Recently I began having trouble with my machine going to sleep and while awake spinning down hard drives.  Waiting for drives to spin back up when changing tabs in Firefox and trying to remote desktop and vnc into an asleep machine got old very quickly. What was maddening was that the power profiles under the control panel were configured to not do either of these.

Browsing some forums, at least one other person started having this issue after install an update for .NET 2.0, and although this might do it I am pretty sure this can happen for other reasons as well.

What is happening is that the registry entry that tells the system what power profile to use is not being updated when you save the settings in the control panel.  Here is how to fix it.

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While Bose may have a reputation for innovation in the audio world, they also have a reputation for failure in the automotive world.  I will be documenting my experiences in restoring a Bose system in a 1990 Nissan 300zx 2+2. Much of this information will be applicable to other Bose automotive systems in Nissans, Infiniti’s, and other makes. I have gleaned information from sources relating to Corvettes and Infiniti Q’s. This has provided me a start in the restoration.

Background:

This website provides a good detail of Bose systems found in the 300zx family of cars.

Z Max Stystems Bose Page

Here are the high points:

• Bose automotive systems use individual amplifiers for each speaker.
• The amplfier/driver/enclosure are all tuned to each other (as they should be) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiele/Small
• The amplifier gain, equalization and compression are all changed based on what car the speaker is located in, where the speaker is located in the car, and it is rumored that even cloth/leather trims are considered.

Root of the problem:

That being said, it is common for these complex systems to fail.  The most common problem is capacitor failure. Much of the blame can be put on Bose for attempting to save a couple cents, opting for capacitors with a 16v tolerance. Now, a typical car circuit works on 12v (12v battery up front, right?). However, when the car is on, the alternator typically brings the voltage up into the 14-15v range. Getting awful close to that 16v break down voltage, huh? There are additional stresses that can be caused by jump-starting as well. While a higher break down tolerance may have helped most problems, the truth about electrolytic capacitors is that they can deteriorate in time, lowering the breakdown voltage. Let’s not forget the stress that all the bumping around can cause. Also moisture in the air, hot and cold… It’s really a miracle that more car stereos aren’t broken.

Solutions to the problem :

• Buying New/Used Bose

Its still possible to purchase speaker/amp modules from Bose. They charge $140 a pop for a new unit. For a lot of people, this may be a solid option if convenience outweighs cost. You know for sure you’ll get a working unit that is up to factory spec. There are also amps that come up on ebay that have been used or are refurbished. One must be careful they are getting the EXACT replacement for their make/model/year/trim/speaker position.  Other amps may work, but they won’t be matched as they were from the factory.

• Repair

For those who want to spend the least amount of money, this is the option. 20 bucks, one can purchase replacement capacitors for all of the amps in their car. However, some mechanical know-how, soldering skills, and time are the trade off. Some sources also claim that the performance will not be as good as new amps, however, I contest that IC’s, inductors, and ceramic capacitors don’t deteriorate like electrolytic caps, so upon replacement, the unit should work like new.

• Aftermarket Replacement

This option has the advantage that sound quality can be improved (ie louder), modern equipment can be used (cd/dvd/nav systems) and other personal touches can be added. However, this means a non-stock headunit, which leads to two things: thieves like stereos and new headunits won’t match your interior. Also, all speakers must be replaced. Bose uses speakers whose DCR is <2 ohms. Most amps (and no head units I’ve ever seen) cannot run these speakers.

Personally, repair is what avenue I have chosen. For an heirloom car like a 1990 300zx in great condition, having the stock system is a definite plus. I’ve had a loud bumping system before, but the cleanness of a stock system is nice, especially in a small car like a 300zx. Not to mention, there are some weight savings to be had over a large system!  The notes below should help anyone trying to restore their 300zx or any early 90’s car equipped with a Bose system.

Pages:

• Center Speaker Repair

There exist guides innumerable for this, but I recently went through this somewhat of a hassle and figured more documentation certainly wouldn’t hurt the situation. This is for a server located at trac.yourdomain.tld with multiple projects located in the the folders trac.yourdomain.tld/projectname1, trac.yourdomain.tld/projectname2.

Replace $projectnameX with your project’s name. Use the defaults for the trac-admin installer, except where it asks for your SVN Repository folder.

# apt-get install subversion libapache2-svn trac
# mkdir -p /var/local/svn/$projectname1
# mkdir -p /var/local/trac/$projectname1
# mkdir -p /var/local/svn/$projectname2
# mkdir -p /var/local/trac/$projectname2
# svnadmin create --fs-type fsfs /var/local/svn/$projectname1
# svnadmin create --fs-type fsfs /var/local/svn/$projectname2

# trac-admin /var/local/trac/$projectname1 initenv
# trac-admin /var/local/trac/$projectname2 initenv

# htpasswd -c /var/local/svn/$projectname1/conf/passwd $proj1username
# htpasswd -c /var/local/svn/$projectname2/conf/passwd $proj2username

//Additional users
# htpasswd /var/local/svn/$projectnameX/conf/passwd $addUser

Next, we need to configure Apache, this assumes you have SSL on port 443 configured. If not, you can just run over port 80 without the redirect.

