I have been a big fan of Meross gear for years, using it where possible to power my automated home.
Recently though, I received an email from Meross giving me 72 hours to fix an "issue" that my equipment was sending messages to their cloud server at an unaceptable rate.
The email contained no information about which device(s) were creating the problem.
I responded immediately to their "support" team (I use the term jokingly), requesting more details, but they failed to respond in a timely manner, and my cloud service was shut down, causing me to lose access to several critical devices.
I did some searching on the content of the email, and the issue appears to be related to using Home Assistant (I think the most commonly used Home Automation software), so I removed the Meross module from Home Assistant, whilst continuing to converse with Merross "Support" to identify the actual issue so that I could resolve it.
The final email from "Support" was this :
Please double-check your installation to ensure the following: avoid using any APIs or plugins such as Home Assistant, or ensure the cloud access limit is not exceeded (no more than 200 messages per hour, per device).
So, Meross do NOT support Home Assistant (in fact they actively discriminate against it), which makes it a deal breaker for me (and doubtless millions of others).
I will be replacing my Meross equipment with something I can rely on, and encouraging others to do the same.
Very disappointing.
It's been AGES since I posted anything here - life has been a bit hectic!
Since my last post I've acquired a 3D Printer, and thought I'd share with you my first customised project.
I've had a CCTV Board sitting on a cardboard eggbox for a couple years nows, as I wasn't able to source a suitable case for it.
Enter 3D Printer - problem solved! See the pictures at the bottom of the post.
Anyway, the printer... I chose an AnyCubic Chiron, which has some pretty impressive specs - the Bed is 400x400mm, and it can print to a height of 450mm. It took me a few days to figure it all out - not assisted by some faulty original components, which I bypassed by pressing a Raspberry Pi into service loaded with the brilliant OctoPrint software.
I've also learned the basics of a very cool little program called FreeCAD, which let me draw up the design, then offload the output to another open-source program, Cura, for slicing - then over to Octo to print. The lid took about 16 hours, and the box about 20!
[photonic_gallery type='google' view='photos' date_filters='2019/08/17' main_size='1600' layout='random']
I recently picked up a few Fujitsu D2607 RAID Controllers (cheap off eBay!) to replace the Rocket RAID controller in my NAS, which I have come to distrust as it has at times been a little flaky (plus, they have never provided a single firmware update, and support if asking anything is non-existent). The Fujitsus use the popular and well-thought-of LSI Controller chips.
As I really like ZFS on Linux I really had no need for the RAID functionality on the cards, and in fact found the RAID BIOS (and the need to configure each drive as a separate Virtual Drive in order to be presented to Linux) to be a real PITA. My testing showed that replacing a drive in the inevitable event of a drive failure would almost certainly result in loss of the whole array. Not really what I was looking for.
So I did a bit of research, and found that the usual approach for these (and other LSI based cards) is to flash a different BIOS onto them with the intention of turning the cards into a simple (non-RAID) controller.
A bunch more research, downloaded some files, and fairly quickly rendered my first D2607 inoperable! This is looking good so far! So, whole lot more searching, some experimentation, and some conclusions reached. There is a LOT of information out there about LSI cards, and how to flash them, and most of it is just plain WRONG, which became quite apparent when I finally found a method that worked.
Many thanks to "Jonny" who posted in This Forum Thread with a solid set of instructions on how to do it. You can go over there, or read further on here, where I'll tell you exactly what worked for me. Once I'd recovered my first failed attempt, my second and third cards were flashed within 10 minutes or so, no errors. And they work beautifully, just as I had hoped!
What You'll Need
Preparation
Getting it down and dirty!
If any command fails, reboot and start that step again.
Your RAID card is now blank.
Yeehah! Your card is now flashed. If your card is a 4i, you can probably stop here. If it's an 8i (2 SAS ports) then at this stage probably only the top port works, and you'll only be able to access 4 Hard Drives.
Check the drives are available, you should be all good to go!
Whilst I'm generally really impressed with the quality and function of Gigabyte Motherboards, I've now encountered the same issue with 3 separate ones - an i5 and two i7's, running Windows or Linux.
The issue is that you shut down the computer, everything goes off.. then starts right back up again!
This appears to be a very common problem, a simple google search will come up with many hits and numerous victims of this. Nobody (that I've found) has hit on a solution yet, and suggestions usually end up with - replace the Motherboard!
This should not be necessary in my experience, as I have the solution. Read on, fair audience!
This technique has worked numerous times for me now, please let me know if it works for you!
I haven't detailed the exact steps within BIOS, as motherboards vary slightly according to the model - you'll have to go hunt for yourself.
I found a great little plugin this week.
Titled "WordPress Backup to Dropbox" is free, with a couple of "premium" addons if you want to zip up your backups or receive email notification on success or failure.
It initially backs up all designated folders, and then on a schedule you determine it runs an incremental backup daily, weekly etc.
Support seems a little lax, as I encountered a problem which other users had also come across, but there was evidently no solution.
The problem was that the plugin stopped backing up after a change to the configuration - in my case I simply requested that the backups were saved in a named sub-folder.
The solution turned out to be quite simple, de-activate and delete the plugin completely, clear any cached files, and re-install - designating the correct sub-folder BEFORE attempting a backup.
Cruisy!
A couple of weeks ago I invested a massive $12 in a very cool gadget called an SDR (go look it up!)
I initially set up a piece of free software called Visual Radio, but have since added the output from my SDR to a growing network..
See plane.watch, scroll over to Adelaide, and watch the planes come and go from Adelaide Airport in real time!
