Recently, as I've previewed some of the images of past posts, I've noticed some are broken (though work fine when you click on them), and I'll be slowly fixing them.
Photobucket is the one causing the problems (might also be that I turned HTTPS on for the blog, it's hard to say), which I used to like using, but with how things are recently, I've stopped using them for images for new posts.
Again, it'll be a slow process, since I have to hunt down the picture on my server before uploading it to the new image hosting site and then update the link within the post. For now, just hold the control key and left click for any images that don't appear.
16 March 2016
15-pin D-Sub Testing Breakout Board
This wasn't the first circuit board that I've designed, but it was the first challenging one to do because I wanted to keep it as small as possible and that I had a lot to work around.
The holes for the pins and the mounting clip/hook thing wasn't really hard to do, since the datasheet told me all that I needed to know (even though I kinda ignored the suggested hole diameter a bit).
There was another 15-pin D-Sub tester at work that was made with the same PCB-mounted connector, a length of 15-conductor ribbon cable (originally 20-conductor), and some female molex pins with heat-shrink tubing around each pin. While it did the trick, it was annoying to sort through the pins, even though the main ones were labelled (which I later updated because there was a rare occasion that I needed to find one of the pins that wasn't one of the common ones).
Since I had created a couple boards or so before this, I figured this would be the much sane replacement for the mess of cables, as it would make it easier to use and be much more compact. But as I said, it became a challenge to keep the board as small as possible (to keep the board cost down) while trying to route the traces efficiently.
The smallest "standard" trace width in EAGLE is 0.254mm (0.01in, 10mil), which was what I tried to use, but when I thought I was done, the design rule for OSH Park told me that I had spacing issues (the spacing between the 0.254mm traces and the pads for the pins were too close to each other), and I think at that point, my only option was to make the traces as narrow as possible.
OSH Park's minimum trace width is 0.1524mm (6mil), which I used and was able to successfully complete the board. I marked pins 1 and 15, put circles on the main pins (1, 2, 9, 10, 13, and 14), put lines to denote pins 6 through 10, marked pin 15 for the connector (for proper mounting orientation), and then labelled the board on the bottom.
I now just plug the cable that I make into the tester, have one test lead in contact with the cable and the other on the corresponding pin number on the board. I haven't used it officially yet, but I have tested it to make sure it works (not like I had already checked the design enough times to make sure I didn't screw up the order). Since OSH Park sends boards out in threes, I've got a couple extra for whatever.
The holes for the pins and the mounting clip/hook thing wasn't really hard to do, since the datasheet told me all that I needed to know (even though I kinda ignored the suggested hole diameter a bit).
There was another 15-pin D-Sub tester at work that was made with the same PCB-mounted connector, a length of 15-conductor ribbon cable (originally 20-conductor), and some female molex pins with heat-shrink tubing around each pin. While it did the trick, it was annoying to sort through the pins, even though the main ones were labelled (which I later updated because there was a rare occasion that I needed to find one of the pins that wasn't one of the common ones).
I took the picture after I had discarded the twist-tie that was separating the main pins (rather after I discarded the mess).
Since I had created a couple boards or so before this, I figured this would be the much sane replacement for the mess of cables, as it would make it easier to use and be much more compact. But as I said, it became a challenge to keep the board as small as possible (to keep the board cost down) while trying to route the traces efficiently.
The smallest "standard" trace width in EAGLE is 0.254mm (0.01in, 10mil), which was what I tried to use, but when I thought I was done, the design rule for OSH Park told me that I had spacing issues (the spacing between the 0.254mm traces and the pads for the pins were too close to each other), and I think at that point, my only option was to make the traces as narrow as possible.
OSH Park's minimum trace width is 0.1524mm (6mil), which I used and was able to successfully complete the board. I marked pins 1 and 15, put circles on the main pins (1, 2, 9, 10, 13, and 14), put lines to denote pins 6 through 10, marked pin 15 for the connector (for proper mounting orientation), and then labelled the board on the bottom.
Bottom and top sides of the board without the connector.
