Silabs Simplicity Studio issue

Recently this happened to me also:

Simplicity Studio stops in the middle of loading with message: Could not create the view: com/silabs/studio/interna/api/launcher/product/data/MCUDataManager.

Here is proven solution that resolves this problem:

• Close any documents or debug sessions you have open.
• Hit Ctrl-3 ("Quick Access") and type "Check for Updates".  Select that Command entry and double-click or press Enter.
• The "Available Updates" dialog should appear.
• The dialog will tell you "The operation cannot be completed."  Scroll down to "Eclipse Platform" and uncheck that.
• Hit Next twice.  Accept the licenses.  Hit Finish.
• After the update completes, restart Simplicity Studio.
• You should see a dialog about the new GNU ARM 4.8 toolchain and new part support (this is the expected outcome of the original update). 
• If you want the tools and support, say Yes, and update / restart again.  (You can install them later if needed.)

Source: Silicon Labs community forum

Marketing toy: Talking hamster

Recently my family won electronic talking toy by buying instant coffee "Jacobs 3 in 1". Toy is a little funny but nothing sophisticated. It records load sounds around itself and after a moment plays them back. When playing sounds it is also bouncing its head up and down. It operates using 3 AAA size batteries.

Talking hamster

Unfortunately this toy was too loud for my little son. It scared him. I disassembled it and found that audio signal current is limited with series resistor in speaker circuit. Originally there is 3 ohm. Replaced it with 10 ohm. Probably this value could be even more bigger, because sound is still in medium level. But this was first available part I found so it is OK. In picture below green circle shows location of this resistor.

Inside of hamster

 

 

Resistor helped with sound level, but other problem stays. Hamster moves its head too quickly anyway. I did not start to investigate this problem. It is a silly toy anyway. :)

MAX232CPE quality

Recently bought MAX232CPE from local retailer. I was surprised when saw package print. Logo looks strange and suspicious, printing quality would be better. I can not exclude that MAXIM is done changes to logo and made it more artistic. Whatever I don't know yet if part is 100% operational, but in mockup device it gives some living signs.

MAX232CPE package photo

DLL Export Viewer language localisation

Recently I took a chance and translated interface of one programmer's utility. It is called DLL Export Viewer. As program author writes on his page about this program: This utility displays the list of all exported functions and their virtual memory addresses for the specified DLL files. You can easily copy the memory address of the desired function, paste it into your debugger, and set a breakpoint for this memory address. When this function is called, the debugger will stop in the beginning of this function. 

Now this software is available also in Latvian. To use different language interface download your desired language zip file if available from developer's website and extract file dllexp_lng.ini in the same folder where executable file is located.

DLL Export Viewer is available here.

Batch file deletion in Windows using Forfiles command

Sometimes you may face situation when you have lot of files (several thousands) in some folder. It could happen because some program is creating them, logging something etc. When the files are really many than Windows explorer could hang-up and become really slow and even unresponsive. One of easy solutions is use special command through command prompt.

Datagrid object bug in Visual Basic 6.0 (SP6)

Noticed strange bug or some undesirable feature while developing application in Visual Basic 6.0 IDE.  I have static Data objects drag & dropped on Form. Objects are of type Adodc and Datagrid. Adodc properties (ConnectionString and RecordSource) are empty. I fill them during run time and then refresh in my code. Then comes this bug. Datagrid which is connected to adodc object already at design time, tries to delete leftmost upper data grid cell content. And if database field allows empty value, then this deletion really happens. And it all goes on even data grid properties are set not to allow updates, additions and deletions. DataGrid control and ADO Data Control both are updated to Service Pack 6. I tried several things and finally found a workaround.

Canon Pixma Pro 100 driver installation in complex LAN environment

Guys from Canon have not really figured out all steps that comes out when installing Canon Pixma Pro 100 for several computers in Wi-Fi environment. When installing driver for first time and device (printer) is not configured yet and is empty, it is normal than we need somehow to configure Wi-Fi settings in the printer. For this we use CD with software (or download from Canon site) and a USB cable. Installation is straightforward. You set-up first computer, than you can remove USB wire because it is not needed any more. And you can then print through Wi-Fi. Difficulties come in situation when there is NAT between computers and Wi-Fi and you want to add several more computers.

HP Photosmart 5520 printer Wi-Fi connection problem and fix

When you are using HP Photosmart 5520 e-All-in-One printer it is possible that you are struggling with frequent disconnects in your LAN infrastructure. That was the situation with me too. I checked if printer receives statical IP address, if it has strong Wi-Fi signal. Reinstalled driver. Connected it by network name and also by IP. Nothing helped. During a day it several times lost connection and user was not able to print and to scan. After a while connection usually restored, but such unstable behavior was not acceptable. Then I tried one workaround.

