Axodys

CFFA - CompactFlash / IDE Interface for Apple II Computers

bq. This page describes a project to create a CompactFlash / IDE Interface card for Apple II computers. The card is ProDOS 8 compatible, and GS/OS compatible with an extra driver. I did the original wire-wrap prototype over the span of several months. This project is very much a case of old technology (the Apple II computer) meets new (CompactFlash cards and Altera CPLDs).

It’s always impressive to see what a computer geek with some time on their hands can come up with.

ThinkGeek sells a pretty cool looking Midas Remote Control Watch. Combine that with a Keyspan Digital Media Remote (using the JVC mode) and you can control your computer with your watch. I can’t really think of any reason I need to be able to do this, but it could be kind of fun.

Now here’s a Darwin Awards candidate if I heard about one. While the article headline is fairly innocuous the first paragraph is a bit more illuminating.

Man nearly dies after being bitten by snake

Yacolt, Wash. _ A man who was showing off for friends by kissing his new rattlesnake was bitten on the lip and nearly died.

I suppose you actually have to die to qualify for that particular award though.

Usually I don’t get too interested in the NBA until the playoffs roll around, but this year I’m a little bit more in tune with what’s going on in the Association since Gonzaga product Dan Dickau got drafted by the Hawks and the Sonics are off to a decent start as well (18 assists by GP in one game last week!).

Today I saw an article on Chicago Rookie Jay Williams that caught my eye. I’ve never been a big fan of his, especially because of his tendency to brick crucial free throws at the end of close games, an unforgivable trait if you’re a point guard and the star of your team. Then I discovered that he rang up a triple double (26 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists) on Jason Kidd when they went head to head on Saturday en route to a 100-93 Bulls win.

The article on Williams had an another item I loved: He ticked off a few teammates by taking Michael Jordan’s dressing cubicle after it had been left empty out of respect to Jordan.

Um, hello you morons, Michael Jordan is a Wizard these days and I guarantee he is not going to do you any favors because he used to play for your team and won some championships. That era is OVER. You sure as heck shouldn’t be saving his locker and Jay Williams was right to take it.

I’ve actually got wireless running on my powerbook thanks to wirelessdriver.sourceforge.net. The driver seems to work pretty well, although occasionally I get dropouts where the card seems to have lost all sign of the network. The workaround only requires powering down the card and reinserting it and the great thing is that it doesn’t require a computer restart. WiFi just starts working again when I reinsert the PC card.

I’ve actually succeeded in getting a Mac to authenticate on the new wireless network we’ve got running in the building.

I may have to try downloading something now to see what kind of throughput we can get.

The Apple Switch campaign’s first cult figure Ellen Feiss got a humorous reference in today’s Foxtrot.

I think I’d like to buy one of Apple’s newly revised 800Mhz 12.1″ “iBooks”:http://apple.com/ibook, but I’m not completely sure. My upgraded Lombard is still going strong, but it’s a little bit bigger than I would prefer and has lots of little nagging flaws:
* No built-in airport and firewire.
* No DVD.
* No CDR/W.
* No 3D hardware acceleration.
* No fully supported 2D hardware acceleration.

I really like having portability in my main computer and in some ways that outweighs my desire for any additional power a desktop PowerMac would provide. I am starting to get pretty interested in digital video manipulation and the G4 processor is pretty handy in that regard, but aside from gaming that’s probably one of the few things I would do that takes advantage of the additional processor.

I had my best NaNoWriMo writing day yet today. I broke 2000 words total for the day to bring my total up beyound 7000 words, unfortunately I’m still behind by about one thousand words. Another good day tomorrow and I should be a lot closer to being back on track.

The plot is developing fairly well so far, but should really take off within the next couple chapters. I still haven’t introduced one of the most important characters, but he should be arriving within a day or two.

Big wireless news from a Spokane start-up called Vivato! While I’m pretty excited to hear about this mind bogglingly cool wireless technology, I’m even more thrilled to see that a Spokane area company is involved. This could be huge for the local economy.

Spokesman Review: Wireless data gets wider audience

Wired: Wi-Fi That Follows You Around

New York Times: Antenna System Is Said to Expand Wireless Internet Use