Jump to content

And now what did you do TODAY?


morphsci

Recommended Posts

It makes anything you connect one to a Roon endpoint. The one in the photo is sitting on and connected via USB to my DacMagic Plus. It is also connected wirelessly to my network (or you can leave it wired). Roon sees it when it is turned on because of the Ropiee software (Linux running Roon Bridge). It is a single purpose  network appliance so I do not have to mess around with Linux per se. RopieeXL can also be used for DLNA, airplay and Spotify.

Edit: But Ric's video makes a much more compelling case.

Edited by morphsci
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Fitz said:

I think it can also integrate with the Rockwell retro encabulator, if you wanted to tie that into your system as well.

Well There was the original Turbo Encabulator

 

The Chrysler Version

 

Then Rockwell enhanced it to make the Retro Encabulator

And nowadays there's a Micro Encabulator

End the misery of side fumbling forever!

Edited by Grahame
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

New fans came earlier than expected, so I installed them in the case and got some initial fan curves setup. Two 140mm intakes in front and one 120mm exhaust in back (and changed the cpu cooler fan to match)

1430803087_NewPC2.thumb.png.66417c0a6bcfda643e5a300a57f70f61.png

650701632_NewPC3.thumb.png.10719adb41cbc93ffe4c28cdd979d4d5.png

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We got hit by a major storm last night.  Power was out for over 6 hours.  10 minutes after 8 until well past 2AM.  I had all sorts of fun issues during it.  My iPhone refused to connect to my laptop.  I had a lightning cable handy and when I connected them, the iPhone went nuts spamming "trust this device" confirmation popups.  The problem was that it the popups disappeared immediately and wouldn't let me click on any of them.  It also made a chime noise every time a popup appeared, which quickly wore away at my already fraying sanity.  Weirdly, the two devices did pair wirelessly and I was able to get on the internets, sort of.  I checked my electric company's website and they had a handy map showing my house smack dab in the middle of it.  There was a crew assigned, but the estimated time of power restoration was noon *today.*  

After half an hour of staring at slow internet on my phone/laptop pair, I had enough.  I found my car keys, wallet, etc. (keep in mind I have not left my property in over 8 weeks at this point) and fired up the Fit.  I have a "Battery Tender" trickle charger, so the Fit's battery (notoriously fickle) was full.  I had also put air in the tires (which go soft after sitting for prolonged periods of time) two days ago.  Happily, the engine started right up and purred like a 1.5L kitten.  I got halfway down my street when I realized that I was only hearing music out of one set of speakers.  I cursed, futzed with the cable, caused all sorts of ear shredding static to pop out of the speakers, but could not get actual music in both channels.  I cursed further and drove back home.  By flashlight, I located a spare 1/8" to 1/8" cable.  The one I'd been using was in service constantly from late 2013, so it didn't really owe me anything.  New cable found, I went back out to the Fit and installed it.  Yay, music in both channels!

I drove around my town and saw exactly what I expected.  Other than my immediate area, everyone had power.  This has been the story living here for 20 years.  I went to a near-ish ATM and checked my bank balance.  Not terrible.  Funny thing, I haven't been spending much money apart from regular bills in the last 2 months.  Not sure why.  I got through the better part of X-Dream's landmark 1998 album Radio before I got bored.  I also charged the iPhone a bit.  I got back home and of course the power was still out.

I was headed back in the house when a giant electric company truck went down my street.  It had a bright AF searchlight on the roof and was scanning the wires.  "Looking for the electricity" as a friend of mine described it.  Depressingly, the went all the way down my street without stopping.  I once again sat in my comfy chair with a couple candles lit and did some IP-over-telephone browsing.  I took a nap earlier, hoping to sleep through the blackout.  I didn't, but I was wide awake as a result. 

Sometime after 2AM, the power came back on.  As it always does, it arrived with a surge.  I've been through this before many times in the last two decades, so I have a small army of surge protectors.  There's a whole house unit with a very low (that's better) clamping voltage that cost me a pretty penny.  I also have 3 UPSes and countless power strip form factor surge protectors.  Well, once of the devices NOT connected to a power strip was the PSU for my ca. 2001 class compliant (doesn't require drivers) USB audio interface.  Of course, it died.  It was only my laziness and ineptitude that kept it from being plugged into a power strip.

