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Experimenting with Casio Portable Analog TVs from eBay
Published on 2012-04-11 09:14:00
Recently I won an eBay Auction for 2 portable TVs, the EV-570P and the TV-880D. Although both are analog TVs with a 3" LCD screen, the EV-570P supports both VHF and UHF while the TV-880D supports UHF only, as indicated in the channel ruler below the LCD:Both sets have an automatic tuner and there is no option for manual tuning. Pressing the tuning buttons (next, previous) will scan and switch to the next available channel. A vertical scrolling bar (red for VHF, green for UHF) will be displayed s [..] > read more
"Scanner Error" on Xerox WorkCentre 3119
Published on 2012-03-23 11:58:00
Well, if you get this error, or some other hardware-related errors such as PAPER JAM, DOOR OPEN and TONER ERROR out of nowhere, the first thing to do is to perform a restart and re-installation of paper tray and toner, which will help if the error is triggered by a stuck or dirty sensor or switch.However, for my case, there was also a continuous "tick-tock" noise as the device was trying to power up. The LCD showed "Warming Up..." for a very long time before reporting "Scanner Error". This error [..] > read more
Mac OS X on VmWare - Upgrading from 10.6.4 to 10.6.8
Published on 2012-02-17 09:32:00
In my previous articles (this and this) I have shown you how to setup a working Mac OS X 10.6.4 system running on your PC using VmWare Workstation. For some time, the setup has been working perfectly fine for me, mostly for iOS development, since I don't own a Mac.However, recently I needed to upgrade my xCode to version 4.2 in order to support the latest iOS SDK, and to my surprise, Xcode 4.2 requires at least 10.6.7 for installation. Well, if you don't want to read the rest of this post, there [..] > read more
Raw access to SMS/MMS database on Android phones
Published on 2012-02-14 08:46:00
My HTC HD2 running on Android from SD card has stopped working recently - the phone simply refused to power up while the battery was still fine. There was nothing I could do except to migrate to a new phone and re-sync everything from my Google account. Restoring the SMS, however, was not an easy task as my latest backup using Sms Backup and Restore is more than 3 months old.Fortunately my Android was running from SD card, which was still working fine, so I could still access the entire Android [..] > read more
The good old days: cracking 16-bit DOS games
Published on 2012-02-11 07:53:00
I recently wanted to play one of my favorite old games again, Zentris for DOS by Zensoft and realized how much things have changed. First, my 64-bit version of Windows 7 doesn't like 16-bit DOS apps and refuse to run the game:Attempting to run on another computer with 32-bit Windows 7 fails because Windows Vista and above no longer supports 16-bit apps in full screen mode required by the game. Although there are various hacks to remove the restriction - some of which may prevent Windows Aero fro [..] > read more
Converting between NSString and C strings in an iOS project
Published on 2011-12-24 02:24:00
I recently had to use a C library in an iPhone project, which is mostly in Objective-C. Things were going on smoothly until I had some C functions that return C strings (wchar_t*, char*) and require conversions in order to work with Objective-C NSString* types.There are 3 ways to declare a string in an iOS project in xCode:NSString* str = @"hello world"; // declare an Objective-C stringwchar_t* str = L"hello world"; // declare a wide-character (Unicode) stringchar* str = "hello world"; // de [..] > read more
HMC-35HD Media Player with NAS Server Review
Published on 2011-11-16 21:08:00
A few days ago I upgraded my home media player from the HMC-35HD made by Mele, a Chinese company, to the ASUS O!Play Air HDP-R3 to enjoy the many video formats supported by the HDP-R3. Before I resell the unit and earn back some cash, I am writing this short review which will hopefully help others who intend to purchase this player.Overall the unit is very light, with a dimension of 220x196x73mm and weight of 1096g (without HDD) (see full specs here). It seemingly offers a wide range of features [..] > read more
Dreambook W7: Cheap and apparently features-packed but unusable Chinese-made Android tablet
Published on 2011-10-14 09:33:00
Well, if you're intending to buy this tablet, the title says it all. This article serves as a reminder to watch out for things that are too good to be true. Save your money and buy a proper tablet!It all looks promising at first - the Dreambook W7 is an Android 2.2 tablet (upgradeable to 2.3) running on a 1GHz Freescale IMX515 processor, 512MB RAM and 8GB internal storage. The device also has GPS, Bluetooth, SIM card slot (supports 3G, call and SMS), SD card slot supporting up to 16GB, mini-HDMI [..] > read more
Rebuilding the Olevia LT19W 19" LCD TV Remote Control Unit
