Siber-Sonic…WHEEEEEEeeeeeeee!!!!!!

a.k.a. World O’ Siber Hussy & Sonic Purity

Celebrating nearly 17 years of gleefully ignoring Internet Exploder.

Let’s get several things straight right now:

Do not ASSume you know what this is about until you read about it.

Boycott Internet spam!

Demopublicans are dead
ribbons are blue
Support free speech online
And everywhere else too

This page, never under construction, sprang forth fully-grown from the head of Zeus on 8 July 1996 (and still looks that way even today).

Content last modified Monday, 15 April 2013 .
External links last verified Sunday, 23 May 2010.

New additions since the last update marked: NEW day month year until the subsequent update.

So gosh darn it, what in the World-Wide Web is on here?

World O’ Radio/Recording/Audio

• Sonic’s World O’ KALX, a collection of personal effluvia related to my time at KALX. Presently featuring not much other than support information and files related to the 2008 re-airing of D.J’s Choice — The Compact Disc.
• The world-famous FM broadcast reception improvement article, generic (fresh) version. (For an old, stale, probably not updated KALX-specific version, visit the KALX home page and hunt around. The content is almost identical).
• Polarity Matters, an article about the relevance of absolute polarity (especially in signal paths featuring live mics and humans monitoring themselves in real-time) in the broadcast/recording studio world. Originally appeared in the August 1995 issue of Radio Guide.
• Easy Polarity Measurement, the followup article which appeared in the October 1995 issue of Radio Guide, featuring both the Cosky Phaser and the Magic Polarity Box schematics.
• Azimuth by Ear, a how-to article on adjusting the azimuth of analog tape recorder heads without the use of test equipment nor standardized test tapes, which may have appeared in an issue of Radio World.
• Revox A77 Tips, a few quick tips for the venerable ’60’s reel-to-reel tape deck, which may have appeared in an issue of Radio World.
• Full-Logic Remote Control for Technics SL1200MKII, which appeared in the August 1994 edition of Radio Guide. A.k.a. how to get that pesky platter spin signal from a 1200 for broadcast stop/start remote applications.
• What exactly is a recording Album? Sonic’s rant on precisely what constitutes a recording album. Word to the Boomers: it’s not just a vinyl LP!
• The Best CD player mechanism yet made Namely, the Philips Swing-Arm mechanism. This page is meant to help prospective buyers determine whether or not a particular player includes the Swing-Arm mechanism.
• Analog Land, a mindset where my mind mostly lived until 1995. This Analog Land is a one-page pictorial overview of the very funky (yet fully functional) Siber-Sonic analog studio.
• What is a Ground Loop and Why Should I Care?, my half-baked attempt at handling this very common problem. An outstanding demonstration of why one should not construct web pages while drugged on caffeine, sugar, and chocolate. Luckily, there are links to better ground loop sites!
• Conductive Glue Carnage, a brief visual and textual documentary on a ticking chemical time bomb unintentionally planted in a great deal of home audio equipment made between about 1979 and the mid-1980s. Provides clues for technicians regarding whether a particular device has it and how to eliminate it before it is too late.
• Unidentified Old Radios Years ago i put this page up for a couple of folks to look at to see if they could identify the radios (they could not). Now it is here for the whole world(WW). There is no “reward” for their identification… just my gratitude! Wanna play?
• Griffin iMic - Category Killer? Pile O’ Dung? Both? Neither?, thoughts on this very popular (in some circles) analog-to-digital audio converter and a couple of its closest competitors.

