Milestone

This blog has finally passed the 1,000 hit mark!

This would be a momentous occasion except for the small fact that I think I am responsible for >90% of these hits...

Birthday Song...

From This Day in Music, the number 1 song in Australia on the day I was born was:

Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen

Derringer madness

I picked up my fourth PowerBook 100 yesterday - a working unit (I haven't confirmed this yet) with an external floppy drive. No power supply but I have a few of these now. Hopefully it will have a working hard drive and more than 4MB of RAM (I can hope).

With enough time I intend to build as many working examples as I can. The other three have power-up issues (although at various times ALL have worked).

For those wondering, "Derringer" was one of the alleged code names for the PowerBook 100 in production (see this photo). Derringer/Deringer is also the last name of a gentleman who made small firearms. Given that the PowerBook 100 was Apple's second attempt and first real success at a laptop/notebook computer (the Portable being barely that), I can see the link.

Edit: Sadly, it doesn't boot (why am I not surprised?). It does have an Apple 20MB 2.5" Connor SCSI drive that may work though. As far as RAM goes it looks like 4MB (again, still searching for the elusive 6MB upgrade card).

Project for the kids (really!)

Percy, pulling a tar wagon and S.C. Ruffy (all Bachmann gear).


Thomas, pulling four trucks, two of which happen to be troublesome (all Bachmann gear).

Darter

Photograph of a remarkably tame Darter at Ascot Waters in Perth, Western Australia. The feather pattern is incredible.

Dingo

I saw my first Dingo yesterday - it was feeding on a kangaroo carcass on the side of the road between Tom Price and Paraburdoo.  I didn't get any photographs, we were keen to make sure we didn't miss the plane home.

I also saw a fair few cows near the junction of the Rail Access Road and the road to the Brockman mine site (where I went for work).  A lot of the mines in the Pilbara are on/near functional cattle stations.  There has been plenty of rain recently so the cows looked in very good condition.

Review: Belkin Flip

I just purchased a Belkin Flip (a two computer KVM setup). It works as advertised and currently shares my monitor, keyboard and mouse between my Mac Mini and my Power Mac G4 500MHz DP. I am impressed with the quality of most of the cables. My only gripe is the paddle that allows you to switch between inputs is a little flimsy (and the cable is very thin). For the price, however, it is excellent value.

Train Set

I spent some of the weekend wiring up a switch for the train set. I now have two separate sections of track (joined so trains can travel between them but not joined electrically). I can control the sections from separate power supplies (allowing two trains to run at the same time) or control the whole board from the one supply. This is achieved using a switch and some fairly fancy (for me anyway) wiring.

On the list of things to do are:

• House the wiring and switch properly;
• Child-proof the two power supplies (so they don't get pulled off);
• Fix a few sections of the track that seem to cause intermittent derailment;
• Take some photos (and videos) of the train set in action;
• Wire up the two "experimental" electrically controlled points (these will allow access to two sidings I have added);
• Fix some things that have been broken;
• Design and construct the tunnel, station and quarry.
  

New to the collection

An original Apple Airport Base Station (the "graphite" one). This was easy to reset (to clear the existing configuration and password) and set up. I have it configured in bridge mode, basically extending my wired Ethernet network. I'm not really planning on using it much (all my computers are in one room and most don't have wireless) but it is a cool piece of hardware nonetheless.

This reminds me that I need to update the computer collection page.

(PS: if you understood the title of my previous post you qualify as a nerd).

NERD_POINTS++

Just scored a new Power Mac - a dual 500MHz G4. The machine currently has a 40GB HDD and 512MB of RAM running Mac OS X 10.4. For some reason I have always wanted a dual CPU Macintosh (the earlier 604 based models always seemed to be too expensive or rare). Thanks to David for this one - much appreciated. To top it off, it has on-board gigabit ethernet (although I have nothing else that has this, rendering it cool but redundant at the moment).

I am not 100% sure of what I will use this computer for, but I think it will fill the role of home server nicely. I have already installed my USB 2.0 PCI card in it (allowing it to access the 160GB USB 2.0 HDD I have already). I have also fitted a PCI SCSI card as I have a few 18GB SCSI drives lying around that it could use.

