Fixing the Onkyo TX-SR606 HDMI Switchboard problem
Mar 30th
My friend’s Onkyo amplifier broke down, and I self had some problems too with my Onkyo amp (TX-SR306). The problem was that video and audio did not get trough to the TV anymore. Or took 15 minutes to show up. Also the amp’s setup menu did not appear on the TV anymore.
I figured it had something to do with the HDMI switchboard in the amp, so I googled a bit and apparently its a well known issue. I came up with a video on youtube explaining how to fix this yourself quite easily. You only have to replace 5 capacitors on the switchboard. So I went to the store, got myself a soldering iron and 5 new capacitors (100uf 25v, 5mm) and started soldering, it took me about 40 minutes to complete and it works now brilliantly again! Beat this, Onkyo customer support. Thank you youtube video guy!
Some pics from before and after below.
Switching from Magic Mouse to Magic Trackpad
Mar 21st
A friend told me he was using the Magic Trackpad instead of the Mouse, I was curious what effect this would have on my right hand. So I ordered the Magic Trackpad for my Mac. I think it will be hard to get used to but lets give it a try. And get some blood pumping trough my vanes as I have to move my hand more often on a Trackpad 
Will let you know my experience with it once I get it!
Expanding my programming knowledge with: iPhone development
Oct 21st
Yeah, I started to learn iPhone development a while back, but gave up pretty easily when work started to get busy. But now I finally found some time to continue learning the cool, but different language: Objective-C.
I started to watch the movies on iTunes U, enrolled as a Apple developer and bought some books, even though I watched over 8 hours of video I haven’t touched xCode yet But brewing up some idea’s already that would make cool apps! So look out in the App store if you see my name or my company name scrolling by!
The books I bought:
- Beginning iPhone development: Exploring the iPhone SDK
- Apps maken voor de iPhone (dutch)
Other resources:
- Apple developer center
Good replacement for QuickSilver: Alfred App!
Oct 21st
My friend (@jvdmeulen) tipped me about this App after seeing how slow QuickSilver sometimes reacts on my computer because, i don’t know, i have many apps? But anyway the performance is below acceptable now for quicksilver. So he came up with the app Alfred. (www.alfredapp.com) And it is really cool, and very, very fast! It does some other cool stuff too kind of like quicksilver, but more thought trough. They are still in beta, but that is not always a bad thing. You can also buy a Powerpack for only 12 euro’s (or so) with even more features! Be sure to check it out if you are a QuickSilver user!
My latest acquisition, Apple’s iPad 3G
Sep 8th
My latest acquisition But not sure yet what to do with it… I think i’ll hold on to it until my iPhone 4 is in the mailbox and then sell it again 
My top Mac apps for web development
May 13th
I’ve seen many blogs from colleague web developers sharing their top 10 mac apps or something like that, I always find it interesting to read what applications they use. So here I am sharing my top applications I use daily for my work.
I am not putting the apps in a Top # order but in order how many times I use it, or the importance for the app to me.
Coda
Coda is in my eyes the holy grail of web development apps in the genre Text editors, but it’s so much more then just a text editor. Many people prefer Text Mate, I’ve tried that too, but once using coda u never go back. Hehe. Coda is lightweight and fast to use, It has build in Sites to save your sites obviously, very easy to use. And it has a build-in preview option, but I don’t use that, I prefer switching to Firefox. What I do use is the build in Books option, this lets you view for instance the PHP documentation, and you can easily search the books. For more information about all functionalities of coda like Sites, Preview, CSS, Terminal and Books visit their website.
