I've been a Fark.com participant since 2002 as user Camaroash. Today, when a Photoshop thread about Toys for ADHD kids evolved from pictures of one-piece Lego sets and sedatives (some were great, like the jet-powered go-kart with the machine gun mounted on front) to a mature discussion about the condition, I was 24hr silenced for threadjacking/off-topic posting.
This would be understandable if it weren't for the fact that ADHD was the topic and that's what several members and I were discussing (hyperfocus mode, specifically). I figured it would be fine as I've never read every post in a FARK Photoshop thread, personally. I scroll to the pictures. I figured anyones else not wanting to read what we were talking about would do the same.
Not good enough, apparently. And with that, the thread was trimmed from 92 posts to 43. Well... fuck.
I think some random moderator felt threatened that we were talking about the low grades-high IQ/test scores anomaly. I understand that. Nobody wants to be told that existing isn't enough to make them special by any measure. Sometimes the hand you were dealt becomes an advantage after being a huge disadvantage for a very long time. Some people sing, others build stuff.
FARK is for man-bites-dog news, flamewars and being at the gym in 26 minutes, not deep discussions. My neglect of that seemingly universal fact is my greatest folly so far in my adult life. I feel fortunate that my greatest folly is not only so benign, but so reversible.
If there's one thing FARK was good for, it was variety--perfect for the ever-changing interests of ADD-folk and the like-minded individuals who became participants as a result. Talk about alienating your target audience. I won't be back.
Maybe FARKers like beehphy, posicat, karatekitten13, rynthetyn, ptelg, PhoenixInFlames, Hat Madder and vcoalition would like to form an alliance with the Plasma Lamp to find or start a board where we can discuss such things without being grounded? Maybe not? I'd rather spend my time working on the iMac G4 display to DVI monitor conversion than starting a message board, actually.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Okay I lied. I do have something going.
I can't just put my mind on pause while working on fixing my body. I have to learn something new and do something cool. So what am I doing?
I'm turning a gutted iMac G4 into a setup reminiscent of an old IBM Aptiva 2159 system. For those who are unfamiliar with such old technology, the Aptiva 2159 was unique in that it had an external console inside which the floppy disk drive and optical drive were installed. This box sat underneath the display and was on a long cable to the tower. You could have the tower stored out of sight, much more quiet because of it, and still use your drives.
I'm sure some Apple purists out there are going to be pissed, but there will be little to bitch about since the same method can be applied to shoehorning a Mac Mini inside the iMac G4. At least that's the case when the panels use TMDS as opposed to LVDS. I don't know if all iMacs are TMDS.
My iMac G4 is a 20" model with a bad logic board. Bad because the G4 CPU die has a chipped corner, but it would seem I was hasty taking it out as it has the signs of a PMU crash. Regardless, I want to put it to use and I have no use for a Mac outside of my Powerbook G4.
The display is why I want to use it. It's a S-IPS panel from IDTech and it looks awesome. I have a 20" LCD at home, but 20" in widescreen is actually a lot more useful to me than 20" in 4:3 aspect despite being less real-estate.
20.1" widescreen: 17.06" wide by 10.67" high - area: 182.03" sq
20.1" Standard 4:3: 16.08" wide by 12.06" high - area: 192"sq
The slightly larger pixels are helpful, too. But there's a lot more to it than that.
The best feature of the iMac G4, to me, is the fact that the display is on its own swing-arm. Unlike the 20" panel I have at home, which is fixed to the stand, I can easily bring it closer without interfering with my desk arrangement and I can move it out of the way when I'm not using it without picking the whole thing up and having to worry about cable flex and cable slack requirements.
With the drive cage inside the system, adding USB peripherals will be dead simple. I can have a USB optical drive and a fairly large hard disk mounted and well-cooled in the case. I need to have something in there since the bottom isn't heavy enough without it. Also, while the optical drive will need an eject button and it's hard to add one without screwing up the look of the system, there sure isn't much holding that Apple logo on the front of the system above the drive slot.
As I said, the panel in my G4 uses TMDS signalling. The TI TFP403 TMDS receiver inside the panel module is DVI-compliant to the 1.0 standard. I just need to hook it up and make sure I'm sending it the right signals to run the panel. For extra credit, I can run wires from the panel's EDID pins to give the panel plug and play capability.
But I still need a backlight and that's where it gets a bit difficult.
I don't have a datasheet for the brain of the inverter and there are three pins that haven't been completely identified. While I could buy a generic inverter and use that, I'd much rather use the stock one so that's what I'm going for. I just need to figure out what those remaining pins are for and what signals belong on them. I have the tools to do it, including an X-ray machine.
The iMac G4 will become a fixed-resolution DVI monitor with drives and who knows what else inside. The heart of the system will sit out of sight and will be many times more powerful than the iMac ever was.
This weekend, I start the sniffing of traces.
I'm turning a gutted iMac G4 into a setup reminiscent of an old IBM Aptiva 2159 system. For those who are unfamiliar with such old technology, the Aptiva 2159 was unique in that it had an external console inside which the floppy disk drive and optical drive were installed. This box sat underneath the display and was on a long cable to the tower. You could have the tower stored out of sight, much more quiet because of it, and still use your drives.
