Android 2.2 on Dell Streak

as you'll know from previous posts, I own a Dell Streak mobile phone/tablet. If i'm honest I stopped using it for a while. The touch screen was ultra temperamental, any sort of moisture on the screen, either by body or atmosphere caused it to freak out, on a couple of occasions I was unable to hang up because of a couple of rain drops on the screen.. the only way to end the call was to take the battery out.

I had continued to use it as a satnav device in my car utilising the Rebel Sim adaptor to allow me to use an alternative networks sim card. this all worked really well.

Yesterday I got the black triangle popup to tell me that there was an Android update available.. woooo Android 2.2! So went ahead and tried to install the upgrade. I won't knock Google. I'm always impressed by their presentation and intuitive design (they're contacts system was dog poo not so long ago but it now very much sorted) however I will criticise Dells little input.

When you first try to install the update, it advises you to download another piece of software from Dell to backup all your settings etc. It then says to re-run the update program. Download, backup.. rerun update software, whereupon you're met by the same info.. download this software, back up your settings then re run the update program... I did this a few times getting more and more irritated.. by chance I clicked on the greyed out "back" icon which inexplicably took me to the page allowing me to download the actual Android update... totally random as you're not actually going "back" to anything..

Anyhoo, after a lot of swearing the update finally went through.. Android 2.2 looks great! it works really well and again makes the Dell even better than with 2.1 and that was fantastic compared to 1.6 which now by comparison looked like complete plop.

I'll try and put some screen shots up for you so you can see what its like.

One problem I've noticed and have seen mentioned on a couple of other sites involve the browser, it basically crashes every time you close it... which is better than it crashing when you don't want to close it I guess. I'm sure Google will release a little patch for that issue in time.

Fear not about upgrading to 2.2. It works really well and makes inputting text even easier than before. the off centre landscape keyboard has been sorted although its still not that comfortable typing with your thumbs. typing in portrait mode with one finger is still more comfortable.

Another major alteration is the portrait mode for the home screen. whereas with 2.1 it would always remain in landscape mode no matter how you held the phone, in 2.2 it actually rotates, which works really well.

BBC iPlayer on Nokia E71 download problems

if any of you have had problems finding a download link whilst using BBC iPlayer on your Nokia mobile phone, try connecting to your home wifi then revisiting the BBC iPlayer app.
Looks like O2 stifle the bandwidth enough for the option not to be offered inside the BBC app.
Oh and you need to remain connected to the same cell site to get the authentication code before playing your download for the first time, so do so before a train journey etc. I'm guessing as you move between cell sites your phone is assigned a new 'ip' address, making identification to bbc impossible?... Just a theory.
Sent from my Nokia phone

REBEL SIM... update

I've been using this for the last week... so far so good! the handset works just as it did with the O2 sim in it. the only difference I've noticed is it just doesn't tell you what network you're actually on. I'm guessing that has more to do with the fact I'm on a Virgin sim, who I'm fairly sure uses T-Mobiles masts.. which might have just confused the fudge out of the rebel sim device.

In summary, if you want to put a different operators sim in your Dell Streak.. use a Rebel Sim!

REBEL SIM RULES!!!.. screw you O2

Today I received my Rebel Sim gadget, I've mentioned it previously on here as a way of getting around O2's obnoxious little "the Streak can't be unlocked because its a network specific blah blah blah". I bought it in hope more than anything.. how can a little thing like that get around a simlocked phone.. how?... well it does!

It was very easy to set up, you get an SD card case with your Rebel Sim adaptor inside, as you can see from the picture above its shaped like your sim card, all you need to do is, using a hole punch, cut a hole in the tapered end of your sim card so that the chip can sit inside it (image on the left shows the chip) then, place the rebel sim against your operator sim card and insert into your Dell Streak (rebel sims are available for other handsets). I used a little bit of cellotape to keep the rebel sim and operator sim together (also makes slotting into the phone easier). Switch the phone back and on and whizz bang.. your phone is unlocked and works perfectly on any network.. so screw you O2. I got a sim only deal from Virgin which offers 1gb of data not the poxy 500 offered by O2.

