The very introduction to Raspberry Pi

adminFlightradar24, hardware, Linux, Raspberry Pi0 Comment
7 min. reading

After a nearly five years of struggling with hardware and software for feeding data to Flightradar24, I have finally decided to give it a try with Raspberry Pi. On contrary to what some of you may think, this is not a guide on how to achieve it. The original text is very good and quite self-explanatory. No need to copy it here.

In addition to feeding data to Flightradar 24 there are hundreds of ideas how can you use your Raspberry Pi. With this article I wanted to show you (and remind to myself) just of a few IMHO most interesting ones.

If you’re just unpacking your first Raspberry Pi then better read these two articles:

before even continuing with this article.

Read More “The very introduction to Raspberry Pi”

Finding TP-Link router in your local network

adminhardware0 Comment
< 1 min. reading

Most TP-Link routers is accessible using admin/admin credentials under one of these URLs:

Of course, you must try to access these URLs from the computer or mobile that is connected (via cable or Wi-Fi) to the same local network, your TP-Link router is connected to.

If above fails and you don’t know current router’s IP address, you may try accessing:

URLs from the same local network, your TP-Link router is connected to.

Most TP-Link routers registers a virtual URL (like above) and you can access their control panel even without knowing their actual IP address.

Photos made with Galaxy J5 seems not rotated in IrfanView

adminhardware0 Comment
2 min. reading

There’s a known (yet very strange) bug in IrfanView, which causes photos made with Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) to stay in original rotation. Since this occurs only:

  • in IrfanView (images are actually rotated and appears correctly in all other media browsers) and
  • only for photos made by Samsung Galaxy J5 (images made by other phones are unaffected)

this issue may simply be ignored by most of the users. However, I decided to write it here, as this seems to be an interesting (yet weird) IT issue.

Read More “Photos made with Galaxy J5 seems not rotated in IrfanView”

HP LaserJet Pro M426fdn settings and factory reset

adminhardware11 Comments
3 min. reading

When running my HP LaserJet Pro M426fdn for the first time I didn’t removed touchscreen foil and my finger slipped over when selecting location of my printer. I ended up with having proper language but location set to Estonia and some reports (like Google Cloud Print configuration leaflet) printed in cyrylic.

Unfortunately, due to extreme stupidity of HP engineers you can only change language of your printer using standard configuration menu. But, in order to change location of the printer you have to perform a full factory reset of your hardware.

And here my problems started, because none of the solution I found seemed working on my printer.

Read More “HP LaserJet Pro M426fdn settings and factory reset”

Access website via IPv6 address

adminhardware2 Comments
< 1 min. reading

There are several ways, how one can access a website. Using domain name (i.e. http//www.example.com/) is one of most popular. We can also use IPv4 address (i.e. http://216.58.194.174/). In certain situations URL can be “enhanced” with port number, login and password etc.

A bit less known option is to access an URL using IPv6 address. You only need to enclose it inside square brackets i.e.:

http://[49d7::2e27:fe80:fe0d:d8ff]/webservices.html

Edit: Thanks to Foo Bar for correcting an obvious, yet fundamental mistake to this article.

Second life of burned-down DVDs (or CDs)

adminhardware, Microsoft0 Comment
9 min. reading

Default, system DVD burning program in Windows 7 is widely known for being very unstable and having burned-down (wasted, destroyed) DVDs ratio even as high as 20-30% (meaning, that you successfully burn only seven DVDs out of ten). If using more stable, dedicated software is not an option (for various reasons), you have to survive hell of using default burner. However, the fact, that DVD is burned-down doesn’t necessary mean, that you should recycle that DVD. In many case you can re-used in future.

This article started as a simple guide, on how you can re-use disk, that were damaged by native Windows burning software. But, since I was burning about 30 DVD DL files, when writing this text, I also included some tips and extra general information on burning disks and using UDF-formatted DVDs. So, this post may become useful even to those, who does not have any problems with disk burnout process under Windows.

Read More “Second life of burned-down DVDs (or CDs)”

Use custom ringtones in Microsoft Lumia phone

adminhardware, Microsoft0 Comment
2 min. reading

I’ve been struggling for hours to force my Microsoft Lumia 535 to display (and allow me to select) any .mp3 file as custom ringtone. Finally, this WindowsPhone.se answer solved my problems. However, there were some side notes and differences with my Lumia 535, that are not mentioned in this article, so I decided to write following post to further extend it.

Read More “Use custom ringtones in Microsoft Lumia phone”

Media supported by Samsung 50HU6900 4K TV

adminhardware, media0 Comment
4 min. reading

Three months ago I have purchased my first 4K / UHD TV — Samsung 50HU6900 — and after some time I tried to used the built-in media player to play some of my files. At the very end it turned out that — as in all Samsung devices — this is a piece of crap, full of some strange limitations. Finally, I have reverted back to my old, good standalone FHD player and I’m using Samsung one only for UHD / 4K files.

But, for all of you, that aren’t so reluctant, here is a list of media supported by this TV (and probably many more Samsung TVs) and all the limitations, you need to fulfill in order to have your media played.

Read More “Media supported by Samsung 50HU6900 4K TV”

Feeding data to Flightradar24 using DVB-T stick. Part 2. Software

adminFlightradar24, hardware0 Comment
14 min. reading

You want to feed data to Flightradar24 using DVB-T stick and you have already received your hardware. Great. Now, it is time to talk about software, installation and configuration. Note, that (contrary to FR24) I’m providing information about Windows Vista and later editions of Windows. If you’re an old dinosaur, still using Windows XP or you need info for Linux, Unix or Mac systems, consult “Add Coverage” pages at Flightradar24.

