updated Feb 2012
I started having an issue with my computer maybe back in May, where anytime I powered my machine off I had to reconfigure my Bios settings, as my primary Bios had failed, after several months of this I guess I just got tired of dealing with it, so I sold my android tablet (yes I did! and no I didn’t own more than one…) and bought a new Gigabyte Ga-990FX`-UD3 motherboard, which right now I am not very happy with, but I’ll get to that later, a new MD PhenomII x6 1090T CPU, a new XFX AMD Radeon 6850 Video Card, and 3 new Seagate 1.5TB HDDs. I have to reimburse myself for the hard drives however, as they were not paid for by selling my tablet. Hopefully selling my old Video Card, Motherboard, and CPU will cover their costs.
I’ve had all kinds of interesting episodes while trying to get this new hardware to work over the last, almost, 3 weeks. the good = back on linux, bye bye Microsoft. The bad=bye bye Google cloud print (kind of), possibility of getting Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking to work (outside of a VM), possibility of getting my digital camera to work by just plugging it in the computer (for now). Here are a list of some of the issues I’ve run into, if they have lengthy resolutions, or attempted resolutions, I’ll link to another post (after I write it!) describing my efforts to get things working.
First up: Microsoft Windows 7 x64 Ultimate edition
- The only thing on the motherboard that works immediately after installation are the CPU, Ram, Keyboard, and Mouse.
- NIC, eSATA, on-board RAID, USB 3.0, none of it worked until after installing the drivers from the MB CD.
- The motherboard has 2 or 3 different RAID chipsets, at least one Marvell 88SE9172 and a Realtek (I think), each can be enabled separately as IDE/AHCI/RAID, I’ll check and get back to you on this one.
- One for the internal SATA ports 0-3.
- One for the internal SATA ports 4 and 5.
- Can only be enabled as RAID when ports 0-3 are also enabled as RAID.
- This seems a little bit backwards to me, as the only way to mirror your boot drive is to enable RAID on all ports… or lose ports 2&3 and mirror on 0&1, then not set RAID on 4&5 giving you only a mirror plus 2 drive slots on the MB. Else you are forced to RAID 0/1 on ports 0-3 and to use 4/5 for your boot mirror.
- One for the eSATA port
- When enabled and nothing is connected, it reports 2 available ports; however when the cable is connected I have gotten 3 drives (out of 4) in my external drive caddy to show up.
- I ran into one issue where I had a device not identified in Windows 7, even after installing the drivers from the CD. I checked on the CD again and it actually has an installer to put Driver Agent on your computer to scan for out of date drivers. well I ran it.
- It found the missing driver and also told me about 6 others were either out of date or had the wrong drivers installed. of the ones it wanted me to update, only one was free, the others were available after paying a $29.99 annual fee.
- The first link took me to the Gigabyte home page for the MB but did not list any driver that was not also included on the CD.
- The second link took me to a driver website download page for an Nvidia driver package!
- Well I gave it a shot, and sure enough it recognized the device and installed the driver, from an Nvidia driver package on my AMD chipset MB.
- Then I started getting BSODs on the RAID driver MV91xx.dll.
- After moving all my data around so I could setup a RAID5 5 drive array of 1.5TB drives, I had to undo it all and move data around to use them as normal disks, so I could disable the Marvell RAID in the BIOS (internal SATA ports 0-5) to prevent windows from loading the driver (which was the newest version from their website).
- This did indeed stop the BSOD for that DLL.
- Then the system started shutting itself off randomly after 4-45 minutes from windows bootup.
- I have not yet figured this one out, Gigabyte support wants me to disconnect all USB devices to test… (no mention of how I am to connect my KB or mouse) fyi no issues with the USB devices when my old MB was in the case, and no issue with the USB devices when booted to a linux live CD, nor any issues with random power offs at all, now that I am booting to Ubuntu 11.10 x64.
- If you press a key (such as ctrl+f or del or F4 or F8 or Shift or anything else really) at anytime during bootup that the system is not expecting a keypress, the boot up process hangs and you have to press the reset button or manually power off the computer.
