Matthew Steven - Hardware, Consumer Devices, Green Technology

Magic Jack, Ooma and a POTS Credit Card Terminal Working on VoIP

Matt — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:04:40 +0000

I wanted to dump Qwest. That's the root of it, I really don't dig their way of handling customers. I wanted to take advantage of my really nice internet connection, and use VoIP. The only major hurdle seemed to be the use of my credit card terminal, and the occasional fax. After a few evenings of struggling, I achieved success.

XFCE4 review: After Over 10 Years with KDE, I'm Moving to XFCE, and Xubuntu!

Matt — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:18:02 +0000

In choosing a Linux desktop, I want something both highly stable and great looking. I stare at these monitors for 10-14 hours a day! Speed and ease of configuration/use are also important. This post is about my journey from KDE4 to XFCE4, and is also a review of sorts.

Sweaty Houses Cool Faster: Evaporative Cooling From Stored Rainwater

Matt — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:07:31 +0000

"Six gallons (22.7 L) of water evaporating has the same cooling effect as a typical (3.5 ton-hour) home central air-conditioner." - Alliance for Water Efficiency

Rainwater Storage, A System for Hosers

Matt — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:06:30 +0000

Here's how you can save a lot on your summer water bills and help the environment a little at the same time. The system I built stores 165 gallons of water, which is enough to water our large garden pr

Dual Head Xorg Config for a RadeonHD RV630 aka Radeon HD 2600XT

Matt — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:09:12 +0000

** Note ** I've sold this card since, but I'll repost this in case it is useful to anyone:
Just a reference in case anyone else is trying to figure out how to get dual head working (with screen stretch) on Ubuntu in particular since Ubuntu doesn’t figure it out by itself. Took me awhile to get this figured out.
The magic lines (in “Device") are this

Green Networking - Converting Standard Computers to Thin Clients

Matt — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:05:15 +0000

These days it’s all about saving money, power, the planet. This post is intended to get you excited to try thin client computing on your home network- assuming you have one.

Getting More from your Lithium Ion and other Rechargable Batteries

Matt — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:02:33 +0000

Like any other electronics aficionados, I have a number of devices that use Li-Ion batteries. My Yaesu VX-6 being one that is very frequently discharged 10-20%, but they’re also in my laptops and cameras. Since they tend to be very expensive I did a little research on making them last, and learned a little about other battery types while I was at it. Here’s the short story, if you want the nitty gritty on each there’s plenty to sort through out there.

By Amateur Radio Standards, Cellphones Can Be Unsafe

Matt — Sun, 10 May 2009 22:01:08 +0000

According to the FCC, Amateur Radio operators should calculate their RF exposure regularly to ensure station safety and be in compliance with accepted safe levels.
So I thought, why not do this with my cellular telephone?
Considering that the signal strength declines logarithmically as distance from the antenna increases, having the phone against your head must really give you a full dose of RF power.

Review: iRiver e100 Ogg Vorbis Flac MP3 Player

Matt — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:55:44 +0000

In a nutshell, avoid this device if you can. The following is my review from 4/6/08 in which I initially liked it, then discovered all its warts, then dropped it like a hot potato, losing a small sum in the process. Some workarounds are included for various problems you'll encounter with it if you are stuck with one.

Product: iRiver e100 2gb portable music player (iPod[tm] alternative)

Simplifying Configuring CUPS Printing Clients on a Network

Matt — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:44:45 +0000

If you have a server computer with a printer attached and a client computer across the network there’s a super simple way to configure cups, create a “/etc/cups/client.conf” file and stick a line like this, with the server's IP address in it:
ServerName 12.34.56.78