Category Archives: Reviews

Device, Software & Book Reviews

Adding range to a Dakota Alert WMT-3000 wireless driveway alarm

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Inside of a wmt-3000 wireless driveway transmitter
This is a photo of the radio transmitter inside of a Dakota Alert WMT-3000 wireless driveway alarm system. The wire coming through the hole drilled in the bottom of the case and soldered to the base of the antenna extends out to a 27″ wire whip antenna. Note the jumper circled in yellow. This jumper has a “high” and “low” setting. It is set to the “low” setting by the factory, and the “high” pin has been cut off. I found that the range was extended by soldering the “high” (cut off) pin to the center pin.
wireless driveway alarm with wire whip antenna

NetMedia iViewHD 2M POE Camera Review with ZoneMinder

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Small silver camera
I have recently purchased a NetMedia iViewHD 2M power over Ethernet (POE) camera (retail price $105) for use with ZoneMinder.

This small camera must be hard-wired into a switch that provides power over Ethernet (which will cost another $80-100, but allows you to power up to 4 POE devices). I bought mine used, and don’t plan on buying more. The one I bought would reset to factory defaults (requiring you to upload a new “website”) every few months, and after a year of use it died completely (won’t respond to DHCP address assignments). At used prices the NetMedia iViewHD 2M could be a good deal for daytime shots, despite my nighttime image quality complaints below, if the one you buy lives longer than mine, but I can’t recommend it.

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Jameco potentiometer grab bag

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So, if you purchase a few Jameco grab bags of potentiometers, what exactly do you get?

  • 100 – 10 Ohms a good number, plus a few 20 ohms
  • 500 – 50 ohms, a good number
  • 101 – 100 ohms, a slightly smaller amount
  • 201 – 200 ohms, a good number
  • 501 – 500 ohms, a metric boatload (filled up 2 squares in my organizer)
  • 102 – 1K ohm, a large number
  • 202 – 2K ohm, a large number
  • 502 – 5K ohm, two
  • 103 – 10K ohm, three
  • 203 – 20K ohm, eight
  • 503 – 50K ohm, two
  • 104 – 100K ohm, two
  • 204 – 200K ohm, one
  • 304 – 300K ohm, five screw pots, plus six larger slider pots
  • 504 – 500K ohm, a large number
  • 105 – 1 M Ohm, five
  • 205 – 2 M Ohm, seven

Of course, if you wait a few months, Jameco’s overstock may be completely different and their grab bags may have completely different distribution of potentiometers.

Best AT&T DSL modem for difficult conditons: 2Wire 2701

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We recently moved to a new house that is far from the central office, and apparently is served by some very old copper. AT&T’s computer system refused to sell us any DSL plans faster than 1.5 Mb/sec, as the lines wouldn’t support any faster speed.

I have tried using three different DSL modems at this house. In order of age and success:

  1. Westell WireSpeed (2200) B90 DSL modem – This modem works at the full 1.5 Mb/sec speed, for a few hours. Then it gets slower and slower, until it averages 7KB/sec for downloads. (Uploads remaind at full 0.3 MB/sec speed). Power cycling the DSL modem fixes the issue and restores full speed for 12 hours or so.
  2. Motorola Netopia DSL modem – This modem occasionally was able to get full download speeds, but typically would max out at 0.3 MB/sec (30 KB/sec) for the download speeds. (Uploads remained at a full 0.3 MB/sec.) Power cycling the modem did not improve things.
  3. 2Wire 2701hg-B DSL modem with integrated wifi. This modem was able to maintain the full 1.5 MB/sec download speeds. Perhaps because it is the newest of the three modems, and has a better DSL chipset.

It was worth purchasing a new DSL modem for this house. (Although the Netopia and WireSpeed modems have both worked fine in other locations.)

Philips SPC 900NC webcam: Linux / ZoneMinder Compatible

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Philips SPC 900nc webcam. Philips SPC 900NC webcam in box
The Philips 900NC webcam is Linux compatible (Tested with: Ubuntu 8.10, 9.04 & 10.04). Under V4L2 it supports 640×480 at 15fps out of the box. (The webcam’s box claims speeds of up to 90fps, but that is only for smaller resolutions, custom windows drivers, etc. You may be able to get better speed with an optimized Linux driver, but out of the box performance is satisfactory.) It supports ZoneMinder, but only if you set up the exact correct Device Format (NTSC M) and Capture Palette (YUV420).
It has good low-light performance, although it will not work in complete darkness without additional IR illumination.
Source Settings in ZoneMinder

XLH-3800 Barcode Scanner: Linux Compatible

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The XLH-3800 laser barcode scanner is powered by a USB port and pretends to be a keyboard. (It “types” the codes of barcodes when you scan them.)

I am happy to report that this (generic) laser barcode scanner works out-of-the-box with Linux (Tested on Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04), and does not require any module configuration like the ACAN FG-8100 barcode scanner.

The XLH-3800 is a true laser barcode scanner, meaning that it throws a rapidly scanning laser dot (100 times per second) out into the world, giving the appearance of a laser line. This increases the read range when compared to a CCD scanner, and gives a visual indicator of where to point the device.

Motorola Backflip (MB300) Review

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Motorola Backflip (folded open, ready to use keyboard)
I have been using a Motorola BACKFLIP as my primary phone on AT&T for the last month. It is my first experience with the Android OS and smart-phones in general (my previous phone was a Motorola Razor V3xx “feature” phone), as well as my first full QWERTY keyboard on a phone. Overall it has been a positive experience. For the rest of my review, keep reading…
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Jay’s list of the Best Android apps

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I’ve had my Motorola Backflip for a month and have settled on a set of applications to keep on my phone. All of these applications work with Android version 1.5. My Backflip has a Camera / GPS / Compass and Accelerometers. Where an application makes use any of these hardware components I’ve mentioned it in the description. If you think I’m missing a great one, let me know!
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