Going once, going twice, going.. wait what where'd it go?

For those in the forum over on the Raspberry Pi site, this is one of the Admins Abishur

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, these are strictly my views about the launch and should not be viewed as a reflection the opinions of said foundation.

Today the Raspberry Pi, a $25 credit card sized, low powered PC announced that they had two resellers that were officially accepting pre-orders… except that one of them wasn’t? And the other one went down for “scheduled site maintenance” shortly after the Raspberry Pi Foundation made its announcement. So what on earth happened?

The Raspberry Pi Foundation (RPF) decided a long time ago that the fairest way sell the boards were on a first come first serve basis. There have been a lot of people claiming that this was an idiotic way to sell a product, as an individual who did not get one of the boards I disagree with this assessment. First come first serve is how it works for Microsoft, for Apple, for Sony, and for Nintendo. It’s how it works every time you walk into a grocery store or department store or even every time you drive up to a gas station.

One alternative suggested, that I know of, has been to do a lotto where members were chosen at random to be able to buy a board. This has *several* glaring issues.

                 1)   You’re no more likely to get a board with a lotto than first come, so everyone would still be complaining (let’s face it, the biggest whiners are not whining because they truly believe this to be unfair, but they didn’t get one)

                 2)  Which list of people do you use? Twitter subscribers, forum members, mailing list subscribers? In any of those cases it’s highly probable that there are people who have joined it multiple times with different e-mail addresses; as such they would get a double (or triple!) chance of winning making the lotto unfair.

So the RPF worked all the details out with Premier Farnell and RS Components two rather hefty UK electronics site. Here’s where the failure happened, despite ample warning and planning on the RPF’s end, for some reason the sites just plain ignored the warning. I can’t stress how much I think the RPF did everything they needed to in order to facilitate a smooth launch. They created a very simple static front page with all the information we’d need, they gave the suppliers a good warning, they were up and ready to answer questions via twitter (keeping the strain off their servers in order to make sure everyone got a fair chance to see the announcement without crashing their server).

Where things did break down is that neither Farnell nor RS took the appropriate steps to handle things. They should have given the RPF a link taking customers straight to the Raspberry Pi (R-pi on the forum) product page and made sure that page was cached to reduce strain on their server. They didn’t and as a result their sites crashed under the traffic (Farnell tried to disguise it as a "scheduled site maintenance but we know the score now, don't we?).

They should have made it very clear on how to order from a different country. I live in the US and spent quite a bit of time between time out errors of their site crashing trying to figure out which version of their site I needed to order it from. I actually set up an account on RS’ site only to realize post ex facto that I was on a UK only version of the site. I’m told that they’ll contact us in order that we expressed interest on their site (that might be my misunderstanding something though), if that’s the case and I’m one of the lucky first ones, will I be able to get it shipped to the US or will I lose my spot in line so to speak?

Making matters worse for some reason RS had the bright idea to not start accepting pre-orders today. They decided that they would just see how many people were interested in it and start selling it “later this week” RS *should* have told the RPF about this, well I guess the truth is that RS *should* have actually taken pre-orders like they told the RPF they were going to. Instead we’re all walking around on pin and needles wondering when they’ll start accepting pre-orders on the stoke they’re about to get.

Now I stayed up late last night fully expecting to not get an R-pi. I figured midnight would hit, I’d run to the store, click on the link and while setting up an account have them sell out. I was okay and prepared for that. I was, however, not expecting to spend 2 hours trying to make it to either site only to discover that they were both sold out and based on the number of pre-orders, expecting it to be April before I could expect my Pi.

Poor RPF, y’all have my complete sympathy in all this! Y’all have done nothing but act with intelligent business sense, how horrible to have that screwed up by distributers who frankly I’ve come to expect much more out of! Still, I, like so many other out there, am placing my bets on still being able to nab one of the boards from RS’ initial stock! *sigh* oh well, I’ve waited 9 months for the thing already that’s nothing compared to the 6 years the RPF has been working on this!

Hope you guys (Liz, Eben, David, Gert, James, Jack, et el) are enjoy a well deserved break after all this fiasco! Y’all have been really quite brilliant through all of it!

Going once, going twice, going.. wait what where'd it go?

DIY “Smart” Power Outlet

A long time ago (a little over three years ago), I wrote a post about how I modified my PS2 with a hard drive and some software that would let me back up games I owned to a hard drive.  The benefits being I have my entire game collection at my finger tips, as well as it saves the dvd laser (an extremely costly replacement if it ever goes  out).

Well I found a way to do this same thing with my Wii!  Rather than having an internal hard drive (or SD card in the Wii’s case), it uses an external hard drive attached via USB.  As a side note, the Xbox 360 has this feature built into its system rather than unfairly punishing its client base by saying such software should be outlawed.

