Author: ngow

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Motorhome Wifi 2

Received all the various bits for the extended wifi access this morning, all looked as expected slightly better in fact although the 3 pin power adapter for the R36 was a bit odd, worked fine though.

Connected it all up each component worked but the R36 did not recognise the Alfa AWUS036NHR USB Wifi Network Adapter, upgraded the firmware for the R36 still no joy, so downgraded the R36 firmware to an earlier version (1.2.1.2 for AWUS036NH/NHR/TubeU(N)/UBDo-n series ) that specifically states NHR, rebooted everything suddenly blue power light appears on the Alfa AWUS036NHR and the Site Survey button rather than hanging brings up a big long list of all the Wifi networks within the vicinity.

Stuck the bigger antenna on and the same list appears so not sure whether that works any better but we shall see, when it is put into action this weekend at Malvern.  Seems quite straightforward to use and easy once the correct procedure is known.

 

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Motorhome Wifi

Just purchased a wifi booster/range extender for the MH.  After looking at the offerings from the 2 main providers at the Rallies that we have been to, MotorhomeWifi and WifiOnBoard, decided to risk it and Do It Myself (DIM, hmmm!!).  Nothing wrong with either of the offerings I saw but the prices seemed quite high, a basic system would cost anything from 130 to 160 pounds for just wifi and that included compromises, could be up as high as 350.  Of the 2 options, WifiOnBoard is probably more flexible antennas, 3/4G etc.., but MotorhomeWifi is the easier to use and setup with a much better interface therefore possibly more reliable.

When I looked at what they did and how, basically they had combined the following:

  • decent antenna
  • wifi router
  • wifi network adapter

So, I have just bought from Amazon:

  • Alfa R36 802.11 B, G N, Repeater And Range Extender For Awus036H (56.99)
  • Alfa AWUS036NHR – High-Gain 2000mw 2W 802.11 B/G/N Wireless USB Network Adaptor (20.00)
  • although the AWUS036NHR comes with a 5dBi antenna, I also bought a seperate CSL 12dBi antenna for wifi, comes with a nice long cable and a stand for outside (8.85)
  • Total outlay 85 pounds delivered, could have got it for less than 70 but wanted it asap.

How it Works

The AWUS036NHR via the supplied Antenna picks up the external Wifi connection, this plugs into the Alfa R36 via a USB cable, the Alfa R36 is powered either via 230v or 12v connection.  The Alfa R36 provides a wifi and lan cable connection for my devices in the MH.

In theory this should provide similar functionality to the WifiOnBoard and MotorhomeWifi systems and if necessary allow me to use any 3/4G dongle to replace the AWUS036NHR if wifi is not available and mobile data is.

There are YouTube videos to demonstrate the above setup and driver updates available, so it should be a easy enough.  Will be setting up at home and then testing at Malvern and Cannock.

We shall see?

 

 

 

 

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Motorhome Purchase

Just bought a Motorhome, an Adria Matrix M680SL from Travelworld in Telford.

Very happy with the MH and just about coming to terms with the purchasing experience.

Found Travelworld really irritating to buy from, they failed at every step to keep us informed of progress, never did any of the expected work without prompting and correcting, failed to clean it, failed to provide paperwork, fabricated paperwork, failed to meet pick up dates (twice), changed kit being installed and did not tell us, did not know what was installed in the MH, or how it worked, just chaotic and awful experience buying and picking up the MH.

So we were not hopeful of the after sales after the buying and pickup experience, but they have been excellent!  Really surprising, they have fixed issues and have exceeded my expectations (they did start quite low though).

On whole they seem short staffed, the salespeople (not short of) are an inconvenience, the workshop I think know what they are doing but only if you get their attention and they put the right people on the job, they must be good at what they do as the MH’s they sell are top end vehicles 100k plus, but they hide it well.

My advice is give them a go if they have the right vehicle, but be prepared to wait and double check absolutely everything, even all the paperwork prior to paying anything, make sure everything is written down, and most importantly be prepared to go away and come back as many times as necessary.  I suppose these things are true for all MH purchases, but we still made the mistake of putting ourselves under pressure to accept a vehicle that was not ready.

It has all ended well and we are happy with the vehicle now. But it was a very frustrating experience.

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Change Phone

I use Android phones have done for years, just love the ability to change phones at will and have all the contacts, calendars etc… moved quickly and easily and can find or build an app to do whatever you think you might need. Â Now I have finally switched to web based email it is even easier to get things done.

We have a drawer with spare old phones that get brought into action when someone looses a phone, they all work, they are all charged using usb cables, the basic functions are the same.