If you fancy a Dell Streak but don't want to be tied to O2.. like me.. you can! for £15 from Rebel Sim

O2 are a bunch of tossers

Well after being told that O2 were sending out an unlock code, I received a letter a week later basically saying "you can't have an unlock code because this phone is special to our network and we want you to have the best service"... which really impressed me.

I've since found a really cool website called http://rebelsimcard.com/virtu/ which deals in unlocking phones without risking invalidating warranties etc.. I've ordered one for my Dell Streak and will let you know how it turns out.

A possible work around...

If that last post upset you as much to read as it did me to write.. then I'm sure you'll have gone off and made yourself a cup of tea.. or possible sobbed a little. Whilst on the phone I had the presence of mind to ask for the unlock code for my handset (if you've ever tried shoving an alternate sim card into your Streak you'll know what i mean).. anyway, this code will allow me to use any networks sim card in it. Bizarrely they have to post me this code and it takes up to 7 days.. I guess modern tech only gets us so far. Somewhere in Tibet there is a monk typing out (literally typing out on an old typewriter) unlock codes for mobile phones.

I couldn't find a picture of a Monk.. so here's a Monk-ey at a typewriter

A cunning plan.. I saw an advert in the Metro offering a sim only deal from Virgin for a 200 minutes, unlimited (there's that word again) texts and unlimited data. I'm planning on sticking the Virgin sim in the Streak and putting the O2 sim in my old E75. I love the Streak to bits however it does have its limitations.. perspiration and adverse weather being the latest.. during the commute to work, depending on the heat I perspire/sweat a little.. I always have around my side-burns.. so, when I press the phone against my lug hole the sweat transfers from my hair to my phone.. which renders the touch screen useless... similarly, rain drops effect the screen too.. its impossible to hang up on someone in anger with a touch screen phone if A) you're sweating B) crying C) outside on a rainy day.

I'll let you know how it goes.. take 2 phones in to the shower.. well.. not the Dell Streak because it won't work.

O2 just shafted me.. for 2 years

I knew it was too good to be true.. after years of avoiding a contract knowing that it was basically giving a company license to screw me over constantly for the term of the deal... I took the plunge in June signing up for a 24 (yes.. TWO YEARS) contract with O2 for the Dell Streak (its still so pretty). £30 a month on the online 30 deal which gives me 600 minutes a month plus unlimited texts and a bolt on that gives me UNLIMITED data and wifi (has anyone ever actually used wifi offered by a mobile phone provider?.. if you have a signal on your mobile, why would you use wifi?.. and if you were somewhere remote enough not to have a 3g signal.. why would there be wifi available???) anyways, turns out the mobile telecoms use of the word "unlimited" varies as much as an politicians meaning of the word "yes/no". I received the following text from O2

O2: Your data usage is exceptionally high and is affecting the service for other customers. This is against our excessive use policy. To comply with our policy you need to dramatically & immediately reduce your usage. One way to do this is by using your home broadband Wi-Fi or public Wi-Fi hotspots such as BT Openzone and The Cloud. Don't forget you get unlimited Wi-Fi on all our data tariffs. Please go to o2.co.uk/datainfo for more information. If you do not immediately moderate your usage we will have to stop you from using data on your mobile.

So, apologies to anyone who was struggling to get a signal or send a text or check out ebay via their mobile, it was nothing to do with O2.. it was all MY fault.

I didn't mind so much being told that my usage was high, although, my mobile phone useage habits haven't altered all that much in the last few years, it was the "hey, you're using mobile phone data too much and screwing it up for everyone else, change your habits NOW.. buy our home broadband... change now or DIE/we'll cut you off". It did carry the whiff of blackmail...

