Category: Computer

Computer Stuff

Unbrick Royaltek RGM 2000 "Bluemouse" GPS Mouse

Hi there, I was working on an Serial GPS Mouse, Type Royaltek RGM 2000, also called "Blue Mouse", which became famous for beeing deployed with an Medion GPS Kit Years ago. Its an really cool looking Mouse (Serial/Usb depending on the properitary Connector you attach), powered by an Y-Cable with 5 Pins, powered by an quite old SiRF 2 Chipset. I did solder my own Data and Poweradaptor, which worked great. But as I wanted to be "up-to-date", I searched the Web for some more recent Firmware, stumbled upon some, flashed - and killed the Mouse ~.~''... (wrong Firmware for wrong Mouse... Couldn't set it anymore to SiRF to Flash it or ANYTHING! )...

Well... horrible thing, I browsed the Web, knowing not much about GPS Mouses and stuff, but at some point I came up with the knowledge about an 2 Staged Bootloader - an Internal and an External Flash: While the external contains the GPS Software, the internal Flash only consits of the "Bios" and provided the Recovery Mode - and thats what I wanted. Basic idea is following: You grab the VCC (5V+ in that Case), get some 10k - 15k Resistor before that and Short Circuit the "Boot Sel" Pin on the SiRF Chipset, get some Power on your Mouse... and voilá: Boot Mode! Well, sounds easy, doesn't it? Believe me, its horrible! ^^' Couldn't find any useful Datasheets and Google couldn't help me at all. Sadly. But well, hey, that thing is dead already, so lets have some fun and discover - maybe we find out! And what shall I say? I made it! I could recover flash the Mouse and now its supplying data again, running NMEA or SiRF Data - what I wanted and choose!

Good Stuff, so as there is no stuff in the net, I will hook you up with some little Instructions to get your RGM 2000 working again. So, lets go!

Needed Stuff:

- Terraterm

- Royaltek RGM 2000 Firmware ( http://www.mikrocontroller.net/topic/104240#1509333 )
- Royaltek Flash (contained in "RBT-3000 PCv1.3".zip in the AP Download, Discont. Archiv of www.royaltek.com)
OR Complete Package: Firmware + Flash Tool ( http://www.mikrocontroller.net/topic/104240#1509564 )

- SiRF Demo & SiRF Flash 3.1 ( http://www.falcom.de/support/software-tools/sirf/ )

1. Remove the two labels at the Buttom of the Mouse, you'll see two screws - open it up!

2. The big thing on top of the Mouse is the Antenna - you need to remove it by desoldering it - and one of the two metal shieldings - the one which is closer to the cmos akku / battery (not the one from which the antenna cable comes out!)

3. Get some cable, connect it to the red connector cable of the Mouse (5V), connect an 10k - 15k Resistor to it and connect it manually with the Bootsel Point (First Picture Red marked Point).

rgm2000-memoryrgm2000-bootsel

4. Set your Terraterm to 4800 Baud, Connect the GPS Mouse and power up the Device while you hold the Resistor to the Bootsel Point. You should see following in Terraterm

unbrick_rgm2000_1

You need to hold the Point about 2 Seconds. It should not give anything else but this "Symbol". If thats done, you have succesfully booted it into Recovery Mode. You can let go of the Bootpoint. Close Terraterm and load the RoyalTekFlash.exe

5. Set RoyalTekFlash to the following settings (correct to your Com Port!) and press Start, it should come up and flash the Device. If not, you maybe got the wrong Com Port, your Mouse did not correctly boot into the Boot mode or you still got any Programm running that uses the Com Port. The Programm will start erasing the Memory and then flashing with the new Firmware.

unbrick_rgm2000_2

unbrick_rgm2000_3

6. At 99% an Communication Error will occur. Most certainly. No problems, just accept it, its ok.

7. You're done! Reset your Mouse and connect with the SiRF Demo - (Nmea, 4800 Baud) - you'll see the Data again. You can now set the Mouse to SiRF Mode and 38400 Baud and reflash it with the same Firmware again with the SiRFFlash 3.1 Tool (38400 Baud, External Bootmode, Erase whole chip, choose the File and click Execute) - and after that load Factory Settings in SiRF Demo. Just to be sure that everything has been flashed correctly.

8. Resolder and Reassemble the GPS Mouse

Congrats, and thanks very much to Peter Bandhauer of  the http://www.mikrocontroller.net/ Forums which supplied me with the Firmware Dump (231.000.000) - without you I would never got that thing working again! Thank you!!!

rgm2000-sirf(Bottom View, just to complete the Documentation)

Repair Mac G4 Powersupply

Most old G4s PowerPCs have Problems with the Elkos of their Powersupply.
If you're a bit into Soldering, you can quite easily exchange these and get it working again.
Sadly, it didn't work out for me, maybe something different wrong...

