W1XBS

My Dell Vostro 1500 laptop had been suffering the dreaded BSOD, a different one, every time, sometimes it would lock, sometimes it would not POST, sometimes it would not complete POST, and finally it ate a Windows system file, probably a inopportune shutdown, and I had to call Dell.

Dell wanted me to reseat both memory modules… both?  Lol wut, wait, there is only one!  Not so exclaimed the man at Dell, there is one under the keyboard.  So no wonder no amount of reseating the memory module on the underside helped.  That was the “expansion” memory.  The main, out of the box, system memory is hidden from the average user.

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A very busy autumn is beginning to shape up for me.  This is usually trade show and conference season, so I’ll be busy busy busy.

First and foremost, I have taken a freelance gig with a Cape Cod radio station, Dunes 102 in Truro.  This is going to be fun and interesting, great bunch of people and I’m excited and looking forward to working with them, even if the commute is going to be a bitch.

First up, Maker’s Fair Rhode Island, August 28, then I’ll probably head over to Dunes and do some work.

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Next is the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston, September 20-23

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Then the Open Hardware Summit in NYC, September 23.

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Maker’s Faire NYC, September 25 & 26.

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Connecticut Broadcaster’s Association Annual Meeting, October 14

I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff, but this will keep me busy and out of trouble for awhile!

A potential client has a non-ideal streaming solution and I wanted to prove to him that his listener count is routinely tickling his maximum 20 listeners.  Through my work with Jon Irvin and the Metacast Server idea I dropped in his lap a few months ago, I think I can do alot better for them, lower cost, more reliability, and no failed connections when the listener count gets to 20.  We do this for $12.50 USD.

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I’ve finally got a handle on the flot graphics library so I’ve made some new graphs for the Observed Weather Page.  First up showing a clear relationship between temperature, dewpoint and relative humidity.

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That’s it, short blog entry tonight.

As part of the home monitoring system, I want to observe and even control, certain aspects of the window air conditioners here in the house.   I hope to graph fan speed (high, medium and low, not actual CFM), compressor cycle times, and overall efficiency (inlet vs outlet temp).  I began the teardown of the seldom used upstairs A/C unit tonight.

First, I popped off the front plastic, but of course, I could not figure out how to get into the control panel.

Popping off the case of the unit revealed two screws that allows access to the control board and the motor start/run capacitor and other electronics.  Now I can get to work in earnest.

LG had thoughtfully provided a wiring diagram, this appears it’s going to be easier than I thought.  Everything is controlled by relays, and the logic board has to run off of DC, so I should be able to find all the signals I need.

The other, non-LG air conditioners, however will be another matter.  I plan to construct a controller not entirely unlike the LG controller to deal with the “analog” thermostats and fanspeed selection.

And, so it begins…

I have added local observed weather graphics to the Home Monitor webpage / project.  Very simply, it periodically checks the Weather Underground XML feed for a new weather observation, scrapes out the info I’m interested in, and puts it into my mySQL database.

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I just took this snapshot of the office light level graph, and several interesting facts were discovered.

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