Categories
Hardware

Printing from a Chromebook

Chromebooks are nice machines, but of course they dance to Google’s tune. Google are usually pretty good at adopting open standards but occasionally they think they can do better. There are established protocols for printing over a network, but Google have ignored these entirely by ensuring that all Chromebooks only support Google Cloud Print printers! […]

Categories
Stuff

What I learned at OggCamp 2015

I attended my first ever OggCamp on the weekend of 31st October / 1st November. Having never been to any kind of ‘unconference’ before, I didn’t know quite what to expect. So here’s a few thoughts on what I learned: Free culture and free software types are a friendly bunch. This happened even before I […]

Categories
Hardware

IUK 5 A1 IP Camera

On a recent trip to the UK, I called in to a Lidl store because I know they often have interesting (well, to me anyway) bits of tech for low prices. I picked up this little gem for a shade over thirty quid. When you consider it contains wifi hardware, a web server, pan & […]

Categories
Hardware

HP Chromebook 11 Charging Fix

So, the nice HP Chromebook 11 that my wife has seems to have a design fault. If you let the battery run flat, the Chromebook will no longer charge. Symptoms are that there is no charging LED, and no matter how many hours you leave it with the charger plugged in it simply will not […]

Categories
Hardware

Hello Chromebook (Again!)

Having already dipped my toe in the water of Chromebooks with my wife’s HP Chromebook 11, I knew that I liked Chrome OS. The very fast boot time, stable and full featured browser together with a real physical keyboard make these great devices for people who like to create content, rather than just consume it. […]

Categories
Amateur Radio

The Beast of Ballasalla

The GB3IM-S amateur radio repeater on the summit of Snaefell was brought back into service on 17th March. This led me to discover that the output frequency of 433.125 MHz becomes unusable when driving through Ballasalla, due to some strong interference on that frequency. Now, in these modern days where everything has a computer inside […]