BUT - for the sake of helping you out, I made a Picture with the Specs of the Elkos that normally "fail".
Red are the ones which actually were really dead as I measured the old ones (i.e. the 25V 100microF had only 68microF left),
Green were the ones that "still worked" / were in quite good condition.

But thats only from one Powersupply, on yours it might look different.

But anyway, good luck!

Mac OS X Install Problems

Last time I wanted to install Mac OS X Leopard on an Mac and had the problem of an DVD that was always reported as "defect" - It could boot but not install.
So, I came around an quite easy solution:
Installing Mac OS X Tiger - and then Updating!
Seemd that my DVD is somehow only scratched where the "Complete Reinstall" Files are.

Ah, and by the way:
I had for ages the Problem of Warcraft 3 etc which didn't wanted to run under Mac OS X (both Tiger and Leopard) in the latest Version.
It always crashed as I choose "Option" in Game.
Solution is quite easy:
Go to ~/Library/Preferences and erase the com.blizzard.WarcraftIII.24 and Warcraft III Preferences Files.
Thats it!

UnStuck CD and the Blessing called Firewire Mode

Hi there.
So know that I started to life in the more recent Mac World (through an donated G4, thanks a lot! ^.^), I also feel the need to get a bit more to grips with this little fella.
The most basic stuff I did need in recent time:

Eject CD / DVD if "stuck":
1. Through Open Firmware
Press ALT + Apple + O + F after the beep as you turned the Mac on.
A white command line will apear. Enter eject cd and press enter.
You can do this again to close the drive.
( And mac-boot if you want to boot or shutdown )

2. Through Comamnd Line \ Terminal
drutil list shows the installed CD Drives.
drutil eject NUMBER does eject the CD from the numbered drive.

Target Disk Mode \ Firewire:
If you got two Macs, the most impressive thing is the Target Mode.
In Target Mode, you connect two Macs via Firewire Cable, start your Target Mac and press T as long as some nice Firewire Logo appears, and start the second One, with, for example, ALT Key pressed. This will give you an possibility to choose your Bootvolume. So, as Target Mode is active and the Macs are connected, also the DVD Drive and Harddisk from the Target Mac does show up! You can even boot his Mac OS! Cool. Ain't it? Thats useful in cases of Harddrive Crash or for example, If you want to use the other Macs DVD Drive if your other Macs is dead or not existing (Mac Book Air?).
Also you could set the "to be installed" Mac in Target Mode, boot into Mac OS install and install on the Target Macs Harddrive. So, you got some options, use them! ^^

Ah.. by the way, as this site figures out ( http://lowendmac.com/osx/leopard/unsupported.html ) you can also install Mac OS X 10.5.1 Leopard on an old 400 MhZ G4 by starting it in Target Mode and install Mac OS X onto its Harddrive! Cool!

Firefox and Thunderbird Addons Special

Some little Special about my most beloved and used Addons for Firefox and Thunderbird!

Firefox:

Adblock:
Adblock is one of the most well known and widely used tools. It does what it says: Blocking Ads, Popups and such.

Bugmenot:
Bugmenot is an integration of the Website www.bugmenot.com into the Firefox.
Bugmenot is an service on which you can add own login data to Forums and Websites which everyone else can use to login.
So, you don't need to register on every website to gain access.

Compact Menu 2:
Duplicates the menubar on the toolbar as a menu of menus.
Great for Eee PCs!

Download Statusbar:
Shows up a little bar in the statusbar instead of the big and unhandy "Downloads" thingy popping up. Really nice and better looking.

deviantAnywhere:
Does check up your Deviantart Account regularly.

Fireftp:
An fully fledged FTP Client. This saves you from installin another WSFTP or CuteFTP or whatelse.

LiveHTTPHeaders:
Useful if you develop shell scripts which use curl to login.

ProxyButton:
Does quckly turn proxy on and off.
Hints:
To install you need to turn check security off.
Enter about:config and add an Boolean Key "extensions.checkUpdateSecurity" with 0
Then install: http://downloads.mozdev.org/proxybutton/proxybutton-0.3.1.xpi
To use the proxy tool on startup, create a link to firefox.exe and end it with
-proxy 1 (to enable proxy) or -proxy 0 (to disable proxy)
http://proxybutton.mozdev.org/

TabMixPlus:
Does improve TabBrowsing with Firefox.

WOT:
The Web of Trust. Now thats important!
This cool tool checks up the website you're visting wheter theres some "un-nice" entry about it in its database.
Entries to this Database can be submitted after registration at WOT.
So you can acctually warn other Users from Phising and untrusthworthly shops and so on.
Should be installed on every Firefox and can also be configured as child-protection.

