Hardware on Nico Maas

[openBF511] Reverse Engineering a Omron BF511 scale

Thu, 21 May 2026 05:59:39 +0000

I actually own a Omron BF511 human scale, a nice bit of japaense kit. Its a bit old and certainly does not want to interact with the world expect for its LCD display. I wanted to change that and integrate the scale into my health apps/do not keep on tracking stats via paper and pencil. For that reason I did a small deep dive on how to best access its data and send it back via LoRaWAN. All infos can be found on this little Github Repo: https://github.com/nmaas87/openBF511

Reworking a Dell Latitude XT in 2024

Sat, 07 Dec 2024 17:49:47 +0000

Intro

I had an old Dell Latitude XT (first generation) in my posession since… quite a long time. One of the first tablet/convertible laptops by Dell, released in 2007.

It was quite a nice machine, but it suffered from multiple issues. On the one hand, the ULV Core2Duo and internal 1 GB of DDR2 memory are nothing to write home about - but the biggest problem in my opinion - is the used mass memory, a 1.8’ 5400 rpm harddrive. And no, you read correctly - 1.8’. What’s that? Thats basically the size and model of HDDs used in Apples iPods: They are awfully slow and even more prone to break.

RAK3172T in Arduino

Sun, 17 Nov 2024 13:00:09 +0000

Updated on 2024-12-01 with latest fixes of STM32LoRaWAN v0.3.0

As the RAK11300 did not really match my requirements (it uses way too much energy), I looked further and found the RAK3172 which is based on an STM32WLE5CCU6 - an STM32 chip which usually include good powersaving modes. As with the RAK11300, I did not want to go down the Wisblock way and designed my own breakout board:

Turing Pi 2 - Retrofitting an EMC2301 Fancontroller

Sat, 16 Nov 2024 19:39:50 +0000

The Turing Pi 2 (v.2.4) has actually some secrets that just start to get uncovered. Looking closely at the board, you will find the red marked area with what seems to be an unpopulated 4-pin fan header (J16) and an unpopulated IC spot (U109).

These spots were, as found out by Sam Edwards (CFSworks) actually a place to install Molex 47053-1000 4-pin fan connector and a Microchip EMC2301 fan controller. It is not clear why they were left out of the production model, probably for cost savings, but without that the Turing Pi 2 lost a nice smooth fan controller. However, thanks to Sam Edwards work, the chip is now supported by the Turing Pi 2 BMC, so that after retrofitting, this will just work out of the box!

Install a bootloader onto Turing RK1 eMMC memory

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 16:45:45 +0000

The Turing RK1 is a new Compute Module, made for the Turing Pi 2 board and with compability to the Nvidia Jetson cards in mind. While the board has some impressive specs ( https://docs.turingpi.com/docs/turing-rk1-specs-and-io-ports ) it had one small issue: The used Rockchip RK3588 needed a bootloader on its eMMC to be able to boot from an attached NVMe drive. As no isolated bootloader was available, most people flashed a whole OS onto the eMMC - just to be able to use the attched NVMe drive. This process can take quite a while via the Turing Pi 2 board ( e.g. 60 - 90 minutes: https://docs.turingpi.com/docs/turing-rk1-flashing-os ) it was never a good option.

Repairing a Turing Pi 2

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 17:56:27 +0000

Intro

In April 2023 I finally got my Turing Pi 2 - happy to finally got it into my hands I plugged it in, headed over to the Turing Pi 2 Github ( https://github.com/turing-machines/BMC-Firmware ) got myself the latest BMC firmware and started to flash it. Thats when things got wrong: The power supply coils started to screech - and seconds later I was greeted with blue smoke and a dead Turing Pi 2. The firmware update actually flashed the board into a paper weight.

Building a MLX90640 Thermal Camera

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 00:15:38 +0000

Intro

Thermal Cameras are neat tools, especially in electronics: You can quickly diagnose short circuits, identify misbehaving components or quantify if subsystems get too hot. However, thermal cameras are still a luxury item which can quickly costs hunderds of euros. Sometimes - however - you do not need the accurarcy of a FLIR or similar system, somtimes its just enough to see which part of a PCB is heating up quicker than others. Enter MLX90640: A 32x24 pixel sensor in two different FoVs, exposing its data via i2c. These sensors can be had on different websites for as low as 25 euros during sale.

