Shevek

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:49:41 GMT

My mobile phone has broken. I am using a temporary phone, but I am hunting for a replacement, preferably a Nokia 6230i, which I have come to appreciate. Does anybody have one to give away or sell for smallish money? I don't need any accessories, I have loads.

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:47:58 GMT

As we were driving through Bristol today, somebody threw an eight-inch hot pink dildo from the far pavement. I think I drove over it.

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:13:08 GMT

It appears that the hall for techadventure is available today, so we're doing half of the get-in. This will make the morning at least feasible!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:31:09 GMT

Conversation with 3Ware:

Me: "Hi, I think my RAID card is busted, here's why."
3Ware: "That sounds fine. Sounds like a busted firmware. We'll send you a new one in two hours, then you can send the old one back. In the meantime, here's how to flash your firmware, under Linux, etc."
Me: "I like your company."

I therefore like and recommend 3Ware.

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:03:46 GMT

Mashed was excellent, the BBC had clearly thought about what they could improve from last year, and they'd improved it. I think organisationally, the only thing I'd have added was something non-sugary on the food stand. One can't live off chocolate and crisps and donuts for two days, some peanut butter cookies would have been for the win.

I did a video interview with O'Reilly about TechAdventure, I've got a lot of followup to do still, even at this late stage. Since the event is looking about the right shape, I've already been asked about putting a bit more organisation around it and running it in future years. We'll have to find out this Saturday which bits work and which don't.

I also discovered Werewolf, which I loved playing, although sometimes I suspected the other players would lynch anyone who grinned. Ian got eaten in the second round, which meant he survived one, apparently close to a record. I got eaten about two rounds later, but then the seer found the werewolf. I think many more games will have to be played.

Someone's left me two large boxes of table-puzzles for TechAdventure. Now I just need to find more tables.

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:13:01 GMT

So
Farewell then
Iowa

I didn't
Know where
You were
Until last week.

But you're not
There any
More.

-- E.J. Thribb, aged 17 1/2.

(I'm going to get killed for this)

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:53:08 GMT

Wheee! We're going to have a self-replicating 3D printer at TechAdventure!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:11:05 GMT

It's been about 8 years since I last used C++, and the language has changed somewhat in that time. I've discovered that I rather like boost, although some of the ways it handles threading and memory management aren't the first way I'd think of doing it. On the whole, if it weren't for the fact that I need REALLY, INCREDIBLY tight control over memory in this application, I'd still use Java. It's not like C++ gives much other performance benefit, these days.

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:50:28 GMT

For all serious hardware enthusiasts, Denon have released the $500 ethernet cable. Please note that this is not a joke. Any hifi shop will tell you that using higher quality digital cabling increases the quality of the signal due to reduced bit loss and squarer edges on the square waves. Richer Sounds, as good a bunch of monkeys as the high street has to offer, have told me this on many occasions.

Black Box, on the other hand, tell me that actually CAT5 cable carries video much better than CAT5E or CAT6 cable. I trust Black Box, they have major clue.

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:05:00 GMT

The only thing worse than late night right wing tv is repeat episodes of late night right wing tv. For those who want more ridiculous news, street sweeper sucks up dog and gun permit issued to baby. I'm sure I heard a story about a baby that shot itself, but I can't find it. In less interesting news, "severe exhaustion" is now a euphemism for "cocaine". No direct link for legal reasons.

In summary: tl;dr.

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:25:02 GMT

No Quick Fix to Irish 'No' Vote

Is there something different about the world today that allows us to use phrases like "fix the vote" in public like this? It's a vote. You don't "fix" it. It isn't broken.

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:58:59 GMT

Bounce.

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:01:19 GMT

Today I made the error of assumption. I assumed that since there was an EQ, a crossover and two amps, that the cabs would be on the smaller amp and the bins would be on the larger amp.

I was wrong in every possible respect. The wiring was completely random, and we didn't have time to fix it.

