The Geek Pub » Hardware http://www.thegeekpub.com Drink Beer and Geek Out Mon, 29 Nov 2010 01:49:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Wi-Fi Problems? Open source can help! http://www.thegeekpub.com/879/wi-fi-problems-open-source-can-help/ http://www.thegeekpub.com/879/wi-fi-problems-open-source-can-help/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:50:29 +0000 The Big Geek http://www.thegeekpub.com/?p=879 Wireless Routers and access points can be a major pain to deal with.  Wireless, by it’s very nature is flaky!  Sometimes, just a matter of inches can mean the difference between a good signal and none and at all when moving your notebook.

Many of us depend on our wireless networks to function.  Freedom from cables and locations have made our world truly mobile, in a way that’s hard to return to wired, tethered data access.  However, with that freedom also comes frustration.  There’s nothing more frustrating than a wireless connection that intermittently drops, or grinds to a crawl.

Most of the time, you just wind up rebooting your laptop or unplugging and replugging the power to your wireless router.  Sometimes that helps, sometimes it doesn’t.

Many manufactures make wireless devices.  Linksys/Cisco, Apple, D-Link and many others.  Most of the tools, especially troubleshooting tools, that come with these routers and access points are very lacking.  The good news is, there are some excellent open-source solutions to help you, and you might be surprised by just how good and feature rich they are.

Introducing DD-WRT

DD-WRT is probably my favorite release of an open source firmware replacement.  DD-WRT is based on the Open-WRT firmware kernel with its own feature sets. DD-WRT was originally designed for use with just Linksys routers, but now is available for many others too.  With DD-WRT you get many options and choices, along with some very nice tools, that don’t come built in to your router by default.

DD-WRT will allow you to change the signal strength, output wattage, processor clock speed, define numerous access methods, and a lot more.  DD-WRT even allows you to create a Wireless Distribution System by linking many access points together to create a massive wireless network without the need for cabling!

Even if the hardware of your router turns our to be flaky, and its not the software that came with DD-WRT will let you schedule your router to reboot on a nightly basis, or even more or less often.  DD-WRT comes with many information screens that show client connectivity, signal strength and more.

Fig 1: DD-WRT Informational Screen

You can get DD-WRT for your router at: http://www.dd-wrt-com/

]]> http://www.thegeekpub.com/879/wi-fi-problems-open-source-can-help/feed/ 0 Wall Outlet with USB Jacks http://www.thegeekpub.com/193/wall-outlet-with-usb-jacks/ http://www.thegeekpub.com/193/wall-outlet-with-usb-jacks/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:39:33 +0000 The Big Geek http://www.thegeekpub.com/?p=193 From the “Why didn’t I think of that department” I give you the first Wall Outlet with USB jacks for charging your devices.

Link to Manufacturer

The $10 ‘TruePower UCS Power Outlet With Built-in USB Ports’ not only has a terrible name, but will also be shipping early this year. It makes the perfect receptacle for all your USB gadgetry, and a terrible Valentine’s gift for a lady-friend. But on the up side, they do still come with two standard AC plugs for jamming forks and knives into. Bet I can hold on to one longer than you! You set the bar.

]]> http://www.thegeekpub.com/193/wall-outlet-with-usb-jacks/feed/ 1 Compressed Air Powered “Better Moustrap” is cool! http://www.thegeekpub.com/144/compressed-air-powered-better-moustrap-is-cool/ http://www.thegeekpub.com/144/compressed-air-powered-better-moustrap-is-cool/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:45:26 +0000 The Big Geek http://www.thegeekpub.com/?p=144 I love it when killer robot technology is used on innocent inanimate objects.  Jake Easton is one evil bastard – and – I LOVE HIM!