I contacted O2 customer service who again tried to tell me all about their wonderful home broadband package.. how very subtle indeed. A short conversation (poor girl) later I was advised that, although unlimited meant unlimited in June.. unfortunately it doesn't quite mean unlimited in October when they're changing everyone's terms and conditions.. how pleasant, you get to change the rules and I get to take it up the arse. she suggested I could take out an unlimited data bolt on again in October "BUT I ALREADY HAD ONE OF THOSE" i replied.. bless her, she did try. Turns out its using Googles satnav that is gobbling up vast amounts of data.. so, O2 use the shiny wonderful Android and Apple phones to lure you in "hey look at all the clever internet based things you can do" then realise their crappy network can't cope so change the rules.. "oh yeah, you know all that stuff on the adverts.. and all the shiny things on your phone.. well you can't use them now, not unless you pay us lots more money.. yes I know we paid through the nose for this 3G guff from the Government but hey.. we didn't expect you lot to actually USE it.."

I had apparently used 800Mbs of data.. quite.. it must have all been satnav based.. so, if you have an Android phone, don't expect to use the free satnav feature for very long before incurring large bills.

I did a little bit of sniffing around the O2 website and found this info;

Additional Bolt Ons

Unlimited O2 to O2 calls
Offers unlimited calls from your O2 mobile to other O2 mobiles in the UK.
Unlimited landline calls
Offers unlimited calls to UK landlines (starting 01, 02 or 03) at anytime in the UK.
Unlimited Web Bolt On, Unlimited Data + Wi-Fi, BlackBerry Unlimited
These Bolt Ons offer unlimited* data on your mobile in the UK.
* Unlimited data is a promotion until 30th September 2010. After that date, your data allowance will depend on how many minutes your tariff gives you:

UK Minutes	100	300	600	900	1200	Unlimited
UK Data	500MB	500MB	500MB	750MB	750MB	1GB

So.. you don't want minutes.. but do want data.. tough, you'll have to buy the minutes too.

Well, its only for another 15 months..

Android Apps - London City Tube Map

A very simple little free app. Its basically a map of the London Underground, at first you think "well that's a bit lame" however its become a very handy little tool whilst getting around London. Its easy to forget there's no signal down there!

Android Apps - myPlayer - BBC iPlayer

Next up is the myPlayer App which is a free download and is very good. Its undergone a number of changes since I've had it installed. Included are screenshots of the most recent release. It doesn't give you access to everything available on the internet version of iPlayer however there's enough on there to stave off boredom on a long journey etc. It also offers access to live BBC Broadcasts as well as all their radio stations. Picture quality is a little grainy and pixelated however the sound quality is very good.

I've found that the tab in the top left hand corner just acts as one button rather than individual options. none of the symbols seem to correlate to any particular action, you just end up scrolling through the different options, i.e live radio, live tv, catch-up etc.

BBC's Football League show being played on catch up

a live broadcast on BBC1 - its some sort of bird...

a selection of shows available on catch up (you can scroll down for more)

BBC Radio live broadcast channels (again you can scroll down for more)

BBC live broadcast channels.. i can't believe Chucklevision is still going..

Android Apps - TV Guide by Jersey Productions

I've been running the Dell Streak for a couple of months now and have downloaded and tried out a number of Apps from the Android Market. I'll add my thoughts on these Apps along with a decent number of screen shots so you can have an idea of whats worth downloading and whats pants.

One of my favourite apps is the TV Guide made by Jersey Productions. It comes in a free version which has tiny little adverts that pop up at the bottom of the screen or, pay a few dollars (at most) and get the add free version. I tried the free version for a few weeks then decided to pay for the add free copy. I don't mind paying for Apps that are good, especially when they're that cheap. It only seems fair to the developer after all.

When you first start up the App it asks you to select your channels. It lists pretty much everything available on Sky or Virgin as well as Freeview or FreeSat. Once thats done you can view whats on now and next in the 'whats on' tab or, see the entire days films in the 'movies' tab. You can set reminders and a little bar on the screen shows how much of the film has been played so far, nice touch!

 

Android 2.1 update for Dell Streak!

