AKSchaefer – Life in Motion

  • Super simple, but effective antenna

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  • Squeaky clean truck

    Been a while since I posted, retro-actively adding some post.

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  • Retro Pi’s (Raspberry Pi B, Raspberry Pi 2, USB Hub, USB Hard Drive)

    I received a raspberry pi 2 for valentines day, so I set off on a new project. I found a Bentley Compu-vision at good will. Used this as the case for my original raspberry pi, usb hub, usb hard drive, and new raspberry pi 2.

  • FlatPi v2

    Just wanted to provide an update from my previous post (https://akschaefer.com/2013/08/11/flatpi/ ). I did a new layout which allows me to easily access the Power, Ethernet, and HDMI without any issues. The previous layout I had to get my hand in the middle to unplug the device. I also added a USB hard drive, the connector I used is from an xbox 360 transfer kit, I just removed the plastic cover.

  • DIY Steam Machine aka Blackbox

    Alright, so while I love the title steam machine, its not a steam machine from valve, its more like a Windows machine that runs Steam Big Picture.

    Lets start off with the parts list

    PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2lc0n

    CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor  $129.99
    Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard $49.99
    Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory $52.99
    Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5″ Solid State Disk $79.99
    Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $39.99
    Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card $199.99
    Case: Lian-Li PC-V351B MicroATX Desktop Case $89.99
    Power Supply: Antec TruePower Classic 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  $49.99
    Total: $692.92 (post rebate prices)

     

    All the parts

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    Side view did my best to organize the cables

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    Ah video card!

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    Hard to see, but I had to cut part of the case so the video card heat pipes could fit.

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    Motherboard came this way, the northbridge heatsink was not latched down, I found the clip and spring, and attached it. No problems so far.

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    Final product

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    3d Mark Benchmark

    http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/1893385

     

     

     

  • FlatPi

    I have been working on my raspberry pi for a little while now, but finally completed the case for the project. I was originally going to use a pico-itx case I acquired, but with the layout of the raspberry pi board, it just didn’t work out. When I was looking online, I noticed some of the DIY plexiglass projects that I really liked. Due to the layout of my entertainment center and that is when I decided I was going to make my “FlatPi” project. One of the other things that bothered me with some of the cases I have seen is you are almost always required to use a USB Hub, so people create beautiful cases for just the pi, but then have a wiring nightmare when they add their hub. My goal was to make it all in one.

    Required Parts

    • Raspberry Pi
    • Pluggable Technologies USB Hub
    • 8×10 Plexiglass / Lexan .093 (2 pieces)
    • USB Cables (Monoprice is your friend)
    • Screws ( I used 1 1/4″ screws)
    • Spaces between boards ( I found some at the local hardware store)

     

    First time mounting the boards to the lexan.

    Working on the case

    Got the Pi and USB Hub mounted.

    The screws I used were from PC builds. I drilled small holes that would allow me to use the screws and make new thread in the plexi glass. Its not shock proof, but it holds the Pi and Hub in place.

    I had to make some countersunk holes where I mounted the hub due to the solder leads. I was having problems getting the hub to sit parallel with the plexi glass, once I drilled those holes I was able to get it to sit parallel.

    Took a few pictures to show the layout I chose for the boards. Back side the FlatPi.

    Bottom side of the FlatPi.

    Front side of the FlatPi.

    I listed USB cables above, I did buy 1.5ft cables to reduce the cable management. Plus you can’t go wrong with monoprice when cables are less then a dollar.

    The top cable is the power core (USB to USB Micro)

    The bottom cable is the hub connector, the hub did come with a cable, but it was 6ft long, so the 1.5ft cable worked out well.

    The middle cable is the USB Hub power connector

    Backside of the Flatpi.

     

    Wanted to show how much light the Pi/Hub produced.

    This is the side that sit against the wall, but here is the lights.

    Same picture just with the flash on.

    Due to limited space, I wanted this to mount vertically, here is where I am going to install it in my entertainment center.

     

  • Vegas!

