Author: Maker Block

Laptop woes

I probably own about four or five laptops – all in states of serious disrepair.  I have broken down laptops like some people have cars on blocks on their lawn or tires in piles in their backyard.  Here’s what I’ve got right now, with a description of what it would take to fix it:

  • Dell Somethingorother.  Purchased used, old, heavy, running Windows 98, one bad pixel1 , terrible battery life, and about 1/2 the keys on the keyboard do not register unless you literally hurt your fingers pressing/hitting it.  With an external keyboard it’s not that bad, really.  I’ve got a PCMII WiFi card for it.
    • This laptop just isn’t for most people.  If you want to surf the web and word processing, it would be fine with an external keyboard.  That said, it’s pretty slow.
  • Dell XPS.  This is one of the few computers I’ve owned since it was brand new.  Big hard drive, DVD burner, speedy.  However, it’s running Vista (boo!!!), the battery lasts about half an hour, and the monitor is extremely dim no matter what I do.  I leave this one plugged into my Cupcake.
    • Vista is a pain, but an endurable one.  The monitor is dim enough that it is noticeable.  There’s no specific thing keeping me from using this laptop except that it is heavier than what I would like to carry around.  It’s on it’s second battery, an after market special, that holds about an hour or so of charge.
  • Everex Stepnote.  A computer I fixed twice,2 the previous owner drained the battery and let it sit for six months, threw it around, broke off both hinge covers, and scratched it all up to hell.  The DVD drive is completely shot and the battery lasts about 5 minutes.  It’s only got 1 GB of RAM, so it gets bogged down with medium tasks.  Last, but not least, the “+/=” button does not work.  At all.  The lack of those two keys makes programming a bear. 3
    • I’ve been using this laptop almost exclusively for the last year or so.  But, having the +/= button go bad means I am disincentivized to program – which is a bad thing.  I’ve taken this laptop apart, but there’s no way I can see to fix that button short of replacing the keyboard.  At $35+, the replacement keyboard costs on eBay not cost-effective.  The cost to upgrade this computer is not appetizing – $50 for 2GB RAM, $35 for a keyboard, $30 for a new battery?  That’s $115 for an underpowered laptop that is weighed down by a non-functional optical drive.
  • Dell Mini10.  Another twice fixed computer, zero battery (it holds absolutely no charge), tight keyboard, and small screen with a pretty poor resolution.
    • Nothing can be done about the screen, its resolution, or battery.  I could get a new battery, but my concern is there’s some flaw on the motherboard causing it to systematically kill the battery.  When traveling I take this laptop with me and use it to connect into my home network via a VPN.  It would be better with a battery, but with the screen as bad as it is, I’m not looking to spend much time using this computer.  This is the laptop I booted with Ubuntu and wasn’t able to connect to my WiFi network. 4

I’m somewhat undecided on what to do.  Should I get a new computer or try to get one of these running better?

  • Anything over 2-3 hours is great.  Bonus points for more.
  • Minus points for an optical drive – I have an external and don’t need the extra weight.
  • Keyboard and monitor size can be small, as long as it has good resolution.
  • Any current processor is fine, I offload all big tasks (video transcoding, etc) to brainier machines on the home VPN, but 2GB RAM is pretty key
  • Lower price is better, obv.

Anyone have any suggestions?  Either for repairing or what you’d recommend for a laptop?

  1. Stuck on red, if you must know [↩]
  2. Seriously, Tom – who the hell deletes an operating system… TWICE??? [↩]
  3. Amusing note:  in order to circumvent this problem, there is a “+=” contained on every page of this blog – in white text on the white background.  When I need either symbol, I just pull up this site, copy the character I need, paste, and rock on. [↩]
  4. I suspect there was some problem with Ubuntu not recognizing my WiFi card [↩]

All that is wrong with Intelectual Property laws

This year’s Nobel prize for physics went to Andre Geim for the development of a process for creating a sheet of graphene 1 atom thick which has useful electrical and physical properties. 1 Apparently Geim approached an electronics manufacturer about his discovery and whether his company would be willing to sponsor their patent for the next 20 years.  Here’s the guy’s direct quote:

We are looking at graphene, and it might have a future in the long term. If after ten years we find it’s really as good as it promises, we will put a hundred patent lawyers on it to write a hundred patents a day, and you will spend the rest of your life, and the gross domestic product of your little island, suing us.

That guy just epitomizes all that is wrong with intellectual property laws.  Believe it or not, most lawyers aren’t all that bad.  They’re basically tools, robots, if you will, when you think about it.  You tell them what you want and they go about trying to make it happen.  It’s not all that different than using a computer to do something for you.  You don’t care about all the zeroes and ones that change hands, you’re just happy that Facebook now reflects that you like puppies who think they’re people. 2

Someone approaches you because they think you might like their idea and you respond with:

I will sue you.  I will sue you until your life is nothing but a smoking crater.  I will personally see to it that everything you have ever loved or that has ever loved you is burned.  The very earth under each of your footsteps since birth shall be salted so that every living thing on this planet will know in their bones that you have lead a cursed life.  Your words will be twisted by soulless ghouls until even your own memory betrays you.  And, after all of that, you will look upon today and this moment as the least painful thing you have ever experienced.3

Why not just say, “Oh, no thank you.”

I mean, maybe we’re only getting half the story.  Maybe Geim just said something about this guy’s wife.    Maybe Geim said he was going to sue this guy.  Maybe Geim is a mean drunk.  But I tend to doubt it.

As much as I love open source projects, I also think intellectual property laws can be a very good thing.  If you have a great idea, why not get paid for it?  That said, I’m in favor of very short terms for copyright and patents.  Let a big company make a huge breakthrough – and let us, the guys in the garages, take it farther once the patents are up.  That certainly happened with Stratsys’s patent on FDM.