Finally Android 2.1 is out for the Dell Streak. If you see the above black triangle appear on your notifications tab.. click it.. and you will not regret it! I was a little hasty in all fairness, I couldn't wait to install it, I quickly took a few photo's of Android 1.6 for this blog but didn't think to make a quick note of the apps I'd previously downloaded (all your apps will be scrubbed - don't worry, ones you've paid for are downloadable free of charge)

The upgrade takes approx 20 minutes, including download and makes a pretty amazing difference to your Streak. It'll scrub pretty much everything off that isn't stored on your memory card to bear that in mind. Major improvements include better connectivity (its holding it signal to O2 much better than it used to - signal hasn't dropped out once since the upgrade), faster and better battery life as well as a larger keyboard (handy if you have hands bigger than a 5 year olds).

I'll go in to much more detail in the next week or so and include photo's etc. So far its been fantastic with zero draw backs. Well done Android.

Dell Streak from O2 running Anroid 1.6 - Software

When I first received the phone it was running Android 1.6 which seemed a little odd baring in mind most other Android phones at that time were running versions 2+. As this was my first experience of Android it didn't bother me too much as I was unaware of anything that I was missing out on!

The phone was easy to setup. My first task was to sync it up with my Outlook contacts and calendar etc. With Nokia you use PC Suite, with Dell you use their version called... Dell PC Suite.. once that was done it became clear that I had 2 of certain contacts.. after a while I realised that the phone had downloaded my Gmail contacts at the same time as I'd setup my Gmail account. It had also synced up my calendar. My habit meant that I wanted to sync with my laptop using the Dell PC Suite however over time I shifted over to using the wireless sync option, syncing directly with Google rather than with Outlook on my laptop. Consequently I've found myself using Googles calendar and contacts far more often that Outlooks. Although using Googles Calendar Sync on your PC doesn't make it feel like you're completely separating from Outlook. the only down side is your phones and your laptops contacts can end up becoming separated.

Pictured above is the 'home screen'. If you press the 'home' button you are immediately returned to this page. You have up to 6 pages (including home) in which you can house icons, pictures, wigdets, rss feeds etc etc. I separated mine into 'uses' i.e car, music, news and weather, football etc. The Android market has a significant number of apps available for instant download. They're either free or quite cheap (most expensive one I've gone for is the National Rail app which is fantastic if you commute and that was £4.99). The apps that cost anything can be paid for by using your Google Checkout account.

In 1.6 if you press the tab displaying 'O2-UK' a menu is displayed showing all your pages (left), simply press a page/tab and the screen rotates left or right to that page.

The 'start' button is situated at the top left hand corner, press this and a short list is displayed showing your most recent apps, press a second down arrow and the rest of the apps are displayed.

Included with the phone is Googles Beta version Navigation program. I've been really impressed with it so far. Again it links up with your contacts list and lets you create short cuts for journeys on one of your home pages. i.e you can setup an icon on one of your home screens with a destination on it, then all you have to do is touch that icon and the navigation program starts up and immediately plots a route to that location. Again a simple idea that works really well. So far it doesn't seem possible to add your own POI's which is something I'd gotten used to with TomTom. I haven't found any Google add ons that warn you of speed cameras, although there are 3rd party programs available. The voice for the navigation is a little... special? TomTom's is quite inoffensive whereas this thing makes it feel like you're driving around with Stephanie Hawkins.

You can switch on Googles traffic layer whilst driving which gives you regularly updated traffic news and displays it via colours on the map i.e a section of the M4 in red means heavy traffic. The M25 is generally coloured black!

The navigation search links straight into Googles websearch.. which is pretty darned clever. It doesn't rely on POI's to tell it where the local Tesco's is.. it lets the internet do it for it!

All this web based navigation is great for as long as you have a signal. I can see this being almost useless in certain areas of Cornwall. Next time I head down there I'll let you know how I get on!

Dell Streak from O2 running Anroid 1.6 - Physical

I've mentioned writing about this little device before.. well its finally here! I've been using the phone for a couple of months. I've pretty much always used Nokia phones before but started to get fed up of the half hearted approach that seemed to be setting in. the Ovi Store was complete pants too so.. I ventured off one day and found the Dell Streak.

