Battery Day

Lately, the batteries in my iPhone and MacBook Pro have been discharging rapidly. The iPhone is over five years old and the MacBook is over six years old, so I figured it was time to replace their original batteries.

Amazon sells replacement battery kits for $15 and $50 respectively. Both kits include all the tools required for the task.

I viewed how-to videos on YouTube. The only difficult part of the tasks seemed to be removing the old batteries, which were attached to the iPhone and MacBook cases with a two-sided tape-like adhesive. In the past, I've handled worse do-it-yourself computer tasks successfully, so I ordered the batteries from Amazon.

Saturday was Battery Day.

The iPhone battery replacement was not too bad. Working with the tiny screws with my 68-year-old eyes was the most difficult part of the task.

Removing the two-sided tape was a little tricky. You are supposed to grab the tape at one end of the battery and pull it out from under the battery, but the tape kept ripping in my fingers tips. I finally used a needle nose plier to get a good grip on the tape and pull it out.

The job took about 30 minutes from start to finish and was a success. The iPhone is now like new with regard to its battery discharge rate.

The MacBook Pro battery replacement was easier than I expected because the glue holding the battery to the computer case had dried out over the past six years and it did not take much prying with a small chisel to free the battery. It took about 45 minutes to do the job and like the iPhone, the MacBook Pro's battery discharge rate is like new now.

I would have completed the MacBook battery replacement more quickly except that I had a big surprise when I opened the case: dust all over the interior of the computer including large dustballs, as you can see in the photo above. It took an extra 10 to 15 minutes to remove all the dust before I screwed the cover back on to the MacBook case.

I was very pleased with the results. Besides saving money, I also saved time by avoiding a visit to the Apple store.

New Hardware

Source: Kansas Historical Society (http://www.kshs.org)

Two new pieces of hardware showed up at WA1LOU last week.

My sister gifted me with a C.Crane CCRadio 2E Enhanced AM/FM/WX/2-Meter Ham Band receiver.

I gifted myself with a MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013 laptop computer.

I plan to review both items here real soon now, but I will leave you with my most impressive impressions of both.

The AM radio part of the CCRadio 2E is outstanding and the MacBook Pro is fast!

Surfin’: Computers and the Internet -- A Backward Glance

This week, Surfin’ considers not taking things for granted. (On the eve of year 62 on the planet, I got very nostalgic while writing this column.)

Surfin’: Going Down

This week, Surfin’ considers the history of hardware prices.

Surfin': Radio Shack Historically Speaking

This week’s Surfin’ looks back on radio and electronic history via vintage Radio Shack catalogs.

Did you know that Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general? If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

remembering memory

Last week, I wrote here about how I bought a 1-Tbyte external hard drive for backup after I noticed how low the prices had dropped on external drives.

I also noticed that the prices of USB memory sticks had dropped considerably. Since I was in the market to replace my well-worn 1-Gbyte memory stick, I hit the "Add To Shipping Cart" button as soon as I saw an 8-Gbyte stick for $16 on Amazon last week. The stick arrived on Wednesday and I immediately put it to good use.

Back in 1978, I paid $599 for 16-kbyte of RAM for my Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I computer. Adjusted for inflation, that $599 would buy me 124 Tbytes of memory today! Amazing!

new external hard drive

Daily, Retrospect runs automatically to back up my Mac at 2 AM to two 160-Gbyte SmartDisk external hard drives. I inherited one of the drives, so I put it to work and on even days, Retrospect backs up to drive "A" and on odd days, to drive "B."

Problem is that some days, depending on what projects I am working on, Retrospect cannot do a backup because there is not enough space on Drive "A" or "B." When that occurs, I delete some of the project files from my Mac and when 2 AM rolls around, Retrospect can do its thing.

This occurs about once a week and has gotten old fast, so every once in awhile I consider buying a larger external hard drive. That once in awhile occurred again last week and when I checked online, I was amazed how low the prices for hard drives have fallen. So I bought one: a LaCie 1-Tbyte external hard drive that includes a slew of interfaces including Firewire 800, which is the interface I was after. (The SmartDisks only had Firewire 400, while my Mac supports both 400 and 800.)

The LaCie arrived yesterday and I connected it to my Mac last evening. When I made the connection, my Mac asked me if I wanted to use the new drive with Time Machine to do backup. I clicked positively and my Mac informed me that Time Machine would do a backup on the hour.

I finished some work, then went downstairs to clean the litter boxes and walk the Pies. After I finished my sanitation assignments, I returned to my Mac to see how the backup was going. A progress bar indicated that there were over one million files to backup and that Time Machine was about one-third of the way through.

The Harmonic phoned and I talked with her for a half hour or so, then I checked my Mac again. The progress bar was nearly at its end and less than a minute later, the progress bar disappeared and the initial backup was complete.

I was impressed! Firewire 800 is fast. I expected that the initial backup would take the better part of the evening, but I estimate that it took no more than 90 minutes.