I'm sure some Apple purists out there are going to be pissed, but there will be little to bitch about since the same method can be applied to shoehorning a Mac Mini inside the iMac G4. At least that's the case when the panels use TMDS as opposed to LVDS. I don't know if all iMacs are TMDS.
My iMac G4 is a 20" model with a bad logic board. Bad because the G4 CPU die has a chipped corner, but it would seem I was hasty taking it out as it has the signs of a PMU crash. Regardless, I want to put it to use and I have no use for a Mac outside of my Powerbook G4.
The display is why I want to use it. It's a S-IPS panel from IDTech and it looks awesome. I have a 20" LCD at home, but 20" in widescreen is actually a lot more useful to me than 20" in 4:3 aspect despite being less real-estate.
20.1" widescreen: 17.06" wide by 10.67" high - area: 182.03" sq
20.1" Standard 4:3: 16.08" wide by 12.06" high - area: 192"sq
The slightly larger pixels are helpful, too. But there's a lot more to it than that.
The best feature of the iMac G4, to me, is the fact that the display is on its own swing-arm. Unlike the 20" panel I have at home, which is fixed to the stand, I can easily bring it closer without interfering with my desk arrangement and I can move it out of the way when I'm not using it without picking the whole thing up and having to worry about cable flex and cable slack requirements.
With the drive cage inside the system, adding USB peripherals will be dead simple. I can have a USB optical drive and a fairly large hard disk mounted and well-cooled in the case. I need to have something in there since the bottom isn't heavy enough without it. Also, while the optical drive will need an eject button and it's hard to add one without screwing up the look of the system, there sure isn't much holding that Apple logo on the front of the system above the drive slot.
As I said, the panel in my G4 uses TMDS signalling. The TI TFP403 TMDS receiver inside the panel module is DVI-compliant to the 1.0 standard. I just need to hook it up and make sure I'm sending it the right signals to run the panel. For extra credit, I can run wires from the panel's EDID pins to give the panel plug and play capability.
But I still need a backlight and that's where it gets a bit difficult.
I don't have a datasheet for the brain of the inverter and there are three pins that haven't been completely identified. While I could buy a generic inverter and use that, I'd much rather use the stock one so that's what I'm going for. I just need to figure out what those remaining pins are for and what signals belong on them. I have the tools to do it, including an X-ray machine.
The iMac G4 will become a fixed-resolution DVI monitor with drives and who knows what else inside. The heart of the system will sit out of sight and will be many times more powerful than the iMac ever was.
This weekend, I start the sniffing of traces.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Repair Yourself
I've been silent here for over a month. My goals changed. I'm dedicated to repairing my body and doing some important preventative maintenance in order to stave off some nasty genetic problems I may or may not be at risk for.
The most pressing of these is Diabetes. I was cautioned by my doctor that I came up Prediabetic. When you have blood work done, one of the things the people in lab coats check is your fasting blood glucose. Anything over 100 is a warning sign. I scored 101. For the record, anything over 125 means you're Diabetic. In my case, it's temporary. I'm just too fat. If I lose weight and get in shape and still fail the blood test, that's when it's set in stone.
Since it was caught early, I haven't had any damage done to my insides and can reverse it. In the process, I also make my heart stronger so I won't die at 55 like my Grandpa did (before he was brought back to life for another 20 years before dying for good from the same thing out of nowhere).
Truth is, I won't be doing much work that I can post about here for the next few months. I'm going to waive my fix debt while I'm doing this because each time I complete a workout, I live one fix longer and sharpen my mind that much more.
Plasma Fit - By The Powers of Fragwell
At this point, I've completed 164 miles on my trainer bike in two weeks. While there are a lot of cyclists who cover that in a week or even one day, they've been at this a lot longer. I will get to that point, but, for the rest of the year, I'm going to work on ruthlessly trashing and resurrecting my recumbent trainer and my 1988 Cannondale SM500.
With any luck, I'll flog them both as heavily as the Huffy Swamp Water I nuked the hell out of back in 1995. The Cannondale can take it. I'm not so sure about the trainer.
The most pressing of these is Diabetes. I was cautioned by my doctor that I came up Prediabetic. When you have blood work done, one of the things the people in lab coats check is your fasting blood glucose. Anything over 100 is a warning sign. I scored 101. For the record, anything over 125 means you're Diabetic. In my case, it's temporary. I'm just too fat. If I lose weight and get in shape and still fail the blood test, that's when it's set in stone.
Since it was caught early, I haven't had any damage done to my insides and can reverse it. In the process, I also make my heart stronger so I won't die at 55 like my Grandpa did (before he was brought back to life for another 20 years before dying for good from the same thing out of nowhere).
Truth is, I won't be doing much work that I can post about here for the next few months. I'm going to waive my fix debt while I'm doing this because each time I complete a workout, I live one fix longer and sharpen my mind that much more.
Plasma Fit - By The Powers of Fragwell
At this point, I've completed 164 miles on my trainer bike in two weeks. While there are a lot of cyclists who cover that in a week or even one day, they've been at this a lot longer. I will get to that point, but, for the rest of the year, I'm going to work on ruthlessly trashing and resurrecting my recumbent trainer and my 1988 Cannondale SM500.
With any luck, I'll flog them both as heavily as the Huffy Swamp Water I nuked the hell out of back in 1995. The Cannondale can take it. I'm not so sure about the trainer.
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