- What this means is if you are trying to get into the RAID BIOS controller setup, or the “change boot device” menu, or to get the GRUB menu to show up when hidden, or to start windows in safe mode, and you do not press the key/key combination one time at the exact time necessary, the system will hang and you cannot get in to that boot submenu
- It often takes me 10-30 boot attempts to get into what ever submenu I need to change the configuration.
- Ubuntu runs fine on the system, except for two issues…
- The network adapter will not work. I’ve tried many suggestions from forums, even downloaded the Realtek 8111e driver direct from realtek. It will not connect to anything (you may need to blacklist the wrong drivers, there are some 8 different models included in the linux driver package download).
- Current resolution, I installed a GB NIC PCI card, works great.
- I cannot get my Radeon HD6850 working, multiple issues.
- Any changes to the AMDCCLE configuration disappears after closing the interface. even if I open it right back up, the settings are back the way they were. Help with manually configuring AMDCCCLE
- Any time I restart the computer it hangs after “checking battery state [ok]“.
- This is when it loads the graphical settings to launch X.
- As a note, I have a dual monitor setup, both on the two DVI ports; however because one DVI port is a DVI-d I have to have my right monitor connected as monitor0 and my left one connected as monitor1 (this makes things backwards, moving the mouse to the right puts it on the left screen and vice versa, unless you specify it in the configuration.
- Current resolution for this problem (short incomplete version):
- Reboot into Ubuntu recovery mode from GRUB (good luck!).
- Mount/remount all devices and read/write.
- Then press enter to exit that screen.
- Then select root command prompt.
- Because the onboard NIC does not work, there is no point in selecting root command prompt with networking, as it won’t enable the PCI NIC.
- Now enter the following to remove all AMD video drivers from the system:
- learn more about the xorg.conf settings
- Hopefully you have manually created the deb packages for your ati drivers, if not, you can reboot now and use the default drivers for xorg to download the drivers and put them in the /root/amd6xxx directory on your system (you will need to create the amd6xxx directory under /root). you may need to install two things before going back into the root recovery mode
sudo apt-get install execstack modaliases
those are required for the new AMD drivers, then follow these instructions after booting back in to the recovery mode root command prompt after remounting devices as read/write, instructions above. - You either already had the files, or you just created them (only follow the creating .deb files section), so we can move on to install the AMD drivers for the Radeon 6xxx series card.
- This should run without much of an issue, might be a couple of mini errors (file not found, skipping), but nothing to prevent the installation from finishing.
- And to finish up:
- I am not 100% sure the “effective=startup” part is necessary or even works.
- You can now reboot and cross your fingers.
- I have to do this every time I restart my system, and sometimes it does not work and I have to do it 2-5 times before I can get back in. (no longer, with the new 12.1 drivers I have not been having this issue)
- There are also times when I boot and get 1 flickering screen and one working screen (both tinted like my background image).
- There are also times when I get one flickering screen and the other not, but both are nearly all white. Pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL initiates a reboot, so I know Ubuntu booted at least.
- There are some times when I get cloned displays in 1024×768 resolution (not my default or preferred).
Next up: Ubuntu 11.10 x64
apt-get purge -qq --no-download fglrx* xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-radeon
rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf*
Xorg -configure
sudo /root/amd6xxx
./ati-driver-installer-11-9-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/oneiric
dpkg -i *.deb
aticonfig --initial=dual-head --screen-layout=right --xinerama=on --effective=startup --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf
Any attempt at a total and complete resolution is still a work in progress…
I guess my might have figured out by the title of this post, that my wife I are expecting. So I have been looking into getting a baby monitor (and 258 other things!) and I’m not sure how I came across it to begin with, but I found a bunch of Baby Monitor applications in the Android Market. This got me to thinking, hey! I have a spare android phone, my wife’s old Samsung Moment and I thought it would be pretty sweet if I can use the Moment as a Baby Monitor that I can view from my HTC Evo 4G or my Wife’s HTC Evo Shift (while she is at work she could check in any time she wanted). I thought this would be fantastic!