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As a note to myself and any other DDWRT-wielding Namecheap subscribers, the correct format for the dynamic DNS setup page is this:

• DDNS Service: Custom
• DDNS Server: dynamicdns.park-your-domain.com
• Username: makesomethingup
• Password: [your really long Namecheap DDNS password (click the Dynamic DNS button on the left side of the Namecheap management page to grab it) - this isn't your Namecheap account password!]
• Hostname: mythirdleveldomain -a my2ndthirdleveldomain -a my3rdthirdleveldomain
• Url: /update?domain=mydomain.net&password=lotsofnumbers&host=

Keep the url blank after host! You can also set the update interval to 1 (updates everyday). Click Apply Settings and watch it go!

Edit: I recently found that the -a parameter in the hostname field allows multiple host updates.

I found myself always wanting to trade albums with others. However, this can become time consuming and difficult to arrange. A solution I found was to use Google’s Gmail as a server to hold albums and others could download them. An application has been developed to facilitate easy file transfer, called Gspace. This post is meant to be a guide on joining the Musictide community that has been established on Gspace. It will outline the software installations needed, how to receive emails when others upload albums, and how to send emails once you have uploaded an album.

Get Gspace running:

Step 1) Get firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Step 2) Get Gspace: http://www.getgspace.com/

Step 3) Make sure everything is installed and updated etc. If you click on the “tools” drop-down in firefox, there should be an item called “Gspace” in that menu.

Step 4) Login. Go to http://www.gmail.com/
Ask the person who referred you for the login and password.

Step 5) Use Gspace. Click Tools>Gspace. Wait a few seconds and it should log you on. You should see a bunch of files and folders appear on the right. These are all of the files hosted by gmail. On the left is your computer. Use the arrows in the middle to move files from your computer to Gspace or from Gspace to your computer.

Adding Yourself to the “Upload Updates” email List:

This is a list of Gspace users. It is used to notify everyone when an album has been uploaded.

Step 1) Go to Gmail

Step 2) Click “Contacts” on the left.

Step 3) Click “Upload Update” in the first pane.

Step 4) Click the “+ person” icon above the pane.

Step 5) Add your info to the right pane. (Include email address and alias at the least)

Uploading an Album:

Step 1) Find the folder. You can navigate the folders in the left pane of Gspace, or click “Browse” above this pane.

Step 2) Prepare for upload. Select the folder in the left pane (your computer). Make sure you are in the root Gspace directory (the one with all of the folders)

Step 3) Begin the transfer. Click the Right Arrow between the two panes. You can see the status of each file as it uploads in the bottom pane.

Step 4) Contact the masses. Once all files have successfully uploaded, go to the normal Gmail page (if you’ve followed these directions, there should be a tab open in firefox with the normal Gmail page).

Step 5) Find the list. Click “Contacts” on the left of the page. Click “Upload Update” in the left pane. Click “select:All” at the bottom of the middle pane. Finally, click “Email” in the right pane.

Step 6) Compose the Email. It’s suggested that you put:

• Name of folder on Gspace (usually album title)
• Name of artist
• Your name/alias
• Possibly some info about the artist/album.

This might sound complicated, but you’ll get the hang of it very quickly.

Out of necessity and a fair bit a curiosity, I created this script to import our old Cutenews database into Wordpress using the Wordpress Extended RSS file format.

***BEFORE YOU START: MAKE A COPY OF YOUR CUTENEWS FOLDER AND RUN THIS SCRIPT ON THE COPY OR BE READY TO RESTORE FROM A BACKUP***

First, change your date format in Cutenews to “Y-m-d H:i:s” in the Options, System Configuration, News menu. The time format for comments should also be “Y-m-d H:i:s”.

Make sure:

• “Show comments when showing full story” is set to Yes.
• “Full story in pop-up” is set to no.
• “Show full story when showing comments” should be set to Yes.
• Disable all character limits.

Now, make a copy of your Cutenews database file (./cutenews/data/news.txt) to your desktop, open up the file in a plain text editor (my favorite is Notepad2), and strip it down to a comma separated list of the 10-digit id numbers (e.g. 1099442233, 123002233, etc.).

Next, open up  wp_export.php on your desktop with a plain text editor, and copy your comma separated values from the file you just recently edited in the brackets between $id_array = array ( and ). You need to delete the old values in this file and fill it with your own.

Finally, upload your modified wp_export.php and the other files in the .zip to your Cutenews directory.

Now run the script by typing it into your browser (e.g. http://mysite.com/cutenews/wp_export.php). Save the output (the source) as an .xml file and import this file in wordpress like you would a Wordpress export file.

Future versions of the script will automate the $id_array creation process. I just didn’t have time yet.

Download Cutenews to wordpress

Have some old hardware lying around? Odds are you do – and it’s not being put to good use. You’re also probably stuck behind a consumer-level router that’s not doing your broadband Internet connection much justice.

You might not have thought about it before, but that router is a special-purpose computer. It might even be running a flavor of Linux. But in the quest for profit (and ease of use, as we’ll see) the power of your regular router is without-a-doubt inferior to even Pentium II era hardware.

Read on to learn how the Debian Linux distribution can easily be turned into a Linux router in matter of a few hours.