So, an Android phone. I've slowly been switching over to Googles apps etc for a couple of years now. I really like their interfaces, I like the fact I don't have how "wonderful" their product is shoved down my throat constantly a-la Apple. The programs are free which is nice but even better.. they work! and they all talk to each other.. which makes an Android phone fantastic! If you're already using gmail, google calendars, google contacts etc.. then switching to Android will be easy and very very handy. If you're not using any or all of those products then you'll slowly find yourself converting over time. I only used Gmail and found the calendar/contacts options cumbersome and ultra basic, especially the contacts function, which has come under a lot of criticism but credit to Google, they listened and have changed it.. its much much better and far more user friendly now.. but enough of that.. on to the phone.

I'll split this entry into sections, physical, software interface, apps, tips

The first thing you'll notice about the device when it turns up is how lovely and well presented the box is.. little things. The device itself feels really well made, just the right weight too, not too light as to feel cheap, not too heavy as to feel like a brick. It comes with a protective "sock", USB charger lead and wall socket adapter (read my previous post to find out how to get it to charge off any USB socket), the hands free set is wired and had the headphones that feel like they're inserting themselves directly into your brain.. great for sound quality but make you feel like you're heads about 3 atmospheres below the rest of your body.

Switching the handset on for the first time was a pretty cool experience. Hold the on button for a couple of seconds and the 3 lights, which depict 'back' 'options' and 'home' slowly brighten and then dim again, looks very swish. Then the Dell logo appears in black and white in the centre of the display before the phone fires up. It doesn't take any longer than any other smart phone I've ever used to start up and to be honest.. how often do you ever switch off your phone?

The handset itself has very few 'buttons'. Across the top is 'power' 'camera' (which with Android 1.6 doesn't automatically start up the camera...) volume adjustment, 3.5mm headphone socket port. The bottom of the phone is where you'll find the irritating charging/data port. The cameras lens is situated on the rear of the phone and positioned quite close to the left hand corner, poxy location... Hold the phone as you would normally to take and picture and you'll see what I mean, your left hand covers the lens so you end up holding the phone in quite an awkward way you can also end up looking a little demented, plus I don't fancy this things chances in any sort of fall onto a hard surface, so holding it with finger tips doesn't feel particularly safe.

The charging port looks like an iPods, which initially seemed like a good thing in that I'd be able to utilise the existing leads I had as multiple chargers for it.. alas not. I just looks the same.. it isn't and iPod leads don't fit. I thought all mobile phones were supposed to be going towards a standard charging port.. if so there's no sign of that happening any time soon. I checked out Dells website for secondary chargers (seems a little vulnerable to only have one), when I got this phone (2 months ago) the charging leads were priced at £25!.. they're now down to £13.61 which still isn't cheap but at least its not prohibitively expensive for what is essentially a USB lead.

Other irritations early on were the cost of ALL the other parts available for the Dell, the car holder kit was £50, very expensive when you still had to physically plug the charger into the handset then sit the phone in the cradle rather than the whole thing being done in one movement as with Brodit Active holders. Its now down to £29. The reviews were full of complaints regarding price. I'm glad I didn't give in and buy one now. I developed my own holder which I shall tell you about in another posting.

The screen is spookily scratch resistant. I haven't used the sock and just place the phone in my pocket (screen against my leg). Oddly the size works well in a pocket (if you're a gent - not so sure about lady pockets) its just the right size and thinkness that it looks remarkably discrete. So far the phone has remained in 'as new' condition. The only down side about the screen, as with all touch screen phones, they end up looking like the back window of a car that's had kids in it on a long trip.

The home, options and back buttons on the right hand side of the phone behave like the touch screen. there's no feedback like you receive with the on/off buttons. I think its a great design touch as it seems like an extension of the main screen. The phone vibrates with each touch of these buttons.. which is still annoying and I wish there was an option to switch it off. Under the settings tab there appears to be ticky box asking if you'd like it or not however it doesn't seem to effect anything.

Overall this is one of the nicest made things I've ever owned. My B5 Passat had exceptional build quality, better than my current BMW in fact, I would say this phone is the B5 VW Passat of the mobile phone world!

