CommsBlog

Dear Avid Reader,

Yes it’s that time of year when we eat too much, drink too much and have unnecessary arguments with relatives over the pitiful TV that they laughingly call entertainment.

As one of my readers, you’re probably going to be in receipt of a number of gadgets, gizmo’s and techno-treats this year (despite the death of the British Pound according to my friend HERE)

The question is… what do you do with all your old tech? Well here are some ideas of how you could repurpose that equipment:-

 

Laptop’s

Despite your apparent need for 4Gb’s of RAM and Quad-core processing, that old laptop of yours seemed blisteringly fast a couple of Christmas’s ago… so what happened? Well ‘you did’ apparently… Most PCs and Laptops just get slower due to lots of unnecessary software, media and temporary files. Of course at this point you already have a nice new shiny one, so why don’t you format the hard-drive on the old one (or use the recovery disks) and give it to your Nan or Grandad so they can Skype you? One useful idea is to put Ubuntu on it as there is then little danger of Trojans, Viruses or Malware infecting your poor unsuspecting (and unknowledgeable) Grandparents.

Ubuntu Installation Guide: [link]

 

Old Net-tops, Notebooks and Underpowered PC’s

There is an excellent article on LifeHacker.com that details how to create your own Media Center PC from an old computer [link] or you could even turn it into a NAS (Network Attached Storage device) for your home network for the purposes of Backup (Pictures etc), Media (Music, Films) or for downloading .torrent files etc. Again this is detailed in a nice article from LifeHacker [link]

 

Mobile/Cell Phones

Yes… we all need the latest iPhone or Android (obviously the latter if you are a proper tech-head!), but that Nokia or Samsung you use to use for making calls and sending texts is still a perfectly functional bit of kit. Here are some ideas for that too:-

• Stick a Pre-pay SIM in it (on a different network to your usual one), and put it in the boot of your car with a cigarette lighter charger for emergencies – e.g. Your phone is dead/lost/no signal and you have broken down.
• Stick a Pre-pay SIM in it, enable ‘fixed dialing only’ (A mechanism that only allows the phone to dial pre-configured numbers), and give it to your young children to put in their School bag. They can’t call anyone or play games on it, but again, in the case of an emergency or missing a School bus…
• Give it to Phone for Heroes – they use the sale of these old handsets to support the Help for Heroes charity

 

Televisions

Its patently ridiculous how many TV sets we are throwing away because they are Analog… You can purchase a Freeview box for about £20 and turn it into a Digital TV, so why not put it in the spare room for when the kids are home for Christmas or make sure that Granny can watch TV in the Kitchen and Bedroom?

If you still have no use for it, then take it to a charity shop as they can then use the proceeds to fund a good cause.

My Guide to Reusing old TV and HiFi equipment: [link]

 

Games Consoles

Its frightening how many games consoles end up at the local tip… Those old XBOX consoles are probably one of the most hackable devices out there. By making a minor internal modification with an xecuter chip, you can use XBMC (XBOX Media Center) software and turn your XBOX into a full-blown Music and Video media box. Marry this up with one of the old TV’s above, and you’ve created a Media box for your games room/summer house.

Installing XBMC on an XBOX: [link]

 

Surround-sound / All-in-one players

Well these are fantastic for enhanced the kids games-room – add one of these to their games console and they have a more immersive experience, and the volume levels tend to go down. Another good use for these is to add to the Media system detailed above and place in your Summerhouse/Shed for those garden parties. Its just a case of unwinding the speaker wires and you have a sound system in the Garden. Add an old Radio Receiver and you can pipe your favourite music station into the garden whilst sunbathing.

My Guide to Reusing old HiFi equipment: [link]

 

 

CyanogenMod 7.1 Android Install Guide for the HP TouchPad running WebOS 3.02

 

First of all, lets get the obvious out of the way:-

I am in no way responsible for any damage, voiding of warranties, loss of data or inability to use your TouchPad based on the information below. The use of this information is completely at your own risk, and it is your fault if you brick your device.