Intel boosts JavaScript speed

Intel together with Firefox works on special API that accelerates JavaScript by using parallel computing power of modern processors. It could boost speed by 4 times or more. Interesting will this performance increase be available to other brands processor systems? Anyway parallel processing is very hot topic in these days and I believe we will soon hear more about speed improvements on personal computers and ordinary applications.

http://goparallel.sourceforge.net/intel-brings-power-parallelism-javascript/

Asus x55a screen color distortion

Some laptops of this model can sometimes have interesting strange color defect. Colors is distorted, for example, white becomes pink, gray becomes green etc. Picture on external display or TV is good if you connect them. 

Pink screen. Picture from: http://i43.tinypic.com/68h26e.jpg

At the first sight you may think that color resolution has been switched to low resolution. Like 32bit color is changed to 16bit. After checking graphics adapter settings and maybe restarting you see that nothing of above are not helping, it is worth to check display cable connection. 

Red oval shows location of display cable. Picture screenshot from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0smuQY1fCyM

Access to display cable is very convenient in this model. Just remove the keyboard,you don't need to unscrew any screws for this. Just push back fixation clips at upper size of keyboard and pull keyboard towards you. In my situation display cable was not completely fixed into socket. You must push connector into socket till it stops and then fix it with good adhesive tape. Now your laptop is fine again. If not, than you should probably check cable's other end and cable them self.

Programming language rankings in year 2014

Organization IEEE has done very good job of gathering lot of data combining 12 metrics from 10 sources about popularity of different programming languages. They have taken data from git-hub and job advertisements etc. Rankings are weighted based on different viewpoints. You can take a look on these popularity charts from employee point of view or maybe from student perspective who wonders what programming language choose for more deeper investigation.

Windows 7 instalēšana no cietā diska

Iedomājieties situāciju, ka Jums nepieciešams uzinstalēt Windows portatīvajā datorā, kurā BIOS ir aizslēgts ar paroli. Un paroli Jūs nezināt, jo, pieņemsim, esat to aizmirsuši vai dators ir nopirkts lietots un paroli neviens nezin. Uzstādījumos ir ieslēgts, ka dators startējais no cietā diska un pāslēgt to uz USB vai CD/DVD vai LAN iestartēšanos nav iespējams. Daļai datoru šo paroli var viegli nodzēst, bet gadās arī "smagāki" gadījumi, kad Jums var palīdzēt tikai ražotāja atbalsta dienests, BIOS čipa pārlodēšana/pārprogrammēšana vai mātesplates maiņa. Viens no piemēriem ar šādu nocietinātu BIOS ir HP Compaq 6530b. Ja negribas sarežģīti un dārgi ķēpāties un no BIOS Jums nekas vairāk vajadzīgs, kā tikai lai dators startējas, tad piedāvāju savu recepti, kā uzinstalēt Windows šādā datorā.

TV Star T6 SD CX remonts

Ienācās viens no Lattelcom pirmajiem piedāvātajiem digitālās ētera televīzijas uztvērējiem ar defektu. Uztvērējs jau ilgi bija kalpojis un tagad beidzot tomēr bija sabojājies.

TV Star T6 SD CX. Attēls no www.derekis.lt

Aparāts uzkaras to ieslēdzot un uz LED segementu ekrāna redzams slīdošs uzraksts "Reset". Šī problēma bija radusies pēc tam, kad digitālās plūsmas atjaunošanas brīdī bija pārtrūkusi elektrības padeve. Internetā un arī Lattelecom forumā šīs problēmas risināšana ir labi aprakstīta t.i. tiek ieteikts atjaunot uztvērēja rūpnīcas uzstādījumus. Ja nu kāds vēl nezina, tad tas darāms šādi:

Adobe Reader sabojā failu asociāciju uzstādījumu

Interesanta lieta gadījās instalējot Adobe Reader 11 uz Windows 7 datora. Pēc instalēšanas vairākas programmu palaišanas ikonas uz ekrāna visas izskatījās vienādas un attēlojās kā ierastā Adobe Reader ikona. Pēkšni Chrome un Internet Explorer kā arī daudzas citas uz ekrāna virsmas un  uzdevumu joslā izskatījās pēc Adobe Reader. Nodomāju, nu mazums kaut kāda kļūda un nolēmu atinstalēt to Reader. Ikonas atgriezās normālajā izskatā. Nu neko, instalēju Adobe Reader vēlreiz. Šoreiz instalēju full standalone versiju, lai būtu citādāk. Rezultātā ikonas atkal nepareizas. Izrādījās, ka problēma bija tajā faktā, ka Adobe Reader bija piesaistījis *.lnk tipa failus izpildīšanai ar savu izpildfailu.

