Vaio PCG-C1VG and RedHat 9.0 and Wireless = another late, sleepless night! :)

Ah..rekindled my passion for Linux tonight with tinkling around with an old vaio running RedHat 9.0. I had a PCMCIA wireless card from yonks back (Accton) and was hoping that it was Linux compatible (search through the Linux compatible list but didn't find it as an entry). So on a wing and a prayer, I did a tail -f /var/log/messages, shoved in the Accton wireless and to my immense joy, it displayed the magical words, cardmgr:....."executing: 'modprobe orinoco_cs' followed by a successful ./network start eth0'! Happy camper!

Just had to define the DNS (which was the IP of my ADSL/router) for the Mozilla Browser and internet access was enabled!

Also downloaded a wireless plugin for gkrellm, a nice graphical program that monitors CPU/Batt/HD/Wireless Connection and much more...nice!

Other things I'll be playing on Linux will be NetStumbler and Airsnort..Wireless programs..should be fun!

o2 xda mini - The Fongster's Today Screen!

Here's a screenshot of what my mini's Today screen looks like. There are a couple of Today plugins that I'll like to add but that'll clutter up too much..it's just right at the moment!

Bluetooth headset connection problems with mini

Hmmm... am experiencing a very peculiar problem with my HBH660 and here's the problem scenario.

I use my BT headset with the o2 xda mini.

The HBH660 BT headset pairs and connects with no problems. I was able to talk for up to 8 mins and right after the 8 mins (sometimes 15-30secs after 8 mins), the other party cannot hear me anymore whereas I can hear them! The result is that I had to hang up the call and recall.

Funny thing is that this exact same problem was experienced by fellow mini user CY with a HBH602.

I have experienced this before when using my previous HBH65 on a Sony Ericsson P800.

Didn't have much luck in finding a solutions via Google..so posted to a very helpful Australia PDA forum..http://www.mtekk.com.au

Within a day, "dropbear" provided me with a possible solution which I'll be trying out, ie,

the solution is to go to:

Settings>System tab>Power>Advanced

Where is says
On battery power:
Turn off device if not used for X minutes

Uncheck the box.

A big word of thanks to dropbear (if you ever do visit my blog! :) for the above!

HBH660 - review (Battery Life) #1

Been roading testing the Battery Life of the HBH660 Bluetooth headset. Started fully charged on 11/4 (14:53) and battery drained on 14/4 (14:00)...so a good 3 days or 72 hours with moderate usage. I also must have drained the battery a little 'cause I was trying it out as an audio gateway from my vaio..works!

One thing I found peculiar about the CallerID function..the mini's Bluetooth setting must be permanently on (ie, you must have the headphone icon on) for the CallerID to display the contact name. If not, you'll get the phone number instead!

Forgot to mention in the earlier post that the CallerID screen displays a max of 7 chars..but if your number or contact names more than that..it scrolls.

The battery status display is useful..let's you know when to charge (down to 1 bar). Unfortunately, the battery status bar for most of the 3 days registered 3/4 full..but on the last day jumped straight to 1 bar left instead of registering 1/2..bit misleading! Will continue monitoring to see if this is a normal thing.

The charge time was exactly what the manual said...1.5 hrs on the dot!

Will do another roadtest of the battery life from today for consistency..let's see if I can stretch more than 3 days! :) Stay tuned..

z330 DivX player review

Bought this little bewdy from www.celetech.com.au....best DivX player for under $150! Plays anything under the sun..(well almost if you disclude .wmv, .wma files!). Just check out the specs below!

After owning 2 other DVD only players..this one passes with flying colors, price, features and performance wise!

