./monroec

Whenever I have to work late, I try to catch one of the staple “Midnight Specials” available at some of the older Vegas casinos.

Jerry’s Nugget is one of the few casinos that still use casino coins at slot machines, it still has a GREAT “Midnight Owl” section, and it still has that classic Vegas feel.

Steve Wynn certainly changed the feel of the town for the better. However, old traditions are hard to let go of. I really miss the Key Largo, the Westward Ho, and the Klondike.

Next time it’s midnight, swing by old Vegas.

The Cure - Greatest Hits

This is, in my opinion, the definitive greatest hits collection. The tracks were chosen by Robert himself to showcase the band. While “Galore” gets better reviews, I find this release to be more complete.

Orbital - Don’t Stop Me/The Gun is Good

After six years, Orbital is back with a new single. The style has changed slightly and purists might complain. I feel the same with this as I do with the most recent Underworld single: I hope the album is better.

Lost 80’s Live
I plan on going to this event in August. Some great 80’s bands will play together for a series of one-off concerts. The band that sparks my interest the most is Gene Loves Jezebelle. A friend of mine loaned me a cassette eight years ago, and I was blown away. 80’s goth rock at its finest!

I finally purchased an HDTV. I went with a Vizio for a few reasons:

I had a 37 inch Vizio as part of my previous setup that was perfect. The Samsung that replaced it left much to be desired. The greatest concern with HDTV’s as part of MCPC setups goes down to the display properties.

It is not uncommon for a TV to advertise 1920×1080 (also known as 1080p) as native resolution only to not allow the HDTV to act as a primary PC display. Or it may be the case that the native resolution only works with certain video card manufacturers or not at all! As the name implies, native resolution will yield the best results. It is within the best interests of the user to buy a TV that has the highest level of compatibility.

The Samsung mentioned before refused to act as primary display. This was problematic as I was forced to keep a second monitor connected at all times. Only then would the Samsung display RGB video (through a VGA cable). I’ve worked with Sharp plasma displays that will not go to native resolution with a VGA connection. These demand a DVI or HDMI connection to achive the results.

This Vizio E420VO allows for a few resolutions: 1024*768, 800*600, 640*480, and 1920*1080. Depending on what video card you use, you may have to create a custom resolution for the higher one. I had to do this so that my Geforce 8600 GS would display correctly. Here are the settings:

In my case, I had to load NVIDIA Control Panel and use their interface.

New Underworld album seems to be close. Here’s the new single featuring High Contrast:

I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.

I started getting “disk error” messages whenever I connected my iPod to my Windows PC.  Unplugged, it would work fine. When i launched iTunes, I was directed here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1372

The resolution steps are:

• Disconnect and reconnect your iPod and then attempt to restore.
• Restart your computer and then attempt to restore your iPod.
• Disable or Enable Disk Use on your iPod and then attempt to restore.
• Try connecting your iPod to a different USB port and then attempt to restore.
• Remove any third-party USB devices you have connected to your computer (it is not necessary to remove your keyboard or mouse).
• If you use Windows, re-register .dll files as described in article iTunes displays -50 error message when syncing iPod on Windows XP
• For Windows users, update or reinstall your Windows USB drivers.

Those all seem kind of hardcore. It’s only a fucking MP3 player. Instead, I ran the Windows Error-Checking Tool on the device. Everything went back to normal in seconds. I find it odd that the simplest troubleshooting step is completely missing from their Service Bulletin. I’m going to break down why their troubleshooting steps suck:

1. Disconnect and reconnect your iPod and then attempt to restore. - This won’t do anything. If the drive is in an error state, Windows will continue to see it in an error state. Most likely my issue is related to a premature disconnect.
2. Restart your computer and then attempt to restore your iPod. - What this should say is: Restart all the bogus Apple processes like Bonjour, QuickTime, and iTunesHelper. Apple software HATES coming back from suspend/hibernate.
3. Disable or Enable Disk Use on your iPod and then attempt to restore. - A drive is a drive is a drive. This does nothing. The problem is disk errors, not features.
4. Try connecting your iPod to a different USB port and then attempt to restore. - Good suggestion, but often several USB ports are on the same USB HUB. Most users won’t be smart enough to try the ports on the back/front of the PC.
5. Remove any third-party USB devices you have connected to your computer (it is not necessary to remove your keyboard or mouse). - Yeah I don’t think so, YOUR device is the issue, not MY peripherals.
6. If you use Windows, re-register .dll files as described in article iTunes displays -50 error message when syncing iPod on Windows XP - What? Maybe if I have spyware or a virus, but then I have bigger issues….
7. For Windows users, update or reinstall your Windows USB drivers. - Hahaha, no. USB is a STANDARD interface. It’s not the case that ALL of my devices are having issues. This seems like a catch-all. Don’t fix what ain’t broke.

The iPhone 2G is the terrible result of fantastic marketing.

G-Code:

The “G” rating on the phone is arbitrary. 2G doesn’t mean anything. First off, the phone itself is a 1st Generation device (First Generation, platform 1.1). The EDGE network that it runs on, is commonly referred to as 2.75G. However, the prior 1G phone ran on the same infrastructure.

So then what was the purpose of the phone? It was a way for Apple to release a “new and magical” product that didn’t do anything different as they continued to work on their 2nd generation device: The iPhone 3G.

The media and consumers flocked to it . No news here….

MMS Frenzy:

In march of 2009, MMS support was finally added to the phone with the 3.0 OS. Apple cited AT&T as the bottleneck and most believed them. They also noted that the first two phones (1st Gen devices) would not support the feature.

Clearly Bullshit - I’ve been using an iPhone 2G(1st Gen) with native MMS for a few days now. There are guides all over the net, at least entertain those links.

Double Takes:

A few weeks ago, I was messing around with an unlocked Samsung device. The interface seemed very familiar and quite reminiscent to the iPhone OS. I wondered why Apple hadn’t threatened to sue. Upon further research, I realized that Samsung manufactures the internal hard drives for the iPhone.

Everything In Its Right Place:

The purpose of modular design is to create swappable pieces that make manufacturing and troubleshooting easier. The result is a series of “black boxes” whose function and capabilities are foreign to the user. The problem arises when companies like Apple uses this to their financial advantage. No aspect of the iPhone is modular (all batteries should be user replaceable). The iPhone’s capabilities are limited based on Apple’s Quarterly projections (release cycles are in place to maximize profits through gradual feature removal and aggregation).

I feel that Apple is preying on their user base.

I got a chance to cruise over to Huntington Beach after finishing up my wireless project in Buena Park, California.

I swam for a bit and walked up and down the boardwalk. Near Main street, there was a random group of people playing music. The tribal sound and its impromptu nature was awesome.

P1401 DM-TL Pump Motor Current - Voltage too high - What the fuck does that mean?

The Accent has a “Diagnostic Module for Tank Leakage” near the driver side rear wheel. It looks like this:

The module itself is supposed to pressurize the system to detect leaks.

The Hyundai service bulletin recommends replacing the associated air filter and (maybe) the DM-TL unit for the above trouble code. Since I took the whole assembly down, I decided to move on to replacing both units. The DM-TL will run you about $220 and the air filter $13 at the dealership. (I had no luck finding the parts online)

The assembly is held onto the car by 3 nuts. The DM-TL is a fiesta of silicone hoses that are prone to break.  Soapy water will help separate these hoses.

Disconnecting the unit is rather obvious so I won’t go into detail. As always, re-installing is the reverse process.

The 2003 Accent part numbers are:

• 31453-25510 - filter
• 31440-25510 - DM-TL

Here are some self explanatory images depicting the work: