Now it is already two years, in which I feed the “technology and retro blog” with contributions. Who would have thought that … By now some readers have strayed here and asked if I could introduce one or the other device here. Of course I will try to realize it if possible. Unfortunately, the rubric with the computers of the 80s is still empty. Here I still lack the “thread”, as I should process the whole – it floats me to every device before a small video in which the devices are to be shown in the living state. If someone has ideas for that … like.
I would like to say a big thank you to my colleague Mario Wehr, who provides me with the WordPress environment and thus offers excellent service!
In this sense: Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
This time, I’m not going to talk about a project or an “old equipment concept”, but would like to introduce some interesting users or their contributions from the YouTube portal. These are contributions from the field of computer, technology and science, which I personally like to look at.
First and foremost, I would like to mention the legend of modern computer history, which has fascinated me since my youth. The ComputerClub from WDR times with Wolfgang Rudolph and Wolfgang Back. The two moderators moderated the program Computerclub from the beginning of the 80’s to 2003 at Westdeutscher Rundfunk. In the topics, the two men are generally concerned with computers and peripherals, new developments in the field of electronics and present all sorts of things here. Many broadcast recordings are archived on YouTube, including by user janbras.
On 22 February 2003, the last broadcast was broadcast on WDR.
But the two protagonists have not given up the computer club and let him resurrect on July 24, 2007 on a German private broadcaster (NRW-TV).
However, the private broadcaster NRW-TV had to cease its operation in 2016 and so the program was Nr.186 recorded as the last in the studios of NRW.
But Wolfgang Rudolph has managed by fundraising to set up his own studio and now produces the CC2 from his private studio on his own.
In the background, a lot has changed, which confused the viewers and freaks a bit. Parallel to the broadcasts existed the page cczwei.de which was filled by both gentlemen. After 13.12.2016 suddenly a new page appeared. The new domain cc2.tv has been created. The now operates Rudolph alone. The domain cczwei.de continues to be operated by Mr. Back. He is assisted by Heinz Schmitz, who is now producing YouTube broadcasts with Mr. Back. Apparently, there were sufficient reasons for the gentlemen to part with years of community work. There never was an official explanation.
From the computer area, the guys from VirtualDimension report. They call their channel VD Hurrican and produce the formats: Virtual Worlds, Back in Time, Retroplay and On Site. The contributions are absolutely professional and mainly deal with home computers. With a lot of background information the old 8 and 16 Bit’er are presented here. Gameplay as well as fair reports and contributions from community events are also part of their repertoire. As an example here a link to the unboxing of an Amiga500 and its history. On the occasion of their 1000th subscriber on YouTube, they have published a 1000-subscriber special with a studio tour.
From the Australian continent, Dave Jones, also an inveterate technician, blogs. On his YouTube channel EEVblog, He also introduces electronic devices, explains their structure and operation. A special category in his channel are the so-called Mailbags. Here, Dave receives packages from people in the community who he opens in front of the camera and presents their content. This can be old computers and boards, or even new developments and prototypes of startups that are presented here.
A slightly different channel is that of an Englishman. He calls himself Photonicinduction and shows experiments with high performances. All sorts of appliances, such as vacuum cleaners, heating lamps, washing machines, loudspeakers, etc. are operated to the limit of their maximum performance data – and far beyond. The end of the device through destruction is the goal here.
It is a miniature quadrocopter, the size of the palm of your hand, which turns out to be a real powerhouse. It is controlled via a 2.4GHz handheld transmitter in six axes. The transmitter can be configured in Mode1 and Mode2 (throttle on the left lever). An LC display on the transmitter provides information about the current settings and a multi-color LED shows the switch-on status and also whether there is a radio connection to the drone.
The drone is built on a very light (crash-proof) chassis that also has “recursive predetermined breaking points”. This means that in the event of a crash, part of the affected engine boom unhooks instead of breaking off. You can then simply click it back in. There is also the option of installing the training frame supplied to protect the propellers.
The power supply in the transmitter is provided by four AAA batteries. The drone itself is powered by a LiPo battery that is charged using the USB adapter supplied. You only need a USB power adapter (mobile phone charging plug) or a PC / laptop as a voltage source.
When fully charged and with moderate flight, you can achieve a flight time of just under seven minutes. Before the end of the flight you will be warned by blinking LEDs, so that you can still land safely without any problems. Recharging the battery takes just under 30-45 minutes.
As a further special feature, the drone has a small camera on board. It offers a resolution of 480p. But there is also a version with a 720p camera. The camera data can be saved directly on a microSD card. The recording is started before the start of the flight by pressing a button on the drone and should be stopped again before switching off. The result is an “.avi” container file that can be played on any PC. The image section is not very wide-angled and is just acceptable for indoor use. You also need plenty of light to get reasonably sharp images. However, this works very well outdoors.
The controls can be learned quickly with a little practice and it is a lot of fun to use.