Anyway, soap box ranting aside, I have it all set up in my fireplace shelf I set up (as seen in my last blog entry).  The only issue is that I really like the curtain my wife made and it’s a hassle to move it back and flip on the hard drive when EVERYTHING else is automated.  I even used a special type of remote (JP1, a subject I’ve also talked about previously) that I programmed the elaborate sequence needed to turn on the various devices in my entertainment system.

I could have left it on all the time but A) That’s a  waste of electricity and B) The external hard drive enclosure I use is passively cooled (it doesn’t have a fan on it).  It get’s a little toasty in my fireplace shelf and having the hard drive on for a couple hours makes it hot to the touch, so leaving it on 24/7 seemed like a very bad idea to me. 

So I began to search for for a power strip or outlet that would automatically turn on when the Wii turned on.  I was able to find some eventually, but they all cost in the range of 30+ dollars.  That’s when I decided it was about time to get out my DIY tools!

I knew my basic idea, I want my hard drive to turn on with the Wii, but the Wii doesn’t really have a lot of external outputs that I can work with… pretty much just a pair of USB ports really.  Well thanks to my job with Prime Controls, I’ve learned a lot about relays and there in was the solution to my dilemma!  I set out to purchase a Solid State Relay that would activate whenever USB voltage was present (or for those who care about the technical side of it.  I needed a SSR that would output a range of AC power that included the 120V AC put out by your every day home power outlet, and whose triggering input voltage covered the 3-5V DC power provided by a standard USB plug.  I know technically USB puts out 5 volts, but I didn’t want an under voltage on my USB to mess up my whole project.)

The only catch was everywhere I looked all the SSRs ran in the 20 dollar or more range.  All things considered, I suppose that’s not too bad a price, but it’s more than I was willing to pay.  If it would cost me $20 to do it myself, there’s not much point in not shelling out an extra 10 bucks to buy a fancy pre-made one.

In desperation I went to Fry’s Electronics, only to be met by a trio of dumb stares from clerks who had never even HEARD of an SSR, and they all work at a desk literally 5 feet from the relays!  Fortunately, one of the workers referred me to an electronic shop called Tanner’s Electronics.  I WILL be remembering this place.  It’s pretty much what radio shack and Fry’s both started off as before they ditched the small electronics and knowledgeable employees in favor of over priced wires and minimal wage high school kids.  It’s AMAZING.  They had what I wanted for 8 bucks.

So I spend some time assembling it all this evening.  I took one of the many printer USB cables I had lying around and cut off the printer end to provide triggering power for my SSR (it tells my relay to turn the switch to the on position).  Then I repurposed a computer power cabled to provide the AC power to the outlet.  I opted for a single outlet rather than a whole power strip because I didn’t need a whole power strip taking up space.

Here’s a photo of the final set up.

You can see both the AC plug and my USB cable.  They go into the first box where I have the SSR mounted to the lid of the box.   I had heard that SSRs need a heat sink to work without over heating so I’m using the box to act as a heat sink.  I also applied a good amount of thermal paste between the box and the relay to aid in getting rid of heat, but so far it doesn’t seem to generate much heat… but the amount of power I’m pulling down it is pretty small so I’m not too surprised.  Finally, the last cable goes from the SSR to my little outlet box.  Anything plugged into those outlets will only turn on when power is going over the USB cord.  Which of course means if I ever wanted to, I could just plug a power strip into one of the outlets and have my very own “Smart” power strip.  Total project cost?  Under $20 if you had to buy all the stuff I already had on end, for me I think it cost under $15  (and it was only that much since I had to buy the two enclosures rather than fitting it all into one box).

DIY “Smart” Power Outlet

On Shelves and TV Mounts

Wow, long time no blog, huh?  Much of the reason is because I’ve started a new job with a place called Prime Controls.  We program PLCs (the things that controls pumps and stuff at water/wastewater plants, oil rigs, and even Dr. Pepper!).  It a completely new field to me and its taking a while to get into the swing of things.

But enough about that!  As the title says this is about shelves and TV mounts.  Amy and I have constantly been working on the TV location since we moved into our home.  The only place for it really is on the fireplace, but there are lots of things in the way there. 

So the first thing we did was take the mantle down.  It protruded far away from the wall meaning the TV had to sit on the very end of the TV stand.  One good push from the cat would knock that TV right off to its untimely demise.

With the mantle gone things were good for a while.  The TV could sit far back on the stand and was safe from curious cats.  But the area itself  still created a lot of clutter.  Wire were strewn all about, the stand itself was large and detracted from the natural feel of the fireplace, it just didn’t work for us.

Ideas were tossed all around, we considered knocking a hole in the wall next to the fireplace and making a recessed shelf area where all the equipment could sit so we could get rid of the stand and mount the  TV, but we didn’t want to do anything so drastic to the home.  It didn’t really seem like the kind of thing that was good for the resale value of a home one day. 

