Add extra SATA power to the Optiplex 9020

The Optiplex 9020 is quite a number of years old now, and many are beginning to come out of mainstream service. As with many of my projects, I like to re-purpose older hardware for new tasks.

In this case I want to add an SSD drive along with a standard spinning disk. I will be using a smaller 400gb SSD for the boot drive, and a larger 2tb HDD for my storage. The only problem is the Optiplex 9020 only has one SATA power connector in the small form factor.

Adding SATA power to Optiplex 9020

Before we begin I want to define the pin out of the SATA connector so you understand what’s going on. Also understand you can get the same result with a $7 splitter from amazon

SATA connectors are made up of 4 colorshttp://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/sataindex.jpg Continue reading “Add extra SATA power to the Optiplex 9020”

Elf On The Shelf Photo Contest

It’s that time of year again when all the Elves are endlessly sitting on shelves. This year my office is having a contest for best Elf on the shelf photo.

Since I work in IT, I figured my photo entry must be IT related.

Destroying Laptops Is Fun!

I found an old HP i3 laptop that was broken sitting around the house and decided to have some fun. In my head I pictured the Elf going through the screen (in one side and out the other) looking as happy as can be!

The first step was to remove any useful components still inside the laptop. I was able to recycle the hard drive, memory and processor. I also removed the mother board,  DVD writer and battery and properly disposed of them.

Cutting the hole.

Dremel

First I dew an outline of the hole on the display using a sharpie, then using my Dremel MM45-06 Oscillating tool  I cut the hole all the way through the laptop. WARNING! Laptop screens contain glass, use work gloves and eye protection while cutting.

 

Stage The Elf.

 

I tried the Elf in a few positions to test how we would look.

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Apple buys Shazam for $300 Million!

Just like that, Shazam is now part of the Apple family! Rumors were churning yesterday that the deal was going down, and now it has been confirmed.  Apple released a statement saying they’ve acquired the music detection service.

I wish Shazam was still a super hero!
Umm.. wrong Shazam!

According to sources close to  the purchase Shazam was acquired for $300 million, a far cry from the $1 billion valuation obtained in 2015. It is unknown why Shazam decided to sell to Apply, however Apple has a huge hunger for any company with AI expertise. Continue reading “Apple buys Shazam for $300 Million!”

Is Etsy just another Ebay?

I have been working with Etsy for 12 years and at the beginning there was a basic understanding that this was a marketplace for handcrafted goods. Maybe you’re a woodworker, or artist of some type. Some people worked wonders with their sewing machines or showed off their painting skills. Others were like me that were able to up-cycle and mashup old discarded junk into new amazing items that were one of a kind unique pieces of art.

hand·made – han(d)ˈmād/ made by hand, not by machine, and typically therefore of superior quality.

As time went on the word “handmade” started to be stretched and lines blurred. For example, some sellers cast their own jewellery while others took wire wrapping to  a new level. In my opinion this is truly a handmade item. Other sellers began buying charms and simply put them on a chain and sold them as handmade. Their hand did make it, but was the item really “handmade” Etsy allowed this to take place, and soon two new categories  popped up Vintage and Supplies. I was fine with this strategy since items on the site were still primarily hand crafted Continue reading “Is Etsy just another Ebay?”

6 Gag Gifts They Will All Enjoy This Holiday Season

Another holiday season is upon us and like every year we will spend countless hours picking out gifts for loved ones, friends and coworkers. This year in addition to all the traditional gifts why not pick out a gag gift they will enjoy. Maybe even liven up the banter around the water cooler in the office.

I searched high and low on amazon and picked a few great gag gift ideas that wont break the bank and will be perfect for that secret Santa too.

Pull My Finger Farting Santa – $13.95

Not much of an explanation necessary. 

  • PRESS/PULL MY FINGER: Press my finger and hear me talk and fart and vibrate around..
  • BATTERIES INCLUDED: I come with batteries and the batteries can be replaced easily.
  • HEIGHT: 8 Inches Tall-6 Inches Wide
  • SAYINGS/FARTS: 7 Sayings and Farts when you press my finger
  • WHAT DO I SAY?- I usually FART FIRST and the say the following: 1. “Cmon sit on my lap”. 2. ” Theres a gift for ya”. 3. Ho ho ho -Faaart”. 4. Up the chimney I goooooooo..fart”. 5. ” That’s all your getting for Christmas”. 6. ” Was that on your list?”. 7. Ahhhh The Holiday Smells”.

