Tales of a Travelling Technologist

Latitude ST Epsa test mode without a Keyboard.

2011-11-17T11:22:00.000+01:00

To run ePSA in DOS mode whithout using keyboard, follow below steps :

Power up the system and immediately press the Power + Security (Ctrl-Alt-Del) buttons simultaneously for one second.
During the process, you will be prompt to answer a YES or NO question.
To respond, press Volume Up = YES or Volume Down = NO

XPS 2420 TV card

2011-09-26T17:17:00.001+02:00

The TV tuner Card in the European XPS 2420 all in one is the Avermedia A316 Mini PCIe

Information from Avermedia can be found here :

http://www.avermedia-usa.com//AVerTV/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=376&SI=true

TV	Analog TV	Worldwide Analog Access
TV	Digital TV	DVB-T
Stereo Sound		O
FM Radio Support		O
Input / Output	75 ohm TV Antenna Input	O
	Composite (RCA)	O
	S-Video	O
	FM Radio Antenna Iput	O
Features	XP WHQL Driver	O (BDA)
	Supporting OS	XP / Vista
	Windows MCE Compliant	O
	Remote Control Supported	X

XPS 15 (L502X) Avermedia TV card

2011-09-26T09:38:00.000+02:00

The TV tuner Card in the XPS 15 (l502X) is an Avermedia TVT 20 card, Interestingly it appears to have dual TV antennas on the Card (the XPS 15 has only one internal lead ) I wonder if this means that this is a dual tuner card

Dell Power Supplies PDF

2011-09-22T12:33:00.000+02:00

Interesting link on dell com listing all the various power supply permutations

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/corporate/environ/comply/ac_adapter_information.pdf

Dell M6600 Power Supply - GA240PE1-00

2011-09-22T12:14:00.001+02:00

Dell GA240PE1-00 Power Supply

Dell GA240PE1-00 Power Supply (3 PIN)
Supplied with Dell Precision M6600 240 Watt
Blue LED - Yes

Dell M4600 Power Supply - DA180pm111

2011-09-22T12:07:00.002+02:00

Dell DA180pm111 Power Supply

Dell DA180pm111 Power Supply (3 PIN)
Supplied with Dell Precision M4600 180 Watt
Blue LED - no.

Extracting HDR and ROM Files from Dell Bios executable files

2011-09-15T14:01:00.002+02:00

It’s all about the forward slash.

In a DOS box use BiosFileName.EXE /Writehdrfile or BiosFileName.EXE /Writeromfile

The Win32 exe file will execute in windows and It will then create a BiosFileName.ROM or BiosFileName.HDR in the current Directory

Further command line options are as bellow.

Classic
Reportstatus
Norburesults
Rburesults
Writeromfile
Writehexfile
Writehdrfile
Wipeclean
Wipeall
Verbose
Prgboot
Noreboot
Nopause
Info
Forcetype
Forceit
Factory
Edvu
Boot

Streak 7 recovery mode

2011-07-03T12:21:00.002+02:00

Unlike the streak 5, where you have to hold down the volume + and - and power to enter recovery mode, the Streak 7 requires Volume + and Power only :)

Dell XPS 15z internals

2011-05-26T18:12:00.000+02:00

Dell have finally launched their XPS 15z , the worlds thinnest 15 inch laptop

Official details can be found here : http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15z/pd.aspx

here are a selections of photos that show how they have managed to achieve this amazing thinness

Tales of a Travelling Technologist: Samsung SSD PM800 mSATA

2011-05-22T13:09:00.000+02:00

Tales of a Travelling Technologist: Samsung SSD PM800 mSATA

Dell E4200 SSD

2011-05-22T11:45:00.005+02:00

The Dell Latitude E4200, uses a Samsung Usata Naked Drive, the Mini Pice Slots are not wired to accept a Msata card.

Details of the drive can be found here : http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/storage/p190819/intro.htm

Dell support for Msata SSD cards

2011-05-21T15:26:00.004+02:00

Intel Solid-State Drives 310 series - Solid state drive - 40 GB - internal - PCI Express Mini CardDell support for Msata SSD cards

Currently supported in the M4600, M6600, M6500 precision mobile workstations.