I introduce to you the compressed air powered “better mousetrap”.  I might suggest that you remove any wanted pets from your home before deploying this Terminator themed evil machine – or not…

Just remember when SkyNET builds these to kill us, by putting sexy girls in a much larger trap, that it was Jake’s fault, not mine.

better_mousetrap1

better_mousetrap2

better_mousetrap3

YouTube Video:

]]> http://www.thegeekpub.com/144/compressed-air-powered-better-moustrap-is-cool/feed/ 2 CD & DVD: Track-at-Once vs. Disc-at-Once http://www.thegeekpub.com/273/cd-dvd-track-at-once-vs-disc-at-once/ http://www.thegeekpub.com/273/cd-dvd-track-at-once-vs-disc-at-once/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:52:44 +0000 The Big Geek http://www.my-pc-help.com/?p=89 All of us who own a personal computer have burned at least a CD or two in our days. Being able to download music and create your own mix CDs has been one of my favorite features since the beginning. Software such as iTunes and Nero has made this task even easier, pretty much doing all the work for us. All you need to do is insert your CD-R into your CD burner, pop open either one of those programs, drag in your audio files, and hit the burn button. In a couple minutes your CD is ready to go. But wait a second, what about these options like burn speed, and should I choose disc-at-once or track-at-once? Well, today we’ll be attempting to get to the bottom of one of these confusing options. We’ll be discussing what the differences are between these two CD burn modes; track-at-once and disc-at-once, and to decide which one is the right option to choose for your project.

Track-At-Once

This is the first option that was introduced when CD duplication software was first created. With this mode, each time a track is finished burning, the laser recording the information stops. When it stops, two run-out blocks of data are written. After that, one link block and four run-in blocks are written when the next track begins to record. With track-at-once, you may burn both data and audio on the same disc. These blocks in between tracks are not a problem when data is being read, but you may hear a click on some CD players when playing back audio. This is something that may cause you problems if you are having your disc mastered and duplicated or replicated at a professional facility. In that regard, track-at-once is best suited for CDs for personal enjoyment.

Disc-at-Once

This burn mode takes all of your data, be it audio data or regular data, and burns it all to disc in one big block. No gaps are added between tracks, the laser never stops burning the data to disc. This is a newer feature, which should be an option in most modern CD burning software. One option you have with disc-at-once mode, which is kind of interesting, is that you can place allows any amount of audio data (or no data at all) to be written in the “pre-gaps” between tracks. With this option, you can place track introductions between each song. This is cool, because you can create “hidden tracks” on the CD in the pre-gap areas, that are only accessible by rewinding backwards into the pre-gap area. This is the ideal choice for CD masters that will be going to a CD duplication or replication house.

I hope that this fully explains these two different CD burning modes for you, or at least explains it enough for you to successfully create your next CD mix or master. I was going to leave out explaining burn speed for another article, but it really is simple enough to explain at the tail end of this article. Basically, your burn speed should be15-30% of the drive”s maximum capacity. I.e. For a 52x burner, the optimal burn speed would be from 12-16x. It’s as simple as that. Thanks for reading this article, and best wishes on your next project!

]]> http://www.thegeekpub.com/273/cd-dvd-track-at-once-vs-disc-at-once/feed/ 2 How to spot a leaky capacitor http://www.thegeekpub.com/49/how-to-spot-a-leaky-capacitor/ http://www.thegeekpub.com/49/how-to-spot-a-leaky-capacitor/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:59:34 +0000 The Big Geek http://www.thegeekpub.com/?p=49 One of the questions we get a lot is how do you detect a leaky or bad capacitor.  Here’s how.

Short the terminals to ensure it is not charged. If you are doing this on a motherboard with a small capacitor, just use a small screwdriver.  If this is a high voltage or capacity unit UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DO THIS – leave it to an expert.  Large capacitors can be extremely dangerous.

Many of the digital meters today also have a capacitance check setting, simply use that setting. It not only checks for faults, but also will give you a reading of the capacitance value itself.

For most non-electrolytic capacitors a quick check (definitely bad vs. maybe good) can be done with an analog VOM. Use the highest resistance scale to measure across the terminals. When first connected there should be a short needle jump that slowly drops back to infinity. Reverse the leads and do it again, should have the same effect. Any resistance higher than infinity indicates a shorted capacitor. Lack of needle jump may indicate an open capacitor (or one of very little capacitance).

Electrolytics can also be checked with a VOM, but polarity must be observed, and the drop back to infinity may take a very long time.

Alternatively, for electrolytics and larger capacitors is to charge them with a low voltage source (e.g. 9V battery) and measure with multimeter to see if they hold the charge.

You may also notice some physical tell-tale signs before even testing.  First, look for any caps that a bulding or non-uniform in shape.  Second, look for any capacitor that has any kind of “goo” coming out of it.  Either of those is bad news and the cap needs to be replaced.

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