Aod Home Articles

Back to square one. Or Sparks in the night

2011-07-15T22:51:00.000-05:00

Previously you heard me say I was going to put that Saturn together. Well first I decided I be smart. You know grab the AC cord, plug it in and make sure the house didn't catch on fire, as well as make sure that my efforts were not in vain. I can proudly say that I am glad I didn't waste the effort to rebuild the saturn.

I took the cord, which at this point is dead, a plus on having a power strip with individual buttons for power sockets, and plug it in. At this point all is well, no explosions, no nothing. Good for me right? Now I press the button, lighting up the AC cord. And... well nothing yet, haven't hit the power button on the Saturn. Which is a good sign, everything is working as it should. I hit the power button on the Saturn and.... POP! I see sparks, and smell burning plastic. Crap, though on the plus side the fuse is still good?

I quickly turn the power off, check the fuse, yea still good. Then I start looking at the board, quickly find burn spot, and see 2 resistors and a transistor. Hmm, now what? Well I grab my handy multimeter, set it up and take a reading on the resistors, and the transitor.

Wasn't too much of a problem. The resistors, a little blackened, are still good, but the transistor, trash. Guess I'll order a new one. Maybe next time I'll get the little guy fixed (and maybe some pictures for your delite!)

Moving on though we have a simple Original Nintendo that blinks, and if it happens to read the game, then it does a solid screen. The blinking screen an easy fix. Just needs a new 72 pin connector. Just looking down at the 72 pin in the unit I can see broken pins, meaning I am not going to be restoring this pin to it's original state. But a solid screen, is it possible that the broken pins the meaning of the solid screen? I cannot be sure until I try another 72 pin connector. Which I just happen to have an old 72 pin connector that while not pristine is good enough to test stuff.

I go ahead and flip the system over. Take out the 6 screws on the bottom, slip it around and take off the top cover. I then take off the 6 screws that hold the heat shield in place and take that off. So far easy. Next I take out the 4 screws on the box thingy(Yea, yea there is another name for it, I am just too lazy to get it at this second). I then remove that. Now I have a choice, I can remove the 72 pin as is or I can take out 2 more screws that hold the rest of the model in place.

In consideration of breaking boards I decide to remove the two screws so I can remove the board. I then, taking my time, and using a bit of pure muscle (What? This thing is stuck on there!) I remove the 72 pin and with a little less muscle I get my old 72 pin back on.

Now I am going to leave you with a cliff hanger, why? Cause I can :) Next time: 72 pin fixes or BSOD.

Sega Saturn, Meet Mr. Soldering Iron...

2011-07-11T20:38:00.000-05:00

Ok, so by now if you've been looking at this, you've figured out I am not a writer. Yes I got my second article done, but won't be publishing it cause I don't feel it's exactly what I want to say. Maybe someday but for now your going to get me and a few random write ups. Like this one!

Ok not so random, but more so of a document for those who care, or not. So lets get down to business, WTF do I mean by taking a soldering Iron to a Saturn. Well more or less I mean to repair it. Your probably thinking, "WTH, don't you write software? Why are you dealing with this hardware junk?" Well simple answer, it's my first love. Many moons ago, (15 years or so) I began this affair with pulling apart computers, fixing em and putting them back together. Nothing too hard, heck I got so good at it most people consider me the go to guy for computer repair. Lets just say with all that going to my head I decided to major in something I'd never played with, software.... Yea weird I know, absolutely no other reason for me learning how to program then that I'd never done it before.

Anyway back to here and now. About a year ago I decided I'd complete my console collection, or get closer anyway so I went on Ebay and bid on one of those Sega Saturns that hadn't been tested. Heck I figured worse case scenario it's be something simple, you know like clean the CD laser and I'm good to go. No such luck, plugged it in, and guess what, nothing. Not even a light to show it had power. Teach me to bid on items that are sold as is.

So I took it apart, grabbed my multi-meter, something no software or hardware geek should be without, and before I could turn the multi-meter on, I saw the problem. The fuse, it was black, charred, dead, done. Well dam, so much for me doing a bit of probing in this fairly nice piece of hardware. Now the nice thing about fuses, they should just pop out, and you can get a new one right? RIGHT? Wrong, this mother f*(&er was soldered into the board! Ok, ok, not directly, seems that was too much bad engineering for them, so they soldered some wires to it first before soldering it to the board. How nice, makes it impossible to replace the fuse without a knowledgeable hardware hacker. (Oh right, I am one of those!)

