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3501

Living Room / Re: You thought those cheap no-name USB/Phone charger were safe?

« Last post by 4wd on November 15, 2012, 11:36 PM »

That burned stub looks like a coil or a resistor that burned out.

-SeraphimLabs (November 15, 2012, 09:37 PM)

Resistor.  It blew hard enough to shatter the case and break the encapsulation of one of the TO-92 transistors.

Most likely the transistor in the thing is cooked, and the resistor turned into a fuse as a result of the regulator transistor shorting out.

Yes, my idea also - the state of the output capacitor, (235 times it's supposed ESR), may have caused the feedback to be off possibly leading the transistor to over-regulate and fail.

I've got another cheap adapter here that's never been used - think I'll measure the capacitors and see what they're like beforehand.

Electronics is so much fun  

3502

Living Room / Re: You thought those cheap no-name USB/Phone charger were safe?

« Last post by 4wd on November 15, 2012, 06:02 PM »

 Looks like it got a little warm.  

-Tinman57 (November 15, 2012, 04:05 PM)

What usually happens with these cheap things is they use cheap/marginal/under-rated electrolytic capacitors.  They dry out due to ripple in the waveform which generates heat, which causes them to go high-ESR, which generates more heat, they bulge and then go BANG!

Or they cause other things to go bang as the voltages, (either within the regulator or at output), are no longer within the design spec - this regulator, (came with a USB hub), caused a AU$130 DVB-T tuner to burn out, (not mine).

In the image above, you can see the capacitor on the right has just started to bulge, note the top of the can has started to split along the fracture lines compared to the larger one on the left.

I found out the secret to electronics a long time ago, it's "Blue Smoke" that makes it all work.  If there's a break and all the blue smoke escapes, the electronic item will cease to work....  

We call it "Magic Smoke"

I'd be inclined to think the second yellow wire came loose and shorted to something (first yellow?) cooking that corner of the board. There doesn't really appear to be any thing else there it could have hit.

-Stoic Joker (November 15, 2012, 05:31 PM)

All that damage, (including the cutting of the yellow wire), was caused by a component that explosively destroyed itself.  The circular shimmer on the left of the photo, (above the remaining yellow wire), is the end view of what's left of it.

Here's a better view of the bulging capacitor, (now on the left), and the ex-component on the right.



I might pull the electrolytics out later and test them with my ESR meter just to see what they read.

Results:
Small capacitor:
Ratings: 680uF 10V 105deg C
ESR:
Expected: ~0.2 ohms (worst case)
Reality:    47 ohms

Large capacitor:
Ratings: 10uF 400V 105deg C
ESR:
Expected: ~2.0 ohms (worst case)
Reality:    3.0 ohms

3503

Living Room / Re: You thought those cheap no-name USB/Phone charger were safe?

« Last post by 4wd on November 14, 2012, 12:47 AM »

A cheap 5V adapter that just died on me, (less than an hour ago): switched it on, waited 10 seconds....BANG!



Just as I was attaching the DMM leads to check it 

3504

Living Room / Re: Raspberry Pi model B now delivered with 512 MB, at same price

« Last post by 4wd on November 12, 2012, 07:43 PM »

From RS Components:

Dear Raspberry Pi customer,

Thank you for your continued patience in waiting for your Raspberry Pi order. By way of an extra thank you, we’re pleased to let you know that your order for a 256MB Raspberry Pi Model B board will be upgraded to a 512MB revision 2 version of Raspberry Pi.

 

Only another month to wait according to the schedule.

3505

General Software Discussion / Re: Strategies to stay with Windows 7 as long as possible

« Last post by 4wd on November 12, 2012, 06:49 PM »

Thanks for this.

-dr_andus (November 12, 2012, 11:06 AM)

I updated my original post to point to a more recent, (2012), article that was referred to in the first comment of the TechRepublic link.

I looked at the websites of Mware Workstation and VirtualBox. The former looks like an enterprise-type software, an overkill for a singe person, while the latter looked more like for everyday Joe (i.e. like me). Did I get that right?

-dr_andus (November 12, 2012, 05:50 PM)

There's also the free VMLite XP Mode which is a faster equivalent of XP Mode, I use it on an W7x64 computer to run one old program - seems to work reasonably seamlessly, it uses the XP Mode image supplied by Microsoft for installation.

