Monday, December 22, 2014

Στο πρόσφατο τραγελαφικο-θλιβερό περιστατικό απόπειρας δωροδοκίας του Π. Χαϊκάλη, από τον Αποστολόπουλο, ο εισαγγελέας λέει ότι δεν μπορεί εκείνος που ετοιμαζόταν να τελέσει κακούργημα (ο αποστολόπουλος) να κατέγραφε τον Χαϊκάλη.
Είτε ο εισαγγελέας είναι αφελής, είτε μικρόνους, διότι ο Αποστολόπουλος, θα μπορούσε κάλλιστα να δωροδοκίσει τον Χαϊκάλη, και να τον καταγράφει, έτσι ώστε να μπορεί να τον κρατάει από τα αρχίδια και να τον εκβιάζει, σε αποφάσεις που θα ήθελε ο Αποστολόπουλος να πάρει ο Χαϊκάλης στο μέλλον χωρίς να του δώσει φράγκο ποτέ ξανά...

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Annoying problem with Samsung printer Xpress M2675FN

We have a Samsung Xpress M2675FN at work, which is a nifty little all in one laser printer.
We have been using it for about 9 months now and it has been a work horse.
Lately its red light started blinking asking to get ready for a new imaging unit. I got the new unit early on, since I didn't want to run out of printer, but I thought I wouldn't install it until the counting chip of the old imaging unit (indicating there were about 1000 prints left) run out of counts.

Last few days now the printer has been making a highly annoying, low volume, high pitch tone in par with the blinking light, when the printer enters sleep mode.
The sound isn't produced when the printer is expecting to print something.
My workstation is next to the printer and the sound is driving me mad.
If only Samsung designed better electronics....

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Life working overtime and having a family means that I find myself with a limited budget. Hence when I want to make a project, I often turn to Ebay and other online marketplaces to source parts and equipment on the cheap.
The problem with that approach is that the tiniest part may take up to 30 days to arrive and multiple parts for a project that the need arises in series rather than parallel mean, multiple months of waiting. Couple that with the limited spare time I have and I have a bunch of projects in mind, but have cooled off and I do not think I will ever realise them. Crap!

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Disappointment on android HDMI sticks / dognles UPDATED (Intel HDMI stick)

I have owned 3 different android hdmi sticks.
If you are not familiar with them, its a small form computer that connects on monitors and can turn the monitor to a PC. Great for work on the go, or for transforming an dumb TV into a smart one.

So initially I got one to watch films on my TV with subtitles, and perhaps do other stuff as well, internet browsing, and android games.
It worked great for the first 5-6 months, until it didn't. At some point it refused to boot. It was eternally frozen to the boot logo screen. I send it back and requested a replacement. The replacement worked also like a charm for a few months, until it also froze on the boot logo.

I never tried to hack any of these two. Did not install 3d party roms, or bootloaders. Only a few applications.

I considered it for a bit and the bit the bullet again and bought a 3d stick. this one was problematic from the first moment, horizontal lines would randomly appear on the screen, and the screen would turn on and off as if the video signal from the stick was interrupted and the screen was "forced" to find the signal again as if it was unplugged from the hdmi port. Thus making it unusable.

Two more I persuaded the guys at work to buy to use with some older TVs, one works ok as far as I know and the other one makes the video stutter and don't show it smoothly.

Over all I have been using them for about a year, and was really nice to have. However I cannot recommend them to anyone after my above experiences.

Also the fact that their userbase is rather small, few people deal with their problems, and mod them which is a real shame.


UPDATE 27/4/15:

Well, I recently figured out how to reinstall the firmware on my non working android stick. I also figured out that the new sticks that didn't work on my TV, oh well, it was most probably a TV problem, rather than an Android stick problem. I am in the works or repairing my TV, (changing some bad capacitors) and will test it again.

So well, after reinstalling a firmware I found floating online, the android stick came back to life. Its quite sad that these sticks, suffer so often getting stuck in the boot screen. I don't know what may contribute to that, but they should come with directions to revive them, and some online address with the original firmware.

Also, I recently read an article on gismodo, I think, about the Intel HDMI stick. The guy there was really disappointed.
Some thoughts.
1. 150$ for that is extremely expensive.
2. Of course it doesnt have a keyboard and a USB hub. what do you think it is? Aladdin's magic lamp? Get a cheap wireless keyboard/mouse and a usb hub from dealextreme or elsewhere and be done with it.
3. Of course it isn't powerful. Personally I don't have Netflix, but I can watch my movies nicely on my android sticks. Even 1080p depending on the TV.
4. You shouldn't expect to replace your laptop or desktop with this stick.
5. It is nice that it can run windows.
6. Atom processors are crap if you ask me.

UPDATE 2:

To upgrade the firmware, I used information that I found on android warehouse.
I downloaded a rom for my own particular CPU model, in my case, a RK3188 for the Ditter V16, followed the instructions with the RockChip Batch tools and managed to restore functionality.

Rockchip devices

To put the firmware via PC on your device is the Rockchip Batch Tool needed. To use this tool, you first need the necessary drivers. When you install any drivers, your PC will not recognize the device. Below are the download links for the drivers and the tool.

Download the file with the drivers.
Put the file in a recognizable folder and unpack it, so you can easily find. It back later
If you follow the steps to flash your android stick / androidbox follows, give your PC that a device is trying to connect.  Go to Control Panel> Hardware and Sound> Devices and Printers.
Between the devices, refer to "Unknown" unknown device or Rockusb Device mode, click it.
In the menu you can 'install drivers'
Now find the appropriate driver in the folder where you have installed the drivers.
When you have selected the correct driver the Rockchip
Batch tool will the next time you open it to recognize the device, and you can follow the steps appropriate for your device.

Rockchip Batch Tool.
This tool is used to in

stall (flash) on your Android Stick / Box containing a Rockchip SoC as the RK3188 RK3066 SoC and SoC firmware.

1. Install Rockchip Batch Tool
2. Open it and locate the firmware in the folder where you stored it.
3. Connect your device, in this case the Minix Neo X7 connected, when successful, a green light button, now click on the Restore button
4. When the update is successful, it will say, restore done succesful.
5. Allow your device now about 5 minutes connected, so that the update can be. Performed correctly Now you are ready


Connect of MK908 (II):

The MK908 (II) has a reset (recovery) button, hold it (with a paperclip) button before closing the drive to your PC. Hold down the button.
Connect the MK908 (II) to your PC using a USB to Micro USB cable. The Micro USB OTG port is in the drive
Release the button only when the number 1 to Connected Devices green.
After the number one green has become, you can have the reset button.
The reset button on the MK908 is at the back. There are two small holes to see which one is the LED hole. If you turn the key to see which hole the LED is and what the reset. Use a paper clip to press the reset button.