Product Specific 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.

RAK11300 - Getting it to work with Arduino-Pico and RadioLib!

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 16:08:49 +0000

Intro

About a year ago I got some RAK11300 modules - which are a nice combination of an RP2040 alongside a SX1262 radio on one module - designed a breakout board - tested it - and quickly shelved it. Reason was that this module was somewhat Arduino compliant - as stated - however only with RAKwireless Arduino mbedOS Repo. Alongside of it being a bit… hacked together, it had the issue of not supporting any low power modes for the RP2040 - making it run on both cores at full tilt and consuming batteries in no time. Not the best thing for a portable/battery powered sensor system, I guess?

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.

Add icons to Jetpack Social Menu

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 18:39:10 +0000

I have been looking around the net quite a lot to find a solution on how to add icons to the “social menu” in wordpress:

At first I thought this menu was a feature of the theme I am using, Independent Publisher 2. I only found a Github repo for the version 1 theme - tried all the hacks there - and finally found out that version 2 was bought by WordPress.com and customized. So all the hacks available for version 1 did not even work. Bummer.

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.

labSentinel 2

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 09:35:01 +0000

About nearly a year ago, I wrote the labSentinel project for my Nvidia Jetson AI Specialist certification. The basic idea of the project is to be able to supervise old Lab Equipment which does not poses any kind of log output or interface other than a graphical user interface, running on an Windows 3.11 / 95 / NT - maybe even XP system.

I solved this issue by using a video grabber attached to a Jetson Nano and “out-of-band” grabbing the screen output of the experiment computer. I then learned good and bad system states via Nvidias Inference tools and finally got the system to report via MQTT as soon as something did go wrong.

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.

Presentations with Markdown: revealjs

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Being an active contributor to the PiAndMore and other conferences, I happen to make quite a few presentations a year. In the past I was using the good old Microsoft Powerpoint - which has its strengths, but also its drawbacks. Positioning text and graphics were never my taste (I use LaTeX, btw) - so I set out to find a new way to create presentations - and found revealjs back in 2018.

[Win10] Random ports blocked while using Docker / WSL / HyperV

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 09:48:57 +0000

I have been using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Docker on my Laptop since a long time. And during last Docker Con, WSL 2 was released to which I switched instantly - which I did not regret.

(Note: Upgrading to WSL 2 and the native Docker for WSL 2 version will cost you your containers and Docker images, there is even a Thanos meme coming around - so I have to give this fair warning ;))

Upgrade SonarQube 6.7 to 7.9

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 17:00:00 +0000

That was surprisingly easy: Just swaped the sonarqube:6.7-community for the sonarqube:7.9-community image entry in my docker-compose.yml and restarted the Docker container. Upon boot, the container restarted due to an error:

ERROR: [2] bootstrap checks failed[1]: max file descriptors [4096] for elasticsearch process is too low, increase to at least [65535][2]: max virtual memory areas vm.max_map_count [65530] is too low, increase to at least [262144]

This could be resolved by executing sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144 on my Ubuntu 18.04 LTS / Docker Host. After another restart of the container, it worked and I could start the update using a webbrowser under http://IP:9000/setup

SonarQube 6.7 Community with Postgres 9.6 in Docker on Ubuntu

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 12:45:40 +0000

This is a very quick install for SonarQube on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. I presume you got the latest Docker CE 18.09 and docker-compose 1.24 installed.

# create folders for sonarqube files and postgres
sudo mkdir -p /var/sonarqube/{conf,data,logs,extensions}
sudo chown -R 999:999 /var/sonarqube
sudo mkdir -p /var/sonarqube/postgres
# make folder for all Docker files in home
mkdir ~/sonarqube
cd sonarqube
# create docker-compose.yml with following content
version: '3.1'
services:
  db:
    image: postgres:9.6-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /var/sonarqube/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
     - POSTGRES_USER=sonar
     - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=sonar

  sonarqube:
    image: sonarqube:6.7-community
    ports:
      - 9000:9000
      - 9092:9092
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /var/sonarqube/conf:/opt/sonarqube/conf
      - /var/sonarqube/data:/opt/sonarqube/data
      - /var/sonarqube/logs:/opt/sonarqube/logs
      - /var/sonarqube/extensions:/opt/sonarqube/extensions
    environment:
      - SONARQUBE_HOME=/opt/sonarqube
      - SONARQUBE_JDBC_USERNAME=sonar
      - SONARQUBE_JDBC_PASSWORD=sonar
      - SONARQUBE_JDBC_URL=jdbc:postgresql://db/sonar
# launch 
docker-compose up -d

You can then access your SonarQube instance on http://ServerIP:9000 with the credential admin/admin.

