Bring your FI8908W paperweight back to life

If you're part of the numerous people who bricked their ip camera at any stage, maybe you kept it (as a door stopper, a paperweight or a dummy camera). In that case, there is one last thing you can try to make your camera functional again. It requires a small investment of less than €15 so I think it's really worth trying.

I obtained some information recently, thanks to Foscam tech support for most part, on a serial upgrade method that would fix cameras for which the firmware upgrade went bad.


A word of caution first: 
- I've only tested this method with the oldest FI8908W, not the Foscam "Logo" FI8908W  (fw v.11.14.2.26 and up).
- this should be experimented only if you exhausted your other options, like claiming a replacement under the warranty.
- this is also not guaranteed to work for all. It suppose that the boot loader in the camera is still intact.
- the recovery files are not normal firmware upgrade files and cannot be uploaded to the camera using the normal firmware upgrade procedure.

What you need:

- a USB to serial UART interface that does 3.3v logic (see photos). If dual 3.3v/5v is not specified, assume it does 5v only and don't buy. This should not cost you more than €15.

- some wires and female crimp pins to make the connections easier. I reused those from an audio cable for CD-ROM.

- the Foscam  FI8908W Recovery files (+ mirror) - They contain instructions and binaries to upload.
2011 Update: I've received these other recovery files (+ mirror) from Foscam and should work with newer FI8908W AND FI8918W

- a terminal software if you don't have HyperTerminal on your version of Windows. I suggest RealTerm.
- I also used some adhesive putty to help keeping the wires in place and isolate the wires from each other.

You have to unscrew the bottom cover of the camera to access the JTAG connector (marked J2). On some cameras the connector is there but without the pins; In this case, add a solder iron to the "What you need" list. The only challenging task will be to achieve a stable connection to it for the length of the operation.





In the documentation, the file IPCAM_PCB_Connection.xls shows where to connect the wires. The 4 pins, from right to left are used as follow:
Pin #1 - INPUT
Pin #2 - OUTPUT
Pin #3 - GROUND
Pin #4 - POWER (not needed)

The serial interface you buy may have more than 4 pins but the corresponding ones will usually be labeled as TXD, RXD, GRD and VCC. One important point is that you need to cross INPUT with TXD, and OUTPUT with RXD.

The file IpCam serial upgrade.pdf will tell you how to initiate the connection with the boot loader of the camera and what commands to issue in order to upload the recovery files, linux_4Mx16Bit_new.zip and romfs_cmos_11_14_2_17.img (for FI8908W and FI8904W)  into the camera. (included W90N745 uClinux BSP User Manual.pdf documents the uClinux commands).

Once your wires are connected, power on the camera, and if you see a screen like the one below, the rest should be straightforward.

Below is the documented procedure as it worked for me. In bold is what you type and in italic what is returned (don't forget to press ESC to enter debug mode as told on screen).

You can also watch this video as an example to make yourself familiar with the procedure.

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bootloader > del 6
ERROR: Image 6 is not existed   (there was obviously nothing to delete in my case)

bootloader > del 7
ERROR: Image 7 is not existed

with the new recovery files the address to use below has changed

bootloader > fx 6 romfs_cmos_11_14_2_17.img 0x7f0e0000 0x7f0e0000 -a
Waiting for download
Press Ctrl-x to cancel ...  (while it waits, you have to select Transfer > Send File in Hyperterminal menu, choose the Xmodem protocol and select the file romfs_cmos_11_14_1_37.img)
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
Flash programming ...
.........
bootloader > fx 7 linux_4Mx16Bit_new.zip 0x7f020000 0x8000 -acxz
Waiting for download
Press Ctrl-x to cancel ...  (while it waits, you have to select Transfer > Send File in Hyperterminal menu, choose the Xmodem protocol and select the file linux.zip)
CCCC
Flash programming ...
..........
bootloader > del b31 (Clears the flash parameters)

bootloader > boot

Rebooting the system ...

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The camera will boot and probably start moving during the initial check up phase, it's back !

The camera may report that no Web-UI is present. In that case, use the IP Camera Tool to flash a normal WebUI file the traditional way (don't use the recovery file for this).

