brianhoskins.uk

Author: Brian J Hoskins

  • Installing emacs and org-mode on Windows

    Introduction At home I am on LINUX pretty much full-time.  I only run Windows inside a VM in some special circumstances.  But at work I have to use Windows due to corporate policy, so I regularly face the challenge of finding cross-platform software which I can use both at home and at work. One of […]

  • Repair of Samsung LE40M86BD Television (power cycling)

    Introduction Recently I have had cause for complaint with our Samsung LE40M86BD LCD Television.  It had been working just fine, and then all of a sudden it developed a power-cycling problem.  The symptom is as follows: From power-on, the TV works perfectly for around 10 minutes. After a while the TV switches itself to standby, […]

  • Sorting out the Velleman MK170 Christmas Star

    Last Christmas I bought a Velleman MK170 Christmas Star project for my Wife to build.  She often shows interest in my various electronics projects and I thought it would be a good way for her to build something that she could show off to friends and family, whilst at the same time teaching her a […]

  • Flashing CyanogenMod onto Galaxy SII via Ubuntu

    Pre-Requsites Install Heimdall Visit the Heimdall home page, select “Linux”, and download the package for your distribution.  On Ubuntu variants you want the latest ‘.deb’ package.  e.g.: ubuntu13.04-heimdall_1.4.0-0_amd64.deb Note that the “Frontend” packages are not required.  Everything can be done easily from the command line. Install Heimdall using dpkg: sudo dpkg -i ubuntu13.04-heimdall_1.4.0-0_amd64.deb Install adb […]

  • CDTV 3FFF Problem – Diagnosis & Repair

    Diagnosis and Repair of a Commodore CDTV unit which has a strange ‘3FFF’ problem. In the first part, below, I diagnose.  In the next part (coming soon, will be added here) I repair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtxYHoK8vFg

  • Simple circuit for controlling LED brightness

    Recently I was asked to produce a circuit to create a variable ‘dim’ control for an existing LED based exhibition. I decided to go with a simple 555-timer based design which provides control of the pulse width of an output, whilst keeping the oscillation frequency fixed. The circuit is shown below.  It’s an unusual design, […]

  • Tasker: Disable Pin Lock Near Home

    Introduction If you’re away from home it’s very important to have a pin or password lock on your phone, just in case you misplace it or it is stolen.  Typically the modern mobile phone is a gateway to a multitude of private services and data, such as personal photos and videos, cloud based data, social […]

  • Install Freerouting on Ubuntu 14.04 – 16.04

    Introduction Freerouting was a web application created and maintained by Alfons Wirtz at his website, here.  It allowed us to import a design file from kicad and then auto-route the project based on some design preferences.  It was basically a free auto-router for kicad.  Hence the name! For “various reasons” the author has decided to […]

  • Recover Data From Unfinalized DVD RW

    Introduction Sometimes you’ll end up having to deal with a DVD which has video recorded on it but the author neglected to finalize the disc. This can be a bit troublesome, because until the disc is finalized it doesn’t contain the necessary data to make it compatible with the DVD standard. Most consumer DVD players […]

  • rarcrack review

    rarcrack I stumbled across a little program called rarcrack yesterday, which provides brute-force cracking of password protected archives.  I decided to give it a try and make some general observations about it. An example To set up an example, I created a .rar with a 5 character password.  The password consists of upper-case letters, lower-case […]

  • New Car! MG TF

    It was the dreaded MOT time this weekend and my runabout Fiesta was not giving me promising signs.  So I decided to take a look for something else.  This MG TF caught my eye and I fell in love! So I snapped her up 🙂

  • Happy Valentines Day Project

    Happy Valentines Day! A few years ago I created a little valentines day project, shown in the video at the end of this post.  It’s basically just a multi-vibrator circuit with two groups of LEDs, arranged as an inner and outer heart: The full schematic is shown here, click on it for a full enlarged […]

  • Adding USB devices in a Virtual Machine

    Adding USB Devices in a Windows Virtual Machine with VirtualBox One of the most confusing things for me when I first experimented with VirtualBox was the question of how to add USB devices.  I run Linux (Ubuntu) as my main OS now, but sometimes I need to dig around in Windows (e.g. work related stuff) […]

  • Panasonic AE700 Projector Diagnosis & Repair

    In the tinkering cave this week we have a Panasonic AE700 HD Projector. These units are pretty old now, but they come highly recommended in many online reviews and the HDMI support means they remain a useful home cinema option. The unit was first presented to me by a work colleague who complained that the […]