Migrate SonarQube from MySQL to PostgreSQL

Sat, 27 Apr 2019 12:45:33 +0000

For checking the quality of my private programming code, I have been using the free edition of SonarQube for multiple years. It is actually a cool project with a massive flaw: They did allow to use MySQL as Database - but not MariaDB. This struggle kept me a bit at bay, as I parted with MySQL years ago - with this one exception.

Some days ago I then stumbled upon the anouncement of SonarQube that did not fix this long-standing issue, but will be parting completly from MySQL. So the only choice would be to migrate to Oracle, MS SQL or PostgreSQL.

How to read out Dell Servicetag on Windows

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 20:37:43 +0000

1.) Open CMD.exe / Command Shell in Windows

2.) wmic bios get serialnumber

Taken from: https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln268357/how-to-locate-system-service-tag-using-command-prompt?lang=en

[VMWare] Get and upgrade ESXi 6.5 "offline" - without paid license

Wed, 20 Dec 2017 11:00:51 +0000

As I wanted to have a very recent version of ESXi, I went to VMWares website and checked out their Products, Free Products, vSphere Hypervisor section. This, however, only presented me with a ESXi 6.5.0a ISO from 02.02.2017 - too old. However, you’ll get the much needed free license - so the visit pays off :).

So to get the latest version and updates, you need to go to http://vmware.com/go/evaluate-vsphere-en - and are presented with the 6.5.0 U1 ISO from 27.07.2017 - a lot better. With said image you can then install your server. Even if you had an old 6.5.0a install, you could download the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) Offline Bundle - which will upgrade your old 6.5.0 installation to U1 from that site.

[Dell] Using the Update CDs to get Dell Servers to latest firmware

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 11:00:58 +0000

Dell has an very comfortable way of getting new firmware to nearly all of its server components: The bootable media / ISO or Update CDs. You can find them on this website and very useful. On a basic level, you pick your server, download the ISO, compare the MD5 checksum and burn the ISO onto a DVD. After that, you should get the Servicetag of your server and check for BIOS and iDRAC updates - these should be installed manually first. After that, boot from the DVD and let it install all the needed firmware. Basically, the DVD will cycle through all firmware of components ever installed in the series of your particular server and installs updates if needed. After another reboot, you’re done :).

[Dell] T30 Intel AMT Blank Screen on Ubuntu Fix

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 13:25:10 +0000

The Dell T30 is an awesome little Homeserver, packing a punch with the Xeon E3-1225 V5 - and being affordable at about 399 €. It also comes with Intels Active Management Technology / AMT which is an extension of the horrible Intel Mangement Engine (which was all over the place months ago when some genius figured out how to stop that Man-in-the-Middle-always-on chip with some simple commands) - but quite useful - nonetheless. The good thing about this, is that it acts like an DRAC (Dell) / ILOM (Sun) / IPMI (Supermicro) card - so it is an KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse, not the virtualization thingy this time, sorry ;)) extension which allows you to control the server via network as if you were plugged in directly.

[Dell] PowerConnect 2824 Switch

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:46:58 +0000

The Dell PowerConnect 2824 is an oldie but goldie 24 port Gigabit Managed Switch (with ports 23/24 being shared ports like on the Cisco 3560 PoE 8 - which have Gigabit Cooper Ports as well as SFP ports - but you can only use one at a time :)).

You can get them for about 80€ / delivered on eBay as used products and they are qualitywise very good and got an reasonable (although ugly) webinterface as well as SNMP and the usual stuff. They can work as managed or unmanaged switch, which can be switched via the “Mode” port on the front (holding it for less than 7 seconds during operation, it switches the Mode, longer than that -> reset).