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Something for non-Foscam devices:
I don't want to be Foscam-centric, it's just that I only have Foscam devices at the moment, so I'll put here similar recovery packages for non-Foscam cameras when available and to the limit of my free storage (mainly FileFactory & Google Docs). They're provided as is and I have no way to test them.

IP607 (EyeSight) found @ Chinavasion: This recovery package is the result of concerted efforts of the ip cam hackers
commenting below this post. It's been  made available by Admin  (mirror) and contains the adjustments to the fx 6... line. Please follow the instructions in the help.txt.

EasyNP FS 613A M136: Check this very detailed recovery guide from Oskys!

Changing the MAC address
Some clones, mostly from DealExtreme.com apparently came with the same MAC address, making it impossible to use them together in the same network. An easy way is documented here (mirror). I didn't test it, but according to the feedbacks on Ted's blog, it seems to work great.

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Some branding at last!

Foscam is primarily a OEM producer and therefore always left their products open to custom re-branding.
Over time, they acquired some popularity (probably due to both their firmware evolution and their present customer support) but it was nearly impossible to distinguish their products from others if you wanted to buy from them.

This is about to change finally as, starting with the December production, their product range will now carry a distinctive "Foscam" label.

Another small change will be the presence of the "IR Night Vision ..." sticker on the focus rim but this is already common amongst the clones.

So, provided that eBay resellers update their pictures, it should now be easier to buy a Foscam camera when  you want one.

More pictures of branded Foscam models on www.foscam.com

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Digital Note Taker Pen

I got myself the"gadget of the month" from the local hard-discount shop and started to play with Medion Digital Note Taker (MD 86149).

This 2nd generation model is similar to what appeared under the IOGear brand about 2 years ago but it became cheaper enough today to trigger an impulsive buy (€59.99).



By opposition to the much more expensive (but cool) LiveScribe pen, which allows a wider range of interaction, the Mobile Note Taker doesn't require you to buy special pre-printed paper. All you need to carry with you is the pen, and a tiny receiver that will hook on the top or one of the corners of your usual notepad.

The first intended usage (referred to as off-line mode) is to record whatever you write while away from your computer, then download it by plugging the mini-usb cable to the receiver when back home. Then you can simply archive your notes as is, or extract your drawings and process your writing trough an OCR.
The box says that you can save up to 100 pages of notes and the manual claims about 80 pages. This probably comes from the size difference between A4 and Letter (slightly longer) formats these different evaluations where based on.

The second usage (referred to as on-line mode) allows you to directly interact with your computer with the receiver plugged-in. You have then two possible modes to use your pen as a mouse, or as a ... pen. It offer a more convenient use than the tiny Wacom Volito for instance, as long as you can live without the pressure sensitivity as Note Taker doesn't have it. However, the touch and feel is much more natural and the final result, especially for handwriting looks far more natural to me.


The box contains: 1 pen, 1 received, 1 usb cable, 1 unique ink refill (not a spare refill, it has to be inserted into the empty pen), 1 pouch, 2 CD-ROM and 2 x SR41 button cells for the pen (the receiver recharges using the USB cable).

The hardware is immediately recognized on XP/Vista and 7 upon connecting and would work as a mouse, (after pressing the pen button once) before even installing any software.

The software included  is called Note Taker 3.3 and will be used mainly to retrieve and store your off-line notes.
There is a second one on a mini-cd with called MyScript Note Lite from VisionObjects. It is not more than a demo version of the already old MyScript Note.  The Lite version is very limited and also outdated, so, instead of installing it, you should download the trial version of the actual equivalent: MyScript Studio Note Edition.
I gave it a try, and compared to the disappointing MyScript Note, this MyScript Studio gave surprisingly good results at the challenging task of recognizing my own writing!


The firmware... yes, the device is firmware-upgradeable although it is not mentioned in the manual. However the version from Medion is the most recent 1.81 as reported by the firmware updated utility downloaded from Pegatech where they provide the v.1.76, so there's no need to flash at this point.



