I shall call it “Frankendrive”

Posted on July 6th, 2010 by Kenneth

So I needed to install OS X 10.5 (Leopard) on my PowerBook G4 today, as I would very much like to be able to play through the Ultima 6 Project. I actually tried to play it last night, but it quite consistently crashed not two seconds into the introductory sequence.

Apparently, the mod requires Leopard. I have Tiger (OS X 10.4) installed at present, or I did until this afternoon. Until now, it has served me well, but it’s not like I mind having an updated OS at all. My brother had spare Leopard discs on hand, and was quite happy to drop then off at the house last night. All I needed to do was back up a few files (just to be safe) and install the update.

Or so I thought. I forgot one thing, however: my PowerBook’s DVD drive refuses to read DVDs. It will read CDs just fine, which could mean that the laser glass needs polishing, but…well…I just don’t feel like prying the laptop open for something like that right now. The time investment required is…significant.

But I digress.

I backed up my files to an external hard drive and asked around the office as to whether anyone had an external DVD drive. I know we’re supposed to have one, but nobody was sure where it was. I had just deleted my (metastable) OS X 10.6 virtual machine, as well, so the option of imaging the DVD to a USB stick on my Windows computer was out of th question.

I did, however, have that external hard drive.

If you think about it, all an external hard drive is, really, is a hard drive with either an ATA or SATA connector (data and power) and a small circuit board that bridges between that and a USB connection. Oh, and a pretty case. Hard drives and optical drives both use either ATA or SATA to connect to a computer when installed internally…so I reasoned that a hard drive case should work to connect a run-of-the-mill DVD drive to the PowerBook. A quick bit of scrounging around the office turned up an unused ATA DVD drive, and it jut so happens that the Vantec hard drive I had just finished using to back up my data was in an ATA-specific case.

Ideal!

One quick disassembly later...

And yes, the OS X install DVD mounted correctly once I plugged this thing in. Not that I really doubted that it would — an ATA-to-USB interface should, properly, be totally agnostic as to the exact sort of ATA device it is connected to; it should just facilitate communication between that device and the OS on whatever it is being connected to. And it did that quite marvelously, I must say.

Although, it looks beastly.

Of course, mounting the DVD is one thing. Booting from it, which is required to install the OS, is something else.

Fortunately, that's what the OPTION key is for!

It’s funny, I think, how the firmware that is running in the above draws it’s basic interface appearance from the “classic” Mac OS design school. This is the boot menu on a Mac (or, at least, on a PowerPC Mac); the USB drive is not the primary boot device, but can be selected as the one-time boot volume.

And the install proceeds...

Of course, installing the OS is only half the battle; the updates that typically follow an install are usually the longer and more tedious part of the process. We’ll see, I suppose.

Anyhow, there it is: a thrown-together, impromptu external DVD drive, the Frankendrive. Ingenuity means that it works, not that it’s pretty.

Tags: CD, Dungeon Siege, DVD, G4, Leopard, OS X, PowerBook, Snow Leopard, Tiger, Ultima 6, Ultima 6 Project, USB, Vantec

Announcing…Number Two!

Posted on April 30th, 2010 by Kenneth

That appointment I mentioned below?

Yeah, it was to confirm a few details…namely, that Grace is pregnant and that the baby is healthy. And since he or she is, in fact, healthy, with a strong little heartbeat, we can make it known: we’re expecting our second child!

If all goes well and we’re correct in our estimate of the conception date, we should be welcoming a brother or sister for Ella into the air-breathing world some time in November.

Pretty cool, eh?

Tags: Grace, pregnancy

Ella at Ken’s Office

Posted on April 30th, 2010 by Kenneth

Grace had an appointment downtown, so she left Ella with me at my office for a couple of hours…to the general delight and amusement of my co-workers.

And of course I took the opportunity to shoot a few pictures, if only on my iPhone.

Ella more or less took over my office chair.

Pausing for a snack.

Ella plays with my office computer a bit.