Published on 2011-10-09 04:04:00
I have here in my room an Olevia LT19W 19" LCD television that has no remote control unit. The buttons for this TV are located on the top panel so it would be a hassle to change volume or channel while watching. I decided to buy the RM-68 universal remote control from eBay hoping that I will be able to configure it to be used for my TV.Unfortunately, I was wrong. None of the suggested codes I found online could make the remote control work with my TV. I also spent half a day trying most of the c [..] > read more
Compaq Contura 3/25C 80386 Laptop
Published on 2011-09-29 02:00:00
I recently picked up a free Compaq Contura 3/25c, a very old IBM-compatible laptop computer from the early 1990s, with a 25MHz 80386 processor, 4MB onboard memory and 3.5in 1.44MB floppy drive. The original 120MB hard drive has been removed by the previous owner. The laptop is also in very bad shape, with dust all over the place and the LCD panel removed:The laptop must have looked like this when new with the 8.4inch black and white LCD:I was trying to make it boot up by connecting an external m [..] > read more
Blogspot bug: Google+ Share button and Google Friend Connect widget
Published on 2011-09-19 03:03:00
Recently I observed that the Google Friend Connect widget that shows my site's followers on the left panel sometimes cannot be displayed. Refreshing the page did not help; clearing cookies and browser cache could only make it appear momentarily - the widget would disappear again eventually.Firefox's error console (accessible via Tools>Error Console or Ctrl-Shift-J) and this post provide some hint: The error messages are: Error: window.googleapisv0 is undefinedSource File: https://apis.google.com [..] > read more
Xcode 4 bug: Crash when using Core Data Model from Xcode 3
Published on 2011-08-19 22:51:00
I recently upgraded my Xcode from version 3 to 4.0.2 (build 4A2002a) and notice that Xcode keeps on crashing whenever I right click on a core data model used in an iOS application:The error message reads:Xcode encountered an internal logic error. Choose "Continue" to continue running Xcode in an inconsistent state. Choose "Crash" to halt Xcode and file a bug with Crash Reporter. Choosing "Crash" will result in the loss of all unsaved data. ASSERTION FAILURE in /SourceCache/IDEKit/IDEKit-303/Fr [..] > read more
HTC HD2 Android: Working with ext2 images under Windows
Published on 2011-08-12 01:49:00
My HTC HD2 running on Android from SD card had been working well for some time until it could not boot to Android one day (booting to Windows Mobile was still fine). Obviously I could redownload the same Android build, but this would mean loss of text messages, applications, call history and any other data not backed up or synchronized with Google server. In an attempt to salvage these data, I looked at the Android folder on the SD card and notice the following files:data.img: contains user data [..] > read more
Still alive after all these years: NEC D3835 45MB SCSI hard disk
Published on 2011-07-29 06:39:00
Recently I got around 20 old IDE/SCSI hard disks for free from a member of a Singapore technical forum and decided to try out all of them, one by one, with the help of an Adaptec AHA-2940UW, since my motherboard does not have SCSI ports. Utilizing the maximum available space in the chassis, I install 7 of them to my computer:The 2 identical Seagate ST31276A drives are installed on the primary IDE channel while the IBM DARA-206000 6GB 2.5in drive is installed on secondary master with the help of [..] > read more
The old new thing: mathematics of paper folding
Published on 2011-07-24 03:44:00
A few weeks ago I received the following quiz as one of the questions for an exam. The question is about paper folding, something that we all know from an early age, and seems simple but it seems that no-one could answer it. I presented it in this article with my proposed solution in an attempt to show how a frustrating mathematics problem could be set from something so simple in our everyday life.The ProblemFold a sheet of A0 paper (841mm x 1189mm) in such a way that the longer side (1189mm) is [..] > read more
Samsung P2370 and ATI Moblity Graphics Card
Published on 2011-06-14 02:15:00
I recently bought a Samsung P2370 LCD monitor in order to watch 1080p HD movies on my HP G42 laptop, which is using an ATI Mobility Radeon HD5470 graphics card. Much to my surprise, this combination did not work at all and was a total waste of time. > read more
Windows Phone 7 and Singapore IDD prefix 0XX
Published on 2011-05-07 22:54:00
When using my Windows Phone 7 today to make an international call using Singtel IDD 019, I realized that the call could not get through and the operator would always report "The number you have called is incorrect". Checking the call history showed t > read more
Another customer service tale: "Your system connects me to the wrong number, please refund!"