SPECIAL THANKS should go to Dalingin and all of the CyanogenMod team for making this possible – You guys rock!

 

This information presumes the following:-

• You are using Windows
• You know what a “Command Prompt” is
• You have at least half-a-idea what you are doing…

Please do not email / msg me with questions, place comments at the bottom of this post, and I will (if I can) try to answer them.

This information is gleaned from RootzWiki, XDADevelopers and #cyanogenmod-touchpad IRC channels.

For this I used:

• 1 x HP TouchPad 16Gb
• 1 x Sony Laptop (Win7 64bit)
• 1 x USB Lead
• 1 x Coffee
• 1 x Cheesy Comestibles

(the last two aren’t necessesary, but make the experience a bit nicer!)

 

Before Installing watch this video for an overview of the process for the initial install:
http://tinyurl.com/3exy2v8

 

NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE JAVA INSTALLED – you can check this by opening a command prompt and typing: java -version

If you don’t get something similar, goto:  http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp

 

 

 

 

 

Lets Begin!

1. Download files from http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?4011-Discussion-CyanogenMod-team-Touchpad-port

Note: The links above is for the Alpha Release – Check the RootzWiki forum for later versions

README and Installer: – REQUIRED
CM7: – REQUIRED
Clockwork Recovery: - RECOMMENDED

(The 3 above items are contained in the Alpha Release in the above Rootzwiki link)

Moboot(bootloader menu) – REQUIRED
http://code.google.com/p/moboot/downloads/list

GAPPS (Google Apps) – REQUIRED FOR GOOGLE MARKET
http://goo-inside.me/gapps (select 20110828 Universal” at the top)

Moboot(bootloader menu) – REQUIRED
http://code.google.com/p/moboot/downloads/list

GAPPS (Google Apps) - REQUIRED FOR GOOGLE MARKET
http://goo-inside.me/gapps (select 20110828 Universal” at the top)

 

NOTE: If you are ‘upgrading’ from Alpha1 to Alpha2, just use the ClockworkMod Recovery (described in Step 15) to install the CyanogenMod main ZIP file.

 

2. Novacom  (The tool that sends the update to the TouchPad)  - REQUIRED – WITHOUT THIS NOTHING WORKS!

http://forums.precentral.net/canuck-coding/278224-universal-novacom-installer-uni-v1-2-1-a.html

Also note, if you have older versions of Novacom, uninstall them first to avoid conflicts.

 

3. Install Novacom, then go into Windows Services and ensure that the “Palm Novacom” service is started – If you don’t, you’ll get a “cannot connect to server” message later.

4. Insert USB Cable and click on “USB” option that pops up in the top left of the WebOS screen

5. On the PC, you’ll see this:-

6. Create a folder called cminstall on the TouchPad drive

 

7. Copy the following files into the cminstall folder:-

• update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a1-fullofbugs.zip     (or whatever the latest one is at the time of reading this)
  
• update-cwm_tenderloin-1012.zip
• moboot_0.3.3.zip
• gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip

8. Safely Unmount/Eject the TouchPad drive from your PC (use the Windows Tasktray option) but leave the cable plugged in

9. On the TouchPad WebOS, go into “Settings, Device Info, Reset Options, Restart” – The TP will reset. As soon as the spinning icon (Before the HP Logo) appears, hold down the Volume-up button until a USB logo (smaller than the one in step4) appears on the TP Screen. If it doesn’t appear, try power and volume up.

10. Unzip the Copy Readme/Installer and copy the ACMEInstaller into the Novacom program folder

Note: This could be “C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc”, or something like “c:\program files (x86)\HP SDK\bin”

11. Start a command prompt – NOTE: In Win7 use ‘right-click “run as Administrator”‘

12. Navigate to the folder where you unzipped the ACMEInstaller (cd “\program files…. etc”)

13. At the PC command prompt type : novacom boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller

14. You should see the TP start installing CM7 – BE PATIENT – This can take about 10-20 mins.

You *MAY* get a lot of ‘Alarm Expired’ warnings – Ignore them and wait, wait, wait….

