The Wahyudiharto's Blog

If your computer show the wrong clock (reset time to default) every time you boot the computer, it indicate that the CMOS battery has drained. To fix this, first get a new CMOS battery and open up your computer case & find the position where it located.

What is CMOS battery? CMOS battery or as known as BIOS battery is a backup battery provides power to a system when the primary source of power is unavailable. It purposed to run the real time clock circuit and retain configuration memory while the system is turned off. Watch the video below to see how to properly change a new CMOS battery from an old computer.



In my experience, a branded CMOS battery could stay until next 15 years before it replaced to a new one. So if you need to buy a new battery, make sure that you get a correct code. And the common code for this battery is CR2032.

Labels: HTPC

I'm not a CPU collector, but one of my branded computer age is 15 yrs old now. It's my old-school Home Theater PC (HTPC) Samsung Magic Station MT20 powered by Pentium 4 and I don't want to sell it until it broken yet. The last device upgrade was the RAM (3GB), 5.1 channel Creative PCI sound-card and GeForce 4 MX 440 AGP 8x VGA card. The original OS was bundled with Windows XP Media Center but then I replaced it using Windows 7 - 2 months ago - after it failed to install Windows 8 because of the processor issue. Anyway, here is the video review...



Some problem will raised with old-age computer such as power device failure or drained CMOS battery for example. Better get luck to replace fast-moving spare part than the slow one - if it available. By the way, the video below will show you how to change CMOS battery from this old PC. Even the PC can run without the battery, but it's recommended to change a new one to avoid another problem after the OS boot to desktop.


Hope you enjoy both video compiled in Bahasa. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel and thank you for passing by here...

Labels: HTPC, PC Modding, Windows Media Center

If you have a broken built-in wifi on your PC or laptop and you don't wanna mess your room with LAN cable, then it's time to buy an USB wifi adapter. It's only need few of dollar, an empty USB slot to operate and vice versa. There's so vary of similar device available but this time I want to show you the performance of TP-Link TL-WN725N series.

I tested under Desktop PC Samsung MagicStation MT20 powered by Pentium IV and the test result shows that the speed is only 10% compared to built-in normal wifi adapter from laptop or smartphone gadget. Just keep in mind that don't make this test as a fixed guidance numeric to you since there's several parameterized consideration that might be different such as PC hardware specification (bus speed, clock, etc), PC/laptop OS, drivers, distance from the router (horizontally and/or vertically), router hardware and router bandwith.

Check it out for more detail about this on my YouTube channel (available only in Bahasa).


Please subscribe, share & like if you love the video. Thank you for passing by & reading this blog.

Labels: HTPC, Review

Anyone can find cheapest Point of Sale (POS) hardware environment recently in this world (including barcode printer, barcode scanner, CPU & display monitor)? Well, I can find it for US$ 493 with all brand new devices! No kidding but here's the truth. All things has passed for future consideration, including lower electricity cost, easier to use barcoding on your store around and simple custom-made software for checkout purposed.

This is without receipts printer since this POS focused on stocking intention. So, receipt coupon for customer is infrequently or even never used, hereby changed with manual hand written.

And, here's the secret:


Zotac ZBOX ID41
WTH is this? Weird branded CPU name born in (nearly) Hong Kong with core business on mini-ITX and mini-PC since… 2006. That's why I choose it apart from it best mixed hardware combination.


This mini PC is thinner but wider than Mac Mini G4.


See link below for detail information:

http://www.zotac.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_images-SRW.tpl&product_id=335&category_id=171&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=100295&lang=un

Interesting?

Epson LabelWorks LW-400
This is an evolution for Epson to providing a low cost label printer. See the spoiler below:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?sku=C51CB70010

The LW-400 is the minimum series to support barcode printing prior to LW-900.


The packing size slightly larger than Mac Mini G4.


A full qwerty printer at notebook size but more a little thicker. Very handy and ergonomic when hands on and feels light weight too. Just like seeing a BlackBerry with monster size :D


There're also 12mm black-on-white LC sample tape cassette including in the box, with easy way to setting-up on the printer. First press lid button to open the back cap and pull it.


Place the tape in proper way (green box) with outer ribbon attached on small slot (red circle).


Next, close the back cap slowly until it show as normal.


This series operated with dual mode; 6AA battery and power cable. You'll find a power cable included in the box. Make a power connection and press power button.