So the next issue was to find an app that would let me do this, I only had to go through three (each one monitored, but did not provide video or sound to you, they just sent you text messages or called you) before I found one I liked, BabyCam Monitor by Dooblou, it runs a light weight web server on your phone, that any device with a web browser and Java installed can access. The limitation (and a good security measure in my opinion) is that it hosts it only over wifi and only to the network the wifi is connected to (local IP of the phone… 192.168.1.###), so to access this from the outside world, I would have to setup port redirection on my router enabling my wife to access the BabyCam while she is at work.
I downloaded the demo version and installed it on my Evo to give a spin. I liked the way the demo worked and it’s limitations are that you cannot use higher resolution camera settings (not an issue with the Moment! as the camera on it is a low 3.2mp), you are also limited to black and white only in the demo, the last limitation is/was 20 minutes in the application would stop monitoring. There have been 3 updates to the Demo since I first downloaded it, and now the limitation is 10 minutes (I had considered using the 20 minute demo instead of purchasing it, as I might still end up getting a retail baby monitor). Also in one of the updates is an “experimental” feature “audio!” pretty darn important if you ask me! Previously I believe you could see the sound wave of noises, but not hear them. Well this “experimental” feature worked flawlessly when I finally tested it (getting to that part). The last features of the app I feel a need to mention here, is that you can capture video and still images from the web page (the makers of this app have a prior history with web based camera monitoring software and have available a really good looking video surveillance app, although I have not tried it or looked really hard at it. They learned a few tricks before making the BabyCam Monitor). I do agree with some of the commentors that both of the video monitor apps this company makes are lacking in additional security features (ie password based login for the camera feeds! I have emailed the Developer in regards to this, so I hope it will be added in the future).
The next issue was to get the BabyCam on the Samsung Moment, which currently is not attached to a service plan. So, I spent 2.5 weeks researching rooting and custom Roms for the Samsung Moment, I found a few I liked, including a minimalist Rom that actually cut the size down from the original 160MB (compressed) Samsung Official android 2.0 update (or maybe it was the 1.6 version…) down to a teenie tiny 50MB +/- 2 or 3MB (I’ll check and update this part later). A smaller OS base usually means better performance, and I only need the camera and wifi working anyway!
While I did download 4 or 5 Roms to give a chance to, I only ever got one working, the SDX Froyo EF09 2.2.2 Rom v2.0.1 was the only Rom that would bootup (looks a lot like Android 2.3.3 and runs really fast on this older hardware), the others would all hang in a boot loop after flashing. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that not all Android devices work the same even within the same model. I know people with the HTC Evo 4G that have 2 or 3 or even 4 of them in their homes and they try to flash the same Roms to them and get different results, so I am not too concerned that some of the Roms didn’t work the first 4 attempts to flash them, I just went with the one that did (first try, both times I installed it, it is a prerequisite for one of the ones that did not work).
I then added a couple of useful apps, including Titanium Backup Pro so I could remove parts of the system Rom I don’t need. Basically anything non-internet/wifi and non-camera related, as the phone is not going anywhere or doing anything else, so I fully intend on only keeping the necessary apps loaded, so the OS doesn’t have too much running in the background. I of course also installed BabyCam Monitor Demo to make sure it worked on the Moment and the wifi streaming worked. All went well. I also added iBaby, an app for recording various occurrences with your baby (feeding/diaper changes/growth chart and more).
I’ll be adding reviews/summaries of these three apps to my app list sooner or later. The more I use the Moment BabyCam the more I’ll have to say about the Apps on it! Until then, you’ll have to deal with this and my recommendation that they are worth it. I have contacted the Developer of BabyCam as mentioned above, and received a reply at this time. There are plans to implement password based security soon, and a client/server model for multiple android phones to be used as monitors without having to load a webpage (which I have not tested from my phone yet, but am doubtful it will work as it relies on javascript). I will hold off a bit longer before making the app purchase, as the baby is not due for 3 months and I’d like to make sure non of the improvements break what I want to do with the app.
