A friend in XinCheJian hackerspace Shanghai asked me today what I have been up to. I was thinking not too much, as I have watched quite a few movies (Sleep Dealer is pretty good, Avatar was way better than I expected) and re/read several books & magazines, but then I started to list some of the things I have been doing…….
- PartTester – built 2nd board with 1% R – did not work, and now 1st one not working – same issue, eventually worked out LCD had partially died on trip home from China.
- Looking into ways to do improved or auto-calibration
- As part of above, part of X-bot work discovered that Gerbers used for PCB production have an electrical issue where 328 processor digital ground is not connected. This is only in the Gerbers – the schematic is correct!
- Red circle in photo highlights difference between “good” gerber (blue) and my gerber with missing ground connection.
Gerber issue ground not connected to Atmega328 ground! - X-Bot – learning SMD soldering (old, unrefrigerated solder paste = :(, new = 🙂 )
- Made a pogo pin ISP connector to easily test if processor was working
- Playing with el-cheapo Taobao STK500 programmer (good in HV mode, but can’t get it working in ISP mode)
- Fighting several nasty computer issues
- XP system freezes for 1/2 to 3-5 minutes yet CPU is at 1% and no other symptoms or errors!
- XP ongoing anti-virus software instability issues
- battling security update issues on XP and Lububtu
- Lubuntu intermittent keyboard & mouse issues – only some keys/buttons work!
- Lubuntu SMB file copy issues
- Lubuntu “system problems”
- Lubuntu restoring backups – path too long
- Unsuccessfully trying to install Windows 7 to SSD and user directories to different disk
- Unsuccessfully trying fix injet printer ($$ cartridges, cleaned, factory resets, extra cleaning…..)
- …..
- Replacing swimming pool pump (now pool is leaking – think it is drain system)
- Car window electric winder replacement
- Fixed front door lock
- Home Theatre – fixed bad solder joint that stopped right channel working
- Toshiba SD-K310P DVD player won’t play disks – seems like region free hack has stopped working
- Dish washer – bottom arm won’t spin .. ongoing effort to fix
- Backyard jungle:-
- Getting rid of dangerous European wasp nest
- Digging ditch for irrigation system repair
- Hacking away at six months growth (two trailer loads so far), have not even started on the 80+ meters of hedges yet!
- Watching Cockatoos, King Parrots and Roselas
- Saw a falling star
- Cleaning up flood in garage last night due to major storm – we were lucky – could hear clean up with chainsaws nearby.
Backyard Cockatoos 
Backyard King Parrot
