How to Best Organize Your Mp3 Collection
Sun, 31/05/09 – 14:18 | One Comment

Programs like iTunes, Windows Media Player, Zune etc. organize your music collection by updating the tag structure only. These programs often copy your music collection to a designated folder, leaving duplicates spread across your computer. …

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Visio Shapes and Engineering Template for Electrical Circuits
Thu, 18/06/09 – 1:27 | No Comment

If you have ever used the the Electrical  Engineer Library included with Visio, you will quickly learn just how crappy it is. Symbols do not align to the grid, they contain long connectors, and the shapes are just plain unprofessional.  I believe the example image shown in Fig. 1 clearly explains my point. The circuit library I have been slowly building as a result could be useful to ECE students and practicing engineers.  If you are a student and your department is part of the Microsoft Development Network (MSDN), which most are, you can get Visio for free.

visiosucks

Fig.1 Why Visio Library Sucks

The advantages of the PitelSPOT Electrical Shape Library and the PitelSPOT Engineering Template are:

  • Symbols align to a 0.1″  grid. This grid work great for those small double column articles required in IEEE journals and conference papers.
  • The Engineering Template will setup the grids and snaps  for you. To use, go to File=> New=> New Drawing from Template=> then select PitelSPOTEngineeringTemplate.vst.
  • Symbols are minimal. Use the connector tool to join shapes.

The presently supported shapes are shown in Fig. 2.

electricalsymbolsthumb1

Fig. 2. List of Included Electrical Symbols

Version History

The dowloads listed are for free. If  there is a symbol missing, make your request in the comments below. Bribes/gratitude in the form of donations are welcomed via the Paypal link below.


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Downgrade to Wordpress 2.8 - Revenge of the Permalink
Sun, 14/06/09 – 11:09 | 3 Comments
Downgrade to Wordpress 2.8 - Revenge of the Permalink

Revenge of the permalink errors.  A had a similar problem happen when I upgraded to 2.7.1, which I posted about here.
Downgrading to Wordpress2.7.1 was really simple:

Download the previous version.
Drag the files into your Wordpress installation …

Rapid Digital Design
Fri, 5/06/09 – 20:43 | 2 Comments
Rapid Digital Design

This article covers chapter 5 of my dissertation.
    - Single-Phase Grid Connected Control
    - Direct Digital Synthesis
    - All Digital Phase-Lock Loop
    - Software and Hardware in the Loop Experiments
    - Rapid Control Prototypes and System Products
 G. Pitel, “Fast …

All the TV show’s I’ve loved (and lost)
Sat, 9/05/09 – 12:15 | No Comment

Everyone watches television, but not everyone loves television. To love TV is to be so smitten with a show that you wait impatiently between episodes gnashing your teeth for six long days, possibly scouring the …

Nokia N85 Sample Pictures
Wed, 6/05/09 – 2:18 | 4 Comments
Nokia N85 Sample Pictures

Totally awesome.
The above sums up how I describe my new cell phone, the latest electronic toy added to our menagerie. After  years of merely getting by with a free Motorola Razr, I am now living large with a Nokia N85. …

Wordpress Fixes for HTTP 500 and HTTP 404
Tue, 14/04/09 – 22:28 | No Comment
Wordpress Fixes for HTTP 500 and HTTP 404

This post adds to the collection of fixes for the dreaded WordPress HTTP 500 and HTTP 404 errors  users can encounter after an update . In particular, the article targets the scenerio when default Permalink …

Double Wall Drinking Glasses: The Best Beer Glass?
Sat, 24/01/09 – 21:02 | 6 Comments
Double Wall Drinking Glasses: The Best Beer Glass?

For the holidays, Grant bought our mom a set of Luigi Bormioli Duo double-wall drinking glasses. These glasses have a two thin layers of glass separated by an air pocket. This construction apparently provides …

PitelSPOT’s New Home–Skynet
Fri, 23/01/09 – 21:11 | No Comment
PitelSPOT’s New Home–Skynet

In an effort to make my life easier I decided to put PitelSPOT on its own dedicated server. In the past, all my web applications were run from my workstation, which has obvious disadvantages. …

Baby it’s cold outside
Sun, 18/01/09 – 20:05 | No Comment

Despite living far above the Mason-Dixon line for almost a decade I have not adapted to winter weather. So after an unusually frigid month of December, I was fearing what torture January would bring. Last week …

PitelSPOT is Getting a New Home
Sat, 10/01/09 – 13:44 | One Comment
PitelSPOT is Getting a New Home

Expect server outages this week. PitelSPOT is getting a major upgrade that will be described in a later post.

Lost keys recovered
Sun, 4/01/09 – 17:35 | No Comment
Lost keys recovered

I don’t remember how long it has been since Grant lost his car and house keys, and to be honest, it’s been so long that we totally forgot about it. Until yesterday, that is, when …