World O’ Macintosh

• NEW 15 April 2013 Secure Email in OS X, Apple Mail A years in the making tour-de-force of everything i’ve been able to figure out regarding how to set up and use Apple Mail and OS X for secure email, via self-signed certificates or one person in a group becoming their own Certificate Authority. Comprehensive and simply amazing!
• Setting Up and Using Accounts on Apple Time Capsule Reveals the Big Secret which allows usage of file sharing accounts on a 4th. generation Apple Time Capsule without screwing up existing Time Machine backups. Provides examples of Apple Filing Protocol URLs for accessing one’s Time Capsule from the public Internet.
• Macintosh 1.4 MB SuperDrive Floppy Drives Focuses on compatibility and interchangeability information for built-in floppy drives on desktop Macs.
• Working with Macintosh Floppy Disks in the New Millennium A common problem as folks seek to retrieve and preserve old data on floppies and migrate them to newer floppy-free systems.
• Making a 400k MFS Boot Floppy on Any Beige Mac Mac OS 8.0 and later by itself may not be able to mount nor format a 400k MFS disk, yet that does not mean that it cannot be done… Disk Copy to the rescue!
• Zip 250 Drive Repair A (relatively) simple fix for one (of many) particular Zip drive-destroying failures.
• Siber-Sonic World O’ iCab Featuring a vast array of useful, pre-made iCab filters.
• Macintosh Weather Software Review A brief look at a few of the various Macintosh weather software packages i happened across.
• TechTool Pro Review An ongoing project since the late 1990s. Now covers TechTool Pro versions 1 through 3. Note: version 4 is not discussed because i do not own a copy of version 4 and presently have no plans to upgrade to it. As of March 2005, now contains information on repairing defective TechTool Pro CD-ROMs that cause Type 1 crashes and a method for making homemade updated bootable CD-ROMs that actually work.
• Epson 740 printer on 68030 Macs Some testing i performed to find out just how far back one can go on unsupported Macs with the Epson 740. The results please me, and may please you, too.
• Sonic’s Ultimate HTML Character Set pages A collection of tables displaying and comparing names; glyphs; HTML character set; Unicode, Mac OS, and Wintel positions, plus definition and implementation information and some of the best links on the subject to be found on the Net.
• Reviving a Dead HP DeskWriter Printer Step-by-step description of finding the cause of a dead printer, and if it happens to be the power switch or its wiring, detailed repair and modification information.
• -116 Error in Extensions Manager Describes the cause and the solution, and includes relevant background information on this issue.
• Apple CD-ROM & Apple CD/DVD Driver Reference In-depth look at how the various versions of this extension affect the bootability of Mac CDs.
• MAXpowr G3 Processor Card Information Page Experimentally-derived documentation regarding dip switch settings on this older yet still in use accelerator card.
• P/N 387-622B (Apple part #922-1877) MS1705 Monitor Cable The final word on whether this “special” cable is really all that special or not. Includes pinout/wiring information for making your own.
• M2452 Keyboard Repair Notes on disassembly and repair of the popular small Apple USB keyboard which was original equipment with the early CRT iMacs and PowerMacs of the same generation.
• SyQuest EZ 135, SCSI model: Basic Information A few tidbits of information on this mid-1990s mass storage device, which once went head-to-head with Iomega’s Zip drive.
• Nomai? Oh My! A brief tale of Nomai’s MCD 540S drive and Power Disk removable cartridges.
• Standard Vintage Mac Removable Mass Storage Device Driver Operation A few helpful tips/reminders for using mass storage devices with removable media on Vintage Macs.

World O’ other Electronics

• The Ever-Changing Names of My Favorite Contact Cleaning Chemical(s) Caig makes great products, including the best contact cleaner (in my opinion), yet they sure do not make it easy for those of us wanting to recommend their products (though they are getting better)!
• World O’ X-10 Cleaning, disassembly, modification, and/or alignment notes for some of the more popular members of this popular plug-in Home Automation family. (Plus links to more comprehensive X-10 sites).
• Philips PM 3214 Oscilloscope Repair Notes Something else almost forgotten in my pile of papers… contains an unusual problem and repair for the problem. Hope it helps someone!
• DMM recommendations Formerly buried inside the Ground Loops article, now directly findable from this here home page.
• Telephone Ring Generator Schematics and information for making a local ring generator for testing telephone ringers (especially the older mechanical models) and similar uses.
• Simple Interpretation of Continuity Tester Readings For many years, this page has been available as part of the Ground Loop article. Now it also has a direct link here, as the information seems generally useful.
• Microswitch Repair Yes Virginia (or Molly or Jim or Theodore or……), it is possible, and even sometimes fun!, to repair a microswitch (a.k.a. “basic switch” or “snap switch” in some districts). Find out how!
• Fractured Solder Joints Some photos and brief discussion of fractured solder joints.

World O’ Appliances/Household/Plumbing/Irrigation/HVAC/Hardware

• Extreme Irrigation Where unreasonable amounts of time and energy are spent for someone’s idea of ultimate irrigation.
• 376B Furnace Fun The (mis-)adventures of a non-professional in the HVAC world. Currently focusing on the Day & Night (or Payne or Bryant) model 376B furnace.
• Breville 800ESXL Repair A collection of notes, suggestions, and a schematic, based upon a combination of my own troubleshooting and repair work and a compilation of knowledge from contributors on the Internet. Currently focuses on electrical problems.
• Telechron Electric Clock Repair Tips A compilation of my own ideas and the best of what i have come across on the WWW, focusing on Telechron/G.E. motor rotor relubrication.
• G.E. Clothes Iron Disassembly Pictorial Forgotten photos, taken in 2004, rediscovered and presented as a terse pictorial of the disassembly of a General Electric Cat. 21F80 electric steam clothes iron. Even if not particularly helpful, it may be fun to look at the pictures of the insides of a vintage electric iron.

World O’ Automotiveness

• By The Numbers, my small contribution to GM gearheads who like/want/need to find out if their “numbers match”.
• Craftsman 47711 Torque Wrench Repair and Calibration One cure for a whole fleet of various common problems, plus detailed calibration information. Wheeee!

World O’ Sonic

• Who or what is Sonic Purity?
• The obligatory résumé
• Sonic’s Catacomb of Torture
• World O’ Fat for those who love loving fat folks (esp. Big Beautiful Women—mmmm!).

The management regrets that it is not possible to simultaneously support the best of Cyberdog 2.0 and MacWeb 1.1.1e, the former siber-sonic favorite, without generating per-browser pages (currently beyond Sonic’s skill level and server space). Nostalgic types and MacWeb aficionados may still visit the original Sonically Pure home page in glorious MacWeb-enhanced HTML 3.2.

   
HTML hand-tagged by Benedictine robed cleric b-boys, using the ancient scrivener’s tool SimpleText (and more recently BBEdit Lite and full) on an Apple Macintosh Plus, IIsi, 8600/300, and 9600/350.