Tag: DIY

CrossPoint DXP Fan Replacement

In the perpetual quest to upgrade/change my AV basement setup, I purchased a used Extron DXP 8×8 HDMI matrix switch. After receiving the unit and performing a factory reset, I was happy to see it worked perfectly in my setup, except for one thing. Unlike the CrossPoint Ultra I used for analog devices, the DXP had a cooling fan. The fan wasn’t loud but was noticeable when was nothing playing. The location of the switch was next to my couch which made the issue more pronounced.

The DXP uses a standard size fan: 60x25mm, 12V, 3-pin. That made an upgrade easier. I decided Noctua’s NF-A6x25 FLX would be a suitable replacement.

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A $1 fix to Audio-Technica’s Microphone Boom

Recently I purchased an Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ microphone to replace my old Plantronics GameCom Pro 1 headset from 2005. I splurged and spent the extra $50 to get the streaming pack, which included headphones and a boom.

The microphone and headphones are great, but it turns out the microphone boom is not the highest quality. The springs pop and creak when the boom moves around. You’re not supposed to rotate the boom around in the desk mount. The biggest issue, however, is a carriage bolt and nylon lock nut clamps the microphone mounting stud to the boom. If you twist the stud up/down enough times, that nut loosens, and the mounting stud falls. The only way to tighten lock nut is to grab and wrench.

Showing the location of the back lock nut
The nylon lock nut will eventually loosen if you move the stud up/down

Here is a quick fix for the lock nut issue, and it cost less than $1. Go to the hardware store and purchase an M4 wing nut. My local Lowe’s and Home Depot both had these wing nuts in stock located in the special hardware section. If the nut starts to loosen, then you can reach up and twist the wing nut instead of grabbing a wrench.

wing nut installed
Problem solved with a wing nut

Have fun.
-Tony

Super Simple Raspberry Pi Print Server

For a log time I’ve been network printing in my house to a small laser printer connected to my Linux Server.  This year I decided to move my server to the basement of the house, but didn’t want to relocate the printer from the office. The solution was to pickup a cheap Raspberry Pi 2 and set it up with the same settings as my primary server. Yes this is a waste of a perfectly functional Pi, but you have to make sacrifices sometime. Continue reading “Super Simple Raspberry Pi Print Server”

Syncthing for Linux PPC

I spend way too much time trying to get software not officially support on PowerPC computers running. My latest project is Syncthing. Started in 2013 by Jakob Borg, Syncthing is promoted as an “opensource alternative to proprietary decentralized file sharing services” [1]. The biggest competitor is BitTorrent’s Sync application. The premise for both applications is the same. You pick a folder on your computer or mobile device you want to share to device or user. The application generates cryptographic identifiers that are shared and used for securing traffic. With BitTorrent Sync the identifiers are shared when you start the process of sharing a folder. For Syncthing they are shared when connecting devices together. In the end the result of secure end-to-end communication is accomplished by both applications, jus the roads are a little different.

I’ve been using BTSync for the past year as a way to keep a copy of a KeePass file synced between my computers and my Nexus 5. My KeePass file is something I don’t want to keep up on a service like Google Drive since the cloud is outside of my control. LastPass is a great service, but again, passwords are stored in the cloud and I like control.

The developers of Syncthing are doing a great job of updating the product and releasing versions for the major desktop platforms. Third-party developers have also stepped up and adapted Syncthing to run on Android and support for iOS looks to be on the roadmap [2]. One missing platform, however, is Linux on PPC. I know the market share of for PPC systems is microscopic even if you factor in IBM’s Power line of servers, some of Synology’s NAS products, and the Air Force’s PS3 cluster [3]. That is why I’m still surprised that BitTorrent released a Sync client for Linux PPC until April 2015 [4].

Enough back-story, here is how I got Syncthing running.
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Controlling a Cinema Display from XP

With the DVI to ADC adapter a success I’ve run into a new issue with the Apple monitor I salvaged. There are no physical controls for the brightness and I can’t turn the monitor off. The power button on the ACD is designed to control the monitor as well as the Mac it’s connected to. Pin 13 on the ADC spec is listed as “soft power” so I assume that is where the functionality comes from. While there is a brightness button on the front of the display, its function is to open of the display preferences in OS X so you can adjust the settings there.

All of that is great if you are using a Mac with an ADC video card or even an ADC adapter (the brightness controls are controlled through the USB connection), but there is no way to control the monitor from a Windows PC natively. Luckily there is the Internet and the great world of open source software. A few years ago a guy by the name of Laurent Morichetti wrote an application called WinACD. The function of the program was simple; give Windows XP users the same control over their ACD monitors as Mac users have.

The installation process is simple.

  1. Download WinACD from http://sourceforge.net/projects/winacd/.
  2. With the monitor’s USB cable disconnected, run the WinACD installer.
  3. If any popups appear saying the drivers are not signed click “Continue Anyway”.
  4. Once the installation is finished plug in the USB cable from the monitor.

Controlling the monitor settings is as simple on XP as they are on a Mac now. When looking at the advanced display settings a new tab is available. Under it there are controls for the brightness and monitor buttons. There is also an option to control the monitor’s brightness using shortcut keys.


There are a few issues with WinACD. There has been no development on the program since 2006 so it does not support any of the new LED Cinema Displays. WinACD doesn’t work on any 64-bit version of Windows. Also, as you can see my screenshots I cannot change any of the settings for the monitor buttons. That is probably just specific to monitor I am using. If you can over look those issues then WinACD is a great application for anybody using an Apple Cinema Display.

DIY ADC Adapter

It’s been a while since I added a blog entry, but this is worth it. This time I am building a DVI to ADC adapter so I can connect an old Apple Cinema Display to a PC.

The Backstory:
The PR department at the college I work for was going through some old stuff. They came across some Mac equipment they no longer wanted and asked my office, the Help Desk, to dispose of it properly. What came back were some Apple video cables and one 20″ Apple Cinema Display. It wasn’t the aluminum version, but the older white one that looked like an easel. Of course, this display couldn’t be connected to any regular computer because it used an ADC connector. Apple specially engineered the ADC connector so that power, video, and USB were carried along a single cable. While this was great for reducing the amount of cabling you had, it also meant you had to have either a PowerMac with a compatible video card or a DVI to ADC adapter. That originally cost an $130. Oh, don’t forget your computer had to have a DVI.

The Idea:
If you fast forward to today you can buy a DVI to ADC adapter for $75 from Amazon.com. That would be the quick solution for connecting the monitor to a computer, but I have an idea: why not build my own? The ADC standard is basically the same as DVI with extra wires for power and USB ports. The pinout on the connectors between DVI and ADC are a little different, but shouldn’t be too hard to over come.

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