World of Russ » Russell

Installing an SSD into a Macbook Pro

Russell — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:05:42 +0000

Upgrading your Mac’s hard drive with an SSD can significantly increase your Mac’s performance. Installing an SSD is the same process as any other hard drive. The hard drive I choice is the OCZ 240 GB Vertex 2 Series SSD.

Once you install the hard drive and have installed OS X you then have to enable TRIM support for the drive. TRIM support allows the drive to maintain optimal performance over the life of the drive. Officially, Apple only supports TRIM with Apple branded SSD’s. We will need to run a couple of Terminal commands to enable TRIM support for the OCZ drive.

Backup the files

sudo cp /System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext/Contents/MacOS/IOAHCIBlockStorage
/System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext/Contents/MacOS/IOAHCIBlockStorage.original

Enable TRIM support

sudo perl -pi -e 's|(\x52\x6F\x74\x61\x74\x69\x6F\x6E\x61\x6C\x00{1,20})
[^\x00]{9}(\x00{1,20}\x51)|$1\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00$2|sg'
/System/Library/Extensions/IOAHCIFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOAHCIBlockStorage.kext/Contents/MacOS/IOAHCIBlockStorage

Clear kernel cache

sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel
sudo kextcache -system-caches

Now restart your computer!

Artist Paul Vanouse

Russell — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:05:30 +0000

Paul Vanouse is an artist who works in emerging media forms. He combines many academic fields and impassioned amateurism to guide his artwork. His artwork has addressed complex issues raised by new technologies and using them as a medium.

His demonstration Latent Figure Protocol uses DNA samples to create emergent representational images. Using different enzymes, primers and molecular probes. DNA can be segmented and produce banding patterns. He uses these banding patterns to create familiar symbols.

Bioluminescent Algae

Russell — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:48:46 +0000

Bioluminescent algae produce a blue glowing light when physically disturbed.

Culturing bioluminescent algae requires a sample of bioluminescent algae. These organisms use photosynthesis to produce their own food and grow. They live a circadian cycle they require 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. The water temperature needs to be around 50°-70°F.

The algae only produce light in their night cycle and can live off a fluorescent light if natural light is not feasible or if the dark cycle is not inline with daylight.

The algae culture will last for about month. To prolong the algae purchase some growth medium. This is nutrient seawater for the algae. This algae does not require aeration of the water.

Touchy Lite

Russell — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:48:11 +0000

Meet Touchy Lite.

Scout V2 – Day 1 – Soldering

Russell — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 04:29:42 +0000

For day 1, I began to soldered the headers to the Razor IMU and Ardupilot boards. I then checked to see if both boards are working correctly. Test verify that both boards are working properly.

I am installing an auto-stabliized system on Scout V2. To achieve this I will be using a inertial measurement unit, or IMU board. This electronic device tracks and reports the velocity and orientation of the aircraft. The Razor IMU is a 9 degree of freedom IMU sensor board. The Razor IMU has a 3-degrees of axis accelerometer, 3-degrees of axis gyro, and 3-degrees magnetometer. Adding these three sensors degrees of axes together, creates the boards 9-degress of freedom. The Ardupilot is the brains of Scout V2. Both the propulsion system and IMU runs through the Ardupilot. The Ardupilot takes the sensor data from the IMU and adjust the Scout’s propulsion system to both keep the aircraft level and to control auto-navigatation.

Ardupilot with Soldered Header Pins

The Razor IMU contains a 3-axis accelerometer, single-axis gyro and a dual-axis gyro, and a triple axis magnetometer

Thesis Prep – Scout 2.0

Russell — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:14:34 +0000

For my thesis I will continue developing my project Scout. This time I will take what I learned from building Scout to create a new design. For thesis, I will be creating a second version of Scout. Scout 2.0 will have 4 motors instead of two, allowing for a greater lifting power. Instead of using Lego bricks for the airframe, I will use carbon fiber. Choosing carbon fiber as the building material for the airframe will allow for a more rigid and lighter frame. I will then install a auto-stabliizing system. This will allow Scout to auto level itself and allow the user to focus on navigation.

Vectorworks Drawing – Rimfire Motor

Russell — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:45:11 +0000

This is my first mechanical drawing in Vectorworks. I choose to model a motor that I had, the Rimfire .10
Motor.pdf
Vectorworks File

Science Fair Project

Russell — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:53:30 +0000

For my science fair project I wanted to experiment with splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis. See this video for the results of the experiment.

Portfolio Website Design

Russell — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:39:41 +0000

Here is my latest revision to my portfolio website. I don’t know if I am going to keep this color palette. It’s too dark for my taste. I do like the space background that I created. I also like the transparent backgrounds.

my website

REST

Russell — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:31:55 +0000

For our midterm assignment we had to create a site using the REST model. I chose to create site that allows people to post their complaints of an event that bugged them. This event could be someone cutting the person off in the car, or someone littering, etc….

By typing add in the url bar, you can log an event.

You can filter results by state and city. Here is an example:

The main URI is http://test.russelldelatorre.com/net/offense/ after “offense”,

Type “/ak” shows all events for the state of alaska. add “/sitka” and will show all events for Sitka, Alaska.

Add any point in the URI you can type “/add” to add an event.

http://test.russelldelatorre.com/net/offense/