Profit and compensation are not bad things.  Intellectual property laws allow people to devote themselves to great ideas, advancing science and understanding.  They also allow people to make a living based on the quality of their ideas, rather than the quantity of their ideas.  This is to be encouraged.  But, ,making terms too long allow for crazy abuse scenarios – and incentivizes jerks who are willing to hire a hundred automatons to file a hundred patents and tie up a scientist in a nightmarish litigation hell for the rest of his life.

</rant>

  1. Thanks Slashdot [↩]
  2. What do you mean you don’t?  What kind of monster are you?!? [↩]
  3. How’s that for a scary Halloween story? [↩]

Jump in!

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this post about a guy who is making $600/month now after spending just one day on market research, development, and product launching.

I think this guy’s success is epitomizes Guy Kawasaki’s advice – jump in.  You can agonize over a business idea, sketch new logos or designs, talk about your ideas at parties or with friends, but you will never know unless you do some market research and then, if the research is good, actually try.  Yeah, it’s going to be tough and a lot of work – and incredibly rewarding. 1  If it were easy then everyone would do it.

If you have a crazy idea that just might work, I would encourage you – do a little research and then jump in.  It may not work out, but it definitely won’t if you don’t try.  If you need a little inspiration, definitely read Guy Kawasaki’s Reality Check and Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week for some really great nuts-and-bolts plans on how to go from a small idea to a small business in no time flat.

  1. As Dennis Leary would say, get a helmet. [↩]

Trying to go Open Source

Don’t throw anything at me, but I’m not a fan of Mac products.  I don’t own an iPad, iPod, or iPhone and have never used iTunes.  Windows XP has it’s flaws, don’t get me wrong, but it basically just works and I can use most products with it as I choose.  Other than my operating system, I only use free/open source software.

I booted my laptop with an Ubuntu flash drive the other day, determined to give it a shot.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to recognize any WiFi networks and gave up.  I can’t do a whole lot with a computer if I can’t connect it to the ‘net wirelessly.

Thus endeth my attempts with Ubuntu for now.  :)

Go, UPS! Fly like the wind!

I’ve been SOOO anxious to use my Cupcake again.  The withdrawal symptoms have been insane.  And the cool stuff on Thingiverse keeps rolling in.  I swear, ever since I melted one of their servers, their service has been suuuuuhhhhhh-lloooooowwww.1

My new extruder board is set to arrive today…  I can’t wait!  I’ll have to find an excuse to leave work early…

  1. I don’t know how to design a printable server, so my promised replacement will have to wait… [↩]

Moore’s Law of Blogging

“MakerBlock will double his nonsense output and become more incomprehensible every six months.”

Thanks Erik!

Edit: For those of you who don’t want to click through, Erik de Bruijn’s tweet was:

The amount of #RepRap news also appears to double every 6 months. It’s becoming hard to follow even a good portion of it, @makerblock! ;)

Hey, Erik – if you think it’s hard following even a good portion of RepRap news, try following the bad portion of it here!

Wakka wakka wakka! 1  I’ll be here all week – try the veal!

  1. For some reason I’ve been channeling Fozzie Bear… [↩]

It will be mine. Oh yes, it WILL be mine…

Want
Want

MakerBot just announced their brand spanking new 3D printer – the Thing-O-Matic!  As far as I can tell, the highlights are as follows:

  • Automated Build Platform – version 2.0???  Guys, I just built my version 1.0 a few DAYS ago!  Did you design a time machine to let you import new developments from the future?
  • MK5 Plastruder – I’ve got a MK5 and I’m very very happy with it.
  • Internal electronics like Charles Pax’ Muffin CNC.  The wires sticking out all over on my ‘bot make it look extra DIY.  Having all the electronics and wires inside certainly make the Thing-O-Matic appear more like a real honest-to-goodness appliance.
  • Generation 4 electronics.  I don’t know what in all this means – except that I can plug a standard USB cable into it rather than the funky cable I currently have and it will allow for some kind of automated printing.  The Cupcake requires a fair amount of attention when you’re setting it to build something – getting the print head to the exact right height is something you just get used to.  For all I know, there are other improvements with the Gen 4 boards – but I’m waiting to hear just like you guys.  :)
  • Higher resolution.  I can’t wait for more details!!!  From the announcement post, it appears that Z axis will move much faster – fast enough that the blobs that can occur between layers could be a thing of the past.  These have never been a huge problem and I’ve gotten used to a little post-production finishing on my parts – but it would be great to not have to do nearly as much.

I’m wondering how the Thing-o-matic homes in on the correct start position?  Does it do this with opto-endstops?

What do you want to know about the Thing-o-matic?

Unbelievable deal on Cupcake CNC’s

Apparently MakerBot is getting ready to launch a new 3D printer and is putting their Cupcake CNC’s on sale.  I’ve had an absolute blast with my MakerBot over the last nine months.  I bought the Deluxe Kit for $950.  With shipping and taxes it came to just over $1,000.  I haven’t confirmed it with MakerBot, but it looks like their new Cupcake Starter kit is the same thing as their Deluxe kit except it doesn’t have the extra 5 pounds of plastic.  Sure, this kit doesn’t have the MK5 plastruder, heated build platform, or automated build platform – which means it’s basically identical to Cupcake kits sold a year ago.  Oh, and the Starter kit is only $650.

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to buy a 3D printer anyhow, this is your chance.  I don’t know what the new printer is, but $650 is a crazy deal for a kit with everything you need.1

  1. Yes, I now write for the MakerBot blog, but all I really do is post what I would have written here anyhow over on their blog.  I don’t get kickbacks or anything for saying how awesome I think this deal is. [↩]