A Geek Goes Flying

So I figured this should work, and, it did ... Had my  jailbroken Kindle  with me at Disney California Adventure the other day, and my iPhone 16 Pro and a  USB C FuelRod charging kit , but no laptop or anything else. I connected the Kindle to my phone with the short USB C / USB C cable from the FuelRod, and sure enough, it appeared in the Files app on the phone. The process isn’t the most straightforward and somewhat counter-intuitive, but it worked. Go into the Files app and long-press the content (files or folders) you want to copy to the Kindle (in my case, some files from the Reader directory in my GoodReader app , which syncs to my NAS). Long-press and select “Move” ( not  “Copy”) from the menu that appears (even though you probably want to copy  the content, not relocate it): In the files browser that pops up, navigate to the destination (e.g., the books folder on the Kindle), and tap Copy in the upper right corner: If you tap the progress pie chart near t...

 D’oh. I'm an idiot. I’m rebuilding an old Hackintosh into an AI workstation . I pulled the motherboard from the old Corsair case, removed the Core i5 and 16GB RAM (4x4GB Corsair Vengeance sticks), and set everything up in the CoolerMaster case. Everything lined up nicely and, especially with the extra screws I got, it was an easy, straight forward build. I was confident when I hooked up to mains power everything would Just Work™. It didn’t. Pressed the power button and it seemed to be online: The fans were spinning, the NIC lights were dancing, the power LED was on, etc., but the connected monitor stubbornly reported it was not receiving any signal.  Back in the day, computer cases had a cheap speaker installed, looked something like this: Wikipedia photo of an old timey computer speaker But, no more. Starting with what the BIOS was able to tell me seemed like the natural first step, and Amazon enables almost immediate gratification (not as immediate as popping over to the ne...

  After being inundated with ads for a similar stand (probably the same one, made in the same factory, just with different branding), and both needing to bump an order past the same day delivery threshold and having a “coupon” pop up bringing the price down significantly, I picked up this stand from Amazon:  Moallia Laptop Stand with 360 Rotating Base, Computer Notebook Laptop Riser Metal Holder for Desk Collaborative Work, Fully Foldable for Easy Storage, Fits All MacBook, Laptops up to 16 inches . The “collapsed” photos shown for the product are at a deceptive perspective; when folded up, this is still a large product. And it’s not quite as travel-friendly as the MOFT stand I have and love . But for an impromptu kitchen counter or balcony session, it seems to be decently high quality and flexible. With the arm setup to position it about 5" above table height, the screen is at a perfect position - though I note my laptop (a MacBook Pro 14") wobbles a bit as I type. Anyway. I...

ESP LTD MH-100MQNT Finally sat down last night (er, early this morning) to restring and setup the new-to-me ESP LTD MH-100QMNT guitar (which isn’t made anymore; the lowest end offering they have now in the MH line is the 200-series). Before. I haven’t owned a “Tune-O-Matic” guitar before, so I watched a quick YouTube video on how to change the strings . (Easy.) That video producer recommends Dunlop Fretboard 65 Ultimate Lemon Oil for the fretboard (but not  for maple fretboards), but not having any of that, I just kinda scrubbed away the grunge with the fretboard conditioner that came in the  D'Addario Accessories Instrument Care Kit I got a few months ago (which also comes with a cleaner, wax, and detailer for the body, the mat I put the guitar on to protect the body, the neck support, etc). The MusicNomad string changing kit is still proving its value. It cleaned up nicely: After. A couple of tiny imperfections in the finish on the back; wondering if something like ...

A Windows CE Palmtop I have an old NEC MobilePro 780. I got it to install Linux or a *BSD on, and achieved some success with that project (about 18 years ago?!), but the machine really didn’t have the horsepower to be a good UNIX portable (168 MHz NEC VR4121 processor, 32MB RAM, whatever storage you had in the CompactFlash spot), nor was/is the Linux desktop experience really optimized for the screen geometry (it has an 8.1" 640x240 DSTN display). But I hung on to it, because it’s got a great keyboard and it’s perfectly usable as a Windows CE machine, and why not? But over time I’ve misplaced the AC adapter, the battery is toast, and, well, yeah. I didn’t see the point in spending $50+ for a dubious quality replacement battery, so it sat. NEC MobilePro   But at  9.6" x 5.2" x 1.1" and 1.7 lbs., it will totally fit in even a LoungeFly, and a moment of distracted Googling led me to learning about the MC-BA10 adapter, which lets the MobilePro run off of (4) AA batterie...

Redid my original KVM setup with a different KVM unit Swapped out the Dell U2412M for a Dell U2717D IPS 27" QHD Wide 1440p UltraSharp InfinityEdge Slim Widescreen monitor  ($300 used, I wanted the older display for the USB A ports etc., it’s just easier...). Had to pick up a USB 3.0 cable to connect to the KVM, to take full advantage of the new hub. Swapped out the SIIG Aluminum Mechanical Single Monitor Arm Mount for a dual arm version of the same thing ( SIIG Aluminum Mechanical Dual Monitor Arm Mount ) ($127), with a VIVO Notebook Adapter for VESA Monitor Mounts ($25) To use the now surplus 24" monitor, I picked up a VESA stand ($22), a Plugable USB 3.0 to DVI/VGA/HDMI Video Graphics Adapter ($39 used, $48 normally) and a Dell DVI cable . The Plugable adapter theoretically works with the Mac using a DisplayLink driver. As soon as my desk is clear enough to try it, I’ll report back. (Edit: Had to install the DisplayLink software (from the Downloads section of this pag...

I had an old (circa 2012?) Hackintosh, which started life as a Core i5 3570K Processor (3.4 GHz 4 Core), installed on a Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3P  main board (LGA 1155 socket, B75 chipset). Basically, a lightly tweaked version of this moarfish build . The Corsair Carbide 300R case (or, rather, the plastic drive rails) were showing their age, the power supply had a tendency to run extremely - worryingly - loudly, and so it was just sort of collecting dust. A lot of dust (see below). I had picked up a new Cooler Master case and EVGA power supply to rebuild it, but never got around to it. Instead, I eventually moved to a maxed out (1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, Core i7-3720QM CPU @ 2.60GHz) 2012 Mac mini server, running the latest macOS through OCLP. Now that I’ve finally decided to pull the trigger and start getting my hands dirty with “AI,” after flopping around for a minute looking at various options (eGPU chassis hooked up to a 2020 MacBook Air running Linux? $249 NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super De...