Published on 2011-04-14 23:40:00
An early Monday morning at my company, which offers budget international calls via callback, I received a call from a user complaining he was connected to the wrong number and demanded a refund. Below is the conversation. The story is true with some > read more
Interfacing Nokia 3510i and 5110 LCD with PIC Microcontroller
Published on 2011-03-23 07:34:00
Recently I started to regain some interest in embedded systems, and start to experiment with PIC micro-controllers. After some successful attempts with standard character LCDs using using the HD44780 controllers, I decided to get some Nokia LCD modul > read more
Programming Nostalgia: revisiting Mike Wiering's Mario game written in Pascal
Published on 2011-01-18 17:45:00
I have always been a fan of Super Mario game (and its variants) ever since the first time I touched the computer keyboard. I remember the first time playing it on my old 80386 computer and could not get passed the big two fish in the middle of level > read more
Relisys RWT200EM (Exilis TR333) Thin Client
Published on 2010-12-20 22:49:00
A few months ago I was given a Relisys RWT200EM (also known as Exilis TR333) thin client (see detailed specs and review here). I was expecting to "jailbreak" the thin client and get to install some sort of OS (DOS, Linux, early version of Windows on > read more
Casio PB-700 and FA-11 Printer & Tape Recorder
Published on 2010-12-02 23:02:00
I recently acquired an New Old Stock (NOS) Casio PB-700 with the FA-11 printer & tape recorder and an OR-4 memory module (4KB) from an eBay seller for a very cheap price. I know sometimes it's fun to play with old technology, and this article wil > read more
iPhone SDK on Mac OS X 10.6.4 under VmWare - Tips and Tricks
Published on 2010-12-01 01:29:00
This articles describes some common problems when using running Mac OS X 10.6.4 under VmWare using the instructions from my previous post and provides possible solutions/workarounds.1. If you get an "rtclock_init panic" (shown below) and t > read more
Singapore Bus Stop Database
Published on 2010-11-18 21:28:00
Attached to this post is something that developers for location-aware applications in Singapore may find useful - the location database of all bus stops in Singapore and the bus route. These databases were created some time back and may not be up-to- > read more
My 5V home-made battery
Published on 2010-11-11 01:13:00
Inspired by various posts on how to create a battery from household items, I decided to create my version. here is the result:There are a total of 11 cells - 10 slices of lemon and a bowl of Coke. Each cell provides around 0.47V. The 2 electrodes are > read more
Dual booting Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4 and Windows XP on Asus 1000HE netbook
Published on 2010-10-29 08:11:00
This guide shows you how to install both Windows XP and Mac OS X 10.6.4 (retail version) on your Asus 1000HE netbook, with Chameleon bootloader to allow selection between these two OSes.Pre-requisites:1. Asus 1000 HE netbook with 2GB of RAM. Windows > read more
Web pages linking to my blog articles
Published on 2010-10-19 20:43:00
This post lists some of the web pages that link to my blog articles. I came across them during random Google searches, and via StatCounter's "Recent Came From" list.1. VoIP linked from Faxing over VoIP using Kapanga softphone and some fax calls > read more
iPhone SDK on Mac OS X 10.6.4 under VmWare
Published on 2010-10-08 09:41:00
This guide shows you how to get the latest iPhone SDK running on Mac OS X 10.6.4 under VmWare.Pre-requisites:1. A computer whose CPU supports hardware virtualization. You can check if your computer supports this by using CPUZ and check if your CPU su > read more
Restoring SMS Backup from CSV to Blackberry devices
Published on 2010-10-01 08:02:00
Following my previous post on a Windows Mobile tool called SMS2IPD that would run on a Windows Mobile device and creates and IPD backup of all the SMS that can be restored to a Blackberry device via Blackberry Desktop Manager, a German reader contact > read more
FINDSTR and Unicode strings
Published on 2010-09-18 07:27:00
Recently I had another look at my old post on finding unused resources in a .NET project, and realized that it would not work if any of the resource strings contain Unicode characters. The culprit turns out to be the FINDSTR command, which doesn't su > read more