Rob Holmes » Personal

Kinetic energy transportation device upgrade

Rob Holmes — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:57:26 +0000

So I decide to add a little bit to my Corsa D, just some VXR indicator surrounds. I also installed some LED foot-well lights but don’t have any pics yet of them.

My new kinetic energy transportation device

Rob Holmes — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:48:19 +0000

Yes that’s right! I have a new CAR! Woot, I have been running round in my old T reg Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 16v Breeze 5dr for 2 years now and it was my first car. It was a good little car and lasted me well, but the time came for a change. I do a lot of miles for my job now and needed a car I could trust to start in a morning and get me home at night. Also I wanted to look COOL in a newer car! So here it is!

This is my 2007 Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 16v 5 Door Design! In red! It has loads of cool gadgets like automatic wipers and headlights, electric mirrors and windows, steering wheel controls, air-con and 17″ Low profile alloys! Its great to drive and loving it so far. Anyway, more soon, I hope.

Auto Install with Ninite

Rob Holmes — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 10:22:27 +0000

I am often reinstalling computers or even building new computers and find that I can build the computer a lot faster than I can install windows, drivers and software. So I have set about finding and creating tools to help me get a computer to a ready state to use. Windows now installs using a unattended file and updates from my WSUS server using 2 bats files to switch between WSUS and Windows Update server. Today I was building another computer, and remembered that I had come across a auto install program a few weeks back. After a bit of googling I found Ninite. Using the website you can create a installer tool that downloads and installs the software silently (IE with no user input). I tried it out today and it worked GREAT, downloads and installs very fast. I created the following package LINK. This contains:

Basically some great free software that pretty much every PC can can do with. So do look in to it! Its worth it!

*A special message to SubSeeter today as its his birthday, he is 3… I mean 20 (I think :s), have a great day and see you later!

F1 is back! BBC 1 Saturday 10:10am and Sunday 11:10am

Rob Holmes — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:53:16 +0000

F1 is back in 2010! Starts 13th March 10:10 on BBC1

Server Upgrade – HDDs and TV Cards

Rob Holmes — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:59:42 +0000

About 4 weeks ago I upgraded my server after we got Freesat put in. I put in a old 320Gb SATA2 HDD I had spare form my RAID upgrade (Checked and all working now) and 3 TV cards, yes 3. I don’t think I will ever get all 3 working or need all 3 but we will see. The latest is a Prof 7301 PCI DVB-S card for the freesat connection (Its signal tuner even tho it has dual F connectors, 1 in, 1 out). Then I have some old analog tuners form back in the day. I also installed a ‘small’ fan just to help a bit with cooling, its only small but will do.

I haven’t ‘yet’ managed to get them all working. I’ve had bad look with TV cards (Hence why they are spare) and it isn’t changing. I am trying to use Media Portal but as I am using Windows Server 2008 on the server it seems to be coursing problems. I will try and fix it someday but for now BBC iPlayer will have to do.

BTW sorry for the lack of updates but due to my new job! WOOT I am no longer able to keep up to date with updates on here, but fear not because I am getting more time now I am settling in to the job and hopefully getting a little help posting updates form a Mr Shakey. More on that soon!

My Office/Workshop/Bedroom update

Rob Holmes — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:07:50 +0000

I have finally got my new screen mount installed (See above post in a bit) and so I wanted to share a few pictures of it all finished and everything in its place.

Looking good no?

My new room/office!

Rob Holmes — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:03:10 +0000

Hi all, sorry for a LONG delay in posting but I have been busy with my new room! I have been wanting a new room for ages now and a few weeks ago my parents gave the go ahead. Now most of the work has been a dad, he has done a GREAT job and thank him a lot for it! Its great!

Anyway, here is some pictures of the work:

The room has units at one side and a desk at the other, because room is very small my dad suggested a fold up bed, this meant that the units could be placed right back agaist the wall and when the bed is up, it allows a lot more space for my chair to run up and down the desk.

I came up with the idea of have a ‘channel’ down the back of the desk, this means cables can lay in it without hanging down the back and getting your legs in them. My room was also a little sort on power sockets, so we put in another 1 down the bottom, 3 desk level and 1 higher up for the network rack.

