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About Systm

Systm is the Do It Yourself show designed for the common geek who wants to quickly and easily learn how to dive into the latest and hottest tech projects. We will help you avoid pitfalls and get your project up and running fast. Read more

Patrick Norton

The latest from Systm: Episode 58 - The Best Way To Run Windows On Your Mac: VMWare vs. Parallels

CNET's Tom Merritt answers the great VMWare vs. Parallels question. Which is best for running Windows applications inside of OS X? Watch the show and find out!

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Episode 45 - Practically Free DIY WiFi Antennas
April 7th, 2008 - Cut and past your way to better WiFi reception? It costs pennies and takes the fabrication skills of a kindergartner... then bend a 6dBi Omni and a 10dBi directional out of copper wire!

Episode 44 - Create light with Mentos, save gas and generate free power!
March 31st, 2008 - 3 clever hacks: save on gas, use Mentos and Mt. Dew to create an emergency light and a way to harness the power of photons to create free energy.

Episode 43 - Pimp Your Laptop with Paint, Lasers and Fur
March 24th, 2008 - A fabulous mink wrapped notebook? Automotive paints, laser etching and water bubble finishes? It's one of our odder episodes of Systm.

Episode 42 - We Need A Bigger Cannon... and a VersaLaser!
March 17th, 2008 - 300 yard tennis ball hucks? No problem. Your questions about calculating barrel to air chamber ratios, finding fittings and what exactly Schedule 40 is? No problem. David's new Versalaser? Problem: he's out sick!

Episode 41 - Systm Builds a Cannon
March 10th, 2008 - There's nothing wrong with potato guns... we love sparking up Right Guard as much as the next geek. But compressed air, now that makes for a seriously fun cannon.

Episode 40 - DIY Combat Robot
March 3rd, 2008 - Command the respect and admiration of others and build a robot.... that destroys other robots!

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High gas prices spark a ton of waterfuel scams

Posted by tokenuser on 07/04/2008 at 11:34:20 am in Systm

"I've personally found with the high fuel costs, I am just speeding less and walking more. Also .. HUGE coffee addict, I have been trying to stop going through the drive throughs and go in and order my coffee. Here in the toronto Area, it seems like more and more people are turning the cars off and going into the coffee shop too.

-MayheM"

At least Toronto has a reasonable public transport network. Its one of the few cities I vist where I don't get a rental car and just take public transport everywhere.

Go home carpetbaggers!

Posted by computoman on 07/02/2008 at 10:08:48 pm in Systm

Yep and also become a karate expert like Walker, Texas Ranger.

[show idea] super cheap gaming rig built on Systm from scratch

Posted by gta_bmx2 on 07/02/2008 at 12:33:51 pm in Systm

I'm talking under $350-$400 total budget (it would assume the person already owns Vista or XP) for brand new parts from Newegg/TigerDirect, etc.. Obviously, it won't be able to play Crysis at full settings, but it'd be able to kick the ever lovin' crap outta Half-Life 2, The Sims 3, Peggle Deluxe, etc. and also be able to run the newer games like Call of Duty and BioShock at a decent frame rate.

Perhaps with an Nvidia 8600GT video card or something even better (prices are dropping everyday). I just built such a system myself.

Patrick can spray paint the "Systm" logo on the sides of the case and then perhaps give it away to a lucky viewer in some sort of contest.

Car Radiator Doesnt Work

Posted by ColdFlo on 07/02/2008 at 11:42:00 am in Systm

Norton you getting old dude you need to keep up on current technology. I suggest xtremesystems. Marcy has done a very complete rad benchmark and it is widely excepted the ThermoChill PA120.3 is the best on the market especially when loaded with nmb mat 120mm fans. Car radiators always suck in pc cooling benches and there are many more variables than you realize so stop trying to think them out yourself(same for water blocks you would have to know the manufacturers secrets which will never happen also stay away from companies like zalman dig into some oc forums and see what is the best of the best). Heat dump of the pump is an issue. Material of the radiator is an issue as well as coolant. Keep this in mind for car radiators they are made cheap and they are made for a higher temperature range and don't necessarily need to be the peak of performance considering they are for exterior use.

Episode 58 - The Best Way To Run Windows On Your Mac [Discussion]

Posted by rever75 on 07/03/2008 at 05:30:09 am in Systm

Hey I did like this episode although I do not run a Mac. I personally run VirtualBox on my systems. In the past I used VMWare and Parallels and liked them both but feel VirtualBox is faster and a better product. Then again I am all for FOSS. Would love to see a show on VirtualBox, I am sure Sun or the Developers would give you all the info you need.

[show idea] self-propelled ice/beverage cooler that you can drive around on

Posted by gta_bmx2 on 07/02/2008 at 12:10:02 pm in Systm

*link*

sort of like this one. I've seen these before (a couple of times) at large outdoor gatherings. Looks like it'd be a blast to build and ride. Could even double the capacity by adding a second ice cooler as a trailer hitched to the back of the main one.

Knowing Patrick, he'd probably use an industrial engine like a Briggs and Stratton 8hp lawnmower engine instead of an electric motor and deep cycle marine battery!

[Show Idea] Keyless Rfid/pushbutton car start

Posted by VelocitaPaola on 06/30/2008 at 02:33:56 pm in Systm

Automotive wireless entry systems absolutely use code hopping algorithms to encrypt commands and protect users against theft. Modern garage door openers use similar algorithms. Outwardly it seems like a long shot that a thief could identify you as the owner of your car, get close enough to you with a cloner to steal your RFID information and grant access to your car. When you think about it a little more, though, it seems very plausible.

USB powered switch?

Posted by gimpbully on 06/27/2008 at 02:57:46 pm in Systm

I'd hesitate to do this for any machine you might want to do out of band mgmt on :P

"I am going to be sending a switch out to my colo servers so I don't have to pay for a line drop every month ($25). I was wondering if I could power this low power 8-port Gig-E switch off USB? It's rated at 5V-2A input. But I can't find info anywhere on what juice you get out of those USB->DC cables.

I was hoping I could save the cost of even another power plug use off my monthly bill. :)"

New host?

Posted by computoman on 07/02/2008 at 10:05:15 pm in Systm

Butterfingers Patrick is doing a good job with what he has to work with. Sure hope he get a steady techie type partner. It would have been nice to see some of the electronics projects that were promised. Actually I would prefer to see some of that instead of Linux if there was a choice. Guess, just a wee bit of patience is needed.

Episode 57 - DIY Portable Power Supply [Discussion]

Posted by gsbrickner on 06/29/2008 at 09:27:20 pm in Systm

I recently bought a 12 volt, 5 watt solar panel with the idea of maintaining an emergency power source for lights, inverter and USB charging.

I haven't bought a large battery yet but I pulled a lead-acid battery out of a spare APC UPS. It looks identical to the battery that Patrick used.

While at Walgreens, I found a car USB charger for $8.00. It's a car power plug with two USB ports on the end.

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