To switch to barcode printing, press ALT+barcode key as shown as picture above. Then pick one from several built-in barcode font available and specify the size. Sorry, can't tell you what else barcode font built-in included since I'm not an Epson salesman :)


Type-in some digits of numerical code to test. If you like to print copies, press copier button (red circle) several times until it displayed how much copy you want to print out. Ended with print button (green box) to start to print.


This LW-400 series also equipped with manual cutter. So, after print stopped, just press green button in right side to cut-off the paper. Simple and easy.

CipherLab 1070
Finally found a low cost scanner with fairly well-known brand name: CipherLab.


See below spoiler:

http://www.cipherlab.com/catalog.asp?CatID=8&SubcatID=10&ProdID=354

Not too worry, it can read Epson barcode print out result (by using EAN-13 small 5cm size :)


Conclusion
Building recently POS (hardware & software) system much easier than couple years ago. From above specification, there's no need to create an add-in module to print the barcode from application.


It's separate anyway. So it takes shorter time to developing the software. What you need is to mix and match everything. That's it! Thank's for reading and see you on next article...

Labels: Delphi, HTPC, Mini PC, Modifikasi PC, PC Modding, Printing, Programming, Projects, Review, Zotac

For those gamer who has been switched to PC from console games such as Xbox 360 or PlayStation, the disable of game pad vibration could be a big problem. The enjoyment of playing games will slightly decrease if your game pad is not vibrating at all. This article actually the last episode of trilogy HTPC topics which currently wrapping up on gaming experience (look at 1st article & 2nd article). So, anyway, here’s down below the solution of how to make it vibrate.

AFAIK, nowadays PC game pad particularly build on PlayStation & Nintendo compatible. No matter what type of yours, is it joystick, steering wheel or other common type of game pad, you need to know what kind of game pad compatible you have. Just ask the hardware vendor, read manual documentation inside of cover-box or you can search over the internet to reveal what its type by entering the game pad model name or serial number. A complete wiki documentation about this you can browse on this link, this could be your first good start. Here below is example of my game pad, particularly a PlayStation compatible made in Chine named with Dualshock TwinUSB game pad I bought it for US$ 5, with malfunction vibration driver CD included in box.



Anyway, next step is, provide an additional original factory driver files from its type. Most of game pad today has plug and play feature basically on Windows XP. All you need to do is just plugged in the game pad in working port (most of it uses USB port) & do the calibration optionally on Game Controllers window in Control Panel (most of it isn’t necessary). Both of it don’t need factory driver disk since Windows will provide it natively.



Above picture shows Game Controller window where my game pad plugged in without additional driver installed, but it still using a native driver from Windows XP. Everything just working fine, even I don’t have to calibrate it. When I try to playing games, the game pad doesn’t vibrate! Picking up a correct additional driver to enable the vibration is not an easy job. For this, you need to trial & error; even it has the same exact model name between the game pad & the driver which is explained on the readme file included.



After trying trial & error downloading the driver from internet & installing it for tens times, finally I found a best & fit one to my particularly game pad. The picture above explains the difference after a correct driver installed. The controller name now changed from TwinUSB Joystick to Twin USB Vibration Gamepad & also there’s a new tab on Game Controller window showing vibrate setting. I though this driver is a kind of universal type & will work with any others game pad, (perhaps specifically built from china fabrication). If you want to try this driver, download it from rapidshare in this link & install both files included on it.



After that, try to loading a games & the game pad controller name should changed to new name too. Now, playing games on my HTPC is more comfort since vibration on game pad has been working after installing a correct driver. Well, for me everyday mean works had & play hard.

Labels: HTPC, Modifikasi PC, Multimedia, PC Modding, Windows Media Center

A moment ago, some readers of my blog had been speaking to me on email about how to manage PC applications with non-PC remote control (RC) which I described a bit in my previous article. I’m not talking about dedicated PC RC since I though it much configurable, more compatible & well designate to such as XP Media Center RC, Xbox 360 RC or others specified at the green button site, also it equal to the price too. But on this, I’d like to focus about home electronic consumer RC, a cheap RC we can find on every local store near home.

So, how this things can run? First, make sure that you have Infrared (IR) tranceiver built-in or plugged on your machine. If it detected well in Windows XP, over Device Manager, it will show 3 items (eHome Infrared Receiver, Microsoft eHome Infrared Transceiver & Microsoft eHome Remote Consumer Controls) just like picture below:



Next, you’ll need 3rd party software purposed to communicate between RC and IR transceiver. I found 2 free software regarding to this which is Girder and HIP, but then I decide to choose HIP (stands for Human Interface Programming) because it’s more easier to use. I compared that it took less time to learn HIP than Girder, so reasonable because Girder has more complete functionality than HIP. To get latest HIP software, point your browser to this link.