Suddenly it came to us.  We already can’t use the fireplace because the TV is in the way (and because we had covered up the hole with Plexiglas to cut down on drafts), so why not build a shelf in the fireplace to hold the equipment?

But no no, it wasn’t enough to just slap some wood in there and call it a shelf, I wanted to maximize the space available to me.  So I talked to a co-worker (and the guy who got me this job), Colin, on how I should cut the wood to get it angled right (he’s been doing a lot of wood working too, so I knew he’d know) and lo and behold, this is the final product!

Yes, I packed it to the hilt with electronics!  But the best part of all, it Amy made a curtain for it to cover it all up!  So with the TV mounted it now looks like this:

  Yes for whatever reason when this house was made 30 years ago they put the fireplace off to the right instead of centering it.  We decided to center the TV on the wall rather than over the fireplace.  It’s hard to tell, but off to the left, behind the wedding photo is a little white cord cover that is filled to capacity with wires.  All in all, Amy and I are quite pleased with the way it turned out, it really brings our living room up to a much more modern condition and feels… adultish rather than college dormish.

On Shelves and TV Mounts

Does Anyone Else Hear the Sound of Water?

This Super Bowl weekend brought the following things:

1) An embarrassment to Jerry Jones as his ultra elitist stadium failed to have enough seating for everyone he sold tickets to (not to mention all the sound, and operations issues)

2) An embarrassment to Texas as our power grid couldn’t handle the influx of people and cold weather at the same time

3) The sound of rushing water and an impromptu lake forming out in my garage

That’s right, when the weather finally warmed up on Sunday, Amy and I were shocked to find that a pipe in our garage burst.  Fortunately, it was not attached to the water heater, but rather it led to a faucet in the backyard.  I had placed one of those nifty faucet covers over it, but apparently it just wasn’t enough to protect this poor little guy.

When we finally discovered the leak it had accumulated about 2-3 inches of water in our garage.  Thankfully, our garage is a step or two lower than the rest of our home so the only thing that got wet was some concrete floors.  After turning off the water to the house and sweeping the water out of the garage I discovered some interesting things.

The first was that the previous owner of this home clearly experienced this problem as there was replacement piece of drywall covering the exact location where the pipe had burst.

The second was a reconfirmation that the previous owner of this house, was not the handiest of men.  That or he always got his repairs done by the lowest bidder, which in this neighborhood is about 10 minutes east, you’ll find a group of very handy, hardworking men who will work dirt cheap all standing outside a gas station starting at 6 AM, and then bought sub-par parts for them to work with.

Here’s a picture of the pipe that burst. 

Now I’d like to point out that the shiny silver pipe in the wall is the faucet I purchased to replace this broken pipe and faucet.  I had to cut off the pipe at the elbow and sweat on a new piece (thanks again Mr. Pait for teaching me how to do that!).  Here’s a picture of the burst  pipe after the fact.

If you can’t tell, that pipe is paper thin, it’s really not the kind of pipe you should use in a location that is going to have to endure cold temperatures, but you could probably get away with it if you at least put some insulation around it.  It only costs 2 bucks for a six foot long section of copper pipe insulation, come on!

Regardless, in its place, I’m putting an anti-freeze faucet.  The concept with this faucet is that every time you turn the faucet off, it empties the pipe behind the faucet preventing the pipe from bursting from the cold (If you don’t quite get it, just google “Anti-freeze faucet)

Unfortunately, since I had to cut off some of the pipe, things didn’t quiet connect.  So I just brought the faucet inside the garage for a little bit until I have a Saturday when I can solder on a little extension.

The final thing Amy and I did this weekend was to take the mantel off the fireplace.  We have our TV there and the mantel is just in the way.  We were hoping to place it higher on the brick, but it turned out that rather than being attached via mason screws, they had actually replaced a layer of brick with wood and nailed into the wood.  So we decided just to put it into the attic until we leave the home or we decide we want it back.

We also decided that we wanted to prevent our cat from crawling into the fireplace, but didn’t want to shell out the bucks for a some sliding glass doors in front of it.  Amy mom’s had the excellent suggestion of putting Plexi-glass to cover the opening, a trip to Home Depot later and here’s the results!

(For those interested, other fun home projects Amy and I have done include putting lights in the attic, putting on a water heater blanket, and if the weather get’s warm and dry enough for us to finish it, rain gutters)

Does Anyone Else Hear the Sound of Water?

More Piano Fun

The other night Amy's mom came by to see the new piano and got caught tapping out a tune!