I guess Google likes me, it is a shame I can not pass their interview questions! Well I received my invite tonight (Monday evening), and thought I’d share it with the world. here is a copy of EULA, and yes I read the entire thing word by word! Quite excited, as I have music from audio tapes, records, and CD’s from the 90′s stored on my computer, it will be interesting to see if any gets flagged by their copyright infringement detection. I will start uploading tomorrow and give the service a good shot in about a month when the uploading finishes! (just kidding!). I fully intend on testing this on my HTC Evo (android 2.3.3 rooted), HTC Evo Shift (android 2.2 stock with sense), Notion Ink Adam (currently beast 2.2.1 should be on Honeycomb by July), and my dev phone the Samsung Moment (android 2.1).
Additional Terms of Service for Music Beta by Google
Last modified: May 10, 2011
Thank you for your interest in Music Beta by Google! By using Music Beta by Google ("Music Beta" or the "Service"), you accept and agree to be bound by the Google Terms of Service, the Google Privacy Policy, and the Music Beta by Google Privacy Policy, each of which is incorporated into this agreement by this reference, as well as these Additional Terms of Service for Music Beta by Google (collectively, the "Terms"). It is important for you to read each of these documents, as they form a legal agreement regarding your use of the Service between you and Google Inc. ("Google") whose principal place of business is 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States. This document explains how your agreement with Google is made up and sets out some of the terms of that agreement. Capitalized terms not otherwise defined in these Additional Terms have the meaning given to them in the Google Terms of Service.
The Music Beta Service and Your Music
Music Beta is a Service as defined in Section 1.1 of the Google Terms of Service and is provided to you for your personal, non-commercial use solely in connection with lawfully acquired music files from your personal collection that you choose to make available to yourself through the Service, including all data comprising, describing, or associated with each music file that you choose to upload, such as audio data, metadata, and album art for each selected file (whether referring to individual uploaded files or to your entire uploaded library, "Your Music"). Music Beta consists of (a) Google-provided server space that you can use for storage of Your Music, and (b) software applications and related web sites and services that allow you to upload, manage, access, and play back Your Music through a web browser or through any supported, Service-enabled device. To the extent that you use the Music Application for Android devices in conjunction with Music Beta, those uses are governed by the Terms, including these Additional Terms.
Trial Service Availability and Limitations
Music Beta is a trial or "beta" Service from Google that requires you to register with your new or existing Google account. It is available free for a limited time to residents of the United States (including its territories and protectorates) who have received an invitation from Google and accept the invitation by signing into their Google account to register for use of the Service. As a beta Service, certain limits on storage or usage may apply; these limits may be set or changed by Google at any time, at Google's discretion, and you agree that you will not attempt to obstruct or prevent the application of those Service limits at any time, or to manipulate your usage of the Service to avoid or circumvent them. You can find more information about applicable Service limits through the Music Beta Help Center.
Third Party Fees
Music Beta is available without charge from Google; however, you may incur access or data fees from third parties (such as your internet provider or mobile carrier) in connection with your use of the Service. You are responsible for all such third-party charges for your use of Music Beta on or through third party services and devices.
Privacy and Your Personal Information
Section 7 of the Google Terms of Service governing Music Beta by Google is replaced in its entirety by the following:
7.1 For information about Google's data protection practices, please read the Music Beta by Google Privacy Policy at http://music.google.com/about/privacy.html. This policy explains how Google treats your personal information, and protects your privacy, when you use the Service.
7.2 You agree to the use of your data in accordance with Google's privacy policies.
Your Permissions and Instructions to Google
Section 11 of the Google Terms of Service governing Music Beta by Google is replaced in its entirety by the following:
11.1 You retain any rights you already hold in Your Music. You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for your own conduct and Content (including Your Music) while using the Service and for any consequences thereof. You agree to use the Service only for purposes that are legal, proper, and in accordance with these Terms, and that by using the Service you are requesting that Google make all of the necessary functions and features of the Service available to you in order to facilitate your use of Your Music according to the Terms. Without limiting the generality of this overall permission and instruction, you specifically agree that you are instructing Google to perform the functions described in Sections 11.2, 11.3, and 11.4 below.
