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Stardate: 20230405.1616 | |
Location: Kitchen Table | |
Input Device: AlphaSmart dana.wireless | |
Software: AlphaWord | |
Audio: Tea kettle boiling | |
Visual: Kitchen table, placemats, paper plates | |
Emotional State: groggy | |
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I was going to write earlier today, but I kept fussing with this | |
device. That happens to me often these days where I am supposed to | |
do something but get distracted doing something else to prep for | |
doing the something. | |
This time, the AlphaSmart dana had lost power a few months ago and | |
the digitizer needed re-calibration. Unfortunately, the digitizer | |
has been intermittently faulty and now it has been finally unusable. | |
Every time I want to use it, I fuss with it to try to get it working | |
and finally give up. This round, I did some searching on the surface | |
Intarwebz and found a utility to help me get past the calibration | |
screen. It is called, "CalibBypass," and was written by Dmitry, who | |
has developed many PalmOS applications that I have used over the | |
years.[1] So now I don't have to worry so much if this device loses | |
power. It didn't used to be much of an issue before, but since I have | |
stopped using the dana as the keyboard for my raspberry pi, it loses | |
battery power and eventually runs out completely. Perhaps I can use | |
it for another machine that is running ratpoison window manager. | |
Speaking of other machines, I have another machine to repurpose. | |
During spring break, my son came back from school with his busted | |
laptop. The backlight on the screen went out and he needed a | |
replacement. I did some initial troubleshooting, but it would take | |
more time to fix, so we had to get him another device for him to use | |
at school. Now I have a laptop with a screen that doesn't light up. | |
It works fine with a monitor though, but my son needs the portability. | |
Also, the machine is good enough for gaming, especially for the older | |
and less resource-intensive games that I play. Or perhaps I can use | |
it for something else (?) | |
My son can be a bit rough with his hardware. This is not the first | |
device I have had to replace and repurpose from him. I am still | |
actually using an old laptop he had with a cracked screen that he | |
learned how to play minecraft on. I have that running as a headless | |
debian test server. | |
Other people have also passed along hardware for me to repurpose | |
as well. Just recently, my aunt moved up north and was going to | |
take her computer to the e-waste depot. Since I helped her | |
transfer her files over to her laptop, I told her that I would help | |
wipe the machine and dispose of it myself, since she does not know | |
how to do this and was not even aware of what people do with the | |
data from old hard drives. She also had me dispose of her old | |
computer desk. When I got these items home, I saw that they were | |
still in good working condition and I could not bring myself to drop | |
off and have them disposed. So now I have _another_ computer to | |
repurpose (and hopefully gift) and also a computer desk. | |
At this rate, I won't have to buy hardware for myself ever again! | |
Unfortunately, that is not the case since I love me some gadgets, | |
especially the not so common ones with unique functions. So the | |
gadget gods take all of my monies (usually at a discount!). | |
[1] PalmPowerUps | |
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