As you can see from above picture (got from HIP official website), HIP can organize several media or electronic to do something likes automation control, windows messaging, IR, sending, communicating with LED display, microcontroler scheduler and so on. But, the principal thing on this article is, it can provide a link between RC and (HT)PC by emulating keyboard commands over RC.

Then, what kind of non-PC RC compatible to HIP? Ok, let’s try trial & error like as I did before. Get as much electronic RC you can find near you, it can be TV RC, DVD player, AC or something else. Use HIP wizard to recognize one of those things. Once your RC “handshaked”, then explore it more with it & continue to next wizard.



Unfortunately, I only have 3 RC’s around me; from left to right: Sharp TV RC, LG AC RC & Philips DVD Player RC. None of all recognized by HIP except the DVD RC. On 3rd party Girder plugin page, I found that Philips mostly use RC6 IR chip on their RC. I also found that this RC6 chip is compatible with SFH56-36; TSOP1736 sensor with sufficient sensitivity transmitters at 36kHz. From other resources on internet, I found too that most of remote controls operate at 38kHz, some at 36kHz and some (mostly Sony) at 40kHz. A higher frequency value means better sensitivity but limited to IR transceiver and lower frequency means less sensitivity but high compatibility to IR transceiver.



The great thing is, you can assembling those chip into a IR transceiver with RS232 (COM port) based by your own self at US$ 1 cost only, just look at above PCB diagram! Ok, back to topic. Once you have RC recognized by HIP, get continue to next wizard until you find a window asking you what software you want to control. On my experience to support my Media Center, I choose PowerDVD 9 (Cinema Mode), Winamp, Windows Media Player and On Screen Keyboard.



Each of those software need to configure one by one using HIP user input button. For example, if you choose Play shortcut keyboard in Winamp (known as “X”), on Edit Value window, you need to press approriate Play button on RC.



And so on with others function on each software until all software listed succesfully by HIP. To test the RC button, simply press Run button on HIP or activate it by using mouse right click over HIP icon reside in taskbar.



Dont forget to execute the software first. Once it’s been running, HIP will notice you by yellow balloon tips rise at the HIP icon from the taskbar.



From this point, you can try whether your configuration button is suitable or not. On my test using Philips DVD Player RC, I can operate the PC well from 6m distance with non-wall penetrated. I think it’s great with no cost additional of course! Have a good try.

Labels: HTPC, Multimedia, Remote Control, Windows Media Center

Happy new year!!! I posted this article when my watch shows exactly at 12.00. Anyway, Want to look out for cheap HTPC which can replace your hi-fi home theater, Set Top Box, Digital Video Recording, PlayStation and much more functionality on a single machine? This article will explain you more about my experience on this. One thing for sure that you need a mini PC which has slim and sleek design so that it will fit best on your cupboard family room, also considering the physically style to increase room aesthetic and convince that the console box is more than a hi-fi system. For this objectives you have 2 options; you can search for a complete mini built-up PC or you can build the PC from scratch with barebone case. Both choices are a kind of hard job since you have to considering some points which is (1) VGA capability, (2) sound card enrichment and (3) others things which can make the PC easy on operate (as easy as you can play your hi-fi system).

VGA Capability
Unfortunately, many built-up PC comes with integrated VGA chipset that shared up memory from RAM and it has under average capability. Shared up means that it would consume a great number of RAM and off course it will decrease the amount of RAM that the PC has, the impact is slower performance. For me, a standardize VGA of HTPC must fulfill some specific criteria which are; (1) it should have TV output, (2) low voltage operating – for those who sensitive with electricity bill and (3) contain valuable chipset – so that it can decode DVD smoothly and good enough to play 3D games – Nvidia or ATI is a great choice. So, it’s strongly recommended that you have to supply an additional VGA card based on your appropriate motherboard. Note that you also have to aware with the power voltage needs and how much the VGA will consume it. Its related one to others; more powerful your VGA is, more voltage it needs from the CPU power supply. In my experience, since I still have an active NVidia AGP GeForce 4, so that I planning to find out a Pentium 4 based CPU and motherboard which compatible to the VGA.

