Mavic Pro Vision Sensor Calibration error problems

RANT TIME

DJI hardware rocks and the software is SHIT.

My Mavic Pro Controller reported a Sys Error which indicated the Vision Sensors needed recalibrating. To sum up, I had to jump through some hoops to get it working with DJI Assistant 2 on Windows 10 64bit with multiple monitors!

• I had DJI Assistant 2 on my computer but it doesn't auto-update. I had to manually go and find the latest version.
• In DJI Assistant 2, the calibration process kept telling me to reboot my aircraft. Investigation shows that this is actually because DJI don't sign their device drivers properly. I had to restart windows in a special safe mode that allows unsigned drivers to run - Windows Settings / Update & Security / Recovery / Advanced Startup / Troubleshoot / Advanced / Startup Settings/ Restart / Option 7
• I could then start the Calibration process. However after the first attempt it said calibration failed. On the second attempt the black dots would no longer display so I was stuck.
• It turned out that because I have a curved ultrawide monitor, the calibration was never going to work.
• So I tried to calibrate with my second, flat monitor. But the dots wouldn't show up.
• I had to unplug my curved monitor so DJI Assistant 2 could properly recognise the DPI of the flatscreen monitor.
• I managed to get calibration started properly with the black dots.
• Calibration failed again, twice.
• I tried again and it finally worked.

THANKS FOR WASTING MY TIME DJI, WHY DID THE CALIBRATION EVEN FAIL IN THE FIRST PLACE. YOU SUCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Cheap Whisky Review: Label 5

It's bloody peaty!

15 quid a litre at Morrisons.

Noodle Review: Samyang Sutah Hot n' Spicy

Like a nice minestrone soup, mixed with napalm.

Make sure you have plenty of tissues handy.

Noodle Review: A-One Pho An Lien

Vietnamese pork glass ribbons + Three packets of "stuff" = nom!

Noodle Review: Samyang Korean Kimchi Ramen

Spicy. NICEY

Another SKX007 from Creation Watches

Another great sale from Creation Watches. 

From Singapore to the UK in 4 days, as usual, with no customs charges.

I'm so addicted to the Seiko SKX007 / SKX009 divers. 

Pity I always have to modify them :D

Noodle review: Jin Ramyon - Hot Taste

Another Korean entry.

Packet of dried onions, seaweed and beefy bits.

Packet of paprika and shellfish powder.

NOICE!

Noodle review: Nam Vang Phnom Penh style

A monster 4 sachets bodes well.

I can't identify the flavour, not sure if it's supposed to be meaty.

Loads of garlic and onion anyway. Glassy ribbon noodles.

Nice!

Pot snack review: Gallo Risotto Box - ham and tomato

A weighty microwaveable item. Promises Ham and Tomato goodness.

"Must be good", thinks I. The Italians wouldn't put up with crap, right?

Tastes of packing material marinated in cheesy cat puke.

Noodle review: Samyang beef ramen

Lots of floaty "beef" soya balls in here. Warmish heat, generally yummy.

Sachet count: 1

Foam pot. Naughty Samyang.

Noodle review: Jin Ramen Hot

Bland heat, chewy noodles, and generally quite nice.

Sachet count: 1

Would have again!

Buying a GCW-Zero in the UK

Just a heads-up for those in the UK who want a GCW Zero.

I just bought one from Ithic.Com.

Item plus shipping to the UK was 195 dollars, which is £116 at today's exchange rate.

Sadly this item also incurs an extra customs charge of £26 when it gets to your local post office, so you'll have to go and pay that to pick it up.

Shipping via USPS took exactly 14 days.

FLASHING THE FIRMWARE

Turns out this Zero came without an initial flash of Dingux firmware - all it would do is show a red screen and then run a hardware test - white screen with green writing on it.

However my disappointment didn't last long, as I found the excellent IRC channel where many of the GCW devs hang out. They quickly pointed me in the right direction - I needed to flash my Zero, but this can only be done from Linux. I only run Windows 7 here, so here's what I did.