New Book (and a few new sightings)

Just received my copy of Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds (by Les Christidis and Walter E. Boles) in the mail, purchased from Andrew Isles Bookshop. I can highly recommend this shop: the delivery was quick, email notification fantastic and the packaging top notch. This is the first bird related book I have purchased that is not a field guide. It should make for interesting reading.

I have finally seen Emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae) in the wild - we saw a group of them in the Stirling Ranges a few weeks ago. Spotted a Yellow-throated Miner (Manorina flavigula) at Joondalup Health Campus last week - this is my first metropolitan area sighting.

Updated Planes to Karratha

Just flew back on an Alliance Airlines Fokker 100 (although the flight number started with QF). Generally fly on the Boeings though.

On the last flight to Karratha I realised that I had flown in a few different Qantas/QantasLink planes. A quick check of the Qantas website jogged my memory so here is the list:

• Boeing 737-400 (generally the plane I seem to catch)


• British Aerospace 146 (great fun landing on the short Karratha runway!)


• Boeing 717-200

Is there anything Lego can't do?

Check this out.

I am seriously considering building something like this.

680x0 PowerBooks

Spent some time tinkering with some old PowerBooks recently:

• I now have 3 non-working PowerBook 100's. All seem to have failed in the same manner (motherboard issues I think). The good news is they are really easy to take apart. The bad news is they use 2.5" SCSI hard drives... I should be able to sort the motherboard issue out (hopefully).
  
• I now have a working PowerBook 54oc. I repaired it using parts from a busted PowerBook 520c. It has a 320MB 2.5" SCSI hard drive and 12MB of RAM. I have installed Mac OS 7.6 on it (will upgrade to 7.6.1 as soon as I can). It is a very nice laptop - especially the active matrix screen. I really like the PowerBook 540c, on-board ethernet and modem (mine has an internal modem installed). Having SCSI, ADB and a serial port is cool also.

I think the biggest problem facing people who collect old Macs (in particular PowerBooks) is the internal 2.5" SCSI disk issue. These invariably fail and are getting harder and harder to find. Ideally, a SCSI to IDE converter should be made (or even a SCSI to CF adapter) but I don't think this is going to happen. At least with desktop Macs the 3.5" SCSI drives can be replaced by more modern SCSI drives (with the appropriate adapters).

NSIS is very cool

NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) is a fantastic piece of software I have been using to create an installer for a project at work. It is highly customisable and handles both the installing and un-installing of files. From the website:

NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) is a professional open source system to create Windows installers. It is designed to be as small and flexible as possible and is therefore very suitable for internet distribution.

The software itself is small and integrates nicely with my favourite (Windows) text editor: NotePad++.

ISP Mathematics

I am on a 5GB/month wireless broadband plan from Optus. For the purposes of selling the plan to you, Optus define 1GB as 1000MB (see screen shot below).

For the purposes of billing you, however, Optus define 1MB as 1024KB (also see the screen shot below). This means that they would define 1GB as 1024 MB for data used. Hence the 5GB plan is actually a (5000/(5 x 1024)) x 5 = 4.88 GB plan.



5GB should give you 5 x 1024MB = 5120MB.

Given that excess usage (not that we are at any risk of that) is charged per MB, not shaped, it would be good if they were consistent.

First new sighting for the year!

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis ) seen near the Rio Tinto West Angelas mine camp (23°07'53.96" S 118°41'39.18" E). They were reasonably difficult to find and identify but thankfully I got a few good photos. This is my first new honeyeater for a while.

Happy New Year

A (somewhat belated) Happy New Year to all!

Pheasant Coucal in Dampier

Just saw a Pheasant Coucal (Centropus phasianinus) in the Dampier townsite. This is my second sighting; the first was on the Burrup Peninsula (I got some very poor photographs). It is a very impressive bird, and fairly large as well. Alas, I was not carrying my camera...

For further information see here.

I wonder if this will run under Vista...

One of the software packages I use a lot at work (ProWORX NxT) runs a graphics server (in a 16-bit virtual machine no less). Here is a screen-shot of the about box. For those who don't know, ProWORX NxT is a PLC programming package.



It works OK under Windows XP.

Qantas Frequent Flyer Bling

I am now a GOLD level frequent flyer.

I don't know whether this is a good or bad thing...

Contemplating...

...whether I should upgrade my PowerBook G4 (12", 1GHz) to Mac OS X Leopard 10.5. I currently have the original 40GB HDD installed, so perhaps I should upgrade that first (given Leopard requires 9GB to install). The G3s I have will all stay at 10.4 for the time being. They are all sub-500MHz so I don't think any amount of hacking will make 10.5 worthwhile on them.