The network rack has been improved today with the addition of a PDU (Power Distribution Unit) which has made cable management easier. It also means unplugging devices is far easier and I have a spare port for another device

That’s all for now, desktop next!

UK Internet Rant

Rob Holmes — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:34:55 +0000

You wouldn’t be reading this if it wasn’t for UK internet. Not because it allow me to post this on the internet, but because it throttled my TF2 so that someone can watch reruns of EastEnders on iplayer! Why should internet video rate higher than PC games, BUY A TV! Or better yet, a RECORDER! I know this because I have 70ms in game ping, but there are lags every 10 seconds, but I have just come out of game, loaded up youtube and listened to Prodigy – Shadow in 780p HD without it buffering once! How do ISP decide that QoS should rate internet video higher that internet games? Is it that a lot more people watch internet TV? Or is it because they think that people pay to watch TV online? If it wasn’t for gamers we would still be on 54kbps! We would have 2mb RAM PC’s and 800×600 screens.

Mind you, I should blame people watching youtube or iplayer. I should blame the TWATS at pipex, or is it tiscali? O no, my mistake its Talk Talk. Yes I (Or my parents) signed up for pipex 8mb (Up to ) broadband about 1 /12 years ago. In that time, The company providing us has changed 3 hands! No letter or email has been sent to tell us, only the wonders for the 30kbps internet told me that. Now talk talk owns:

AOL
Tiscali (Which has: Pipex, HomeChoice)
Pipex (Which Has: Nildram, Freedom2surf and Bulldog)
Tele2
One.Tel

And many more! You can see the mess they are in, and add to this that Carphone warehouse owns Talk Talk although I think they have been or will be listed as separate soon.

They are TOO big, competition was the idea behind BT giving access to the phone lines, but the phone lines are so shocking no body got any good speeds. So buy up all the company’s and no body can move company, so no body complains! The only slightly good internet in the UK is if your lucky enough to be in a area with LLU or Virgin cable, then you have loads of choice! (Well, not with virgin cable, but cable in general).

Anyway, that is my grip with the UK internet, the only QoS should be to slow P2P (Which I use and hate when its slow, but its last on my QoS list) and http and VOIP top. The rest should be left, they are all the same. VOIP needs to be high so that UK customers start moving to IP phones and VOIP and get off the old Telecom system we have.

Thank you, and good night. Off to watch EastEnders in HD while downloading from a P2P network and.. and! Watching youtube! While some poor sod on TF2 gets lag…

This was best out of 3:

Now that is bad, and that's without throttling...

Garden Update – Sneak Peak

Rob Holmes — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:56:20 +0000

Ok, I havn’t been updating my blog so much, I just never fined the time..

Anyway, I thought for the 2 people that read I would show you 2 pics of our garden, as its pretty much done.

Here is a great bridge my dad made is a little help form me. Not bad! I have put one of our coal trucks on the rails which run round it.

And here is a view from my window.

I will post more pics, but that will do you for now. We are now on to laying the track.

Thanks!

Garden Update – Part III

Rob Holmes — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:20:32 +0000

So now we are filling the hole back in, we have a bit better update than ‘Wow that’s a big hole init?’ and more of ‘This is what we have done, and its not just digging a hole!’ So we have built the inner wall for the track round, steps to get over the track and on to the path, and connected the circle line to the new section.

This shows the steps and the ‘tunnel’ where the 2 tracks lines will go under. It will be decking on top and the brick that is there will be smaller but will box this end in to look like 2 exits.

Another view with the 2 points, there will be 2 more Y’s at the far end, to split off on to the track though the heathers.

This image shows the wall where the track runs along, we have left a gap between these 2 rocks so we can put a bridge in, like my lovely paint drawing

O BTW that stone that hangs over the track will be made small, as it is currently to low, we will just take a bit off the bottom.

The other side with the wall awaiting the track.

This shows the new sidings that are now straight, I hope to get 3 tracks along there, but that is in the future.

So, for now, that’s it!