1. Download an Ubuntu DVD ISO: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
2. Burn the ISO to a DVD
3. Boot the computer from the DVD and run Linux without installing.
4. Install required libraries: At the shell, run: sudo apt-get install libusb-dev libconfuse-dev
5. Follow the instructions here: http://www.gcw-zero.com/flashing . Note that the key command to flash the Zero is $ ./ingenic-boot ... but you may have to run it as root i.e. do this instead: $ sudo ./ingenic-boot ...
6. If you have trouble flashing, try resetting the Zero using the reset button next to the USB socket.

After getting the firmware installed, you want to install emulators and games. Here's some tips.

INSTALLING EMULATORS AND GAMES

1. Surkow's wiki is great. Start here for essential info: http://wiki.surkow.com/Quick_Start_Guide
2. Download the emulators to your computer. The start repository is here: http://www.gcw-zero.com/downloads . Note that sometimes this doesn't contain the latest version of software. You should always check for the latest release here on the Dingoonity forums: http://boards.dingoonity.org/gcw-releases/
3. Get your game roms from a place that doesn't suck: http://www.freeroms.com
4. Download the GCWZeroManager: http://www.harteex.com/?page=gcwzeromanager . Use this to install your emulators and games. If you have any problems, look at Surkow's wiki. I ran into a problem with my computer not seeing the Zero - I had the common NDIS driver issue mentioned in the wiki and here: http://boards.dingoonity.org/gcw-help/win7-network-driver-failing-to-recognize/

In case you're wondering what are recommended emulators, I like:

• Fceux : NES emulator
• OhBoy: GameBoy / GameBoy Color emulator
• PicoDrive: MegaDrive / Genesis emulator
• PocketSNES: SNES / Super Famicom emulator
• ReGBA: Game Boy Advance emulator
• Mame4All: Arcade Game emulator - I found it better than Final Burn Alpha for the type of old games I enjoy like 1942, Pac-Man, In The Hunt etc.
• Unreal Speccy Portable: ZX Spectrum emulator. Hard to track down. I found the OPK here - https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9EgGumkJaabSE9TaEdFbVVBSlU#list

I do like a bit of speccy action - Unreal Speccy isn't really targeted at the GCW Zero, and you can't map the Zero's buttons to speccy keys as I'd like. Shame. An alternative I've found is to use the FooN injector to convert speccy Z80 files into Game Boy Advance roms, and run those in ReGBA. FooN is great 'cos it lets you map specific GBA buttons to Speccy keys. http://www.codepuppies.com/~ben/sens/gba/about.html

AND FINALLY

I did a little video review, please check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZxVNBu3hJs

People Who Should Not Be Parents

Fitting a Single-DIN stereo to a mk2 / Gen2 Honda CRV 2002

I wanted to fit a new stereo to my 2002 Mk 2 Honda CRV because the standard Honda stereo didn't have an AUX-IN. I plumped for a Single-DIN Sony MEX-BT3100U system because it A) is cheap and B) has Aux-In, USB and full Bluetooth phone integration (hands-free phoning with built-in mic AND audio streaming + control).

So, the original unit looked like this.

I had been confused by various things I'd read on the net and couldn't figure out if I needed a fascia adapter or not to replace it.

Lesson 1: YOU DO NOT NEED AN ADAPTER TO FIT A SINGLE DIN STEREO IN PLACE OF THE ORIGINAL UNIT.

I also didn't know if I needed a special adapter harness to hook up the car loom connector to the new unit.

Lesson 2: YOU NEED A PC2-68-4 ADAPTER TO FIT A STANDARD ISO STEREO UNIT.

The Halfords guy said I'd probably need a DIN Aerial adaptor too. He was incorrect.

Lesson 3: YOU DON'T NEED A DIN AERIAL ADAPTOR TO INSTALL A SONY MEXBT3100U.

I had also read that when the original unit is disconnected, it will ask for a Security Code next time it's installed. So if you sell it on, be sure to include the code, which should be recorded in the front of the CRV Service Book. (Other sources said it was written in the glove box, or could be found by pressing 1+6 buttons on the unit - they were wrong for this type of stereo).