11.2 By uploading or submitting Your Music to or through the Service, you are directing Google to store a unique copy of Your Music on your behalf and to make it accessible to you through the use of your login credentials.
11.3 By accessing, managing, playing back, displaying, or using all or any part of Your Music on or through the Service, you are directing Google to initiate and perform the corresponding functions on your behalf, together with any related steps necessary to achieve them, through the Service.
11.4 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide you with the Service as described in the Terms, may (a) transmit Your Music over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to Your Music as are necessary to conform and adapt it to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services, or media. You agree that in each such instance, your use of the Service includes a direction to Google to take these actions on your behalf.
11.5 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority to grant any permissions and give any instructions to Google that may be required to perform the actions necessary to provide you with the Service. You agree that you will not upload, submit, access, manage, play back, display or use any Content (including any portion of Your Music), or direct Google to do anything with Your Music on your behalf, unless you have all of the necessary rights to do so without infringing the rights of any third party or violating any laws or agreements that apply to you, the Content, or Your Music.
Copyright Notices
It is Google's policy to respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with applicable intellectual property law (including, in the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers. Details of Google's policy can be found at http://www.google.com/dmca.html.
Third Party Software
To the extent that Music Beta includes components governed by third party or open source licenses with provisions inconsistent with the Terms, those components are instead governed solely by the applicable third party or open source licenses. Information regarding those licenses (except for software provided by Gracenote, Inc., for which the terms are included at the end of this agreement) can be obtained at the following location: http://music.google.com/about/thirdparty.html.
Acceptance of Terms
You accept the Terms either by clicking to accept the Additional Terms presented to you when you first access the Service or by using Music Beta by Google. Your continued use of the Service constitutes your consent to the Terms (as may be modified from time to time, in whole or in part, with or without notice). It is your responsibility to review the Additional Terms regularly for updates. If you do not agree to the Terms, you may not use the Service.
You can review, print or save a copy of these Additional Terms of Service for Music Beta by Google (and navigate to other links referenced in the Additional Terms) by visiting the Additional Terms web page at: http://music.google.com/about/terms.html.
Gracenote Software
This application or device may contain software from Gracenote, Inc. of Emeryville, California ("Gracenote"). The software from Gracenote (the "Gracenote Software") enables this application to perform disc and/or file identification and obtain music-related information ("Gracenote Data") from online servers or embedded databases (collectively, "Gracenote Servers") and to perform other functions. You may use Gracenote Data only by means of the intended end-user functions of this application or device.
This application may contain content belonging to Gracenote's providers. If so, all of the restrictions set forth herein with respect to Gracenote Data shall also apply to such content and such content providers shall be entitled to all of the benefits and protections set forth herein that are available to Gracenote. You agree that you will use Gracenote Data, the Gracenote Software, and Gracenote Servers for your own personal non-commercial use only. You agree not to assign, copy, transfer or transmit the Gracenote Software or any Gracenote Data to any third party. YOU AGREE NOT TO USE OR EXPLOIT GRACENOTE DATA, THE GRACENOTE SOFTWARE, OR GRACENOTE SERVERS, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PERMITTED HEREIN.
You agree that your non-exclusive license to use the Gracenote Data, the Gracenote Software, and Gracenote Servers will terminate if you violate these restrictions. If your license terminates, you agree to cease any and all use of the Gracenote Data, the Gracenote Software, and Gracenote Servers. Gracenote reserves all rights in Gracenote Data, the Gracenote Software, and the Gracenote Servers, including all ownership rights. Under no circumstances will Gracenote become liable for any payment to you for any information that you provide. You agree that Gracenote, Inc. may enforce its rights under this Agreement against you directly in its own name.
The Gracenote service may use a unique identifier to track queries for statistical purposes. The purpose of a randomly assigned numeric identifier is to allow the Gracenote service to count queries without knowing anything about who you are. For more information, see the web page for the Gracenote Privacy Policy for the Gracenote service.