Soundcard
Currently, a home theater/hi-fi sold with at least 4.1 sound speaker systems. If your soundcard PC doesn’t have those or you only have 2 or 2.1 speaker system, then get ready to hear joke comes out from your friends. Moreover, hearing music or watching DVD movies or playing games doesn’t seems more pleasant with that, and clearly, you will loose the surround experience. Forget about it if you have 4.1 speakers, but I suggest you to upgrade the soundcard which has at least two output lines (front and rear speaker). Don’t feel troubled with a brand new soundcard, since a second-hand is already enough (as long as it doesn’t break). Fortunately, on current experiment, I still have a C-Media soundcard with different front and rear speaker channel. This configuration is good enough to hear sounds out from speaker (even I only have 2.1 speaker system, I used it as front sound and using both speakers from my TV as rear sound). Maybe I’ll buy a real one in short. Just hope me to do that.

Others
This seems quite difficult to explain since it relatively to other persons: first, it’s a benefit of yours if your PC has a remote control. See, you don’t want too disturbed with the use of wired keyboard or mouse during DVD movie playback or playing games, do you? Also, it will be great if your PC equipped with Bluetooth so that the file transfer from other media will become more easily. To playing around with games, I suggest a gamepad to take control of whole activities. Lots of above consideration will bring your decision to choose whether you need to buy a built-up PC or create a new one. So think before you buy.

So, What are the Built-up Alternatives?
There are a lot of alternative machines you can choose to build your HTPC. Most of them are based with Pentium 4 – sorry, I don’t recommend netbook desktop such as ASUS deskbook or MSI nettop which based on Atom processor since lots of limitation covered on it. Here below I explained (including CPU price only) what may best fit to your room and needs:




Above alternative is only some examples, there are also others brand circulate out up the store such as Samsung, LG, NEC or else. You may find another better complete second hand CPU with reasonable price, more functionality and suitable for your needs. Or you think better to build your self a CPU with weird computer case?

My Experiments
Anyway, after tired turning around all day long on some computer mall, finally I was interesting on Samsung built-up brand. You know that Samsung had released a special purposed PC dedicated to home multimedia entertainment. They called it with Magic Station. This Magic Station actually produced with many series & style (mini tower and slim desktop), but somehow – CMIIW - it was officially introduced only in Korea. If you are considering one of these units, be sure you know which version you are getting. My particular model is MT20 series – a slim desktop style – which is the low profile version. The MT20 is powered by Intel Pentium 4 2.6 GHz with 512 DDRAM, DVD Combo and 40 GB hard drive. All of this cost only US$79.



For second hand CPU, the price is worthless and I’m so pleased with it. Why? Because:
(1) The slim desktop case with cute style is exactly fit on my cupboard
(2) There’s 3 PCI and AGP slot available, so that I can plugged in my AGP card and soundcard on it



(3) There also attractive digital led in front panel showing CPU activity such as power indicator, hard drive, CD player, processor speed and more



(4) On hand soft buttons dedicated to multimedia accessibility under the led panel, helping to play, pause, stop, increasing or decreasing volume during DVD playback or other multimedia activity



(5) The CPU can stand for 2 boot mode; computer and CD player. There’s a switch (at left of the led panel) to turn on CD player mode without activating the operating system



(6) Various digital output port available in front panel, contains 1 USB, speaker line out-in, IEEE 1394, S-Video and video in
(7) It also have memory stick reader on the left bottom of front panel.
(8) The MT20 also fully equipped with eHome infrared transceiver built-in hardware, but I didn’t get the remote control when I buy this unit.



Even though, I can used a Philips DVD remote control to operate the CPU as well as Media Center remote. I though it doesn’t compatible with the frequency but it does. For this purposed, I used a free software named HIP (Human Interface Programming), a better one than Girder, in my opinion.



Maybe I’ll reviewed these both remote control and HIP more deep on the next articles. By the way, I programmed it so that it has the same functionality as common DVD player remote control. To help maintenance and operate this computer, I also attached it with wired mouse and numpad, since there’s no keyboard plugged in.



Anyway, for wide gaming activities, I also attach my HTPC with USB double shock gamepad. Now, it seems my system similar to PlayStation but with better 4.1 sound channels.



Different from my previous experiment with Windows Media Center, now my MT20 installed with Windows XP SP2 Professional Edition. Why XP SP2? The answer is for faster booting. If you want your HTPC look like a DVD player, try to install PowerDVD 9 and let the software started in cinema mode automatically during Windows start up. And here we go, the HTPC now ready to serve us.



Anyway, I don’t know how long does the MT20 will still stand for me since it’s kinda difficult to look out for the spare parts. But if it will broke soon, nothing I buy except a brand new of Magic Station from Samsung. Thrust me…

Labels: HTPC, Modifikasi PC, Multimedia, My Share, PC Modding, Windows Media Center