Much foul language and rummaging later, I found a spare USB audio "interface."  It's a Blue Icicle I bought off ...some Head-Caser around a decade ago.  I never used it other than to test it.  It plugged in and lit up, but Windows refused to recognize it.  A google search later, I found an amazingly helpful YouTube video from a British fella who found out that some Hercules drives from 2009(!) called Hercules_2009_GMXLPLT3_2_Win7 worked with the Icicle with both Windows 8.1 and 10.  

There were a couple other casualties.  The batter for  the APC UPS I have powering my network hardware (essential) gave up the ghost.  I need to order a replacement, which is a nontrivial task in the best of times.  I also had some weird issues with a few other devices.  I'm going to have to carefully test a bunch of shit over the next week or so.  This weekend has gotten off to an amazing start.

Obviously, I didn't do my radio show last night.  To be honest, I'm not sure I'm going to do it tonight, either.  After last night's debalce, I'm just not in the mood.  I think I'm going to go outside and clear brush.

  • Like 1
  • Sad 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This morning I put the final touch on the silverware chest that Steve and I have been building by installing the insert that holds our silverware set. I bought it from Rockler and designed the chest around it. I'm proud of the chest and think it is beautiful even though it is not completely perfect in every way, and I certainly never could have done it without Steve.

We made the chest from a single large board of jatoba wood and it turned out to have some twists and warps that were a bear to manage. Also, it has high mitered corners and my design idea was to wrap the grain from the left side, across the front and continue onto the right side. The lid is also mostly a single piece with sides formed by the sides of the box and an ebony border around the insert. It was by far the most complicated thing I have ever attempted and Steve claims the same for himself.

I am going to post a bunch of pictures of the finished product, but not the blow by blow building shots as I did with the dining table from last month. I don't want to bore everyone and I don't have many photos anyway. The only two parts that I am going to highlight are the lid and the horizontal routing we did to make an ebony inlay on the edge of the drawer opening (which covered a mistake we made earlier). The lid piece was too big for my router so I had to build a router sled and route it that way. The first pic shows the setup with a dummy board, the second the jatoba board while being routed, and the third pic down shows the board after routing and a first sanding. It was a cool exercise.

IMG_0284.thumb.jpg.0ab27cc1f94fefcaac985786515f47d3.jpgIMG_0303.thumb.jpg.a9cbafa0d3d1bd010c07ca52c05dc019.jpgIMG_0309.thumb.jpg.8936a109d078efc01fac4c1a99dde4e5.jpg

The horizontal routing was done on the router table Steve and I built, which can be tipped 90 degrees so that the bit extends outward horizontally, duh, and allows for tenons to be cut precisely. It worked great to make a slot for the ebony insert that is exposed when the drawer is pulled out.

IMG_0365.thumb.jpg.0056d002d42f992b55f25e7c260ba85b.jpgIMG_0364.thumb.jpg.d44afd305c834dedbe48034ed5c28110.jpgIMG_0367.thumb.jpg.5056ddb985a7073c8171f61d5b994ea6.jpg

Lastly, here is the box when we glued it up with the lid still part of the box. Steve's plan all along was to build it this way and then cut off the lid an inch down from the top so that it would fit together with the box perfectly. It worked to an extent, but the twists and warps in the wood made it much more difficult to accomplish and not quite "perfect."

IMG_0397.thumb.jpg.ce59913753d6cb14b2d9fe17e4db0076.jpgIMG_0398.thumb.jpg.98e68412e429ae5fcc051dc6e2cce9f8.jpg

So, the rest of the pics are just the chest in some detail to show the continuous grain wrapping around the three sides, and the ebony accents and the handles that we made from ebony as well. It was anxiety inducing and I definitely lost sleep along the way (covid is to blame as well), but the results are pretty fabulous imho.

DSC01344.thumb.jpg.09c9bb94b752158448efd2fae9177d5d.jpg

DSC01352.thumb.jpg.5c1a35d64f82e3d58bc02ffc06f4683b.jpg

DSC01364.thumb.jpg.79d3357c975f6db4f543f9c034cb4bf2.jpg

DSC01351.thumb.jpg.27fb87427a281a9a6914afd932e55a22.jpg

DSC01358.thumb.jpg.1090bb6ed0b122bec27cee060e3646fc.jpg

DSC01359.thumb.jpg.f7f2e4d3ad7f54d1cbb86a78081c15aa.jpg

DSC01342.thumb.jpg.280a19a439e817d4497482aeaf690053.jpg

DSC01349.thumb.jpg.2861064b58c4829a93b9fb5d623f1d9a.jpg

  • Like 20
  • Thanks 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.