    I had the opportunity to attend Black Hat 2013, so while in Vegas, I took a few pictures, thought I would share.

    First picture, always the most important, registration area of Caesars Palace.

    Harley Davidson Cafe, BBQ wasn’t that good.
    Pool at Caesars Palace
    Customized Room keys, awesome!
    Biggest chain link flag I have ever seen!
    I found Alan from the Hangover!
    Eiffel tower, Vegas style
    Creep clown sign at Circus Circus
    Wedding Chapel from the movie Hangover.
    Gold and Silver Pawn aka Pawn stars
    A store for just M&Ms, are you kidding me?
    My only food picture… Fat Burger!

  • Nice Glass

    Kayla dropped her phone a few weeks back, and decided to take the leap on replacing the glass.

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    On the left, tools to remove the old glass, in the middle is the patient, and on the right is the glass transplant.

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    Taking the hair dryer, heated up the glue which allowed you to pry up the glass.

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    Here I got a really good photo of when the glue is separating between the glass and the digitizer.

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    I should have taken a picture of the phone naked,  I mean without the glass, however I forgot. Anyway, I just slapped the new glass on there with no glue, the previous glue is suppose to be enough to hold on the new glass.

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    Proof it works, in the middle of a transition.

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  • My Google Reader replacement

    So recently google announced it was going to shutdown Google Reader. I am sad to see this go as its in the top 5 Google services I use. After much frustration with corporate America (Google in this case), and not have any power as a consumer over this, I decided to skip using the other commercial RSS replacements, and I turned to the open source community. After reading all the tech websites with suggested RSS reader replacements, I found out about tiny tiny RSS. I installed the web application on my linux webhost and used my domain, and imported my google reader subscription.xml file that contained all my feeds. It was fairly easy to setup (about the same work as setting up a wordpress blog from scratch), will work as long as I provide the hosting, and has a large community. One item I did have to do was find a couple of plugins to enhance the user experience. The two plugins I installed were Next-Prev toolbar and videoframes, which allows embedded videos (such as youtube) to be displayed. There is some configruation options that allow you to configure when it should update the RSS feed, the only complaint I had was you need the ability to run server side commands to make it automatic, however if you leave the webpage open in a browser, it will update when open. I might create a script to run from my home computer to open the website every 10 minutes so when I browse from my mobile device, it contains the latest data. One last thing I needed was a mobile app which is available on the google play store for $1.99. The mobile app is worth the price.

    If you are looking for a Google Reader replacement, I highly recommend checking out the tiny tiny RSS website and setting up the service for yourself.

  • First bottling experience – finished with a bang

    I just bottled my first 5 gallon beer YEAH. I have done several Mr. Beers in the past, but those were all using plastic bottles.

    Thinking it wouldn’t take more then an hour and a half, I started getting all my bottling supplies prepared. I got 54 bottles ready, sanitized them using star-sans, boiled my 5oz of sugar, transferred my Irish red from the carboy to the bottling bucket (sanitized). I started bottling, spilled a little here and there, but I thought overall pretty good.

    I ended up with 51 bottles, which I thought was awesome for my first batch.

    Took the first 36 bottles down stairs to my unfinished basement (had boxes from previous 12 packs). Then I was going to take the last of the bottles down stairs. I had 12 bottles which were in two 6 packs (in a plastic bag) in one hand, and in the other hand a 6 pack (3 full/3 empty). I made it about 1 step and the bottom of the 6 pack gave away. All six bottles went down the stairs, 2 of the full ones broke, and I think 1 of the empty ones broke. Beer and glass all over, good thing the basement is unfinished, but still made a huge mess and this is at about 10:15 at night, and I was ready to go to bed. Over an hour later, I am finished cleaning up the mess.

    I was too frustrated to take any pictures of the mess!

    The bad, I lost two bottles of beer.
    The good, I still have 49 bottles of beer.

    I put them all in totes just in case of bottle bombs, taking no chances with this.
    Just wanted to share my first bottling experience.
    The end