What is this wish list about?

Well the reason we put this up is simply a way to provide information to individuals who would like to know how to help the folks at Channel U out. Ever tried to figure out what someone wants for Christmas or a birthday.. Wouldn't it be easy if everyone had a wish list up somewhere so if we had the urge or desire to help them (anonymously or not) we could see what kinds of real needs or wishes a person has and to try to fulfill it.. Does it not give one pleasure to give someone a simple thing that is easy for some people to provide but for that individual seems an impossible hope..

We hope that people will look here from time to time if they want to know what kinds of things we need, or want, or what our plain wishes are..

Date
Wishes

2001.11.10.164
Here are some wishes that did come true!
  1. I also managed to get a 50G Drive - but this too is proving too small - I may have to reconsider archiving AntCam images *G*
  2. I did settle the DS25202 serial ID problem - so I have one working O2. But still have a second that needs a R5K cpu board the second one I have is dead.. Even so at least one of them works.
  3. I did get a sponsor for AntCam for 2 years - namely Discovery Online. I want to express particular thanks to them for getting me through what was a tough time and to Sue Clemens (who used to work there) for all her patience and wonderfulness. It was great seeing the AntCam there for almost two years. The AntCam was one of the most reliable cam's. But 2000.1.1 dot com went dot bust and we couldn't come to new agreement..
The Current Wishes
  1. Sighs my Canon L1 is pretty much dead. Symptoms are that the image is getting noise in it. Over time (short time)eventually the image just drops out.. Too bad as this is such a great camera. My wish is that I either turn up a replacement and/or get my current one fixed somehow.
  2. A tower about 60ft high to allow me to drop off the ISDN and switch to faster microwave which means no Ameritech ISDN bill (saves me at least $45-50/month)
  3. A single large 100+G Seagate SCSI drive to move my AntCam image archives to.
  4. Smaller items would be 10 1G-2G 1" high SCSI 50pin drives (less than 9watt power dissipated) to be used in the NeXT stations I want to trade/sell.
  5. What else. Hmmm. Maybe a Date. Wide Grin.
  6. A permanent sponsor - someone to pick up the tab on my dedicated connection. $225/month Being unemployed is making it tough again at this point. Somehow I'll pull through.
  7. This is a huge wish. But who knows maybe it can come true. I'm very seriously looking for a large chunk of land that contains it's own watershed or has a artesian spring. I really like Kentucky, and I'm hoping that maybe some farmer would make a deal with me to keep the land basically undeveloped (in the classical developer pack em tight mentality) and allow forest to return to the land in most places. I'm looking at 100+ acres and up but will consider anything. I'm also interested in working with other intentional communities, but the financial and responsibility structure I am envisionsing is nothing like what I've see in other communities (YET). The critical issue is to be at least 1-2 hours away from large cities but yet still have access to a reasonably priced internet connection either via cable, or ASDL, or ISDN (though this is a secondary consideration). I do potentially have a solid group of friends that would come with me if the opportunity is right. We do have some limited capital but would rather figure out how to do some sort of exchange (like in-home care, etc. until one passes on) work for land. I know this is a big deal but it can't happen if you can't dream about it. And I'm sure there are a lot of old farmers out there who rather than sell the land would be happy to have a group of loving, friendly, land preserving, honest 25+yr old individuals who will be there to help with everything until they make the final transition. If someone is interested in this please contact me.
  8. To figure out what do with my current abode. It's almost too much for single little me - be better for a small group who wants to live close to a city. So I either need more people or I'm going to have to sell current home and find another place to live which meets the above criteria a little better.. No matter how I look at it I'm looking for people who are willing to live communally and I'm either going to adopt a community - or build one.
  9. A final big wish. I have about 3 solid business ideas which I've already done enough work to know they are solid ideas. Problem is I need to do a IPO, or figure out how to solicit for Venture capital on the order of 250K-2Million depending on the venture to get the business going. If anyone reading this page is looking for a somewhat high risk business opportunity that could pay off big please contact me

