Something Random
- Thread starter ddrueding
- Start date
My desktop is not safe for work either. Ive cut or otherwise injured myself multiple times.
ddrueding
Fixture
Thanks!
Stereodude
Not really a
Hopefully I won't be replacing the battery in my bathroom scale in the foreseeable future. For some odd reason someone decided to power the scale with a single CR2032 cell despite the fact that you could have easily put quite a few C cells inside the housing. I'm sick of having to replace the battery every few years at a cost of several dollars each. I bought a 2AA battery holder a little while back, for under a $1, in anticipation of the scale's battery dieing again. Now the scale runs on 2 AA E91 Lithium cells. They have roughly 15x the capacity. That should last a while. 
sedrosken
Florida Man
Wow, I, uh, missed the boat on the whole birthday thing. Happy late birthday David. Excuse my clumsiness in social situations.
ddrueding
Fixture
From what I've seen you are the second. Don't worry about it. Most here have wished me a happy birthday at least 8 times, some as many as 16
ddrueding
Fixture
Playing with one of my birthday presents; 300 jumbo blocks.
sedrosken
Florida Man
That's just adorable.
I've had a nagging minor issue with SPDIF between my PC and my receiver where the link state drops or stops when no sounds are being played by the PC. The next time a sound is played from the PC the first 500ms of the audio is lost as the SPDIF link re-establishes with the receiver only to turn off again after audio has stopped. I did some searching and I'm not alone with this. My sound card is a realtek ALC889A on the motherboard using the SPDIF over optical but I haven't found an option to keep it online all the time. I saw some various methods to solving this but decided to try and write a tiny tool in .NET to play a silent mono channel wav audio file to keep the SPDIF alive. I saw another tool which inspired the idea here but since there was no source code, I didn't feel like chancing it.
I know this is highly specific fix for a uncommon PC audio setup, but does anyone else need something like this? I'll post the code somewhere if anyone wants it. I made it with the intent of using Windows but if there is some Linux desire and I try porting it.
It's pretty basic and when minimized it sits in the tool tray.
I know this is highly specific fix for a uncommon PC audio setup, but does anyone else need something like this? I'll post the code somewhere if anyone wants it. I made it with the intent of using Windows but if there is some Linux desire and I try porting it.
It's pretty basic and when minimized it sits in the tool tray.
Stereodude
Not really a
That doesn't prevent other applications from starting playback? I know using Kernel Streaming on XP it most definitely would. I'm not sure about WASAPI under Windows 7.
I played a game while it was running and also music and there was no issue that I could detect. I didn't try using WASAPI yet. That might not work but I'll check. This makes use of SoundPlayer class in C# (.Net). I haven't found how it manages sounds at a lower level. It may just use the windows mixer.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
You should put it up on github.
ddrueding
Fixture
I've had a nagging minor issue with SPDIF between my PC and my receiver where the link state drops or stops when no sounds are being played by the PC. The next time a sound is played from the PC the first 500ms of the audio is lost as the SPDIF link re-establishes with the receiver only to turn off again after audio has stopped. I did some searching and I'm not alone with this. My sound card is a realtek ALC889A on the motherboard using the SPDIF over optical but I haven't found an option to keep it online all the time. I saw some various methods to solving this but decided to try and write a tiny tool in .NET to play a silent mono channel wav audio file to keep the SPDIF alive. I saw another tool which inspired the idea here but since there was no source code, I didn't feel like chancing it.
I know this is highly specific fix for a uncommon PC audio setup, but does anyone else need something like this? I'll post the code somewhere if anyone wants it. I made it with the intent of using Windows but if there is some Linux desire and I try porting it.
It's pretty basic and when minimized it sits in the tool tray.
View attachment 820
View attachment 821
I'd be interested. I use SPDIF at home to the receiver and headphones. The headphones have an auto-off function to save batteries, I suppose this would defeat that as well?
