Projects

Hello. I know it’s been a while, but then i haven’t had any major projects on to talk about. However, i have settled on what i’m going to tackle next.

It’s going to be a home automation and media control system. The front end will run natively on an android tablet and the back end will either run on Linux or Windows. Probably windows since i have plenty of my own code for doing serial, network and threading.

Phase 1

Phase 1 is prototyping, using IR hardware to send and receive data to control things like the TV, AVR, MediaPC. The hardware i’ve seen is here http://www.irblaster.info/ It’s basically an IR LED on the end of a serial cable – a very dumb device. It’s supported by the LIRC project though, which means i can use code from that in developing my own. I will get a reciever as well so i can programme my system using existing remote controls.

Phase 2

This will involve turning the phase 1 prototype into a remote back end which communicates over the network and using an android tablet to trigger commands.

Phase 3

Who knows? The basic premise is that i will be able to put the noisy media PC in the rack downstairs and use HDMI other ethernet to get the video back to the living room. Control would then be via the android tablet. I will probably set the system up in such a way that the server will advertise itself and what devices you can control and the controls available on each (power, volume, etc).

Should be a fun project, covers some cross platform stuff, new technology (IR) and android development.

For the tablet, i had been looking at the Hannspree Hannspad but eBuyer seem to have discontinued it, perhaps in preparation for a new model. It’s also gone up a lot in price since i first spotted it. If i can still get one when i come to buy it then it’s probably still a good buy. The modders have even got Honeycomb onto it! Working on android ROMs might also be a good project.

Stay tuned for further developments. It may take a while as the hardware is finance permitting!

Why exactly are they so expensive?

All i want is a contract which doesn’t bundle minutes or texts but does allow for data, all at reasonable rates. I thought i’d hit upon the solution with Andrews & Arnold. I have been following one of the boss’ blogs (RevK) and their status feed for a few months now because they seem to do a lot of exciting and interesting work, not to mention being extremely open and honest.

They’re doing cool things like L2TP termination of mobile data sims to your own LAN, or having mobiles as SIP extensions – but on the cellular section isn’t using VoIP. Plus IPv6 on everything. Their mobile tarriff is simply a few pounds a month (£2-3) plus your calls. Data at 3p/MB and none-geographic at highly reasonable rates.

Unfortunately they don’t yet do 07xxx number porting and since i don’t want to lose my number, i can’t switch my service to them.

Everyone else wants you pay £15-20/month to include a measly amount of data, and useless minutes which only seem to cover geographic and mobile numbers. Since i typically make less than 20 minutes of calls a month, almost always to none-geographic numbers, this is a complete waste.

Pay as you go is also out, because data charges are outrageous – on the order of £1/day or by topping up £10/month – defeating the object of PAYG.

I am being hassled by the people who handle my mobile contract (no longer the cellular provider as they have outsourced my account without telling me) to make a decsion on an upgrade. I will have to call them and discuss what sim-only options there are. The phones they have given me in the past have been rubbish anyway and not worth the free upgrade.

It’s been a little while since i posted, however, i have done something worth blogging about now, i’ve written a script to help convert all my FLAC music to MP3. Because i’m now getting the train to work every day i listen to a lot more music on my mp3 player/phone, neither of which will do flac.

To solve this i created a new CentOS VM in virtualbox (i needed a linux workbench anyway, some things (like scripting) are a lot easier this way). The only packages i needed were flact (and metaflac) and LAME.

The script was written with references to

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Convert_Flac_to_Mp3

http://www.linuxtutorialblog.com/post/solution-converting-flac-to-mp3

Plus the usual suspects like wikipedia, man pages, flac and LAME websites.

This script is fairly well commented but basically it will copy a directory structure where flac’s are and then copy them as MP3′s into the new directory structure. For MP3s which already exist (based on filename only) it will skip processing.

#!/bin/bash

# Flac2MP3
# Dave @ Lewty.org.uk
# www.lewty.org.uk
# 17/01/2011
# Usage: Specify the input, output and tmpdirs and run! really simple. 