Windows XP atbalsta beigas

Vecajam labajam Windows XP, kas ar mums ir bijis kopā 12 gadus šī gada 8.aprīlī Microsoft pārtrauks atbalstu. Tas nozīmē, ka kompānija vairs nenodrošinās lietotājus ar drošības ielāpiem. Labā ziņa, ka arī turpmāk būs pieejama liela zināšanu bāze (Knowledge Base), kas ir uzkrāta pa šiem gadiem. Daži var padomāt: ko nu tur, lai jau neiznāk. Bet drošības situācija kļūs pat mazliet sliktāka nekā visu šo laiku iepriekš, pat ja kaitīgo programmu intensitāte paliks tādā pašā līmenī kā līdz šim.

Garage48 atskaņas

Ir tāds interesants urķu projekts kā Garage48. Nesenākais notika Tartu. Pats šogad nepiedalījos, bet paliku novērotāja lomā. Iespējams, piedalīšos, kad Garage48 notiks Rīgā. Bet, pat nepiedaloties bija intersanti, jo pasākuma vadītāji parūpējās par humoru, kā arī dažas piedāvātās idejas bija gana smieklīgas pašas par sevi. Šis bija pirmais pasākums, kura tematika bija "Hardware & Arts". Tas nozīmē, ka ierīces, ko dalībnieki centās izveidot bija dzīvē aptaustāmas un apskatāmas atšķirībā no Garage48 pasākuma programmētājiem, kur dominēja programmatūra un mājaslapas. Jāatzīst, ka arī šeit bija daudz programmēšanas, jo reti kurš "dzelzis" mūsdienās nav jāprogrammē. Daudz kas bija balstīts uz RaspberryPi un vadījās no viedtāruņu aplikācijām.

Manuprāt  interesantākie projekti bija:

• gudrā siltumnīcā uz dzīvokļa palodzes, kura automātiski regulēja gaismu un laistīšanu;
• automātiski ripojoša bumbiņa kaķiem;
• slapjo pamperu detektors,
• sniegā čurājošais robots (projekts no Latvijas, kurš saņēma balvu par labāko inženiertehnisko risinājumu) 
• Krēsla vibrētājs, kas atgādina ik pa laikam izkustēties.

Bija vēl daudzi citi interesanti, kurus tagad neuzskaitīšu. Uzvarēja projekts, kas saistīts ar augstpapēžu kurpēm. Sīkāk gan domu neuztvēru, bet kaut kas saistīts ar atbalstu veidošanu apavos, lai netraumētu kājas.

Bija arī viena interesanta ideja, kura gan neguva lielu dalībnieku atsaucību un tāpēc netika realizēta, bet man likās smieklīga un noderīga. Ideja sekojoša: parastajām ūdens kannām ir svilpe, kura sākt skanēt, kad ūdens vārās. Cilvēks to dzird un iet izslēgt gāzi un uzreiz var ieliet savā krūzē karstu ūdeni. Bet ko darīt, ja ir elektriskā tējkanna? Ūdens uzvārās, kanna izslēdzas un kamēr cilvēks atceras atnākt, ūdens atkal ir auksts. Risinājums: vajag speciālu signālu, kurš primitīvākajā variantā dotu skaņas signālu, bet trakākajā digitālo cilvēku pasaulē nosūta twitter ziņu - "Heij, ūdens gatavs!". Diez kādēļ tādas vēl netiek ražotas?

Pilnpiedziņas divritenis

Ar tādu varētu būt interesanti braukt pa slapju sniegu vai dubļainu MTB trasi. Izskatās, ka izpildījumā vēl ir daudz ko uzlabot, bet pasākums ir interesants.


http://www.allwheel.kimbike.com/

GC-Prevue atjaunošana

Populārajai Gerber failu bezmaksas apskates programmai nesen iznākusi kārtējā jaunā versija. Ieviestas dažas jaunas funkcijas un izlabotas lietotāju atrastās kļūdas. Interesanti, ka, ja uz datora ir uzinstalēta vecāka (kāda no iepriekšpēdējām) GC-Prevue versijām, tad to startējot parādās logs ar paziņojums, ka mājaslapā pieejama jaunāka versija. Paziņojumu var tikai aizvērt, bet attiecīgi arī programma automātiski aizveras. Tāds savdabīgs un ne pārāk izplatīts veids, kā piespiest lietotājus atjaunot programmu. Lai nu kā nekad nenāk par skādi lietot svaigāko versiju, it sevišķi, ja tā ir par brīvu.

http://www.graphicode.com/GC-Prevue