Check One Off My List

There are many things I want to do before I shuffle off this mortal coil. Some examples...I want to see Australia by train, I want to sail the inside passage to Alaska, I want to learn to fly, I want to own a classic convertible automobile, I want my own home theater (I'm working on that one as you well know). So far, fairly normal. Then we come to one of the more offbeat ones. I've always wanted my own soda vending machine. Well, I can now check that one off!

I just purchased, at auction, an early sixties Vendo V63 unit, in Pepsi colors. This one is the smallest of the vending machines Vendo made in those years. It has seven flavors, and can hold nine cans per flavor...hence the "63" in the model number. Pictures are at the end of this post.

Now, I'll answer the questions I get in the usual order.

What did you pay for it? $160, plus a normal buyers premium from the auction house.

Does it work? Yes, it does. Well, in the most important ways, yes it does. The coin-op unit is original to the machine as far as I can tell, and needs a bit of TLC to fully function. However, you can put coins in and operate the dispensing mechanism. It needs some cleaning inside, and bit of general repair. However, when you plug it in, the compressor purrs like a kitten, the unit cools inside very quickly and shuts off like it should, and it holds the cold for quite a while before the compressor has to run again. All the pieces which are expensive to fix work very well.

What are you going to do with it? Restore the outside to something resembling its original colors and condition, recondition/replace the insides so everything works reliably, then put it in my home theater, stock it with soda and beer, and use the snot out of it! Duh. *grins*

Are you going to charge people or make it free? The jury is still out on that one, however I'm leaning towards setting it up to charge 10 or 25 cents, and making the appropriate coinage available to anyone that wants a cold drink. There is something visceral for me in the act of depositing money and letting the unit operate as it has for the forty-something years since its birth. From my research online, that amount of money is pretty close to what a can of soda would have cost from the 1960s to the 1970s as well.

So, here I go...embarking on another of my projects, although this one is a bit more mechanical in nature than some of my tech projects. But hey, it's always good to get your overalls on, roll up your sleeves, and tackle something with a screwdriver, a pair of pliers and some good old elbow grease. Wish me luck, and I'll keep y'all posted on my progress!

Sundown, Out.

There she is! I don't like the black. I think it will end up Pepsi blue.	Inside the service door. It's missing the coin box, but that's easy to get.
Dispensing systems don't get much easier than gravity!

First Batch of Work Photos

I promised to post some pictures from my recent absence from the blog. I have created a web album in Picasa for those, with captions.

The pictures are from the day that all the server racks and cooling system for the data center were delivered in July. The finish work on the 800 sq. ft. room had just been completed the day before, and this was the last time it would ever be empty. The data center has changed a LOT since then, with the addition of more than forty servers, networking equipment, radio gear, cooling, UPS, etc. I'm taking more pictures now as the room is getting the finishing touches put on. The in-between time wasn't terribly interesting, however the results I hope will be.

This was a HUGE undertaking for me, both personally and professionally. This is the single-most complicated technological system I've ever been responsible for, and it had to be done right as we were only going to get one shot at it. Given the three-plus years I have devoted to it, I think the data center and the building as a whole technological system turned out very well, and everyone seems happy with how the project has went.

It was also a struggle personally, as it took so much of my brain to keep up with the project, my personal life suffered greatly...as you all had surely guessed given my five-month absence. ESM is very glad to have me back, after being the "IT Widow" again. And, I'm very happy to also be back. It feels as though a thick blanket has been taken off of my head, and I can suddenly see and breathe again. I have to say it has been one of the nicest early Christmas presents I've ever gotten.

Anyway, enjoy the photos and rest assured I have more that I will be sharing.

Work Intruding

I just realized it's been almost a month since I've posted anything! Time flies, and all that crap.

I am working on a big project at work, that I'm sure you'll remember my mentioning. This has been taking most of my time lately, and causing very little to get done in my personal life, hence my absence from the blog.

I don't tend to talk about work much, as I try to keep that side of my life as separated from the personal side as possible. I'm not ashamed of what I do, far from it. However, I do have a strong sense of self-preservation. If I do not actively work at keeping the two sides of my life separate, my work life would very quickly take over everything. If that were to happen, my Everlasting SoulMate would decisively put that right, or my rear-end would be sleeping in the garage, which come to think of it would ALSO quickly put things right! So, rather than deal with that scenario, I try my best to keep a handle on things.