  • Hosting a Calibre Library with Linux, COPS & Google Drive

    Introduction Free your Ebook collection!!! Are you tired of being locked in to commercial Ebook software such as Apple iTunes (shudder), Google Books or Amazon Kindle? Would you like to take complete control of your Ebook collection and host it yourself, giving you the ability to serve whatever Ebooks you want at any time and […]

  • Installing daily build of KiCAD [Ubuntu]

    I noticed, recently, that KiCAD footprint libraries now carry the .pretty extension, and that these files cannot be read by the latest stable release of KiCAD.  In order to make use of these libraries it is necessary to install a recent build of KiCAD, which has undergone a significant overhaul of its footprint library support. […]

  • The Correct Pronunciation of “Geocache”

    I’ve often been told that I pronounce the word “geocache” incorrectly.  Everyone else I have come into contact with pronounces it ‘geo-cash’.  The same pronunciation is used for the word cache on its own; everyone else seems to pronounce it ‘cash’. Personally, I pronounce the word “cache” as ‘cay-shh‘.  And that’s because I’m right and all […]

  • Is Ebay worth it?

    Recently I decided to sell my Xbox 360 console on Ebay.  I never use it, so it just sits there gathering dust and taking up precious space.  Meanwhile, its resale value is constantly dwindling.  In a few years a used Xbox 360 console will probably be equivalent to junk, such is the state of our […]

  • JVC TH-S5 Diagnosis and Repair

    Symptoms I’ve owned the JVC TH-S5 home theatre system for many years.  It could be as much as 8 or 9 years.  In all that time it’s been a reliable machine, although to be fair it’s also had quite an easy life; I don’t watch much TV (what self-respecting Engineer and tinkerer has time for […]

  • Resolving duplicate part name problems in KiCAD

    The Problem In KiCAD, a problem occurs when you try to create a new schematic symbol for a custom library and you happen to give it the same name as another part that exists in a different library. For example, let’s say you decide to create a part called “MAX3232”, and there happens to be […]

  • An exploratory ride through St.Martins Woodland, Laugharne

  • 35km Mountain Bike Trip to Margam Park

    I completed a 35km mountain bike ride from Port Talbot, up to Bryn Reservoir, then into Margam Country Park and then back to Port Talbot again.  It was fun!

  • Amiga 1200D Indivision-AGA MKII Installation

    Introduction This post is a step-by-step tutorial for installation of the IndivisionAGA MKII hardware into an Amiga 1200 Desktop machine.  The target Amiga already has a FastATA fitted and there are some extra (easy) steps that will be necessary in order to allow these two peripherals to be fitted together in the machine at the […]

  • Hardware Hacking the IOMEGA StorCenter ix2-200

    Introduction The StorCenter ix2-200 is a RAID network drive supplied by iomega.  I have used the 2TB version for about two years now to keep secure (backed up) copies of my precious data.  Any data I write to the device is mirrored on its paired 2TB drive inside the unit, so one drive can fail […]

  • Rescued CDTV from the crusher

    A good find… It’s a chore to find yourself lugging junk down to the tip.  But every now and then you happen across a diamond in the rough! Today was my day to score as I spotted a Commodore CDTV unit lurking in a dark corner of the electrical disposal area.  She was looking poorly […]

  • Happy Pi Approximation Day 22/7!

    Happy Pi Approximation Day 2013! If you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, then allow me to explain.  In mathematics, science & engineering, π is regularly used in descriptions of circular motion.  This includes electrical waveforms and A.C. theory.  Today is the 22/7, and mathematicians commonly use the fraction 22/7 as an approximation of π. […]

  • Louise

    Some photos of Louise, my Land Rover, that are too good not to post but are lacking enough content for a post on their own.

  • Super Moon Sunday

    Those of us who are fortunate enough to have been born in a developed country are blessed with learning opportunities that no society on Earth has ever enjoyed before.  The information age has made it possible for rational human beings all over the developed world to discover and learn about any subject of their choosing. […]

  • Amiga 500 eaten alive!

    I’m having some fun messing around with a few of my old retro computers at the moment and, inspired by EEV Blog’s recent teardown and successful boot of a 25 year old Amiga 500 I decided to get my old girl down from the attic and give her a go. Unfortunately my attempts were rather […]

  • Sinclair ZX Spectrum Composite Video Modification

    Introduction The Sinclair ZX range of computers were among the first affordable computers and kick-started the UK’s home computer revolution in the 1980s.  These machines relied on consumer television equipment for their display output and, as such, they featured an RF modulated output so that users could simply “tune-in” to them on their television sets. […]

  • Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! Happy New Year!