Xmarks:
Formerly Foxmarks is an Tool which can synchronize all of your Firefox Bookmarks from Home, Work, Laptop - etc.
You'll never ever come to the point of "Damn, I only saved this favorite at Work..".
It can also be configured that for example your Work PC does only get an special "Work" Folder, while the rest of the clients are getting the full data.
Additionally, Xmarks can synchronize the Password Database of Firefox.
Well, thats I thing I haven't tried and won't. Use KeePass to store and carry your Passwords securely!

Thunderbird

ContactsSidebar:
Does add some sidebar to your Thunderbird which contains the contacts like in Outlook Express.

Lightning:
An huge Calendar Application. Powerful!

MoreFunctionsforAdressbook:
Does add fields for things like Birthdate into the Adressbook.
https://nic-nac-project.org/~kaosmos/morecols-en.html

Provider for Googlecalender:
Does include your Calender at your Googleaccount. Very useful if used with Lightning

Thunderbirthday:
Does create an Calendar from the Birthday Entries from your MoreFunctionsforAdressbook enabled Adressbook - for Lightning.

Backup Data, Website and Mysql

Well, If it comes down to a simple Homenetwork - and a PC crash, normal situation is following: You're mostly dead in the water.
Why?
Because most ppl don't backup their data on a regular basis or do it wrong.
Actually, there are 3 kinds of pepole:
a) The person who doesn't backup
b) The person who *thinks* does a backup - but does it wrong
c) The person who does a backup and stops after a while because he is too lazy... and experiences a crash...

Well, I myself count am Type c) - I did backup for example my E-Mails in Outlook Express - but stopped after a while, and a year later I got a really big crash.
So, today, I use Thunderbird ( 😉 Thats plus, ain't it? ) and I do backup at least weekly - or on an "ohmygodthatcouldturnoutbadithinkishoulddoanbackupNOW!" basis.
And because I got three computers already in my network which does need backup and updates on an daily basis, I built myself an little nice Dual Atom based Server.

But thats another story.

So, here the best tools for backing up your data and my personal notices to that, have fun and take care!

Databackup:
Rsync
Rsync is the most widely used backup tool in the unix world. And it does also come in an windows flavor!
The best thing about rsync? It does only transfer file changes, and not a stupid "folder-to-folder" copy.
Rsync is a client-server based tool. So the best idea is to install the server on an "real" server with some nice RAID5 System,
and let the client do the work on for example your windows xp machine. Oh, by the way: There is no problem in having
an unix/linux rsync server and an windows xp client. Works out all the way. But thats not the only thing you can do:
You can also install the server and client on the same pc and use it to make backups from your usb stick to your harddrive (for example).
Rsync: http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/
DeltaCopy (Windows Rsync with Gui): http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp

FTP / Webbackup:
FtpSync
If you're the poor kind of person which does host its Website with an "you-get-no-shell" hoster like I am, you need to backup your Website in another fashion as rsync:
FTPSync seems to be the perfect solution because it only transfers changed files, it does reduces the amount of "for backup used bandwith" by a big deal. (I myself host about 600 mb now on files, pictures and other things - and this little guy is really an helper) FTPSync does run on Windows 2000 and above. It can use scripts / ini Files which allow FTP-To-FTP Sync, as well as FTP-To-File Sync. So, also useful if you build up your Website on your Homeserver and want to commit the changes.
FtpSync: http://www.cyberkiko.com/category/FTPSync.aspx

Mysql Backup:
Mysqldumper and phpMyBackupPro
As already mentioned, no shell access is a hard thing for an Website Administrator. Especially when it comes to Mysql Backups - called Dumps. Well, yes you can use phpMyAdmin to Dump these Files - but there is a maximum php execution time which does sometimes corrupts your backup - in case the database has grown too big.
In this case there are two tools which will help you: Mysqldumper and phpMyBackupPro. First: They both do backup and restore. That said, what are the main differences? a) Mysqldumper has the advatage of using multiple mysql logins, as given away by most hosters (you get for example 3 databases, and everyone got another login name and password - its more secure and you can use it and share it with other projects). b) phpMyBackupPro is easier to configure in terms of cronjobs, so automatic backups as Mysqldumper. Which of these tools you use is your choice, and depends on the features you need.
Mysqldumper: http://www.mysqldumper.de/
phpMyBackupPro: http://www.phpmybackuppro.net/

Tipp: You should use the Mysql Backup Tools in conjunction with FTPSync to Backup your complete account.

[Eee901] Create an Backtrack 3 Eee901 Usb Stick

There are dozend Situations in which Backtrack 3 comes in handy.
Backtrack 3 is an special Linux Suite of Security Auditing Tools which allow i.e. WEP Cracking, Network Security Checking, Sniffing, and so on.
To make this nice Suite a bit more portable, we will put it onto an Usb Stick and customize it with Eee901 Drivers, persistent Changes and Nessus 4!