[Ubuntu] PERC6/i on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 09:30:11 +0000

To use the PERC6/i i.e. the

03:00.0 RAID bus controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 1078 (rev 04)

on Ubuntu, megacli is the best tool - but rarely available due to the demise of LSI Logic. Good thing that the guys from https://hwraid.le-vert.net put together a nice repo to host the latest RAID files. And yes, for everyone that does not like the idea of including a foreign repo - sorry to disappoint here :/.

Solve Windows 10 does not automount USB Drives anymore

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 08:54:27 +0000

My Windows 10 machine started behaving weirdly and did not mount any USB Drives / Harddrives and such anymore. I had to open the Disk Management Tool and mount them manually, which is quite inconvenient. So I was looking up the error and came across the nearly perfect solution at http://woshub.com/windows-doesnt-assign-letters-to-external-and-usb-flash-drives/ . However, I did change it a bit so that the VDS is changed to automatically start on boot via the CLI :).

[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:

CUDA and Tensorflow in Docker

Mon, 24 Jul 2017 12:00:25 +0000

In this howto we will get CUDA working in Docker. And - as bonus - add Tensorflow on top! However, please note that you’ll need following prereqs:

GNU/Linux x86_64 with kernel version > 3.10
Docker >= 1.9 (official docker-engine, docker-ce or docker-ee only)
NVIDIA GPU with Architecture > Fermi (2.1)
NVIDIA drivers >= 340.29 with binary nvidia-modprobe

We will install the NVIDIA drivers in this tutorial, so you should only have the right kernel and docker version already installed, we’re using a Ubuntu 15.05 x64 machine here. For CUDA, you’ll need a Fermi 2.1 CUDA card (or better), for tensorflow a >= 3.0 CUDA card…

Configure Git Line Endings

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 09:00:32 +0000

I tend to work crossplatform on different systems, mostly switching between different kinds of Ubuntu/Debian and Windows machines - always checking out and commiting git files on those machines. And I always forget to get the Git Line Endings right, as soon as I add a new machine to that list… So to do that, just a quick one liner:

git config --global core.autocrlf input
# Configure Git on Linux to properly handle line endings

Gitkraken - your next Git Client

Sat, 24 Dec 2016 15:00:28 +0000

If you’re in the NetOps/DevOps Teams, chances are high you need to develop code and use git. Well, on Windows Clients, I tended to use Atlassians Source Tree - however, that client became more and more buggy and unstable - unusable to say. Especially if I had to do an really big merge of my main to my deploy tag - it tended to crash most of the time.

So, without further ado: Enter Gitkranken. A nice, free, good looking and fast git client. Without dependencies.

[Sonarqube] Use Sonarqube in IntelliJ / PhpStorm / etc.

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 08:00:16 +0000

Sonarqube is cool, as the generated results can not only be viewed via the web interface, but also via an plugin in IntelliJ or other Jetbrains IDEs. The installation is quite simple, you just need to download the latest plugin on this website: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7238 and install it in the way described here: https://github.com/sonar-intellij-plugin/sonar-intellij-plugin. After that, you can easily hunt down and eliminate those errors :)!

Cisco Prime Infrastructure 3.1 Cheat Sheet

Fri, 12 Aug 2016 07:18:30 +0000

A little cheat sheet for myself. All commands can be used via SSH or Shell:

Show Config: show run
Show Inventory: show inventory (Does show i.e. how many CPUs and RAM is installed. This does match normally to the Version of Cisco Prime. i.E. 8 vCPUs and 16 GB RAM -> Express Plus Type)

Show status of prime: ncs status

Backup OS and Application: backup PI311 repository defaultRepo
Backup Application only: backup PI311appOnly repository defaultRepo application NCS

[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

[RaspPi] HDMIPi Repair and VGA Upgrade

Fri, 27 Feb 2015 10:31:04 +0000

Sadly, some weeks ago, the Micro USB Port of my HDMIPi broke.
I wrote an letter to Alex Eames, which is quite known for HDMIPi, RasPi.TV and his lattest Kickstarter Project the RasPiO Duino.
Alex is an awesome guy and gave me his blessings to try to repair that problem myself.
With some flux, a fine solder tip and soem patience, you can get that repaired in no time.
After succeeding, I created some strain-relief by using two-component epoxy resin to glue it down a bit. Highly recommended!