Today's fun experiment was building a digital crossover to patch things up. Tomorrow's experiment is likely to be wishing AES worked.

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:43:54 GMT

My home directory seems to accumulate cruft over the year, and needs a spring clean once a year, if not more often.

How do people prevent this? Or does everybody just spring clean? Or buy a larger disk?

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:21:31 GMT

Convention overload!

The big ones:

Discworld Convention. They asked for volunteers to step forwards and everyone else stepped backwards, so I now appear to be in charge of tech. I'm having a wonderful time with it, it's coming together much more easily than I thought it would. I'm still exploring where the line between backstage (physical) and tech (electrical) lies, because I'm used to being told "run event" on a smaller scale, and just doing what needs doing. Working with a budget makes life much simpler, although I'm also coming to realise that actually I can put on a fair sized production without, just using my own kit, which will feature FOH at DW because it's portable, powerful and I'm familiar with it.

TechAdventure. Stuff keeps coming in and I really haven't had enough time to process it. I don't know whether to panic about space or not, but I'm sure it'll work fine. After all, it did last time, even if that was 5 years ago. I really need to do some big publicity runs this week, but Discworld has sapped my non-work time for a few days.

Two small gigs this week are easily done. I think I have the model about right now, I've been building custom flight cases so that everything is self-contained, and there are the minimum number of connections between cases and the world. When I get the flight cases talking to each other using digital, each one will require one XLR/fibre in, one XLR/fibre out and power. I'm still waiting on a case for the 328, but that won't be long.

I've been experimenting quite successfully with configurations of my general purpose DEQs, and I've managed to synthesize almost everything I need from crossovers to a multi-tap delay. This is nice because it means I can do small gigs with 5U of outboards, and I'm quite sure I could manage with 2U, and I don't have to own a whole slew of kit. I'm running the whole chain of DEQs off a single ADC so they all see the same bitstream.

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:10:11 GMT

I arrived during a tornado. The sun cut startling red and orange gashes through the tortured clouds. Today, trees were down and work crews were out. On the Georgetown Pike, the houses have pretty white fences and horses in the front garden, like in Barbie and Ken. I didn't think they existed in real life.

I got beaten up in French tonight. My opponent insulted me thoroughly, with both wit, intelligence and panache. He reminded me of the Hundred Years' War, and told me that our fight was merely a continuation of that war. When he won, he told me it was the most enjoyable fight he had had all evening, and I agreed thoroughly with him. I hope to fight him again sometime.

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:55:51 GMT

While I have hated almost every rental car I ever had, none of them has inspired such immediate, total and unconditional disgust as the current object of my attentions. It's a Chrysler Sebring convertible. It accelerates worse than the cow I had last time, only does about ten miles to the gallon at best, and I have to lower the roof to put my bag in the back seat, because there's no boot space. It's also enormous, although somehow it's still too short for me to see through the windscreen without slumping. The sound system was clearly designed for hiphop, anything else I play on it comes out sounding like hiphop, even Oasis. I can't imagine any other car which would make the Pontiac Grand Prix look good. On the upside, the suspension is ok-ish. I'd say "cornering", but that also requires acceleration, which is absent, and it's OK to park, but I can't see where the back end of it is.

And then there's the satnav saga. A brand new Garmin Nuvi, flat, LCD screen, all the gimmicks. I drove out of the rental garage, and the satnav was giving directions, but the picture wasn't updating. So I went back, and they gave me another one. I put the new one into 2D mode, and then it updated sometimes, and drew half the screen. Long story short, I think the device is utterly underpowered and overfeatured. So I went back, and pointed at their satnav advert, and said, "I want one like in that advert" (showing the old model). I banged on the desk a while, and eventually they found me one, which works a dream.

I think, in the future, I will be taking my business elsewhere.

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:39:23 GMT

The register has a very interesting article about what data is stored by mobile phones, and how it can be used for or against you. It also links to the ACPO guidelines for police forces working with digital evidence, something I have been meaning to hunt down for a long time. I will digest them in due course.