I now just plug the cable that I make into the tester, have one test lead in contact with the cable and the other on the corresponding pin number on the board. I haven't used it officially yet, but I have tested it to make sure it works (not like I had already checked the design enough times to make sure I didn't screw up the order). Since OSH Park sends boards out in threes, I've got a couple extra for whatever.
Top, bottom, and front sides of the board with the connector.
Mei-chan Upgrade
Back in October (2015), I kinda vaguely posted about the Blu-ray upgrade that Mei-chan got. I'll just be giving a few extra details that I missed (and also a picture I never posted).
Because I had about 300 DVD disks to copy, I kept the DVD-RW drives connected (albeit not in the same place), since copying 4 disks at the same time is a bit more task effective (though probably not effective time-wise). It's probably the only time I'll ever have four optical drives connected to a computer.
This was after upgrading the assorted hard drives that Mei-chan had to two 1TB hard drives. I'm hoping I posted about that, but if I didn't, there's not much to say about it. The hard drive upgrade had to happen first before this because there wasn't going to be enough SATA connections (never mind the lack of space), as Mei-chan only has six SATA ports.
Because I had about 300 DVD disks to copy, I kept the DVD-RW drives connected (albeit not in the same place), since copying 4 disks at the same time is a bit more task effective (though probably not effective time-wise). It's probably the only time I'll ever have four optical drives connected to a computer.
This was after upgrading the assorted hard drives that Mei-chan had to two 1TB hard drives. I'm hoping I posted about that, but if I didn't, there's not much to say about it. The hard drive upgrade had to happen first before this because there wasn't going to be enough SATA connections (never mind the lack of space), as Mei-chan only has six SATA ports.
Just a quick picture I took to remember the moment.
Apps and Battery Life
The article I read is: Closing Apps to Save Your Battery Only Makes Things Worse
I've seen a few articles about this on Google Play Newsstand, and have been ignoring them. Why did I finally give and click on it? Because Ting decided to post it to their Facebook page.
I'm neither going to agree nor disagree with the articles, simply because it depends on how you use your phone. I hardly use my phone, so I get home from work with about 90% battery life. I have a set of countdown timers running (because it's easy to lose track of time when I'm focused), and only really poke around on my phone during lunch.
I've always closed apps because I don't want it using CPU/RAM. Yes, the automatic resource management has gotten better over the years, but every-so-often I'll notice the phone lagging a bit, to find that I left a ton of apps open. This is mainly why I'm not going to agree or disagree with the article, because it's really a case-by-case issue. For the general public that spends almost every free second on their phone, yes it's great advice, but for light users, it might not be the best idea.
I've seen a few articles about this on Google Play Newsstand, and have been ignoring them. Why did I finally give and click on it? Because Ting decided to post it to their Facebook page.
I'm neither going to agree nor disagree with the articles, simply because it depends on how you use your phone. I hardly use my phone, so I get home from work with about 90% battery life. I have a set of countdown timers running (because it's easy to lose track of time when I'm focused), and only really poke around on my phone during lunch.
I've always closed apps because I don't want it using CPU/RAM. Yes, the automatic resource management has gotten better over the years, but every-so-often I'll notice the phone lagging a bit, to find that I left a ton of apps open. This is mainly why I'm not going to agree or disagree with the article, because it's really a case-by-case issue. For the general public that spends almost every free second on their phone, yes it's great advice, but for light users, it might not be the best idea.
15 March 2016
openSUSE Leap 42.1
I don't remember when I tested it, but there really wasn't much difference than from the first milestone, and not really too much different from the openSUSE experience (having to add the Pacman repository to get the closed-source multi-media codecs).
Like I said somewhere before, I'm liking Manjaro, and don't plan on looking back to openSUSE, except for the ARM architecture.
Like I said somewhere before, I'm liking Manjaro, and don't plan on looking back to openSUSE, except for the ARM architecture.
Cellular Phone Service Providers
The article I read is: Charge Mobile Data dumps your phone’s voice plan for pure data
While I find provider interesting, to a point, it's sort of a niche market (in my opinion anyway).