So, here's how I installed the new unit.

1. Under the central heater vents, there are two cross-head screws. Remove them. Then pull out the whole front of the fascia surround, which is held in with clips. Gently allow the fascia to hang from its wiring connector.

2. Remove the four screws holding the stereo frame into the dash, and the whole thing comes out.

3. Disconnect the aerial and connector from the back of the stereo unit. Unscrew the side screws which hold the original stereo to the frame.

4. Now the original unit can be removed. The new stereo can be installed in reverse of these instructions. Note however that the Sony unit didn't come with any installation screws to fix it to the frame, and the ones for the original unit don't fit the side of the new unit. Luckily I had some spare screws in my toolbox which fit OK.

END RESULT:

Had this installed for a while now and it's fine. I wish the volume knob was on the right of the unit though - it's a bit of a stretch for me! The UI isn't the best - if you click the volume knob accidentally, you enter a mode menu which you then need to find the exit button to get out of. Very easy to do when you're trying to adjust the volume in a hurry. But, to be fair, it's not expensive and the bluetooth streaming works fine, which is all I really wanted :)

LP Cover Lover

New favourite website!

http://lpcoverlover.com/

Audi A4 Cabriolet Roof Stuck - Motor Fault

Hi folks, just wanted to write up about what happened to the Roof Motor of my 2009 Audi A4 Cabriolet. Basically one day when the car was only 3 years old, the roof got stuck while going up. It went up half way and then no further. I put it down and then tried going up again. This time it worked. I put it down as just "one of those things".

A few weeks later it happened again. This time it wouldn't go up no matter what I tried. With the roof fully down, pressing up on the switch only unlocked the roof compartment - no sound from the motor. However various forum posts suggested that the roof needed resetting by raising it using the manual method (using the red key hidden in the dashboard on the driver's side), dropping it manually, then using the power roof operation. That seemed to work.

But a few weeks later it happened once more, and this time the manual reset method made no difference. In desperation I took it to my local Audi Dealer, Harrogate Audi. The diagnosis was a faulty motor, and I was charged 400 quid to have it fixed as it was just out of the 3 year warranty. OUCH.

Anyway, I asked to keep the broken part. Here it is, the electric roof motor , Part Number 8H0 959 755 A.

I noted these odd indents on the rotor.

But more importantly, when I opened the case, bits of broken magnet were loose inside, seemingly chipped off the magnetic surround. Looking inside, here's where they came from.

Now how on earth did that happen?

Anyway, since I wrote this post I've become aware that a company in Harrogate regularly fixes these motors and may be able to save you some dosh instead of giving it all to Audi for a replacement. Check them out: www.autoelectron.co.uk

Nice Burgers

Pack of mince
Whisk 2 eggs.
Add a red onion, coriander, and loads of herbs and spices and ting.
mix it all up, make patties and grill for 15 mins.

Serve with dijon mustard, salad and roasted haloumi for the ultimate boyger!

Chicken and Rice

Chicken Drumsticks and thighs
Marinade in Nandos Spicy marinade for an hour or so
Put in a foil-lined tray in the oven on max whack for 45 mins. DONE

Serve with mexican rice (try bachelors) and salad. NICE.

Spooky stuff to see near Penzance

Madron's Well (and cloutie tree!) : http://people.bath.ac.uk/prsrlp/kernunos/england/madron.htm

Chyauster Ancient Village : http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/chysauster-ancient-village/

TV Code for Humax Foxsat RM-F01 remote with an LG 42LM620T TV

To make the Humax remote control the LG LM620 / LM660 TV:

• With your LG TV on, hold down the TV button on the remote for 3 seconds until it lights solidly.
• Type 1663 on the remote keypad
• The TV should turn off
• Press OK on the remote
• Press the power button on the remote to turn the TV back on

That's all folks. The remote is pretty nicely set up for the LG, works way better than it did with my old Sony and Toshiba TVs.