You end up with a shortcut for your old program in the Start menu/Desktop, when you run it the VM is started, (bit of extra delay naturally), and then your program opens its window the same as a normal program would.

3506

General Software Discussion / Re: Strategies to stay with Windows 7 as long as possible

« Last post by 4wd on November 10, 2012, 06:39 PM »

Unfortunately that doesn't work. I don't know why but it doesn't and never has. I have "run as administrator" ticked, I have XP compatibility ticked, it would still bring up UAC, which is why I was looking into alternative ways of disabling UAC just for those apps.

-dr_andus (November 09, 2012, 08:01 PM)

The Application Compatibility Toolkit might help, there's a tutorial here, (a more recent article is available here), on disabling the UAC for specific programs - it's for Vista but it should work under 7.  The ACT adds a lot more fixes you can apply selectively to try and get a program working, it also has a database of known programs and fixes, (IIRC).

3507

General Software Discussion / Re: Batch photo filter software?

« Last post by 4wd on November 08, 2012, 07:09 PM »

Yes - it's a really old thread but hey, I started it 

Anyway, I finally finished doing all my slides, (yes, I am slow), and I thought I might share an example of what PolaDSR can do:

Before:


During:


After:


The before and after photo are scaled 50%, the filter would have removed the rigging from the yachts so they were masked out.

PolaDSR is attached as it's a little hard to find now - it's free and hasn't been in development since 2002.

3508

General Software Discussion / Re: Back to Firefox - sudden loud noise

« Last post by 4wd on November 08, 2012, 05:39 PM »

For interests sake, in about:config there's also media.autoplay.enabled which acts on HTML5 content.

3509

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... help with XAMPP [portable] installation.

« Last post by 4wd on November 08, 2012, 04:35 PM »

I'm as knowledgeable as a bathroom rug when it comes to XAMPP, (or similar), compared to the other guys but I do run my web site on XAMPP, (not portable), on a XP Pro machine.

May I suggest USBwebserver for your portable version ?

I use it for carrying around a copy of my web site and the default ports are 8080 and 3308, it has no trouble firing straight up on my XAMPP machine, (80 and 3306).

If you want to change the ports, it's just the settings\usbwebserver.ini - the relevant port changes are passed to apache and mysql.



If nothing else, maybe you can use it to test whether the machine will run it or another (?)AMPP combo.

EDIT: Otherwise I did notice a server-id parameter in the my.ini files - maybe that needs to change depending on how many iterations of the server you want to run ?

3510

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by 4wd on October 28, 2012, 07:07 PM »

This is fun and funny!

1) Go to Google Images >> https://www.google.com/imghp
2) Type in "completely wrong" and search
3) Enjoy~!

-Renegade (October 24, 2012, 02:27 AM)

Uh oh, recursion....

3511

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Readyboost for me ?

« Last post by 4wd on October 18, 2012, 01:12 AM »

why a hidden partition ?

-Contro (October 17, 2012, 03:35 PM)

The hidden partition contains the software, (WinPE), necessary for the Startup Repair option and/or BitLocker encryption files, (if you've encrypted your boot partition).

If you don't have the hidden partition you have to use the Windows DVD to repair any startup problem and you cannot use BitLocker drive encryption on the OS drive.

3512

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by 4wd on October 17, 2012, 02:53 AM »

Via my other half's Probus group:

Kulula^w is a low-cost South-African airline that doesn't take itself too seriously.





















Kulula is an Airline with head office situated in Johannesburg. Kulula airline attendants make an effort to make the in-flight "safety lecture" and announcements a bit more entertaining.
Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:

