Started looking at Dropbox to sync all my files across all my PCs at work and home, but as I use Google Docs a lot, especially for Picasa photos, I googled around and came up with Insync that syncs all your Google Docs files to your devices. Genius!
Currently still in beta, but it’s free and so far has worked well for me.
Simply download, install, then allow it to sync with your Google account and then all your files start jumping into your local documents folder.
I ended 2011 with my attention grabbed by the Hackintosh idea; building a PC that can happily run Mac OS X.
I came across two methods; Kakewalk and Tonymac86. As Tonymac seemed to have the biggest community of the two I set about focusing on getting a PC based on one of their successful setups.
Since then, it has now turned out that I have two Hackintoshes in the house; the kitchen and work machine. The kitchen is a dual-boot Windows7/OS X running on an i3 mini-ITX build with onboard Intel HD3000 graphics meaning it has shrunk the space that the previous micro-ITX AMD machine took up in the kitchen cupboard, and the work machine is an i5 ATX with a 6850 graphics card.
Anyways, I’ve decided that from now on, all my PC builds will adhere to the Hackintosh standard so I can run any OS I like. I’ll be posting about my progress in the forum in the upcoming weeks.
UPDATE 30 Jan: Got 3 screens working on my work Hackintosh! Never thought triple displays would be so easy on an unofficial Mac build. Will post more details soon.
I get distracted from this site quite easily by other tasks such as work, cars, and DIY, so I haven’t been particularly active around here the past few months as I’ve been busy with other things. And unfortunately the registration on the forum is still locked as I need to fix the issue of spam attacks, but hopefully it will be open again in the coming weeks.
However, I’ve started 2012 with a thirst for Media Center refinement at home! My main system feeding the lounge has been in place now almost 5 years(!!) so it’s time to rejuvenate it.
The plan is to minimise the system completely by removing the bedroom Media Center and drive 4 screens in clone mode from one main Media Center; lounge TV/projector, bedroom & bathroom. We never use the systems independently so having a complete system just to occasionally run the bedroom TV is no longer a requirement. I have thought about moving all the equipment from the loft into the lounge, but I still like the idea of keeping all the mess up in the loft and having it up there keeps the cabling to all the displays fairly easy.
So keep an eye on the forum if you wish to join again, and I’ll be back with an update on the Media Center re-jig as it happens.
In recent weeks with the use of DVBLogic’s TVSource on my lounge PC Media Centre, I’ve decided to have the PC running 24/7, especially given that it also serves as a CCTV server. But having it running continuously also makes life with multiple Media Centers a lot easier as well; there is now a permanent archive of all all RecordedTV within the home accessible 24hrs a day, plus with TVSource, I’ve been streaming TV (Le Tour!) to watch while at work – all possible because I don’t turn the PC off anymore.
It’s also worked extremely reliably as a streaming server; watched 3.5hrs of live Tour de France each day for 2 weeks with only a few minor dropouts. Better than the ITV live stream service that drops out every 5 minutes, Grrrrrrr.
Also makes it easy waking up at the weekend and being lazy and staying in bed catching up with recorded shows throughout the week on the bedroom Media Centre.
Shoulda’ left it permanently on 5 years ago when starting my Media Center House!
Things have been a bit quiet around this site for the past 6 months or so; that’s mainly because I’ve had other commitments happening to occupy my time.
However I am keen to update and modernise(!) the Media Centre systems in the house, especially to add CCTV coverage of the home (in case someone dumps my dog in my wheelie bin!) and a very low-power always-on server for that purpose as well as to also archive RecordedTV, to move from DVB-S to DVB-T2 and finally experiment with apps as system control rather than dedicated remote control hardware…
So there’s a list to keep me going for a while.
My system of Media Centers have been running my house now for over 5 years, however technology has moved on (namely mobile devices and apps!), so I want to start looking at streamlining my system mainly for power efficiency and ease-of-maintenance.
I feel I have no need for a tower PC with 600w PSU based in the attic just to run the lounge TV; it all seems a bit overkill now that atom based pcs that can attach to the back of your TV and use about a quarter of power AND be locally based in the same room making maintenance a lot easier.
For example: I rely on wireless relays to control the PCs power buttons etc, but you can just as easily download a free app onto your phone and control them with WOL. So why bother with all the relays any more?
Time for some changin’!
After buying DVB-S cards for the Media Centers in the house so I could get FTA HD channels, it’s somewhat annoyed me that BBC have now decided to move over to DVB-S2 in the past weeks. That means that for all but one tuner in the lounge PC, I am HD-less
Equally annoying is that when I had my terrestrial aerial put up 5 years I pointed to the Waltham transmitter as it gave the best DVB-T signal at the time, however in I’ve just looked at ukfree.tv and see that not only is Sandy Heath the more powerful transmitter that covers my area, but it’s been transmitting Freeview HD over DVB-T2 since increasing its signal strength 7 fold in April! Now I have to do a Rod Hull and climb on my roof to turn the damn thing around.
So as Media Center has a better guide under freeview than freesat, I’m going to make the jump back to terrestrial.
Only now I just have to find some DVB-T2 cards…
Thought I’d tidy up the masthead images on this site with new PNGs rather than the old bloated JPGs.
Makes it easier to title new pages and also has created a white glow as opposed to the old black drop-shadow. Notice any diference? Thought not! Oh, except it seems people on IE6 (come on, upgrade!!!) don’t see PNGs rendered properly so I’ve had to implement a CSS hack to workaround it.
Old:
New:
I got a Logitech Driving Force Pro steering wheel as a Christmas present from the wife a couple of years ago but some of the buttons on the wheel didn’t work. It was off Amazon’s Marketplace and the important stuff worked (force feedback, pedals etc) so I got lazy and never sent it back.
It’s annoyed me long enough so I spent a few hours Sunday afternoon pulling it apart and staring at a load of circuit board and wiring, er…
I persevered with it and took the front off the wheel itself to expose the buttons and lo, the circuit board that the buttons sit on and that links them to the main body of the wheel was cracked. So I spent about an hour soldering small bits of wire to the jumpers effectively relinking the broken circuit, bunged it all back together and it all worked!
I felt thoroughly smug with my achievement. Photos and a brief explanation will follow in the forum.
Needed to update my WordPress to the latest 3.01 and tried the Updater Plugin.
Worked brilliantly!
