Have you ever wished you could create useful power solely with your own
body? To be able to travel, move heavy loads, perform machine work, and
generate electricity with your legs, arms, etc? I went beyond wishing. I
imagined, designed, and built what I needed to achieve my dreams.
I have always been a mad scientist at heart. Three projects that I am particularly fond of are a pedal generator, a pedal-powered "pickup truck" and a pedal-powered canoe.
The Pedal Generator has "morphed" into the Pedal Powered Prime Mover - a universal Human Power Generation Platform. I have plans for sale enabling anyone to build their own.
My most recent project is a Solar Powered Ultracapacitor LED Automatic Outdoor Lighting System.
I have a voice synthesizer waiting to help you say 'Hi' if you like.
And on very rare occasions, you can see me.
A Datsun Roadster Fuse Box Diagram is here in a small (9k) postscript file.
If you have a Datsun Roadster, you may be interested in the details of rebuilding the heater, a project I finished in the summer of 1995. In 1996, I tackled the SU Carburetors. My latest project (1997) was to enhance the ignition system before the cold weather sets in. With summer on the way, you may be interested in the cooling system enhancements I designed.
I recently replaced the wheel bearings in the left front hub of the roadster. If you would like a write-up of the activity, please mail davidbu"at"www.los-gatos.ca.us and ask. If enough people write I will create the write-up.
This is my Datsun Theft Deterrent System.
A short story by me - About Three Seconds
In the summer of 2000, I decided to go green, and I signed up for both Green Mountain Energy and Corbin Motors Sparrow #95, an electric vehicle. The Sparrow is here and it is a blast! If you like reading about other folk's experiences with things, you may enjoy my Sparrow diary.
Of course, my autobiography would not be complete without mentioning "hal", a program I wrote in 1983 and ported to the WWW.
P.S. My ex-wife owned Nine Lives, one of the first "Electronic Storefronts" on the Internet. The physical store is now closed, and I am in the process of archiving the online store.
And last but not least, here are some project pages:
WACI - Web Access Consignment International - Software I wrote in 1993 for
managing a Consignment Store. Use your Web browser, there is nothing to
install on your computer.
My home-made Do-It-Yourself Toilet Tank Top Sink Water Saver.
Here is a write-up of my home-made Micro Solar Lighting System.
A solar photovoltaic
panel array energy output calculator with both pedal power generator and
petroleum fueled generator equivalent power calculations.
How I successfully solved an intermittent X10 troubleshooting problem.
An "intelligent," automatic, weather-aware watering system I developed to save energy, water and my sanity.
Fixing RAM Memory Problems in a Sony VAIO Laptop
Connecting my Linux system to DSL.
Listen to SHOUTcast streams, from radio stations for example. from the command line.
Radio Shack Model P Video Repair.
The world's first solar calculator, which I
invented.
Faster UNIX Bourne Shell Scripts.
A Linux or Unix shell script for printing Avery 5266 labels.
A Music Link and Resource page for Linux users.
Magazine Sales Scams to Avoid.
The work we did to diagnose and cure a
stumbling and backfiring problem on a 1998 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 pickup.
40 years of trying - I still can't remember the words...
A Thanksgiving poem or rhyme from the early 1900's - can you remember the words?
The system I assembled to enable my ex-Mother-in-law with poor vision to read large print - and read books for the first time in years...
My favorite energy and environment links.
Short story about my Spirit of the 60's CD
A "dos" batch file I wrote to compare the checksums of files in two or more directories - use it to compare files you have synced in multiple locations, and even saved or burned to disc to ensure they were accurately reproduced
See the directory comparison program here as plain text.
A little "dos" batch file I wrote that creates a table of contents of the files in your current directory
See it here as plain text.
If you are suffering from the infamous cupsd error message
"cupsd: Child exited with status 98!"
on your Linux system, take a look at /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
Check the file carefully to see if somehow the file appears duplicated
- that is, the contents appear twice in the same file. It happened to me.
I cleared out the second copy of the file and everything works perfectly now!
Problems with Microbarn and SilenX 80mm fans.
Happy Holidays 2012: A do-it-yourself gift basket I created from Fresh and Easy products - delicious!.
My list of antique computer hardware, for sale or trade.
Take me out to the swim meet
Take me out to the pool
Buy me some sunblock and sugar snacks
I don't care if I even get lapped
And its root, root, root for the relays
They will win in the stretch
And it's one, two, false starts you're out
At the old swim meet!
(by me)
To bed, to bed, said Sleepy Head
Tarry a little, said Slow
Put on the pot, said Greedy Gut, we'll eat before we go!
Nursery rhyme from my grandmother, as I remember it 50 years later.
David Butcher davidbu"at"www.los-gatos.ca.us Los Gatos, California 95030