I've been with Ting mobile for a year now, and love how they price their plans... if one could call it a plan. Talk, text, and data are charged separately with its own tier structure, but you also pay for the number (a.k.a. "device"). Each device under your account costs 6 USD, and this is charged every month, along with whatever you use. If you don't talk, text, and/or use data for that month, you don't pay for those. For example, I just mainly use data, so I pay 6 USD plus 3 USD for the first data tier (1-100MB), making my bill 9 USD a month (a little over 10 USD after taxes and such).
The two caveats is that (1) calls from your cell phone to your voice mail are not free, and (2) any text messages you receive are also not free. Since I don't use text messages, I disabled that feature (there's better ways of getting a hold of me in a non-vocal way. But the main thing is that if and when I need to make/receive a phone call, I can. That one of my main irks with Charge, is that if someone can't contact you directly via telephone number (without having something set up).
The other problem with Charge is that it only works on Sprint's CDMA network at the moment, whereas Ting works on both CDMA and GSM (the latter being on T-Mobile's network). I'm sure Charge will expand, but it's a limitation that's not in their favour at the moment.
There's also Google's Project Fi, which doesn't seem bad either, but it's also not for me. 20 USD for unlimited talk and text (including international texts), and then 10 USD for every GB of data. Unused data (to the nearest 100MB I'm assuming) is refunded back to you, which is nice, but in my case, I'd be paying 21 USD (before taxes/fees), which is more than what I usually pay with Ting (between 9 and 12 USD before taxes/fees).
I've learned to be more frugal with my data plan with Ting, and so I hardly go over 100MB a month. Because of this, other providers don't really interest me much, because they can't offer what Ting offers me. And like I've said, I'm happy with Ting, so I haven't a need to shop around.
While I find provider interesting, to a point, it's sort of a niche market (in my opinion anyway).
I've been with Ting mobile for a year now, and love how they price their plans... if one could call it a plan. Talk, text, and data are charged separately with its own tier structure, but you also pay for the number (a.k.a. "device"). Each device under your account costs 6 USD, and this is charged every month, along with whatever you use. If you don't talk, text, and/or use data for that month, you don't pay for those. For example, I just mainly use data, so I pay 6 USD plus 3 USD for the first data tier (1-100MB), making my bill 9 USD a month (a little over 10 USD after taxes and such).
The two caveats is that (1) calls from your cell phone to your voice mail are not free, and (2) any text messages you receive are also not free. Since I don't use text messages, I disabled that feature (there's better ways of getting a hold of me in a non-vocal way. But the main thing is that if and when I need to make/receive a phone call, I can. That one of my main irks with Charge, is that if someone can't contact you directly via telephone number (without having something set up).
The other problem with Charge is that it only works on Sprint's CDMA network at the moment, whereas Ting works on both CDMA and GSM (the latter being on T-Mobile's network). I'm sure Charge will expand, but it's a limitation that's not in their favour at the moment.
There's also Google's Project Fi, which doesn't seem bad either, but it's also not for me. 20 USD for unlimited talk and text (including international texts), and then 10 USD for every GB of data. Unused data (to the nearest 100MB I'm assuming) is refunded back to you, which is nice, but in my case, I'd be paying 21 USD (before taxes/fees), which is more than what I usually pay with Ting (between 9 and 12 USD before taxes/fees).
I've learned to be more frugal with my data plan with Ting, and so I hardly go over 100MB a month. Because of this, other providers don't really interest me much, because they can't offer what Ting offers me. And like I've said, I'm happy with Ting, so I haven't a need to shop around.
Melty and Triela Upgrades
I apologise that this is not in chronological order, but considering it's just text (and the fact that I haven't properly been updating), I find it easier to start this way.
With Microsoft's free Windows 10 upgrade ending 29 July, I wanted to go ahead and get myself upgraded, so that I wouldn't have to worry last minute. I had remembered (I had forgotten before then) that whenever I have a reason to reinstall Windows on Melty, that I would upgrade the hard drive for the operating system to an SSD before doing so; the price wasn't bad, so I went ahead with it. The only problem with that was that I figured I should also do the same with Triela.
