Switching to Ubuntu

I was tired of having a slow computer, I did not want to deal any longer with bugs and annoyances (and these where paid annoyances and bugs). This is why I decided to use Linux, instead of a well known mainstream OS.

At first I thought I'll give it a try since I was not sure it suited my needs. I thought Linux was hard to use, that I'll be using the command line a lot and that I would not have any of the functionality a more standard desktop computer has.

Guess what, I was wrong. Linux is a beautiful piece of software that enables your computer to perform at its maximum capacity. It is stable, slick and fast.

Installation

Installing Linux, Ubuntu more specifically (a Linux distribution) is very fast. It takes about 45 minutes and when you're done you have a full desktop environment with a beautiful user interface, lots of software, including OpenOffice.Org (an office suite), The Gimp (a Photoshop like application), Gaim (instant messaging), Rithmbox (music player/organizer), Evolution (email client), Firefox (no introduction needed), and lots of other nice software out of the box. The best is that it all takes about 1GB.

All you need to install Ubuntu is downloading and burning a free CD, booting the computer with the CD (putting the CD in and restarting it for most users), and following the installation instructions. You can keep your mainstream OS if you wish and have your computer dual boot (you choose which OS you want at startup).

You can also use the CD to run Ubuntu without installing it, if you want too give it a quick try. I think the Ubuntu people have simplified this process even further by now, the CD is not even required any more (quite neat).

FYI a more popular OS takes more than one hour to install, eats up more than 1GB all to itself ad doesn't come with all the wonderfully functionality out of the box.

By the way, all my hardware was recognized flawlessly without the need of installing any driver (except for the video card for which I had to install the driver in order to enable 3D rendering).

Ubuntu also worked without any troubles on my brother's laptop (including the wireless internet connection).

Now that I use a good operating system my computer runs fast (as hell) without any troubles. I also have no worries about viruses, spyware and the like since there is non of it for Linux.

For the record, this is the hardware I use:

• 1 GHz AMD Athlon Thunderbird
• nVidia gForce II 32 MB
• Yamaha low end sound card
• 640 MB of RAM @ 133 MHz
• ASUS A7V Motherboard
• 4+1 ports USB2 PCI card

• 20 GB Maxtor HD
• 160 GB Western Digital HD
• 16x, 10x, 40x LG CDRW drive
• floppy disk drive

• Logitech Wheel mouse
• Logitech Internet Keyboard
• HP photosmart 1115 (printer & memory card reader)
• Canon LiDE 20 scanner
• Smasung SyncMaster 753df 17" display.
• Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers
• 2GB iPod nano 1st generation
• 1GB Lexar USB key

LCD Display

I got a brand new LCD display for free from the guys at uC Hobby (their website has many nice projects).

It is a Samsung 0202A (see more details here). It is a very nice piece of equipment and I hoe I'll be able to put it to good use

I'll learn how to use it and I'll come up with some project for it soon enough (hopefully). Meanwhile, I'm open to any project ideas.

Toast Oven Makeover

My girlfriend had an old toast oven (about 20 years old). Slowly it decayed and eventually, broke (the timer did not work any more but it still heating).

What to do in such a situation when you find yourself to be the most amazingly kind boyfriend in the entire universe known to man?

The answer is simple, and it can be reduced to three easy steps:

1. Find another toast oven in the trash (it must be the exact same model than your girlfriend's).
2. Clean it thoroughly (and I mean THOROUGHLY. It should shine like a mirror, inside and out).
3. Give it to your girlfriend.
   

Note: in step No. 2, you should make sure the oven is in excellent working condition. There would be no point in cleaning it if it was broken (besides the intrinsic pleasure of cleaning a 20 years old oven).
IMHO, the easiest way to clean it is to take it apart, clean each piece, and put it it back together (but I have not tried any other method).

Enjoy some before and after shots:

Before...

After...

Blue Mouse

I was tired of the red LED in my Logitech optical mouse, so I changed it. It took me less than 10 minutes (including searching for an LED).

It is very simple, just open up the mouse, desolder the LED, replace it by a LED of your choice (blue in my case), put it back together, and thats it!

I also slightly bent the spring in the scroll wheel so it scrolls much smoothly and quietly.

By the way, I noticed a better performance of the mouse on surfaces where it failed to work properly in the past... weird, but cool.


LED Specs (for the curious):

Emitted Colour : OCEAN BLUE
Size: 5mm
Forward Voltage : 3.2 V ~ 3.8 V
Luminous Intensity: 6000 mcd
Max Continuous Forward Current : 30mA

CD Lamp²

Long ago, I promised a CD lamp, so here it is. It took me a long time to complete it since I had to order some LEDs (actually, my girlfriend bought them and gave them to me as a gift), and to buy some solder.

This is a simple project that requires some skills in cutting and shaping wood and lots of old CDs.

The Idea

To make a nice looking lamp that uses CDs to shade the light. The lamp should be composed of two overlapping columns of CDs sandwiched between identical pieces of wood. It should be very energy efficient and output a reasonable amount of light (which implies LEDs).


Materials

• 6 metal rods (I got them from an old photocopier I found in the garbage)
• 4 special washer for holding the rods (from the same photocopier)
• lots of CDs
• 2 pieces of wood (from an old drawer I found in the garbage)
• 10 LEDs (6 white and 4 blue in my case)
• A resistor (for current limiting for the LEDs)
• A switch
• A 5V power adaptor
• A calcium tablets package and a bottle cap (for the switch casing)
• 4 protective rubber pads.

Preparation

Trace the layout on the wood. The layout consists of two circles spaced by ~12 cm so when the CDs are centered at the center of the circles, the CD holes don't overlap (while the rest of the CD does overlap). Since I had very small pieces of wood, there was very little room for error (in fact, there was no room for error). I traced the layout using a compass and a ruler (pretty standard), and I cut the wood using a jigsaw.

The lamp is symmetrical so the base and the top should be identical.

It is important to thoroughly sand the wood so it is smooth and nice to the touch. It is good to use a large grit sandpaper first and a fine one to give it a nice finish.

Drill the holes for the metal rods. Four of the rods will hold the exterior of the CDs and should go trough the good. The two remaining rods hold the CDs at their intersection. should not go through the wood (they should be only deep enough so the metal rods stay in place once the the top is in place).

The rods hold the CDs inside the lamp and keep the base and the top pieces of wood together.

The light will be provided by two 5 LEDs arrays in parallel as seen in the following circuit schematic.
I alternated blue and white LEDs for the arrays soldered together in order to form a column that fits inside the CD holes. Remember to use a current limiting resistor for the LEDs (see this current limiting resistor calculator).

The switch should go on the power adaptor wire. I was not lucky enough to have a switch ready made for that propose so I built a case for the switch using a calcium tablet case and a bottle cap.

Assembly

Place the exterior rods in the appropriate holes on the Top piece and place the special washer at the base. The alternating from one side to the other, place CD pairs until the top of the lap is reached (forming two overlapping columns). The CD pairs are composed of two CDs back to back (the shiny face on the outside).

Then, place the two LED arrays and connect them to the power source and the switch. Make sure the LEDs are pointing to the from of the lamp.

Once the LEDs are in place the smaller metal rods and the bottom can be placed. Fasten the bottom using the washers.

Place some rubber pads on the bottom so the lamp does not scratch delicate surfaces.

The lamp is done. Enjoy!
Note: no CDs where harmed during the construction of this lamp.