Ella really likes computers.

Ella also liked the view of the city.

I’m hoping this post will be the start of more regular site updates. I’m aiming for at least one update a week.

Tags: Ella, Grace, iPhone 3GS, work

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 24th, 2009 by Kenneth

Tags: Christmas

Guess who just turned 1?

Posted on October 26th, 2009 by Kenneth

Ella was born not all that long after midnight a year ago today. We celebrated her birthday party yesterday, in a big get-together that was well-attended by our friends and families. Ella, of course, didn’t really have the first clue as to why 40 or so extra people were in the house that afternoon, but she got over her initial apprehension pretty quickly and ended up having a rollicking good time being doted upon by…well…everyone.

The cake was also a hit, though it took her a few minutes to warm up to it as well. We think the icing was throwing her off, but by the end of the day she was more than happy to devour even the slightest crumb of cake. Here she is diving into it — or, rather, sharing a piece with someone just off-camera. Ella is a very good sharer, you see.

Chocolate cake, anyone?

Tonight, for her actual birthday, we’re serving her spaghetti. I’ll be sure to post a picture of the ensuing mess, which I am sure will be epic.

Update: No picture of the ensuing mess will be posted. We opted to let Ella have at the “pasketti” wearing just her diaper, and we’ve got a standing policy against posting “bare baby” pictures to the Intertubes.

Towers!

Posted on October 20th, 2009 by Kenneth

Ella will not suffer any stacked objects to remain…well…stacked.

She’s just about a year old now, and has been walking for about a month. She’s gotten pretty good at it too, and can even remain upright after breaking into a run…some of the time.

Yes, stuff is still happening!

Posted on July 8th, 2009 by Kenneth

In fact, quite a lot is happening. Apropos of the previous post, Ella now has seven (almost eight) teeth, and is really quite happy to make use of them; she has basically rejected “mushed up” fruit in favour of “the real thing,” as evidenced by this video:

Yes, that’s a nectarine. And yes, she did eat pretty much all of it.

For an eight month-old, that’s pretty impressive.

I hope to be updating the site a) soon and b) a lot more frequently in the days and weeks to come, so please be patient with me!

Ella has a tooth!

Posted on April 7th, 2009 by Kenneth

Grace just informed me yesterday that Ella’s first tooth just came in, with the second on the way.

Being in Wyoming at present, I haven’t had the chance to see this for myself, but it’s exciting news all the same. We’ll be able to start her on solid foods soon!

Tags: Ella, Grace, teeth, teething

Baby pictures!

Posted on February 15th, 2009 by Kenneth

Plus many, many more in the gallery!

It’s a girl!

Posted on October 26th, 2008 by Kenneth

Grace and I would like to announce the birth of our daughter, Ella Rose. She was born this morning (Sunday, October 26th) at 12:39 AM, at a weight of 7 pounds, 7 ounces. Grace and Ella are still at the hospital, where Grace is recuperating from the delivery, catching up on her sleep, and regaining her strength. She did…she did excellently, I have to say.

She’s doing very well, but please do offer your prayers for her healing, that it may be expedient and complete.

Also, please feel free to use the contact form to send congratulatory or encouraging notes to Grace, who — next to God — deserves all the credit and recognition for this event. She has approached this whole experience with courage, determination, and boundless love.

I’ve got a few pictures of both Mom and baby, and I’ll be posting them soon-ish. For now, though, we’re just going to take some time to welcome Ella into the world, and will get around to pictures, and introductions to friends and family, in due time. So if you’ve called, emailed, or otherwise sent in a word to see how things are going…thank you for your care, and we will get back to you in a bit. But please just give us some time to ourselves, that we might rest and that Grace might heal.

Oh, yeah: for those family members who registered a guess in the baby pool, we would just like to say that nobody won, in that nobody actually guessed the correct date. Guesses ranged from about the 17th to the 31st, and covered almost every day in between…but nobody picked the 26th. A couple people did guess the exact birth weight, however.