However, this particular project is big enough that it takes a lot of my brain cycles to keep up with. I work for a municipal government, in the I.T. department. My title, while important, has very little to do with my job, as I wear many hats in the organization. The hat that is on my noggin' most of the time lately is "Project Manager." You see, the municipality I work for is currently building a new police facility. The one they currently have is very old (30 years+) and way too small for the number of folks it is currently housing. As an I.T. project manager, I am in charge of making sure all the low-voltage infrastructure (read: cabling) and other technology going into the building meets our standards and is done per our plan for the project. Not a small job, when the building is over 50,000 sq. ft. and one of the new spaces in the building is the first true data center we've ever had.

Ever since I was hired, our facilities to house servers, networks and such for our various buildings have been glorified broom closets. Even when our city hall building was built eight years ago, the original data room for it ended up getting carved up to fill other needs. So, we were left with a room that was only adequate then and even with remodeling it several times, it is woefully undersized today, both in terms of space and in terms of power and cooling. A familiar story, if you happen to work in I.T.

The new data center going in the new police building is much larger, has significantly more rack space, has the proper infrastructure for cooling and power, and includes room to grow. And it has been one of my primary responsibilities since this project began two and a half years ago.

Was it easy to do? Absolutely not! I have had to fight tooth-and-nail at times to make sure this data center stayed in the project through the inevitable "value-engineering" that has been done to decrease the cost of the building. However, in the end it is finally coming to life.

My other primary responsibility has been to make sure the rest of the technology infrastructure going into the facility is up to the task. Our police department has always tried to remain on the leading edge of technology, and this facility is no exception. This will easily be the most complex technological project I've ever been involved with. To give a small example, there are over 80 surveillance cameras going in to this one building.

The project is nearing completion, and we're getting down to crunch-time on all the technology that is going in. This is both very exciting, and extremely stressful. See, I am not only responsible for the design of all this, I am the lead installer for all the network infrastructure equipment as well. So in the next few weeks, I will be installing the new network for the facility and going through testing and commissioning. ESM jokes that she will be an I.T. "widow" again for a bit until I am finished. However, she has lived through this with me before, so she knows what to expect.

I have been manager for two previous building projects in my current position. And, I am also working on the planning and designs for a fourth facility that just broke ground a month or two ago. Nothing like two buildings being built simultaneously to keep you hopping! That, on top of my normal workload, has been relentlessly trying to turn my brains to mush for over a year now.

As I have told people who have asked about my job lately, "At least I'm employed!" *grin*

The data center is not much more than an empty room right now, however I will be sure to post more pictures as it gets equipment installed and becomes more interesting to look at.

-- Sundown, Out

Another Geek Side-Project - Part Two

Well, this didn't quite work out like I figured.

After loading Windows Home Server on the former Mini Google, I started to do some testing with the box. I found that it was actually a bit slower than my current Linux server. Not bad, but definitely slower, especially in file copying. I had half-way expected that, since the former Mini Google would only take ATA-100 IDE hard drives and the drives in my Linux box are SATA-300. That's a huge jump in terms of speed and bandwidth.

So, after doing all the work, I find that I do not currently have a use for that server. Again, not a big deal. Geeks (or maybe just me [grin!]) will sometimes work on things they ultimately have no use for, just to see if they can fix/build whatever it is. This looks to be, somewhat unintentionally, one of those times.

If anyone out there is interested in the box, and willing to pay the shipping, I'd be happy to work out a deal. The only thing that changed since my last post was I swapped out the 120GB IDE hard drive for a 40GB one.  However, I have a second 40GB I could throw in for good measure. Post a comment below if you want to deal.

Here is my next option for a new server. This is an older Dell GX260 that my wife was using as a workstation while I found time (and courage!) to fix her Mac Mini. That's a story for another post...

This is a Pentium 4 (2.53GHz) with 1GB of RAM. Definitely a step up from the former Mini Google and from my current AMD Linux server. I loaded Windows Home Server on this box and found it runs WHS like a champ! Speed, even with the IDE drive in it, is plenty fast. And, I get a gigabit Ethernet port on it as well!

I think this will work out better for me, since my one big complaint of having Linux as a server was the lack of a decent media serving application that would work with my PS3. I have my PS3 set up in the family room with my HDTV and stereo, so that is the logical place to watch movies, listen to music and of course, play games. But, all my music, pictures and videos are on the server. And without a media sharing app that I could get to work reliably, that has been a sore point for me. No longer!

WHS has a media server built in that is based on Windows Media, so it works with the PS3 just fine. I tested it with MP3s and DVD resolution video. My 320kbps MP3s work great, and though the video had a few hiccups, it was not really distracting. All in all, I feel pretty good about it's performance so far. Since I have WHS on a 120-day evaluation, I don't have to make a decision right away...but unless something ugly rears its head later on, I think this may be a winner.

