Brother HL-L2350DW and WiFi

I bought a new Brother HL-L2350DW because my old Brother printer was needing a new drum and had some other minor issues. It served me well for many years. However, I noticed with the HL-L2350DW that after it went to sleep, it wouldn't wake up to print. Hitting buttons, opening and closing the lid on it, etc. didn't help. After a little Googling I found a culprit. I had to change a setting on my router (Asus RT-86U). It's under Wireless->Professional. I had to switch "Airtime Fairness" to "Disable." Thankfully it just has to be on the 2.4Ghz channel so it shouldn't be a big deal to my network (hopefully).

Now if I could just figure out how to get my Chromebook to work with it without using Google Cloud Print . . .

Intellitxt Blocking

I've been trying to go without Adblock Plus since I got my new box. Flash can't eat up all my CPU cycles anymore and I want to try to support the sites I like. The only ads that drive me nuts are the Intellitxt links. Usually they cause popups that link to Bing but other companies use them as well. It makes text harder to read and heaven help you if you accidentally mouseover one of the stupid things. So I reenabled Adblock, but instead of using a filter subscription, I just added a filter that says:

http://*.intellitxt.com*

Problem solved.

BFG, Take #3

Well, I think I got a bad card back from BFG. Neverwinter Nights would lock up and red bands would appear across the screen. Usually I could kill X with ctrl-alt-backspace, but this time I had to reset. When I did all I got was a grid of white blocks. So I RMA'd it again. This time they sent me a better card, a 6600 OC with 256M. So far this one works great, although I'm glad I also upgraded my PSU to a better one. Thus far, this card seems to be doing everything well.

Oh yeah, they sent me another T-shirt too. Soon I'm going to have the largest privately-held collection of BFG-ware :)

BFG Follow-Up

Well, color me impressed. BFG got a card back to me almost exact 48 hours after I mailed mine out. Note that it is not my original card. I assume that it is a refurbished model or perhaps a new old stock one. Not only that, but they threw in a sweet BFG t-shirt for my troubles. I guess I know which brand video card I'm going to be buying when I build a new system.

BFG Warranty

The fan on my BFG GeForceFX 5700 Ultra has been getting unpredictable. It will run for a while but then stop. The only way I can tell is by monitoring its temperature in the NVIDIA Linux drivers. I couldn't find a suitable replacement heatsink. The comparable cards are either less powerful or require a bigger PSU than I have. I decided to call BFG, since I knew they had a lifetime warranty. I expected flak, but I got none. They issued me an RMA and I UPS'd it to them yesterday. I just got confirmation that it arrived. According to the guy I talked to, there will be a 1-2 day turnaround and then it will be UPS'd back. Pretty cool, especially since it's a four-year-old card. I'm planning on a box upgrade later this year. I guess I know which brand of vid card I'm getting.

Update! I just checked their site and their warranty changed with cards purchased after February 21 of this year. It's still a lifetime warranty, but you need to register the card within 30 days and send a copy of the receipt with any returned cards. That's a little bit more of a hoop to jump through, but not a biggie.

Update #2! Holy crap! I just checked BFG's site and it's already been fixed and is being shipped back to me. I got a UPS tracking number which means that it should be here tomorrow. The card will have been out of my possession for approximately 48 hours. Wow! If it really is fixed that is nothing short of spectacular service.

Welcome to My Olde Blog!

This blog (which I hopefully will update regularly) will contain my thoughts, hints, tips, and tricks on my many and varied hobbies. These include, but are not limited to, Linux, the Playstation 3, guitars, and homebrewing beer. You'll probably find something to entertain or annoy you. Hopefully more the former than the latter.