The Gracenote Software and each item of Gracenote Data are licensed to you "AS IS." Gracenote makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy of any Gracenote Data from in the Gracenote Servers. Gracenote reserves the right to delete data from the Gracenote Servers or to change data categories for any cause that Gracenote deems sufficient. No warranty is made that the Gracenote Software or Gracenote Servers are error-free or that functioning of Gracenote Software or Gracenote Servers will be uninterrupted. Gracenote is not obligated to provide you with new enhanced or additional data types or categories that Gracenote may provide in the future and is free to discontinue its services at any time. GRACENOTE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. GRACENOTE DOES NOT WARRANT THE RESULTS THAT WILL BE OBTAINED BY YOUR USE OF THE GRACENOTE SOFTWARE OR ANY GRACENOTE SERVER. IN NO CASE WILL GRACENOTE BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES OR FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST REVENUES.
© 2011. Gracenote, Inc. All Rights Reserved
And here are the Privacy notices,
Privacy Policy
Last modified: May 10, 2011
The Google Privacy Policy describes how we treat personal information when you use Google’s products and services, including information provided when you use Music Beta by Google (“Music Beta” or the “Service”); your usage of Music Beta on or through Android devices will also be governed by our Mobile Privacy Policy. In addition, the following describes our additional privacy practices specific to your use of Music Beta. Capitalized terms not otherwise defined have the meanings given to them in the Additional Terms of Service for Music Beta by Google.
Personal Information
Account activity. You need a Google Account to use Music Beta. Google asks for some personal information when you create a Google Account, including your email address and password, which is used to protect your account from unauthorized access. Google’s servers automatically record certain information about your use of Music Beta. Similar to other web services, Google records information such as account activity (e.g., storage usage, number of log-ins, actions taken), data displayed or accessed, and other log information (e.g., browser or device type, IP address, date and time of access, cookie ID, and so forth).
Content and usage information. Music Beta stores, processes, and maintains Your Music in order to provide and personalize the Service to you and to improve Google’s products and services. This may include storage and analysis of information related to your use of the Service, access to and playback of Your Music, playback counts, playlist content, and related information needed to provide you with automatically generated Instant Mix playlists. You can find more information about Instant Mix in the Music Beta Help Center.
Authorized devices. In order to authenticate your upload computers and/or authorized devices for offline access, and to implement Service limitations as described in the Additional Terms, we may record device identifiers including your computer’s MAC address or device identifiers such as IMEI or MEID for mobile devices.
Uses
We use your information to deliver the Service to you, to enforce usage limitations in connection with the Service, to process and personalize your requests in connection with your use of the Service, to develop new features, and to improve the overall quality of Google’s products and services.
Your choices
You may terminate your use of Music Beta at any time by ceasing to use the Service and uninstalling any software related to the Service. You may also delete Content (including all or any portion of Your Music) at any time and the Content will be deleted from our servers. There may be some delay before any deletion is reflected in our system.
More Information
Further information about Music Beta is available here. For more information about our privacy practices, visit our Privacy Center. For questions concerning the product or your account, please check out the Google Help page.
And some screenshots of the process…
Just a few quick update notes and then I’ll let you be on your way! I have finally received my Notion Ink Adam I do like it just as much as I thought I would, especially after replacing the stock rom! I have already put up 3 posts in regards to my Adam, so be sure to check them out. It appears that all of my hardware is fully functional and without defects, although I have not yet tried a video recording. Everything looks perfect! (except the screen protector, which I screwed up when I put on my Adam! Pics are up on the gallery post)
Also, I’ve been messing around with my home wifi settings and noticed some things (some of these I already knew, but I’m posting them, as I have not previously, or stated something different previously). I have a Cisco e3000 dual band 802.11n router with four 1GB Lan ports, and a USB port that I can attach a USB stick or USB harddrive to and access from the internet via ftp (very awesome and super cool!), I have a 16GB SanDisk Cruzer thumb drive attached right now, it supports user creation, passwords, and even security groups!
- apparently my Cisco e3000 Router powers cycles the 5GHz frequency prior to powering on the 2.4GHz frequency
- sometimes when resetting my router, I have to turn off wireless networking on my Android devices, then turn it back on or they won’t see the network
- It appears that the amount of time between restarting my wireless on the router and when it becomes available to devices is equal to the Beacon interval multiplied by the DTIM interval.