Hey, I don't think I told you WHY I wanted a new server. I guess I should elaborate a little. My current server (shown at left) is built from an old workstation of mine. I built it back in 2003, and at the time used it as my primary workstation and gaming machine. The computer was replaced in 2007 when the motherboard went south, but I kept the case and some other parts around. When I built the server, I put an older M-ATX board I scavanged into the case. I later found the AMD on it ran a bit hotter than my old P4, so I was forced to add a couple of 80mm case fans I had in my parts stash. Problem was, the motherboard was old enough it would not control their speed, so the fans ran full-throttle all the time. The noise isn't unbearable, but is louder than I like in my office while I'm listening to music.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking..."buy a fan controller!" I just really didn't have the budget at the time. Remember, I built this thing from parts I had around, except for the 250GB SATA drives I added in. And those were expensive enough when I bought them, I couldn't ask my Everlasting SoulMate / accountant for any more money. So, I accepted that I would have to live with the noise for a while.

The Dell is like a ray of sunshine for my ears! It is SO quiet! Even with the addition of the two extra SATA drives, I'm expecting it to still be much quieter. Mostly, I'm just looking forward to some music without all the white noise.

-- Sundown, Out

Another Geek Side-Project - Part One

As I've said before, geeks always have a tech project or two going.  Well, this one is more of a side-project, but still an interesting one.

Where I work, we had a couple of Mini Google search appliances for use with our web sites.  What's a "Mini Google" you ask?  It's a server appliance that will crawl and index internal web site(s) and provide the same type of search capability on a small scale that the Google web site does for the Interwebs. Pretty nifty. But, there is a small catch...

Google really only supports the devices for two years from purchase.  After that, if anything goes wrong...you're on your own.  No extended warranties, no purchased support, no nothing.  And that is exactly what happened to me recently.

We had a typical Colorado spring snowstorm blow through week before last.  During the storm we had power blips at work, due to the heavy, wet snow.  Even though this device and the network switch it was hooked up to were on a UPS, one of the brownouts caused the UPS to trip it's electrical breaker and shut down both devices hard.  When I got to work after getting notified of the outage, I tried to bring the system back up.  The sudden loss of power had caused a hard drive file corruption error severe enough that the device refused to boot.

Now, here's the fun part.  Because this is an "appliance," Google had installed all the covers with tamper-proof screws, locked out the BIOS and USB ports and did not provide even a software reload disc on their site.  So I had no way to even begin troubleshooting the problem, to say nothing of being able to fix it.  Basically, the Mini Google became a large, blue doorstop.

Since the device was obviously headed for the "e-cycle" (electronic recycle) pile to go out in the next go-round, I decided to ask my boss if I could have it instead.  I received official permission to take the device home.

I had a plan in mind to possibly repurpose the unit to replace my current home file server.  I currently run Ubuntu 8.10 Server on an older AMD Athlon 1600+ workstation with two 250GB SATA drives in a RAID 1 mirror.  The Mini Google is not quite as powerful, but has two advantages.  One is being a server-class device designed to run 24x7.  Second, being rack-mountable, I could mount it vertically to a wall and take up less room with it.

The first thing I needed to do was get past the tamper-proof screws and get inside the unit.  There were two screws on the back to hold down the top panel, and four on the sides that held on a "security" panel that prevented anyone from accessing the hard drive trays, CDROM drive and power switch.  I decided to tackle the two on the back first.  They had small washers between them and the case, so I just used pliers to twist the washers and loosen the screws a bit.  I was then able to use my fingers to get them out.

At that point I hit a snag.  The top panel normally should slide backwards and come off, but it wouldn't budge!  After a bit of fussing, I discovered the neat "Google" logo on the top of the server was a piece of rigid plastic with adhesive on the back that was stuck down to the top of the case.  It was also stuck to the front panel of the server and was preventing the top from sliding backwards.  I carefully peeled back the front part of the plastic panel just enough to get the top off.

After a quick inspection, it was clear this was an off-the-shelf unit made by Gigabyte.  I, somewhat ironically, Googled the motherboard model number and found Gigabyte's informational page and a link to the manual.

Then it was time to take on the front panel screws.  All the screws had a small, round hole in the end of them already, so I used a drill to widen and deepen the hole.  I then used one of those damaged screw-removal tools like they show on TV to back the screws out.  Took a bit of time, but I won out in the end!

My next task was to get past the BIOS password Google set and get into the settings.  A simple CMOS battery removal and reset was sufficient to get in.  Now we're getting somewhere!