    Happy New Year! 2012 was a tough year for me personally, and I only set myself one goal for the year which was to start (and continue) giving blood.  I achieved that goal and have given blood 3 times so far with my 4th appointment in just a few days. Here are my goals for […]

  • Digital Multimeter Accuracy Explained

    Introduction The digital multimeter is the most widely used test instrument in the electronics industry.  It is the standard tool for electronics Technicians and it’s usually the first test/diagnosis tool that a newcomer to electronics will purchase. Despite this, multimeter capabilities and especially the concepts of multimeter accuracy are often misunderstood or ignored.  I have […]

  • Agilent U1253B Input Impedance Problem

     Gotcha! I’ve experienced a problem recently whilst measuring high voltages with a 1000:1 high voltage probe and an Agilent (U1253B)/Fluke (28II) multimeter.  The problem is that the two meters don’t agree with each other!The Fluke (my meter of choice) returns voltage readings within expectation all the way up to 12kV (12V as displayed on the […]

  • The “Repair Man” Trap

    Anyone who has ever worked in the electronics trade will almost certainly have been asked to repair consumer electronics products for friends, family and even random neighbours.  How do you deal with these requests? Do you politely decline or do you end up getting sucked in? Rookies usually get sucked in.  I’ve been there, done […]

  • The HEINZ Weight Watchers SWIZZ

    So, picture the scene;  you’ve been up since 6am, you’ve suffered the dreary commute into work, you’ve slaved away all morning without stop, and you’re looking forward to sitting down for five minutes peace with a nice bite to eat.  You’ve brought along a HEINZ beef in peppercorn sauce ready-meal, and it sounds delicious.  A […]

  • 2012 Formula 1 Season Begins! Good Luck Lewis!

    The 2012 Formula 1 season has officially started! I for one will be wishing Lewis Hamilton the very best of luck this year; he had his fair share of bad luck last year that’s for sure. I am also willing to put my money where my mouth is (as little as I can afford, anyway) […]

  • 3.14159265 – Happy Pi Day!

    Happy Pi Day!!! Pi Day is traditionally held on 14th March to celebrate the irrational number π – 3.14159265.  π is the ratio between the circumference : diameter of a circle and cannot be expressed as an exact fraction.  It is also a transcendental number.  I have often thought long and hard about these kinds of numbers and […]

  • Happy Darwin Day!

    Charles Darwin Portrait

    Darwin Day is a global celebration of science and reason held on or around Feb. 12, the birthday anniversary of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin. Happy Darwin Day! International Darwin Day           .

  • Website now live and (mostly) functional

    My site is now live and for the most part, fully functional! Over the coming weeks I will be adding all my old content back in.  My electronics projects should be back soon!

  • RC5 Decoder

    Introduction I completed this design a number of years ago when I was still learning to program.  In fact, this was my first “proper” project that I directed my new-found programming skills towards.  My programming skills have improved by many orders of magnitude since, and with that in mind I was a bit ambivalent about […]

  • brianhoskins.co.uk goes live

    My website has officially gone live! It was a right pain in the backside converting from a locally hosted site to a server hosted one.  I wanted to be able to just copy all my local files over to the server and job done, but that so wasn’t the case.  Eventually I discovered the export […]

  • Strata Florida September 2011

  • Sarn Helen 20 August 2011

    A trip to Sarn Helen with members of the Discovery Owners Club on 20th August 2011.

  • Bluebird Landspeed Record Attempt

    Pendine Sands, 13th and 14th August 2011 Introduction The famous Campbell family have been using the long stretch of flat sands at Pendine beach in West Wales for record attempts since 1924, and the weekend of 13th/14th August 2011 continued this trend as  Don & Joe Wales (Grandson & Great-Grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell respectively) used Pendine to […]

  • Hacking a Nokia7710 GLCD

    Hack! The other day I stumbled across an old Nokia mobile phone sitting helplessly in the drawer.  It’s not really that old, but already it’s pretty useless in terms of what we expect from a mobile phone in this day and age.  What should I do with it? Throw it away? No! What self-respecting electronics […]

  • Merthyr Quarry October 2008

  • Brechfa with West Wales club August 2008