[Brother] Brother MFC-9465CDN Webinterface Password

Wed, 30 Apr 2014 15:14:33 +0000

User: admin
Password: access
User: user
Password: access

[Win8] EEE PC 1015PN and Windows 8

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 11:00:05 +0000

I have been using my EEE PC 1015PN for nearly 2 years now, and I am quite satisfied with it. But after the release of Windows 8, I wanted to try it, too. So I decided to upgrade install from my Windows 7 Professional to Windows 8 Professional. Before this test, I made an Acronis Image, which turned out to be an really good idea. Installation itself needed about 1 1/2 hour, as I decided to upgrade and not start from scratch.

[WinXP Tablet Edition] Tabtip.exe does Crash

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 20:09:35 +0000

If the virtual Keyboard on your Tablet PC does Crash on start, just do an “Fix-install” of the .Net Framework 2.
Reboot, and everything should be fine.

PS: There should be some memory leak within that Application, and theres a patch for that. Just to note it.

[Win7] How To Move Skype from Taskbar to Systemtray

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:54:40 +0000

As from the new Version on, Skype does not minimize to Taskbar in Windows 7 anymore. It does stay within the Systemtray and the Taskbar. To solve that, just change the Programm Compability Mode for Skype to Windows Viste, Service Pack 2.

Rooting CUCM7 & Giving BASH instead of the restricted CLI

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:03:55 +0000

Boot with gparted
cd /tmp
mkdir test
mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/test
chroot /dev/test /bin/bash
Change:

/etc/passwd:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/sbin/nologin  
admin:x:591:503::/home/admin:/usr/local/platform/bin/cliscript.sh

to:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash  
admin:x:591:503::/home/admin:/bin/bash

/etc/shadow

root:!!:14657:0:99999:7:::

to:

root:$1$D2ISXWJF$urnCHPxcF20BUWWwvTZfX0:14657:0:99999:7:::

/etc/sudoers
add the Line for admin under the user privilege specification so that it looks like this:

# User privilege specification  
root    ALL=(ALL) ALL  
admin   ALL=(ALL) ALL

exit
cd /tmp
umount /tmp/test
umount /dev/sda1
reboot
login with admin and your password, you are in the bash shell, not in the cisco cli anymore
enter sudo su and your login password and you become root

[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:

[ESXi 3.5] Dell Optiplex G620 ESXi 3.5 U5 & Problems with Ubuntu 9.10 and Vmware Tools

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:19:46 +0000

So, we happend to get an new ESXi 3.5 Server, using an Dell Optiplex G620 for that.

To install ESXi 3.5 U5 onto that Desktop Machine, you NEED to upgrade to Bios A11 and Shutdown CPU Limit ID - and do the Install in SATA Normal Mode (not Compability!). You also need to use the Tipps to install to an IDE Drive (so changing TYPE_IDE to TYPE_ISCSI in the TargetFilter.py) - than it will work flawlessly… (As long as you get the Bios updated, we had the “orignial” A01 Bios and it refused to use an Boot CD for the Update (did load but then always did disable Keyboard - you couldn’t enter anything…). We solved the Problem by using an REAL Floppy Disk… Yeah, was hard to get one. That worked! Ah and by the way, the ESXi install did load then, but the Keyboard got Stuck again - we plugged in an USB Keyboard and that one worked, the PS2 didn’t wanted to.. well, it always an Adventure setting up ESXi on non-listed Hardware - especially with Dell Bios ;-)…

Toshiba Satellite P300D-211 (PSPDCE-02KOOWGR) Wireless Problems

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:08:11 +0000

The Satellite \ Satellite Pro P300 \ P300D Series suffers from Problems with Wireless Connectivity.
To solve these problems you need to upgrade to at least Bios Version 3.00 (recent is 3.10).
For XP and Vista64, that should already fix it.
For Vista32, you need to upgrade the Wireless Lan Drivers as well.
But I would recommend upgrading it also on x64 Systems.

(disabling autotuning for networking and installing sp2 should help as well!)