• Dead AirPort Express

    My second AirPort Express died.  But, a quick search suggested that the problem might be as simple as a dead power supply.  This sounds simple, but like most Apple products, the AirPort Express is not easy to open.  After a long struggle, the AirPort was open and it was clear that the power supply was dead.

    According to this site, the AirPort Express requires +5 VDC and +3.3 VDC.  Not surprisingly, a standard ATX power supply provides 3.3, 5 and 12 VDC.  If you think you may have already read something like this, you have.

    This time I didn’t use the power supply from the PIII I pulled from the garbage, but the power supply in the P4 ‘Trash Server‘ (that I pulled from the garbage).  The original reason I wanted to use this AirPort Express was that the wifi card in Trash Server hasn’t been very reliable, and there is no easy way to run a cable to the server.  So, Trash Server had a conveniently unused power cable with +5VDC, +3.3VDC and ground.   In less time than it took to open the AirPort Express, I spliced the power cable from the old power supply into Trash Server’s power supply, added a zip tie, and had a working network again.

    Trash Server in its element.  I chose to attach the AirPort Express to the outside of the server to increase wifi range.  But, you’d have to agree that it does look nice.  Right?  Anyway, an external antenna could be easily added to the AirPort Express; I just don’t happen to have any extras around.  One AirPort Express easily covers our entire house, so I don’t think I’ll be adding any antennas anytime soon.

    If you have a dead AirPort Express and don’t happen to have your own Trash Server, you can power a dead AirPort Express from many sources including USB, or a spare power brick.  See 2 Ways to “Fix” an Airport Express for more details.

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  • AMTBC Dirt Crit 3 MTB Race

    Thursday was the third and final ‘Dirt Crit’ in the 2009/2010 Summer Series.  I raced in the first Dirt Crit, but missed the second (oops).  Anyway, I finished last in the B grade in the first race, and decided to try out the C grade this time.

    The B grade in this race was quite large with 15 riders.  I began the race out in front, not because I planned on winning from the start, but rather because I didn’t want to inhale the dust from 28 other wheels.  So, I ended up holding the lead for 6 of 15 laps, and ultimately finished in 4th.  From what I remember of grade school, I think this would get one of those purple ribbons, or perhaps they were green…

    Back to the race.  During the time I was leading the race, I considered the group of riders not too far behind me, and assumed they were waiting for me to either make a mistake or wear myself out.  Neither really happened, but they eventually made up the ground and passed me near the end of the race.  I suppose I could have used some strategy and not lead the first half of the race, but I didn’t.  Maybe next time.  Overall, I’m very happy with the results, and I think that I’ve found the right race grade.  On to the results:

    My official results; minutes:seconds:

    Lap 1Lap 2Lap 3Lap 4Lap 5Lap 6Lap 7Lap 8Lap 9Lap 10Lap 11Lap 12Lap 13Total TimeAverage Lap Time
    2:062:132:132:112:112:142:142:142:122:212:182:172:1228:552:12

    For comparison, grade average lap times; minutes:seconds (number of laps completed):

    A Avg. LapB Avg. LapC Avg. LapD Avg. LapE Avg. LapOverall Avg. Lap
    2:02 (19)2:14 (16)2:18 (13)2:40 (11)2:51 (8)2:23 (13)

    The first Dirt Crit was held on the same course, so the results are comparable.  And, in comparison to the first race my average time dropped from 2:20 to 2:12 per lap.

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  • Automated Image Resizing in OS X: Take Two

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    Behind-the-scenes blog update: Until recently, I was using this Automator script to process my digital photos for posting on the blog. This script uses the image manipulation tools built into OS 10.5 / Core Image.  These included tools are nice, and easy to use, but the result is an image file that is larger than it needs to be.

    In an effort to reduce file sizes, I started using the free/donation-ware Photoshop CS3 Automator Action Pack from Complete Digital Photography.  These scripts use Photoshop for image processing, and as a result, the image files can be made smaller than those created using Core Image.  These scripts also allow the use of many of the tools in Photoshop, like adding watermarks and applying filters.

    The obvious drawback of using these new scripts is that you need to have Adobe Photoshop CS3, which isn’t free or donation-ware.  While scripts for other versions of Photoshop are also available, CS4 isn’t one of them.  This isn’t a big deal for me, as paying to upgrade from CS to CS3 was traumatic enough that I haven’t even considered CS4.  Aside from that, the only other drawback I’ve noticed is that the processing time for each image is considerably longer than with the original script.  That said, the processing time for the above image was only about 20 seconds on a Mac Mini 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo and Nvidia GeForce 9400 (256MB).  Processing multiple images isn’t as bad as it appears, as the time per image in a batch process is much less than the time required to process a single image.

    I have reprocessed all of the images from 2010 on with this new script, and the results are better than those made with the old script.  I may make some changes to the watermark, but overall, I’m happy with the results.

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