1998.08.29.1921
Here are some wishes that did come true!
  1. Well the Canon L1 is working great. Check out the AntCam to see it in operation.
  2. Actually I got the 18G Seagate ST118273N a few weeks ago. The cost was $800 and it appeared to be new. Excellent drive IMHO.
  3. I've had a few donations here and there - but I finally got my first large donation from someone who I think wishes to remain anonymous. My heart felt thanks to that person. It came at just the right time.
  4. I did manage to lay my hands on 12 DS2502's and sent them off to Xeltek. Thanks to Dallas Semiconductor for helping me out.
  5. I hopefully have at least one person still working on web pages for ChannelU. Namely Adam Baker. I'm hoping he gets back to me soon but I'm still working on revamping the AntCam before I hit the NeXT stuff hard. It's just taking longer than I thought w/o extra help.
And the current wishes!
  1. A wish for Xeltek to finish the driver so I can burn a DS2502 for my SGI R5K O2
  2. More hands who desire to trade web page work for some 25Mhz monostations I have. To all those that are interested in what current projects I have please look here
  3. Smaller items would be 10 1G-2G 1" high SCSI 50pin drives (less than 9watt power dissipated) to be used in the NeXT stations I want to trade/sell.
  4. A permanent sponsor - someone to pick up the tab on my ISDN connection. $225/month Being unemployed is making it tough at this point. Somehow we'll pull through. I think the price is quite reasonable for the ISDN - it's just 225/month is a big chunk when your not making 20-30K/year.
  5. This is a huge wish. But who knows maybe it can come true. I'm very seriously looking for a large chunk of land that contains it's own watershed or has a artesian spring. I really like Kentucky, and I'm hoping that maybe some farmer would make a deal with me to keep the land basically undeveloped (in the classical developer pack em tight mentality) and allow forest to return to the land in most places. I'm looking at 160 acres and up but will consider anything. I'm also interested in working with other intentional communities to possibly relocate there, but the financial and responsibility structure I am envisionsing is nothing like what I've see in other communities (YET). The critical issue is that to be at least 1-2 hours away from large cities but yet still have access to a reasonably priced internet connection either via cable, or ASDL, or ISDN (though this is a secondary consideration). I do potentially have a solid group of friends that would come with me if the opportunity is right. We do have some limited capital but would rather figure out how to do some sort of exchange (like in-home care, etc. until one passes on) work for land. I know this is a big deal but it can't happen if you can't dream about it. And I'm sure there are a lot of old farmers out there who rather than sell the land would be happy to have a group of loving, friendly, land preserving, honest 25+yr old individuals who will be there to help with everything until they make the final transition. If someone is interested in this please contact me.
  6. A final big wish. I have about 3 solid business ideas which I've already done enough work to know they are solid ideas. Problem is I need to do a IPO, or figure out how to solicit for Venture capital on the order of 250K-2Million depending on the venture to get the business going. If anyone reading this page is looking for a somewhat high risk business opportunity that could pay off big please contact me

1998.06.29.0911
Here are some wishes that did come true!
  1. It took ONLY 5 weeks to get the camera repaired. And fortunately it was only a fuse that needed replacing. Even so it still cost about $75 to get it fixed. Personally I don't think I'll take my camera back to Spectrum Electronics in Lansing Michigan since I asked if they'd call be the day before they planned to work on it - since I wanted to be present while the repairman opened the case. They agreed. I had to call them 4 times just to find out when they would work on it. The initial time frame was quoted to be 1.5 weeks. I have a feeling that all jobs that are on site or on call get priority over the basic work. Bad policy. When they finally did call - it was to get authorization to fix the fuse. I told them to wait a bit I'd be there in 10 minutes (so I could at least see where the fuse was - in case it happened again). When I arrived the camera was reassembled and fixed - and the technician had left. At least it is fixed - I'm just annoyed they didn't follow any of my instructions and took 5 weeks to fix it. I'm betting they didn't clean it either - which they say they do. But it did cost less than $100 bucks to fix - a wish came true!
  2. More hands are desiring to trade web page work for some 25Mhz monostations I have. To all those that are interested in what current projects I have please look here
  3. I got my 2G ST32550N HD back from Seagate - they are at least reasonably quick on replacing faulty drives. I also purchased a 4G UW 5400 rpm drive to be used for the AntCam.
And the current wishes!
  1. A large HH narrow drive for the SGI to be used for the AntCam Time Machine I really like the Seagate 18G drives - But I don't think I'll be able to get one for $700 or under - or even better donated. That is a big item.
  2. Smaller items would be 200-1G 1" high SCSI 50pin drives to be used in the NeXT stations I want to trade/sell.
  3. A sponsor - someone to pick up the tab on my ISDN connection. $225/month Being unemployed is making it tough at this point. Somehow we'll pull through. I think the price is quite reasonable for the ISDN - it's just 225/month is a big chunk when your not making 20-30K/year.

