Category Archives: DIY

3D Printing KC Talk

Posted on 2015-01-22 by pappp

I gave a quick primer on 3D printing as a Keeping Current (CS departmental) seminar yesterday. It’s not a great standalone deck but posted (in reduced quality, gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=/path/to/output.pdf /path/to/input.pdf is good magic). It … Continue reading →

Posted in Computers, DIY, Electronics, General, Objects, School | Leave a comment

Lab Fridge Repair: Thinking with 3D Printing

Posted on 2014-06-23 by pappp

I’m posting this because it’s such a nice example for the standard “What are 3D printers really good for?” question. When I got to the lab today, I was told the can chute in our mini-fridge was broken. Inspection showed … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, General, Objects, School | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

T510 Touchpad Resurfacing

Posted on 2014-06-03 by pappp

I found a forum.thinkpads thread while looking into another touchpad issue recently, and learned two important facts: The bumpy touchpad texture I never loved that had worn off my T510 is just a sticker. Those stickers are replaceable.

Posted in Computers, DIY, General, Objects | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Singer no.42 Swingarm Repair

Posted on 2014-05-25 by pappp

I’ve posted before on the slow restoration of my old 201-2 and its cabinet, last time I noted that my cabinet’s swing-arm wouldn’t auto-deploy, which prompted some discussions with other folks about the mechanism. One of those other pieces of … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, General, Objects | 11 Comments

Inspiron 11-3000 Hinge Screw Defect

Posted on 2014-04-17 by pappp

The Inspiron 11-3000 I’ve been carrying around developed a rattle the other day, and today I decided to open it up.

Posted in Computers, DIY, General, Objects | Tagged , | Leave a comment

New Data Integrity Tools

Posted on 2014-04-04 by pappp

I’ve recently added a couple tools to my standard set, and have at least a 4x improvement in the safety of my data by doing so. The process was complicated a bit because I’ve become very sensitive about only depending … Continue reading →

Posted in Announcements, Computers, DIY, General, Objects | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Quick Laptop Sleeve

Posted on 2014-03-26 by pappp

I noticed I was scuffing up the not-my-laptop that I’ve been carrying, so I did a little “30 minute” sewing project (that actually took over an hour because I’m apparently retarded) after I burnt out on other things for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Computers, DIY, General, Objects | Tagged , | 2 Comments

WNR3500L Repair

Posted on 2014-02-11 by pappp

Some years ago the KAOS lab bought a number of Netgear WNR3500L routers to use as network glue. A pair of them have been in constant service since 2011 in the lab and machine room, and both of those died … Continue reading →

Posted in Computers, DIY, Electronics, General, Objects, School | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Singer no. 42 Cabinet Swing-Arm

Posted on 2013-12-22 by pappp

One of my previous posts about my Singer attracted an email conversation with another owner about the swing-arm mechanism on the no. 42 cabinet. Unfortunately, the end-of-semester insanity struck before the matter was settled, and I am still unsatisfied with … Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, General, Objects | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

chdk-ptp PKGBUILD

Posted on 2013-11-10 by pappp

In another episode of fixing things for the Cameras as Computing Systems class I’m taking, I made a PKGBUILD that apparently correctly builds and installs chdk-ptp on Archlinux systems. Chdk-ptp is a tethered-control application for Canon cameras running CHDK, that … Continue reading →

Posted in Computers, DIY, Electronics, General, Objects, School | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment