IBM BPM Process Designer started migration from desktop to pure web client long time ago. While lightweight tools are enablers for everything in cloud game, it is shame how productivity is ignored. For several releases IBM has not corrected even such fundamental feature like fixed-width font to give visual aid on indentation. Fortunately this was easy to fix once and for good. Continue reading
Hermes JMS client documentation lacks of how to connect to Websphere Application Server (WAS) messaging. Most googled receipts with Websphere keyword refer to MQ. While it is possible to expose WAS internal service integration bus (SIB) as MQ link, I failed on that part as WAS was throwing at me 2035 error no matter what I tried. I stepped back to use CORBA for native dialog with SIB bus. Continue reading
Four years ago I made microcontrolled snowflake decor using home made PCB based on toner-transfer process. I got back to this idea late in 2015 to make short batch for family and friends. Second version was about fixing design issues and adding extra features: rechargable battery, USB interface and automatic brightness regulation. Nice looking factory-made PCBs were ready in November 2015. Continue reading
Water level monitoring on river basin under observation was completed mid 2015. From rainfall-rainoff modelling perspective rainfall capturing was missing. Low budget, 3d printer at home and some spare time pushed me to design my own rain gauge. Before autumn rains all required stations received tipping bucket pluviometers upgrade. Continue reading
Winter is coming… actually it has already come bringing constructor’s nightmare. Sudden freezing cold caused unexpected and massive restarts of all field stations. All because of the same hardware reason. Reason impossible to happen. All that because circuit boards were not suited up for real harsh outdoor conditions. Continue reading
Counterfeit chips have always been on the market. Most of the time stories were told about fake high-end components like computer GPUs. I did not worry and over last couple years I bought hundreds genuine chips from China. They were always low-cost components and always worked as in specs. Until now. Continue reading
Thanks to Chinese providers printed circuit board fabrication has never been so cheap. With PCB comparison tool it is also darn easy to choose from. Sometimes though old’ye home made PCB is what you are looking for. So I made a photostory from my one-hour creation process for newbies. Continue reading
Kicad PCB toolset changed a lot over last two years. Great contribution from CERN is merged with stable release on one hand, new library format and projects migration necessity on the other. Meantime Freerouter cooperative tool disappeared and my reluctance to move was justified. Until recently when I gave migration a try. Continue reading
Close GSM antenna proximity to bare PCB was troublesome latching microSD. Using most resilient flash cards nearly solved the problem. Extra shielding would help to prepare for worst field conditions like area of weakest GSM signal leading to highest emission and EMI. I took long and tough lesson to get shielding done right. Continue reading
Lately at the airport so-called user-friendly Apple operating system was stubbornly failing to log into WiFi without giving me any clues. Meanwhile Android phone was happily sucking data from the same hotspot. It turned to be an OSX (Yosemite 10.10.4) bug when hotspot uses valid for SSID “at” (@) sign. Intuintion of engineer let me quickly overrun this issue. But hey Apple, what about average Joe OSX is designed for? Continue reading