Farting Santa is $13.95
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How to repair Guitar Hero guitar Wii edition

Guitar Hero is over a dozen years old, and though not so popular as it was in 2005 it still captures the hearts of original Wii fans. Guitar Hero was introduced when video game motion control was in its hay day. Nintendo had a revolutionary idea with the original Wii and video game companies far and wide wrote tons of software to capitalize on the new systems.

My kids loved, and still enjoy Guitar Hero to this day, and enjoy firing up the old Wii or Wii U to get their guitar on. However like many teenagers they are not gentle with their equipment and managed to break our Guitar Hero guitar. I was looking to source on on Ebay or Amazon, but then thought to myself maybe it could be repaired.

Repairing The Guitar Hero Guitar

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8″ (200mm) Silicon Wafer With Amazing Chip Patterns

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if we never invented the micro chip? Micro chips and to that extent the micro processor should be hailed as one of the greatest inventions of all time. Most of our modern life would not be possible if we were not able to fit billions of  transistors in the space of a postage stamp silicon wafer. Just think about that statement for a moment! Your mobile phone would be the size of a car, your home computer the size of a room in your house. Constantly swapping out burnt vacuum tubes.

Micro chips to the rescue.

A Silicon Wafer Is Born:

Ever wondered how these chips are made? I never gave it a thought myself until I stumbled across these Silicon Wafers. For some reason or another these wafers were deemed defective so they were unable to continue the journey into computers, phones and other electronics. Some of the wafers were destined to become DRAM’s (memory) some designed to be micro processors, while others custom circuits for a specific job. Continue reading “8″ (200mm) Silicon Wafer With Amazing Chip Patterns”

Vintage Surplus 1991 NASA Landsat Parts For Sale?

The Landsat program is the longest running satellite imagery program on Earth. The first satellite was launched on July 23rd 1972 and the most recent launch was February 11th 2013. With Landsat 9 to be launched in 2020.

The instruments on the Landsat satellites have acquired millions of images. The images, archived in the United States and receiving stations around the world, are a unique resource for global change research and applications in agriculture, cartography, geology, forestry, regional planning, surveillance and education, and can be viewed through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) ‘EarthExplorer’ website.  Landsat images are usually divided into scenes for easy downloading.

NASA Unloading Landsat Parts (New Old Stock)

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Detecting an Unsupported Browser with Apache Mod_Rewrite

I am a man who wears many hats at my day job, and one of my favorite hats is maintainer of our new Intranet site. I built the site on a WordPress foundation figuring any functionality I need could be added via plugin down the road. Recently ran into an issue with users accessing the site via an unsupported browser.

In the office I have designated the domain XXXX.LOCAL for anything that needs to resolve internally. Currently we purchase a piece of browser based software from a company that only supports IE in compatibility mode. This forces us to set XXXX.LOCAL to compatibility mode in all IE browsers. My WordPress intranet site does not like compatibility mode one bit. Since all my users have Edge, Firefox and some have Chrome as their available browsers the thought entered my mind to force them to use one of them.

HOW TO DESIGNATE iNTERNET EXPLORER AS AN UNSUPPORTED BROWSER

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BONDO – Its not just for 1970 auto body repair!

If you’re as old as I am you may remember some of the auto body repair techniques of the late 70’s and early 80’s. It was an era of body fill ,shape and repair rather than today’s replace replace replace.  While Bondo is still used in the automotive industry there are so many other uses for this stuff its ridiculous.

What I like most about Bondo is the fact it will not harden in the can and you are able to store it almost indefinitely. The other amazing quality about this stuff is it hardens  and is ready for sanding and paint in under 15 minutes.

Repairing The Porch With Bondo!

Recently I noticed the columns holding up my covered front porch were showing signs of rotting at the very bottom. Apparently some of the caulking around the top of the column weathered and was allowing moisture in the pole and causing rot.
Continue reading “BONDO – Its not just for 1970 auto body repair!”