Turbo Slug

Well I finally got around to de-underclocking my NSLU2 (aka Slug).  It took about 10 minutes start to finish, so I really have no excuse for why it took me this long to get around to it.

The NSLU2 Linux wiki has very detailed directions on cracking the case open.  Go slowly to avoid snapping off the plastic tabs.

Now comes the fun part, modifying the hardware.  It turns out that for whatever reason the NSLU2 was underclocked, the wikipedia article discusses this and other interesting facts about this device.  While this is a discontinued device, they are readily available from amazon still.  All we need to do to allow the Slug to run at its native 266MHz is remove a resistor.  I used a pair of tweezers.

If you look closely, you’ll see the tiny resistor in the center of the palm of my hand.  I later dropped it onto the floor and lost sight of it.

Putting the unit back together isn’t documented as well on the wiki – I found that it was easier to insert the circuit board into the light grey “front” and then snap the back on.  Again, go slowly to avoid breaking any tabs off.

Having installed a version of Debian on it the other day, I was able to ssh into my new “turbo slug” and cat /proc/cpuinfo which showed me BogoMIPS: 266.24.  Success!  It does seem to be more responsive.  I’m tempted to try tinkering with doing a memory upgrade, but that may be beyond my soldering skill level.

Butterflies And Zebras – Live

I’ve just returned from tonights show.  Its the first time I’ve seen them live since Ken has joined on drums.  Steve and Norm had a great sound, but now with drumming mixed in its really amazing.  If you want to get a sense for what the trio sounds like check out India Minor available from Ken’s site.  There is also plenty more linked from their old(?) homepage but it seems to be mostly older material without drumming included.  The new butterflies-and-zebras.com seems to have a mix of stuff.

They’ll be playing live again on  Thursday June 19th at the Avant-Garde Bar, 135 1/2 Besserer St.  Tonights cover was $5 and the volume, while loud – wasn’t such that I needed to break out the earplugs.  Very enjoyable.

There are several descriptions of what the sound of B&Z is classified as, but the set of labels that fits best for me is Experimental / Ambient / Psychedelic.  With two guitarists and a strong Hendrix influence you can guess where things are headed, however the recently added drumming adds a new dimension to the sound.  It was clear in the live performance that the trio were working well together, exploring the sound scape they were creating.  It seemed like each of them were striving for perfection in the details of their play while seeking musical synergy with the others.  For me personally, I enjoy the depth of the music they are creating and the sense of freedom they invoke in the listener.  Thanks guys – nice stuff.

Not my day..

I’ve got a pretty bad DVD habit, which is pretty evident if you check out my collection hosted on MMDB.  When I first got started, I’d pick up at least one new title a week.  My purchase rate has slowed down, but I tend to binge.

The previously viewed movies at Rogers is a terrible temptation.  Recently I picked up Casino Royale in a 2 for $10 deal.  Unfortunately with dirt cheap prices, I also end up buying movies that I probably should have just rented.  The other movie I bought paired with Casino Royale was Night at the Museum, of course I selected a box that was the widescreen version – yet upon opening it at home I discovered the full screen copy (sigh).  So, back to Rogers for a refund as they had no copies for exchange.

Tonight, a bit at loose ends, I figured I’d visit the local Rogers video store and browse the previously viewed section.  I had almost made it though the entire section of 2 for $15 when I came across a copy of Night at the Museum.  Now it so happened that this was a different Rogers to the one that I had previously bought a mis-boxed full screen version.  I figured my odds were pretty good on finding an actual widescreen version this time (at least, that’s what the box said).

It is starting to seem like I’m doomed to either watch the full screen version, or not see this movie.  Yup, I managed to buy another copy of the movie that was mis-boxed.

At home I figured that I’d check out IMDB viewer ratings on this movie to see if I should even bother to try to find a widescreen copy.  Almost beyond belief, it seems that imdb.com is down tonight?

To top it off, today I had picked up an external USB enclosure to stick a 60gig IDE drive I’ve got sitting on my desk into.  As you can guess at this point, it seems I managed to get one that is DOA.  So it will be off to exchange that sometime next week.  When I do get it working, I plan to pair it up with my slug and possibly use it to run a RESTORE backup server.

Summary: 2nd failure to purchase a widescreen version; Unable to check IMDB ratings as the site is inexplicably down; DOA hardware purchase.  Just not my day.