New Printer and Hot Swap Module
I bought an Epson Stylist Photo 1400 printer on sale last week. After doing a bit or research I ordered a CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) for it from eBay. Interestingly, while there is a lot of old information on CISS’s out there, there is very little current stuff that I could find. There are the big three, Ink Republic, Media Street, and Lyson with very expensive systems, and a lot cheap made in Asia systems, Back in 2005-06 the Asian systems were apparently pretty crappy. I would guess they have improved and the prices certainly gone down. The one I just paid for cost $40.99 with ink and free shipping. Which is a real bargain when you realize that new Epson 79 series ink cartridges cost $23.99 each locally and the printer takes six of them. I will put up a short review once I have used the CISS for a bit.
*****
I also have gotten a five bay hot swap drive module for the computer. Along with the two SAS drives, I believe I mentioned previously, it gives me two fast drives for the OS, and the existing three 500gb SATA drives in a RAID-5 array for data, all hot swappable. Unfortunately I seem to be having a bit of a problem with the hot swap module. One of the LED’s is not working properly. I may have to send it back for a replacement. The module is a Norco SS-500 I bought from newegg.com. It seems to be very well designed, but somewhat lacking in quality control like a lot of products these days. I want to do a couple of more checks before I actually start the RMA (Returned Merchandise Authorization) procedure.
Once this is all sorted out I intend to make the SAS drives my boot drives giving all Windows and software access a pretty good boost in performance as the SAS drives are 15000 rpm SCSI drives in a hardware RAID-1 configuration. I guess I should mention that the drives are all working fine in the hot swap module, it is just one LED that is not working properly.
ADDED: Checked out things some more and the H/S module seems to be OK. Apparently the LED’s do not work with SAS drives. I wonder why they say it is compatible with SAS drives right on the box?
Problem with Comments
I want to apologise to those who have posted comments that seem to have disappeared into limbo.
Somehow the settings got changed and I have not been receiving the emails notifying me that there were comments to approve. Hopefully I have gotten that fixed.
It is not my policy to censor comments. However, I do have heavy duty spam filters in place. Unfortunately that is a necessity in today’s internet environment. I also delete duplicate postings. The spam filters occasionally get a valid comment (especially if there are links in it), I try to catch those but but if I don’t get to it in a week the anti-spam stuff deletes it. Other than that I approve all comments posted.
So, once again, if you have posted a comment on my blogs in the past couple of months and it did not show up, I am sorry. I will try to keep up with things better from now on.
Schools Out and Other Stuff
Well, I am happy to report I passed my first class in decades despite getting sick at the end of it. Even with the D on that final paper I did OK overall. It is interesting going back to school at 65. I certainly did not know what to expect, and that showed. Lots of young faces and a few older ones, but I did not see anyone else my age taking classes which is sad, because the state of North Carolina allows us senior citizens to take one or two classes a semester free on a space available basis. It beats the heck out of sitting around watching television.
I was thinking of taking a photography course over the summer to get access to the darkroom, but the they have two summer session each only 5 weeks long. I kind of feel that would be a bit too intense for me given the current state of my health. There are several areas I would like to explore if they have the classes, so of them would be real easy on an audit basis. Things like music appreciation, acient civilizations, etc.
*****
I just got a couple of SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) drives for my computer in the mail today. They are smallish 73gb 15000 rpm server class drives that I will use for my operation system. They should improve the base preformance of the system quite noticably. I am waiting on the needed cable and hot swap module to install them. Computers at Casa Graywolf do not get replaced they just evolve.
*****
If you care to look over on my “A Guy and His Sewing Machine” blog, you will see that I have gotten the Singer 750 that was in the sewing machine table when I bought it up and running.
*****
Weather here today is wet and cold again. So much for global warming and all that. Unfortunately I slip back healthwise everytime that happens, and it has been happening a lot around here lately. If it continues like this for a couple of years we may even recover from the drought.
Feeling Better
I am finally feeling better. Yesterday I cleaned the apartment, and tinkered with one of the sewing machines. I had to order a couple of parts for that sewing machine so it will be a week or so until I get back to working on it.
Today I fixed this underdesk keyboard tray that I picked up used awhile back: it has taken a few tries as there were no instructons. It is one of those articulated kind where you can adjust the height and angle to suit your typing style. I am going to have to move the stop back about three inches as the tray is coming out too far, my keyboard is not that deep.
kbtray.jpg
I picked up a TV stand at one of the thrift stores in town that I am going to use as a coffee table. It has an A-frame and casters. I hate having a table in the middle of the room, but this I can roll against the wall or use for an end table until I have guests,
table-a.jpg
then I can roll it in front of the sofa and use it as a coffee table.
table-b.jpg
I used some of that oil type furniture cleaner on it and it looks pretty nice now. It also needed a couple of missing fasteners replaced.
Now I have to clean up the mess from the keyboard tray project. Maybe I should move the stop while I have the tools out. Then I should go for a walk in the park, I have not been getting much exercise either.