After quite a few years of upgrading the same old PC, I decided to buy a new one..
[pe2-image src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-adpSGCo9WJA/UwAIxm__uCI/AAAAAAAA3Xs/FGsDeBtiQoY/s144-c-o/IMG_20140207_164515.jpg" href="https://picasaweb.google.com/116730948297768793432/Blog#5980789953523595298" caption="" type="image" alt="IMG_20140207_164515.jpg" ]
Running a 6-core i7 processor with 32GB of RAM and a 256GB Solid State Drive.
It runs quite well 🙂
The biggest performance improvement, though, was to dump Windows for the stunningly elegant Linux Mint.
It took me probably half the time to get the thing set up than it would have with windows, and I am absolutely delighted..
I've been working on a bit of a project the last few weeks.
The gadget below caught my eye, and (ever thinking of future requirements) I grabbed one 🙂
Behold, a Norco 4224 SAN Chassis!
I filled it with a simple Asrock Motherboard, a G41C
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I Used an Intel Quad-Core Extreme CPU that I had lying around, added 8GB of DDR3 (after some experimenting and eventually finding out that the particular CPU I used was a bit fussy about memory) and a 120GB Verbatim SSD for the OS.
A HighPoint 2760A 24-port Raid Controller and half a dozen Mini-Sata Cables rounded the system out nicely, ready for some Hard Drives!
I started out with 6 shiny new Seagate 4TB's.
After experimenting with various Operating Systems, I decided to used Linux Mint 15, and the excellent Linux Raid software in RAID5 configuration rather than the on-board HighPoint Raid software, which offloads most of the work to the motherboard CPU anyway.
I have tried everything I could think of to break it - pulling Drives out, powering off (even in the middle of rebuilds), added and removed Drives with nary a care - and it works!
I'm currently copying my media library to the box while it grows the Raid Array with the final Drive, and I've installed SickBeard, Sabnzbd, Utorrent and all the usual tools.
Fun, Fun, Fun!
You’ve heard of plasma TV, LCD TV, LED and even OLED TV, but now we’re throwing a new term to mix into the salad bowl: laser TV. LG has one in Australia now, and it’s freaking enormous and just as impressive.
The product’s full name is the LG Laser DLP Display. Essentially, it uses technology called ultra-short throw which grabs the image and projects it onto the screen within 55cm, rather than from a projector at the back of a room.
The image is projected through 10 spherical lenses before passing it through an aspherical concave mirror to be thrown onto the display screen itself. It’s a 100-inch full-HD 1080p image, chucked from a projector which sits at the base of the black, anti-contrast, anti-glare screen.
First of all, holy crap: it’s a giant 100-inch screen with a throw distance of 55cm. Take a second to realise how impressive that is.
Previously, if you wanted a giant projector on your giant screen, it was an effort to get the projector mounted the correct distance away from your silver screen, and then the obnoxious job of cable-concealment would begin. When you’re done it might look good, but the job of expanding your system becomes considerably more difficult when working with that particular set-up. The LG Laser Display eliminates these issues by putting the rather fetching looking projector right in front of your display while still cleverly concealing the cables and keeping them in reach if you need them.
The lamp is also considerably impressive: with other projectors, you’d need to replace it every couple of years. LG promises that the lamp in the DLP Laser Display will go for 25,000 hours. That’s five hours per day for 13 years. Not bad at all.
The screen that the projector throws the image onto is actually made from anti-glare material, which means that you won’t need to dim the lights entirely to have a high-contrast viewing experience. The screen is also black rather than silver to help dissipate light reflection when viewing. The screen also has a tiny bezel that disappears into the background when the images play.
The Laser Display is also compatible with DLNA and Intel WiDi so you can throw your content at it easily without having to fumble around.
Probably the most convincing aspect of the laser display is the price. It comes in at $8999 with free installation and a bundled twin-tuner recorder for watching and recording free-to-air programming. Compare that to the price of a larger plasma display which will run you easily over $10,000, and you’re onto something.
The LG Laser Display goes on sale from early July.
Fact or fiction (a la Dick Tracy, for you older ones).
[pe2-image src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-vjAIsn7Iexo/UX-jl_A96kI/AAAAAAAAaZ4/VR-_olrridk/s144-c-o/Mozzie.jpg" href="https://picasaweb.google.com/116730948297768793432/Blog#5872592312080394818" caption="" type="image" alt="Mozzie.jpg" ]
Is this a mosquito?
No. It's an insect spy drone for urban areas, already in production, funded by the US Government.
It can be remotely controlled and is equipped with a camera and a microphone.
It can land on you, and it may have the potential to take a DNA sample or leave RFID tracking nanotechnology on your skin.
It can fly through an open window, or it can attach to your clothing until you take it in your home.
Given their propensity to request macro-sized drones for surveillance, one is left with little doubt that police and military may look into these gadgets next.
Fascinating as this article is, it's not true 🙁
http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/insectdrone.asp
I added a new photo album - a bit special, this one really, Mark's Hondas.
It also made me realise that the is the first time I've taken any photos of cars/bikes this. Must try harder!
I've added quite a few new Webcams to the Cameras Page.
There are some amazing wildlife ones on the African countries, best viewed when it is night-time there as the animals come out to eat and drink after dark!
On the Menu Bar to the right of Blog you will see an Icon.
That Icon toggles between Light and Dark Modes.
Enjoy!
Dave
Welcome to the New Site!
There is lots of stuff to explore here, I'll highlight parts every now and again!
Come back soon!
Dave