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Pimp my scope: Unlocking Software Features in a Tektronix TDS784D

Posted by Markus Birth on

A while ago I've acquired an old Tektronix TDS784D oscilloscope. Originally, it came with these enabled options:

  • 05 - Video Trigger
  • 13 - Centronics and RS232 interface
  • 1F - Floppy disk drive
  • 1M - Memory upgrade x1
  • 2F - Maths/FFT, differentiation features

While this already is a lot, there's still option 2C (Comm signal analyser) which is a pure-software option. (In later production runs, the device might also already contain the necessary hardware for the bigger memory option 2M. Check whether your serial number starts with B4xxx. Mine didn't.)

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GOTEK Slim Floppy Emulator SFR1M44-DU26

Posted by Markus Birth on

For an older oscilloscope I wanted to replace the 3.5" floppy drive with USB. After checking for the required connector and available USB emulators, the one that I needed was the GOTEK SFR1M44-DU26 - an 1.44 MB floppy emulator with a 26pin FFC/FPC connector. (There's also the SFR1M44-TU26 - which has the connector mounted the other way around but should also work.)

Tektronix TDS784D with original disk drive and emulator next to it

The emulator fit almost perfectly, but since it was meant to be used with some embroidery machine it was a bit short on one side. But that's nothing to worry about - it still functions as it should.

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The Wiki that became a Blog

Posted by Markus Birth on

I've started collecting knowledge for myself (and for everyone to see) in a DokuWiki back in 2008. In 2014 I found DokuWiki to start feeling dated and explored alternatives. I liked the idea of having all entries as single files and in a standard markup format (compared to DokuWiki's own markup language), so I started to move all entries to GitHub Pages and in early 2015 my Jekyll-based GitHub-hosted Wiki went online. While this was a great exercise and works really well, it wasn't ideal. The site being created by a static-site generator means you can only use JavaScript for dynamic things. I had to use Disqus for comments and Google Site Search to allow searching the site. Also, it being based on static text files meant I had to manually track e.g. timestamps of when an article was created or updated by adding (and updating) the times in the Markdown-file's Front Matter. And creating a new entry meant to checkout everything from GitHub, add a textfile in the correct directory, make sure the Front Matter contains all necessary data, commit the changes into the Git repository and push everything back to GitHub. Then find out there's a typo, change file, create commit, push again. And it all depended on GitHub willing to host the page. So I wanted to switch to a different system, but wasn't sure yet which.

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Import video from MiniDV camcorder in Windows 10

Posted by Markus Birth on

My dad has an old Panasonic MiniDV camcorder and wanted to import old tapes into his cutting tool on Windows 10. After hooking up the camcorder via Firewire, the import dialog showed the time code of the running tape, but instead of the video, the preview was black and there was no audio.

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Synology NFSv4 with id mapping

Posted by Markus Birth on

Disclaimer: ID mapping without a Kerberos server only works halfway with NFSv4, it seems. I managed to get the correct usernames to show up on my client when listing files, but creating new files always creates them as user nobody because the Synology doesn't map anything in that case. [This bug report][1] and the [linked thread][2] suggest this is normal behaviour of idmapd when not using Kerberos for some reason. (EDIT: [More detailed explanation.][3])

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BlackBerry KEYone OTA updates for different variants

Posted by Markus Birth on

BlackBerry/TCL has disabled the described method of gaining access to the advanced features of the Updates app in the firmware versions of October 2017 and later. However, there's a way to still get access using the Janus vulnerability and installing an older or patched version of the updater. But this, too, will be gone after the December 2017 update.

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Apple MacBook Pro A1286 Battery Replacement

Posted by Markus Birth on

If you have a MacBook Pro A1286 (15.4", Late-2008 until Mid-2012) and want to replace the battery, you must be aware of the specific battery in your device. In 2011, for some reason, Apple decided to switch from the battery model A1321 (73 Wh) to model A1382 (77.5 Wh). While the form-factor stayed the same, Apple changed the connector and pinout.

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