RT-Thread IoT-Contest 2023 with NXP i.MX RT1060 - CCSDS-TM-FSM

Sat, 03 Jun 2023 22:35:14 +0000

I just released my latest project, a CCSDS reassembler running on an NXP i.MX RT1060 in RT-Thread OS. You can find it on Github: https://github.com/nmaas87/CCSDS-TM-FSM

RT-Thread IoT-Contest 2023 with NXP i.MX RT1060 - Getting started

Tue, 30 May 2023 18:44:24 +0000

The folks over at RT-Thread decided to make a IOT-Contest using hardware from different vendors and their RT-Thread OS. I was luckily enough to get chosen for a networking project with the NXP i.MX RT1060 EVKB, so I decided to document my journey first getting started with RT-Thread. Here we go! 🙂

Getting started

First of all, its important to know that there are two version of the MIMXRT1060 - the EVK and the EVKB. The EVK seems to be an older version which also includes a Camera sensor module, the EVKB version the recent one. RT-Threads example on Github is for the EVK version, which means things like User LED blinking does not work out of the box, but we will take care of this later.

balenaOS on the Advantech AIR-020X

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 17:20:44 +0000

Last week I posted the review of the Advantech AIR-020X with which I used to create the labSentinel 2 system.

I remarked that the hardware was great, however the software support and update capability of the system was severly lagging behind for an “industrial floor, always on” type of machine. Luckily, thats exactly what balena has been created for.

Even better, their environment already support Nvidia Jetson devices - also Nvidia Jetson Xavier NX modules. With the AIR-020X being a really nice carrierboard (and housing) for this module, I went to work.

Advantech AIR-020X Review

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 12:33:21 +0000

Normally, I am not getting review units. This is due to the fact that I am only hosting this small weblog, along some conference talks - and most companies would probably be better off to send their units along someone with a reach of Linus Tech Tips, or similar.

On the other hand - when I get the possibility to do a review, it can be a bit worrisome for the companies as well, as I am a very honest person. I have been working in tech for some time now and had the honor to build stuff which went to space - and came back to tell the tale. I know what I want in a unit - and what could be a problem.

USB C power for the Nvidia Jetson Nano 4 GB dev board

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 08:00:00 +0000

The best way to power a Jetson Nano 4 GB dev board is by using a center positive, 5 V and at least 4 A barrel connector type power adapter. However, these are often bulky and not the best travel companion - while USB C power bricks are becoming more common and the relevant USB C sockets are getting build into nearly every device (maybe yours too, Apple?).

So I set out to build a USB C power adapter for the Jetson board.

An active GNSS antenna for the CAM-M8Q breakout

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 14:00:00 +0000

I have been using multiple CAM-M8Q breakouts by Watterott and really am loving these units. They are small, reasonable priced and have the advantage of an integrated chip antenna. However, this also their small shortcoming: While the antenna is good enough for most outdoor jobs, you can run into sensitivity issues when deploying it indoors - if not setup next to a window. Luckily, the module has two additional u.fl connectors for RFin and RFout, meaning you can use an external antenna.

WD My Cloud Mirror Gen2 with Debian 11 and Linux Kernel 5.15 LTS

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 18:05:32 +0000

Intro

Since 2017 I have been using an Western Digital My Cloud Mirror Gen 2 which I bought at Amazons Black Friday (or similar) - because the included 2x 8 TB WD Red were even cheaper with the NAS than standalone. Using the NAS had been quite ok, especially the included Docker Engine and Plex Support were a nice to have, the included Backdoor in older Versions - not so much. Recently WD had their new “My Cloud OS 5” replace the old My Cloud OS 3 - and made things worse for a lot of people. As I don’t want any more surprises - and more control over my hardware - I decided to finally go down the road and get Debian 11 with an LTS (5.15) Kernel running on the hardware. This is how it went.

[Gigabyte] BIOS Upgrade on old Gigabyte Motherboards

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 13:00:42 +0000

There are several old Gigabyte Motherboards like the GA-MA Series which uses their BIOS Included Q-Flash Utility for upgrading. This tool tries to access an attached USB Device in a file browser way to give you the choice on which file to flash. Most of the time, you won’t be able to access your drive, as it will only be shown as “Floppy B”. In truth, this means your USB drive is formated the wrong way: You should have only one partition on that stick, with size LESS than 128 MB and FAT as file system. Yeah, I figured that out the hard way ^^’. It will then be shown as “HDD 0-0” in Q-Flash and will provide your files for easy upgrading 🙂