Broadband Speed Checker

You may have seen that last year I carried out a speed test for internet connections via a Nokia E51 and a Huawei 530 dongle from T Mobile.  I've just carried out another speed test between a Nokia E75 and a Huawei E160 dongle also from T Mobile.  The tests were carried out within 10 minutes of each other around midday today (Sunday).

This time upon connecting the Nokia to the laptop a different option appears on the phones screen, previously Nokia's would ask you if you wanted to connect in "PC Suite Mode", "Mass Storage Mode" etc etc, this time "Connect PC to Internet" appeared.  I selected that and a little screen popped up on the laptop asking to install a small piece of software to control the connection. As you can see below its a pretty unobtrusive piece of software and tells you how much data has passed through your connection. It automatically detects your service provider and sets its self up for use.

So to the tests...
With the dongle the following speeds were achieved

with the Nokia E75 the following speeds were achieved

the dongle still wins although the E75 performs a lot better than the E51 did.

Dell Streak charger 2...

Well, after adapting a fag lighter USB charger, I decided that I'd make something up that I could use with any existing USB charging ports that I had.

I found an old USB extension lead and cut it in half, then soldered the white and green wires together and reattached, and then reattached the black to black, and red to red, then finished it all off with trusty insulation tape.

Its not the neatest thing in the world.. but it sure beats forking out £25 for another charger from Dell.

Dell Streak car charger!

I recently did a crazy thing and took out a 24 month mobile phone contract with O2 in order to get my hands on the Dell Streak... I'm glad I did as its a very very funky phone. I will go into more detail on the handset at some point on here. The only things that have really annoyed me about the phone is the poor battery life, think of your charging lead as an ambilical cord and you're getting pretty close, and the deliberate method of stopping you from using already existing methods of charger to get the thing going.

It'll trickle charge from a computers USB port, which as far as I'm aware gives less that 1amp however, it will not charge from any other USB power port I had (ones that had been used to charge mobile phones, GPS devices etc.. No fag lighter USB charger would work either.. I bought a couple of 2amp chargers and neither did the trick..then I came across the following article which explained all.  To cut a long story short, you need to bust open your USB charger, (the bit you insert into the fag lighter socket) and carefully solder a joint between the middle 2 USB pins (there are 4, the middle two aren't used). I've done it and it works perfectly!

Which means... Dell have deliberately designed their phone not to charge off any other USB charging device. How very grown up and to top it off the rip off merchants wanted to charge you £50 for the privellage of using their own car charger...

Its a shame that such a nice device has such a murky background.

Tincam and why I ended up dealing with the trade union covering TCPs

I'm currently running a website that basically features photographs taken by a series of setup cameras across a stretch of water near my home.  Its quite busy and has lots of naval ships as well as tankers etc.  The weather can also get a little extreme as well.

I have one streaming camera set up.  I've spoken of it before, the Linksys jobbie, well since replacing the power supply for it, its run quite happily.  I am planning on setting up another but didn't really want the expence of another wireless camera.

I discovered a piece of software at www.tincam.com which enables you to stream video or pictures (as well as motion detection) from your webcam via a PC.  It involves portforwarding (hence previous adventure) if you're working behind a router.  You can use if for free for 30 days and then its $19 to buy.

Its fairly easy to setup (once you've dealt with your TCP trade union) and with a little extra research I managed to find some HTML code that allows you to embed the footage into your webpage rather than Media Player opening up.  Follow this link and go straight to the last post.  It works a treat!

Port forwarding...

This seems to be a such a hit and miss affair!  I'm currently running two routers.  One that filters straight off the DSL (Virgin Media) modem and a second in line with the first in my hallway.  I put in a second as my kitchen is in an extension meaning there's a bloody great external wall between my kitchen and the rest of the flat.  The second router is setup to act as an access point thus enabling a nice strong signal throughout the flat.