Based on the next generation MPEG4 Chipset - MTK 1389. The MTK 1389 supports raw MPEG1/MPEG2/MPEG-4 AVI, Xvid, VBR MP3, WMA, JPEG, PhotoCD and HDCD. Burn your favorite PC format files into CD-R and watch it on big screen TV!
- Supports DVD, VCD and SVCD playback.
- Offers the best MPEG4 playback quality and compatibility, supports high level MPEG4 features like Qpel (Quarter pixel), GMC (Global Motion Compensation) and advance noise reduction. 100% hardware based MPEG4 decoder, can fast forward/rewind MPEG4 video up to 32X speed. 100% compatible with old DivX 3.11 version codec.
- Six built-in 12-bit, 108Mhz video DACs. Offers video quality which is only available in high end DVD players.
- New MDDI (Media Direct De-Interlacing) Progressive scan technology.
- Supports all recordable media formats ? CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW. Put multiple movie files in one single DVD-R and play them all!
- Region Code Free. Supports manual region code switch ? no problems playing RCE (Region Code Enhanced) DVDs! Supports DVD Aspect Ratio 4:3 Pan Scan, 4:3 Letter Box, and 16:9 Wide Screen.
- Parental lock, Multi Language (Sound Track), Multi Subtitle and Multi Angle for DVD playback. Plays Pal 16:9 Anamorphic DVD on an NTSC TV without the "squeeze effect".
- Supports Firmware upgrade. New firmware will be released by Zensonic and will support future new codecs.
- PAL and NTSC S-Video, Component Video (YPbPr), VGA and Composite output. Play PAL movies on NTSC TV or Play NTSC movies on PAL TV.
- Optical, Coaxial S/PDIF and RCA output. Supports Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS digital output, or 2 Channels analog stereo output. Built-in Dolby Surround Sound decoder.
- Supports Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS ditigal output, or 2-channel analog stereo output.
- Ultra slim and stylish design. Weight: 1.8kg. Dimensions: 430x250x37mm.

HBH660 - review (CallerID feature)

Finally got my hands on the HBH660 after a weekend of wait! :) First impressions, exactly the same size as my previous BT, HBH65. The HBH660 spots a nice grey and silver color combination..very stylish and professional looking, unlike the cheaper, overly shiny plastic BTs out there (ie, the Hello2 BT I returned looked really "cheap" compared to the 660).

Big plus is the On Display...finally no ugly flashing leds but a stylish looking little screen that comes on pale green! Very readible..also takes the guessing out of Volume up/down, Bluetooth in connect or disconnect mode.

Ok...here's the best part..callerid display! Keep your mobile in your pocket, case or handbag..'cause you can see who's calling from the headset! :)

Interesting thing about the Callerid feature...when I received my first phone call from a colleauge ( only displayed the numeric mobile number but not the contact name). But to my surprise, the 2nd call I got today displayed, the full name of the person instead of the number! :) That certainly start me tinkling and finding out why.

The reason why everyone complained about why they can't get the contact name appearing is simple...your contact first name field cannot be null or empty. Here's a catch..usually, when you transfer phone numbers from your SIM card to your phone or pda, the exported information get stored in the "Last Name" field. For eg, "James Fong" gets stored into the Last Name field and First Name field is empty. As long as First Name field is not populated, the BT will default to showing only the numeric number and ignore what's in the Last Name field. I proved this theory by playing around with First and Last Name fields..

I'm currently roadtesting the 660's battery life...charged it yesterday and after a normal day's usage, Battery status (displays on screen obviously!) still shows a healthy 3/4 full. Let's see how far we get on the claimed 150hrs stby and/or 5 hours talk time! :) Stay tuned...

It fits both right or left ear users...hook rotates nicely..and so does the callerid display..nice ergnomics there..:)

More Sony Vaio uPCs..

Just discovered this picture in my gadget photo archives taken by "Dude" Hong...shows my previous Vaios (still have the one of the left) side by side (with a standard keyboard as a size comparison which highlights how small these uPCs are!).

Still remember Hong and I purchasing these uPCs....the left one's the first..PCG-C1VG (TM5600, 15G HDD, 128MB RAM , running WinME..shock horrors!) and the left, PCG-U1 (TM5800, 20HDD, 256MB RAM, WinXP Home). Although not crash hot...but certainly eye catching and truly portable! We ended up getting a 48CD carry case, some double sided velcro and fashioned a protective case for 'em! :)

Dude sold both vaios..whereas I sold the U1...still have the C1 (left one)..put XP..slow as a tortoise but now running Linux..acceptable! :)

HBH660...coming soon!