More Piano Fun

It will probably be sold with the house

Every so often Amy and I like to take stock with one another and just see how each other are doing emotionally, spiritually, etc. This past time around I wanted to know if there was anything Amy just wanted. We had some wedding cash left and since so much of it has gone towards home projects (well, I guess it was only Home Depot and Lowe’s gift cards, but it was still a lot) and decor, I wanted to check with her and see if there was anything that she wanted but considered frivolous.

Amy’s initial response was no, but a day or so later she came back and informed me that she wanted a piano. So Amy and I leapt off to craigslist. Needless to say, there were a LOT of crummy pianos for the price range we were looking in.

After several days, we found an upright piano that was just amazing looking. We contacted the lady selling it and scheduled a time to come by, a time which she cancelled on us and rescheduled for a later date.

On Sunday we were finally able to come by and take a look at it. It was amazing, but HUGE! We decided that there was NO way we were going to be able to lift that sucker into the back of my dad’s pickup even if I could get four other guys to help me out. So instead we decided to rent a U-haul and just push it on up the ramp.

I pick up the U-haul on Monday and swung by the lady’s house with Amy. We began the arduous task of getting the Piano out of the house. Fortunately, we had picked up some sliders and the piano moved relatively easily. We had a little tight spot at the door, and a step down. We managed to get out the door, but we were caught by the step. As the last bit of the piano cleared the door, the back heavy piano tipped right over!

Thankfully, no one was hurt and a strong metal chair caught the piano from falling all the way. I was able to push it back upright, but it was clear that if it had fallen all the way, we never would have gotten it up again.

It was fairly easy from there to get it to the back of the U-haul, but as we approached the ramp we hit an insurmountable obstacle; the ramp, while wide enough for the wheels, was too narrow to accommodate the full body of the piano. While that in and of itself could have been worked around, the side of the ramp have a raised boarder of a couple inches that was larger than the wheels. The piano was NOT going up that ramp.

Rather than trying to force the issue with an 800 pound piano, Amy and called it quits. We went ahead and paid the lady (some cosmetic damage had occurred to the back of the piano when it tipped) and decided to call an inexpensive piano mover I had come across randomly on craigslist.

It took a couple tries with the mover to nail down a date, but he was able to do it tonight and Amy was able to get her piano!

Here's a video I took too!

The Piano is a Williams & Son piano with a serial number of 113696. I haven't been able to find out much of anything on this piano, but what little I have found has lead me to believe that it was built somewhere between 1900-1920, and, due to it's higher serial number, probably close to 1920 (possibly 1918ish)

It will probably be sold with the house

Circuits, Breakers, and Electricity. Oh My!

Amy and I are having a lot of fun doing home projects and getting everything just the way we want things.  Today, I was going to add a new circuit breaker to take power out to the front yard.  An area that is painfully lacking in an electrical outlet.

The plan, as always, was a simple one.  The pervious owners of this house had a hot tub (it was, thankfully, gone when we moved in).  I knew that dropping a new electrical wire would be a nigh impossible task with how full this circuit breaker box is, so we decided to simply high jack the electrical line that used to go to the hot tub.

Basically, we’d take the 30 AMP breaker that is presently in there and replace it with a 15 AMP breaker.  Then we’d take the electrical line that is sitting in the attic (attached to nothing, don’t worry) and simply attach the new line to the end of that line inside a junction box.

That’s when I was introduced to a type of breaker called Zinsco.  They look like this

They are also HORRIBLY outdated.  They are also, and more importantly, against electrical codes due to a design flaw in which the circuit breaker's connection to the bus bar becomes loose, causing arcing and subsequent overheating.

How did I find all this out?  I went to Home Depot where a kindly associate pointed me to the replacement breaker that cost 70 dollars!  OUCH!

The long story short is that I was able to purchase a replacement on eBay for 7 bucks and will continue this project in a couple weeks.  In the long run, I will need to replace the entire panel, but that’s a very expensive (though only slightly more than how much Home Depot would have charged me for the breaker) and timely, so it will be a project for much letter.

Ironically, however, I’m thinking about changing my mode of attack for putting an electrical outlet out there.  Where before I was going to drop the line through a water proof pipe out of my attic down the side of my house and into a waterproof outlet box.  I’m thinking that a better option may be to actually just boor a whole in my outer brick wall and tap into an outlet in the guest bedroom.

Then I’ll just flush mount the waterproof outlet and it will look significantly nicer.  It’s not like I need a huge AMP rating on this outlet either.  I literally just need an outlet out there to hook my weed eater up.  The only other things on this circuit (Amy and I mapped all the circuits last week) are the outlets in the guest room and 2 in the office and 2 in the master bedroom.  So unless I decide to hook a ridiculous amount of high Amperage equipment to each outlet at once, tapping in to the preexisting outlet should work just fine.

Any thoughts? (other than call Daniel’s father-in-law, our local electrician)

Circuits, Breakers, and Electricity. Oh My!