# Setup input and output directories, these should exist! Tmp dir needed for tmp files
Input="/mnt/fileserver/OriginalLossless"
Output="/mnt/fileserver/OriginalMP3"
TmpDir="/root"

#Debug, check input and output directories
echo $Input
echo $Output

# switch to input dir, then copy the directory structure to the output dir
cd $Input
find . -type d -exec mkdir -p $Output/{} \;

# find all flac files in the source
cd $Input
find . | grep flac  > $TmpDir/InputFileList.txt

# remove extension to leave with path and filename (this will be used as destination filename/patch)
sed -i -e 's/.flac//g' $TmpDir/InputFileList.txt

# read every line in the temp file - each line is a relative path and filename (without extension)
while read line
do
 cd $Output
 if [ -f "$line.mp3" ] # check for existance of the file as an mp3
 then
 echo "MP3 version already exists, skipping"
 else
 echo "No MP3 version exits, converting from FLAC"
 echo "File to convert: $line.flac"
 cd $Input
 # collect metadata from the source flat
 ARTIST=`metaflac "$line.flac" --show-tag=ARTIST | sed s/.*=//g`
 TITLE=`metaflac "$line.flac" --show-tag=TITLE | sed s/.*=//g`
 ALBUM=`metaflac "$line.flac" --show-tag=ALBUM | sed s/.*=//g`
 GENRE=`metaflac "$line.flac" --show-tag=GENRE | sed s/.*=//g`
 TRACKNUMBER=`metaflac "$line.flac" --show-tag=TRACKNUMBER | sed s/.*=//g`
 DATE=`metaflac "$line.flac" --show-tag=DATE | sed s/.*=//g`

 # decode the flac to stdout and pipe to lame, passing config and metadata
 flac -cd "$line.flac" | lame -b 192 -h --tt "$TITLE" --tn "$TRACKNUMBER" --tg "$GENRE" --ty "$DATE" --ta "$ARTIST" --tl "$ALBUM" --add-id3v2 - "$Output/$line.mp3"
 fi
done <$TmpDir/InputFileList.txt

Enjoy!

Well my awful CityRover has died – head gasket failure. I was driving home and i noticed the temp go straight up to max, when i got home and eventually got the bonnet open (awkward latch) i took off the oil filler cap and it was covered with scummy mayo created by the oil and water combining together. Lovely.

So today i took the train to work and realised, that it actually works! The station is only 0.8 miles away from my house and it will cost me about what i spend in petrol in train fares a month. So i instantly save what i was spending on insurence plus the tax was due at the end of this month, i wish i’d done this in July.

Going home for Christmas is a little awkward, however, return train fare was £43, not at all bad, (less than the petrol in fact) and i can courier stuff in advance should i need to.

I’ll wait a few months and see how things are going before i think about getting another car, this gives me a chance to save quite a bit of cash.

Anyway, it’s listed on ebay, starting at 99p see http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140484785620&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

There was another article on The Register today about the BBC still trying to promote DAB, these sorts of things do annoy me slightly.

Fact of the matter is, FM covers the vast majority of peoples radio listening needs – at a time when radio listening is higher than it ever has been (See http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/28/rajar_dab_scrappage_stephen_fry/). The ONLY reason i’d get a DAB radio is so i can listen to Absolute in decent quality (it is only nationally broadcast in AM and FM in London), however i can listen to a high quality stream on the internet or alternatively via DVB-T!

Apart from a few small regional stations on DAB (which there are very few of) there doesn’t seem to be anything served by DAB which isn’t served by DVB-T. So why are we not building DVB-T based radios? Surely the common technology platform makes it quite cost effective to produce a device whose primary function is as a radio receiver? Make it incapable of outputting video and you still have a TV Licence exempt device. Make it have a video output and suddenly you have a video capable radio receiver. Retail wise, a budget DVB-T receiver can be had for £20, a basic set of PC speakers for £5, ok so a radio would have batteries a small screen maybe for showing current station but £25 retail, seriously, why are we not targeting that?!

Extending it further mean it cuts one entire transmission chain meaning radio stations pay less in licencing and equipment and consumers don’t get overwhelmed with the multiple ways of getting radio. At the moment stations need to support – FM, DAB, DVB-T, DVB-S and quite possibly AM too. It’s a tall order and costs and absolute fortune.

So here’s my proposal, ditch DAB, build DVB-T based radios!

Barclaycard. Yes i am mentioning them by name they deserve to be named and shamed in this instance.

I get a call from a number, this number is 0845 351 2259

This number is not listed on the barclaycard website anywhere and the call was pre-recorded, what’s more the message said ‘if you wish to confirm this call is genuine, please call 0845 351 2259′. Excuse me? Call the number i was just called on which isn’t listed on the barclaycard website to confirm? I think not. Naturally my first reaction was ‘scam’ so i called the standard barclaycard fraud number – after being on hold for 20 minutes i was finally told that they had indeed called me and that number is genuine. I shall repeat for future reference – the number listed above is a genuine barclaycard number. To confirm simply visit the barclaycard website and call the normal access number and ask them.

