19 September 2012

Root and ROM Verizon Droid X 4.5.621


Here is my compilation of how to root and rom on a Verizon Droid X 4.5.621

Disclaimer: I am not liable for any damage done to your device and always backup before beginning.


Root:
  1. Download the iso from:
  2. Recommended: run a md5sum on the iso
  3. Use Unetbootin to write it to a blank USB drive/CD
  4. Boot from this new USB drive/CD
  5. Follow on screen instructions
  6. Congratulations you are now rooted! You should see a new super-user app.
  7. Install Titanium Backup from Google Play
  8. Run Titanium Backup, it will fix your root permission

Rom:
  1. Install Droid 2 Recovery Bootstrap
  2. Open it and have it Bootstrap your phone
  3. Install Clockwork Mod Recovery
  4. Open it and have it install CWM
  5. Choose Phone:
    • Droid X for installing Blur based ROMs
    • Droid X (2nd Init) for installing CyanogenMod style ROMs
  6. Have it backup your phone
  7. Install your favorite ROM; Here is a list of many of them:

Other thoughts:
  • As of this writing, CM7 does not install with the 5.X CWM
  • How to reboot into recovery:
    • Open up Clockwork Mod Recovery click "reboot into recovery"
    • Power Off Phone -> Hold in Camera Key -> Press Power until Phone starts booting -> Release camera key after 5 seconds





23 March 2012

LG Spectrum Review

Pros:

  • Gorgeous 4.5" 1280x720 HD screen protected by Gorilla® Glass

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon Dual Core 1.5GHz CPU makes the phone responsive

  • 1GB of RAM

  • 4G Data on the Verizon Network

  • 8 MP rear camera with LED flash

  • Front Facing Camera

  • 16GB Micro SD card included -- upgradeable to 32GB

  • Allows Grouping of Icons in App Drawer

  • Comes with Swype


Cons:

  • No Notification LED

  • Only 4GB of internal memory

  • Back is slick, so I had to get a case

  • Not on Ice Cream Sandwich yet

  • Wifi range seems to be smaller than my Droid X

  • Social Networking Widgets/Apps not as slick as MotoBlur


Comments:

  • Battery Life seems middle of the road (1830mAh)

  • Icons are bright and cartoonish

  • Speakerphone volume is sufficient

  • Price: $199 with 2 year contract, buy one get one free

15 February 2012

Best Firefox Simple Proxy Toggle

The best Firefox Simple Proxy Toggle that I have found is in QuickJava 1.7.5

It accomplishes the following:

  1. Has a toolbar button

  2. Simply toggles between No Proxy and Manual Proxy Configuration

  3. Toolbar Graphic remains synced between windows

19 December 2011

Creating a USB rescue disk


  1. First find an empty USB flash drive. I recommend at least 8GB, if you plan on saving changes to the drive. 2GB should work if you don't plan on installing updates.

  2. Partition the drive to have:


    1. one 750MB partition formatted as fat32

    2. one partition with the rest formatted as ext3 with the label casper-rw

  3. Use UNetbootin to install your favorite distribution's live disk (I use Xubuntu)

  4. Then reboot your computer and boot off the USB flash drive and install updates if desired!


You now have a working USB rescue disk!

Update 1/5/2014:
 I have found this to be slightly outdated. I now recommend using Linux Live USB Creator instead. As this software can even format the drive for you and install VirtualBox software to run inside windows.
  Here is where I downloaded the ISO from: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/

21 May 2011

Repairing Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500

I have been having problems with my Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500. Basically some of the speakers would not work at different volume levels, but it was different speakers at each different volume level. Also the subwoofer would not work at any level. The speakers also made a scratchy noise when using the master volume knob.

I thought it was hopeless until I read this article: http://blog.chadlindstrom.ca/archives/2010/09/dtt2500-repaired It gave me hope that my tuner could be salvaged and that I didn't need to buy new PC speakers.

I then followed these steps to repair it:

  1. Went to Radio Shack and bought some TV Tuner Cleaner and Lubricant

  2. Disconnnected the tuner from the speakers and power

  3. Removed the feet from the bottom and unscrewed the 4 screws hidden there.

  4. Removed the top and bottom pieces of plastic.

  5. From the bottom, removed the 4 screws that attach the top circuit board to the bottom.

  6. Carefully, pulled the top board up and away from the bottom board.

  7. Just to be safe, removed the 4 screws and pulled the LEDs out. This is optional.

  8. Carefully sprayed in each of the holes of the knobs and moved each one from lowest setting to highest setting several times. Warning: You may want to wear glasses or some sort of eye protection during this step as the cleaner is under high pressure and the spray may blow back into your face.

  9. Reassembled the tuner.

  10. Important: Left it sitting overnight to ensure that it dried completely.

  11. Hooked it back up and gave it a test and much to my pleasant surprise, it worked! My tuner volume and speaker issues were solved!

29 April 2011

Setting up a Samsung SCX-4623F under Ubuntu

I got a new Samsung SCX-4623F Multi-Function Monochrome Laser Printer from Office Max for $50 + tax after a trade-in of an extremely old ink jet printer.

My goal was to set it up as a shared printer/scanner for several Windows XP/7 computers. Below is how I was able to accomplish this.

Server Edits:

  1. Downloaded the Unified Linux Driver from Samsung's website: Samsung

  2. Ran that install process to install the drivers

  3. Did not use the install to add the printer

  4. Used Ubuntu's add printer wizard

  5. Ensured that the printer was shared

  6. Added the following lines into /etc/sane.d/xerox_mfp.conf:
    #Samsung SCX-4623F
    usb 0x04e8 0x3434

  7. ran xsane to ensure scanner was working

  8. Editted /etc/sane.d/saned.conf to add the subnet to share the scanner on. In my case it was: 192.168.1.0/24

  9. Added the sane user to the following group:
    sudo adduser saned scanner

  10. created /etc/xinetd.d/saned with the following:
    service saned
    {
    socket_type = stream
    server = /usr/sbin/saned
    protocol = tcp
    user = saned
    group = scanner
    wait = no
    disable = no
    }

  11. started the sane service:
    sudo service saned restart



On the Windows PC's:

  1. Installed the windows print driver from: Samsung

  2. Added the printer from the network

  3. Installed xsane on the C drive

  4. Editted net.conf to point to the ip address of my server


That's It! Enjoy printing and scanning from anywhere on your network!

18 February 2011

Server Build

Here are the components to my server build from 2009-12:

  1. Dual Xeon Server - $209.99 from geeks.com


    • 1x Intel Server Board SE7501BR2

    • 2x 2.4GHz Xeon Processors

    • 2x 512MB ECC DDR

    • 3x 36GB SCSI Hard Drives in Raid

    • 1x 40GB IDE Hard Drive - Removed

    • 1x DVD Drive

    • 1x CD-RW Drive

    • 1x Floppy Drive


  2. 2x Micron 1GB DDR PC2100 ECC memory chips - $46 for both from geeks.com

  3. 1x HP Adaptec 2610SA PCI-X Raid Card - $79 from ebay.com

  4. 2x WD Green 1TB 16MB SATA 3Gbps - $209.98 for both from newegg.com

  5. 2x SATA Cables - $5.98 for both from newegg.com

  6. 1x Powercolor 2400 Pro PCI video car - $36.99 from newegg.com

  7. Shipping: $44 + $11.45 + $5.99


Total: 649.38