Here’s a cool set of DIY colo-changing LED coasters.  Basically, it runs on solar power, LEDs light up in red for hot drinks and blue for cold drinks.

Looks pretty simple to make, maybe a good idea for your next circuits projects.

Smart Coasters are cast-plastic coasters for your drink that light up red when you put a hot drink on top and light up blue with a cold drink. The design is fully analog– no microcontrollers and no programming– and they incorporate a solar cell so that the whole thing is hermetically sealed: waterproof and washable. Complete step-by-step DIY instructions are included for both the electronics and the resin casting.

via evilmadscientist, hungryscientist

Remember I did a quick post on how to write a load-balancing script (or bandwidth throttling)?

Well, today I found another cool script for limiting bandwidth.  I believe this one if more complicated but if you need it, it might be greatly helpful.

Here’s the code via Adamsinfo.com:


# Set some variables
#!/bin/bash
EXT_IFACE=”eth0″
INT_IFACE=”eth1″
TC=”tc”
UNITS=”kbit”
LINE=”10000″ #maximum ext link speed
LIMIT=”5000″ #maximum that we’ll allow

Continue reading ‘Linux Server Hack - How to Limit Bandwidth with Linux, TC, and iproute2!’

I remember first hearing about Linus Travolds back in the early 90s and I thought Linux was going to be a hit in year 2000.

Well, it turns out I was right, just about 10 years early.  You have to admit, Linux is really taking over the world right now with web servers (including this one) and Eee PCs and other laptops that come loaded with Linux.

Anyways, I don’t want to bore my readers, here’s the 15 Great Quotes from the Linus Travolds and Stallman:

1. “To be able to choose between proprietary software packages is to be able to choose your master. Freedom means not having a master. And in the area of computing, freedom means not using proprietary software.”
-Richard M. Stallman

2. “Software is like sex: it’s better when it’s free.”
-Linus Torvalds

3. “Value your freedom or you will lose it, teaches history. ‘Don’t bother us with politics’, respond those who don’t want to learn.”
-Richard M. Stallman

4. “Software patents are a huge potential threat to the ability of people to work together on open source. Making it easier for companies and communities that have patents to make those patents available in a common pool for people to use is one way to try to help developers deal with the threat.”
-Linus Torvalds

5. “If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they restrict the use of these programs.”
-Richard M. Stallman

6. “One of the questions I’ve always hated answering is how do people make money in open source. And I think that Caldera and Red Hat — and there are a number of other Linux companies going public — basically show that yes, you can actually make money in the open-source area.”
-Linus Torvalds

7. “Control over the use of one’s ideas really constitutes control over other people’s lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more difficult.”
-Richard M. Stallman

8. “It just makes it even harder for people to even approach the (open source) side, when they then end up having to worry about … public humiliation.”
-Linus Torvalds

9. “I founded the free software movement, a movement for freedom to cooperate. Open source was a reaction against our idealism. We are still here and the open-source people have not wiped us out.”
-Richard M. Stallman

10. “When it comes to software, I much prefer free software, because I have very seldom seen a program that has worked well enough for my needs, and having sources available can be a life-saver.”
-Linus Torvalds

11. “If you focus your mind on the freedom and community that you can build by staying firm, you will find the strength to do it.”
-Richard M. Stallman

12. “Anybody who tells me I can’t use a program because it’s not open source, go suck on rms. I’m not interested. 99% of that I run tends to be open source, but that’s _my_ choice, dammit.”
-Linus Torvalds

13. “’Free software’ is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of ‘free’ as in ‘free speech,’ not as in ‘free beer’.”
-Richard M. Stallman

14. “I’m doing a free operating system just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu for 386 (486) AT clones.”
-Linus Torvalds

15. “Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software free, just like air.”
-Richard M. Stallman

via junauza

While this might not seem like big news, gamers will love the fact that Dell’s new laptop will feature a Quad-core Processor with 16GB of memory.

This new Dell Precision laptop will be available later this fall, keep saving up that piggy bank money until then gamers.

We heard you. Welcome to our slick new concept for the ultimate Dell Precision mobile workstation, destined to be one of the first of its kind and the envy of all those who thought they had a powerful and cool notebook.

Fully configurable, streamlined and gorgeous. Just think of the options:

Dual-core? No, YOU WANT quad-core processing power. 8GB memory limitation? Forget that, YOU WANT more. Storage. A few hundred Gig? YOU WANT a Terabyte and RAID. 17″ screen? Yes, but YOU WANT 100% Adobe color gamut RGBLED. 512MB of dedicated graphics memory? No, YOU WANT more.

via engadget, dell

(Image of DVI Output on the back of your PC)

This weekend, I had the pleasure of hooking up my friend’s new 52″ Samsung LCD HDTV to his new gaming PC.

If you are like most people, you probably already know how to connect your PC to HDTV via an S-Video Cable.

Now, S-Video is perfectly fine for viewing your PC/laptop on your TV but it won’t give you “HD” resolution of 1080p, 1080i, or 720p.

