DIY Network Cables

Even with wireless technology now, I still use network cables here and there. I am writing this post right now on old computer in my basement running Ubuntu. Adding a wireless card into this machine is more trouble than it's worth.

You can save a lot money making your own cables compared to what they cost at Best Buy or other retailers. I've noticed they really go for the margins on cables, memory and other components.

I recently bought 100' feet of cable for about $20 and RJ-45/RJ-11 crimping tool will set you back another $20 or so. The only thing you need now is a pin-out map for the connector. Here are a few useful links:

RJ-45 pinouts and hints
Dux Computer Digest

Hackerspaces

Pretty good amount of chatter out there on Hacker Spaces. These are collectives where fellow DIY enthusiasts can get together and share ideas, equipment and know-how. Here are a few essential links.

Wired Blog article on the rise of Hackerspaces
Hackerspace.org
Wikipedia Entry on Hackerspaces
NYCResistor

DIY Washing Machine Repair

In this new era of austerity, it's pretty hard to bite the bullet on a new washing machine when the old one breaks. Mine went down a few weeks ago and was able to fix it for about $60 bucks.

I have a Kenmore 110.49722990 (what product manager came up with that?). I was unable to find an online manual, but did, somehow, mange to find mine. I guess I can't upload that file to blogger, but will find another way to publish it for others. (post a comment if you are interested)

Mine was unable to go into the drain and spin cycle, so I guessed correctly that the pump was not working. When I took it out, I discovered it was full of nails! Whoops.

Here's a few useful links:

E-how: How to diagnose washing machine problems
Appliance and Air
Fixya.com

Parts:
Partstap

Open Source, Hacking Economics

As a regular listener of Econtalk, I'm excited to see a show dedicated to open source, hacking, and FOSS economics with Eric Raymond.

I took a few econ courses in college and find economics interesting and ridiculous in the same breath. One joke describes economics as the "painful elaboration of the obvious"." Well, real economics is anything but obvious and open source software/hardware challenges many of the established assumptions in economics, so this should be interesting.

Here's the link: Econtalk

First Post

Just started this blog. My DSL is down (using my phone right now), so that's it for now.