There has been material change in my cnc build along with some design changes. The biggest change is that’ll I’ll be using a lot more steel. In fact, the machine now will be made nearly entirely of steel instead of Aluminum. The reasons for the switch from aluminum to steel has been price, the lack of local availability, and to live out the goal of making this a hardware store cnc.

Aluminum is a joy to work with. It drills and cuts easily, has a great finish, and is a light material...

I went to the mall with muh gf this Saturday for some low key shopping. During our mall adventures, we took a small detour to Game Stop. I had a few gift cards burning a hole in my pocket that I couldn't wait to get rid of. The first game I ran to was FFXII for the PS2. I couldn't wait any longer for XIII to come out for the 360. So I opted for the cheaper older version. It was only $20 and it was the collectors edition,,what a steal!!! For my next purchase I was undecided, it was a toss up...

OK, so I have found this blog thing. Not sure what it is or what it does? guess it is like an online journal where I can post IT related and interesting stuff about me? Im not sure who will read it and how people find it? lets find out!

Peel back my bark, slice me in two, and you'll find a cross-section of contrasting rings dating back to my childhood some twenty-four revolutions ago.

The ninth ring sees the definition become clear. The order, if you will. Without apparent causation, the chaotic, asymmetrical bands of life form a recognizable pattern of exponential growth.

This was the revolution of BASIC. The season in which I started programming.

Like many upstart programmers, I...

Greetings to my fellow Icrontians and fellow travelers.

What is open source software, you ask? Well, there is actually a very explicit definition and set of guidelines concerning that matter, but in general: open source software is software that is released either as complete source code or as a compiled executable with accompanying source code. In either case, the source code must be freely licensed for either personal or commercial use to whomever may wish to use it for whatever...

Ah its the day after Christmas! I am stuffed with ham and turkey, loaded down with eggnog and whats this? a version of 64bit Vista is sitting on my father desk?

" Dad! When did you get this? " I asked " I received it along with my original copy some year ago"


Too make a long story short I borrowed it to mess around a bit


I am new to 64bit computing, Yes I have had a 64bit CPU for years now but never messed with...

I just love getting those little post-office delivery tags at my door. Its just such an exciting experience no matter what it is.

You guessed it—I just received JRW21's X850XT in the mail! Well, it actually arrived a few days ago but I never found the time to get to the post-office. I also got a couple of other goodies including an old Maze 4 waterblock and some Zalman ramsinks that I'll be putting to good use.

JRW21's card is a Crossfire edition card produced...

Part 1


Well I didn’t finalize the design for the complete build like I wanted, but I did manage to get the table done. There should be any problems with nut and bolts getting in the way with each other. That actually is a little tougher than it sounds.

Scott, brought up some great concerns and solutions. Scot is a machinist by trade and I plan on bugging him time to time. Since I’m planning to use cold roll steel for rails, I’ll never be able to get...

Part 2

To make my life easier, and to keep prices down, I’ll be using 1/4th sized bolts and nuts of varying lengths. Almost all the holes on the table are 3/8th an inch from the edge. The big exceptions are the 4X1/4 pieces or aluminum bar that make up the table top. Their holes are towards the center and are 3/8th from the edge of the supporting angle aluminum underneath. I’ll also be using 8mm sized bolts for my bearings.
You may notice I have the angle for the rollers...

Icrontic is going to CES this year, as most of you know. We're hoping to meet new companies to partner with in hopes of securing more sweet review hardware, chat with our peers, and above all, report on the hottest new tech headed your way.

It's a daunting task. The convention is held in multiple buildings scattered around the Las Vegas Strip, plus companies tend to keep their best items tucked away in hotel suites for invite-only showings. You've gotta know people to see the cool...

I have been designing and drawing as long as I can remember. One thing I’ve lacked is the patience and skill needed to create them. Of all the things I’ve tried to create, I’ve failed 90% of the time. Usually the failures were do to a hard to make cut or simply trying to tackle that perfect curve of circle.

In a perfect world I would design it, a machinist would make it, and others would use it. Well I’ve yet to find a machinist that’ll live in my basement and work for...

Ive spent many late nights at MJA and last night was by far the best out of the three years Ive been here.

Step 1
Find yourself a good friend to hang with. Mine last night was Keebler

Step 2
Go pick up a six pack of beer. Keebs surprised me with a 6'er of Bells Oberon

Step 3
Hang with said friend and for the rest of the night, don't do any work, and sponge off of the clock.

Step 4
Clean up empties...

So I got some Christmas money, decided to buy GTA 4 on the PC with it. I'm not a typical obsessive fan of the series, but the technology implemented (most notably the Euphoria intelligence engine) had me excited in a way that only graphics and interactive technology can get this old geek.

I read that it was a bad port, performance sucked, glitches abound, DRM, ect. I, against my typical better judgement, shrugged it off. My system is powerful, I shouldn't have these problems....