1998.05.20.2323
Here are some wishes that did come true!
  1. My Canon L1 video Camera is in the shop. Let's hope it costs under $100 to fix, and that it's done ASAP
  2. I at least get to use Create till Q3 98. Thanks Stone
  3. I'm getting more orders for things. Printer parts etc. Thanks to everyone who has been very patient with me (I try to collect a few orders before sending them. Saves time/gas/wear etc.)
  4. A possible first - someone else sending me some web pages - NeXT Color Printer Helpful hints which is available as a PDF from Deepspace. Thanks to Glenn Parsons for creating the PDF and the .html. Interesting the PDF I first saw didn't look right on OmniPDF v1.7 or v2.1.3.
And the current wishes!
  1. One of my 2G ST32550N HD somehow got it's page mode 0 screwed up. I was adding a Maxoptix T5-2600 on the internal Adaptec 2940UW rev1.25. So I effectively lost my DOS, 95, and NT partitions. Unfortunately I didn't have a backup of that drive :( Luckily I am still under warranty - but this is the second time I will have to send this drive in. It's not too hot with all the fans I have in the case. I'm very much beginning to think I don't like Seagate drives - they whine loudly, are hot as heck, even though they seem pretty fast. I really want to try some IBM's. Anyway the wish is easily fufilled - what I really wish is that I could write Page 0 with a copy from a second identical drive I have which might fix it. That way I don't have to loose my data. I'm not sure I'll turn up a solution to this before I send it back. If I had another HD to use maybe I'd keep the Seagate till I could try.
  2. I'm wanting to get my Ant Cam going but I'm going to need some serious HD space on my Indigo2 server. I'm really looking at some 9 or 18G HD's I can get 4 ST15230WC (with adapters) for around $600 bucks. I may go that route and just make a RAID. I'd get some solid performance. More money though. But maybe a good investiment. They are Fast Wide 5400 RPM drives so maybe they'll do better than the 7200's. I would really be happy for any extra HD space at any time. I'm looking for some 500M-1G HH 3.5" (or 1" high) HD's to put in some 25Mhz 040 Mono Slabs I just purchased. One is slated to be a donation to a local Citizens Against Urban Sprawl Group so they can print flyers, letters, etc. Plus they'll be able to make web pages using Create if I install 4.2 (on a 32M 25Mhz 040 - ugggg).
  3. A Riser card with valid serial ID for a SGI R5K O2. I purchased all the parts and assembled the neat machine. It does work but since it doesn't have a valid serial ID I can't hit the net. To top it off I contacted SGI and let them know what happened and asked if they could sell me a PCI tray with riser & new serial ID. They said yes took my order and sent me the tray with a PCI riser with FF's for the ID (unprogrammed). Then they inform me they can't give me a new ID I need to somehow obtain another ID or machine.. Really made me mad. I understand SGI's deal but why can't they understand mine and just nab a Serial EEPROM from the assembly line - recycle the parts in the machine to another ID? So now I'm on the make for a couple DS2502 chips to send off to Xeltek so I can burn my own. I'd rather have a valid ID set though.
  4. A logo for ChannelU. I just havn't had the time :( Where oh where have all the Graphic Artists gone. I guess they don't want to play with my toys :|
  5. More Philips EarthLight bulbs. They use 1/4 the power for the same amount of light - I have one it just works!! They are 24x the cost of filament bulbs but I figure every bit of energy saved is important (it'll help run my computers :). Plus if they really last 5 years compared to 3 months (what I'm getting out of filament bulbs) then the savings in replacement costs alone would nearly equal out. The light quality is far superior than what we get out of standard filament bulbs.

1998.05.11.0139
Here are some wishes that did come true!
  1. I purchased a new Astra 600S scanner early this year.
  2. ChannelU got it's first donation of $5 from Don Gray!! A special thanks goes out to him. I havn't forgotten you Don!
  3. ChannelU is slowly finding ways to help you (and getting the work done), and ways for you to help us. That is by purchasing products or services from us at our highly inflated prices ;) or sending donations if you like what you see!
And the current wishes!
  1. A wish that my Astra 600S would work with ScanOmatic3.0. Stefan Seel at IPC is working on it, and I have some hope, but I just wish I never had any reason to boot into 95 or NT like in days past (deep sigh).
  2. A License for ScanOmatic when it finally supports my Scanner. I guess I'll have to stretch that $5 donation a bit far for this to happen ;)
  3. A License for Create so I can continue happily generating web pages for all the Black Hardware owners and the various ..Step pers out there. Maybe Stone will help me out - or I'll get lucky and win one of the monthly raffles :)
  4. A Digital Camera. I need to be able to grab good images of all the black hardware stuff lying about and taking multiple 640x480 and piecing them together isn't that hot. You'll see an example of this when I get around to showing you the insides of a Digital Ears box.
  5. A macro (I think that's what it is called) lense for my Canon L1 so I can do real small close ups of the ants and the eggs for the Ant Cam. I really need to be able to resolve 1.5mm eggs, small larvae, etc. But I don't have any hope other than grabbing a photographic friend and having them do some shots but this will co$t, and there are probably other shots in books. Eventually I hope to put up a nice set of step-by-step pages for how to go about making your own ant farm, care and feeding, logs of events (good and bad), what to-do and not-to-do.. I could use hands for this.

1997.10.27
  1. Any $$ donations.
  2. A Scanner since my HSD Scan-X professional just died! I'll be looking around for a type soon. But we'll take just about anything that has supported drivers under Openstep.

1997.10.18
  1. More hands to work on these web pages.. But I guess every WebMaster has this wish. I also wish I had lots of $$ to pay these extra hands..
    Ah but it's just a wish...
    1. Any Graphic Artist help to make these pages look much better ;)
  2. Licenses to WebObjects & OpenBase to serve my NeXTStep Openstep Rhapsody Performance collection pages
  3. A kick butt PPC box to serve these pages on. I'll put a link in here to my dream PPC box but I don't think it exists yet. Maybe in Q1 or Q2 98!
  4. A good digital camera so I can take & post nice pictures of the black collection.. Either that or someone who can fix my Canon L1 that just powered itself off one day (while ejecting a 8mm tape) and has never powered on since. (no smoke, nothing) Sigh.
  5. Other sites to serve so that at some point our line/ISP charges are covered completely by our supporters (think co-op). It'd be nice to make money but frankly I'd just be happy if the whole thing could pay for and maintain itself.