I use www.portforward.com for a lot of my router info, its very well put together and the people/person who hosts it writes in an easy to understand way.  I won't go into how I setup the routers to work together other than to say you need to switch of DHCP on the second and assign it an IP address.   The previously mentioned website will explain this far better than I can.  (s/he also includes a downloadable port tester)

The only discrepancy I've noticed so far is when it comes to port forwarding.  Having setup remote desktop and an FTP server I've had a bit of experience of port forwarding and have found it to be a little temperaMENTAL to setup.  The site suggests that port forwarding through 2 routers involved pointing the port from the first router to the second, then from the second router to your intended recipient PC.  I tried this and it didn't/wouldn't work.  Then I skipped the routing from first to second router and just directed from the first router to the intended PC.  This worked?... I left the port forward settings on the second router so maybe thats playing its part in some way... I would have to say that this is the most human part of computing that I've found so far.  Some bits work in some ways... and other bits don't.  There does not seem to be a clear cut "this will definatley work" method, so don't give up if you're trying it.  Just remember to be mythodical in your efforts, otherwise its very easy to end up going round and around in circles.

Other other thing I've noticed is that opening your desired port in the Windows Firewall won't always open it straight away.  I've often found that you need to allow the port to open, close the firewall, test the connection, then restart the firewall...

I get the sence the TCP section of a computer has its own trade union.

Lightning detector!

 http://www.boltek.com/stormtracker.html

Whilst searching around for extra things to add to my site, I came across lightning detection equipment!  I thought it would be a great addition to the site if I could set this up along with some sort of subscription service whereby you could sign up to receive an email when a storm was on its way and be able to watch it on the streaming camera link...

Telescope...

... I have a feeling bad things will happen if I point this at any Royal Navy ships..

I'm a little out of my depth with this..I have absolutely no idea how to use it... I did very little research into these things and was a little surprised to find it worked on mirrrors and not lenses.. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting..  Although having done a little retrospective research it seems this will be able to produce much clearer pictures than a regular telescope... plus I might even be able to take some night time shots of the sky over the Plymouth Sound!

TAMAR TAG!

I know it has nothing to do with this website.... but here it is.. my TamarTag finally arrived.. I feel like a real Devonshireman now!  Cornwall here I come!

no dice..

Well, I went out and got the telescope yesterday.. I spent a fair bit of time making an adaptor that would attach the webcam to the telescope eye piece.. it worked but the picture quality was awful.  On further reading I've discovered that there are two different types of image receivers on webcams.  1 type is called CMOS, the other is CCD (you might recognise this from your digital camera).  Anyway, the better webcams for this sort of thing have CCD.  Annoyingly they're rare and expenise.. I will continue my search for one.  I will not be defeated!

T

...the adaptor I made....

t

the little bits you need to remove from the webcam after pulling it apart..

Todays the day...

I'm too impatient to wait for the ebay items to come around.. I've just seen a National Geographic telescope in Argos for £20.. i'm going to give it a go!  Apparently you can see things on the moons of Jupiter with it, so it should be powerful enough to look at ships etc in the Sound... stand by for the results!

My next project and someone who's doing it much better than me...

Whilst looking through the interweb and seeing all the different things people are doing with shipping info etc, I came across this site http://www.ais-live.co.uk/aismap/AIS%20Maps/aboutthissite.html its pretty amazing and the guy who is running it has put a lot of time and effort in.  Its given me a couple of ideas, having my own AIS  receiver for a start then I saw his binoculars.. I'm going to have a go at combining a webcam with a telescope.. I'm already checking ebay now for telescopes, don't see the point in buying a new one if A) i bugger it up B) it doesn't work as intended... i'll let you know how it goes!

The weather cam mutates further!

This things really getting carried away with itself now.  I went a bit mental on ebay and ended up with 4 old Olympus cameras.  Before buying I made sure they were all compatible with the Pine Tree Computing camera controller software.  As much as I like this software it does have a few little bugs.  I've found that I need to power up the cameras in a certain order otherwise the computer seems to confuse them all.  Once up and running though the software is pretty stable and hasn't crashed once in the whole time I've been running it.

The cameras were all sat on my kitchen window sill peering outside towards the see.  Even I thought it looked a little jumbled and messy so decided that I needed a solution..