I was recently asked for info on some of the sites that I use for travel. Since I compiled the info anyway, I figured I'd also post it here:

Hotwire for hotels and sometimes rental cars:
http://www.hotwire.com/
I have found hotwire useful for getting really cheap hotel deals (and sometimes cheap car rentals), such as $49 per night for a hotel that usually goes for $149 per night (and $16 per day for a car rental). The only caveat is that it doesn't tell you what hotel...

Back in the Dark Ages of computing, I used whatever mouse could be had for the cheapest price. Then one day I tried a Logitech mouse and that all changed. I never looked back to the bargain bin again.

When it came time to find a replacement mouse for my laptop about two years ago, I purchased the relatively new VX Revolution from Logitech. It used laser technology and wireless RF transmission, and a single AA battery gave me a year of almost daily use.

Last year at...

We're back in business. Our man JRW21 was kind enough to sell his X850XT to me for an awesome price—all in the interest of LUDICROUS SPEED. Thank you, sir. I will be putting it to very good use. Being a crossfire edition card, it was produced later than the original XTs. With any luck, the R480 core fabrication was refined by that point and it will overclock better than my Sapphire card.

While I'm waiting for JRW21's old X850 to arrive, I made some additional progress. I was able...

MacRumors is reporting that the end might be near for all of us Apple enthusiasts who are unable to upgrade to a fancy new intel mac. The latest build of OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" seeded to developers will make the Power PC emulation tool Rosetta an optional install. This feeds into the rumor that Snow Leopard will not be able to run on all of those G5's, G4's, or in my case G3's that we have here to fore been able to keep chugging along. Now granted, my 500 mhz G3 ibook is not the speediest...

Well folks, it looks like the Blackberry Storm is here to rain on your picture taking parade. A trip over to the Blackberry forums is revealing a problem with the camera application. Seems that if you want to do something crazy, like I don't know, use the camera, the RIM gods will not smile upon you. The iPhone killing 9500 will apparently re-map all the icons after your photo session, making it very difficult to email your mom those pictures of little Johnny. There does not seem to be a fix...

In Part 5, I finished my first vmod and managed to damage my X850 in the process. I always thought I'd ruin a card with a sloppy soldering job but my soldering job turned out to be quite good—it was the hot glue that I used to hold the job in place that was my issue. So, the big lesson to be learned here is: Never glue down your mod until you are sure it works. Trying to pick off the glue caused the solder pad to rip right out of the card and take a piece of a trace with it. I had a chance to...

In Part 4, I ran some baseline benchmarks and managed to squeeze into the top 10 with some high-end air cooling. Not too shabby! Last night, I warmed up the iron and started practicing.

I used an old ATI Rage 128 AGP graphics card to practice on. Seemed like the perfect testing platform as it had many small solder pads and some ICs similar to the X850. To my shock—it wasn't very hard to do at all. By my third attempt, I was able to make a really clean joint. It is amazing how easy...

In Part 3 I did some shopping and got the volt mod gear I need for my ludicrous overclocking adventure. In this fourth installment I'll be focusing on the test bench and my initial testing of the card.

I'm fortunate that I've got some spare components around that I use for reviews. Believe me, there is nothing worse than tearing apart your main rig every time you want to do some serious benchmarking. There is also something so satisfying about a real test bench. None of this sissy...

Well, I've made a lot of progress since my last installment—Part 2.

First and foremost, I've done some shopping! I can't exactly start to volt mod, or even obtain the detailed soldering skills I'll need for the work at hand without an iron.

I found a great electronics shop not too far from my place called "Active". Anyone looking for vmod gear in Canada need not look anywhere else. I picked up the following:

• Weller 25W Professional Iron
• Weller

...

Gaming the Final Frontier! The one aspect that can hold a mans attention that doesn't have boobs. yet the Men in charge of the gamin companies choose to charge an outrageous amount for games. They know better! I mean come on L4D is 49.99 on steam I refuse to pay 50 bucks of my hard earned cash on a game especially with this economic situation. I have bills and a kid to take care of. NOW id pay 35 no doubt and tons more people would but 50? thanks for sticking it too the little guy! I mean i know...

So I have been looking for a new job cause I hate my current one, though it looks like I have found a replacement. Currently I am working at Fry's Electronics selling computer hardware, which as a job is pretty nice if you love long nights and a sales job where you are commission based. But I have been working there for almost 3 years now, 2 years and 10 months almost exactly, and its so time for a change. I have seen all of the managers in the quit for better jobs as well as most of the other...

I gotta come clean. I think I jumped the gun when it came to recommending Cade shaving soap a while back. I'm extremely frustrated with it right now.

When you first start using it, the amount of lather you get off the puck is amazing. Soap clings to your brush and erupts into a wonderful lather that fills your saving bowl. It's awesome for the first few weeks. Then things go awry.

...