SFF 8087 Revealed SFF-8087 Reverse Breakout Forward Breakout Crossover
by daniel on Nov.15, 2011, under Journal
I see this confusion a lot on the internet. Most people new to the high density storage game end up buying a chassis or controller that uses a SFF-8087 cord and they assume that they are all the same.
SFF-8087 is not backwards compatible between planes and controllers and drives. You cannot just flip a breakout cable and expect it to work in the opposite direction.
Several different flavors of SFF-8087:
Forward Breakout = crossover = SFF-8087 (Controller card) to 4x SAS/SATA ports on DRIVES
Reverse Breakout = 1:1 = SATA/SAS Ports (on Motherboard or controller) to SFF-8087 backplane
So if you have a LSI 9211-8i HBA (2x SFF8087) and want to connect to 4 SATA drives you just bought, then you need a SFF-8087 (Forward Breakout / “crossover”) cable.
If you have a Motherboard and want to make use of a hotswap bay, much like that in the Norco 4220 chassis. Then you need a “Reverse Breakout” or “1:1” or “Straight Through” cable.
Hopefully this clears up some confusion.
Code for Wicked Lasers 1 Watt Arctic Blue Smartswitch
by daniel on Apr.28, 2011, under Electronics
To UNLOCK laser it is 3 short presses and 2 slightly longer presses.
Like so:
. . . – –
After the laser has been unlocked it will begin low power strobe mode.
One quick press will switch to steady beam mode.
Press and hold the button for a second to switch to high power mode.
Press and hold for 3+ seconds to return laser to locked mode.
Be Safe!
MISUSE of this laser will not only get you serious fines and jail time, but it will also cause lawmakers to outlaw this for everyone.
How to Configure Outlook or Evolution or Thunderbird for Creighton University EMail
by daniel on Aug.28, 2010, under Medical School
Recently I had the motivation to configure my laptop and my phone (running droid v3) to sync correctly with the Email systems of Creighton University in Omaha Nebraska. A large part of my reasoning is the fact that when I am signed into the email systems using the schools online “Outlook Web Access” page at http://cumail.creighton.edu I can’t select multiple messages when I am using firefox. I am a strict firefox user so when it comes time to delete multiple messages from mailing lists this just won’t work.
Anyways…
So first I will run through the method that will allow you to use your phone’s native mail app to sync with the Creighton servers. This is the most elegant way to access mail on the go from Creighton University.
This type of connection is called “Exchange ActiveSync” Exchange refers to Microsoft’s mail software that Creighton is currently running and ActiveSync is just the program that allows remote access to the server.
Benchmark of AMD 6 core Processor – AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Thuban – Hexacore Review
by daniel on Apr.13, 2010, under Electronics
With this year’s new tech releases just about to start shipping for Q2 retail cycle we are getting some interesting news out of China and Korea about early leaked shipments of AMD’s new “Thuban” 6 core desktop processors.
Surprise surprise! We see this: LOCAL MIRROR OF SITE, REAL ONE WENT DOWN A series of benchmarks posted publicly early yesterday morning featuring AMD’s new non-opteron 6 core (hexacore) processor at its stock speed of 3.2 gHz.
Comparing these results to other readily available CPU benchmarks for the i7 and company we see that AMD’s newest processor comes in to be midway between Intel’s i7 860 and the i7 965 and takes a healthy lead from the defacto standard i7 920 that has dominated the rigs of gamers and enthusiasts across the industry. At an “assumed” US retail price of $295 we can be sure that this will change the gaming and power computing landscape of 2010.
Table of Pricing AMD – http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/22/amd-six-core-cpu-prices-and-clock-speeds-unearthed/
Granted top spots for performance still go to Intel hardware with hyperthreading features that effectively double the core count AMD is doing great work with 6 logical cores. AMD stands to take a healthy lead across the industry due in part to the fact that the new Phenom II x6 processors will be fully backwards compatible with AMD’s AM2+ socket (utilizing DDR2 memory standard) at well as their newer AM3 socket (DDR3 memory), so that means that the vast majority of gamers using AMD rigs will be able to purchase and drop in this CPU as a direct upgrade! With news of Intel’s next generation of processors being completely incompatible with the late 2008 LGA 1366 “i7” socket Intel is effectively stranding its current user base.
Time will tell, but this a great and simple upgrade until AMD Bulldozer architecture (supposedly with hyperthreading) hits stores in the next year or two.
