Disco: 2018

Tuesday, 18 December 2018

Mi Box 3

MDZ-16-AB

Dimensions: 101mm x 101mm x 19.5mm
Weight: 176.5g

Processor: Amlogic S905X SoC = Quad-core Cortex-A53 2.0GHz
GPU: Mali 450 750MHz
RAM: 2GB DDR3
Storage 8GB eMMC
Power: 5V/2A, 4mm x 1.7mm

Connectivity out

1 x HDMI 2.0a (HDCP 2.2)
1 x SPDIF Out / 3.5mm audio output (DTS 2.0+, Dolby Digital Plus, up to 7.1 pass through)

Connectivity in

802.11a/b/g/n/ac Dual-band Wi-Fi 2.4GHz/5GHz
Bluetooth 4.0/3.0
1 x USB 2.0 (many users get a 3 port USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter, but we find the wireless is fine)

Remote: Bluetooth voice remote control (2xAAA batteries), but suggest to get a keyboard at least for initial setup

We will post about software separately...

Further Info:
Odroid XU4Q
Kodi settings
NEW RIG

Mobo for New Rig
Software for New Rig
And Now (Software)
And Now (Hardware)
Getting Closer to Next Project
Next Project
Windows 7 Starter Kit
2nd Baby Arrived (father doing well)
Baby News
RKHTPC

Sunday, 11 November 2018

Google Wifi Mesh Router(s) GA00158-AU

Say hello to Google Wifi

The NBN-supplied router is 802.11n at up to 300Mbps. The NBN box is in a metal cabinet behind a wooden door with a long wall between it and the bedroom.

Ezzy's Macbook Air is mainly used in the living room;
The study and media centre have wired ethernet connections; and
The living room Sonos Play 3's has a wired ethernet connection and meshes with the other unit in the bedroom.

So far so good, BUT, there are now 5-10 regular SSID's in our area competing at 2.4GHz, and, combined with the apartment architecture, large parts of the bedroom were a dead spot no matter what.

Solution was to buy a 3-pack of these units, and sell 2 on eBay to reduce the per unit cost. We now have Wifi WAF and I arbitraged Google's nudge pricing.

Further Info:
[Solved] Wi-Fi Extender
[Unsolved] Connect Mini HTPC to TV

Saturday, 27 October 2018

New Monitor(s)

Currently we are using 2xDell G2410T (refurbished)

24" HD (1920x1080 at 60Hz) TN panel with 5ms response
Power consumption 20W operating / 0.15W standby

Dell G2410T

But work is moving to QHD monitors so remoting in with downscaling will be bad. And I'm going to repurpose the Lorne media centre into a midi controller.

So the next choice is:

Dell U2718Q

27" 4K (3840x2160 at 60Hz) IPS panelwith 5-8ms response
Power consumption 30W operating / 0.3W standby

Further Info:

NEW RIG

Tuesday, 18 September 2018

Cleaning Options

Alfawise s60 window cleaner

Roborock s50 powered by Xiaomi

Roidmi F8E

Further Info:

Dyson v6

Saturday, 18 August 2018

After installing Ubuntu Linux 18.04

Update system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Restricted drivers
Software & Update -> Additional Drivers

VLC
sudo apt-get install vlc -y

GIMP
sudo apt-get install gimp -y

Multimedia support
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

System clean
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoremove

Further Info:
Odroid XU4Q