In conclusion, this is a nice gadget. Unless you've got already Windows Vista or 7 and Office 2007,  it may require some additional spending like MyScript Studio to unleash its full potential. My primary use will be as a replacement of my Wacom tablet and, in line with that idea, I plan to keep the ink refill when it goes empty, it will save me from wasting paper when using it in mouse mode!


Pros:
- Easy to setup
- Does job as expected
- Does not require dedicated preprinted paper
- M21 standard ink refills. (Specific iNote refill found for €1.6 on eBay)

Cons:
- limited manual
- ugly software
- not pressure-sensitive
- getting OCR to work reliably is a long process


Other pens similar to Medion Digital Note Taker MD86149:
- Pegasus Digital Pen M210 (this is the original manufacturer)
- IOGear Cordless Mobile Digital Scribe
- Apcom E-pens APPEG-030 Mobile Notes
- iNote Digital pen on eBay

- others

Similar technology applied to interactive whiteboards.

Additional Resources: Documentation, software and SDK can be found at Pegatech.com 
see also: dedicated Google group, and blog.

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The geek Xmas 2009 shopping basket

The festive online shopping deadline is coming fast (taking into account the shipping delay necessary to get those items from eBay, DealExtreme, Iwoot, Firebox, DX and such...)

So here's my short list of gadgets of interest for this year. I hope it will help you finding the inspiration:

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Idea #1: A Cassette MP3 Player
For some reason, many new cars are still coming with an cassette auto-radio, and at best, a CD player that doesn't play MP3's. The most popular solution was to plug one of those MP3 players with FM transmitter but the sound quality would be quite poor and depend on unoccupied frequencies available. 

Now you can put an MP3 player shaped as a cassette directly into your auto-radio. Much nicer! It also works as a standalone player.

Found at Chinavasion.com for €17.51 incl. 2GB SD card.



Audience: owners of old or French car.

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Idea #2: A Digital USB Microscope
The interest of this gadget really depends on the price you'll pay for it.
At close to €70 (called "new low price"!) from Firebox, I'd say, forget it. But from €28 (shipping included) on eBay, you may think twice.

Audience: student, teacher, engineer, hobbyist...

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Idea #3: An Atari joystick key chain

After the full size re-edition of the Atari VCS 2600 joystick a few years ago, there's now a tiny keychain version, and it's still playable on a TV screen!
My only regret is that it come with only 2 games when a hundred would have fit easily. This gadget is NTSC only.

Found at Firebox for  €17

Audience: nostalgic geeks, kids from 40 and over.

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Idea #4: An USB Missile launcher

Probably the most useless usb gadget on the market. For real fun, couple this with a web/ip-camera and remotely control the host computer to fire at innocent people passing by...




Found on eBay, cheapest: item #390118120613 for €25.6 delivered.
Enhanced version with Webcam on Firebox for €45.

Target: any human or pet.

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Idea #5: A Digital Note Taker

I didn't like those electronic pens that work only on special and expensive paper. A much nicer alternative consist of a wireless receiver that captures everything done with it's dedicated pen (using standard ink refill), then, the receiver memory is dumped to a PC where it can be archived or processed through the provided OCR program. It can also nicely replace a graphic tablet although the accuracy is probably not as high. It was found commonly at over €200 realier this year, but it now dropped to €59.99.

Found in Aldi stores @ €59.99 (Medion branded) and eBay, item #220506455598 at €59.59

Audience: student, professionals, kids,...

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Idea #6: A Binary watch

Maybe you know someone so geek he's drifting toward being rather a neird ?
Well you'll have a gift for this person too:

While a binary watch is really for a selected audience, most of them found on eBay are just stylish enough to start and finish their life in a drawer.
But this particular Ovo binary watch found at IWOOT is far more elegant and reasonably sized.

Found on I Want One of Those at €22

Audience: hardcore geek and casual neirds

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Idea #7: A Rollnet kit




If your garden is too windy and your house too small for a full size table, this simple idea let you play table tennis on any flat surface.
The Artengo Rollnet is also reasonably priced.

Found in Decathlon stores from €14.90 (€19.90 with 2 bats and 3 balls)

Audience: casual tennis table players

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Idea #8: the ultimate tea and coffee travel mug

The Double Shot model from Planetary Design is the last mug you may ever need. It does everything and comes complete with the traditional coffee lid, but also the plunger, and, concealed in the base, a small storage box for a refill of coffee, tea or sugar...