While I prepared the SSD for Melty, I ended up using it for Triela instead, as it was more likely that I'd need her first. I installed Manjaro first, so that Windows didn't try anything funny (though I read that the Windows 10 upgrade process leaves anything non-Windows alone), and because it'd be a bit faster, even if I had problems. I tried net install first, but while trying to download the entire XFCE environment, I was getting download speeds similar to dial-up internet. When I was trying to update packages after using the installer from the live disk, I found the speeds weren't much different, and then remembered about the command for
I also read to remove the
Windows was a different story. For whatever weird reason, after installing Service Pack 1, Windows Update became very slow, and I tried all sorts of things here and there to try to fix it, eventually giving up and leaving it. It took a while to get fully updated, but when it was time, I tried to use the "N" upgrade ISO (because I didn't want it installing things I was going to uninstall anyway), which asked me for a key, and so I decided to just use the upgrade program instead. It took a while for the program to do it's thing, including downloading the necessary files, and once it was ready, I let the program upgrade to Windows 10.
For whatever weird reason, while looking at the screen, which was a black screen with a turquoise-coloured Windows logo and the loading dots, I had a very slight anxiety. Eventually that anxiety turned into reality and the upgrade failed. I looked online and found that the simplest method was to try different settings when running the install program (e.g. "Keep my files, but not my settings" instead of "Keep my files and settings"), and when I tried the upgrade program again, it wanted to download everything again. It was irritating, so I decided to download the standard ISO instead of waiting for the program to do it (especially if it decided to fail again). But Microsoft kinda gave me the run around on Triela, so I had to download it with Mei-chan and transfer it via ethernet.
The update succeeded this time (could have also been the ISO, I don't know), and I was met with no internet - no wireless, no ethernet. Device manager had some yellow triangles on both, to which I installed the driver for ethernet first before uninstalling the driver from device manager. After successfully getting internet, I proceeded to do the same for the wireless, but turning wireless off afterwards.
I was quite pleased to find that Windows 10 was able to keep a constant connection to the internet with the ethernet, unlike Windows 7 (might be how my network's set up, I don't know). Other than that, I just reinstalled GRUB 2 with
Melty was a different story with Windows 10 (Manjaro wasn't much different than Triela, besides that I didn't feel like spending time manually installing
I expected the upgrade to fail, but it didn't, which was fine with me until I wanted to reboot to be able to reinstall GRUB 2 - I watched the loading dots spin around for a few minutes before holding the power button down.
I found that it shut down fine, but not reboot, and then while trying to fix it, I ended up fixing the reboot while breaking the shut down. I decided just to keep it that way, as I hardly use Windows and didn't want to continue to try to fix it.
One detail I didn't mention was that I did the upgrade for Melty on 5 March and not the same weekend as Triela. I'm glad I did, because I probably wouldn't have slept any (it was already bad enough I spent 20 hours on Triela broken up by 4 hours of sleep).
Is Windows 10 (6.3 for those actually paying attention to the version numbers) really worth it? Yes and no.
I also forgot that Windows 10 decided to install the drivers for the Radeon HD 7000 series on Triela even though the GPU is the HD 6750M, so there's a bit of screen tearing, but as I've said before, I don't use Windows all that much, so it's something I'll worry about if it becomes a bigger problem.
I've really been considering ReactOS, and have yet to test it, but if it turns out well, I may migrate to it. Overall, the process of upgrading a fresh Windows installation wasn't very positive, but at the least, it won't take Melty as long as it did to boot into Windows.
With Microsoft's free Windows 10 upgrade ending 29 July, I wanted to go ahead and get myself upgraded, so that I wouldn't have to worry last minute. I had remembered (I had forgotten before then) that whenever I have a reason to reinstall Windows on Melty, that I would upgrade the hard drive for the operating system to an SSD before doing so; the price wasn't bad, so I went ahead with it. The only problem with that was that I figured I should also do the same with Triela.
