7 days until OpenSuSE 11.1

Well this blog is off to a slow start as I have put all my projects on hold until the new release of OpenSuSE 11.1 comes out. It's hard to devote time into a set up when you know in a few days your going to wipe everything out and start over. Once it comes out I'll show some cool stuff I know and learn with screen shots or video. As long as I don't lose my icons with KDE 4 this time I plan on using OpenSuSE 11.1 as my host OS and since we all still rely on Windows some what I'll fall back to Wine, or run a guest OS of XP in Virtual Box.
Stay tuned,
Rob

Christmas Lights on a Wagon

Our two year old is in full blown Christmas mode. We got our house all decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving and everyday when we turn on all our lights he still gets all excited. Well next week we are going to walk down Christmas Tree Lane and wanted to make it extra special. SO today I installed a strand of 60 white/blue LED snowflake lights on his wagon interlaced with tensile. It was pretty easy to do. Here's what I used.

• 1 old motorcycle battery.
• 1 cheap 12volt/120volt 100watt power inverter I got from HELL on EARTH (I hate going there but sometimes your left with few options) It was like $18.
• Some scrap wood.
• Some odd ball nails/screws and a big hose clamp.
• 1 wagon.
• A car 12 volt female plug (for a cigarette lighter).
• Some cardboard.
• Staple gun
• 1 roll of Gorilla tape (I like it instead of plain old duct tape.)
  

Here is a picture of the inner workings...

This is the view from the back. I have a cardboard "hood" stapled to the back rest to hide some of the wood, wires, and extra lights. You can see the top of the motorcycle battery in the middle with the 12 volt female car accessory plug wired directly to the terminals. The power inverter I got is attached with an opened up hose clap screwed to the board. Kinda oakie rigged but it'll only be used once. Around the edges you can see strips of Gorilla tape holding the lights and tinsel.

Here's a look under the "hood". Under it is some scrap 2X4's nailed together (versus screwed because my drill's batteries were dead) to keep the backrest up and battery stable. I also had like five extra light I decided to store under the hood so one side of the wagon wouldn't look brighter then the other.

So there's a side view of the some what completed Christmas Wagon. We're going to fill it with blankets and pillows for the little guy. Maybe a cup holder for some hot cocoa would be a worthy addition.

I had it going for over an hour on a battery that was about half dead and has been sitting unused for six months. I think the light strand only pulls a couple watts (because there LEDs) so it should stay lit for quite a while (at least long enough to walk a few blocks to look at lights).

I couldn't wait till dark to see how it looked so here's a picture of in my messy garage with the lights off. The tinsel really sets it off.

So there you have it. A glowing Christmas Wagon. Hit me up if you have done this before or have any questions. The kid loves it and when we go down Christmas tree lane I'll add some pictures of it in action.
Regards,
Rob

The intro...

Here is the first post in a blog that I hope will be helpful to many people. I find useful information about Linux, computers, and unique builds on other peoples blogs and thought that I should give back.
A little about me, I am a soon to be a father of two and married to a wonderful women. I am pursuing my Bachelors degree in Computer Systems and Network Administration and have a very deep and growing interest in Linux, and networking. I have SO much to learn and hope to someday be able to put my newly acquired skills to use.
As I learn something that blows me away or was a chore to locate on the Internet I'll be sure to post it here so hopefully someone else can find it and make use of it.
Comments, corrections, and links are very welcomed here. Just go easy on my writing style as I am not an English scholar. Hopefully the more I write the more elegant my writing will become.
Regards,
Rob