Download:
Backtrack 3 USB Version: http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_download.html
unetbootin Windows: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net
Partiton Tool, like partedmagic: http://partedmagic.com
Eee901 Pack: 901_net_gfx.lzm (you'll find it in google)
Nessus 4.0.2: http://www.nessus.org/download/
( We need the 4.0.2 as Nessus-4.0.2-linux-generic32.tar.gz and the Graphical Linux Interface for nessusd NessusClient-4.0.2-es4.i386.rpm )
And you should help yourself to an free personal key under http://www.nessus.org/plugins/?view=register-info

Preparation:
First thing is you need to prepare the Usb Stick. For Backtrack 3, an 2 GB Stick should be ok. For Backtrack 4, you would need an 4 GB Stick at least.
1) Get your stick and partedmagic CD
2) Plug it in and boot to partedmagic
3) Create with the Partitioneditor 2 Partitions
- 1) fat32, 900mb
- 2) ext2, 1100mb
-> write down if your usb stick is sda1, sdb1, or what.
4) Reboot - again to partedmagic
Now create an folder called changes to the second partition.
Should look somehow like this (not nice, but should work if you're on sda2...):

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
cd /mnt
mkdir changes
cd /
umount /mnt

5) Done, boot to Windows

Installation of Backtrack 3:
1) Start unetbootin
2) Choose Disk Image, ISO and as file the Backtrack3 USB
3) Check wheter the destination drive is correct (your usb stick, fat32 partition) - CHECK TWICE! And Error would kill your System!
4) Press Ok and wait until its done, do NOT reboot
5) Copy 901_net_gfx.lzm to your usb stick, folder BT3\optional
6) Open syslinux.cfg in boot\syslinux\ and add following lines, which will be your new menu entrys for booting from the usb stick - with eee901 drivers.

label eee901save
menu label BT3 Graphics mode (Eee901) - Save Changes
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
append vga=785 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw load=901_net_gfx autoexec=kdm changes=/dev/sda2

label eee901
menu label BT3 Graphics mode (Eee901)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
append vga=785 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw load=901_net_gfx autoexec=kdm

WARNING! changes=/dev/sda2 MUST be changed to what you saw on the partition - and maybe you still need to try it out.
2 means second partiton and thats right - ext2 partition. This changes tells Backtrack where it should save the changes you make while working in it.
the changes could be sda2 or sdb2 or sdc2. But mostly its sda2.

Save after you're done

7) Open cmd and access your usb stick, cd to boot\syslinux\ and execute this:
syslinux.exe -ma -d \boot\syslinux H: (H: should be your usb drive letter... will be different!)
This will write the bootmanager to the usb stick with the settings you entered in 6).
After changing for example the changes line there, you will need to repeat this again, also.

8) You're done. Boot from the stick, it should work.

Insallation of Nessus 4:
Nessus is an auditing tool which is really strong - but is not complete opensource - so you need to install it manually.
Boot onto your Backtrack 3...

Install NessusServer
Nessus-4.0.2-linux-generic32.tar.gz
gunzip Nessus-4.0.2-linux-generic32.tar.gz
tar -xvf Nessus-4.0.2-linux-generic32.tar
cd Nessus-4.0.2
install.sh

Follow the install instructions

/opt/nessus/sbin/nessus-mkcert
/opt/nessus/sbin/nessus-adduser
cd /opt/nessus/etc/nessus
nessus-fetch --register XXX-YYY-ZZZ-VVV (Serial you obtained)

Launch the Server:
/opt/nessus/sbin/nessus-service -D

Install NessusClient
NessusClient-4.0.2-es4.i386.rpm
rpm2tgz NessusClient-4.0.2-es4.i386.rpm
pkgtool (Select NessusClient-4.0.2-es4.i386)
cp /usr/lib/libssl.so.0.9.8 /lib
cp /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.0.9.8 /lib
cd /lib
ln -s libcrypto.so.0.9.8 libcrypto.so.4
ln -s libssl.so.0.9.8 libssl.so.4

Launch the Client:
/opt/nessus/bin/NessusClient

Nessus Install taken from: http://forums.remote-exploit.org/backtrack3-howtos/22031-backtrack3-nessus-4-0-install.html
Rest from Remote Exploit and others / google

[Vista] How To Disable Network Auto Tuning and fix Connectivity Problems

Autotuning dynamically changes the TCP Window Size - which often causes errors as loss of network connectivity, firewall problems, and so on.

To show the status of this autotuning, you should check it with admin rights under cmd with this command: netsh interface tcp show global
To disable use: netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled
To reenable use: netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=normal

Another important thing concerning wireless problems - you should install Service Pack 2, as it does contain an bunch of hotfixes and other important stuff.