TrendNet TK-801R KVM Review

I have used Trendnet's 8-port KVM, along with it's smaller four-port sibling, for a few years now. They are no-frills KVMs. They are also very inexpensive. And, they've worked well - well enough that I have continued to buy more over the years.

Image quality is decent enough at reasonable resolutions, particularly if you use quality cables. Other than that, there isn't much to say about a simple KVM - you push the buttons, it does what it should, and you go on about your life. Perhaps the fact that there is so little to say is indicative of how well if performs its job. If the feature set meets your criteria, I can recommend them.

Cuisinart 2 Quart Ice Cream Maker Review

A few of my friends have used these ice cream makers for some time, and keep telling me just how good they are. I resisted as long as I could, but finally gave in and purchased one.

Wow. I haven't had home-made ice cream since I was a kid, and had completely forgotten how good it is.

These are very easy to use - you mix sugar, cream, milk, and anything else you want, pour it in the freezer bowl, and turn it on. It stirs the mix for you, and in 25-35 minutes, you're ready to go.

The ice cream that comes out isn't rock-hard like you get in the store - NO ice cream is that way when it is first made. It comes out as more of a soft-serve consistency, and if you want it harder, you put it in the freezer for a few hours. Even then, while it is firm, it is not unbearably hard like much store-bought ice cream. Store-bought ice cream uses carageenan, a seaweed product, to make it hard.

The freezer bowl, which I mentioned earlier, is removable. You put it in your freezer, and take it out when you are ready to make ice cream. The instructions say that it needs to be in the freezer for at least 24 hours, I have found 48 hours much better. I just store mine in the deep freeze, and take it out when I feel like making ice cream. When someone comes to visit, it's always fun to treat them to fresh-made ice cream.

If you're shopping for an ice cream maker, take a look at these - they're easy to use, and fun to have around.

Remington 870 Express Youth 20 Gauge Shotgun Review

My wife, bless her soul, already enjoyed shooting before I met her. In fact, she even owned her own pistol at the time. But when it came to long guns, she had a problem - she is very petite, and holding and swinging field-length shotguns was difficult for her.

Overall weight is not so much a problem for her, but overall length is VERY important. After looking around, I bought her a Remington 870 Express Youth 20 gauge shotgun. While it is about the same weight as my field gun, it is nearly a foot shorter. Because of that, she is able to use it quite comfortably and effectively. We have several friends (including members of both sexes) who prefer this exact shotgun, and it is always well-used when we go out.

The stock is somewhat plain, but perfectly fine and functional. It includes a recoil pad of approximately 1" thickness. The finish on the receiver and barrel is quite good, it is a thick, heavy finish that resists scratches incredibly well.

The action was a small bit rougher than I would have expected when purchased, but it smoothed out very quickly. Considering the price point of the gun, the action is what you would expect, perhaps a bit better. The trigger is also quite decent.

Overall, this shotgun is a large success. MSRP is, at the time of this writing, $385. I believe that I spent approximately $330, and the shotgun has more than lived up to the price tag. I have found no downsides, and am completely satisfied.

If you are smaller of stature, or are shopping for such a person, take a look at this shotgun - I think you'll be very pleased.

Asus GigaX 1024P Ethernet Switch

A few years ago, I needed a number of rackmount switches. They needed at least 24 ports each, and here's the kicker: While I needed most of the ports limited to 100mbps, I needed at least one gigabit uplink port on each switch. The Asus GigaX 1024P seeemed to fit the bill nicely - QoS, VLAN support, jumbo frames, etc.. And they were relatively inexpensive.

They have worked quite well for the past few years, until recently. First, one switch started randomly dropping packets, dropping ports, or going in and out entirely. I opened it up, and sure enough - one of the capacitors on the power supply board had blown up. I replaced it with a higher-quality capacitor, put it back in, and it's worked fine.

Not long ago, a second switch started exhibiting the same symptoms, so I opened it up... same cap blown up. I ordered enough GOOD capacitors (Nichicon HZ series) to replace all of the output capacitors on all of the switches, and spent a day swapping a switch, replacing caps, and repeating.