[Dell] BIOS Upgrade on a Dell Precision T1500

Thu, 27 Jul 2017 12:00:39 +0000

Hi there, I just got hands on an old Dell T1500 workstation. It is not the beefiest monster - but still kicking. And I got it for a bargain :). So, while I was refurbishing it, I wanted to do an BIOS upgrade, like usual. Turned out, Dell only offers a combined “DOS/WINDOWS” Upgrade File. I tried upgrading via an FreeDOS USB Stick, created with Rufus, however - it failed. Ok, lets try Windows: I installed Windows 8.1 x64 - and the tool “worked” - however, even after reboot, nothing had changed. Reset CMOS, Load Default in BIOS, nothing. Darn… Well.. All the Dell support stuff for this machine was around Windows 7-ish versions, so I thought “last chance” 😉 - and yes! It worked:

Odroid U3 Kernel Upgrade + Docker

Tue, 24 Jan 2017 19:00:27 +0000

I wrote this back in January 2017. Since then I had not much time to work on the Odroid - however, user hexdump did just came up with a new repo, supporting the Odroid U3 with Kernel 5.4.x - you can find the overview over his awesome work here and the repo with complete releases (i.e. Ubuntu Bionic or Debian Buster i.e. odroid_u3-armv7l-debian.img.gz) here

I am using an trusty old Odroid U3 which I acquired years ago. With its SAMSUNG Exynos 4412 Cortex-A9 Quad Core 1,7 Ghz, 1MB L2 cache and 2 GB of RAM, this little puppy was an real beast - compared to the Raspberry Pi 1 at that time. However, Hardkernel did drop the support - again, which left the Users back with very old Kernel versions. However, thanks to some users and the fact that all needed support for the Exynos is now included in the current kernel - well, we can build our own. This write up is the distilled result of days of work and a lot of research - and the work of other people which I found on the net (which I will try to give proper credits at the right locations :)).

[Logitech] R400 Presenter pairing

Fri, 04 Dec 2015 13:11:43 +0000

Warning: The R400, R600 and R700 series of presenters are attack vectors and considered harmful. While Heise made an article that detailed that Logitech would exchange the receivers, it did actually not. They sent out a pair of incompatible C-U0014 receivers which could not be paired with R-R0004 presenters and then stopped their program, claiming only to exchange the presenter if it was under warranty, which is a security nightmare (I just tried to get the correct receiver, but Maven M. from Logitech wanted to have the receipt for the module which I obviously do not have anymore). In other words: The hardware is extremely vulnerable, Logitech accepts that it is like that but does not want to get this fixed, so I can only recommend to dispose of the presenter line and do not buy from Logitech anymore. Here is the security write up with the proof of concept to that attack: https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/60

[Talk] Wearables & IoT Presentation

Sat, 24 May 2014 09:00:14 +0000

My introduction to Wearables & IoT at the Saarcamp 2014:

Download: IOT_Saarcamp.pdf (3 MB)

[RaspPi] Raspberry Pi and the ili9341 Display

Sun, 27 Apr 2014 15:14:36 +0000

Raspberry Pi - Bad Apple on ili9341 Display

1.) Enable SPI

# remove or comment out the spi blacklist line  
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf

2.) Install
a) FBTFT drivers as loadable modules

sudo REPO_URI=https://github.com/notro/rpi-firmware rpi-update  
sudo shutdown -r now

b) FBTFT drivers built into the kernel proper

sudo REPO_URI=https://github.com/notro/rpi-firmware BRANCH=builtin rpi-update  
sudo shutdown -r now

3.) Install the frame buffer driver (as root):

apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-fbdev

4.) Configure frame buffer driver:

sudo vi /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbdev.conf  
Section "Device"  
Identifier "myfb"  
Driver "fbdev"  
Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb1"  
EndSection

5.) add Autostart:
( the gpios= Pins need to be changed to YOUR specification and connection! )
sudo vi /etc/modules

[RaspPi] Really poor mans DS18B20 Temperature Sensor

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 16:53:18 +0000

As I had to quickly come up with two DS18B20 Sensors for the Raspberry Pi, I decided to built them “quick and dirty” without any breadboard. It is not the most beautiful nor the best way, but it works out quite well. With one exception: It seems like the sensor is too near to the Pi and picks up heat from it :/. Anyway, here are some photos:

That is how it would look like later.

