Synthetic diesel, convert a phone jack into an Ethernet jack, best replacement drive for a NAS, soldering iron upgrade, cradelpoint modem, how cameras work, the Know How...V250 Quadcopter, and more!

Feedback

Can I use this for my network?

• Luke Kolarsky "Hello KH community, I was wondering if i could use this existing phone line (I think it's Cat 5) to convert this phone jack to an Ethernet jack? Any help is appreciated!?"
  
  
  1. It "probably" Cat5 or Cat5e. Probably riser rated.
     
     
     • Look for labeling on the cable insulation
  
  
  2. It's most likely been spliced from room-to-room, outlet-to-outlet.
     
     
     • You can't just tape the ends together. You'd want to terminate and couple to make sure you're keeping proper electrical signal.
     
     
     • You want to map out the wiring to see how they ran it. It's possible that they've run everything back to a central panel, if that's the case, then you're good to go. If not, you're want to terminate-and-couple or drop a switch at each outlet.

Time for a new drive

• Geoffrey Auld "I have a Buffalo 500gb Single HDD NAS Box. The Samsung HDD has finally crashed with the click of death and I want to put a WD hard disk in side and was wanting to know which would be best, ie WD Red, Black or Green. Thanks Geoff from Australia. ?"
  
  
  • WD Red (~$120 for 3 TB)
    
    
    • Run cool, great for NAS, low price per gigabyte, decent speed
    
    
    • BUT HORRIBLE for single drive usage
  
  
  • WD Green (~$100 for 3TB)
    
    
    • Runs cool, reliable
    
    
    • Slow
  
  
  • WD Black (~$180 for 3TB)
    
    
    • FAST.. CRAZY FAST! (7200rpm), 5 year warranty
    
    
    • Runs hot, expensive.

I need a new Soldering Station

• Edie Foy "Time to replace my no longer in biz soldering station. (can't get tips anymore). I can spend $500 for a killer station, I prefer at or under $200. I don't need SMD/SMT. Suggestions thus far are: Hakko, Weller, Metcal, Edsyn?"

Cellular Ethernet

• Ben Yanke "Does anyone know of a good GSM to Ethernet modem (something I could hook up to my own router, not a WiFi hotspot that creates it's own network). Obviously I could just buy a hotspot and pick it up with an AP acting as a client, and hook that to my router, but that is obviously less than ideal, and less reliable.?"

Traditional, film-based cameras

Oldtimers (Those of us who started with FILM) will remember that there were three ways to control the amount of light that would create your image.

• ISO (Or ASA, or DIN)


• Aperture


• Shutter

These three variables could be changes to change the amount of light you needed to create a proper image, and how much light actually reached your film.

• ISO
  
  
  • Has been called ISO, ASA and DIN: This is the "speed" of the film (Typical values: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600)
  
  
  • The higher the number, the "faster" the film, and the less light it needed to form an image in its emulsion
  
  
  • However, as a film becomes faster it:
    
    
    • Increases "grain" (the individual particles that capture light clump together)
    
    
    • Decreases detail
    
    
    • Decreases contrast
  
  
  • Those of us who shot with film, knew to always use the slowest film we could get away with.
    
    
    • In a pinch, we could shoot slower speed film as if it were higher-speed film, we would just need to adjust our development time to match.
    
    
    • It wasn't perfect, but it means that we favored slower films unless we KNEW we were going to be filming in low-light, fast-shutter situations


• Aperture
  
  
  • This was the size of the lens opening through

Qua

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/know-how/episodes/142

Hosts: Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ and Bryan Burnett

Sponsors:

• smartthings.com/twit with code TWIT


• lynda.com/knowhow