Lets stop here for a second and think. Originally priced at $399.99, you'd think they could have spared a few cents for a simple Fuse holder. I KNOW those only cost about $.30 now so back then they were probably closer to $.10-.15 a piece. Cheap when you consider the rest of the system, now to make matters worse, what I have is a second generation model. This probably means that the first generation model probably has something even more screwy. Guess they just couldn't do quality work at such a low price point...

Now skip forward about a year. What? I've been a busy beaver and couldn't just drop everything to de-solder and get all the parts at that time! I've finally come back to the Saturn, I've got myself a work bench, well close enough anyway and am ready to tear this fuse out. I heat the Iron and get the fuse out, easy as 3.14 and order the replacement part + a fuse holder. Total Cost:$8.98, not too bad right? Of course over half of that is shipping... I get the parts, solder the fuse holder into the board and plop that new fuse in. Voila or at least I think voila. Now come the real test, you see while waiting for the parts I took the rest of the Saturn apart. Cleaned it up, made it look like new, but now comes the fun part. Piecing it back together so I can test it!

Next how to put a Saturn together or how to take apart a Sega Saturn from the end forward.

Where is it?

2011-04-09T16:12:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I am fairly certain I did not take on more then I can chew however, I want it to be known that I am still a bit new to what I am doing, lots of research, reading, writing, rewriting, reading, and rewriting some more. So expect this to come out hopefully in a few days. I am probably 1/3 done with it, though I am thinking that as long as this one is going to be, I'll turn it in to two not so small posts. (Right now I am on page 4 or so with double spacing 12pt font and haven't even started to work on the point I want to point out!)

I suppose I should give you a heads up on what exactly I am posting about, Libya. Haven't come up with any title yet, but I'll figure something out.

Website Creation Choices: What and why?

2011-04-02T11:55:00.007-05:00

Lets be honest, no one needs another How to make your website in 3 easy steps bullshit article. Yes we get it, it's easy. Or rather it's a simple process to take a template, add words, some links and say
“Woot!! I have my own website!”

That's not what this is about, so if your looking for that, 5 to 30 seconds more of looking at the search results will get you what you want¹. No this covers the choices you've got when you, as an average human bean, decide to create an actual website.

When you create a website there is one choice you can't make, you have to use HTML. That's about the only choice you have to live with. The rest such as what you use to develop your website, in terms of language, programs to build the site, etc, are up to you. You don't have to learn any fancy programming or script languages, unless of course your really what to. Though having some knowledge of web design and scripting can help. Learning it well enough to do what otherwise would take less then a day to setup and run, just not worth the effort. That is unless you’re going to be a professional website designer/creator.

So what choices do you, as an average Joe really have, and why should you choose them over any others? Good question, lets take a look at the choices you have in website creation.

I'll get the most simple, down right crude website creation out of the way. Using those free website places that offer templates and web page creation tools. Those 90% of the time are just straight HTML with some CSS toss in for visual effect. Now there is a lot to be said about a straight a HTML page. It displays information, and usually looks good when doing so. Plus you have a plethora⁵ of website templates to make your website absolutely the talk of the world. And usually you won't end up with a mess as in this picture².

If you went blind for a second, you’re not the only one. Do the universe a favor, pick something that is easy to read, so that as long as you’re set on this path you won’t want to commit Harikari¹⁰.

Now a single page of HTML with information on it, not only is it a good thing, it’s a way of life for some amateur website creators. You could very easily do this with those free to build sites and learn all you really need without too much gain of knowledge. Through use of such sites as W3 schools³ or, even one of the create your own website tutorials¹. But for you we have two words. Web page, not, a website. You’ve done nothing other then post one page of information. No separation, no way to respond, except through maybe email or IM if you tossed that info on there. It’s ONE page that by definition is not a website¹¹. It’s just a page, and for that matter, if all follows as usual, a page that is 1000ft long and has more topics on it then bushes have leaves!