Trying out Apple’s Magic Mouse
May 12th
I needed a small keyboard for my new HTPC, so I bought the new wireless keyboard from Apple. While I was at it.. I saw the Magic Mouse. I’ve had a mac since 5 years now, and mac accessories too, but I always had a ugly logitech mouse next to the keyboard. So now I’m trying out the new Magic Mouse. First impressions are good, it feels good in the hand and it responds better then I expected. The smooth scrolling is nice too, but sometimes when I’m reading an article I accidentally scroll down because my hand rests on the mouse. That’s annoying but need to learn to keep my hand still I guess
Project #2: Building an HTPC with Snow Leopard 10.6 and XBMC
May 2nd
I had fun building the Xen server in my first project, since that one is completed it is time I start with project 2! Building an HTPC with Snow Leopard 10.6 and XBMC.
I’ve been using my Xbox 1 chipped with XBMC for over 4 years now, and it has served me some good times. But as the movie quality keeps improving, or increasing in size, the Xbox doesn’t have what it take’s anymore. For example, viewing a movie in 1080p quality is simply not possible. Mostly because the file format MKV is not supported, or weakly supported.
A friend of me was talking about his new HTPC running on Snow Leopard with XMBC and it got me thinking, running Snow Leopard om my TV sounds good to me anyway. And being able to finally view Full-HD movies on my TV (witch it has never done before) is something i really want, I’m done watching crappy DivX’s.
Of course it never comes cheap, for a reasonable priced hardware configuration you come somewhere near 400 – 450 euro’s. And if I want a nice casing that fits next to my amplifier it costs me even more. The same goes for ’sound reduced’ hardware. So I think I’m just going with the average hardware and put this in a basic casing, and hide it behind my couch Maybe put some sound reducing stuff in the casing to reduce the annoying fan noise.
- Edit, Turns out HTPC casings are not that expensive after all. Found one for 60 euro’s, Looks like it’s going to be next to my amplifier afterall 
Project #1: Installing and configuring Xen 3.0.3 on CentOS 5.4
Apr 28th
Hi there,
I don’t often write something to my blog, mostly because I can’t find the time or the subject to write about, or the subject I can disclose to the public that is ^^. Anyway, I want to bust two bugs in one slap. That is writing something that is helpful to anyone interested and also for an archive of my projects. Often I start a personal project, mostly it doesn’t get completed because i get pulled of due other projects that actually bring food on the table. But this time I’m approaching it from another direction. Making my projects public for anyone to read. This keeps me motivated to complete the project and hopefully get some nice feedback from it.
My first project I’m posting is installing Xen 3.0.3 on a fresh server. Recently I’ve sold my webhosting company because I did not have the time, nor the long-term motivation for it. I’ve sold the company including the servers. But I managed to keep one server for myself and friends. This server is going to be used in this project so that I and my friends can have their own Virtual Machine.
Note that this is entirely new for me, and I don’t have any experience on virtualization what so ever, if you can provide me with any helpful feedback it will be appreciated
For some reason I have chosen to use Xen, why I don’t know exactly, other then its open source and according to the manual very easy to setup. I did look into other possibilities but it seems Xen is the most complete, and free software for virtualization. Also build by some of the most experienced companies out there, that gives me a big boost in confidence on support, communities etc.
I will update this post frequently on the status of the installation, how I did it and a complete log of installation commands that worked for my server. So if this post intrigues you, bookmark it!
Project is finished. This website is now running on a Virtual Machine! More >
Project #0: iGoogle-like Drag & Drop Portal v2.0
Sep 14th
Because i am getting alot of visits for the js-portal i decided to fine-tune it a bit. So, in follow up of version 1 here’s version 2
Visit the demo for download, and please comment if you like it and use it, it’s kinda fun to see it in a working project.
Update: On request i added MySQL database support, the script now saves the blocks into DB and pulls them out
Update2: I get allot of good responses but also many feature requests, so i decided to ask you script users what you would like to see as a new feature in the script, and i will try build it all in. Please type a comment on what you would like to see build in
Update3: 17 Nov 2010, Hi all, there has not been much activity lately on this script, but I decided to create a complete new version. Would you like it to have jquery support too? Im thinking about it.. I also made a public repository on github, you can visit and help coding here:
