The Ek's Files
Putting the "Ek" in "Geek"
Old Goats Rule! Get the T-Shirt!
Dec 11th
If you’re a regular visitor here on my blog, you’ve no doubt read about some of my ham radio backpacking adventures with Steve wGØAT and his goats Rooster and Peanut. It’s always fun to hoof it up the mountain with Steve and the boys–especially when Rooster carries the refreshments!
So, a few days ago I received a note from Steve announcing the opening of his new GoatWare shop on Cafe Press. Now you, too, can have your own “Old Goats Rule!” t-shirt, water bottle, or coffee mug! And if you’ve never seen the goats before, check them out on Steve’s Youtube channel.
A Contester’s Coffee Roast
Dec 11th
I was getting ready to order a batch of coffee beans from my favorite coffee roaster, The Unseen Bean up the road from me in Boulder, Colorado. The owner and roaster is a visually-impaired man named Gerry Leary, whom I met a year or two ago when he came to visit with students at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind (I’m on the board there). Really an impressive guy.
So I’m perusing his web site, deciding what to order, and I stumbled upon a roast called Contester’s Blend. The logo on the bag shows a dog wearing a radio headset! He also offers a blend called Kilowatt Dark Roast. I came to find out that Gerry’s a ham (WB6IVF) and he’s sold his coffees at Dayton.
Now, I’m no Starbucks snob, but the coffee I’ve gotten from the Unseen Bean has been pretty tasty stuff. If you enjoy fine coffee and you’re inclined to support a visually-impaired small business owner who’s friendly to hams, check out his web site.
Transferring Contacts from Palm to iPod Nano
Nov 12th
I gotta say that my iPod Nano (4G) is really growing on me, much more so than I would have expected. I bought it last April, not long before my wife and I spent a week on a cruise ship in the western Caribbean. I hardly used it on the cruise, but now I use it every morning on my half-hour commute to work, plugged in to my car stereo and playing podcasts of Car Talk, Fresh Air, and Science Friday from NPR. I use it occasionally in my office if I need to drown out the office noise, and also when I ‘m jogging–the Nike + iPod Sport Kit is a cute little wireless pedometer that links with the iPod to help you collect data from your runs, and anyone who knows me knows I’m all about collecting data. I’m always on the lookout for new ways to use my iPod.
MSI Wind Not So Karmic (yet)
Nov 5th
As promised in my previous post, I gave Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) Netbook Remix a test drive on my MSI Wind U100 last night. The results were promising yet disappointing. Karmic Koala is clearly not ready for the MSI Wind, but I’m crossing my fingers that the situation will change soon.
Had I done a little research beforehand, I’d have discovered this in advance. The release notes mention two separate issues: one with USB, and the other with the screen flickering. Indeed, I experienced the screen flickering, which was enough (in my opinion) to render this version unusable. Hopefully that’ll be fixed soon.
Ubuntu 9.10 Released! First Impression
Nov 3rd
The release of Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) is old news, I know. And after one of my previous posts, you might think I wouldn’t care. But one of my previous Ubuntu installations left behind a few files that, by Windows XP standards, had invalid filenames (I’m to blame for that, not Ubuntu) and couldn’t be deleted. So I grabbed the latest Ubuntu iso, burned it to a DVD, and booted from the Ubuntu Live CD (it’s a way to run Ubuntu without actually installing it) to see if I could delete them that way. I was impressed with what I saw.
Sneak Preview: New ASCOM Driver
Oct 29th
Update: Yang reported an error with the driver not handling COM ports other than COM1. I think I’ve corrected that issue, so if you had the same problem, uninstall the driver, redownload it, and reinstall and give it a whirl.
If you’re using this new driver, please leave me a comment below and let me know.
I’ve been working on an updated ASCOM driver for my digital setting circles project for quite some time now. Yeah, I’m slow. At any rate, it’s just about ready for prime time, but I could use some beta testers to give it a whirl. (See below for a link to the download.)
What’s new, you ask? Well, I rewrote the thing, basically. It still bears some resemblance to the old driver, but it also now includes syncing and slewing capabilities, and an upgraded interface for performing the alignment process.
Netbooks for Astronomy?
Oct 18th
Being a techie kind of a guy, you’d think I’d be more abreast of the latest in computer hardware and gadgets. But up until a few months ago, I was pathetically unaware of the new class of computer hardware known as the netbook.
Netbooks first popped up on my radar screen when I stumbled upon an article describing how somebody was successfully running Mac OS X on theirs. That was (and still is) intriguing to me–OS X is supposed to be pretty slick, but I’ve always been put off by the Mac price tag. But I digress.
Consolidation
Oct 11th
If you were expecting to land on one of my other web sites (like one of my blogs, or my Digital Setting Circles web site), you might be a bit surprised at having been thrust into unfamiliar territory. But, rest assured, you’ve arrived in the right place. In one of my seemingly-endless fits of dorkery, I decided to consolidate all my web content back in one place. And this is the place. Hopefully, your arrival is the result of being smoothly redirected.
Bye Bye ‘buntu
Sep 20th
A year ago I was having a lot of fun playing with and using Ubuntu. I’d created a nice dual-boot system that allowed me to switch between Ubuntu and Windows as desired, and I probably spent more than half my time on the Ubuntu side. That was, until two things happened:
1) I got my iPod Nano, and
2) Ubuntu 9.04 was released.
Field Day 2009: NKØE, wGØAT, Rooster, and Peanut Head for the Hills
Jun 30th
Update (20 Sept 2009): Here’s wGØAT’s YouTube video of the whole excursion!
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Field Day 2009 was a total blast for me this year! After missing the last few years for various reasons, I finally managed to get out of the house and on the trail with Steve wGØAT and his QRP goats Rooster and Peanut (well-known characters here in the list). As usual, we chose Mt. Herman (just west of Monument, Colorado) as our Field Day site, due to its close proximity, elevation, and abundance of excellent campsites.
I met Steve at his place on Friday afternoon, and he promptly provided me with my own official QRPgoat expedition t-shirt–a picture of Rooster with the caption, “Old Goats Rule–QRP Adventures.” For me, this was like getting my Gold Card–I knew I’d *arrived*!
