That's Berlin at its best :)
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| Date: | 2012-01-12 21:49 |
| Subject: | Dear ASK.COM |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  annoyed |
Could you please... JUST DIE? And please be kind and take your f***ing search-toolbar with you.
Frankly, eight years ago you started to annoy the world by adding your toolbar to almost all popular free software packages. Sometimes with the option to not install it and sometimes not. I never heard of anyone liking your toolbar. Let alone that your search engine sucks rocks.
The latest update of FreeAV brought your toolbar along. Even when I said "no, thank" it got installed. Thank you. But I should blame Free-AV for this (in fact I wrote them a mail, complaining about this bullshit.. and I don't do such things often). It took me 20 Minutes of my free time to remove your tool. Of my unpaid free time, I'd like to mention. How about you pay me for the time I spend on it? How does it come that you manage to install your toolbar into a working firefox but that removing it needs restart of the browser, eh? Thank you, I had to bookmark all tabs and save half-written texts from formfields.
About eight years ago you started to molest the Web. By now you should've learned that no one likes you. Again, I kindly ask you to die and leave the internet alone.
Yours,
--another user of thousands who hate you with a passion.
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No. Wait. Something's wrong... where did the winter go?
This scares me. The weather station tells me that the temperature outside has risen to 10°C again. Reports say that the first flowers of spring start to sprout.
I was curious and exported charts to compare the temperature log of the 24. and 26. December 2010/2011 from the weather stations log. Last year we had 30cm of snow. This year we have flowers. Like said... scary.
( Have a look at the charts of the 24. and 26. of December 2010 and 2011 )
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On a wall next to the subway entrance was a poem written with chalk. It reads:
Take train.
Leave where You want.
Find me.
Love me.
It made me smile. All day long.
Whoever wrote it - thank you.
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It took a while, but since today it's possible to register artwork for the BerliCon Art Show.
An Info Mail is about to be send to all registered artists soon.
Check your personalised section for the registration system.
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The title says it all:
Our offical BerliCon 8 T-Shirt is out now.
Go get one in your personalized area on out website.
Done byAlectorFencer (frontside) and EosFoxx (backside).
Get 'em while they still smell of fresh paint ;)
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1) We're booked out and there's already a long waiting list. We do our best trying to everyone from it. If you like sleep with your partner in the same bed: tell us! If you're a local guest and you prefer sleeping at home: let us know!
2) 
3) If you like to ask something in regard to your registration, about a payment issue or something else that's related to BerliCon please look up the contact (mail) at our website and write mail.
Please do not IM me, write me PMs on several forums,... and start to go mad at me if your question went lost because I lost track of your 500 hundred question you wrote in 2 minutes in netspeak.
Writing me some oldschool-mail would be nice :)
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Please do us the favor and cut your passport into half and leave this country for there is not enough space for you and anyone else with a clear conscience in this nation.
It's worse enough that this idiot of Guttenberg did show up in front of a camera with a self content smile and states the he thinks this rip-off in context to his dissertation will not have any infulence on the quality of his in future. That's just bold. Even if that may be true (what it might - regarded from an objective point of view - be true), it's just not right to say such.
Even if the quality of his work stays the way it was, he still gained his position with the effort of someone else. And, whats worse, he gained a powerful position, that may influence others, with betray. So, the question is, regardless of his work, is he someone we want, looked at from an ethical point of view, to be a part of our goverment?
Anyway, what ruined my evening yesterday was Mrs. Merkel and her podcast about the current issue with Mr. Guttenberg . That (censored long, offending and nasty-word using accusing insult) of a politician dared it to defend the wrongdoing of Mr. Guttenberg AND, in the same speech, told everyone that, such like rip-offs and stealing of intellectual property is, of couuuuuurrrsee, not right.
What. The. Hell?
With that she lost the last respect of my person I may had for her. Not because her methods may be questionable but because she spat into every face of every person who ever struggled to achieved something out of ones own power, into the face of everyone who's spend lot of time and efford with such important documents like dissertations, into every face of everyone who fought hard and truthful to end up in the position he/she was dreaming of and she spat into every face of every teacher/tutor who told his/her students that such, like Mr. Guttenbergs rip-off is wrong and will end in the removal from the register of students.
Dear Mrs. Merkel, what you did was just an proof of your extraordinary qualities as a role model. If there will be a printed version if the well known Fail-Blog some day, your portrait should be on the first issues cover.
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My energy saving lamp (Osram Dulux EL 20W) on my work desk died on Sunday. It lasted for 11 years with more than a dozen switching cycle each day and it died because the tube was exhausted, not because the ballast or filament broke. It was a Osram and so I had a look at the Osram website today. While checking for new products I stumbled upon a quite interesting new series called Warm Comfort Light. I gave it a try and purchased one on my way home.