Found from around €25 in various places:

Coffee Pot Shop

Greystones Coffee Pots 

Amazon.co.uk marketplace

Audience: Coffee and Tea lovers (with a geeky twist)

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About winning "Hands Down" (WC2010)

You know, I think it comes from a cultural difference, this French way of winning their qualification to the FWC2010.

In English, there's this expression "Winning hands down". The origin is supposed to come from the horse racing world where a jockey would win so easily that he could afford to release the grip on the horse's reins.

I could not find the origin  of the French equivalent expression which is: "Gagner haut la main"(Winning hand high)...but now I guess it comes from soccer!

Well done, Tony Parker!

 

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Synology DS109 NAS

I became increasingly concerned by the safety of my data after that some loss and corruption occurred on my NexStar LX NAS, apparently following episodes of heavy disk activity. I'm still not sure who to blame: the NAS or the old Seagate Barracuda inside.

So, I had in mind to find a new NAS and hard drive in the next few months. I first saw the QNAP TS-109 on DealExtreme.com, which gave me an idea of what the ideal NAS should be: something more than just a hard disk enclosure with some SAMBA, FTP and BT agent, but rather an always-on, multi-purpose server to second my 10 years old patch-worked computer. I found very attractive the mySQL and PHP enabled web server, and the secure HTTPS and SFTP connectivities. Thanks to the users comments on DX, I realized that this model was both outdated and overpriced.
The successor TS-119 Turbo (priced around €250) with its superb Ajax web interface looked even more appealing. But then I discovered its most direct competitor, the Synology DS109 and none of them would have been a bad choice really.
What decided me in the end was an offer on a German shop for a Synology DS109 @ €234...including a 500GB Hitachi DeskStar hard disk! Their all-but-friendly ordering system was a pain to deal with but it was really worth it!

One week after receiving their "shipment tracking email" ...with no tracking number, the package arrived.

First surprise, a small bag of sweets was included in the package. That's nice, I'd have preferred that easy-tecs.com reply to my emails (about the missing tracking reference), but at least they try to add a friendly touch to the process.


Upon opening the NAS by removing 2 screws and pushing the upper part forward, I could see the promised hard disk already in place. 

 I am using it for a few weeks now and this little gem really delivers. The management interface is extremely clear and simple in all aspects. I could even use the Surveillance Station with one of my FI8908W IP cams. I say one of them because, for each additional camera configured (up to 8), you have to buy a license, and it cost roughly the price of my camera, so it's just plain non-sense for me. Also, as there is no camera profile for the Foscam models, the Pan and Tilt cannot be exploited .

I had one annoying problem though with this unit:
- I wanted to use the USBCopy feature to recover the content of my old NAS. The copy process started normally but stopped some time after with the log entry "USB drive ejected".
 The Synology tech. support proved helpful and responsive, and we could finally blame this on the few bad sectors present on the source. Synology R&D team confirmed that bad sectors couldn't be skipped (which is not normal: I could backup my old NAS through USB on my PC w/o problem) and promised to look after this in a future update.

 

Pros:
- Very simple to use despite the large choice of features
- Clear and nice Ajax interface
- Silent and low energy (9-19W)
- Reactive technical support


Cons: 
- Synology agent may not always find the DiskStation on some PC's
- USBCopy fails on bad sectors instead of skipping them.
- Additional camera license cost the price of an actual camera!



More stuff on Synology DS109:

Synology Download Center
3rd-party Apps integration 
Ajax interface overview

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Bloody Blogger!

I don't consider myself very knowledgeable on Blogger stuff, with my first blog not yet six months old, I'm still a newbie. But I certainly learned a lot because of all the problems I had so far, and in particular this week.  

I hope this short story of my recent misadventures with Blogger will help some of you: 

I must have been on another planet, but I read only this month that Google Pages would come to an end this month, and that's where I stored my shared files! This started a cascade of consequences for me.