What I found surprised me: EVERY SINGLE SWITCH had the same capacitors at least bulged, even in the switches that were still working. 100% failure rate in 3 years is pretty extreme, particularly for something presumably used in a professional environment. It seems that Asus takes the same approach with rackmount switches that is so common with motherbords - that is, "Save fifty cents in capacitors, cut the lifespan by 90% - it will be out of warranty when it fails anyway!"

Since I replaced all of the capacitors, the switches still function perfectly - and, since I spent the whopping amount of $1.80 per switch for three quality capacitors, they will likely function for decades to come. However, unless you want to pull out a soldering iron, I would recommend that you stay away from these, and all switches from Asus.

TrendNet TV-IP201 IP Surveillance Camera Review

Our office has grown large enough that we needed to install security cameras. It seems that meth-addicts love to sneak into office buildings (even during the day), and grab whatever they can find. Thanks to images from one of our cameras, our little thief was picked up by the police quickly. We were told that she had only been out of jail for one month on similar charges.

For the cameras, we chose the TrendNet TV-IP201 IP surveillance camera. The reasons were simple: It was one of the cheapest IP-based cameras available, and can send an MJPEG video stream to your server. Sending a videostream is more efficient than having your server grab individual frames, and can give you higher frame rates.

For the back end, we grabbed an unused server, and installed the Motion software package. Motion is qutie advanced, providing motion-detection, MP4 compression, pre- and post-recording, and many other features. The server we used (a dual Athlon MP) is quite old, and lags far behind any current dual-core machine. Yet, it is still able to handle 4 cameras simultaneously, with MP4 compression.


These cameras aren't going to give you CSI-like images, but are still a clear cut above analog security cameras. You can certainly buy better cameras, but such cameras are MUCH more expensive. Since I've bought four of them, it's clear that I like them in the price-vs-feature arena.

In low light, they do so-so. You do get pretty grainy images. But again... if you aren't spending quite a bit more money, that's true of all similar cameras.

One other inconvenience is that they are not able to be powered via PoE (Power Over Ethernet). Since you probably aren't going to mount this near an electrical outlet, that means that power is a problem. To get around that, I have used inexpensive PoE injector/extractor kits.

Essential Arms AR15 Lower Receiver Review

Essential Arms, "The Armory in the Swamps", is a great company to do business with. Even at the height of the price-gouging, and shortage of rifle parts, they had lower receivers in stock and ready to ship - at prices that weren't just reasonable, they were very, very low. I called them up, and ordered two receivers in Tough Coat black. Essential Arms shipped them out the next day.

Now, there isn't much to say about a lower reciever - if the parts fit, then it's good to go. Needless to say, everything fit in these receivers. The fit and finish were very, very good. The magazine well is nicely generous, mag insertion is easy yet positive, and Pmags drop free with ease. And the finish matches my LMT upper quite well.

If you're buying an AR15 lower, I highly recommend Essential Arms. It's not often you find a company that is fast, friendly, inexpensive, AND sells a top-notch product.

Sony XDR-F1HD HD Radio Tuner Review

The Sony XDR-F1HD is a very nice little HD Radio tuner. It is not a standalone radio, it does not have an amplifier or speakers. It is meant to connect to your current amplifier or receiver. (Sony also makes standalone units, if you prefer.)

The sound quality is excellent - no, AMAZING. After listening to HD radio, you can't go back to regular FM broadcast.

So, what is HD radio? It is digitally-broadcast radio, CD quality. It is free, because it is over-the-air. And most stations in your area are already broadcasting with it. All you need is a tuner and antenna.

Furthermore, since digital broadcasts take less bandwidth, stations can broadcast multiple lineups/channels/streams at the same time. Nearly all of the stations in my area broadcast at least two different channels, and many broadcast three. Usually, they also broadcast song/artist ID, which shows up on the LCD panel of the tuner.

