ASUS Tech Support Confirms Two Year Hardware Warranty Details. I’m Getting 2GB.

Today I contacted ASUS Notebook Support (510-739-3777 Ext. 5110) twice in order to confirm the details of my Eee PC 4G warranty. I talked to James the first time, and Clinton the second time. Both were very helpful and quick with the information needed to answer my questions.  I was only asked for the serial number on my Eee PC. This is what I learned:

• 2 Year Hardware Warranty
• 6 Month Battery Warranty
• ASUS is not responsible for for software misconfiguration, such as troubleshooting an alternative operating system.
• ASUS Support will help you restore your Eee PC to its default Xanadros Linux state.
• Installing 2GB SO-DIMM will not void your warranty.
• Operating system and program disc writes, referred to by ASUS Support as “normal computer usage,” does not void your warranty. This means using swap, pagefiles, persistent system logs, programs that do heavy disc writes, and modern journaling filesystems like NTFS, ext3, and reiserfs will not void your Eee PC’s hardware warranty.

It was noted by ASUS Support that in the event of an SSD failure, they would have a difficult time actually finding the cause of the failure. In many cases it would be impossible. Also, in the case of 2GB RAM installation, you would return your Eee PC to ASUS with the original RAM SODIMM. ASUS Support, regarding the 2GB SODIMM: “We would ask you to send the Eee PC back like it originally came.”

I honestly think it’s insane to run a non-journaling filesystems on a laptop. The technology was developed to deal with precisely the type of situations a filesystem on a laptop will encounter, and both Microsoft and GNU/Linux builders have adopted journaling filesystems for primary storage use. If your SSD burns out because of heavy disc writes or first generation manufacturing defects, ASUS Support says they will take care of you.

Posted by rmrubin Posted in: Eee PC Comments Off January 2008

Booting An ISOLINUX LiveCD From Eee PC’s SD Card Reader

This is a simple method to boot an ISOLINUX-based LiveCD from the SD card reader of the Asus Eee PC small-footprint notebook computer. It can be used to boot Linux LiveCDs or installation CDs based on the ISOLINUX CDROM bootloader. It is non-destructive, and will work if files already exist on the SD card. Demonstration is from a WinXP/Cygwin environment with a SYSLINUX Windows binary package, but it should work from a GNU/Linux system as SYSLINUX is available for both platforms. This method should work for computers besides the Eee PC and with other types of usb storage media, such as memory sticks, CF cards, and hard drives.

This method is recommended over the usb booting method described on disc 2 of the Slackware 12 Installation CD. With the boot method described here you can use the SD as a normal storage device. You do not have use a separate storage medium for the package sets, or do a net-based installation, because you can store the package sets on the SD card itself. Also, you wont have to wait for the 23MB usbboot.s image to load.

Tested on Eee PC 4G:

• eeeXubuntu LiveCD - Boots to desktop. No further testing.
• SystemRescueCD LiveCD - Normal functionality. Includes cfdisk for nLite pre-install.
• Damn Small Linux LiveCD - Boots to desktop. No further testing.
• Slackware 12 Install CD - Normal functionality. Mount SD and specify package set dir.
• Gentoo Minimal Install CD - System init failure after kernel init. Sadness.

Needed:

• SD card with enough capacity for your LiveCD image files.
• PC to format and copy files from an .iso image to an SD card.
• SYSLINUX package for your operating system.
• Your Eee PC.

Overview:

• Format the SD card.
• Copy files from ISOLINUX LiveCD image to SD.
• Adjust the ISOLINUX files for use with SYSLINUX.
• Make the SD bootable with SYSLINUX.
• Boot from SD on the Eee PC.

Step 1: Format the SD card.

Insert the SD card into your PC and wait for the hardware to be detected. If you want to start with a clean SD card, you should format it now. In Windows, you do this by right-clicking the drive in the My Computers window and selecting “Format…”. Select FAT or FAT32 filesystem, and check Quick Format to save time and lengthen SD life. The card will be made bootable later with SYSLINUX. In Linux you would use mkdosfs and it would also be a good time to use a program like cfdisk to make the SD partition bootable. Please note that most SD cards come pre-formatted, and this method is non-destructive. It does not require you to format the card at all if its capacity is adequate.

Step 2: Copy files from ISOLINUX LiveCD image to SD.

All files must be copied from the .iso LiveCD image to the root of the formatted SD card. In Windows, you can use a program like 7-Zip to open the .iso image like an archive, or Daemon Tools to mount the .iso as an emulated CDROM drive. In Linux you would use the command “mount -t iso9660 -o loop /path/file.iso /mnt/dir” to mount the image onto a directory. You will also need to mount the SD card device: “mount -t auto /dev/sdx1 /mnt/dir”. Once you have copied all files from the .iso CD image onto the SD card you can delete the CD image. In Linux you should unmount the image first.

Step 3: Adjust the ISOLINUX files for use with SYSLINUX.

Find the “isolinux” directory on the SD drive. It might be in another location besides the root directory, such as “/boot”. When you locate it, copy all files from the “isolinux” directory to the root directory of the SD card. Rename the file “isolinux.cfg” to “syslinux.cfg”. You should not need to edit the file. If you are running Linux, you can unmount the SD card now. You should have made the SD card bootable with a program like cfdisk by now.

Step 4: Make the SD bootable with SYSLINUX.