What can I say? It' nice! It doesn't take the lamp long (20 secs) to run up to full brightness and the spectrum is quite nice for a fluorescent lamp. I compared it's light against a common 100W light bulb with several (colourful) PCBs and pieces of art.
I'm quite satisfied. Maybe you like to test it on your own.
Further Reading
Warm Comfort Light Series Webpage.
Warm Comfort Light Series Information. [PDF]
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The project is on halt until I got the needed spare parts. While doing some test and running modifications I made mistake what caused the inverter to go FUBAR.
The inverter before I shielded it with copper foil
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I was looking for a Data Sheet of the Enercon FlyWheel and noticed the recent announcement on the frontpage, stating that Enercon now calls the record for the worlds most powerfull wind turbine their own. The Enercon E-126
Okay guys... who has a trailer ready at hand? I want this one. In my garden. Now. I don't need the house any longer. In fact, I can just live inside the tower. I don't mind the low frequent humming of the machine above. If anyone asks.. it's just a small and as usual overengineered project of mine.. just a small wind powered garden light...
Ten years ago the MW limit was something engineers did dream about. Today... 7,5Mw. Just wow... it made a shiver run down my spine.
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I need a Potentiometer to adjust the amplifiers input level and because I don't like to use special parts that are like not easy to re-obtain after several years, I thought a bit how I could build my own small stereo potentiometer with common parts.
Here's the solution. Doesn't need much words so I let the pictures speak.
( How to couple two PT10S potentiometers with standard parts )
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One of my external USB Discs lacks of a Disc Access LED but comes only with a green one that states "power on. I saw such on a lot of drives lately. I made sure the LED on my drive gives me information on both topics, both power-on anc drive accessing. Here's how it goes.
All USB to PATA/SATA/Whatever IO Controllers I know so far come with a open collector output to drive the access LED. Therefore, you can use the signal to enable the power LED to pulse on drive access. It's rather simple. A second resistor in series with the transistor is added along to the LED path. When the transistor becomes conducting, the second resistor acts, together with the LEDs current limiting one, as a voltage divider; taking some of the LEDs current away and therefore lowering the LEDs If.
The transistor itself is pulled high via a bias resistor, allowing it to stay conducting (and therefore dimm the LED) as long as the open collector output is inactive (no access). Vice versa, if the drive is accessed, the open collector output becomes low and grounds the Transistors bias current and the transistor stops conducting, allowing the LED to run at its full current and therefore full brightness.
( Circuit Drawing )
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Had no time to write much lately, but I spend some free minutes working on it. It passed its first real test and already managed to amazed me. Like expected from the theory, there's not the slightest white noise or hum, even with the input open and the gain at its maximum.
But I faced another troublesome stone on my way to it. There was another mistake I made. On the left channel I mounted a resistor and a small ceramic capacitor, both next to each other, with one pin of each one in the wrong hole - the on that was designed for the other component. This mistake caused the left channel to stay low on -12,7V. Took a while to get behind it.
Right now I'm struggling with a ganging problem of my selfmade dual-potentiometer. But I already have some ideas how to get rid of it.
I'm thinking about the notes I'd like to add to my project files in case I want to build a second device.
Important Features:
Speaker-on-delay and DC-Output protection circuit (switching the amp on causes no noise in the headphone, but when switching off, there's this ugly schhhhhhllll-lup-noise.)
Goodie Features:
Different SMPS IC (to get even better values in theory)
Voltage follower for the negative rail (so it's possibile to use a DC wallplug transformer between 9 and 15V because the negative rail adjusts itself to the positive one)
Use double layer PCB (to get even better values in theory)
Shield every channel in a seperate metal frame (to get even better values in theory)
Second and third LC-Lowpass for the power supply (to get even better values in theory)
More blocking caramic capacitors between 10 and 100nF (to get even better values in theory)
Output level meter with LM3414
Digital volume control with an X9C-Series IC (like X9C503)
Dunno when I have the time to photoshop all the images I took and write whole entrys from the notes I made. But, well, stay tuned!
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I don 't like Murphy. I found 2 mistakes in the PCB layout. Nothing critical but enough to annoy me since the PCB isn't perfect anymore. I thought about etching a new one but I decided against because It will not affect any function nor will it cause the PCB to look "fixed".
Today, I also ran the first inital test for the inverter circuit. Caused me some headache until I found the two mistakes I made because I didn't think all the way though what I did, it seems.
