borking videocard and lockpicktools
So… I’ve been busy the last couple of days… but another reason for not updating is that I thought I was without a workstation…
My videocard borked out and after searching my employers’ warehouse (with a gazillion videocards, but I’m a little picky I guess…) I didn’t find anything I’d like… So I ordered a card online and it should’ve arrived today but didn’t… So, then I took another look at my old videocard and fixed it… for now…
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
Here you can see what I did, I guess the old Zalman heatpipe-cooler got a little loose on the core of the videocard, and that’s why it borked out… When I got my current motherboard, I had to change the position of the big heatsink on the back of the videocard, because it got in the way of a heatsink on my motherboard… (...if you’re really interested, you can find pics on this projectpage of mine: another dual Xeon…) Oh, I did put in 2 extra modules of 512MB, making it a total of 2GB, weeeeeeeee!
Anyways, this afternoon (since the mailman didn’t bring me my new videocard) I decided to take another look at my old one and deassembled the Zalman-set and put it back on, with some fresh thermal grease… And for now I left the back heatsink off, as long as I’m not going to play Q3 Arena I should be fine for the weekend…
But… what did the mailman bring?
ADDED:
§ 3002a. Nonmailability of locksmithing devices (thanks William!)
...and this is what the envelope looked like, with the locksmithing devices inside… probably a coincedence, but I can’t recall I ever received an envelope opened up this much (I was able to take the devices out pretty easily…)
Anyways, this is what was inside the envelope, ...
click to enlarge
these beautiful tools! :D I’m busy getting a little experience in lockpicking this weekend…
What is Lockpicking?
Lockpicking is the art of opening a lock without damaging it or using a key. This ‘opening without damage’ can be done in various ways, but is generally done with special tools for that purpose.
I did attend a workshop at the WhatTheHack-festival and was able to pick my first lock right there… But even with the amount of hours I’m going to put into this, this weekend, I will be quite novice in this… I’m sure ;-)
Oh, and why you may ask? Well, for a new article I’m writing, that’s why…
Oh(2), and what videocard did I order?
Actually, it’s not new at all, but a very old one, especially considering it’s a videocard and they tend to pump out a new generation of videocards every 6 months or so…
Anyways, this is the one I ordered. Instead of the $2000 in 2001, I paid EUR 29 for it… and it’s new, never used, bulk packaged, probably old stock from some OEM-manufacturer or such I reckon… I’m gonna see if it’s capable of normal desktop-usage anno 2006… It’s an exotic card, AGP pro, dual DVI, no DirectX whatsoever(I like that! it’s a feature!) and with stereo-connector for… shutterglasses! (which I have…)
...to be continued…
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i made my own lockpicks out of hacksaw blades using a dremel. i just snaped the blade into thirds, then used a dremel to grind it into the proper shape, making sure to dunkitin water every second or two so it didnt loose its temper. for the tension wrench, cut the third of a hacksaw blade into 3-ish strips lengthwise, dunking a lot, then ue a torch and get it white-hot and bend the end to the proper shape. they’ve worked like a charm for me, and u can make them however you want. it also cheeper. it goes through a lot of dremel bits though, a big wheel grinder works much better/more efficantly. i found a video of it somewhere, youtube i think. winshield wiper blades work well too.
How the hell did you get Crystal Graphics Shutterglasses? Also, You need a 120hz Vertical/Horizontal framerate to use them at all! Got an SGI monitor in your bedroom? XD
I’m jealous. I have ASUS glasses with a home made interface board for stereographics ports. (Such as on my Indy)
Where the hell do you get this stuff?
Dan, I put some lockpick-pics up on my flickr :-)
Ferret,
Euhm, I don’t have the Crystal Graphics shutterglasses… I also have these Asus-glasses and a homemade interfaceboard for connecting to an Indy… My idea is/was to connect those glasses to my FireGL4 or otherwise look around for some other glasses, but it’s something I’m going to do somewhere in the near future (projects start to pile up… I need time!!! ;-) )
i just added pics of mine too :). the ones in the pic are the only ones i have made right now, do you have a favorite u think is really good? im thinking about just a generic rake. suggestions? btw, all the picks and wrenches in the pic were made from one hacksaw blade.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85929961@N00/
Hey Markie!
I’m happy to see an other fan of lock picking (I’m picking for about 1 1/2 years now) so train well and feel free to visit us at the German Open (normally around Christmas) this year in Stuttgart (south of Germany) I think you will find information about this on the TOOOL page or at http://ssdev.org/
so hf