You must understand when you use these simple create a website sites, your just using HTML, and that has a major problem with flexibility and scalability. I mean 5 maybe 10 pages, might be ok, especially with the interfaces most of those websites present. However if going beyond that with more pages like say 100, or a 1000, or maybe 1,000,000 pages? It becomes a nightmare, even if 999,999 of those pages are static¹², just having to figure out links between those pages. You'll go insane!

In fact I'd honestly say that with that many pages, this type of website becomes a black widows nest. Unmanageable and deadly with no saving grace.

All web pages are honestly WYSIWYG(What You See Is What You Get). Ok, not quite, but whenever its just HTML they are! Once you write it out, it's stuck in stone, or at least as much in stone as it can be. You can't change the links, the fonts, the pictures, the well.... The anything, without opening up the HTML file and modifying it. Yea I know some all those fancy sites let you change your fonts and such with a simple press of a button, but what about for every page you’ve got at once? Didn’t think so. And the links, you still have to manually set them.

Now lets say you want to create a comment section. Html will set that up, but beyond that you can't do much more, not even save your comments. What about having a picture to appear to some but not others? Nope, not with these tools, the world sees through your beer goggles once you've posted your picture. You can't even expand or manipulate anything without editing that old HTML code. Just isn’t going to happen.

If you’re still going to do this, use a good template and create a small website. For more then that I have to say that “I’ll see you from the outside of a loony bin.” Cause is where you are headed with these HTML only sites.

You could say I’m being brutal to those easy to create sites. You’d be right, I have no love for them at all. But I’ll tell you what I do love, scripting languages, javascript, php etc… Now as I have said before, I am not going to try to make you learn these. Though I suppose I could point you to those JavaScript hacks¹³ in support of ye old HTML only sites. It would after all make your site a bit more flexible. But no, that’s not why I brought these up. Maybe I like to screw with people? Well Yea I do, but on a more serious note these are the basis for what is referred to as Content Management Systems(CMS).

If you took a poll right now you would find that most people have and will continue to use a CMS for activities on the web. In-fact you’re using one right now in reading this article.

Surprised? You shouldn't be considering all the power CMS offers. After all CMSs strive for manageability, flexibility and depending on your package, can come with a variety of useful tools and applications. These tools will help you not only manage the information on your website, they will help you gather feedback from your users. Pretty cool huh?

How do could they possible do all this? Through use of scripting languages, plain text files and databases, with these at their disposal they can take your information and dynamically create web pages and links that can be changed with simply a press of a button (in the most user friendly versions).

Most of these CMSs, in order to help manage your website, have an administration area where you can easily decide about your what your content is, and how you’re going to show it off. They can also manage pages, users, and anything else that your system has to offer.

Now one of the coolest things about CMSs is that if you don't like how your website looks you can get a new template¹⁶. That’s right many systems have 1000’s of different looks and styles available and changing how your website looks can be as simple as literally a click. Now your probably thinking I’m full of crap, well ever seen some major website at Christmas? They have their Christmas lights up, and their page is covered in Christmas-y goodness. This is how exactly how they did it! New theme, new look, and happy holidays!

Now some of you are probably wondering, “Ok, yea sure we see it's easy to change stuff, but what if my website has plans for a billion pages!” Ok Mr Amazon guess what, this handles that. Be it 2 pages or 2 trillion pages your website can be as big as you want it to be. Though as any major website can tell you. The more pages, the harder it become to manage no matter the system.

Now I think I've gone off talked about all the pros to using a CMS. And really you should use one, but, in-case you didn’t see this coming. There are problems with these systems. The biggest being that there are tons of them out there^6,7. Now your probably saying “tons of them doesn’t that mean I can get exactly what I want.” Yes it does but each CMS does things just different enough that you may or may not like them, and to further make things difficult some of them are extremely specialized! For instance take Coppermine⁸. It's made just for photos, nothing more. If that's what you need, don't let me turn you away. Every user, scratch that. Every website creator has his or her own needs. You can't just pick one and boom perfect fit. It will take time and effort to find the correct CMS for your use, trial and error will happen possibly for weeks on end.