1) The voltage of the negative rail was only -1,38V istead of -15V. Also, the inverter was buzzing, what usually indicates a short circuit. After looking up all components and checking the MC34063 Data Sheet again it hit me that, since the ouput voltage is negative, the resistors for the feedback voltage divider need to be reversed. Switching them fixed the output voltage and buzzing problem.
2) The Inverter drew around 0,8A in stb. without any load. I checked the inductor first and indeed the huge amount was caused by it. With a different one the inverter drew around 0,03A, what was fine. Since the inductor was the fault I checked the core I used. It was okay. I also checked its inductivity and it turned also out to be okay. It gave me a lot of hard thoughts until I got aware of the difference between those two coils. The not working one was shielded, the working one not. To keep it short: the shield of copper foild acted like second winding with a shorts circuit. Since I used a ring core coil, I thought the magetic field lines not to leave the coure, but, of couse, the shield - with its huge surface, that close (unter 0,5mm) to the coils primary windings - acted like a second winding, short circuit. I also notice that the shild became rather warm after several seconds, what was, indeed, the loss of power caused by the magnetic induction and the exact amount of power the inverter drew in stb. (minus the transistor losses).
Removing the shield foil solved the problem and the inverter ran fine afterwards. I decided to shield the whole inverter circuit instead only the critcal parts. Will do that tomorrow.
Some results of the measured ripple:
Ripple of Vin: 17mV RMS @ 37kHz (15,05V)
Ripple of +Vout: 1,4mV RMS @ 37kHz (15,05V)
Ripple of -Vout: 1,7mV RMS @ 46kHz (14,98V)
( More photos below this cut... )
Also, you can see on the photos above, that I finished the front and rear panel. Sadly, the mill wasn't able to engrave fonts of a height of 2mm. I ended up with this slightly clumsy result, but well, it's still okay, I guess. What turned out nice are the LEDs. I wanted to have their hads even with the front panel and grided their heads down with fine grained sand paper.
Also, you can see that I glued a small heasink with epoxy to the inverter controller IC. Better to be safe then having it blow up in case of heavy loads and adverse conditions.
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I wanted a name for this project and thought a lot about it. The original idea was to name it Mozart but I found it a wee bit too pompous. Walzer did also sound nice but I ended up with Foxtrott. Yeah, I know the english equivalent for Foxtrott used only one t at its end but I give a heck about it. Because it's just a name and because it looks nicer with two t at the words end. I decided on Foxtrott because Foxtrott is a simple dance, one of the first ones people usually learn when they engage in social dances. The Amp is also kept simple (besides it technical specs), I found that it suits the project fine. And by using this name I stick the stereotype that every project done by furry folks must at least either contain the word fur (or something that sounds familar) or has to be related to the person's own species.
I spend some time with the milling machine, engraving some text into the black powder-coated chassis. Turned out well. During last weekend I also finalized the layout and etched the PCB. I hope I did not miss something important or screw some dimension up so parts won't fit. From what I can tell my now everything looks fine. For now. Murphy, stay away!
The layout changed a lot, mostly because for reason on reducing the SNR and gaining more linearity because of more accurate frequency compensation. The latest calculations were on a sheer academic level since the noise values are far below anything that's audible anymore. So, yes, it's overengineered but since I already spend a lot of time on calculations for frequency compensation (and reading through data sheets and documentations about the enhanced use of operation amplifieres) those few hours more aren't wasted. Better to do it right from the start before I end up with something that will cause me to be unhappy. And a better SNR - even in theory - is always better because in the final real version, I guess, will be more noise. Better try ro keep those noises as low a possible from the scratch on.
Another decision I made, initiated by AzurFox, was to lower the Amps output power. There are several reasons for.
It's unlikely that I will ever use the Amp for external speakers. Even if I do, the current output power is enough for listening on a normal level.
The power suppy with 18V is rather uncommon. I decided to run the amp with +/-15V, what gives a total output voltage swing about around +/-12V worst. Still enough to drive even 300R headphones properly.
The output power into 55R Heaphones will be 1,3W. The clipping LED will light up when reaching the 1W level (around 10V).
Since the Amp does not come with a short circuit protection (not necessary because the wall plug transformer will go into protection mode), I added resistors in series to the output to limit the output current in case a different and more powerful supply is used.
The output stage is able to drive 4R Speakers, but nor the internal PSU (for the -15V rail) nor the heatsink it sufficent enough to provide proper power and cooling in such case. So the lowest impedance allowed is 16R. Both pairs of resistor make sure the impedance doesn't drop to a critical level, even in case of a short circuit.
