Category: technology

Nordmende Globetrotter Amateur & Co.

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Yesterday evening, while preparing some auctions for eBay, I took a closer look at this old Nordmende Globetrotter Amateur world receiver my father had bought in 1960something…..Uhh…selling this one on eBay would generate something like EUR 20,- and I wanted to sell it because I thought it’s broken….

Well, it isn’t. I do repair these things from time to time and somehow I must have forgotten that I had recently repaired it, that is, it just works. It works perfectly! All those DX-stations like BFBS here in Germany are easy to tune into (nice filters!!) and the best thing about this radio is that it comes with a really huge loudspeaker that produces a very clear sound. Mmmhhh….a reception like that is pure pleasure!
My 0.1-2059 MHz W-FM/N-FM/AM/LSB/USB Commtel 610 radio handscanner is nothing compared to this old, but goooooood radio!
Kudos to the radio engineers of Nordmende who designed this awesome gadgetimoja back in those days!

More geekstuff? Here you go:
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Look at this old UHER 4000 Report-L magnetic tape recorder. Remember those old (german) Derrick episodes on Kenyan Television? Yep, they were using a machine like this one to record the testimonies. Old, but good! This one is almost 40 years old, but still running fine. Changed a few rubber belts and adjusted the head inside last month et voilà, hakuna shida! Spare parts? OF COURSE!

SMART status bad (2)

To all of those that keep on searching for "S.M.A.R.T. ( Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Tool) status bad" and land on my blog, looking for answers on what your hard disk drive (HDD) actually tries to tell you with this message – let me just mention this:

When my 160 GB Samsung SP1614N HDD came up with that message some time ago, I did a longer surface scan using Samsungs HDD tool / Diagnostic Program (as required by Samsungs RMA service/Warranty) which said that the HDD has bad sectors. I then printed the log file on paper, made a copy of the receipt and returned the HDD together with those papers to the dealer where I bought it. After about 4 weeks time, I got a brand new 160 GB HDD by Samsung in exchange.
Since Samsung’s P80 series seems to have some problems, it might be wiser to use those HDDs as external back-up drives only (that is, mine failed after only 7 months and I’m not a power-user). However, I still went for another Samsung HDD because they offer a good cost-performance value.

déj? vu

The beauty of living in upcountry, rural & remote (really LOST) places like this kijiji (village) over here in Germany is that it sometimes reminds of the “Place of Cold Waters”, also known as the “Green Grey City in the Sun” or just the “City of Nairobi” in Kenya.
Back in those days when KBC aired boring tv shows and KTN only offered phoney BlueBand commercials, I would go to Sarit Centre and borrow one of those “brand new copies” which often turned out to be camera-copies from a cinema in Karachi.
I understand that things are a bit different today and that the media coverage in Nairobi itself is much better. However, having arrived at home with such a VHS tape back in those days, eagerly awaiting two relaxing hours of pure entertainment, something very common would happen – something, experts call “power failure”.
Kenya being the country of my choice, those power failures never really changed my mood and I often found other interesting things to do like going out and enjoying a Tusker in Waruku and talking politics with Kamau, Njoroge and Wachira.

Two days ago – after all those years of wondering how to do it – I eventually managed to succesfully connect my computer with my televisioni using this conglomeration of cables and cinch, svhs & scart connectors:

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Of course, Murphy’s Law being the prevailing law of nature technology, things wouldn’t be that easy and I also had to download THIS great little programme to get things going with my older Nvidia GF3 Ti 200 video card (hey hey, NERD-content generates blog-traffic! :-) and a short test with the whole installation turned out to be positive.
So there I was: ready to enjoy “Hotel Rwanda” in JKE’s jua kali Home Entertainment System (JKHES®)!

Five minutes after the movie had started, my old friend by the name of “power failure” came back and switched off everything. For a second.
Well, I told my visitors something like “hakuna shida” – and that I’d be disappointed because I was expecting a longer power failure….
Just as said those words, power went off again, stayed off for about 2hrs and there it was again: the reminiscence of Nairobi.

Selma

Remember that credit card-seized computer from Time Trax (on KTN back in those days)?

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Well, seems like someone had an interesting idea for 2006:
" It is not an actual or planned product. Images are obviously made with GIMP. This is my vision or prediction for 2006. Read it as my pet peeves about today’s iPods or mobile phones – cant keep them in a wallet, limited storage, limited processing capability, need for a charger, monopolistic service providers who try to squeeze every pennies out of your pocket for silly things like incoming calls…. I am just tossing an idea, catch it and build it if you want :-)"

Brilliant.

jamboOO

Eben lese ich in der Online-Ausgabe der kenianischen Tageszeitung "Daily Nation", dass die Firma Microsoft® in Kenia heute die Kiswahili-Version ihres Office Software Pakets veröffentlichen wird (Word, Excel, Outlook). Die entsprechende Kiswahiliversion von Windows soll wohl dann im Januar 2006 folgen.

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Dabei gibt es die kostenlose Alternative – OpenOffice – zumindest in der 1.1.3 Version schon seit über einem Jahr in Kiswahili. Die vollständige Übersetzung der 2.0 Version soll auch im Januar 2006 erscheinen.