It may not defeat the auto-off. Are you having the same symptoms I described with the SPDIF port turning off and on causing a delay? There is no actual sound being played but the sound driver/mixer is activated. I basically continuously loop a 1 second 44Khz 16bit mono track wav file with no recorded sound. I'll do some work finishing up the code and push it to Git like timwhit suggested. What OS would you run this under so I can make sure it's compatible? I've only tried it on win 8.1 64-bit with .net framework 4.5.x.
ddrueding
Fixture
Yup, after a short period without audio, the next sound is lost before I hear anything. 8.1 x64
I did some tests using foobar 2000 with the WASAPI plugin. From what I've noticed there is no blocking issue with this tool running. I did notice that if the tool is stopped and WASAPI is set as the output in foobar, that if I start the SPDIFKA tool, it won't activate the SPDIF link. WASAPI blocks it like any other windows audio file. However, if the SPDIFKA tool is running and I switch foobar into WASAPI for the output, it takes over and there is no problem. When I switch back, the SPDIFKA tool does not resume keeping the link alive. I'd have to look into eventing the situation to watch for the change but that might take some extra work. Stopping and restarting the SPDIFKA tool fixes the issue.
Here is the first initial release of the tool. Please post feedback or use Github to create issues that can be tracked (if interested).
First release:
Release v1.0.0.0
Github Repo with the source if you want to build your own:
https://github.com/handruin/spdif-ka
First release:
Release v1.0.0.0
Github Repo with the source if you want to build your own:
https://github.com/handruin/spdif-ka
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Maybe the audio tool stuff should be in the Toolbox section?
Here's a random and pretty interesting look at what it takes to manage the porta-johns for the Burning Man festival.
Here's a random and pretty interesting look at what it takes to manage the porta-johns for the Burning Man festival.
Even in the snow?
ddrueding
Fixture
Traction and Stability control has basically made this a non-issue. Once you are at the apex of a corner, just floor it and let the computers sort out the rest. Particularly awesome with AWD.
I've definitely done this. I have YouTube videos of the fun it creates. :-D
What happens if Verizon throttles your in-car WIFI or god forbid you BSOD the traction control computer while you are doing the Laguna Seca corkscrew at 140 kp/h?!!??!!!!!111111eleven!!!!!1111
ddrueding
Fixture
Then you just need to be good.
ddrueding
Fixture
5:50AM. Going to bed. That was a long day of work (23 hours).
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
You know you're in for a rough week when you've already worked 40 hours and it's still Monday.
ddrueding
Fixture
Indeed. Back when I was contracting there was a silver lining to those. Now that I am salary/management those days just suck.
Some new Apple product from what I could overhear.
Apparently this year it is extra wet.
So four months later I have improved somewhat. I do 3 sets with 20 lb. weights in each arm. I can reach down and tie my shoes now - no problems. I can do 8 situps without passing out or crapping myself.
I do the 40 minute torture test on the bike machine 3 times a week. Next week I have the dreaded exams and tests.
ddrueding
Fixture
Sounds good Lunar, I'm amazed how much healthier I feel when I'm in better physical shape. It makes me wonder how I let myself slip so far so often (like right now).
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
You beat me, but not by much. I left work at 3h45am this morning (Sunday). I had to untangle the network connections of our patch panels to the switches. Of course, this has to be done during off hours, when no one's working (except me). I've started at 9pm last evening. It was a real mess. Although it is far from perfect, it is now a big improvement. It's at least easy to follow the cables now. Before, it looked like two (or more) octopus armies collided. Too bad I don't have before and after photos.
I still have another ~80 connections to classify on another rack, but the main job is done. I no longer have to wear a paper bag on my head every time I have to show the server racks to an external worker, despite not being the one who created this mess to begin with.
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ddrueding
Fixture
I'll have one of those later this week. Just took delivery of 7x 50-port Cisco managed switches and have a Barracuda traffic shaper coming in Wednesday. That will be a long night.
Stereodude
Not really a
Anyone using Block access for USEnet? I've been paying monthly, and it seems like I could save a fair bit moving to the pre-paid "block" model.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
I tried it, but I don't think it ended up being a better deal than just paying for 3 months of access.
Stereodude
Not really a
I guess it all comes down to how much you download vs. what you pay per month.