OpenMoko Notes

  • OpenMoko RingTones -- what it took for me to get a ringtone on my openmoko. (ancient build, on a GTA01.)
  • Setting the time -- From a shell prompt "rdate time.chumby.com; hwclock -w" works. Apparently busybox's rdate only uses tcp protocol, so my normal time.nist.gov dosen't work.

The Western Digital MyBook Home Edition

  • On the 500GB and 320GB models, I've found that the latches for opening the case for disassembly are under the rubber feet toward the front of the case (toward the side with the blue light).
  • There are two chips on the top side of the PCB. an oxford semiconductor OXUF934DSA-LQAG arm core, and a TI firewire controller core, marked 78ELRJTC TSB41AB2 G4. on the reverse side of the PCB is a SST 38vf020 flash chip, that appears to be attached to the arm core.

Access Points

The Dell TrueMobile 2300

  • I apparently received a newer revision of the TrueMobile 2300 than the one described on the  OpenWrt Table Of Hardware.
  • My version contains a BCM7412 processor, 16 megs of AMIC A43L2616v-6 memory (2 chips), 4 megs of intel TE2F320 flash, a ADMTEK ADM6996L four port switch, and an unknown wireless chip.
  • Pictures -- Pictures of my TrueMobile 2300 disassembled.
  • I was able to install openwrt 7.09 on this, by uploading the .trx file. unfortunately, there was no wireless due to openwrt not containing a bcm driver. the switch and the wan port both functioned properly.
  • I have found what appear to be jtag and serial headers, but have been unable to confirm.

The NETGEAR WGT624 v3

  • I own one of these too, with the intention to stick openwrt on it.
  • I received mine without a power supply, but someone was nice enough to tell me theirs is running on +12V @ 1A, with a positive tip. I've got mine on 1.3A, with no issues.
  • Pictures -- pictures of my WGT624 v3 disassembled.

The NETGEAR WGR634U

  • I received one of these with the CPU missing. posting the Pictures here for reference.

VOIP Devices

The Vonage or D-Link VTA-VD

  • Photographs of the externals and internals of this unit are here?.

GPS Units

The Rand McNally 1225B-R1 GPS

I have been able to confirm the Rand McNally 1225B-R1 GPS unit is based on the conexant jupiter chipset, and can be forced to speak zodiac protocol. To force the receiver into zodiac mode, and make gpsd detect it as such, issue the following commands: 

ni:~# /etc/init.d/gpsd stop
ni:~# echo $'$PRWIIPRO,,RBIN\r\n' >> /dev/ttyS0
ni:~# /etc/init.d/gpsd start

Laptops

The IBM 240

CD Rom Drives

Photography Notes

  • It sometimes helps to get farther away, and use the built in zoom to prevent 'fisheye' problems making machinery not appear square.
  • Always use a stable surface, even if you have to build it out of PCs.
  • Don't use flash with printed circuit boards. reflections are a killer.
  • Imagemagick's convert utility is handy for rotations, not so good for resizes, due to some blocking issues(??). for rotations, try: convert input.jpg -rotate 90 output.jpg