For the record, I don't think Apple making the minimum processor required for Leopard to be an 867MHz G4 is unfair. And I have lots of old Macs that can run 10.4 :)

Edit: I will probably wait for 10.5.1 to come out.

Frog season has started in Dampier

Saw my first frog of the season on Saturday, peaking up at me from the drain in the sink in my room. It was a Desert Tree Frog (Litoria rubella), similar to this.

New Toys

Picked up a 3rd generation 20GB iPod for $140. It is in near-mint condition with good battery life. Will be useful for backing up photos as well (I am only using 2GB for songs at the moment).

Also have a 12" 500MHz G3 iBook coming - it will need some repairs but will hopefully be functional soon.

Lastly, my B&W G3 PowerMac (350MHz) is finally setup with 512MB of RAM, 40GB internal HDD, 250GB USB2.0 external HDD and a FireWire external dual layer DVD burner. This is now the backup server for all of our photos and other documents.

Ballpoint pen marks on LCD monitors...

...can be removed with Isopropyl alcohol and a little bit of effort. The sterilizing pads you can buy at the pharmacy do the job nicely. Thanks to Kylie for sourcing the pads and Cameron for providing the pen marks...

Added to the collection...

• PowerMac 9500/132 with broken power supply (but with stacks of RAM, 18GB hard drive, Sony SCSI CD-RW drive and two PCI graphics cards);
• Two 20" Apple CRT monitors (both work well - if you would like one let me know);
• Another PowerBook 100 for parts (non-booting complete unit in very good condition).

I am in the process of building a "hot rod" PowerMac 7500. Full details soon...

Breaks the monotony...

The plane I flew to Karratha on recently had to circle for 15 minutes or so waiting for fog over the airport to clear. When the pilot first tried landing the fog was so thick we had to pull out. If we couldn't land on the second try we were going to fly to Port Hedland for re-fueling...

Short-beaked Echidna (Photographed)

Finally - a photo of a Short-beaked Echidna. This little fella (?) was rummaging noisily which made him (her?) easy to find. Photographed on the Burrup Peninsula near Hearson's Cove.

Thoughts on birding...

For a while I have been meaning to write a post outlining my thoughts on bird watching/bird photography/twitching etc. This does not mean that I consider myself to be an authority on any of these topics.



Bird Watching: I have always been interested in bird watching. From an early age my parents and grandparents fostered a love of the outdoors and of wildlife. I don't use whistles or recordings to attract birds (although others do and I don't object). I also try not to disturb the birds in any way (although sometimes this is unavoidable).

Bird Photography: Only recently have I had a camera capable of doing decent bird photography. My first camera was a Nikon F50, which is a wonderful camera. I soon found the 35-80mm zoom lens inadequate, and the cost of buying a bigger lens prohibitive. Developing film also started to get expensive. I then moved to digital, buying a Kodak DX6490 with 10x optical zoom. This was better but ultimately the cheap construction (zoom toggle doesn't re-center properly, main switch is broken) led me to buying a Canon 350D. This is a brilliant camera. I purchased the camera cheaply (just after the 400D was announced) with a twin lens kit. The 75-300mm zoom lens is perfect for my level of experience and is still portable enough to head bush with. Recently I have added a low end Manfrotto tripod to the kit. I recommend buying a good camera bag as well (I have a Lowepro).

I use bird photography primarily as a means of bird identification. Being able to look at the photo close up on a computer and compare it to a few field guides is invaluable (and nearly impossible to do in the field). I do rely on taking notes as well (although not as much as I should).

Twitching: I am not really that much of a twitcher. I do keep a life-list and I would love to increase it but I do not go flying across the country to see a rare vagrant. My lifestyle doesn't really permit this sort of activity (I work and have a wife and children). Twitching would be cool though (if this book is anything to go by). I believe that the data obtained through twitching has significant value.

Feel free to comment on this post!

Footy Tipping

I finished the season with 120 correct tips and won the company competition!

You are ranked 179 out of 30,766 tippers in the 2007 AFL home and away season.

The competition was hosted on the Fox Footy Tipping website.

(120 / (22 rounds x 8 games per round)) x 100 = 68% success rate!