Argh, was going to get my new Sony Ericsson HBH660 bluetooth headset after work ...even told the mobile dealer to charge it up for me so by the time I go collect it, it's ready for action. But...stayed back late at work till after 6pm and mobile shop's closed..so I'll only get my hands on it this monday. Sigh! Was planning to use it over the weekend to roadtest as my project is implementing this weekend and there's a good amount of yakking on the phone to co-ordinate things..so I could really roadtest the HBH660..can't do that now! Such is life!

After the HBH660 headset, I really have to stop buying gadgets for a while..I think I already qualify as a gadgetholic!

o2 xda mini - silicon casing review in 60 seconds

Ok..had some friend asking how I found the o2 xda mini silicon case so thought I'll write a quick review. When it first arrives, it slips onto the mini purrrfectly..no gaps..but as you noticed from the picture..after a couple of yanks (I took it of and put it back on a couple of times), the silicon casing tends to warp a little and you get a little gap around the screen..not too big a deal though! :)

The arrow control buttons are still operable..although with the casing you may sometimes (not often..but does happen..:) press 2 buttons at once!

The stylus is a little hard to remove (but not annoying). The feel of silicon casing ..well..some say it feels silky..some say it feels like latex..but I like it as it improves the overall grip of the mini (the brush aluminium tends to get a little slippery esp if your hands are sweaty!). For eg, when you're on the train/tram and unknowingly put the mini onto your the top of your bag or on the seat..with the silicon casing on, the probability of it slipping off and crashing onto the floor is severely reduced.

Another thing to note..with the silicon casing on the mini, the combination will not fit into the black leather case anymore. Of course, you can hang the mini round your neck and look like an absolute dickhead ...not! (yep, the silicon casing comes with a lanyard to hang around your neck)

The casing does attract fluff (easily removed) and because of it's gripping qualities..taking it out of your pocket can be challenging! :)

So buy or no buy? Well, I'm still using it after a month! I'm pretty clumsy and prone to dropping stuff..so with the casing, grip's improved a heck of a lot.

Best place to buy? Recommend you shop around eBay ($15, no postage) 'cause the shops are cashing in by selling 'em at $35-40 a pop. Comes in funky colors as well..but I like mine plain boring white..:) That's enough blog posting for tonight (7/4, 0040hrs) Seeyah!

Sharp Zauras SL5500 - my other long lost gadget!

Argh...forgot my beloved toy from some years back..the Sharp Zauras SL5500..my first Linux PDA. (bought it off www.everythinglinux.com.au)

Absolutely adored it..slide out keyboard..SD slot..CF slot and runs Embedix. Just dug it out from the deep dark recesses of my "disinterest" gadgets drawer just now and took this picture!

I bought a SocketCF card giving ethernet connectivity(back then, WiFi CF cards cost an arm and a leg! :) Also bought a CF 56K modem..had loads of fun with both. I flashed it to OpenZauras and at one stage had it running as a mini Tomcat server and used it to do security pen test/ scanning on several web servers for a project I was involved in.

I recalled how I hooked it up to the office network and assigned an unused static ip to it. One day, I heard a Comms person mumbling why a obviously unassigned static ip address was suddenly unavailable..and upon doing a network scan, discovered it was assigned to a "Linux Server" running some weird Linux O/S. Needless to say, I quietly unplugged from network...never to be heard from again..:) Ah, the joys of this little toy..sigh!

Well, this is also up for sale..if anyone's interested in picking this up for a bargain too..let me know ! :)

V-Stream USB2.0 DVB-T Review in 60 seconds..

Here's the V-Stream DVBT I bought from J-Car Radio yesterday. I now have HDTV on my U71p..great quality..only complaint is that good quality movie capture files are large in size..roughly 2 mins of high quality capture is 100MB..you work out the sums! :) But then...quality's unfaultable! :) Obviously you can shrink via a video editing software (comes with it).

Device only has one input..(TV) aerial. But if you're only after a good quality DVR for your PC..this will fit the bill. :) Also note the constraint..USB2.0 is mandatory!