First: Until now, I was using Google Pages as a convenient free storage for my few files and had to look for a alternative.
I wanted to avoid as much as possible a host like filefactory.com but instead a storage giving direct access with no waiting time to the files. As I only have a handful of small files, I tried free websites like Weebly and Jimdo. One was constantly nagging me with "Website not published" even though I made it public and published several times, and the other one gave me dns errors on the early stage of the registration.
Then I came accross DriveHQ.com which free membership comes with 1GB storage. They also have a client application that allows to drag and drop files from a local PC to their server: very convenient. See a review here. There's a drawback though, only a limited quantity of bytes can be downloaded monthly.

Second: I had to change all the references to the old file server (geekandfun.googlepages.com) by the url of the new one (www.drivehq.com/file/.../PublicFolder). That part was simply done by exporting the whole blog from the settings > blog tools, then performing a full search/replace for one string to the other using Notepad++.

Third: The fun really began here: Re-importing the blog turned into a silent disaster.
Silent, because, at first, everything looked fine, but once I started to click on the links in the Recent Comments section, it lead to a 404 error! Then I realized that, upon importing the posts, blogger had renamed all my posts with a numeric suffix at the end, so a page like:
"war-of-clones.html"
was now named:
"war-of-clones21.html"

So all the local links in my blog were now wrong!
From my researches, what happens is that old deleted posts are still in blogger index, and the new one are automatically renamed. I tried leaving the new posts for a day, hopping that they would be re-indexed and the re-importing would allow to recover the original names, but it can take days before a re-indexing occurs, so I had to take a more drastic measure.

Fourth: I went to Blogger dashboard and imported both blog backup and template into a brand new blog. Then I had to re-assign the domain gadgetvictims.com from http://gadgethell.blogspot.com to http://geekandfun.blogspot.com.
Apparently, this "new" blog is in the process of being indexed right now, and everything came back to almost normal. Some links will be invalid though as Blogger still found the way to rename some posts like "wireless-pan-tilt-ip-camera.html" into "foscam-wireless-pan-tilt-ip-camera.html" but that's the price to pay to keep the readers comments safe. If you don't find a page after clicking on a link, just use the tag sphere or labels below each post to narrow down to that article, everything is still there!

I just hope that I won't have to find another file host any time soon!

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The War of the Clones

Foscam sent me a picture with the new sticker layout that comes with the FI8908W produced from October 2009. It was supposed to help identifying a Foscam camera from a clone. And, guess what? It does exactly the opposite !





I was expecting to see their name on it, but instead it's actually a label we could already see on the non-Foscam clones:

The Model: identifies the embedded Wi-Fi module (VIA networking as established in a earlier post by Josef)
The MAC address: the first part of it identifies the Ethernet controller manufacturer (00606E is for the Davicom).


So, this is official: I'll just stop trying to distinguish them visually at all for now on ! It appears to be a waste of time!

But why is it important to distinguish a Foscam from another clone anyway ?

Well, first of all, to avoid bricking your camera if it's from another manufacturer.

I initially didn't look for a particular 'brand' of ip camera, just the cheapest, and it occurred that I received a Foscam in the first place.
Over time, I found convenient to keep that one brand for the following reasons:
- Their customer support actually replies to questions, and takes suggestions into account (I could verify this with several improvements added in the newer firmwares)
- They provide improvements through firmware updates on a regular basis (3 updates since June 2009...yes, by the way, there's a new one, read on)
- It is simpler to keep all the cameras under the same firmware line.
All these are added values to such a cheap product and good reasons for me to stick with this brand.
So if you happen to have an IP camera that looks like a Foscam FI8908W, the hardware won't make the difference, but upgrade availability and customer support will.

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On to the treat:

Foscam just sent me their latest firmware update 11.14.1.46 for  FI8908W.

It is said to contains some minor updates and some much bug fixes. There is no new WebUI. It is still the same that came with 11.14.1.43

For some unclear reason, I bricked my older IP camera with this one but Foscam re-tested the same firmware file on a FI8908W and confirmed that it works. My second camera updated fine, so this update seems to be as safe as the previous ones.