 

 

When it reboots, you should see a nice CM7 Desktop, but we still need to install some more goodies….

 

15. IF the main Google Apps (e.g. Market) are missing, then perform this step:-

First we need to get all the standard Google Apps, this is done by downloading the latest CM7 Google Apps package from http://goo-inside.me/gapps (“20110828 Universal” at the top) and place in the ‘downloads’ folder on the TP. Reboot the TP into ‘recovery’ mode (press and hold power and select ‘recovery’), and then select “install zip from sd card” and select the gapps zip file you copied onto the system, then reboot

(More information can be found here: http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?7809-How-to-Install-Google-Market-amp-Apps-on-CM7-Alpha-TouchPad)

 

16. There are various other ‘key’ apps that may or may not work, and here is a workaround for Maps, Facebook and Twitter

Mount your USB on the TouchPad (slide up the notification bar. touch “USB Connected” and then “Turn on USB Storage”). Copy the following ZIPs into the ‘Downloads’ folder.

• Facebook APK:
• 1.5.2 – http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1018816
• 1.6.4 – http://www.apktop.com/facebook-for-android-1-6-4-themed.html
• 1.7.2 – http://www.filesonic.com/file/2349366644 (this one will FC unless you use FakeGPS or something similar)

• Twitter APK: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1270284

• MAPS APK: http://alchemistar.blogspot.com/2010/12/google-maps-v50-now-in-3d.html

• Lots of useful apps together in one place: http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?7828-Missing-Market-Apps-Installer (courtesy of SonofSkywalker3 on IRC)

Unmount the USB and then use File Manager on the TP to browse to the Downloads folder and install each of the APK’s.

 

Another Market Fix – Show ‘hidden’ apps (Like Google Maps) – NOTE: Not needed for Alpha 2

This one is a ‘recovery’ fix (see item 15 for example of how to install)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27861013/update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-marketfix-Flemmard.zip

 

 

Pairing the HP BlueTooth Keyboard

 

Wallpapers look a bit pants?

 

 

Getting write access to /system (for things like AdFree, Chainfire 3D Pro and ES Explorer to work) – Thanks to <exiles> on IRC for that one.

Note: This can be dangerous – Not for the faint of heart… and will be fixed in the next release. This is issue 113 – Please check for updates here: http://code.google.com/p/cmtouchpad/issues/detail?id=113

Open a Terminal Emulator and, and type the following commands (the ‘su’ command will prompt for superuser privileges – select ‘yes’):-

su
busybox mount -o rw,remount /system
cd /system/xbin
ln -s busybox mount
mount -o ro,remount /system
exit
exit

 

I’m stuck and need more help!

The first thing to do is check the ‘issues’ list here:- http://code.google.com/p/cmtouchpad/issues/

Or you can visit http://webchat.freenode.net/ and chat to the guys in the #cyanogenmod-touchpad channel

 

Some of the common FAQ’s

Q: How can I install ClockworkMod after installing CyanogenMod?
A: Repeat the install process as you installed CyanogenMod, but this time simply put the ClockworkMod zip file in the cminstall folder in the “media partition”. Now repeat the process of running the ACME Installer, and ClockworkMod will be installed. A new option will appear in moboot for selection to boot ClockworkMod.
Q: How can I install moboot after installing CyanogenMod?
A: Repeat the install process as you installed CyanogenMod, but this time simply put the moboot zip file in the cminstall folder in the “media partition”. Now repeat the process of running the ACME Installer, and moboot will be installed. A new menu will appear on each boot, to allow you to select the desired boot option using the volume keys, and then the home key to select.
Q: HELP HELP my Touchpad is frozen. It’s been like this for over 20 minutes.
A: Hold down power + home for at least 20 seconds and the Touchpad will reboot.
Q: How do I select in moboot?
A: Select the desired boot option using the volume keys, and then the home key to select.
Q: Selecting “Reboot to WebOS” reboots to android
A: Install moboot per the instructions above.
Q: How do I install Google Apps? (Gapps)
A: Download the latest CM7 Google Apps package from http://goo-inside.me/gapps, and pick “20110828 Universal”. Install this ZIP via either ClockworkMod as you usually would flash a zip, or use the ACMEInstaller, like you were installing either moboot or ClockworkMod
Q: My touchpad shut off and wont turn back on now.
A: HARD REBOOT (POWER+HOME BUTTON) for 20-30 seconds works.