[Win7] Asus EEEPC 1015PN: Getting Optimus working (again) on Windows 7 Pro

Wed, 23 Oct 2013 14:48:55 +0000

Optimus is a really nice concept: Having installed an low-power Intel GMA3150 next to an “high-end” (compared to the Intel ;)) NVIDIA ION2 with 512 MB RAM (and CUDA!) is very nice - switching between both cards on the fly depending on the application - awesome. But getting it to work can be quite painful. I had to reinstall the drivers on my EEE PC and got it wrong. And now that it is working, I just want to write it down. Just in case, you never know ;)!

HTC Universal

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:00:53 +0000

I found a “bricked” HTC Universal without - everything.
So I decided to piece it back together.
First thing to find was an USB Cable to recharge the battery.
Working is an normal Mini USB Cable, even tough the connector looks different.

After that, I found out that the HTC was a brick.
So to unbrick:

get mtty1.42.exe, enter bootloader mode , (Power + Light Bulb + Reset)

Stop Activesync USB connection
Uni : Reboot Bootloader then Connect USB
PC : Run mtty1.42.exe
Choose USB in “Port” (Reconnect if can’t find/reconglize USB and try remove sim and sd card)
type : task 28 55aa
Press Enter
Cause DOC reformatted, so there’s no rom in DOC ,try reflash any rom that you like .

For task 28 55aa in mtty success , will show the message (attachment )

[Win7] ATI HD6870 + Mjölnir 1

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 07:04:37 +0000

I recently bought an ATI HD6870, replacing my old and very noisy and hot HD2900XT+.
As far as it seems it was an really good idea, as the new graphics is just awesome in performance and price (~180€).
By the way, I would recommend the Sapphire “Not-Reference” Model which comes with an special cooler - and is damn quiet.

And another thing: ATI brought out an Preview of the new 11.4 Driver called “Mjölnir 1” which does improve overall performance.
Its not stable yet, but maybe you want to check it out: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst114earlypreview.aspx
( Windows 7, Vista Only )

Webconverger - Build your own Internetcafé

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:18:32 +0000

Install Debian
Add following lines to /etc/apt/sources.list :
deb http://live.debian.net/ sid-snapshots main contrib non-free deb-src http://live.debian.net/ sid-snapshots main contrib non-free
apt-get install live-helper git git-core svn sudo
mkdir /home/webconverger
cd /home/webconverger
git clone git://git.debian.org/git/debian-live/config-webc.git
modify /home/webconverger/config-webc/webconverger/auto/config
( i.e. change
homepage=http://portal.webconverger.com to the one you want,
add Kioskrest every 10 Minutes after last use:
kioskresetstation=10
change bootlogo
change website to the one you want and add an bg.png to the account,
otherwise add noxbg to the boot to make the background blank )
cd /home/webconverger/config-webc/webconverger
lh config
lh build
/home/webconverger/config-webc/webconverger/binary-hybrid.iso

Clean to rebuild:

[iPAQ] Building Serial Console for iPAQ 3600 to Access Cisco Equipment

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:50:30 +0000

After I got the iPAQ 3660 working again, I wanted to use it as Serial Console to Work on the Cisco Equipment “on the road”. To achieve that, we need two or three things:

1.) An special connector Cable to attach the Serial Console of the iPAQ with an RS232 Connector / the Cisco Rollover Cable 2.) An Terminal Software. I did choose vxHpcPlus for that ( http://www.cam.com/vxhpcplus.html ) 3.) Something that makes it possible to use Landscape Mode so that you can read the Console Output more easily: NYDITOT Virtual Display, Version 5.02 ( http://www.nyditot.com/Products.asp )

[pRoToTyPe] iGPS-M Pro USB to Serial

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:22:42 +0000

As I wanted an better GPS Mouse for the pRoToTyPe, I did buy an iGPS M Pro USB Mouse ( http://www.transystem.com.tw/products/index_detail.php?mcat_no=2&cat_no=32&pno=10&ver=en ). I was certain that I could resolder it to Serial and use it on the Fonera Router. And thats how I did it: I did open up the Case, which was very easy, just unsnap it. You will find an socket were 4 wires do run out: Black (GND), Red (5V+), White (USB Data) and Green (USB Data) - I did cut these Wires and soldered them to an 8 Wire Cable. From the other 4 left Wires I did use only two: Under the Metal Shielding of the Mouse you will find an TX and an RX Solder Point - these are RS232 Connection Points. I did just pry open a bit of the shielding to run two wires into it, soldered it onto the points and did close the casing again. On the other end of the cable, I did solder on an RS232 Connector, Female. I did use the pRoToTyPe scheme with Phantom Power for that. Additionally, I did wire up Power and Ground a second Time to an USB Connector as well as the USB Datalines. So I have one RS232 Socket and one USB Connector and can use the Mouse for both occasions.

