New Business Card Design (Sep/2024)
After repairing a GameCube for a friend, I was yet again reminded of how much I enjoyed repairing things. I was tired of my old business card design so I decided to create a new business card design (see below). I really like this design because it uses the same font from the Magnavox Odyssey computer box. Ironically, the font is named "Computer" by David Moore. This is not a very significant project, but I wanted to put this here to show off my creative side. I had some printed locally in Rhode Island, which I find to be very fitting and authentic, and gives me a sense of connection to my area.
Unraid Server (Dec/2023)
I purchased an Unraid license key during their annual Black Friday sale and learned a lot about server resource management, web pathing / VPNs, and where to legally obtain media online. I repurposed my old gaming PC and currently have 2x 20TB hard drives with parity redundancy inside. I also host a plex media server that contains some of my favorite movies and tv shows that I share with my close friends. I continue to maintain this server and reap the rewards of cancelling all my streaming services.
Update 8/30/24: I purchased an additional 20TB hard drive (with winnings from a poker game) and now have 40TB of available space with parity protection. I think 40,000 Gigabytes should very much keep me settled for a very long while.
Update 9/2/24: I purchased and installed a Silicon Dust HD Homerun Flex 4K 4x OTA TV Tuner, and an appropriate antenna (with an amplifier and 5G/LTE filter). I was able to utilize the "Plex Home" functionality and am able to share the ~64 Channels that are in range with my close friends. The content is "HD" @ 720p, but I elected to get the "futureproof" option and am hoping that ASTC 3.0 antennas are installed near me soon, or will switch to a directional antenna at some point in the future.
Living on the biggest hill in Providence certainly has its advantages for this.
Update 9/17/24: I had the opportunity to purchase an ASUS Strix 2080ti at a very good price, and have since installed it in my server. With this added horsepower, I am now able to transcode video as well as have overall better streaming performance across all devices. My only concerns are an increase in my electrical bill and a fear of a growing obsession of a "perfect" server.
Solidworks Modeling (Nov/2023)
These models and schematics were created for ENGR 1030 in the Fall Semester at CCRI 2023. I was required to make each individual piece for the "Clamp Down Assembly" and then needed to convert the assembly into a schematic with a BOM. The "Angle Bracket" and "L-Bracket" were modeling after taking dimensions from a real life object. The "Swivel Yoke" was modeled from a schematic in the textbook. I of course made many more models of many more things, but these were my standout favorites.
Quick Acting Clamp Down Assembly
L-Bracket
Angle Bracket
Swivel Yoke
iPod Restoration (May/2022)
This was a very fun project. I took my Mom's old 5th generation iPod that had been sitting in a drawer and was being neglected for ~15 years and made some upgrades. The main upgrade I did was swapping the old HDD with a new PCB that had a slot for a SD Card (w/ a microSD adapter) and upgraded the storage from 30GB to 256GB. I also swapped the old battery for a new long lasting LiPo battery for increased reliability and longevity. I also did a few cosmetic mods, like swap the front panel for a clear one. I unfortunately had to replace the original back panel to one from a 60GB model, as the battery and board would both not fit inside of the original 30GB back panel comfortably.
I also updated the software to RockBox, giving me an easier time with file system management.
I even got clear headphones to match the clear front panel.
I uploaded approximately 4,000 songs from my personal collection to it, and still enjoy it to this day.
Therefore, the only original remaining parts of my Mom's iPod are the motherboard, screen, and touch wheel. It does pain me to not use all original parts, but now we're getting into a "Ship of Theseus" debate.
I also learned that Walmart still sold apple 30pin cables until at least 2023, which is probably the craziest thing I learned during this whole project.
Overall this was a very enjoyable, and fairly easy, project. If you're asking "Why?" it is because I get too easily distracted when I go on my phone while working on a project with a deadline and wanted to eliminate all functionality except for music which theoretically can make me more productive. (It can play DOOM, but that is the only remaining distraction.)