By the way, the new hard drive (specifically a LaCie 301827U d2 Quadra) is soundly constructed and not much bigger than the SmartDisks. It includes a bundle of software that I have not explored yet.

Bad link in this week's Surfin': Skimming the Code

This week's Surfin', Skimming the Code, has a bad link, which may be fixed by the time you read this. If not, the bad link is the word "tutorial" in the last line of the third paragraph. The link should be http://www.dxatlas.com/CwSkimmer/Files/Skimmerintro.pdf

By the way, the link was OK when I wrote the column, but Murphy changed it in the meantime!

And one more thing, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Logging Online

In this week’s Surfin’, we consider Google Docs as an online Amateur Radio application. After you read that, come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Google Earth's Ionosphere

This week’s Surfin’ explores the Earth's ionosphere via Google Earth. After you read it, come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Upgrading Computers

In this week’s Surfin’, read about Web sites I found to load my new computer with Amateur Radio software. After you read it, come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

new mac

Over a year ago, I wrote about the defective LCD on my 17-inch Powerbook G4 1.67 GHz Mac.

Last count, there were over 100 vertical lines on the LCD. They did not pose a problem using text-based applications, but they did make graphic-based applications very hard on my eyes, so much so that I stopped using my Mac for those applications.

Meanwhile, I had been following the situation closely. I had become resigned to the fact that Apple seemed to be ignoring everyone with the defective LCD and that I was stuck with a bad apple.

My daughter felt my pain and decided to call Apple in late February to fight for my cause. After 90 minutes on the phone, Apple agreed to fix my Mac for the cost of labor, $325, which was a bargain since the replacement part alone cost about $1000. Next day, Apple sent me a box to ship my Mac to their Texas repair center and I sent it on its way.

Day after day, I checked the status of my computer online and day after day, the status was that the part was on order.

Tuesday, Apple called to tell me that the part was expected on Friday and if it arrived on schedule, I would have my Mac back on Monday.

I was pleased with the news.

The man from Apple then said that if Monday was not soon enough, they would ship me a brand new Mac that was equivalent to my defective one. The equivalent is the brand new 17-inch 2.5 GHz MacBook Pro with 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive. I jumped at the proposal; it is not often that someone offers me a $2800 computer for $325.

The new Mac arrived yesterday. Last night, I decompressed the backup files from my old Mac and began installing software.

I am still in shock over my good fortune!

OLPC XO comparison

This article compares the OLPC XO with its competition.

OLPC XO's mesh networking

This article explains how OLPC XO's mesh networking works.

Surfin': Do Wild Radio Waves Cause Air Disasters?

In this week’s Surfin’, read about a blog that reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly side of innovations from the past. Then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': VNA in Your Future

In this week’s Surfin’, discover how you can obtain an excellent piece of test gear for the ham shack. Then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Hacking the XO laptop

Here is an article about Hacking the XO laptop.

XO in Wolcott

I received an e-mail late last week that my XO computer would not be shipped until after the holidays and that I can expect delivery before January 15.

I was disappointed because I planned to give the XO to my wife, Laurie, as a Christmas gift. Laurie has never used a computer, but lately has expressed an interest, so I thought that the XO would be perfect for a novice like my wife (plus I could play with it when she wasn't playing with it).

Christmas Eve morning, Laurie was out doing some last minute Christmas shopping and I just came in from the cold after washing the crud from the recent snowstorms off my car. The Pie dogs started barking, which was a sure sign that someone had driven up our driveway. I went to see who arrived and it is Fedex delivering the XO! I was surprised and very happy.

I wrapped the XO's shipping box without opening its contents and gave it to my wife with other sundry gifts yesterday morning. She was very happy to receive her own computer, but we did not have much time to play with it because we had a full schedule ahead of us.
I did power up the XO to make sure it worked (and it does). The user interface is cool and the XO sees our home Wi-Fi network, so that is a good start.

In the next few days, I will get the XO on our Wi-Fi, check it all out more throroughly, and report my findings here.

XO Marks the Spot

Here is the deal of the century! Yeah, I know the century is not even 7 years old, but this is one of the best deals I've seen in a long time.

For a mere donation of $399, you can give a laptop computer to a child in a developing country, receive a second laptop for the child in your life, and get a $200 tax deduction! (This deal is only good in the US and Canada and ends on December 31.) The Give One Get One program is part of One Laptop per Child (OLPC), whose mission is to "empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child."

The laptop, known as the XO, includes a bundle of hardware and software features that make it a versatile computer and not just a toy. Since the XO runs on Linux, ham radio Linux applications can be run on it, too.

If you sign up for the Give One Get One program (like I did), you will help a child in a developing country join the computer age and you can give a laptop to a young ham to help him or her join the Amateur Radio computer age. If you need more convincing, read David Pogue's review in The New York Times and for more information, check out The OLPC Wiki.

(Thank you, Harv Nelson, AI9NL, of Harv's Hamshack Hack fame for cluing me into OLPC.)