It is still quite new (received yesterday), so I don't know yet what are the exact improvements, but I can already say it's not in the area of uPnP that remains as useless as before.
I do not see anything new on the interface which is logical since there the WebUI file hasn't changed.

As always, make sure that your ip camera is compatible with Foscam firmwares and in doubt, ask the reseller to confirm the origin of the device.

For instance, New Star and MayGion are legal manufacturers of clones with different software and should be contacted respectively for firmware updates and feature requests.

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Replacing the lens of your IP camera

This very simple tweak cost 5€ and was suggested by a Spanish reader of this blog (thanks Villamany!).

The pictures he posted were not only demonstrating a much wider angle of vision but also a much better image quality than with the original lens (in the case of the Foscam fi8908w). So it convinced me to do the same.


I bought a 2.1mm 160-degree lens from DealExtreme.com (M12x0.5 thread) (same can also be found on eBay) which finally arrived today.

The procedure below applies to many other ip and web cam models, as long as they use the M12x0.5 thread standard. It can of course also be used with other 2.1mm lenses if you don't want the fish eye effect. DX also has a 6 lens pack deal ranging from 2.8 to 16mm. They can be fitted but their lens ring is of smaller diameter than the hole in the casing, so, beside being unsighty, it will also allow dust to get in the camera.



First, a small disclaimer: this kind of change, even so small will not be covered by your camera guarantee, and I won't send you any of mines if you screw up!



The first thing to do is to unscrew the original lens completely. 

The next obvious step is to screw the wide angle lens all the way in but with caution: 

First, as the thread is super-fine, make sure that you don't force it while screwing in.

Then, once roughly in place, you should re-connect the camera to do the fine-tuning with the "Live Video" page open.




Once in place, not only the field of vision will be much larger, making the PTZ function almost un-needed, but you may find that the image is also much sharper and brighter.




Below are comparative examples (click to see in full size)

There's been reports that some lenses would get blinded by the IR leds. 
I didn't have that problem with the sku 15237 from DX, so just make sure you buy lenses with IR filters.

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An original fi8908w and a clone side by side

Outside characteristics of Foscam camera have changed with time and the clues below are no longer valid. The best way to ensure that you buy a Foscam camera is to check their list of recommended resellers.

The best way to find out if the camera you already bought is a Foscam is to contact them directly with your device ID. You will then know if you can use firmwares found on this blog.

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The comparative below has been kindly posted to me by Tim who is the lucky owner of a genuine Foscam as well as a counterfeit compatible equivalent. Please note that there are also legal clones with their own packaging and their own firmware, but this one is an example of intended imitation using the same packaging and the same firmware.

While it seems natural to buy the camera from the people who actually do the R&D work, it is nearly impossible to distinguish them before you buy. Foscam points at some resellers that provide counterfeit products on this page. According to an email from them, the newest production will finally have a distinctive label on the bottom.

I've copied Tim's email below almost as is for your information (click on pictures for full size). I think the outside packaging differences are not relevant as I also have slight differences on my own 2 (1 old black and 1 recent white) Foscam.

One suspected difference is that the fakes seem to all have the same MAC address. Recently produced Foscam also have an improved lens filter following our numerous complains about the weird colors restitution.


Here, the black unit is the fake one!

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...

In all of the photos below the genuine Foscam items are on the right.

As I mentioned, I now own both a genuine Foscam FI8908W which I obtained from a US source and a counterfeit one which I bought online at DealExtreme.com. Although I did not specify which color I wanted, the US source sent me a (genuine) white one and the fake one is black. As most people have found out it is getting very difficult to tell the difference.

Both of these IP cameras are running the newest firmware, versions 2.4.8.12.bin and lr_cmos_11_14_1_43.bin.

Neither came with the latest version but both accepted the flash update and are operating perfectly.

The bottom scans below reflect what you had posted earlier in the thread, it is easy to tell the difference between the two. I did obscure the MAC addresses, but I think all of the fake FI8908W IP cameras come with the same MAC address which ends in :D7:63, but you might want to confirm this.

The packaging is nearly identical, but there are a couple of minor differences.

The genuine Foscam camera was packed inside a cardboard liner, the fake one in a white Styrofoam liner.