IMPORTANT! Read this article BEFORE you even plug your DVB-T stick to spare USB port. If you do this, you’ll waste some additional time on uninstalling Windows drivers, which are completely useless in this scenario (since we want to receive flight data, not the actual TV signal, right).

Read More “Feeding data to Flightradar24 using DVB-T stick. Part 2. Software”

Feeding data to Flightradar24 using DVB-T stick. Part 1. Hardware

adminFlightradar24, hardware0 Comment
10 min. reading

So… you want to have a Flightradar24 Premium account for free or you want to make the world better and you decided to start feeding data to this service, right? Well, great! But, information provided by FR4 about installation, configuration and feeding process itself have a lot of crappy and irrelevant parts. So, I decided to write my own mini-serie of articles on how to start, what to purchase and what to look for. So you can avoid all the pitfalls I felt into.

IMPORTANT! Read the next article, about software BEFORE you even plug your DVB-T stick to USB port. If you do this, you’ll waste some additional time on uninstalling Windows drivers, which are completely useless in this scenario (since we want to receive flight data, not the actual TV signal, right).

Read More “Feeding data to Flightradar24 using DVB-T stick. Part 1. Hardware”

Why Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ35 is a wrong choice?

adminhardware0 Comment
2 min. reading

When I decided to purchase a new digital camera, I nearly immediately felt in love with Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ35. Mainly because its 20x optical zoom in a piece of hardware available for a reasonable price. I have purchased it and… nearly immediately returned it to the shop. I found some glitches. Not many, but serious enough to make shooting a photos with this device nearly pointless.

Read More “Why Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ35 is a wrong choice?”

ALWAYS check manufacture date of the battery, you purchase!

adminAndroid, hardware0 Comment
3 min. reading

I have put my own and Izzy‘s answer on Android Stack Exchange to formulate this check-list or rather list of importance for things that you should consider when purchasing a new battery.

tl;dr: Li-Ion batteries stored in store or warehouse without cyclic re-charging (which most likely never happens in these scenarios) are completely dead after 20 months at most. Thus, you should never, ever purchase any kind of battery that is two years old or more. No matter what seller says.

Read More “ALWAYS check manufacture date of the battery, you purchase!”

Access USB and mobile Internet on LG GT540

adminhardware0 Comment
3 min. reading

For my mobile application’s testing purposes, I’ve purchased an old, creepy LG GT540 with Android 3.2.1 CyanogenMod 7. I’ve got a lot of troubles with USB and mobile Internet on this phone (first time happened to me, all other mobile devices with Android on board had USB and Internet ready out-of-the-box). So I wanted to share some things and solutions for others.

Read More “Access USB and mobile Internet on LG GT540”

Using tcpdump for capturing data sent by TK102 GPS tracker

adminhardware0 Comment
10 min. reading

Xexun TK102 GPS Tracker and most of its clones can send localization data either via SMS messages (some models offers just a pure data, that you have to analyze yourself, some sends it out along with Google Maps link) or via GPRS protocol, directly to specified server. Which then can analyze and visualize that data. SMS sending works just great in most cases, while getting GPS data via GPRS can be a real pain in the ass. This post is written with hope to help you a little bit, if you’re facing the same problem.

Read More “Using tcpdump for capturing data sent by TK102 GPS tracker”

TK102 connector / plug / cable type (and schematic diagram)

adminhardware0 Comment
< 1 min. reading

The Xexun TK102 GPS Tracker and most of its clones is using something, what English Wikipedia calls UC-E6 proprietary (non-USB) plug. So, this is neither microUSB nor miniUSB as I was assuming in the first place.

Here you’ll find some links to information about this plug and some simple schematic diagram for tracker.

Here is mentioned schematic diagram:

TK102-connector-plug

If you’d like to purchase a cable for Xexun TK102 GPS Tracker, then eBay should be your friend. If, on contrary you’d like to craft your own cable, then this great article will help you or can be at least a good starting point.

Xexun TK102 GPS tracker master password reset

adminhardware14 Comments
3 min. reading

Many sellers will tell you, that:

  • if you forget your master password (if you change it ever from default 123456, as you should do)
  • you’re deep in an ass
  • the only option for you, is to send tracker to them or to the producer, to reinstall original firmware
  • and that (of course!) you will have to pay for this.

This is lie in most cases and probably it is aimed to fool people paying extra money for reseting tracker.

In most scenarios you can easily reset it yourself. Here is how.

Read More “Xexun TK102 GPS tracker master password reset”

Fixing graphic problems in Diablo I and Diablo II

admingames, hardware0 Comment
5 min. reading

I’m so sucking and low player that actually for past fifteen (!) years I’ve been playing in actually four games: Diablo I, Diablo II, Civilisation and Transport Tycoon. The first two caught my heart so deeply that I even try to run them (Diablo I!) on Windows 7. And… I actually managed to do this.

Since, this involved a lot of googling and asking, here is a summary of my findings.

Read More “Fixing graphic problems in Diablo I and Diablo II”

Enabling remote access to Asmax AR1004g router

adminhardware0 Comment
2 min. reading

To access your Asmax AR1004g router remotely (i.e. from WAN / Internet side, not from your local network), you have to remember about two things. Because I nearly always forget about one of these things (or about both in the same time), I wrote this simple memo-post as a reminder to myself.

In this post you may also learn how stupid are Asmax engineers and designers.

Read More “Enabling remote access to Asmax AR1004g router”