Anyway, after speaking to someone he said i didn’t need to call the number back as it was just an advisory. Later in the day i was called again by the automated number so i went through the correct process. Simply call the number back, they ask for the telephone number they originally called you on and two digits from your date of birth (selectable from the keypad, multiple choice). They then read out the 5 last transactions and ask you to confirm or reject them.

Simple as that.

The process is fine, the only thing that annoys me is that they think it’s appropriate to call from an unlisted number! Surely this number should be published in a prominant place under the banner ‘if we are going to call you, we will call from this number and no other’.

Yes the CityRover strikes again!!!

On a recent visit to North Wales it would appear that either the lower engine moujt or an exhaust bracket has gone, causing the exhaust to rest on the front suspension tie bar, making an absolute racket. Luckily it doesn’t appear to be doing any damage it’s just very annoying, i’m getting that looked at in a few weeks.

I did however fix the petrol filler nozzle – lots of super glue seemed to do the trick, although it has now come loose again so i need to put some more on – it’s not twisting round just side to side so it’s still performing it’s function.

The biggest recent annoyance though was the fan direction control for the heater/cooler, it wouldn’t turn around to windscreen demist position. After lots of cursing and swearing, i got most of the dash apart (still didn’t manage to fully get into the control) i discovered that at some point the wire between the control and the fan controller has broken and some f***ing dimwit amateur has ‘repaired’ this with a string of cable ties, i mean honestly, what kind of bodge job is that?. In the end i cut the cable ties and managed to push the direction control around by hand – it is next to the drivers left foot just below where the dash comes down to, in the central pillar.

I also had to replace the front tyres, i used a place called Direct Tyres on Dock Road, Birkenhead, without booking i got two brand new tyres, fitted there and then on a Saturday morning with new valves for £80, inc a 3% Surcharge for credit card. Not too bad i thought, certainly cheaper than KwikFit et al.

I think thats about it on the car front but it is starting to peeve me off somewhat.

Recently i’ve started reading a couple of different peoples blogs, the first is RevK (i don’t know his real name) who runs Andrews and Arnold (www.aaisp.net). It’s quite amusing i follow his blog and the A&A Incidents RSS feed (http://status.aaisp.net.uk/) It’s quite amusing as the incidents feed has a fairly dry ‘We’ve lost links on X exchange, BT have been notified etc’ then some time later there may be a blog post along the lines of ‘Our favourite Telco are not listening to us again today’ See: http://revk.www.me.uk/

The second blog i’vee been following is Garrett D’Amore’s (http://gdamore.blogspot.com/). He was one of the BigWigs at Sun before the Oracle debacle and has now started the illumos project (www.illumos.org). He’s quite interesting and it’s quite an easy way to stay up to date with the Illumos project.

The point of mentioning these two is that every time i visit their blogs and there haven’t been any new posts (generally once a day) it annoys me, however, i haven’t posted to months so if i do have any followers (i’m not entirely convinced i do) then i’m disappointing them hence the reason for this post…

Well i do have my car back, and i’m £400 poorer unfortunately.

There wern’t any major problems, however, where parts were required (brakes) they are quite expensive – £75 for pads. The rest comes from service items (filters and so on), battery and a few bits and bobs.

Aside from the timing belt and lower engine mount it’s in good condition – fual gague and indicator stalk i will just live with as they are not major at all. I’ll source the engine mount in slow time and ring round the former MGR dealers on the Wirral for a price on a timing belt change.

In 3-6 months i’ll have the timing belt done, lower engine mount and front tyres. In 12 months time it should be well maintained and be looking good for a private sale (after a good solid clean and polish) or as a Part Ex car.

The crappy ShittyRover is going to cost me £300-400 and i can’t have it for 2 days, to repair. So in all, i have a godawful car and i’m £500 out of pocket because some stupid woman couldn’t pay attention. How nice.

Not to mention that you can’t get timing/locking pins for it so that in 12 months time you can’t change the timing belt so it’s effectively worthless as if it goes, the engine is destroyed.

I can’t afford to flog it because i can’t afford to get anything else. It really makes my angry that my 220 is still parked outside the office – completely fine apart from the rear end damage and it’s going for scrap as soon as they can be bothered to get off their overpaid backsides and come and collect it.