• On a Kulula flight, (there is no assigned seating, you just sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced, "People, people we're not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!"
• On another flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."
• On landing, the stewardess said, "Please be sure to take all of your belongings... If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have."
• "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane."
• "Thank you for flying Kulula. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride."
• As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Durban Airport, a lone voice came over the loudspeaker: "Whoa, big fella. WHOA!"
• After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in the Karoo, a flight attendant on a flight announced, "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted."
• From a Kulula employee:  "Welcome aboard Kulula 271 to Port Elizabeth. To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt; and, if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised."
• "In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child travelling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child, pick your favourite."
• "Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but we'll try to have them fixed before we arrive... Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Kulula Airlines."
• "Your seat cushions can be used for flotation; and in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments."
• "As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses.."
• And from the pilot during his welcome message: "Kulula Airlines is pleased to announce that we have some of the best flight attendants in the industry. Unfortunately, none of them are on this flight!"
• Heard on Kulula 255 just after a very hard landing in Cape Town: The flight attendant came on the intercom and said, "That was quite a bump and I know what y'all are thinking. I'm here to tell you it wasn't the airline's fault, it wasn't the pilot's fault, it wasn't the flight attendant's fault, it was the asphalt."
• Overheard on a Kulula flight into Cape Town, on a particularly windy and bumpy day: During the final approach, the Captain really had to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the Flight Attendant said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to The Mother City. Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened while the Captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate!"
• Another flight attendant's comment on a less than perfect landing: "We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal."
• An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a "Thanks for flying our airline".
  
  He said that, in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane.
  
                  She said, "Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?"
                  "Why, no Ma'am," said the pilot. "What is it?"
                  The little old lady said,
                  "Did we land, or were we shot down?"
• After a real crusher of a landing in Johannesburg, the attendant came on with, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we will open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal.."
• Part of a flight attendant's arrival announcement: "We'd like to thank you folks for flying with us today.. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you'll think of Kulula Airways."
• Heard on a Kulula flight: "Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing...If you can light 'em, you can smoke 'em."

3513

General Software Discussion / Re: Suspension and windows 7

« Last post by 4wd on October 15, 2012, 07:04 PM »

You can just use Task Scheduler to wake the computer for backups and it will go back to sleep after a period of inactivity or you tell the backup program to put it to sleep after a backup, (assuming nobody is logged on)..

I don't think number 2 is possible - the computer needs to wake up so that it can either check there were no changes to the files it was backing up or there were no logons since the last backup.

Possibly the closest you could get to number 2 is have a marker file set when someone logs on and then have the backup program, (or script), check for its existence:
1) It exists - do a backup then clear it.
2) It doesn't exist - go back to sleep.

3514

Living Room / Re: Raspberry Pi model B now delivered with 512 MB, at same price

« Last post by 4wd on October 15, 2012, 06:49 PM »

-40hz (October 15, 2012, 11:31 AM)

Except yours is already in the mail and it's the old version

3515

General Software Discussion / Re: Software to restrict wireless internet connection to other devices at X hours?

« Last post by 4wd on October 15, 2012, 01:48 AM »

So your computer has Internet Connection Sharing enabled which provides internet access to the other devices via WiFi ?

You could use a Scheduled Task to disable/enable the WiFi adapter at specified times using devcon.

3516

Living Room / Re: 1080p playback: hardware discussion

« Last post by 4wd on September 11, 2012, 07:25 AM »

GPU: A decent GPU with good drivers that offload the decoding, (and possibly encoding), from the CPU will enable you to use a CPU that would otherwise be under-powered for the job.  Enables the CPU to just idle along, running cooler and thus quieter.

CPU: A sufficiently beefy CPU will compensate for an under-powered GPU but at the cost of heat and noise.

-4wd (September 11, 2012, 05:32 AM)

Granted I haven't had time to stay up on hardware tech, but wouldn't the GPU also need to be cooled?

-Stoic Joker (September 11, 2012, 06:54 AM)

If you're going to have a discrete GPU in the machine, you might as well take advantage of it.

The GPU is hardware designed to do video decoding, the CPU isn't - you would expect that the GPU would be more efficient at that task and hopefully use less power than the CPU which would probably have to step its clocks and V up to get the job done, (probably with the attendant increase in HSF revs).

You can get passively cooled GPUs that can handle the task - the HD6450 I mentioned is available passively cooled.  You'd need a case fan anyway, (purely for efficiency), so choosing a case that optimises the air flow over the GPU as part of the path would be nice.

Otherwise, as I mentioned, drop the GPU and use an AMD APU, (it's integrated graphics are far ahead of any other available IGX), and then put a more efficient HSF combination on it.

3517

Living Room / Re: 1080p playback: hardware discussion

« Last post by 4wd on September 11, 2012, 05:32 AM »

Let's say it's most dependant on GPU, but it's only slightly more so than CPU.  Then it's not worth breaking the bank for the GPU, and it's best to get an evenly matched CPU/GPU combo.  But maybe GPU is a lot more important.  Then you skimp on CPU and get a great GPU.

