways no laptop should be treated, backpacking, in the saddlebag without a case, tossed around. When they due they die.

There are plenty of things I'm happy to fool with. The structural integrity of the house, not so much.

As a matter of fact, I removed three ;) All replaced with 4x12 Parallam beams, as dictated by the structural engineer.

The only walls still standing those dividing the bedrooms, bathrooms, and garage. And I'm not putting any back. The room will be 42'x16', with a kitchen in the middle and entertainment all around. Should be unconventional but nice.

All thinkpads now have both the touchpad and the joynipple.

No suggestions on the make.xfs, I don't know that much on the Linux side. Getting drives that are on their HCL seems like an unnecessary move until you have problems. It is always nice to be able to hold their feet to the fire. ;)

That's what I'm suggesting, yes. Is the IT guy the one directing the purchase? Perhaps there is a way to mention that you find it odd without sticking your neck out too far?

USB Optical for installing the OS. I have a bunch of MSI U100 and U123. I did have two fail. Not a bad percentage, but like Merc's experience with OCZ, don't expect a replacement product easily. I gave up. Lenovo offers one for $339 I would consider.

I did what I usually do and bought a ISY-i99 Pro. It seems to allow a bunch of stuff that is possible in other ways (control via network/internet/smartphone, backup/restore of entire system, timers/events without PC, etc), but in an easier form.

I agree time. I have a single 5" can with a 75W incandescent in it, a 3" LED can light, and I'll look for these dimmable CFLs.

Yup, no VT requirement, I wouldn't consider it necessary for that application.

Yup. That is a bunch of maddness. I brought this up with a relative who works there (in R&D), and he can't keep their internal codenames straight, either. ;)

I'll be ordering one or two of each to play with soon. Any advice on which software package for programming? There are so many, most of them have to suck.

As an ancillary of the lighting bits, I need control of all these dimmable cans. SmartHome is a great site, and has tons of stuff. A while ago I purchased some Z-Wave bits, but after doing some research, it seems that Insteon seems to be the better tech (both 900Mhz and powerline communication)...

Thirsty Bear used to be my regular hangout when my office was at Howard and Beale. If the night went too long we ended up at the Gold Club...

I was actually in SF yesterday :tounge: Dropping a friend off at the airport.

During the initialize, the drives are active enough to not cause issues. As soon the the drive is "ready", the drives will sleep. The RAID card doesn't realize this until you try to access something. At that point the drives take much longer to respond, or give some "not ready" message, and the...

Sounds like an "Ask Slashdot" would do some good; they have some serious old-timers around there...

How about 169.254.xxx.xxx?

Let me know how it works, jtr. I'm wiring the house with 12/2 to all the cans in dedicated circuits, so we can switch the source/voltage out later when something becomes available.

Getting a payment out is what accounting is for. I just cut the PO and let them worry about it. If they need money now, that's what reimbursement forms are for.

Sounds like a bit of an inside deal. It might be worth checking to see if the people giving the money know it's being inefficiently allocated. I understand sometimes you need to wade through the garbage to do a job, but depending on how much work you will be doing in the future, it might be...

I have a client where, about once every other day, all the computer clocks go wrong at the same time (about 22 minutes fast every time). They only have one DC, and it is also the DHCP server, but how is it's clock going wrong? Is it linked to a bad online time server? How do I tell?

Doesn't look like the utility is compatible with those drives?

What I did for my birthday. You can see the outline of where the walls were in the flooring.

There is some good stuff there, Bozo. They have a PAR30 compatible bulb which uses 132 LEDs to provide the light equivalent to a 50W incandescent while only drawing 6W! While costing 10x as much and only having a 10,000 hour lifespan (likely optimistic). And there spectral graphs are nothing to...

I'm not a DB guy, but one place I worked replicated all of their production DBs to another, which was itself replicated to several other locations including dev and backup. The backup server was disconnected and shut down cleanly before being backed up, restarted, reconnected, and resynched...

Indeed. My design so far is to light stuff I want to look at or use reflections. The Bedroom has lights directed into the closets, highlighting the doors, and wall washers above the headboard; no bulbs visible from bed. In the seating area, the lights are above the coffee table, not the couches.

I agree with your sentiments, Time, except for the possibility that the power supply (with it's higher chance of failure) has the potential to take the SSD with it. Of course, if it does, it is likely to take as many SSDs as you like with it. Which reinstates your point.

Switching lights in banks works, and I actually like the effect, but it means having considerably more lights/fixtures.