Okay, I left a message on Savel’s blog asking which caps need to go where.  He responded that the filter for the mains will be around 16v and the others will range from 5 to 1.8 volts – all I have to do is measure them.  And so I did.  The PCB is easily removed from the housing by first popping off the antenna base covers to reveal a knurled nut and simply unscrewing them.  The blue front is attached on the sides by hook-and-groove friction locks.  Remove the Voids Warranty sticker (I just cut along seam with the blade of my trusty Leatherman Squirt E4).  Now hold the housing such that the top side is toward you and the blue front is facing either the left or right.  Using one hand per leg, put your fingers on the insides of the legs and force them apart by pushing against your thumbs against each other.  That’s a poor explaination of what to do, but I trust you’ll figure it out.  The front will pop right off.  Now place it upside down and slide the feet toward the front until you feel it stop, about 5.5mm (~ 0.2 inchs), then lift straight up.  The PCB is detached by removing the two screws located near the center of the board just behind the RJ45 ports.  Slide it towards the front and lift.

There are four 16v, 22uF capacitors along the edge of the PCB just behind the power port.  The one closest to the power port measured 12v, and the others were 3.3v, 5v, and 1.8v moving from back to front.  Savel replaced the 12v cap with one rated at 25v, 470uF and the other three with 6.3v, 1500uF caps.  He said that while the higher the uF the better, the main concern is finding capacitors that aren’t too tall – you won’t be able to get the housing back on.  I see that another concern is the diameter.  If they’re too fat, there might be a problem.  It looks like I can use caps up to 16mm in length and a maximum of 20mm if I modify the top housing: there’s a support ridge running the width of the top half that’ll need to be Dremel’d away just enough such that the caps can clear during reassembly.

I rummaged through bins of old computer video cards, motherboards, modems, etc., looking for comparable parts, but didn’t find anything I wanted to kill — I really will get around to putting that old Abit dual CPU mobo in a case and turning it into a server!  I ended up ordering from Mouser.  Using the filtering, I first went for size, ranging up to 9mm in diameter and 20mm in length, then Farad rating, then voltage.  I have no clue as to whether these are ideal, but I ended up selecting part number 647-UHZ0J152MPM6 for the 6.3v caps and 647-UHE1E471MPD for the 25v caps.  I have two GLs that need to be modified and so ordered 10 of each, more than required, but I kept it to less than $10.00.

I’ll update once the parts arrive.  Probably a bad snapshot or two as well.

Okay, so this morning I’m doing more research on building scrolling LED displays, following various threads like this one, and I came across a post on Savel Brain Dump regarding WRT54G/GLs.  As I was scrolling down the page, two words in bold text poked me in the eye: no freezes.  Ahhhh…  Interesting!  I scrolled back up to read the full post and here’s proof that I’m not the only one suffering from this problem.  Savel disassembled his and took a hard look at the board components.  He believes the problem is that it’s under-engineered in that the power supply is filtered by capacitors which are too small.  He writes,

There is problem with some of these routers. Some time they hang up. One client was using “G” model with third party firmware, but he needed to reboot device from time to time. I offered him to test my personal router with “L” index, but it hang up too. At my home, this router was working fine. After more detailed investigation, I decided, that there is some problems in power supply and it’s filters. So I opened both devices and checked PCB.

Internal power suply is clasic step-down pulsed PSU. I was surprised, that manufacturer used very small and very suspicious capacitors- all caps were 25V x 220uF. Even in CPU core circuit (1.8V) and 3.3V power lines. I didn’t measured ESR, but I think the result could be very ugly.  So I decided to change this caps to bigger ones, from spare computer mainboards and VGA cards.

He replaced the input capacitor with a 25v, 470uF and the output capacitors with 6.3v 1500uF.  I disassembled the “bad” box and sure enough there are four caps on the front edge of the PCB, all 16v, 220uF.  I’m pretty sure I have a 25/470, but I’ll need to search around to see if I have any 6.3/1500 caps.  I kinda doubt it, but I do have scads of old motherboards and obsolete video cards…  Hopefully I can come up with the needed parts without killing too many old components.

The real deal is that I thought the firmware was the problem, but it now seems to be an engineering problem.  Once I find all the required parts and get them installed I’ll update this post.

The font size is selectable by pressing the button between the spacebar and SYM keys.  This also is a shortcut for controlling the Text-to-Speech options (on/off, speed, and voice).  There are six selectable font sizes.  From smallest to largest, here are the number of lines of text per selection: 26, 23, 20, 18, 14, and 12.  The default – or at least the size selected when I first powered mine up – is 20 lines per page.  I’m more comfortable with 18 lines, but even then I still must wear reading glasses; to forego glasses completely, I must select 14 lines.  Getting older kinda suXorz, but I suppose it’s better than the alternative.

