Photos made with Galaxy J5 seems not rotated in IrfanView

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.

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HP LaserJet Pro M426fdn settings and factory reset

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.

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Access website via IPv6 address

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)

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.

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Use custom ringtones in Microsoft Lumia phone

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.

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Media supported by Samsung 50HU6900 4K TV

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.

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

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).

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

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).

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Why Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ35 is a wrong choice?

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.

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ALWAYS check manufacture date of the battery, you purchase!

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.

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Access USB and mobile Internet on LG GT540

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.

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Using tcpdump for capturing data sent by TK102 GPS tracker

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.

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

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

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.

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Fixing graphic problems in Diablo I and Diablo II

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.

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Enabling remote access to Asmax AR1004g router

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.

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General info on Xexun TK102 GPS tracker

This is general post about Xexun TK102 GPS tracker and many of its clones. You’ll find here a bunch of useful information, including some tech specs, list of differences between original tracker and clones and some more.

The localizer and its clones

We’re talking about “Xexun TK102 Tracker” here. The original one, because there are many clones under other companies from China, selling similar hardware, with the same cover and logo, but with:

  • lesser performance (able to report location once per 20-30 seconds, not once per 5 seconds),
  • lesser information (lack of direction/bearing, altitude, number of satellites used for location fix and more),
  • different format of data or non-standard protocols (unable to use UDP protocol, using non-standard data packets).

“Coban” / “Kintech” are just two of many clones sold on eBay etc., claiming to be original “Xexun” trackers.

On the other hand, original “Xexun” and some clones (like “Coban” for example) are harder to control from own script, because they require a correct answer from the server, where data is sent over GPRS. If unit does not receive such reply, it breaks connection. The cheapest unit does not have this checking and will always sent location data to specified IP address over provided port.

Product description

Here is product description of original “Xexun” localizer (and here is a clone under “Kintech” name).

Possible buyer must be very careful (and should secure return policy, for which buying directly in China is not recommended) as there are many reports about sellers claiming to sell original “Xexun” device and sending a clone actually.

Though this device is five years old, it is still sold at many places (including eBay), but even at theses sources it is very hard to get anything worth for developers, except some simple, very basic user guide.

I have confirmed information (from two different sources) that there is no official API available for this device. The only option is to Google around, ask other users or use forums (see below).

If you own original “Xexun” localizer, you may try to contact company international departament and ask their technicians to include some changes to device source code and to send you updated firmware, with your changes – wow! That was confirmed by company itself.

Forum

I found a perfect forum for TK102 device, with a lot of questions and answers:

  • here is a general forum on TK102 device (kept alive for 5 years with 174 pages and 2000+ posts!),
  • here you’ll find more specific topic on receiving data from this localizer,
  • this forum is also about TK102 unit, but it is entirely in French.

There are many other devices dissussed and in general, this is the biggest forum in the world, with topics for localizers and similar information.

GPRS Protocol Specs

In general, any TK102 related devices is opening a socket for a direct TCP transmission (original one can be switched to use UDP protocol). Data is being transmitted over port specified by user, in configuration and using GPRS only (requires SIM card with enabled GPRS, there is no way to use WiFi).

Sending frequency, format and amount of data being send, entirely depends on kind of device is being used — it is more extensive and more configurable in original one than in clones.

Correct server response problem

Take into consideration, that many TK102 clones requires a correct response from the server after each data, it send. It breaks connection after sending some welcome garbage UDP packet, as it does not receive response, it waits for.

It is quite hard (quite impossible?) to find any guide to many of these clones, on what kind of responses server should sent. This often leads into situation of developer being unable to establish two-way communication between server and localizer. Many localizers are sold to be used only via SMS communication or throughs paid services that had signed and agreement with producer and received protocol specification that contains valid responses server should generate for particular TK102 clone.

Double check, if this is not source of problem, if you can’t communicate with your localizer from your app.

Summary

This is all the information, I managed to get up until now. I don’t found any API for this tracker so far. I found some technical documentation, but it did not helped me much in the area of programming this device on server-side. If you need more information, look around this blog or make Google your friend.

Configuring NAT, DMZ or Virtual Servers on ASMAX AR1004g

This is a very short brief on how to properly setup NAT functions on ASMAX AR1004g router, i.e. how to route all (or part of) incoming traffic to a specific machine in your local network. In this text, I assume that your router is available under 192.168.1.1 static IP address in your local network and you want to route all traffic using FTP protocol to your video-player, available under 192.168.1.3 and all traffic using HTTP to another computer, that is accessible under 192.168.1.4 static IP address in your local network. Adjust this assumption to your actual situation. Read More “Configuring NAT, DMZ or Virtual Servers on ASMAX AR1004g”