I used this for some time in my home, then ended up hooking it to a Linux-based server to automatically record a couple of NPR programs. (If you've read my HDHomeRun review, you know that I'm usually not home to catch these things when they're on.) Over the year and a half that I've used it, there have been no hiccups. With an inexpensive FM antenna, everything comes in perfectly.

I haven't really found any downsides to this unit, it just does what it should - and that is refreshing. If you spend much time listening to the radio, give HD radio a try - and this tuner has worked flawlessly for me.

SuperMicro SYS-6015TW-TV Dual Server

Anyone handling high-load servers can tell you that density is where it's at. If you're in a datacenter, each rack costs money every month, and there's no reason to spend $500, $1000, or more every month on additional racks if you don't need to.

Enter the SuperMicro SYS-6015TW series. These have been out for a year or so, and I just got around to trying one. Each chassis houses TWO separate computers - yes, two entire motherboards and a power supply inside of a single 1U chassis.

"But wait, there's more!" Each of those motherboards houses two cpu sockets. That's a total of four CPU sockets and 16 memory slots in a single 1U chassis. That is certainly not unprecedented - there are certainly 1U quad-CPU servers out there - but this gives you the flexibility to install two isolated systems in a single slot in your rack.

I filled mine with four L5410 CPUs (four cores, 2.33 GHz, and 12 megs of L3 cache - in only 50 watts), and a terrifying number of 4GB memory sticks from Crucial. Between the two systems, there are 16 CPU cores, and over 40 gigabytes of memory. That is some amazing computational power.

Why not use a single machine with virtualization? Speed. Companies like to tell you that most servers are mostly idle, that all of those extra CPU cycles are going to waste. I don't know which companies they looked at, but most business I know are running machines full-tilt, and the overhead of virtualization would require more hardware to handle the load.

As always from SuperMicro, this is one serious machine - the build quality and design are absolutely top-notch. I have racks full of SuperMicro machines, and could not be more pleased with them.

There are only two downsides I have yet found. First, in order to save PCB space, there are no PS2 connections for keyboard or mouse. Since most rack users are connecting a KVM, that is certainly inconvenient. There are adapters to allow you to plug PS2 keyboard/mouse into USB sockets, but I have yet to try any with this system.

Second, with one power supply shared between the systems, if you are using remote power control to cut power when needed, you would take down BOTH machines. That can be avoided using SuperMicro's rather decently-priced add-in IPMI card.

This is obviously a niche product, and obviously appeals only to certain applications. But if you're in a position to need something like this, it is a true life saver.

Savage Arms Mini Youth Model Cub .22 Rifle

Last year, I bought a Savage Cub for my son. I wanted a 22 for him to learn on. It couldn't be a monstrously heavy rifle, and it couldn't have an awful trigger like many do. And, it had to be a single-shot. Having to reload for each shot really helps you focus on shot placement.

After looking at a seemingly endless number of rifles, I found this one - and instantly fell in love with it. It is light, it is small, and Savage's Accutrigger is nothing short of OUTSTANDING. This is the same trigger used even on their varmint models, and it is an absolute pleasure. The trigger safety takes a minute or two to get used to, then it is second nature. The trigger is clean, crisp, and wonderful. The aperture sights that come with it are also very decent.

The real surprise came when I viewed the price tag: MSRP is only $213, and I only spent $180. Had the sticker said $350, I would have thought it was worth it... but $180? That was a no-brainer, I said "Yes, I'll take it." This may be the single greatest bang-for-the-buck in the world of firearms.

Coupled with CCI CB Short or Long (both are loaded identically) ammunition and some "swinger" targets, it is a very cheap and fun way for my son to work on accuracy. In fact, with the CB Short loads, it is quiet - my piston-driven pellet gun that I had growing up produced more noise.

It used to be that my Ruger 10/22 was always in-demand when we would go shooting as a group... but this rifle rivals it. It is so light, and so fun to shoot that there's always someone waiting to use it.

