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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!).
(HTM) [1] PalmPowerUps
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