As with any leaked information take the pricing and reviews as a grain of salt but we can expect AMD to become competitive in the marketplace in the next few months, and that my friends benefits us all.
Please link us!
How does Shakeology taste? – What does Shakeology taste like – Review
by Veronica on Apr.13, 2010, under Fitness
Today I received my 30 day supply of Shakeology Greenberry and after my workout I decided to give it a try and I can truthfully say that the taste of this shake (I only mixed it with water) was very disappointing. The “grass” smell of the shake is really strong and when you take that first sip you can actually feel like your just drinking a glass full of grass. The after taste is a little hint of berry but it is quickly overpowered by the “grass” taste. Besides the disappointing taste, the price was outrageous $119.95 not including shipping and handling. The coaches from beachbody.com (the only company that sells this product) claim that this is the best tasting shake ever! well they are lying because interestingly enough they get a portion of the sales if you are a teambeachbody member and have a coach; therefore, they are going to advertise this very strongly. The company has a money back guarantee if you don’t like their product which is a good thing. I’m still going to give it a try for the whole month (force myself to drink it) since it does give you that full feeling after drinking it but I personally will not buy it again after this cycle.
Esmeril Turbo Review for RX8
by daniel on Apr.10, 2010, under RX8
This is my review of the Esmeril Racing Turbo Kit for the Mazda RX8
http://esmerilracing.com/
I bought this kit during the Christmas special of 2007. I purchased the kit for $5000 without engine management. At the time of this purchase this was the single most powerful turbo kit that one could buy for the RX8.
Click Picture to begin Slideshow:
Track Review
So I did a track day today. I had to call it quits since my gauge pod came off my dash and was flopping around, making it difficult to take corners whilst trying to hold the gauge pod. I did get a good impression of the kit though.
Ambient = 60 degrees.
Session run time = max of 20 minutes.
AFRs = tuned to 10.2-11.0 @ 10psi
Tires = Azenis RT 615s, 30% thread left.
Max track straight = 1/8 mile
Well, there was a little smoking (small puff from under hood) as the heat shielding got further settled into high heat use. I did a nice warmup lap before I got her into boost before every session.
Cars I murdered on the straights (couldn’t catch me, I just kept pulling away):
C5 z06 vette
another c5 z06 vette
04 GTO
Elise
R32 Volkswagen
G35
s2000
05 M3
Watching me pull hard from a vette is truly an exhilarating experience. Truly this power/weight ratio is something to be reckoned with! (continue reading…)
How Many Megapixels (MP) Are Required for X Print?
by daniel on Nov.25, 2009, under Photography
Many of you are probably thinking/asking how many megapixels are required for a 4×6 print? or a 8×10? or a 24×36?
Here is a small table of the minimum sizes (at 300dpi) high quality:
| Printed Size | Min. Resolution | Megapixels |
|---|---|---|
| 4×6 | 1200x1800px | 2.2 MP |
| 5×7 | 1500x2100px | 3.2 MP |
| 8×10 | 2400x3000px | 7.2 MP |
| 8.5×11 | 2550x3300px | 8.4 MP |
| 13×19 | 3900x5700px | 22.2 MP |
| 20×30 | 6000x9000px | 54.0 MP |
| 24×36 | 7200x10800px | 77.8 MP |
Here is a small table of the minimum sizes (at 150dpi) bare minimum:
| Printed Size | Min. Resolution | Megapixels |
|---|---|---|
| 4×6 | 600x900px | 0.54 MP |
| 5×7 | 750x1050px | 0.8 MP |
| 8×10 | 1200x1500px | 1.8 MP |
| 8.5×11 | 1275x1650px | 2.1 MP |
| 13×19 | 1950x2850px | 5.6 MP |
| 20×30 | 3000x4500px | 13.5 MP |
| 24×36 | 3600x5400px | 19.4 MP |
As you can see, actual pixel count is fairly demanding for a “high quality” print. High quality meaning what is actually observed by the camera and not made up by some computer program. Typically computers are used with a algorithm called a Bayer Interpolation that will blend and “guess” the colors to make up missing information between colors and pixels when someone tries to enlarge them, so it is possible to get an OK looking 8×10 from a 5 MP camera, or an OK looking 24×36 from a 22MP camera. So keep in mind that if you are producing any of these sizes with less than the Megapixels listed your print is more a test of the quality of your computer software than it is your camera!