Okay, I already have my two front teeth.  For today, at least.  That’s another subject for another time.  This is about the Kindle.  Below are some really bad photos:

Actually, all I really wanted for Christmas this past year was Amazon’s Kindle.  A pretty tall order, but my girlfriend, brother & sisters, and mom & dad all chipped in to get me just that.  The Kindle 2 (K2) wasn’t out at the time of the order, so my sister Melinda ordered the old Kindle (K1).  I’d hoped Amazon would be understanding and generous enough to realize (most) everyone would want the new K2 instead of the K1.  They did realize it and this explains exactly why I’m such a huge Amazon fan.  Unless I’m buying individual electronics parts such as inductors and diodes and resistor networks and whatnot, things they’re not likely to have, Step One is to hit Amazon.com.  Even if I don’t buy through them (rarely the case), I use the comments/ratings to get an idea of the product.

I received my K2 just yesterday, 25 February 2009, around 6pm.  It took a few minutes to get the device registered as I ended up having to peruse the User’s Guide to find the underscore character.  Simple deduction *should* have led me immediately to the SYM key as it’s specifically mentioned in the printed Getting Started Guide as to where to find the @ symbol.  However, because the underscore comes before @ in my email address and I’m obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer…

Anyway, I got it registered just fine.  I’ve yet to download anything more than a couple of previews, though.  I have a number of books in mind, but money is tight at the moment and at $9.99 a pop, plus tax (Amazon has a warehouse here in Lexington), it can add up quickly.

It’s a super neat device and super thin.  There’s a built-in 3G radio so you can buy a new book and be reading it in mere seconds.  If you aren’t sure a particular book is worth buying, you can often download a preview, just a chapter or three to let you get a better feel for it.  The display is super crisp and it even has text-to-voice capability so you have somewhat of Books on Tape with the K2, albeit the voice is somewhat similar to Steven Hawking’s – okay, but hardly Sir Peter O’Toole as King Henry II in Lion in Winter

My life, when it is written, will read better than it lived. Henry Fitz-Empress, first Plantagenet, a king at twenty-one, the ablest soldier of an able time. He led men well, he cared for justice when he could and ruled, for thirty years, a state as great as Charlemagne’s. He married out of love, a woman out of legend. Not in Alexandria, or Rome, or Camelot has there been such a queen. She bore him many children. But no sons. King Henry had no sons. He had three whiskered things but he disowned them.

You’re not mine! We’re not connected! I deny you! None of you will get my kingdom, I leave you nothing and I wish you plague! May all your children breach and die!

Funny thing about the text-to-voice capability – not so funny, actually – is that the Author’s Guild is arguing that the feature is illegal as it…  Well, it isn’t quite clear to me the distinction, but they do say it’ll undermine the Books On Tape sales.  Maybe, but I own hundreds of books yet not a single one is on tape.  I considered it back when I was driving all over the US, but could never seem to bring myself to do it.  It always seemed too …  disposable?  I have a lot more respect for books than that.  Plus, at a price point of $360.00, I seriously doubt people will flock to the K2 to any point where books on tape sales decline to anything beyond a mere trend fluctuation.  The vast majority of people on earth cannot even read, nor are they sitting around listening to someone read to them.  Suffice it to say they sure as hell aren’t spending money on a recording of someone reading a book.  And thinking about it for just a moment, the antiquity of the concept is clear from its name, Books on Tape.  Billions in revenue, yet no one can think farther into the future than the next royalty check.  I’d hope the Author’s Guild would at least hire someone that’s a bit more forward thinking than to get stuck in the 70s.  Undoubtedly they’ve have no idea of this little board from Parallax.  The site says “extremely natural female voice” but it’s pretty choppy; not nearly as good as the K2.  But like I said, the K2′s V-to-T isn’t all that great. Books on Parchment… err… Books on TAPE, indeed!

I’ll update when I’ve read a few books.

I’ve built at least two dozen MintyBoosts – some with 4 x AA alkalines, some with rechargeable 2 x A123 NiCads, and of course the standard 2 x AA – and finally decided to build a rechargeable version.  I’ve long had the idea, but wasn’t too keen after doing a bit of research on lithium polymer batteries and what is truly  meant by “vents with flame” (see this and this, for just a couple of examples).  I finally got over the fear and built two in a single morning.  I used LadyAda’s MintyBoost circuit board, SparkFun’s LiPo charger, and a couple of the dozens of mint containers I have sitting about. The larger tin contains a 2200 mAh battery I got from RapidRepair for a measly 6 bucks (purchased 3, actually) while the smaller uses an iRiver Clix 720 mAh battery I got from BatteryShip (and cost more than 3x more than the 2200, though it did come with a nice set of minature tools).