While I prepared the SSD for Melty, I ended up using it for Triela instead, as it was more likely that I'd need her first. I installed Manjaro first, so that Windows didn't try anything funny (though I read that the Windows 10 upgrade process leaves anything non-Windows alone), and because it'd be a bit faster, even if I had problems. I tried net install first, but while trying to download the entire XFCE environment, I was getting download speeds similar to dial-up internet. When I was trying to update packages after using the installer from the live disk, I found the speeds weren't much different, and then remembered about the command for
pacman to rank mirrors, which turned out to fix that problem.I also read to remove the
discard option from fstab and use the fstrim service instead, which was one of the first few things I did. Interestingly enough with net install, discard isn't added to fstab at all, while it's the obverse for the installer from the live disk. Booting from GRUB 2 was quite quick, as well as shutting down - while Manjaro was already quite snappy with the stock hard drive, the SSD just blew me away. Needless to say, there wasn't really any major problems, beside a strange theme glitch with Firefox, which was fixed by installing 
firefox, which removed firefox-gtk2 (why it was installed, I haven't a clue).Windows was a different story. For whatever weird reason, after installing Service Pack 1, Windows Update became very slow, and I tried all sorts of things here and there to try to fix it, eventually giving up and leaving it. It took a while to get fully updated, but when it was time, I tried to use the "N" upgrade ISO (because I didn't want it installing things I was going to uninstall anyway), which asked me for a key, and so I decided to just use the upgrade program instead. It took a while for the program to do it's thing, including downloading the necessary files, and once it was ready, I let the program upgrade to Windows 10.
For whatever weird reason, while looking at the screen, which was a black screen with a turquoise-coloured Windows logo and the loading dots, I had a very slight anxiety. Eventually that anxiety turned into reality and the upgrade failed. I looked online and found that the simplest method was to try different settings when running the install program (e.g. "Keep my files, but not my settings" instead of "Keep my files and settings"), and when I tried the upgrade program again, it wanted to download everything again. It was irritating, so I decided to download the standard ISO instead of waiting for the program to do it (especially if it decided to fail again). But Microsoft kinda gave me the run around on Triela, so I had to download it with Mei-chan and transfer it via ethernet.
The update succeeded this time (could have also been the ISO, I don't know), and I was met with no internet - no wireless, no ethernet. Device manager had some yellow triangles on both, to which I installed the driver for ethernet first before uninstalling the driver from device manager. After successfully getting internet, I proceeded to do the same for the wireless, but turning wireless off afterwards.
I was quite pleased to find that Windows 10 was able to keep a constant connection to the internet with the ethernet, unlike Windows 7 (might be how my network's set up, I don't know). Other than that, I just reinstalled GRUB 2 with
mhwd-chroot and hadn't any major problems with Triela and Windows 10.Melty was a different story with Windows 10 (Manjaro wasn't much different than Triela, besides that I didn't feel like spending time manually installing
lightdm and XFCE after net install).I expected the upgrade to fail, but it didn't, which was fine with me until I wanted to reboot to be able to reinstall GRUB 2 - I watched the loading dots spin around for a few minutes before holding the power button down.
I found that it shut down fine, but not reboot, and then while trying to fix it, I ended up fixing the reboot while breaking the shut down. I decided just to keep it that way, as I hardly use Windows and didn't want to continue to try to fix it.
One detail I didn't mention was that I did the upgrade for Melty on 5 March and not the same weekend as Triela. I'm glad I did, because I probably wouldn't have slept any (it was already bad enough I spent 20 hours on Triela broken up by 4 hours of sleep).
Is Windows 10 (6.3 for those actually paying attention to the version numbers) really worth it? Yes and no.
I also forgot that Windows 10 decided to install the drivers for the Radeon HD 7000 series on Triela even though the GPU is the HD 6750M, so there's a bit of screen tearing, but as I've said before, I don't use Windows all that much, so it's something I'll worry about if it becomes a bigger problem.
I've really been considering ReactOS, and have yet to test it, but if it turns out well, I may migrate to it. Overall, the process of upgrading a fresh Windows installation wasn't very positive, but at the least, it won't take Melty as long as it did to boot into Windows.
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