Most S-Video outputs are only capable of producing upto about 1024×768 pixel resolution and that’s analog signals, meaning your signal will get somewhat affected by noise and not the best way to surf the web on your HDTV.

Now let’s say your TV is capable of HD AND you have DVI Outputs on the back of your PC as shown in the image above.

Then, provided you have a Video graphics card capable of 1080p (which means it can pretty much do 1920×1080 pixels on your HDTV), you will be able to get a perfectly crisp 1920×1080 pixels on your HDTV.

Now, to do this, you need a cable depending on how far your PC is from the HDTV.

The simplest way is to get a HDMI-M to DVI-M cable to connect the DVI side to the PC and HDMI to your HDTV.   Here’s a site I found that has really low prices on it. ($32 for 50 feet, I found a 5 foot cable at BestBuy for $60, don’t go there)

(HDMI-M to DVI-M cable)

Once you are connected, you should be able to surf the web pretty easily on your HDTV depending on how far you sit from it.

Here’s a re-cap of what I just told you in simpler terms:

• S-Video - 1024×768 Maximum resolution, Analog signals (suck)
• DVI (PC) to HDMI (HDTV) - 1920×1080 Maximum resolution, Digital signals (clean)

Required Hardware:

• DVI-capable Graphic Card
• HD-capable TV (HDTV)
• DVI(male) to HDMI(male) cable

Most people who have bought PC in the last couple years will probably have all the required hardware except the DVI to HDMI cable.   If that’s the case, I highly suggest you to buy one online.  Don’t buy retail, you will pay 3-5 times more for it.

There you have it, now you  know how to take full advantage of your HDTV and watch YouTube and other online videos crisp and clear.  Perhaps you are a genius already at this but for those of you who don’t know, I hope this helps you surf on your HDTV. (and take advantage over the crisp, clear 1920×1080 pixel screen)

Wine, a Linux application that lets you run Windows programs, has now released version 1.1.5: (Go knock yourself out now, drink too much wine!)

The Wine development release 1.1.5 is now available.

What's new in this release (see below for details):
  - Substantial JavaScript implementation.
  - Partial support for layered windows.
  - Support for Unicode file export in Regedit.
  - Proper exception handling in widl-generated code.
  - Asynchronous requests and cookies support in WinHTTP.
  - Various bug fixes.

The source is available from the following locations:

  http://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/system/emulators/wine/wine-1.1.5.tar.bz2
  http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wine/wine-1.1.5.tar.bz2

Binary packages for various distributions will be available from:

  http://www.winehq.org/site/download

You will find documentation on http://www.winehq.org/site/documentation

You can also get the current source directly from the git
repository. Check http://www.winehq.org/site/git for details.

Wine is available thanks to the work of many people. See the file
AUTHORS in the distribution for the complete list.

Intel Atom 1.6Ghz Dual-core Processor is officially available now.  Intel has seem to set a priority for mini-notebooks and netbooks, which is what this processor will do best at.

Intel has officially begun shipping a 45nm dual-core Intel® Atom™ Processor known as the Intel Atom Processor 330. The newest member of the Atom family is designed specifically for nettops, which are affordable desktops purpose-built primarily for web surfing, email, and basic Internet usage. The dual-core Intel® Atom™ Processor 330 features a 1.6GHz processing core, 1MB of level 2 cache, an 8W TDP and support for DDR2 667. The new processor is available as an integrated package and has been validated with the Intel® 945GC Express Chipset, featuring built-in Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and Intel® High Definition Audio.

via engadget, Press Release

Here’s some guy who’s holding “I’m a PC” I guess.

It’s a good thing I don’t like Microsoft’s Vista marketing nor Apple’s deceptive adveristing otherwise, I’d be either Apple-butt-kisser or Windows-whore.

I have actually decided that neither Microsoft and Apple is my kind of company, my next computer will definitely have Ubuntu for sure.

I am sorry to say to all you Windows-lovers and Apple-lovers but the truth has to be told and big companies are really just taking you for a “ride”.

Of course, there are good points too and don’t get me wrong, I just want to be unbiased as much as possible so I can make fun of them and hopefully that will make them a better company in the long run.

Who knows, maybe Vista will turn out to be a good operating system (in 10 years) and iPhone 4G will be on Sprint’s new mobile WiMAX network.

photo via gizmodo

In case you have bought an ASUS Eee PC with Windows, there’s a special version of Ubuntu, customized just for the Eee PC models.

This allows you to install the Ubuntu on Eee PCs without too much headache as it has already been configured for the factory hardware.

Ubuntu Eee is not only Ubuntu optimized for the Asus Eee PC. It’s an operating system, using the Netbook Remix interface, which favors the best software available instead of open source alternatives (ie. Skype instead of Ekiga). Sounds great! How can I help out? Please consider contributing with knowledge or money. And while you’re at it, please become a fan on Facebook and add yourself to the map of users

Here’s some resources for Ubuntu Eee for all you Eee PC lovers:

Ubuntu Eee Official Site

How install Ubuntu Eee