Updates on various projects

[Thad P Floryan]

Update on external monitor project:

I brought the system to the UNIX Users' Group meeting last night (Wednesday)
and it generated a LOT of positive response.  Everyone agreed that it makes
games such as "mahjongg" actually playable!  :-)

Three people voiced a comment about the monitor that never even occurred to
me: noise.  With a 20 dB hearing loss, I couldn't hear the monitor's "noise"
even at 4am in a quiet room, but those 3 people heard the noise during the
"Random Access" session of the meeting in a room with 30-40 talking people
when they were within about 3 feet of the monitor.

Point being: if there's the SLIGHTEST chance you might be able to hear a
noise and that it might be troublesome for you, be SURE to insist upon a
"no-hassle, money-back return" BEFORE you buy any monitor.  As a caution,
please note that NO-ONE in the store where I bought my monitor commented
about the noise, so you may need to actually bring a monitor home before
you'll notice the noise (to be fair, the store (Fry's) was huge and there
must have been 500-1000 people there when I bought the monitor).

The person who "blew" his 3B1 monitor last month by plugging the 12-pin Berg
connector upside down commented this "external monitor" idea seems like a
perfect solution to his problem.  And another person commented that the
14" monitor "may" be able to be placed in the 3B1's monitor housing ... this
IS interesting, but note that a separate AC power line would have to be run
to the monitor (unless one has experience with voltage-multipliers and can
adapt the existing circuitry to work with the Philips monitor (as used in the
BTC product)).

I'll be posting all the details and discoveries within a few days once ALL
kinks (except the noise! :-) are worked out to my satisfaction.

Thad Floryan [ thad at cup.portal.com ]