Possible support in the new E3 Family, via an adapter in the Multi bay (to be confirmed when available)

Dell Currently ships Samsung Msata drive in 64 Gig and 128 Gig capacity.

if you did not order the your precision with a Msata SSD, the Intel M310 can be used as a drop in and works perfectly.

http://www.intel.com/design/flash/nand/310series/overview.htm

Dell DA45nm100-00 Power Supply

2011-05-21T13:42:00.004+02:00

Dell DA45nm100-00 Power Supply (2 PIN)
Supplied with Dell Z600 45 Watt
also appears to works with Xt2 andE4200
Blue LED - YES

Dell Part M321M
PA-1M10 Family

Meego 1.2 released.

2011-05-21T11:32:00.000+02:00

Time to refresh those Dell Mini 9 :)

https://meego.com/community/blogs/imad/2011/meego-1.2-release

From that page :
"
Some highlights of the MeeGo Core stack include:

MeeGo Reference Kernels supporting a variety of Intel Atom and ARMv7 platforms.
QML Application Framework and extended Qt-Mobility APIs, including additional location, system, connectivity, and sensor/haptic capabilities for rapid, rich, application development.
Enhanced Telephony and Connectivity capabilities, including:

GSM, GPRS, and HSPA+ network support
SIM Application Toolkit
Expanded Bluetooth profiles
Expanded VPN and wireless authentication methods
USB, WiFi, and BT-PAN data tethering capability
Enhance multimedia support, including RTSP streaming with progressive download"

Dell PA-1300-04 Power supply

2011-05-19T13:51:00.001+02:00

Dell PA-1300-04 Power supply supplied with Dell Inspiron duo (Sparta) 30W
also appears to works with Mini 9 and Mini 10 Range

Dell Part MNX47
PA-1M11 Family

Dell XPS 15z DA90M11 Power Supply

2011-05-19T13:30:00.006+02:00

Dell DA90M11 Power Supply

Dell DA90M11 Power Supply (3 PIN)
Supplied with Dell Precision XPS 15Z 90 Watt
Blue LED -no

Streak 2.2 new build 322

2011-02-18T17:02:00.003+01:00

http: //mobileupdate.dell.com/PackageProductionLocations/Streak_322_12947_11.pkg

from the HK version , chose English during the install otherwise it will default to Chinese.

Dell Streak 2.2 new build 318

2010-12-16T19:47:00.004+01:00

a new build is available for unlocked dell streak (devices ending in 00)

http://mobileupdate.dell.com/PackageProductionLocations/Streak_318_12821_00.pkg

of all official 2.2 build this seems to best the most baked yet.

Inspiron Duo Internals

2010-12-15T20:52:00.009+01:00

Free Image resizer.

2010-12-15T20:46:00.002+01:00

VSO do a decent free image tool http://www.vso-software.fr/products/image_resizer/download-image-resizer.php

from their web site

"Resize pictures or convert them into different formats easily. Select your output resolution, create a copy, resize the original, move and/or rename files, or compress them and choose a specific destination for your processed images. Work on individual photos or edit large numbers of images by doing a batch resize in just one click."

The tool also alows you to add watermarks to your photos and adds a context menu in windows explorer .

TrueCrypt and SSD's

2010-10-09T22:05:00.006+02:00

Hum, good to know, do not put hidden encrypted volumes on SSD's

from the TrueCrypt site :

"A TrueCrypt volume resides on a device/filesystem that utilizes a wear-leveling mechanism (e.g. a flash-memory SSD or USB flash drive). A copy of (a fragment of) the TrueCrypt volume may remain on the device. Therefore, do not store hidden volumes on such devices/filesystems. For more information on wear-leveling, see the section Wear-Leveling in the chapter Security Requirements and Precautions."

And more importantly :

"If you need plausible deniability, you must not use TrueCrypt to encrypt any part of (or create encrypted containers on) a device (or file system) that utilizes a wear-leveling mechanism."

Windows Live essential 11 are live :)

2010-10-01T20:56:00.002+02:00

September 30th, Microsoft has released the final version of the live essential tools http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2010/09/30/windows-live-essentials-2011-available-for-download-now.aspx

Samsung SSD PM800 mSATA

2010-09-26T10:07:00.003+02:00

Mini PCIe SSD - come in 16,32 and 64 GiG variant .

Currently found in the Dell M6500

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/products/SSD/downloads/ds_PM800_SATA_mini_card_rev10.pdf

Citrix Receiver 11.0 Linux install on MeeGo

2010-09-19T19:03:00.005+02:00

good blog post on how to configure the Citrix receiver on Meego Link

I can confirm that it works as described :)

XenDesktop with Microsoft Hyper-V Design Guide

2010-09-14T21:58:00.000+02:00

Good Reference document on the Citrix support site . http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX124687

Direct PDF link