The only issue at the moment is that the HTC Desire (nearly 3yrs old) is starting to show it’s age, needs more power and space. Â The best phone I have used is the S3 but it is so big (too big), Â all the new phones with decent processors, battery and memory appear to be massive and thin (translate as fragile). Â Keep mine in back pocket and S3 and new HTC would bend.

Some smaller phones are appearing but the specs are disappointing, the S3 mini, is a let down, RAZRi not much better.

Main points looking for:

  • speed
  • removable battery
  • expandable memory
  • large internal system memory
  • latest OS
  • usual functions GPS, WiFi, Bt, etc…
  • will fit in pocket and can be sat on, without breaking
Not important
  • screen size
  • manufacturer
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Outlook Mail server

We use Gmail servers to host several domains providing a mail service that is free, quick and easy to manage. But this service is no longer available free of charge unless you had it setup previously for a domain. A lot of people avoid the free services as they do not feel they offer them any protection or support, however my experiences are that if the service is popular enough then it works reliably and issues are generally resolved very quickly. We have had more issues with paid for providers, who seem to have a tendency to try to support too many accounts and too little equipment or bandwidth.

Google and Microsoft do not have these issues, and surprisingly Microsoft’s outlook.com is free, even for hosting domains, the advertising is less and they suggest they do not read emails to target ads, unlike other providers.

We now have a number of domains hosted via outlook accounts and although the setup is different the actual mail front end is excellent very quick and easy and with Gigabytes of free storage.

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Move GMAIL email to another account

Needed to change my GMAIL account from an gmail.com to a new domain, associated with Google Apps, moving most elements was easy. Â But the the actual emails proved to be tricky, mostly as there are about 5 years worth of emails and one reason to use GMAIL is the search speed.

There are many ways it seems to move the email you can

  • get new gmail to pick up the email from old gmail account, google recommended they call it MailFetcher. Â Bit slow, label issues and sometimes generates errors which although Google acknowledge the error is still there years later. Â Great for a small number of emails up to 10k
  • setup IMAP and use a client like Outlook or Thunderbird to download and transfer the emails, bit tedious relies on your own internet connections etc… label issues.
  • paid for solutions exist for transferring between email account about 12.00GBP per account. Â Not tried so no comment, but did consider.
  • command line driven utils like GMVAULT.
I used GMVAULT in the end, ran it on my machine at home took hours (rubbish internet speed), it works via IMAP to backup your email locally and then restore to the new account, bit like using a mail imap client but once setup much easier and quicker, less label issues.
In the end I used a free AWS instance great internet speed, installed GMVAULT (used Python PiP), copied the previously set up OAuth keys to home directory and set it off, took 40 minutes to backup, about 80 minutes to restore, really quick labels correctly moved then saved the GMVAULT directory to S3 (just incase) and saved the machine image and terminated the instance.
Effective and free love it!
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Essential GWT Book

Bought ‘Essential GWT‘ (GWT 2), as at the time it was the most up to date introduction to GWT version 2, or at least I thought it was an Introduction.

Sadly I needed something simpler, basically I found that it was readable and the first 4 chapters very good from there on it was a bit disjointed and difficult to follow, the down-loadable source although available is poorly package for a beginner. I think that I will read it again after using GWT for a project or 2 and it will make alot more sense.

Have decided to try out ‘Google App Engine Java and GWT Application Development‘ no idea if any good but again reading first couple of chapters were OK, hopefully this combined with the ‘Essential GWT’ and online tutorials will be fine.

Couple of thing I did decide after this episode:

  • technical books on Kindle not sure they work for me?
  • source code availability is not enough, it needs to be packaged in a way that follows the book
  • always read the amazon.COM reviews not just CO.UK, there are more of them and wider range of views. (I think .co.uk had 3 reviews, .com had 50!!) just read these for ‘Google App Engine Java and GWT Application Development‘, does not bode well.
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Mindstorms NXT

Built first robot with Mindstorms, not complicated (but enough for me) just moves around avoiding objects. Bit late in the day to be playing with LEGO but have been inspired by 3d Milling machine and Segway interpretations.

Just waiting for the Gryo sensor component and will have an opportunity to waste another couple of hours.

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Amazon Kindle Fire

Released, although just for pre order in the US, looks very good and useable, will be ordering one asap. Ignore the reviews go straight to the source:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051VVOB2/ref=famstripe_kf

All the reports I have read so far are seriously lacking in any details, at least this page details the actual spec, screen res, memory etc… No info on the Android version and processor, also confirmation on the ports other than 3.5mm headphone and micro usb, what about SD etc and GPS?? Presume no there but at a price of under 200 pounds it is excellent and they understand why you want a handheld tablet, so you can hold it in one hand if you want to!