 

Yes, we have all read about the latest global company to get hacked, and once again our online identities are open to use and abuse (well… even more than they were before anyway…)

The question that I have to ask myself is; How can I really protect myself online?

Ask yourself this simple question: Do I use the same/similar passwords for all my accounts?

Now I happen not to, but I am in no way adept at protecting myself. In fact this very blog has been attacked in the past by Spam Bots, and when the Gawker sites got hacked, I quickly found my Facebook and Twitter accounts had been accessed.

How can you prevent the cascading loss of your identities?

Well I now use this set of simple rules:-

• NEVER use the same password across all my accounts. This is the golden rule!
• I (try to) use differing passwords for differing systems, for example;
  • Banking -> I use a different password for ALL online banking accounts and credit cards.
  • Online ‘forums’ that don’t matter -> I use one password for them all
  • Chat Clients (MSN, Skype etc) -> I use one password (but not the same as the ‘forums’ one)
  • eBay -> Unique password
  • PayPal -> Unique Password (but similar to eBay so I don’t forget it)
  • Desktop / Laptop -> Unique passwords for each
• I use numbers instead of vowels and punctuation marks in order to make long/complex passwords.
  • Consider the password “password1″ – that could take Dictionary attack a few seconds to bypass, whereas “p4ssw0rd_h4rd” would probably only be cracked by Brute-force and could take days.
• I Check my password strengths here: http://www.passwordmeter.com/
• I use alternative email addresses (e.g. an unused Hotmail account) for Forum/Tech sites that force you to register.

So now you see what I do, consider these common passwords and ask yourself how many of them (or variants) you use…..

• Wifes name
• Kids name
• Date of Birth (forwards, backwards, wife’s, kid’s etc)
• Favourite pets name
• “Password”
• “12345″
• “Computer”
• “Fred”

Scared? )

This might interested you too – XKCD’s detailed description of how insecure your password could be, even following these rules…

Hello Again Avid Reader,

Going a bit off-track today, but thought I would share with you my recent purchase.

Nope, not the latest in Wireless technology, or a shiny new mobile phone (although I have had this one for nearly a month now!), but an old, slightly worn, ex-military Series III Land Rover.

It’s purchase came about after the missus decided that she wanted rid of the Chrysler Grand Voyager in order to get an Audi Convertible. This of course left a slight issue; How would we get the three Irish Setters that we own down to the river (my car is a Jaguar XK8, so no chance there!)

We decided that a ‘cheap and cheerful’ 4×4 would be the answer, and after asking around, managed to acquire ‘The Sarge’

No to be honest, the test drive was erm, how can I put it, scary! This 1983 ex-military Landy has no power steering, all round drum-brakes, steering that has to be used to be believed, and a gearbox that has about 2 feet of play in it.

Needless to say, I fell in love with it instantly!

After a bit of negotiation, the seller (a nice chap also called Paul) threw in an extra spare wheel so I could utilise both mounts (there is one on the rear door as well as the bonnet)

Its a 1983 Series III (registered at DVLA in 1986), and still has the Infra-red / Convoy light selectors inside, and has dual fuel-tanks that can only be filled by removing the seats (not so much fun on these snowy days, I can tell you!). There is a manual selector on the front of the seat panel between the drivers legs that lets you select which fuel tank you are using. As you change the selector, you see the fuel gauge change to match the tank you have selected.

Of course, when I bought it, it was ‘Farmer Green’, you know, that lacklustre powdery green that they used to come in… In any case, I decided that it had to be changed. So armed with a laptop, I visited that old faithful ‘eBay’

On eBay I found “Military Vehicle Paint – 2.5 lt Satin Finish”, perfect I thought. So with this and a litre of Black Satin, I attacked the project with vim!