- My HTC Evo 4G does NOT support 5GHz 802.11n, only 2.4GHz (does not even see the 5GHz network I have), apparently the HTC Evo networking chip (bcm4329), not only comes in two models, one with dual band 2.4GHz & 5GHz and one without, is the same one in the Nexus1, Droid Incredible, GTab, iPhone 3GS & 4, iPod Touch, and iPad1 (who knows what else it is in!), and is a SoC with 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz, BT 2.1, and FM transceiver, I wonder if anyone has gotten the iPhone4 to do FM yet?
- My Google Chrome OS cr-48 netbook does do 802.11n 5GHz.
- My Notion Ink Adam does not do 5GHz, it only does 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n
As I’ve said, I’ve been messing with some of my network settings (specifically on my router) and I have found that a DTIM Interval setting of 6 on my 5GHz 802.11n settings works with my cr-48 Chrome OS netbook, but upping it to 7 causes intermittent connection issues. Changing the DTIM interval to 5 on the 2.4GHz b/g/n network works with my HTC Evo and Lenovo ThinkPad T410, but not the Notion Ink Adam which fails to connect to the network at all. The HTC Evo has sporatic issues connecting and maintaining that connection when the DTIM is set to 7, hopefully there is a hack out there that will let me enable the 5GHz wifi n (if possible) on the Evo, so I can switch it over to the 5GHz network and take advantage of the increased DTIM setting. On a side note, some research I did while working on this, here is a great document on understanding wifi network traffic, latency, roaming/multiple APs, and bandwidth overhead (actually a document on optimizing wifi for VOIP). This Cisco router’s documentation has some good descriptions of the wireless settings.
Ok, so I’ve learned a few things while I was typing this and made some more modifications, previously I was using a 20,000 millisecond beacon time with those DTIM settings that is why I was having connectivity issues, I have tried to figure out the maximum time between DTIM packets and maintain a steady signal between all of my devices (to decrease sleep mode battery drain when wifi is active) as part of my experiments to improve my Notion Ink Adam battery life (currently between 8 and 12 hours of normal+ use or 20-36 hours of minimal use).
Below are the settings I’ve tried and the results I have received from each
| Beacon | DTIM | time | result |
| 2000 | 6 | 12sec | stable connection -4 |
| 1500 | 7 | 10.5sec | connection loop -5 |
| 1500 | 10 | 15sec | connection loop -5 |
| 3000 | 10 | 30sec | connection loop -5 |
| 6000 | 10 | 1min | mostly stable |
| 6100 | 10 | 1min 1sec | connection loop -2 |
| 6600 | 10 | 1min 6sec | connection loop -3 |
| 7000 | 10 | 1min 10sec | connection loop -3 |
| 9000 | 10 | 1min 30sec | connection loop -1 |
| 12000 | 10 | 2min | connection loop -2 |
| 24000 | 10 | 4min | connection loop -1 |
1 – Evo stays connected for about 3 minutes before looping, Adam fails to maintain connection during obtaining IP Address
2 – Neither the Adam or the Evo can successfully make a connection
3 – Evo stays connected (tested 10 mins) without dropping, Adam fails to maintain connection during obtaining IP Address
4 – both my Evo and my Adam stay connected (tested 10 minutes) without dropping and I tested my Samsung moment with the same results
5 – the Evo stays connected and the Adam sometimes connects, then drops and won’t reconnect
*note – I have deleted many of the numbers I tested leaving only a few behind; however I left all of the entries marked with a “-1″ as it is note worthy to look into a pattern.
**double note – I killed a 100% battery charge on my Notion Ink Adam in about 4 hours testing this…
even set at 6000 and 10 I am still having connection issues with my Notion Ink Adam, it will connect, but only the “first time” after each power on. If it loses the signal for any reason it refuses to reconnect and continues the connection loop issue. So right now I am just going to leave things that way and see how it goes for a few days.