Download the SYSLINUX package for your operating system. If you are using Linux, check your distribution package sets for a SYSLINUX build or read the available build and installation documentation. In Windows, simply download the binary package and unzip. The following was done in Windows on a Cygwin/bash shell, however it should be very similar in Linux:

$ cd /d/software/free/system/syslinux/syslinux-3.60/win32/

$ ./syslinux.exe -a g:

Do not use the “-s” option, as specified in other SYSLINUX for usb examples. It installs SYSLINUX in a slow/safe mode that can make booting take a very long time, and is not needed for booting from the Eee PC SD card reader. Be aware that the “-a” option to make the partition bootable is not available in the Linux version. This is why you must use a program like cfdisk to make the partition bootable before attempting to boot from the SD card.

Step 5: Boot from SD on the Eee PC.

If the Eee PC was on, shut it down. Remove the prepared SD card from the PC and insert it into the Eee PC’s card reader. Press the power button to start the Eee PC, and tap the Esc key a few times during the POST screen to load the boot device selection menu. Select “USB:USB2.0 CardReader SD0″ and hit Enter. This should load the ISOLINUX system from your SD card. Note that although some kernels may boot and initialize correctly, the host system may not detect your hardware correctly and may fail trying to find files on the SD. If the system was setup to boot from a framebuffer VGA console, the kernel will immediately present you with a message asking you what screen mode you would like to use. They range from 80×25 to 80×60 characters resolution. You must specify the screen mode with a hex value. My suggestion is using F02, or 80×43 characters VGA console resolution.

Posted by rmrubin Posted in: Eee PC Comments Off January 2008

Tri-Rail SMPS VFD Clock PSU Schematic

Not posted previously. Laziness.

Posted by rmrubin Posted in: Electronics Comments Off January 2008

Atmel AT91SAM7S, ARM7TMDI, OpenOCD and Olimex SAM7-H256 Doc Compilation

A document compilation for a recent purchase of an Olimex SAM7-H256 from SparkFun, an Atmel AT91SAM7S256 based breakout-header dev-board. Includes relevent manuals, datasheets, application notes, and example files from Atmel, ARM, the OpenOCD project, and board descriptions of the Olimex header board.

bzip2 compression was used to decrease file size from 100MB+ to only 35MB.

at91sam7s_docs_all.tar.bz2

Posted by rmrubin Posted in: Programming, Electronics Comments Off December 2007

AVR Synther ADSR Plan B: Success.

Flowcharts are neat. ADSR now works. Gain is exponential on all slopes. Planned adjustments include gain table increase from 256×16 to 1024×16, with a linear ramp mode for the attack mode. 8bit and 16bit output varients planned. Scope image is from a Tektronx 2230 in DSO mode using the Roll mode (as opposed to Scan) for capture of very long waveforms (greater than 3 seconds).

Posted by rmrubin Posted in: Programming, Electronics Comments Off December 2007

VFD Clock Tri-Rail SMPS Milled, Assembled, Working.

VFD clock parts have arrived.

In the interest of saving about 30W of power, a three output switcher supply was chosen for the design instead of a linear regulator setup. Also, the VFD tubes only work with positive grid and anode supplies, so the VFD driver IC will not be able to directly drive the tubes. NPN Darling transistor arrays, P-channel MOSFETs, and a 3 to 8 decoder will be used instead.

The pin sockets soldered directly to the board work perfectly.

Posted by rmrubin Posted in: Electronics Comments Off December 2007

AVR Synther ADSR Gain Envelope. Plan B…

Flowchart for the ADSR gain envelope code, done in Dia.

Posted by rmrubin Posted in: Programming, Electronics Comments Off December 2007

AVR Audio Synthesizer: Freq Done, Volume Done, ADSR Sucks

STK500/ATMega164P/R2R DAC based audio synthesizer. The scope is a Tektronix 2230 Analog/DSO. Tone generation is done using a 1024×8 sample table, DDS phase accumulator and fixed point math. Volume is done with a log gain lookup table adjusted for fixed point multiplication. ADSR sucks at the moment and only functions as very crappy distortion.

Posted by rmrubin Posted in: Electronics Comments Off December 2007

Double Sided Fixture For PCB Milling. It’ll Flip You. Flip You For Real.

Remember? When the cops got Benicio del Toro and he was saying that Stephen Baldwin was going to flip them? No? Anyway…

Having purchased 100 of the same size copper clad FR4 boards, the extra effort was made to machine a proper aluminum fixture for them. 6061 Al is surprisingly cheap at mcmaster-carr. The purpose of said fixture is to hold the board flat on all 4 sides, force distributed over multiple points per side, with an open center area for drilling. References to locate X and Y are integrated into the fixture, Y along the top edge, and X by protruding ‘nubs’ underneath the side clamps. Enough freedom along the X axis is allowed in order to be able to slide the board to the other sides reference after flipping, so the board is always located on the same side, at the same point. Flatness and squareness are critical.

Highlights includes endmills doing circles around broken taps and the taig covered in aluminum chips like it was snow.

Posted by rmrubin Posted in: CNC Comments Off December 2007

IV-12 VFD Socket Solution. (Because 10 Doesn’t Fit 9, and They’re All 9.)

After recieving the miniature tube sockets, it was shocking to realize a 10 pin tube doesn’t fit into a 9 pin socket. So, next time count better and don’t assume all little tubes are the same. After checking around, it seems 10 pin preamp size tube sockets dont exist much, if at all.

Digi-Key was also little help. Acceptable pin sockets were $20-40 in cost for 60, for solder tails and proper size compatibility. Socket footprints also complicated things, as spacing between the pins is minimal. The cheap solution: pull the pin sockets out of the unusable 9pin tube sockets. 100 pin, for about $14.

The tube sockets from Parts Express are described as porcelain style. They’re white plastic.

Posted by rmrubin Posted in: Electronics Comments Off October 2007

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