[iPAQ] Upgrading HP iPAQ 3660 from CE 3.0/Pocket PC 2000 to Pocket PC 2002

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:46:55 +0000

As the 3600 Series came out in 2000, it was one of the top notch Personal Digital Assistants and became very widely known through Business Class Users and Geeks. The only downside to this nice product was the big price tag which could go to nearly 1000 bucks. Now, after 10 Years, you got these machines for really less money and so the second named user class (Geeks, Nerds, etc - call it as you want) can accquire and use the now considered outdated Hardware. The 3660 does come with an 206 MhZ Arm (v4, SA1100) Processor, 16 MB Rom and 64 MB Ram (which are seperated dynamically into 32 MB “real” Ram and 32 MB “Flash” to save Work and Programs in). The Display takes it to an Resolution of 320x240 and does show 4096 Colours. For Connection, the 3660 does use and IRDA Port aswell as an Sync Port which can be used over USB and Serial Connection through the Cradle or an Adaptor Cable. As Expansion Slot “Sleeves” were aviable. They could contain 1 or 2 CF Card Slots or one PCMCIA Slot. Both with Battery so they extended the Running Time on the iPAQ a lot. To Upgrade the whole thing to the “not meant to be installed” Pocket PC 2002 install but than Shutdown Active Sync on your Windows PC. Attach the iPAQ to the Cradle and the get Following Software from the Compaq Site ( ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/):

[EEE901/1000] Use Windows XP Bluetooth-Stack on Asus 901/1000

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:26:44 +0000

Deactivate Bluetooth in the Asus-Tray-Utility
Open C:\WINDOWS\INF\BTH.INF with the Editor.
Look for:

[Manufacturer]  
%Microsoft%=Microsoft  
ALPS=ALPS, NT.5.1  
Belkin=Belkin, NT.5.1

Now add “Asus=ASUS, NT.5.1”. It should look like this:

[Manufacturer]  
%Microsoft%=Microsoft  
ALPS=ALPS, NT.5.1  
Asus=ASUS, NT.5.1  
Belkin=Belkin, NT.5.1

Now look for “[Zeevo.NT.5.1]”. It should look like this:

[Zeevo.NT.5.1]  
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution=                        BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0126  
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution=                        BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0133

Beneath it, add following:

[Asus.NT.5.1]  
Asus BT-253=                        BthUsb, USB\VID_0B05&PID_B700

Result:

[Zeevo.NT.5.1]  
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution=                        BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0126  
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution=                        BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0133  
[Asus.NT.5.1]  
Asus BT-253=                        BthUsb, USB\VID_0B05&PID_B700

Save and leave the editor
Now it depends wheter you did install the Widcomm Software or wheter you start with an fresh Win XP Installation

With Widcomm-Software:

Unbrick Royaltek RGM 2000 "Bluemouse" GPS Mouse

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:17:44 +0000

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! )…

Install SunRay Server Software 4.1 on Ubuntu JeOS Server 9.04 i386 (running under ESXi 4.0)

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:47:51 +0000

Hi Guys,

this Guide did cost me a lot of nerves and time, but its finally complete!
The most of this stuff is ripped from this nearly perfect guide.
But problem is, I did had some difficulties setting it up and got into serious troubles about dhcp (not working), dpkg (screwed up totaly) and other nasty things.
In the end I did this installation about 4 times, but now its working, and guess what? I did do complete notes! And I’m going to share these with you! ^^.

Low Level Format of an USB HDD and more

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:38:27 +0000

I came up with the website http://hddguru.com/ and found it to be very useful.
It does not only hold software like an Windows HDD Low Level Formating Tool or an Special Patched DOS Boot Disk, but also an big file database containing even more Software, Firmware Upgrades, Infos and a lot more!

