Monday, March 28, 2005
Dust is very bad.
I just cleaned out the Athlon again (increased the multiplier to 13x, so now it's running at 1.3Ghz). I decided that the heatsink/fan could use another cleaning. Before the cleaning, it was running at a moderate 49C at full load. Now, after the cleaning it is running at a much cooler 38C full load. What a difference cleanliness makes.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
More mini pics
Here you go, more pics of the unpacking of the mini. Photos courtesy of Adam Meadows.
Another picture of the box right before the opening event.
The box of the mini itself is incased in a foam shell. That's right, the box is even protected. But with boxes as pretty as Apple's who could blame them?
Very well protected.
The mini box in all it's glory. The box is TINY.
The back of the box.
The inside of the mini box looks very similar to the ipod box. Notice that with apple gear, nothing is an after-thought, all parts have their own indentation in the foam.
Removed the manual (yes that tiny square was the manual.
The mini itself.
The cables and whatnot are stored underneath.
Top view of the mini.
The mini all set-up. For size comparison, Adam's mini is next to ... his new mini. The white base is a styrofoam piece is from the packaging of the mini.
A view of his setup.
Shortly after setting everything up, Adam installed the 1GB ram stick. It was ... an involved process at the very least. Not a procedure he would like to do again.
The top casing for the mini.
That concludes our adventures into box-opening land.
Another picture of the box right before the opening event.
The box of the mini itself is incased in a foam shell. That's right, the box is even protected. But with boxes as pretty as Apple's who could blame them?
Very well protected.
The mini box in all it's glory. The box is TINY.
The back of the box.
The inside of the mini box looks very similar to the ipod box. Notice that with apple gear, nothing is an after-thought, all parts have their own indentation in the foam.
Removed the manual (yes that tiny square was the manual.
The mini itself.
The cables and whatnot are stored underneath.
Top view of the mini.
The mini all set-up. For size comparison, Adam's mini is next to ... his new mini. The white base is a styrofoam piece is from the packaging of the mini.
A view of his setup.
Shortly after setting everything up, Adam installed the 1GB ram stick. It was ... an involved process at the very least. Not a procedure he would like to do again.
The top casing for the mini.
That concludes our adventures into box-opening land.
Monday, March 14, 2005
iPod Scare
The prospect of turning a $399 iPod into a very stylish $399 paperweight can be difficult to get through. Last night I remembered that a new software update was available for my iPod (a 3G 15gb model) that would enable some features that were release for the 4G and later models. This update was straight from Apple. I downloaded it here. After the update, the software informed that the iPod would reset. I was multitasking at the time, so I actually didn't notice that something had happened for a while.
After I remembered I tried to get the iPod to respond. The screen was completely blank and no responce from pressing any of the buttons. I listened very carefully and whenever I pressed a button I heard a small screeching sound, which I assume is the HD spinning up. This indicated that atleast the buttons were still sensing input. I held down menu+play to do a soft reset. After about 30 seconds the iPod rebooted. After that I asked me to plug it into my computer and it finished the update.
Just a warning to my fellow iPod people. Be careful with the 2005-02-22 iPod update. BTW, the update adds the "shuffle songs" item to the main menu, and changes the charging icon.
After I remembered I tried to get the iPod to respond. The screen was completely blank and no responce from pressing any of the buttons. I listened very carefully and whenever I pressed a button I heard a small screeching sound, which I assume is the HD spinning up. This indicated that atleast the buttons were still sensing input. I held down menu+play to do a soft reset. After about 30 seconds the iPod rebooted. After that I asked me to plug it into my computer and it finished the update.
Just a warning to my fellow iPod people. Be careful with the 2005-02-22 iPod update. BTW, the update adds the "shuffle songs" item to the main menu, and changes the charging icon.
Friday, March 11, 2005
Cleaning a Logitech Wireless Keyboard
I decided that since it was finals week, and I REALLY need to study, today would be the completely wrong time to clean my keyboard. Naturally this made it irresistable. This process was much more complicated than cleaning my Microsoft Keyboard.
Removing the first set of screws was a straight forward process. This enabled the removal of the top layer of the keyboard (remove the batteries first of course). The second set of screws attached the main assembly to the bottom casing, with these off the assembly came away.
I chose to size the photgraphs at 640x480 in order to clearly see the condition the keyboard was in. The silver media buttons and main assembly are attached to a circuit board by VERY thing plastic connectors. Another set of screws were removed to free the circuit board from the bottom housing. At this point the keys can be pried off.
I regret not taking pictures of the main assembly "sandwich", but another few screws had to be removed to extract the dirtiest part (the plate that the keys attach to). Here are a few of the dirtier parts.
The flash on the camera hides exactly how dirty it is. After a few trial and error shots, I found a way to take some non-flashed photos. These photos shot just how bad the keyboard has become in it's 3 year lifetime.
Because the keyboard is black, any non-black dust or dirt shows up exceptionally well.
Here is a picture of the various parts, before I was able to put it back together.
Fortunately, after putting everything back together, it all worked. Enjoy.
Removing the first set of screws was a straight forward process. This enabled the removal of the top layer of the keyboard (remove the batteries first of course). The second set of screws attached the main assembly to the bottom casing, with these off the assembly came away.
I chose to size the photgraphs at 640x480 in order to clearly see the condition the keyboard was in. The silver media buttons and main assembly are attached to a circuit board by VERY thing plastic connectors. Another set of screws were removed to free the circuit board from the bottom housing. At this point the keys can be pried off.
I regret not taking pictures of the main assembly "sandwich", but another few screws had to be removed to extract the dirtiest part (the plate that the keys attach to). Here are a few of the dirtier parts.
The flash on the camera hides exactly how dirty it is. After a few trial and error shots, I found a way to take some non-flashed photos. These photos shot just how bad the keyboard has become in it's 3 year lifetime.
Because the keyboard is black, any non-black dust or dirt shows up exceptionally well.
Here is a picture of the various parts, before I was able to put it back together.
Fortunately, after putting everything back together, it all worked. Enjoy.
Mac mini is here....
My roommate's mac mini and 1GB ram stick arrived to day. Unfortunately he wasn't here. I did take pictures of the box to send to him. He should be here tomorrow, and the opening of the box (and the mini) can be documented.
Quite a large box, especially considering how big the mini box (inside) will be.
I felt that pictures of the RAM package would be uninteresting, considering it was just a UPS bag. Stay tuned for further development.
Quite a large box, especially considering how big the mini box (inside) will be.
I felt that pictures of the RAM package would be uninteresting, considering it was just a UPS bag. Stay tuned for further development.
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