Each resistor can be jumped with a parallel one of a lower value. So its possible to drive my headphones on a save level and also to also drive other speakers by jumping both pair of resistors
And just to make sure twice, I recalculated the power stage transistor emitter resistors. With currents above 0,5A they run as a constant current sink, protecting the whole amp.
( Some more nice pictures )
You see those amounts of electrolytic capacitor? I think ~1.800µF (on each rail) for 1W should be sufficent to provide a enough and smooth power.
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I was listening to some instrumental tracks during the last few days. Some had lovely pan flute parts with barely audible moments. During those moments the background hum of my current headphone amplifier (purchased one) annoyed me pretty much.
Well, since I have quite some experience when it comes to engineering amplifieres, I decide herewith to build my own one. I think I have some high precision Burr Brown Op-Amps (if not NE5534 will also do fine) and some special stage driver Transistors flying around in some spare part boxes. But, hmm, what to build? Besides the basic specs itself I'm brooding about all those goodies it could have.
Right now I have two ideas. The first is a small one with just 500mW RMS into 55 Ohm impedance. Would work fine with my actual head phones and offers enough power to drive others. Keeping it small would allow me to use an external wall plug transformer since I have a DC/DC (12V to 2x12V stabilzed) converter flying around that will provide the dual power supply needed to run it. Sadly, it's only a 2W version so the Amp won't be able to drive speakers with 8W and around one Watt RMS.
The second is the big one that comes with it's own power supply build inside, some LEDs and maybe even a power meter. It should be able to provide at least 1W of RMS into 55 and would also be a able to deliver 5W for 4 Ohm speakers. Would be nice so I could use it as a small Amp for high quality external notebook speakers, too.
I know I want the small one. It's just enough. But my tendency to overengineer everything is about to get the better out of me. Gnarf! I will decide which one to build as soon as I know what aluminium cases I have ready at hand.
What I'm aiming for:
RMS Power: min. 500mW into 55 Ohm. Would be nice to have 5W into 4 Ohm.
Frequency coverage: 10Hz to 50kHz
Input level: 0,3V RMS for full power
THD: max. 0,02% max.
SNR: min. -94dB
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It's done - after nearly 24 hours of fighting evil Murphy:
The BerliCon 8 Registration is open!
www.berlicon.org
Hope to see you in some months again! But for now: stay safe, don't do anything stupid with fireworks and spend an awesome new years eve with your friends! :)
Yours,
~Riff..
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Sometimes, the usage of Java Script is more then questionable. Like on some pages of the Asus website.
I don't mind the use of it if its for useful functions like menues (i.e. to prevent loading pages over pages while choosing some driver) or some toggle function for hidden elements. You name it.
But this is just silly. At least the site should detect "oh, no JS - give the user an alternative page".
It's like with flash. It's available so there's no other option then using it... *rolls eyes*
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So I guess this is my version of all those "whish you a merry christmas" whishes around.
I'm not a Christmas person, at least not in the way what society makes out of it every year again - a day of consume and be-nice-to-everyone. Every year I think of it again - is it a lie or should we really use this day for something good, even more if we have no intention to do it on all those other days of the year.
We should use it. But not in a way most will think. Christmas should be about starting a journey, I think.
On Wednesday, on my way home, I saw something that touched me. It was a A5 sized yellow letter with the title "Want to see you again!" on a lamp post. It held a description of how two people met and spend some time in a Taxi and while waiting for the night line. They partet, likely never see each other again. Still, in our world of communication and multimedia we can feel lost and alone.
Now, at least of of those two wants to see the other again. This one must be quite honest about it because I saw those yellow sheets of paper all around on my way home. On several stations. Maybe they will never meet again. It will maybe cause lot of grief for at least one of them - but at least this person has dared to try to change it. This person has dared to start a journey. The journey of finding each other.
It, once more, reminded me of what we take for granted, every day again - Those people around we see and believe to know. I think we should not act false on this particular day called Christmas just because society expects us to act that way. We should start something, a journey, on a new road we can travel on all day long during the next year ahead.
Maybe there is a person you don't like because you don't understand him or her and secretly you wonder if you could become friends. Maybe there is a person you grew use to have around and sometimes you wonder what else there is to do together. Maybe there is someone you're afraid of talking to because you fear those words you could be forced to hear. Start a journey. Life is not all about fun. Like on a long journey, there are days you have to walk in the cold rain. But those experiences teach you to enjoy those days with the sun above your head even more. Contrast is what allows us to be aware of the good and of the bad and gives us the ability to differ between them.
A journey, that is what life is about, moving on, gainig new experiences, meeting new people and use this second of time we call our lives given to us in eternity and the vast space around.
So, for this Christmas I wish you good luck for your own journey you (hopefully) will decide to start.
Yours,
Riffuchs
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