Another good feature is you're able to schedule programs via the scheduling agent..hit the Power On Scheduling button and hey presto, devices goes hibernate, which in turn hibernates your PC. Device will automatically wake up as per scheduled recording time, wakes up PC ans starts recording..and shuts PC and itself off after recording completes. Nice...tried the feature and it works..:)

Oh..also comes with a cute but bare bones remote control! :)

WReX

Here's my most prized toy to rule 'em all! Thanks to "Dude" Hong for the marvellous photography some years back! :)

My 1999 Version 5 WRX bought brand spanking new..0-100km/h in 5.7secs, 0-400m in 14.24 seconds, 160kw of unadulterated power, 290Nm of neck snapping torque.

Only modifications performed are: Remus Exhaust System and a Turbo Boost Meter. Also installed Pioneer Head Unit, Kenwood Amplifier powering JBL rear speakers. Unfortunately, my old Boom Box from the previous ride (spotting 2x 10" thumping subwoofers) wasn't functional..else the Rex will be Chapel Street cruising ready...:)

Some modifications I was contemplating during my riceboy days were

ChipTorque chip replacement (possibly boost up from 13 to 16-17.5 psi..drool..:)
Blow off valve (BOV) for that annoying but addictive phissshhhhhh sound!
Turbo Boost Controller
17" alloys
lowering by 2inch (king springs)

...and luckily, CLo came along and saved me from wasting any $$$ at all..heheh!

For Sale! More long lost Sony Gadgets I discovered in my drawer just now! :)

Ah...one thing great about this blog is that it jogs my memory on where I misplaced all my past gadgets? Here's another 2 "forgotten" members of my Sony family?? Took these pictures just now..

Here's the sexy Sony Cybershot 1.3MP camera..and the Sony P800 (Symbian 7 o/s), my first PDA phone that has given me so my pleasure and pain (more so than the xda mini!)...never really forgave Sony Ericsson for making us P800 users the beta testers for P9xx series!

By the way, there're both for sale! If you know anyone who's interested in picking up either or both for bargain prices, let me know! :)

If you're around Hawthorn, go try RedBean Hawthorn..
Great Malaysia food..and it's directly opposite Swinburne University
Address is 430 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn
Tel: 9815 2488

Here's a totally far out place to mount your vaio U71p..on a cockpit of an airplane! Hmmm.wouldn't mind the airplane for xmas besides the Aibo and the BT keyboard...:))

What I really want for xmas this year's the Aibo and the Stowaway BT keyboard to keep the Vaio U71p happy! 

Ok..here's the complete Sony family (except the o2)..3 generations of Vaios and the sad news..I still have all of 'em!  

Yep, this is true..NAB colleague of mine with 6 monitors..talk about screen radiation..:) 

The Lucky 8....

Once in a lifetime photo with John Stuart, CEO NAB.

Bruce Blackman (fellow Infrastructure Project Manager..to my left) and I were lucky enough to receive our PM diplomas from the big man himself..my 10 years at NAB..first time I get to shake the hand of the CEO.

Here are my 4 favourite gadgets currently..o2 xda mini, Sony Vaio U71 uPC, Sony DSC-T1 and the Sony Ericsson BT headset HBH65 (just ordered a HBH660..will post a review on it shortly! :) 

Hey there, am using Hello from picasa to start posting pics on my blog! For starters, here I am..:) 

o2 xda mini - Things that causes a ppc to hang #1

#1 - mini's on..I eject SD card to use an external card reader to transfer . When I pop it back in and tried launching Beta player it hangs and requires a soft reset.

Possible rectification/preventation - switch mini off..eject. Before re-inserting, switch mini off again.

o2 xda mini - can't delete file off SD card

Just a little quirk I noticed. I copied a aaa.avi file onto SD card. Used Betaplayer to play it. When I tried to delete aaa.avi from SD card, kept complaining that another program was holding it and therefore cannot be deleted. This is impossible because I actually took SD card out of the mini and used a external USB card read to delete/copy!

Had a look at Properties of the aaa.avi file. Found that it was set to "Archive"..unchecked...now able to delete!

Most probably Betaplayer's the culprit..will confirm! :)