UPDATE: As luck would have it, I was about to post this when I saw the comment left below about the scope mount. My rifle, being a little older, has the rimfire grooves in the receiver. A friend of mine purchased one last week, and we found that the newer models do NOT have the grooves. A quick google search indicates that it *might* use a Weaver #16 or #24, but I cannot confirm whether that's the case. If I am able to find more, I will post it here.

Honda HRR216VKA Lawnmower Review

My review of this mower can be summed up in one word: WOW.

Early this spring, I decided that it was time for a new lawnmower. I was not excited about spending the money, but my old mower was about done. Not only did it need engine work and a new blade, I had used it until the wheels were flat, smooth, and bare. That doesn't help when you have to mow up hills.

Between all of the repairs and parts that it needed, I would be most of the way to a new mower. And my old mower still wasn't that good.

So, I decided to bite the bullet, and buy a new mower. A GOOD mower. Something that would actually make me happy. After driving around town looking at all of the stores, brands, and models, I settled on the Honda HRR216VKA.

I've used a bunch of mowers over the decades, some wimpy, some more powerful, some better, some not. If I had known that a mower like this was available, I would have bought one twenty years ago.

My first "Holy Cow" moment with this mower was when I first tried the power drive. I stood behind the mower, pressed the butterfly down, and tried to walk with it. Nope. The thing pulled away from me, and PULLED RIGHT OUT OF MY GRIP. That is how fast the power drive is, and how much power is available to it. It took me a good three starts before I kept up with the mower. Let me tell you... I was glad that none of my neighbors witnessed that.

I used to be worn out after mowing, because I had to help push the old mower up and down the hills - weak power drive, work wheels - but now I'm worn out because I am chasing this thing up and down the hills. With the variable speed all the way engaged, you have to keep a good, brisk, power-walk pace to keep up with the mower.

Now, since I hadn't yet mowed my lawn in the spring, my grass was easily 8" tall. I figured that the high powerdrive speed would push the mower through the grass faster than the blade could chop - not so. This thing ATE through the 8" grass like it was nothing. I don't think it slowed or stalled once.

The third thing which impressed me was the bagging. With every other mower I've used, if the bag started to get full, you'd start bogging down, and leaving clippings behind you. Remember, my grass was at least 8" tall. I took two passes across the yard and back, then bumped the bag with my foot. The bag was ROCK SOLID. I removed the bag, and it was completely full, to the extent that the clippings were a tightly compressed block. Yet even with the bag that full, it had not slowed down, nor had it left clippings on the lawn.

A related note is that this mower is like a vacuum - it SUCKS everything into it, it does not blow things around like many other mowers I've used.

Another feature which was, for me, critical, is the ability to remove the bag and lift it away from the mower in one motion. I hate mowers where you grab the bag, remove it, drop it, then reach underneath the handle's cross-bar to remove the bag. The Honda comes through, you grab, lift, and you're done.

This mower is 100% win. It is fast, powerful, and effective. Mowing my lawn takes about 1/3 the time that it did with my older mower. I cannot recommend this enough.

Update: I've used this for some time now, so I thought I'd follow up. Every time I start this mower up, it still brings a smile to my face. I still don't regret the purchase in any way. If I can find any small nit to pick with this mower, it would be that every so often, if you throw the bag back on carelessly, it may not "latch" on both sides. But with just half of a second of attention, it's just not a problem. When one of your tools still makes your job this easy and enjoyable after using it for a year, you know you've made a very good purchase.

And... like any lawn equipment... use fuel stabilizer in your fuel, so that it won't varnish in the fuel can, the tank of the mower, or in the carburetor. Keep that thing running at peak!

Update 2: For some reason, Blogger isn't letting me reply to the comment below about how to use the speed and blade control bars, so I'll put the answer here.

There are two bars, or levers: The blade control bar, and the speed control bar.

The blade control bar MUST be held down for the mower to run - if you let go, the engine shuts off. This is a safety feature.

The speed control bar (or "butterfly") is pressed down to control the speed - the farther you move it, the faster you go. With a bit of a break-in period, it becomes easier to control the speed of the mower.