In the last two days we received a visit from two young gentlemen from the fourth year of the Villach High School Sankt Martin. Mr. Martin Ungermanns and Mr. Fabian Treu came to us as part of a “taster program” of the middle schools. The two students can participate in the “world of work” and get some insights into the technology.
deepened in the soldering work
The program included work such as assembling and soldering of electronic kits (the well-known shaker cube), a small series work (flashing of PIC microcontrollers), exposure and etching of circuit boards, milling of aluminum plates.
As conclusion of the two taster days both high school students were allowed to build up a complete “device”.
Martin Ungermanns and Fabian Treu
It was a “clap switch kit” that detects a loud sound event via an acoustic sensor and then turns on a relay contact. So that this circuit can also be used meaningfully, the circuit has been extended by a self-made power supply, all installed in a plastic housing and equipped with power cable and Schuko coupling. So any consumer (eg a floor lamp, TV) can be switched on and off with this switchgear by simply “clapping” …
… or in short words, too much current flows through a too thin wire, then it can get very hot. How that looks then, you can see very well in the picture. The insulation of the 1.5 mm² stranded wire has completely dissolved in smoke here in the area of the terminal …
So you should not use this plug-in connection;)
While browsing the digital archives, I noticed the following pictures again.
Meanwhile, more than ten years have passed since I had to initiate the end of the television repair shop.
Look in the old workshop
Almost at the same time as the widespread use of flat screen televisions, orders were down. Except for a few customers, who insisted on retaining the old technology from ideational values, hardly anyone could fix it. Due to wage side costs and realistic, minimal profit-oriented pricing, it was just too expensive for people. If, for example, a repair of the high-voltage power supply of a television (replacement of line transformer, driver transisor and various capacitors and resistors) a price of about 90 euros assumed, that was again borderline, almost too expensive. If one considers that for these sum the parts scarcely 40 euro in the EK cost, then for the remaining 50 euro the error had to be searched for and found, everything to be expanded and reinstalled.
The unit had to be cleaned inside (often we got “boxes that collected the dust and nicotine of twenty years”.) Also, a careful test run should be done, so what about the 50 bugs? Hired labor costs more than half of non-wage labor costs. How many devices do you have to repair during the day in order to cover your costs?
dust accumulation
Sometimes you could see curiosities. Since one or the other owner of the TV has ever tried even as a repairer and found a faulty network backup. – “No problem, is only a backup …” Which is then wrapped in the absence of a suitable new backup and knowledge simply with cigarette paper …
“expert” repair of the customer
“Then it works again …” which turns out to be not quite correct. After inserting “it pops and flashes” and nothing was more … So the device came to me on the desk … “Why is the repair so expensive? – was only a fuse broken – I know myself out there – I am an electrician “You can hear such sayings then.
I recently updated my home network a bit and swapped the old Netgear ReadyNAS Duo for a QNAP TS420. Since the supplier wanted to have a “rating” on the article, I indulged myself in the five minutes and wrote a few lines …
I opted for Qnap based on a recommendation from an IT colleague and because I was also looking for a new, more powerful NAS that also supports WakeOnLan. The NAS server should be able to be remotely powered up from the road. But this only works if the mains voltage of the NAS is not interrupted in the switched-off state (for example, by a Lan-controlled power strip). Furthermore, the router must support the forwarding of the MagicPacket.
A great feature of QNAP is TV streaming to the home network. You can plug a DVBT stick to one of the three USB sockets and then install a small tool on the NAS.
The Terratec Cinergy Piranha is NOT supported. Unfortunately, very few DVBT sticks are compatible and recognized. So if you want to use this feature: Be sure to see the website for the compatible sticks. Of the APPs that can be installed on the QNAP, there’s plenty of … OwnCloud, all sorts of webapps and servers, downloaders … Everything is available on network protocols. There is also a quota management for each share or each user.
To the noise: The noise-volume of the NAS depends only on the volume and especially the temperature of the hard disks used. Here I would recommend to use only real server disks, otherwise the SMART status of the disks will quickly display an “ATTENTION” or “WARNING”. A problem that occurs every now and then: After booting, sometimes the web service will not start and the NAS will not be accessible through the browser. The shares are always there. However, a reboot always fixes the problem. (at least until now 🙂 A future firmware update should fix the problem. (meanwhile this problem is solved due to updates 2015)
Slowly, it is time to archive all the tech stuff you have to deal with on a daily basis and always had to do before, in a blog. Above all, when I’m in my parents’ house, I always find interesting things from my childhood and adolescence …
And since you are always on the move with a mobile office (ie a smartphone) anyway, you can try to capture these things … let’s see how far that works. The information here on the blog merely represents an ‘archival’ of small projects and events I’ve dealt with over time.
Remark: This is NOT a scientifically edited blog.
Incidentally, the picture here shows a small project with an old oscilloscope tube (Braun tube), which I wanted to bring back to life … more information will be available later.
Merry Christmas to the visitors of the blog!
