Just a quick teardown this month! This is an industrial RS-232/RS-485 to Ethernet serial converter.Not much to say about the outside of the unit, there’s the DB-9 connector for the 232 interface, and Phoenix connector blocks for the 422/485 interface. The main power input, and the Ethernet jack are on
Being in technology for a long time, I have seen my fair share of disk failures. However I have never seen a single instance where SMART has issued a sufficient warning to backup any data on a failing disk. The following is an example of this in action. Here is
I was recently given a pretty nice LED backlit 1080p LG monitor, with the instruction that it wouldn’t power on correctly. The monitor would power on as far as the standby light, but when fully powered on, would flash the backlight momentarily then shut down. A power supply issue was
Magnetic tape is the medium of choice for my offline backups & archives, as it’s got an amazing level of durability when in storage. (LTO Has a 30 year archival rating). For the smaller stuff, like backing up the web server this very site runs on, another format seemed to
Here’s another retired piece of tech that we used to route media from the NAS to the main TV. It was retired since it’s inability to support XBMC/Kodi & having some crashing issues. After attacking the case with the screwdriver (Torx in this case), the main board comes out.
Here’s a quick look at one of the now surplus cards from my old networking system, a MiniPCI Wireless interface card. This is an older generation card, one of the first with Wireless N support on 2.4GHz. Network PHY & firmware EEPROM. Power supply stuff is over to the left.
Continue readingAlpha Networks WMP-N06SA MiniPCI Wireless N Card
The multimode dimming/flashing modes on Chinese torches have irritated me for a while. If I buy a torch, it’s to illuminate something I’m doing, not to test if people around me have photosensitive epilepsy. Looking at the PCB in the LED module of the torch, a couple of components are
Continue readingMaplin/Refrakta Torch Modification & Mode Removal
Since I have a fair few 750GB disks sat doing nothing, I figured I’d get some USB3 caddies for them. Back when USB -> IDE caddies appeared, they were hideously expensive. Not so much these days! For £6 on eBay, you get a basic plastic box with the required bridge
I have recently begun to create an archive of all my personal data, and since LTO2 tape drives offer significant capacity (200GB/400GB) per tape, longevity is very high (up to 30 years in archive), & relatively low cost, this is the technology I’ve chosen to use for my long term
There have been quite a few updates to the hosting solution for this site, which is hosted locally in my house, from the above setup, in a small comms rack, to a new 22U half rack, with some hardware upgrades to come. Core switch here has been removed, with the
Here is a SCSI U320 Ultrastar drive with a slight issue: the magnetic coating has been scrubbed off the substrate. I’ve never seen this happen to any other drive before. The inside of the drive is coated with the resulting dust created from this rather epic failure mode. 00
This will be the record of building a new Media PC, above you can see the finished system. It’s Mini-ITX based, with on-board HDMI output, specifically to run XBMC via Fedora for media purposes. This is the case that is being used, around the size of a Shuttle PC. It
Above is the image projected from the Pi, on the default login screen. Distance from the projector is approx 10 feet. State of the art projector mount, fashioned from several cable ties. HDMI cable is plugged into the right hand side of the projector. Unfortunately the projector cannot handle audio
Here is a 2Gbit Fibre Channel transceiver from Cisco Systems in SFP module format. Here the shield has been removed from the bottom of the module (it just clips off). The bottom of the PCB can be seen, with the copper interface on the
Finally, the Pi has arrived! Currently running the Debian release on a 2GB SD, with some minor modifications. SSH terminal, running a screen session with a custom status bar. More updates to come! 00
Coming soon! Unboxing of the Raspberry Pi & first experiments! Estimated start of June! 00
Here is a Inductive charger designed for the Nintendo DSi. Cheap Chinese build, but it does work! Top has been removed from the unit here. Most prominent in the centre is a solid steel bar, simply there to give the device some weight. Pair of Tri-colour LEDs at the front
Here is an old type KVM switch, PS/2 & VGA interface. Details Label Top removed from the main body, the cables coming in from the bottom connect to the VGA, keyboard & mouse ports on the slave computers, the connectors at the top connect to the single monitor, keyboard &
Here is a cheap USB 8-in-1 card reader. Power & Access LEDs are on top left. Top of the PCB. The OTi IC is the interface IC to the USB port, part number is OTI002126. Card sockets on the top here are CF/Microdrive & Memory Stick. Bottom of the PCB
Cheap old style ball mouse. PS/2 interface. Top removed from the mouse, the ball fits in the gap in the centre. The slotted discs are visible which contact the ball & move relative to the surface the mouse is on. PCB removed from the shell. Pairs of IR LEDs &
This is a device to use an IDE or SATA interface drive via a USB connection. Here is the front of the device, IDE interface at the bottom, 2.5″ form factor. PCB removed from the casing. USB cable exits the top, 12v DC power jack to the left. SATA interface
An old Xircom Ethernet card for a laptop. This uses the old 50 pin PCMCIA interface. Rear of the card with the MAC address & card spec details. PCB removed from the outer shield. Xircom ethernet chipset centre. Special socket on the right fits a RJ-45 adaptor lead. 00
This is an adaptor to convert computer VGA to composite & S-Video output for a normal TV. Bottom of the unit with option select switch. PCB removed from the casing, CPU in centre, buffer RAM on the right. Reverse side with the VGA connections at the top & the S-Video/composite
An old IDE interface Zip drive. This fits in a standard 3.5″ bay. Top cover removed from the drive, IDE & power interfaces at the top, in centre is the eject solenoid assembly & the head assembly. Bottom is the spindle drive motor. Head assembly with the top magnet removed.
Old iPod with damaged screen. Here is the front with the Click Wheel. Cover removed from the back, here the HDD is the biggest visible part. Back cover removed from the unit, here is the back of the screen & the main PCB. Back cover with the battery & headphone