 

The above picture isn't very clear thanks to the darned overcast/bright sky.. I'll try and take another picture later.. anyways, as you can see in the picture the cameras have all been raised up off the window sill and are now all looking out the top window.  But how did I do this.. an anti gravity field around the window perhaps?

Alas not, after R&D problems I decided to go with a shelf instead.  I wanted something light and as inobtrusive as possible (yes, inobtrustive with 4 cameras sat on it..) I just didn't want it to look any worse...

After considering a number of shelfing options, then best one I found was the glass shelves you get at homeware stores like B&Q/Wickes etc that go in bathrooms underneath mirrors.  The best one I could find was at Wickes as it had nice small fixing points for the wall, or in my case, window.  They were adjustable brackets too which means you can be a little less acurate in drilling etc.

this image makes the shelf look wonky.. i can assure you, its not!

 

PVC windows have an aluminium frame covered in the white plastic that we can all see.  Its pretty sturdy stuff so don't panic too much about drilling into it.  Mark the points you want to connect your shelfing brackets to and drill a couple of small pilot holes.

Then just follow the destructions that came with the shelf et-viola!

...can you tell I'm single...

I intend to get some white cable trunking to run down the right hand side of the window frame to tidy away the cabling...

My weather cam website has just been listed on BBC Devons site!  2 of my cameras are now being used by them.  I'm famous!

Fixing my little Dell LCD.. my first ever PCB repair...

I recently bought a second hand Dell LCD monitor to go with my FTP server.  I just wanted someone small and cheap that could be used every now for maintenance etc.  I went on Ebay and managed to pic one up for about £15.  Not bad I don't think for a 15" LCD.

After using it for a few days I noticed that it would flicker on and off.. sometimes off then never back on again.  If I jiggled the power lead around at the back I could hear a crackling sound.. not a good sound to hear.. arcing electricity etc.

I decided to have a go at fixing it, the fact moving the lead around causing the monitor to start/stop I was hopeful it wasn't going to be anything too drastic.

Firstly, find a nice fluffy/thick towel to lay on a flat surface.  You'll be resting your monitor against this whilst you're working on it and dont' want to scratch/dent the LCD panel.

To remove the back of the monitor, you firstly need to remove the stand.  there are 3 small black screws visible at the rear, take these out, then ease and plastic cover off with a screw driver.  You will find a 4th (gold) screw here.  Remove that, then the stand should come away from the bottom of the monitor.

 

Next remove the 3 black screws that run across the bottom.

Then you need to pop the rear away from the front of the monitor.  The line you can see around the edge of the monitor is where the two parts separate.  Slip the two clips at the bottom apart then be brave and ease the two sections apart.

You'll find that a small ribbon cable will run from the front section of the monitor to a lttle PCB containing the brightness/menu buttons.  Just disconnect the plug on the PCB side and then put the front of the montior to one side.  Rest the lcd panel face down on to the towel and pull the rear of the monitors case away.

Next remove the 8 gold screws that run around the metal cover then remove, you'll see across the top of this metal cover that there are little metal clips that the top lip of this cover slides under.

Now you can see the PCBs for the monitor.  You can see that the power lead connects to the PCB on the left.  Disconnect the ribbon connections as with the button panel from the case.  Then remove the 2 screws.
The PCB will now slide away from the chassis like the previous metal cover did.

Looking closely at the soldered joints on the rear of the panel I could see a little carbon ring around one of the pins on the power socket.  This as well as dull solder is a sign that the joint has failed.

A soldering iron with a fine point is generally the best idea for repairing PCB's as its a lot neater and reduce the risk of soldering across 2 joints.  A little bit of solder later and the joint is nice and shiney and ready for putting back together.  Before completing I sprayed contact cleaner across the whole PCB just for luck.

The picture above shows the power PCB removed, note the right hand panel has a ribbon connector at the top. This pushes against a sponge insert attached to the rear case panel.  This will often disconnected when removing the rear panel so make sure you reconnect if before putting back together!

For putting back together, literally do the reverse of what you did to take it apart, I found it easier to place the frame section of the cover of the case on the towel, then rest the LCD panel on top before cliping the rear back on.