Phillips Scope Repair

I finally decided it was time to buy an oscilloscope. I ran across a Phillips PM3217 on ebay for what seemed to be a good price, the seller couldn't test the thing because "he didn't have any probes", so it was offered as is. The two traces were confirmed to at least display and move about, "what could possibly be wrong with the thing", I thought. So I get it in the mail and the first bad sign is a notable rustle of what sounds like something broken. I open the shipping box and the front cover, which is supposed to protect the front panel controls, has been shattered into many plastic pieces. Also, the distinct smell of burnt electrolyte fills the air.

Long story shortened, There was a blown capacitor on the power supply and the trace could only be displayed in the bottom third of the CRT screen. *sigh* Lessons hard learned: Taking risks on eBay is rarely worth it.

Linux Cluster = Awesome Power

I ran across this little article while perusing the Hack A Day feed, in which Janne of Svensk Film Effekt built a networked Linux cluster of ub3r proportions. Using a modified Ikea Helmer cabinet and six maxed out motherboards, running at a combined 57.6 (six quad core Intel cpus) GHz and utilizing a combined 48 gigabytes (six motherboards holding 8 gigs each). Needless to say, animation renders previously taking hours would take only several minutes using this beast.