The boxes were almost identical with only one side panel having differences. They are shown in the photos below (the genuine box is on the right)

Here is a close-up that shows the differences.

Finally here are my two cameras side-by-side, notice the absence of the lens sticker on the genuine camera, else they look identical with the exception of the bottom decals.

Finally, and this is a biggie, the image quality is most definitely different. The genuine Foscam has a much clearer and sharper image edge to edge than the fake Foscam, and the colors in the genuine one also are much more saturated and realistic looking. It is also very slightly wider.

I set the cameras up right next to each other, the settings and firmware for each camera were identical. I also turned the lens on the front of each camera to get the image focus from each as clear as possible. My dogs volunteered to be models. You can easily see that the genuine camera is better at least in this case, I don't have any others to test. Genuine is on the right again.

Tim

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Another cheap GPS...

I recently had to replace my 4.3" GPS (bricked during an experimentation, doh!) with
another cheap one advertised as "Galaxy's Thinnest GPS Portable Navigator" and sold at roughly €68 on Chinavasion.com and eBay. Despite the usual 21.5% VAT on arrival and an unexpected gigantic hidden fee from UPS (€13.5 !!!), it ended up just the same price as my previous device.

The main differences are: a nicer look, a bigger 5" screen, a faster CPU, WinCE 6.0, but no Bluetooth.



In many places, this unit is advertised as having a SiRFAtlas III but the one I received definitely reports a 533Mhz SiRFAtlas IV CPU which supposedly  means lower consumption and faster position fix acquisition from a cold start. I reckon it's the first time I see a GPS device picking the position from my office desk.

A microSD is present in the GPS unit, and it's filled with maps and voices for most parts of Europe.
iGO 8.3 is present, so it would seem ready for Text-to-Speech...if only the TTS dlls were not missing!
In fact the 2GB card provided is a bit too small to hold all the maps together with the required Loquendo files.

So, after cleaning some un-needed files, I could add them and it worked fine.

I was curious about the "enable the especial voice" option in the Volume settings, so I enabled it, expecting to hear something like "Hola, soy tu sistema de navegación por satélite!", but instead, it just enables some chime sounds to the touch screen interface.

About unlocking: well...the usual tricks to enable the ActiveSync mode didn't work.The user interface provides an option to browse to the executable to launch from the Navigation button (no more shell.ini or gpsrunfile.txt), but trying USBSetting.exe or a registry editor did not give the expected result and the unit still connects as a USB Flash Drive to the PC.

However the interface is already quite nice and complete with a good player, some games and it doesn't require special trick to swap from iGO to Amigo to TomTom, so this is not really necessary...but still, for the craic of it!...I guess it is possible to tweak it though, so I'll update this page when I come across a solution.



Pros:
- iGO 8.3 pre-installed
- SiRFAtlas-IV (despite the manual saying III)
- Good battery life 
- Fast response
- Compact casing for a 5" display with elegant look
- Navigation software can be swapped directly from the user interface.
- Speaker can be set very loud
- Good display quality and screen brightness

Cons:
- no bluetooth
- finishing could be better, you'll have to wipe some extra glue but that's all.
- less straightforward to unlock
- the cable of the car charger is a bit short

Product references: TMCDOV2ZWL, CVHW-CS23, GPS-C3250
Successor: CVSB-G252

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Coding Horror: Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries

A recommended reading for all  rechargeable batteries users:
Coding Horror: Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries

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Triops: the living gadgets

I would have tried this earlier but simply didn't know about triops existence until recently and, to me, they look like the best invention since the mogway!

So first, a short description for the late discoverers like me: the triops are small prehistoric crustaceans whose eggs can dry and stays viable for many years. They hatch in temporary water pools formed by rain, generally under warm climates. Their short life (around 3 months) is spent at eating almost anything small enough for them (including their siblings), and laying eggs. When they die of old age or because the pool dried, the eggs are waiting there, ready for the next shower.



I thought of them to add some originality into my Orca TL-450 aquarium (fresh water set). The star of the tank, a superb small red crab, trapped himself in one of the filter chambers and could not climb it back.
So, no more crab.



The triops longicaudatus seemed to be good candidates for the succession so I bought a small "all-in-one" sachet on eBay.

