Free Software
Extracting Sky Router Crash Data Amidst Kernel Panics

I have a Sky broadband connection with fibre into a Sky Router / Sky Hub. I have noticed very short outages of internet service with increasing frequency recently. The outages are short, maybe around 3-5 minutes long but these are annoying enough in the middle of an online meeting or some other synchronous activity. Sometimes […]

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hardware
Installing Android Nougat on a Stock Galaxy Tab 10.1

My daughter uses an Android Samsung tablet (coded GT-P7510) which ended official support on Android 4.0.4. Unfortunately I didn't pay any attention to this issue until the apps she most wanted to use, namely Netflix and YouTube stopped working on it as the Android version was too low. I found a ROM to upgrade to […]

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hardware
Of Wired, Wireless, Sky+ and 5GHz, and the Linksys ea6300 router

This is partly a ramble, partly a product review, and partly a howto, and mainly an aide memoire. It will naturally therefore be unlikely to succeed perfectly at any of those, but if you have questions, place them in a comment. We moved into this house just under two years ago, and when we moved […]

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hardware
iPhone connection problems, and how to reset it, so it still won't work

I have two phones, currently a Samsung Galaxy S5 for domestic use, and an iPhone 4S for work. I used to have an iPhone 4 for work but its radio functionality started sporadically not working. Actually it would be better to say it didn't work and would sporadically work. About a week ago, my 4S […]

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hardware
Extending a wired doorbell with a wireless one

I moved into a new house in January 2013. Well, new to me, building seems to have started on these houses around 1888. There was, and still is, plenty of remedial work to do in the house, but by the end of 2013 I had renovated the main reception room that we "live" in. This […]

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hardware
Swan Heated Tray repair

We have a nice Swan Heated Tray courtesy of my Mum. It's useful for lots of things, heating plates for dinner and then placing serving dishes on it, or for keeping a stack of pancakes warm on Sunday. Unfortunately it stopped working recently. The red power LED still lit when power was applied but no […]

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hardware
Rooting and Upgrading the HTC Desire

I have been asked by a few friends to document how I did this. All the information is derived from elsewhere and its currency may be limited. Trying to root and flash phones is potentially dangerous. You need to take your time and consider what you are doing carefully. If you break your phone, you […]

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hardware
HTC Desire versus Apple iPhone 4

I have both these phones. The HTC Desire is my personal phone, and runs Android (in this case Froyo, Android 2.2). I've been using Android for some time now, and regular readers will know I haven't been shy about commenting on its problems in the early releases. I also have, and have had for about […]

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hardware
Roberts WM201 Internet Radio

I recently bought a Roberts WM201 Internet Radio. I've used it for a while now and thought I'd post my thoughts. First of all, I was looking for a radio meeting certain criteria, it needed wifi, I wanted it to pack a reasonable punch since it would essentially be my main music source, it needed […]

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hardware
Android 1.5 (Cupcake) firmware

I recently wrote about my experiences with the Google G1 dev phone running the 1.1 Android firmware, and discussed a number of problems. Last night I obtained the just released 1.5 (cupcake) firmware and performed the upgrade. That all went smoothly, it helped to have done it before and working out the idiosyncrasies of the […]

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