-superboyac (September 10, 2012, 10:53 PM)

It's not necessary to spend a lot to get HD playback - you'll probably spend more on a nice case than the GPU/CPU/RAM combined.

$35-45 for a passively cooled HD6450 will more than handle any video decoding you're likely to throw at it - or drop the GPU altogether and just use one of the AMD APUs, say a A8-3870K - $109 gets you a quad core CPU + integrated HD6550.

OS: Something that will allow you to you use software/drivers that will offload HD decoding/encoding to the GPU.

GPU: A decent GPU with good drivers that offload the decoding, (and possibly encoding), from the CPU will enable you to use a CPU that would otherwise be under-powered for the job.  Enables the CPU to just idle along, running cooler and thus quieter.

CPU: A sufficiently beefy CPU will compensate for an under-powered GPU but at the cost of heat and noise.

RAM: 4GB is plenty.

3518

Living Room / Re: It's about ... oldish films

« Last post by 4wd on September 10, 2012, 03:20 AM »

Creature features
The Giant Claw (1957) - very, very cheesy 

Tarantula (1955) (full movie)

Them! (1954)

Never really got into the Black Lagoon trilogy, ie. Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, The Creature Walks Among Us.

But I do have all the Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, etc films.  If you've only ever seen the done for the USA version of Godzilla, (Raymond Burr, 1956), do yourself a favour and get the original Japanese version, Gojira (1954) - it's better.

Move forward a little to the 60's and the ultimate spy 

3519

Living Room / Re: It's about ... oldish films

« Last post by 4wd on September 09, 2012, 09:44 PM »

For sci-fi there were some true B&W oldie classics. I was very partial to The Thing from Another World (1951) based on John Campbell's story Who Goes There. And let's not forget King Kong and all those wonderful truly awful Japanese "radiation monster" gems such as Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, etc. etc. etc.

-40hz (September 05, 2012, 10:08 PM)

Let's throw in:

• Bamboo Saucer
• Earth vs The Flying Saucers
• The 27th Day
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
• The Fly (1958) (the claw in that gave me the absolute creeps as a kid  )
• Out of the Unknown (only 21 episodes seem to have survived the great BBC purge of the 70s)
• The Trollenberg Terror
• The Blob (1958)

3520

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by 4wd on September 09, 2012, 07:20 PM »

Half way through Dean Koontz' Odd Apocalypse:

3521

Living Room / Re: Raspberry Pi's $35 Linux PC

« Last post by 4wd on September 07, 2012, 08:49 PM »

Now, if only I could power it from its own USB port.....

-4wd (August 11, 2012, 08:48 PM)

While not quite the above, mine is now powered from one of the USB ports on my router, (ASUS RT-N16), so no need for any external PSU - just two cables both going to the router. 

Now to twiddle my thumbs while waiting for my next RPi to arrive.

3522

Living Room / Re: Most BitTorrent users being monitored by copyright agencies, study finds

« Last post by 4wd on September 06, 2012, 07:18 PM »

My IP is squeaky-clean.

Mine as well...

-kyrathaba (September 06, 2012, 12:18 PM)

Just in case you don't get to see an example of its other output.

3523

Living Room / Re: Most BitTorrent users being monitored by copyright agencies, study finds

« Last post by 4wd on September 06, 2012, 05:07 AM »

Go to ScanEye and click Check IP - see what it says you've torrented, (copyrighted stuff via public trackers only, AFAICT).

It picked up the one *cough* Linux ISO *cough* that I downloaded 3 months ago - imagine my horror when it turned out to be a movie 

Of course, if you use private trackers, encryption, etc then you'll understandably get not much.  If you use a VPN provider that dynamically allocates your gateway IP then you might get a list of files that others or yourself have torrented via that IP.

3524

Living Room / Re: 2G Quad Band in a 3G/4G World

« Last post by 4wd on September 02, 2012, 11:50 PM »

Another map here: GSM Bands information by country

3525

General Software Discussion / Re: Checking Bad sector in HDD and ExtHDD

« Last post by 4wd on August 30, 2012, 09:26 PM »

You got that right, I slammed my fist down on my desk a few months ago - a month later a 1.5TB suffered head detachment.

-4wd (June 26, 2012, 07:16 AM)

And this is why it's not a good idea to get extremely annoyed while the drives are spinning:



All three platters were the same on both sides.