However, while the sellers advertise them by saying "just add water", this is not enough to succeed, far from that!

There are several requirements:
- the water must be pure (distilled or bottled water). Tap water could be too chemical (Chlorine kills triops), some bottled water may contain chlorine too, so check for Cl in the composition.
- the eggs have better chances to hatch in a small quantity of water: 1 litre maximum.
- the temperature must be between C 22°-29°
- they need light, natural if possible
- and don't feed them after midnight! (or is that for Gremlins? don't remember...)

Of course, triop eggs cannot just be dropped into an established aquarium: the water is not pure enough for them to hatch (Being eaten by fishes is not an issue for the eggs, they can survive that kind of journey).

But still, where else can I find such a convenient nursery with controlled temperature and light ?
So I took a 750ml plastic food container, filled it with 500ml of Volvic, and placed it inside the Orca TL-450 tank, blocked between the top border and a big magnetic cleaner underneath.



With the water at right temperature and the the provided conditioner tea bag dipping for a few hours (punched of a few holes as directed by the notice) , I poured the almost invisible eggs from their little plastic box into the aquarium.
Then started the waiting...

The following is a diary of their first days of life. This is not a proven method, just my experiment trying to raise triops the most maintenance-effective way.

Day 1: The ever optimistic notice says it takes between 18 and 30 hours, but my triops decided that the conditions were met about 2 days later. Not many of them showed up, just three. Either the conditions are not perfect or there were just not many viable eggs in this batch.

Day 2: there's still 3 triops and at least two of them are very active and growing. I've added 2 crushed food pellets in the container. They're so tiny it takes ages to eventually spot them.

Day 3: I can see clearly the anatomy of the two bigger ones, no trace of the smaller one...They actively feed from the bottom of the tea bag. The water is getting dirty but I must refrain from changing it. I may accidentally "throw out the babies with the bath water"

Day 4: two vigorous triops are roaming the container.
No need to search for them, they're now really visible and very active. No food given.


Day 5: still two of them, one is a bit bigger than the second...for the moment they even look like good friends, but it's a very relative concept for triops. I gave some baby fish food (kind of powder) and it's a delicate operation not to overfeed them.






Day 6: I undertook a risky operation to seriously recycle the water. I managed to transfer them into a second container with clean water at good temperature. Hopefully enough water from the old container was transferred with the triops so they won't be too stressed.



Day 7: They're still alive and shed their exoskeleton. This molting process is supposed to repeat several times during their life. I now give them a bit of food daily.




Day 8: Now they can eat un-crushed pellets of triop food.When they find one, they grab it and go everywhere with it for a while.
I've added water from the main tank to prepare them for their transfer sometime next week when they'll be big enough to swim with the fishes.


Day 9:
They're almost grown up and there's a kind of routine settled: eating, molting, growing, ...getting freakier...
Next thing will be to let one of them go in the main aquarium, they'll soon be big enough.

Day 10: I've transferred them into a fish breeder that would share the water of the tank while protecting them from the hungry fishes. I've assisted to the molting of the bigger one. Shortly after, he made a snack of his little brother. It happened when I was away and took only a few minutes!

Day 12: unexpected end of the experiment:
I released the last triop in the aquarium, thinking he was big and fast enough to survive with the fishes.
He looked okay at first but disappeared a few hours later. I never retrieved any trace of him.



Debriefing: I've done at least 2 mistakes in this experiment:
- the most obvious was the last one: releasing the last triop in the wild too early.
- another, that maybe led to the spontaneous cannibalism was to transfer them together into that breeder. I believe that this sudden change stressed them and expedited the fate of the weakest.

Things to do better next time (with my second sachet of eggs...):
- have a bed of clean sand or fine gravel in their nursery box. If I manage to keep them that far, that would be convenient for them to lay their eggs in it.
- don't release any of them in the main tank before they lay eggs.
- have a rigid plastic breeder to separate them if needed.
- think of a solution to have an area with sand floor in the main tank. I read that triops love to dig, and the gravel in my aquarium is too thick.

More information about triops:
mytriops.com
www.triops.com
wikipedia

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