So, to keep the engine running AND mow your lawn, you need to hold the blade control bar down, and press on the speed control lever. If that is uncomfortable, there is an adjustment slider on the speed control lever, which will let you adjust the tilt.

I hope that helps!

Fujitsu SnanSnap S510 Scanner Review

A few months ago, I installed a pair of Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 scanners for a customer. They needed high-speed document scanners in order to convert a HUGE amount of paper records, to digitize new records, and to provide digital submissions to their supporting agencies.

After installing these scanners, I played around with them for a little bit. I was blown away. Yes, these scanners are expensive, but they still astounded me with their speed. You can drop 50 pages on the scanner, hit the "go" button, and have them scanned in - double sided - in less than three minutes.

Now, that is at the lowest settings (which are still quite good), so I decided to try higher quality settings, and found that the speed was not reduced nearly as much as I had expected. The diminutive size shouldn't fool you - these are fast units.

They also come with Acrobat and some OCR software. This is where it gets cool... the scanned images can be automtically run through the OCR software, then have a searchable PDF created. This is the option that the agency chose to use, and it works very well. The OCR and PDF creation take longer than the scanning - a fast CPU is recommended.

Now, after a customer fills out and signs forms at the agency, they drop it on the scanner, hit the "go" button, and it is scanned, OCRd, a PDF created, and that is automatically submitted to their providers. Fast and easy.

Overall, I found only one downside to this scanner: There are no TWAIN drivers for it. Not supplying TWAIN drivers is downright silly. In fact, it could have been a deal-breaker, except that a work-around was found to still allow the auto-submit to their providers.

After installing these two scanners, I installed a Xerox unit for them for the benefit of TWAIN drivers - but when it was time for a fourth scanner, they specifically asked for the Fujitsu again. If you can live without TWAIN drivers, this is a very good scanner.

Update: The S510 appears to be superseded by a new model, the S510M.

Second Update: Now appears superceded by the S1500. Note that the Acrobat software with this model no longer supports Windows 2000.

HDHomeRun HDTV Tuner Review

A few weeks ago, I purchased an HDHomeRun. What, exactly, is that? Well, it's a dual over-the-air HDTV tuner. That doesn't sound very exciting, does it?

Well, it's a bit different than your standard HDTV tuner. Instead of connecting directly to your television, or plugging into your computer, it is a standalone unit - and streams the HDTV over ethernet. Yep, over ethernet.

You can certainly stream the video live to any PC for instant viewing, by my reason for owning this is that I am never at home when the few shows are on that I want to watch. Since I watch so little TV (and nearly all of what I watch is on PBS), there is no reason for me to pay for satellite or cable.

Each week, a cron job on my Linux server records the television shows that I want. It's incredibly easy to do with the command-line interface: You call hdhomerun_config to tell the unit which channel to tune in, then you use the "save" option to hdhomerun_config, which tells the unit to start streaming, and hdhomerun_config receives the data and saves it to your hard drive.

I started out with a single Digitron DT7701 antenna, which was about $30. I pointed it vaguely in the direction of the transmitters in my city, and could receive all channels acceptably without any finer adjustment. I was so happy with it that I purchased another antenna, so I could use both tuners in the unit. Yes, each tuner needs its own antenna (or connection to cable, if you're using QAM).

The data you receive is the straight MPEG2 transport stream. There is no re-encoding, you get exactly what is broadcast. That means the quality is INCREDIBLE. I have heard many people grumbling and complaining about satellite broadcasts being reencoded to ridiculously low bitrates, but the OTA signals don't suffer from this.

Of course, that produces some very large files - as large as 9 gigabytes per hour. Two open-source packages, x264 and ffmpeg, allow me to convert the video to h.264 afterwards.

The machine will also receive ClearQAM - which means if you have analog cable, and your cable provider also broadcasts those channels in QAM (I have been told, but cannot verify, that ComCast does so), you can skip the antenna and simply connect your cable to the unit.

Overall, the unit does exactly what is promised. There are no quirks, shortcomings, or downfalls that I have encountered. They also provide a nice support forum. Overall, it is a refreshingly straight-forward offering.