DogHouse

I had to give up in the Linksys WPC54G PCMCIA card and dig out the D-link DWLG730AP router/AP/client device that connects to the Ethernet port.  The I did a alternate Xubuntu install of Intrepid 8.10.  Then I used Synaptic to give me a regular Gnome install.  The last bit was to get all the Medibuntu goodness.

 I then had to load Puppy Linux as a live cd and replace the crap Ubuntu xorg.conf file with the Puppy Linux xorg.conf file.  Puppy would run the WPC54G card with no ndiswrapper and detected all my hardware to a Tee and Ubuntu did none of that.  If I could have gotten Puppy to boot directly from the hard drive I would have kept it as my distro.  I tried and tried but no joy there.  Maybe some day Puppy will do it all. 

Ubuntu Linux with it’s millions of dollars from Mark Shuttleworth and millions of hours of work from the open source community couldn’t do what a "dood" working out of his basement could do.  Make this work.  That’s all anyone is asking of Linux. Load it, run it, get work done with it. That’s all.

My old Toshiba Satellite 1805-S254 has 256 meg DDR PC133 memory and a 20 gig hard drive.  The processor is a 996Mhz Pentium III processor.  The screen is a beautiful active matrix 15 incher, but the graphics card only supports 1024x796 @ 60Hz.

It has a floppy drive, a DVD/CD rom, and video out/monitor out ports. I was able to bump the RAM to 512, which is the max supportable, and really did not see much of an improvement.

Ubuntu/Kubuntu 8.10 Intrepid would not install without hanging.  OpenSuse 11.1 installed but I could not get the LinkSys WPC54G v2 to work.  I could not get the D-Link DWLG730AP to work either.  Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 LTS installed but would not communicate with the wireless devices. I could not access the D-link with a request to: http://192.168.0.30/.  The wireless devices both work on WinXP and they both work with Puppy Linux.

If I could get PuppyLinux to install and run off the hard drive I would be happy.  Alas, the install always wants the Live CD.  OMFG,WTF???   I’ll find a distro that works with both of my wireless devices and will install properly on the hard drive.

I typed this on Puppy through the Ethernet card through the D-link DWLG730AP through the T-Mobile wireless router through an Ethernet switch and finally through the Westell DSL router.  

Laters, 

Facebook

Pretty cool.

This afternoon I cracked open the 2009 Yamaha Zuma 125 and did the ZumaLights wiring harness install to have both headlights on at the same time.  From the factory the Z125 has on light on for dim and and one light on for bright.  It looks stupid to me.  I could foresee a Memphis Police Officer pulling me over for having a headlight out.

While I had the front legshield off I decided to install a Stebel Nautilus air horn.  Loud horns save lives. I hope.

The instructions that came with the ZumaLights wiring harness were excellent.  They informed me which tool to use with each step. Then I just had to unsnap the factory harness with the ZumaLights harness.  A very simple modification.

The Stebel horn install was another deal.  The instructions I received were photocopied on a copy machine that needed service.  Also, the second page was missing.  I am familiar with a standard auto relay with 86,86,30, and 85 blade poles so I knew where to put which wires, where.

I removed the little roadrunner beep-beep horn and attached its leads to 86 and 87.  then I had to run a power wire from the battery to blade 30 through an in line fuse.  As luck would have it, there is a square hole under the scooter skid plate .  I pushed the wire through a channel up to the horn relay then I was able to push the other end back under the battery compartment.  The pictures tell the story better.  Then I had to find a good ground and connect it to the negative side of the horn. Then a wire goes from 85 to the positive side of the horn.

The horn is air powered, two tones (high and low), and big. I had to bend some relay mounts out of the way and wedge it behind a strut that the front of the legshield mounts to.  I used electrical wire ties to hold it in place.  That is not an optimal solution but it seems to work.  Re assembly of the front panel was a snap.  I left the awkward looking bar that goes around the headlights off. I think it makes for a cleaner look.

I had two to attend last night.

… and came home with the TMax.

The Yamaha C3 mirrors are going to be a great enhancement but I have to remove the windscreen I installed yesterday to swap out the mirrors. I guess I’ll do the mirror swap on Saturday. I guess I’d better stay away from the Yamaha dealership for a while. Cheers, Art