During my tour through the BIOS and boot screens, I learned this unit contains dual Pentium III 1.26GHz processors, 2GB of RAM and a 120GB ATA hard drive.  Not a bad machine, but definitely not a screamer!

I then had to make a choice...which OS to load.  Ubuntu Server would run just fine on this unit, but I've been reading a lot about Windows Home Server lately and decided this was as good a time as any to give it a try.  I downloaded the trial version .iso (900MB) and burned it to a DVD.  I then hit snag number two.

The optical drive in the Google was an old Mitsumi CD-ROM.  It had no DVD read capability.  And, the drive slot is one of those for slimline laptop drives.  I was beginning to think I'd have to shell out for a DVD drive and suffer through a several-day delay, when I suddenly remembered I had a drive in my parts bin left over from another project.  And I was pretty sure it was at least a DVD-ROM unit.  After some digging I found it and sure enough, it was a DVD.  YES! [fist pumping air]

I removed the hard drive cage on the left side of the case and after some judicious cussing, got the optical drive out.  I then swapped in the DVD-ROM and reconnected it.  The drive I put in is a slot-load unit, but since I won't be putting the security cover back on, that shouldn't be an issue.

I booted the former Mini Google up, and it saw the new optical drive and worked like a charm.  I am now in the process of loading Windows Home Server on the unit.  I will provide more detail on that in my next installment.

-- Sundown, Out

Ok, Here We Go...

For better or worse...everything must start somewhere. And this is where it will start for me.

I'm not a professional writer...nor do I play one on television. But, I will do my best to keep any loyal readers out there disgusted, disinterested, disenfranchised...or maybe just plain ol' entertained.

"So, we're here...what are you going to write about?", one might ponder. Well, I'm glad you asked!

Almost all geeks have at least one "geek project" going at all times. I am no exception to that rule. My current project is working on writing interactive fiction using Inform 7. What an interesting experience this is turning into! For those who are not aware, Inform 7 is a sort of IDE (Interactive Development Environment) which uses a very plain-english programming language to create interactive fiction (I.E. text adventure) files for use with most z-machine version 5 or 8 interpreters. I've been having a ball!

The plain English syntax is easy to pick up compared to other programming languages I've used, both successfully and not-so (BASIC and Pascal to Perl and C#). The amount of coding that went into creating this natural language syntax Inform 7 uses must have been an undertaking of monumental, nay almost biblical proportions. And the result is nothing short of astonishing in its simplicity. So, to the developers of Inform (you know who you are), thank you. [and...salute!]

I wanted my first IF project to be something simple, so I could get used to the new language and capabilities before tackling some bigger ideas that I keep rolling around in my head. So, I decided it would be best for me to start out with a concept from my youth that I still find enjoyable...a basic dungeon-crawl. I've been working for over a week now, at least a couple of hours a night, and I'm only about seven rooms into it. Why? I haven't gotten farther into room creation because I've been spending most of my time creating a ton of "gadgets!" I can't seem to get away from creating machines, obstacles and various other scenery that the player can interact with (or more likely be frustrated by!). I don't know if or when I'll get more rooms built...but hey, I'm havin' so much bloody fun, who cares?!?

I also wanted to give a Sundown-ShoutOut in this first post to my Everlasting SoulMate, also known as my wife. She recently used her enormous powers of persuasion to get me to go get a sleep study done. You see, amongst my several other sleep issues...I snore. And when I say I snore, I don't just mean a little snort and honk now and then...I can destroy windows at thirty feet! And because my father was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea (which is normally genetic), that was the final straw in her battle to convince me I needed to go. I relented and went...

If any of you are thinking about having a sleep study done, let me say this. Go. Go now! Call your doctor, get it scheduled, and go. It's one night out of your life, that in my case changed mine forever. I indeed have sleep apnea, and worse than my father. No one in my family thought that was even possible! I was, for all intents and purposes, "dead" for several hours every night. Scary.

I have now had a CPAP for about two weeks, and lovingly call it my "sleepy-bye machine." What a difference!!! I look back on how I was before, especially in the few years leading up to my diagnosis, and I now feel I can appreciate what zombies must go through constantly...minus the brain-eating, of course. I am so much more awake, aware and alive than I have been in a long time. I know my wife appreciates having me mentally "here" again, and I must say I appreciate her persistence, and sometimes-not-so-gentle prodding to get me to finally go. I luv ya, hun!

So, again I reiterate to all of you out there in the multiverse...if you think you may have sleep apnea...Go. Get. Tested. Don't wait. Get your life back. Please.

-- Sundown, Out.