Also keep in mind that imaging sensors will see only one color and one intensity per pixel. So 1 px will see red at lets say a value of 210 (1 to 255 intensity, 16 Bit color). In order to record the real color emitted in real life you need at least 3 of these. Yes, just like your TV or anything else the camera will blend the 3 colors to create the real “observed” color. What is the caveat for this? Digital cameras (non-Foveon) only really “see” 1/3 of the claimed Megapixel value that they advertise (because they are using 3 pixels to record each “real” color) so that fancy 10 MP camera you own in reality only can record 3.3 MP worth of actual real life image, just enough for a high quality 5×7, the rest is blended and made up by computer software. This makes a strong case for the reason why REAL professional photographers still use film for all of their important work. This is because film CAN record a real color at each “pixel” which is still higher than digital (roughly 88 real megapixels for a 35mm piece of film).
Hulu will (likely) Start Charging in 2010, So What?
by daniel on Nov.16, 2009, under Journal
Word is that Hulu, the popular free video streaming site that delivers juicy syndicated goodness to millions of viewers daily, will likely switch over to a paid-only subscription service in 2010. Dates are unclear at this point but Hulu’s partner’s (News Corp.) exec Robert Murdock states:
“Are we looking at it with a view of adding subscription services in there and pay-per-view movies? Yes, we are looking at that. No decision has been taken yet.”
My personal favorite shows include: Family Guy, American Dad, King of the Hill, Simpsons, Naruto and a handful of others. Currently Hulu will only air these series’ past half-dozen or so episodes which really makes Hulu a bit boring for me after a while. I can remember in 2007 when Hulu didn’t have either the ads that currently plague every episode or the episode restriction that is currently in effect. After a while everyone saw the ads coming, but does Hulu really expect people to pony up a probable $10+ a month for something that will likely still have ads and likely still have episode restrictions? They should take a clue from the media distribution currently used by Microsoft’s Zune where a user pays $14.99 a month for unlimited, unrestricted access to every song on the planet, and every month you get to download 10 songs and keep them without DRM (digital rights management). That my friends is value. It’s a wonder why more people that actually like music don’t own Zunes. Hulu, get a clue, bait and switch won’t work on this generation when we can BitTorrent an entire season in hours or netflix and copy virtually anything we want INCLUDING movies.
What do you think?
Huperzine-A for Cognitive Dysfunction and Functional Status in Schizophrenia
by daniel on Nov.15, 2009, under Research
Our new protocol was just listed on ClinicalTrials.gov http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01012830
Outlook is good, we anticipate recruitment, analysis, and publication to occur swiftly and efficiently.
HupA, an alkaloid initially identified from the Chinese herbal medicine Huperia serrata, is a potent reversible acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor with additional unique properties including NMDA-receptor antagonist properties, neuroprotective and antioxidant effects. In animal studies, HupA was shown to possess greater inhibitory, longer-lasting, and more selective effects on AChE activity than donepezil. In clinical studies HupA improved memory, mood, and activities of daily living in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. Adverse effects have been reported at a very low rate in all the clinical trials, and are mainly cholinergic, such as dizziness, nausea, gastrointestinal symptoms, headaches and depressed heart rate. Thus, HupA is an attractive option which may have beneficial effects not only on cognitive but also functional domains of schizophrenia.
An Image of My Photoscape
by daniel on Nov.12, 2009, under Journal, Photography
I came across Ken Rockwell’s site looking for reviews of a Zeiss 50mm 1.4 that I was contemplating buying and stumbled again upon his article explaining the “Seven Levels of Photographers,” a pretty clever satire that’s roughly a cross between the Buddhist cycles of reincarnation and Dante’s Inferno’s seven circles of hell. Rockwell encourages photographers to focus on creating pictures instead of focusing primarily on what type of equipment they have.
After reading the article, I had a bit of fun reminiscing of my progress through the “seven levels.”
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/7.htm
My past mentor, National Geographic photographer Don Doll S.J., used to tell me exactly the same thing in as many words.
Showing up with the 70-200mm 2.8 IS USM or a 50mm 1.0L or a Leica won’t make you a better photographer if you don’t know what to do with them and if you aren’t creative.
Granted I, like many people, didn’t start out as a splendid photographer (continue reading…)