My SparkFun charger is an older version of the one depicted at the link above, the only difference being that mine didn’t have the JST (?) connectors.  I had originally purchased and planned to use SparkFun’s 2000 mAh battery and decided on a layout which required a bit of modification to both the battery and the charger such that everything could be attached to the bottom of the tin – no mounting of components on top of the battery.  When the 2200 mAh iPod batteries arrived, I was pleased to discover that they were perfectly suited the task, but because it was larger I’d have to place the recharging and boost circuitry on top of the battery.  Not a problem, really, as for a number of years I made a living installing Nortel and Alcatel SONET equipment and have a roll or two of fish paper electrical insulation left over.  I cut the fish paper to size, used spray-on adhesive to glue it to the battery, hot glued the battery into the tin, then aligned and hot glued the circuit boards to the fish paper.

The mini Penguin was a bit different.  I had to desolder the DC barrel jack from the board and cut as much off of the board behind the connector solder pads as was possible.  I didn’t modify the boost circuit board, but when I do another one I’ll do a bit of reconfiguration to avoid having to cut a hole in the lid.  I think next time I’ll eliminate the 8-pin socket and solder the uC directly to the board to get it out of the way – it *barely* closes as it is.  I also need to find a shorter inductor.  I’ve pulled parts from tons of old electronics boards, but have yet to find a suitable part, probably an SMT (surface mount) part.  And while I’m at it, replace everything I can with SMT.  Heck, it might even get to the point where I actually make my own boards designed specifically to use SMTs.

In testing, the larger unit recharged my Android Dev 1 with no problem.  Hardly a dent in the 2200 mAh battery.  However, the Lil Penguin didn’t fair so well.  It took my Dev 1 to only about 65%.  That isn’t bad, though, and it’ll do in a pinch.  The key here is that the device is only for emergency use and it’s tiny, so I’m driven to improve the design.

Crewmembers of Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron Fifteen

To all former and current members of our US Armed Forces, I bid thee fair winds and following seas!

I now have on order a new toy called a ybox2 and so a new post.

ybox2

LadyAda says it shipped today, so I hope to have it by Saturday. It’s kinda like a Chumby, but mostly not. It’s similar in that it outputs PAL or NTSC composite video to a display using widgets, but not as it doesn’t come with an AC adapter, a display, or a furry cover. Nor are there many widgets as of yet. Hopefully, with time, more will come. But not from me, alas. I took many, many coding courses back in my college daze – assembly, basic, pascal, pl1, fortran, c, and one or two others – but didn’t understand that I needed to focus on becoming fluent in just one, then move on to a new language, one better suited to what I wanted to accomplish. I was young, petulant, foolish, wasteful of time and money, and so cannot code worth a damned in any language. While I’m no longer so young…

I ordered a display, a PSOne screen which runs anywhere from $40 to $100. I considered the Pyle 7″ widescreen which is 2″ larger and more versatile, but settled on the PSOne due to price. Besides, I can hack the PSOne to be portable using ExtremeTech’s tutorial on how to substitute white LEDs for the high voltage backlighting bulb, thus allowing it to run on just 5V. I’ll eventually find an enclosure and drop in a LiPoly battery and charger circuit I got from SparkFun some time ago. I picked up a couple after selling a number of MintyBoosts, deciding to develop a self-contained rechargeable version. However, I gave it second thoughts upon realizing exactly what the warning “Vents with Flame” means after watching this video of a LiPoly pack “venting.” Most decidedly an understatement.

I’ll update after getting it assembled.

At one point I was attempting to pass a tractor trailer. I couldn’t see that just ahead there was a car on the right that’d spun out and the left front corner was blocking part of the right hand lane. Visibility was around 50 yards at best. I was half the length of my crappy rental car from passing the truck when we both saw the problem. I pushed on the gas as much as I could to make the pass, but I couldn’t gain speed. In fact, I lost traction and actually slowed. The truck driver had no choice but to move into my lane, else he’d have crushed that guy like a bug. I pulled my foot completely off the accelerator and edged as best I could toward the concrete divider. The truck just barely missed smashing me against the divider. White knuckles, baby, and lots of swearing.

I decided the saying was true, “Prudence is the better part of valor,” and slowed to a much more manageable pace. However, that wasn’t a cure-all. Somewhere between Allentown and Philly, just as I was approaching the I476 (?) toll booth, I rounded a corner that put the headlights of all opposite-bound traffic in my face. The streaking of the dog crap wipers made it impossible to see. I got out of the tire ruts I’d been following and the front wheels broke traction, pushing me toward the concrete barrier. All I could do was let off the gas, turn the wheel gradually to the right and hope I didn’t crash. Normally my contract company pre-pays all rentals, but because this was a one-way, Alamo wouldn’t allow it — I had to use my own credit card and get reimbursed. In a split second, I remembered the gal at the car rental desk asking if I wanted extra insurance, “It’s only 9.95 per day.” “That’s okay, my personal insurance will cover it.” “Do you have a deductible?” “Of course. I don’t think my company reimburses extra insurance, though.” Then a movie of the accident ran through my head and I regretted not getting the extra coverage. Fortunately, the tires hit a dry spot and I veered away from the barrier.

