I finally took the time to get the S/PDIF out ports working on my PVR machine, no more 1/8" miniplug outputs anymore on the sound from my TV. The downside is that I now need to get a center channel speaker to take advantage of it, as well as some decent rear speakers eventually, tho the crappy Panasonic ones leftover from an ancient stereo system from home will do for now. Whats nice is that Xine will pass the audio completely along to the stereo with no decoding or anything when it comes off the DVD, it was very exciting to see the little "DTS" light come on when I started up Run Lola Run. For PVR use theres no real benefit to the surround sound, other than when skipping through programs, the audio transitions much cleaner and without any hiccups.

Here is a picture of me as a space pirate.

Finally made it out to Nantucket for the first time since last fall. The weather station got some much needed attention as well as the entertainment equipment which we finally got a cart for.



Built the humidity sensor housing from an extra piece of PVC pipe and end cap and mounted it on a post in the back yard along with the rain gauge. It seems that the length of cable runs and the number of devices on the 1-wire bus here and is causing problems with all the weather station upgrades playing nice together. Added humidity and barometric pressure, broke wind direction and was unable to get the rain gauge workign. Ordered an improved 1-wire to serial bus adaptor which is designed to handle long cable runs and larger numbers of devices, hopefully this will make everything work together when installed.

The project page for my soda project has been updated. 5 gallon batches with 24/7 on tap soda is now a reality.

http://www.atroxen.com/zschamm/index.php?id=soda

A megapixel digital camera with room for 25 shots for $10, or the same with preview of the last pic taken for $20. Hacked so that you don't have to surrender it to CVS to get your pictures out of it and then go buy another one.

Here's how to do it
The software to crack the camera.

A few notes:

A palm III or older cradle/sync cable makes a much easier cable than the method described, just solder the right pins to usb.

If a camera is being difficult being unlocked, you need to force-reset its key. Connect from the PV2 tool to the camera and while leaving the tool open and connected, go into your device manager and Uninstall the driver on the device. The camera should make a little chirp when you do so, and then repeat the procedure (install libUSB driver, open pv2 tool, connect, and choose "Unlock Reset" instead of unlock new. ) That worked on the 2 reds and 1 blue that were being a pain for me.

Current Music: The sound of a business model crashing and burning.

Note: an otherwise tasteful business outfit can easily be spoiled by the addition of a cowboy hat and metallic Dos Equuis tie.