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:23:31 GMT

For sale: Soundcraft Spirit FX16 analogue mixer, with extras and outboards. It's a beautiful 16-channel analogue mixer, in very good condition, accident and idiot proof due to excessive headroom, and overall a joy to use. The built-in Lexicon is the most believable effects unit I own, I wish I could take that board out and keep it. Almost any setting produces something useful and listenable. Overall, the desk is compact enough to fit in a corner or rack, or take to gigs, but large enough to do significant work, and has dedicated direct outs for live recording or studio work. No scratches, no missing knobs, fits in a 19" rack, and rack wings are included.

http://www.soundcraft.com/product_sheet.asp?product_id=22

Please make a lowish three-figure offer, and I'll drop it off or you can pick it up. If you're unsure, come and listen to it, and be convinced. I have a couple of banks of analogue outboards and stuff I can throw in if you want them. Sale due to excessive upgrade.

Fri, 30 May 2008 00:42:29 GMT

A while ago, I was lucky enough to acquire two EMO520 DI boxes. Last night, with the assistance of the 328XD, Mackie HR824s and some rather nice guitars with which I am not familiar, we decided that the sound through the EMO520 is subtly nicer than the raw sound into the high impedance input on the desk. There are three things which follow: The scientific explanation, which involves a lot of measuring equipment, the pseudo-scientific explanation, which probably appears in the marketing literature, and the fact that it "just works, so do it" for the future. I have also decided that valve pres make a hell of a difference, but I have neither space nor money for them.

Thu, 29 May 2008 23:15:29 GMT

My computer, photographed with a DSLR with about a 2 second exposure. Click for bigger version.

The red light at the bottom left is power, the lower green lights are the switch, the central array of green lights are the hard disks. The blue is the management LCD and the red above is the KVM, which also has a green LED numeral.

Thu, 29 May 2008 22:35:06 GMT

Today's typo: I meant to say "bc" "scale=2" so I can type sums, and I get the answer to 2DP. What I actually typed was:

shevek@blue ~ $ bcd
scale=2
 ________________________________________________
/SCALE=2                                         |
| ]] ]                                           |
|   ]                                            |
|]    ]                                          |
|11]111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111|
|]22222]22222222222222222222222222222222222222222|
|3]3]33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333|
|444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444|
|5555]]555555555555555555555555555555555555555555|
|666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666|
|777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777|
|88888]888888888888888888888888888888888888888888|
|999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999|
|________________________________________________|

It took me a moment to work out what I'd done.

Wed, 28 May 2008 12:10:16 GMT

Problem:
I have a Soundcraft 328XD and a Behringer DEQ2496. I want to run AES from the desk to the EQ, but the EQ says "No clock".

Tests performed:
* All my cables work, and have 0 ohms on all cores.
* Linking two Behringer EQs using AES works. They receive wordclock at all sample rates from 44.1 to 96KHz.
* The desk receives AES wordclock from the EQ if the EQ generates 44.1 or 48KHz. The desk is not capable of 88 or 96KHz.
* The desk apparently also generates TDIF and ADAT fine. I've only used the TDIF.

Tests not performed:
* Jury rig the desk SP/DIF into the EQ's AES - probably not worth it.
* Put a scope on the desk AES output to look for clock - no scope.

Any ideas, anybody?

Sun, 25 May 2008 06:59:27 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7417496.stm

"Instead of dawdling on websites many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave."

No shit.

Sat, 24 May 2008 21:06:24 GMT

I have the crappiest bicycle in town. It's so crappy I don't even get security checked when I arrive at the supermarket. Last time I came here, I used roller skates to get to town but that wouldn't be practical now, there are too many rocket craters in the road. On the upside, this means the mayor is busy laying new tarmac, and hasn't yet gotten around to rebuilding so many of the speed humps which are colloquially named after him.