Wow, that was dangerous. Next time, I think, I’ll keep my mouth shut. If I can’t get there, I can’t get there.

It’s bitterly cold here, but the people have so far been quite nice. When I pulled into the hotel parking lot a 4×4 was behind me, a guy making a food delivery in a University of North Carolina hat. I walked in behind him and was still waiting at the empty check-in counter when he was on his way back out. “Still no one here?” “Not yet.” “You can dial 600 on the courtesy phone. They carry a cordless.” “Ahhh. Cool. Thanks! I’ll give ‘em a few more minutes, then call.” I almost commented on his hat – being that I’m from Lexington, KY and a UK Wildcats fan – but didn’t. The gal showed up a couple of minutes later. She was friendly and said that even though they didn’t have the smoking room I’d reserved, she’d give me an ashtray and I could smoke anyway. She also was the first to mention my $20-off discount code for making the reservation on-line. While I’d rather stay in a Holiday Inn Express or a Candlewood Suites, but they’re typically too expensive, I keep booking Extended Stay Suites. No mention of the discount in Miami or Raleigh or Baton Rouge nor was it forthcoming. Not a big deal. Had I remembered to mention it at check out, I’m sure it’d have been applied, but I’m usually anxious to get to the airport and back home.

Another thing I noticed was that Syracusians (?) don’t have much of an accent and certainly not a stereotypical NYC accent. I suppose if I had to categorize the modest accent, it’s more Canuck than anything. Sort of like a very mild, just barely noticeable Minnesota accent.

Hopefully everything goes well tonight and I’m nearly home this time tomorrow. Wish me luck!

I ordered one entire kit, plus five extra PCBs and MAX756-CPA+ power regulators from Adafruit. From other vendors such as Maxim IC, Mouser, DigiKey, and Futurlec, I bought parts enough to build at least 25. Looks like I’ll have to either make my own circuit boards or order more from Adafruit.

So far I’ve built five of them – the original yesterday afternoon and the other four in the past three hours using parts I already had on hand. Her instructions to “Case It” make use of sheet metal snips and cut through the rim. I don’t like this as the tin’s structural integrity is now compromised:

I have a Dremel, so I used a cutoff wheel to make three incisions: two parallel with the top edge and one diagonally, making a “Z”

The two resulting flaps can then be bent inwards a bit and snipped off and pressed tight against the inside wall. I need to practice a bit more making the cuts as I made the hole too large on four of the five. On the fourth, I tried to get as close as possible to the correct dimension, but it was too small. Then I made it too large by over-correcting.

It still works just fine, though. I have successfully tested each with the portable electronics I have:

• HTC Dream Dev 1
• Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS
• Lexar 1GB LDP-600FB MP3 player
• iPod 2GB Nano
• Sony Ericsson 750i cellphone (reportedly must be pull-down resistor configuration; further testing required)
• Sony Ericsson W800 cellphone (reportedly must be pull-down resistor configuration; further testing required)

The difference between using a pull-up or pull-down resistor is due to the fact that the USB standard is just a document and therefore interpreted in any number of ways when a manufacturer implements it. As such, some devices are designed with the need to see a particular voltage on the data bus even though it’s merely charging while others don’t care one way or the other. It seems that the newer iPods, in particular, need to see that voltage.

I think one of the modifications I will make is a slightly larger tin such that the USB jack will be flush with the tin’s wall and two sets of batteries in parallel for a longer run time. Perhaps a Penguin tin for a super dweeby Linux theme, or an Altoids mints tin? If I can contain the costs, a rechargeable LiPoly will be in the works.

However, as built, they’re inexpensive, fun and easy to build, and work exactly as advertised. Highly recommended!

The time has come for End Of Life hardware upgrades, so I’ve been back to Miami to replace the gateway servers from Netra 20s to Netra 240s, and SMLC-Vs to SMLC-Ls (GSM E911-specific hardware). I just now finished replacing the Netra boxes in Raleigh.  Rumor has it I’ll be headed up I95 doing upgrades in northern Virginia, Baltimore, Wilmington, Philly, Jersey, Boston, etc., plus some overseas work.  Gotta get my passport ready!  Schedules are rarely adhered to for various reasons, so only time will tell.

I really miss not being able to play around with my Arduinos and completing new projects — I recently bought the PCBs to make four Boarduinos, but haven’t had time to get more than one assembled. I’m considering designing a protoshield (or an entirely separate board) which will allow me to burn bootloaders and do general programming on a number of different microprocessors such as the ATmega series, ATtiny series, AT89 series, and a few others.