After ‘googling’ a bit, I came to the general consensus that a paint roller would work fine. Well, I have to say, that even with my lack of preparation (which was basically giving it to the local hand car wash for a hour), it came out really well. So well in fact, I still haven’t put a 2nd coat on!

The seats were terrible inside, but in exchange for a quick website revamp, Collards Upholstery recovered the seats in Andrew Muirhead leather. As you can see the picture, Russ done a fantastic job of them.

You can see from these other pictures that it still has the Convoy / Stealth light selectors and switch on the dashboard, although the infra-red switch is hard-wired to the normal headlamps now (shame!)

You can also see from the rear view, that it has the waterproof ‘screw on’ lenses, and the overrider bumpers too.

The interior of the rear cabin is in the standard military style, with two bench seats and storage areas for munitions. You’ll note the jerry-can sneaking into the bottom left of the photo. I acquired this from the Army Surplus in Chelmsford (for a bargain £20 including spout + spare seal!)

Things I had to do straight away:-

The indicator Stalk was seriously stiff, and never returned (and with the road noise, you can’t hear the relay clicking!), so that had to be changed (eBay – £14). Next was the fusebox. I would randomly loose indicators, interior light, brake lights. Unfortunately the old Lucas 6JF fuse boxes have aluminium contacts with a steel rivet running through them. The net result is that corrosion makes everything a bit flaky. That said, £8 later (again eBay), I had a brand new one, and it took 5 minutes to fit. Lastly was the passenger side mirror (you need wing mirrors in a LWB Landy!), another visit to eBay and £14 later I had a brand new one!

The rope on the front has hand-woven eyelets (with a stainless steel shackle) and is made from natural fibre rope. I got the chap down at the Chandlers at the bottom of Market Hill in Maldon to make this for me, and to his credit, only charged me a total of £30 which I thought was a bargain as it took him an hour to do!

My next item on the list was some decals. I have the usual ‘It may be slow, but it’s 100% British’ on the back, but then added a ‘Sarge’ decal to the doors. In addition, I added a ‘K9 Unit’ to the back quarter, and ‘Escape Hatch’ to the inside of the rear door.

Current issues that I need to address:-

• Clutch is awful. Sometimes it works, sometimes I have to use all my strength to get it into 1st gear.
• 4×4 Selector is gummed up inside the gearbox, so I can’t use 4×4 at the moment (although this should be fixed tomorrow)
• Passenger door is a bit rotten (anyone have one spare?)
• Roof leaks a little around a (badly fitted) sunroof.
• Needs a drivers-side step (wife is only 5′ tall LOL!)

Also open to any suggestions on how to improve it

Avid Reader,

Some of you who know me, know that I live in an area of England called ‘The Dengie Peninsular’. This is basically an outcrop of land in Essex that lies between the Crouch and Blackwater rivers, and includes the large towns of Maldon and South Woodham Ferrers. At the centre of this Peninsular is a village called Tillingham, purportedly having the lowest rainfall for the whole of the UK!

On this Peninsular is another village called Latchingdon, and this is where a good friend of mine called Vincent Basham lives.

Vince is a self-taught seascape artist, whose sharp eye for detail and ability to capture the motion of the waves clearly shows in his work.

Born in Maldon, Essex, and educated at Thurstable School in Tiptree. he has developed a passion for painting seascapes and sunsets since living in Cornwall during his early twenties. This passion lay dormant until recently when following back surgery, he had to re-think his glazing career of 30 years. He has now taken his art into a full-time occupation, and is continually honing his skills. Recently he has been mentored by another famous professional Essex born landscape artist. Although he has painted purely for pleasure during his glazing career, he was re-inspired following holidays to the Maldives and Cyprus which proved inspirational. He paints mainly in oils, and most of his work features the locations he is familiar with (such as St. Georges in Cyprus, or the Crouch River in Essex)

 

Vincent was recently signed to a Gallery in the west country, and has released a series of his paintings as limited edition lithographic prints of 195 or less.

You can view all of his artwork in his interactive gallery on his website at: http://www.vincentbasham.co.uk