PC doesn't boot (Black Screen of Death)

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:54:59 +0000

Normal things that go wrong and you should check up on a “total black” screen:

Try to reset via reseting power
Are the fans running?
Is the power supply working (exchange)?
Is the ram connected (replug, exchange)?
Is the cpu ok (exchange)?
Is the graphics card working (replug, exchange)?
Is the mainboard directly screwed to the frame (shortcircuted)?
Is the mainboard screwed with too much pressure (cracks)?
Unplug LEDs, Front USB etc. (maybe shortcircuted)
CMOS Reset
Try to plug out and remove everything not needed to show your some bios messages (even Harddrive and Cdrom)
What about the internal speaker? Got some nice post beeps? (Check out manual of the vendor!)

ESXi 3.5 on Dell Optiplex 745

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:07:54 +0000

Exchange oem.tgz on root of ESXi 3.5 Install CD with new oem.tgz
Install with CD with OEM Community Version or IC8 oem.tgz (SATA on Normal Mode)
Boot from Knoppix 5.1, copy OEM.tz onto hda5 / Hypervisor Partition (SATA on Legacy Mode)
Boot, works!

Hints:

Use UltraISO und BurnISO to modificiate / burn the stock ISO
http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php

Brother MFC-8840D Web Access

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:42:11 +0000

for an admin account ->
The default username for the 9840CDW is admin
The default username for the 9840CDW is access

for a user account ->
The default username for the 9840CDW is user
The default username for the 9840CDW is access

Netfinity 8500R "DragonMother" (23.08.2008)

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:32:58 +0000

DragonMother is the latest addition to my little PC farm.

Its an IBM Netfinity 8500R X-Series Server.

At the moment it contains 2 Pentium III Xeon 700 Mhz Processors and 2 GB of 100 Mhz ECC Sdram.

Additionally it makes use of an IBM ServeRaid (SCSI) and an Fastrak Promise Ultra 100 (IDE) Controller to support multiple Harddisk Drives and an 3Com 10/100 XT Fast Ethernet Card.

It is powered by 3 redundant, hotplugable Power Supply Units - but acutally I use only one ( I don’t need redundance at the moment, so I only use one for less power consumption).

Blutdrache 01 Version 1.0 (26.11.2005)

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:15:16 +0000

One year after the Hilfsdrache Project, I wanted to build an new server.

While an traineeship at an IT Systems firm, I got an 19’’ Inch Rackpiece with (about 3 HE) - so I wanted to use that as “Case” for that project.

That server here should be different from the Hilfsdrache in serval points.

First, it should run an specialized linux distribution called “Eisfair” (www.eisfair.org) - which had been created to work as secure and easily configurable server system.

Hilfsdrache 01 Version 1.2 (18.07.2004)

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:37:28 +0000

On 18.07.2004, the third Version of the Hilfsdrache was finalized.

The CPU Cooler was replaced through an selfbuild Watercooling System.

The coolant radiator used was from an Ford or Opel Automobile. The other parts were an small 12 Volt pump, and selfbuild copper water cooling unit for the CPU, and an water tank (made out of an plastic tube with cover).

To get an better airflow through the main 120 mm fan, the back of the Server got 2 coverplates with holes and - for better optic - an lighted perspex plate like the one I made in large for the mousepad.

Hilfsdrache 01 Version 1.1 (24.05.2004)

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:58:01 +0000

Over 5 Months later, I did update the Design.

The Server worked flawlessly so far, but there was space for some additions.

First I did mod the MiniATX Powersupply and build in an Switch to put the Powersupply Fan into 12 Volt (Fast and Loud) or 7 Volt (Slow and Silent - but enough throughput) Mode. From that on, the server was a LOT more silent.

Also, the HDD Cage connection to the ground of the Case was damped by screwing it through a thumbsize layer of rubber. That helped.

Hilfsdrache 01 Version 1 (31.12.2003)

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:33:25 +0000

Hilfsdrache01 should be my first standalone server for Lan Partys and such.

As for that reason, I decided to do a bit more than “only” build up the pc and get it running: I tried to built the pc into an big attache case. The benefits were clearly: An easily transportable pc with an solid and small case.

Because I didn’t have much space, I used MiniATX components for this project.

The Dragon Mousepad

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:09:08 +0000

So, in 2003 / 04 I weren’t only working on the “Hilfsdrache”, but also on an special Mousepad.

That Mousepad was created out of perspex, an aluminium rail and serval ultra-bright blue leds and an usb connector.

To really make that pad special and “one of a kind”, I created an carving with an Dremel Multitool into the upper one of the two perspex layers.

The light of the leds is shining directly into the uper layer and is broken on the positions, where the material is carved.