Another problem is usability. All CMSs have a learning curve. Some are fairly easy to use, quick to setup and with minimal effort you’ve got a beautiful website. But many CMSs are made specifically for people whom create websites. Those people like me, who take that CMS and turn it into a masterpiece, tend to love those, but you as an average Joe, probably going to stay really, really far away. Again this is just a trial and error process, some people may be able to handle the complexity of Drupal¹⁴, but others are going to have to stick to simpler CMS like e107¹⁵.

Ok, I think I’m pretty much done ranting and raving about the use of CMSs. They are fantastic if you find one that will work for your needs. Just remember take your time, do your research and you'll get all you want.

Not we all know that the excuse, “I don’t want too” is legitimate only if you’ve got a few million in the bank. However in this case it might actually be an ok excuse. Cause lets face it, a few days of installing CMS clients to see what works and what doesn’t. The majority of the time, it's not worth the hassle, though uses of a CMS consultant⁹ to locate your perfect fit is something you can do. Of course you then have to setup the CMS and input all your information. So the solution? Out source it, after all 99% of all companies do it¹⁸! In fact there are only a few real down sides to hiring someone else to create your magical website.

The first is cost. While more companies outsource because it’s cheaper then hiring you, the opposite may be true when you’re the one wanting to create a website. After all your time is worth something right? The cost to create a website varies wildly from a mere couple of dollars to several hundred thousand/million dollars. The larger cost being required for the larger and more complex websites out there.

The costs also can include more then just design of the website but that really depends on what you hired website creator to do. You can easily have the hired creator get everything on the site setup to your hearts desire. Then all you have to do is maintain the information once the site is running. Of course if something breaks, it will be your problem but you can’t plan for everything can you?

The second reason is vision. Sure you’ve got an idea, and not just an idea, a vision, a dream of a website so grand it puts the Kremlin¹⁷ to shame. You as the dreamer can easily hire someone else to build it. They’ll do it, heck you might even be able to do it at an affordable price. But when all is done, what you’ll see from your hired help is not your dream. Sure you told them everything down to the last detail, but what did they build? Their interpretation of your dream, it may even be close to what you want, but it will never ever be exactly what you want.

The trouble is that no person can convey their exact vision or dream to someone else. I mean a vision such as your website requires hard work, sweat, and tears to make it something truly grand. You just can’t expect the same level of devotion for your dream from the person you hired to build it. They have dreams too, and quite possibly they’ll include some of their vision in yours. So while your great dream may be close and may function mostly like you want it to, it will never be yours.

Of course those problems are the only real ones. No ones going to tell you that you can’t have someone else build your website. I mean who really wants to spend a few days or weeks setting something up that may become the next YouTube.

There you have it, the only three choices I am aware of when wanting to create a website without being a professional. Not a lot of choice, but oh some much work, well unless you pay someone else to do it. All three of these options have positives and negatives aspects and no single option can be the ultimate option but with a little time and effort you can build a website without ever coding a line of code.

References:

http://www.google.com Visited 3-30-2011; Search Term: Tutorial for website creation.
http://art.yale.edu/ Visited 3-29-11;
http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_intro.asp Visited 3-30-2011; article Introduction to HTML 5.
http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html Visited 3-30-2011;
http://www.google.com Visited: 3-30-2011; Search Term: HTML templates
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content_management_systems Visited: 3-30-2011
http://www.cmscritic.com/resource-lists/cms-list/ Visited: 3-30-2011;
http://coppermine-gallery.net/ Visited: 3-30-2011;
http://www.cmscritic.com/cms-consulting/ Visited: 3-30-2011; Article: CMS Consulting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harakiri_%28disambiguation%29 Visited 4-1-2011; Article: Harakiri (disambiguation)
http://www.answers.com/topic/website Visited 4-1-2011;
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/static Visited 4-1-2011; See definition 1.
http://www.javascriptkit.com/cutpastejava.shtml Visited 4-1-2011;
http://drupal.org/ Visited 4-1-2011;
http://e107.org/ Visited 4-1-2011;
http://www.google.com Visited 4-1-2011; Search Term: Drupal Themes
The Kremlin Photo Visited 4-1-2011;
http://www.hire-a-designer.com/ Visited 4-1-2011;