alex.vallat.name

This is not a blog. Just a few memorable or interesting (to me) happenings over the last few years or so.

Currently:

In the last few years:

January 2003

I've finally got round to building a PC from bits. This is something I've wanted to do for a while, so after reading up on how to do it, and researching the best components to buy, I put together a new PC based mostly on new components, and a few bits I've kept from the old one. I've put some pictures of the process on this site, click the link below to see them.
Having decided that the case for the PC I built was a little too noisy, I have replaced all the fans in it with more efficient quiet ones. Pictures are at the bottom of the computer picture page.

February 2003

The TiVo is an excellent gadget in its own right, but what makes it particularly impressive is the community of TiVo owners on the internet who have created extra functionality for it. One of these unoffical additions is called TurboNet, and is a ethernet card than can be installed in the TiVo to allow it to be accessed through a home network or the internet to manage recordings from a PC. It was a nerve-racking job, but I installed one of these into my TiVo - for pictures click the link below.

May 2003

The quest for a silent PC has brought be to the Hush PC, which is a wonderful piece of engineering that has put a PC in a totally fanless case. This is now quiet enough to run 24/7 to be always available at the touch of a button

August 2003

Now that I have a PC constantly running, and permanently connected to the net, there are many new possibilities open to me. I have set up an Apache webserver on it, through which I can access my TiVo to schedule and manage recordings, and the WarFTP FTP server through which I can access my files.
Another useful feature of having a personal webserver is sideloading - I can now remotely instruct my server to download any URL I give it to itself, ready for me to use when I get back home.
Finally given up searching for a media player that will display track, artist and album details in a big enough font that I can see them from my sofa or table without having to get close to the computer monitor, and modified a Windows Media Player Skin to look just the way I want it, with huge fonts and huge album artwork display! If I can get permission from the the author of the skin I based it on, I'll make it available for download.
Aha! The perfect solution for controlling Windows Media Player through a remote control. :-) I have created a Girder group of commands that send WM_APPCOMMAND messages. These are the messages produced by the multimedia keys on modern keyboards, so Media Player will recognize these and respond to them, even when it is in taskbar toolbar mode. The group should be available for download from the Girder Exported Groups page.

September 2003

Finally figured out how to hack Adobe Photoshop Album into producing web galleries in the format I want. My photo album is now available on this site, in the Photos section.

October 2003

Attended the Microsoft PDC in Los Angeles, and managed to fit a little sight-seeing in while I was at it! Photos are now up, in the photos section.

March 2004

Having more or less exhausted the single player opportunities, I now have joined an online persistent world to play NeverWinter Nights in a multiplayer environment. It has proved to be a very different experience, and an fun new challenge. I play several characters with the surname Wisp on the Dalakora persistent world.
January 2005
Just got back from spending Christmas and New Year in Colombia. It has been a long time since I've visited relatives there, and I had a good time there. We went down to a warmer area than Bogota called Girardot after Christmas Day, for a more sun-and-swim sort of holiday, where unfortunatley we provided an all you can eat buffet to the local insect population. Photos are now up in the photo section.

February 2005

I've finally bitten the bullet and bought myself a car. It is a coral-blue 2003 Nissan Micra, and serves me very well indeed.

March 2005

I've followed the migration of the Dark and Stormy Nights guild from Dalakora to Guild Wars, and now play mostly there, rather than Dalakora. Perhaps we will return to Dalakora later.

June 2006

Home / News