SETC Boston FabLab Web Blog

So here is a web blog for Boston SETC Fab lab. What does it do? How to use it? Simple.. Rather than writing emails to one person or many, just type your queries, questions, problems right here. That way everybody can read this and respond back here itself. So just look back for an answer at the same link. Slowly we will move all the relevant old emails sent to fabfolk at media dot mit dot edu here. You can also update everybody with the progress in your latest project, put a small thumbnail here as a teaser and what not. We will add a search tool here if the tool gets used enough.


So get Blogging. Follow this format while creating your blogs.



Date:13 April 2005
From:Manu
Subject:How to for blogging on fab site
This is the first blog of the site. Try making more blogs here just to see if you have gotten used to the site tool. To get started, go to http://fab.cba.mit.edu and the site link. It will ask you for a passwd which you all already know. Now a shell appears and you can browse just like in a linux shell. Go to the right directory and use edit xyz.html to create a new file. You can write up your html file in the editor and hit save. Click on "save with link for editing" if you want to put a "edit" link on the page itself for easy modification of the page by others.
Check out the other blog sites. See what your friends at other parts of the world are up to.
Ghana Fablab Blog
Vigyan Ashram Fablab Blog



Date:14 April 2005
From:Lass
Subject:How to set X&Y for Modela precisely

So we were working on the Modela last night and couldn't figure out
exactly how CAM and/or the Modela read or translated the x and y
positions of our file. If you " move 1 1" and then start your
file, where it starts cutting doesn't seem to represent the left
or bottom edge of the file. Can anyone give me a quick lesson on
how Cam and Modela translate the x and y of a file for the Modela?
It seems very trial and error, but I have a feeling that we just
don't know something. Also, does it have anything to do with the
way you export your file-- as in placement of the object in the
original document, or whether or not the object is selected when
you export? We'll keep futzing, but the logic is hard to grasp at
the moment. Thanks as always for your help.
REPLY:From Manu
My take. Correct me if I am wrong.
You move to a location you want the object to be milled, say 1 1
in this case. In cam, choose this number for the X and Y offset.
Do not worry if you cannot see the object. Autoscale will change these
numbers; so once you are happy with the routing after doing
autoscale, change the offset numbers before writing
the file (you might have to re-route after changing offset).
So this file that is written will start at the location you want.
Yes, bottom left position counts. Can you copy this to the blog too..
just for everybody?



Date:13 April 2005
From:Manu
Subject:DELL tech call numbers
For future refrences, if the Dell machines have hardware problems I am listing all the dell phone numbers at a single place. Some times these technical calls can be extremely useful to pin out what is excatly wrong with your computer. Have your service Tag number ready if you do plan to call

Dell Tech support Call List :

Gold Tech support : 1-866-876-3355
Sales : 1-800- 274-7799
Upgrade : 1-800-357-3355



Date:13 April 2005
From:Manu
Subject:HTML Bare bones guide
This is a very useful bare bone guide for html tags. Pretty much covers everything you might need all put together at the same place. Super useful.
HTML Bare Bones Guide


Date:14 April 2005
From:Manu
Subject:Why is the keyboard misbehaving in knoppix
So how many of you have had this problem. You type "y and it comes up as "z". The mapping for the keyboard needs to be set for every new user. Your keyboard will need a bit of remapping, or else the ":" or the "/" keys will not work. Click the KDE Control Center icon (big one at the bottom that looks like a colour monitor with a card in front of it) or get there via the Menu. There, go to Regional & Accessibility -> Keyboard Layout and change it to US English (from the default of German). Note: The changes you make here are only for the said user, and do not apply globally. If you create another user, the above steps of "localisation" will need to be repeated. Another way is to choose the US english setting from the right bottom corner of the screen.


Date:14 April 2005
From:Manu
Subject:Why can I not get past the login screen in Knoppix
So today you ahve tons of ideas and you want to make a lot of stuff. ahmm.. you sit on the computer and can not get past the login screen. It goes grey for a second and comes back again. This is a clear indication of something wrong with the "window manager" settings. The window manager makes your desktop look like what it looks like. Choose "kde3" as the windows manager rather than keepign it "default". That's it. Happy fabbing.


Date:9 May 2005
From:SETC
Subject:How to make GIK pieces
How to make GIK pieces


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