Author's posts
Jan 19 2008
another vulnerability in the home hub
The guys at gnucitizen have posted details of another vulnerability in the BT home hub (and related Thomson routers). This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to reconfigure the router using the UPnP functionality which is turned on by default. UPnP is an authenticationless protocol designed to allow local devices to reconfigure the router – typically …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/01/19/another-vulnerability-in-the-home-hub/
Jan 13 2008
psp hardware and software specs
I have just stumbled upon a very good resource listing specifications of the hardware and software revisions for the PSP. I would have found this site most useful when I was researching how to format video for the psp last year. The site is at www.edepot.com/reviews_sony_psp.html
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/01/13/psp-hardware-and-software-specs/
Jan 06 2008
ain’t standards wonderful
I’ve just changed my mobile phone for the first time in nearly three years. I know this makes me unusual, particularly as I am normally a gadget lover, but to me a phone is primarily intended to be communication device. I don’t really need it to be a camera, or a music player, or a …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2008/01/06/aint-standards-wonderful/
Dec 31 2007
the war against hair gel
David Malki ! is an interesting character who creates some wonderful cartoons from images drawn from his collection of 19th-century books and periodicals and from other early rare books held at the Los Angeles Central Library. He publishes a collection of his cartoons at wondermark. I recommend that you spend some time flipping through his …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/12/31/the-war-against-hair-gel/
Dec 30 2007
reflashing the BT home hub from a linux PC
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found several references to successful reflashes of the BT hub to a genuine Thomson 7G image on a variety of sites. None of those sites gave instructions as to how to do this if you run a linux PC. So I have documented how I did it …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/12/30/reflashing-the-bt-home-hub-from-a-linux-pc/
Dec 15 2007
homehubblog goes off-line
Some of my earlier posts have referred to the “homehubblog”. The author of that blog seems to have had his domain name stolen from under his feet. The address given now links to an estate agent site. I know that there are robots out there just waiting to pounce on domains which come up for …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/12/15/homehubblog-goes-off-line/
Dec 15 2007
leaving BT Broadband
My contract with BT has now expired and I am shortly to move my ADSL connection to one of the Entanet resellers (TitanADSL). All the Entanet resellers I have read about get good reviews. I picked TitanADSL because they offer additional webspace and mySQL databases on top of their broadband service. With luck my IP …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/12/15/leaving-bt-broadband/
Nov 30 2007
if Microsoft made the iPhone
I’m sorry. I know I really shouldn’t do this, but I loved this so much I watched it three times in succession. It’s vicious, it really is. And best of all, it was apparently made on a Mac.
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/11/30/if-microsoft-made-the-iphone/
Nov 25 2007
more on the BT home hub
I last wrote about the BT Home Hub (HH) nearly a year ago. Looking back, I spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to get BT “support” to even bother to read, let alone understand, my problems. Eventually I gave up in disgust. Here I was fortunate because I had substituted a genuine Thomson ST780 …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/11/25/more-on-the-bt-home-hub/
Nov 25 2007
update to ripping DVDs to a sony psp on linux
Since writing the entry below, I have discovered a much simpler way of ripping and transcoding DVDs – k9copy. I really should have noticed this earlier because I investigated k9copy when I was playing with dvd::rip and winFF as GUI tools for ripping. I had (stupidly) assumed that k9copy could only copy a DVD to …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/11/25/update-to-ripping-dvds-to-a-sony-psp-on-linux/
Nov 04 2007
ripping DVDs to a sony psp on linux
I spend a lot of time on trains – I mean a /lot/ of time. My daily commute amounts to around 6 hours in total each day. Of that, at least 4 hours is spent sitting on a train avoiding listening to the cacophony of irritating chunterers and morons on mobiles. The worst period is …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/11/04/ripping-dvds-to-a-sony-psp-on-linux/
Feb 08 2007
update on the Reg about BT and the GPL
I knew this one would run….. The Register notes that BT believe they have done enough to comply with the GPL by publishing the code here. But the Free Software Foundation remains unconvinced. In my view BT should respond more positively and work with the foundation to meet the requirements of the GPL. We’ll see.
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/02/08/update-on-the-reg-about-bt-and-the-gpl/
Jan 22 2007
BT home hub and the GPL
I mentioned the Home Hub Blog in an earlier post. That author of that blog (amongst others) has been trying to find a way to unlock the Hub so that it can be used on ISPs other than BT itself. Unfortunately, BT seems to have tied the beast down (and ties it further with each …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/01/22/bt-home-hub-and-the-gpl/
Jan 17 2007
another update to correspondence with a corporation
Since my last post at the end of last year I have been testing my ST780 with a variety of alternative VOIP providers whilst at the same time trying to get BT to sort out my connection. I also lodged a formal complaint about the appalling level of technical support with the BT complaints department …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/01/17/another-update-to-correspondence-with-a-corporation/
Jan 04 2007
vinyl to digital
Recently you may have seen adverts in a wide variety of publications for a USB turntable. This product is aimed at people (like me) who have a collection of old vinyl recordings but no longer have the means to play them as they have moved to CD and/or digital recordings. Most of the turntables I …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/01/04/vinyl-to-digital/
Jan 02 2007
BT home hub
In my searches for more information about the BT Home Hub and its configuration I have come across a couple of good sites. The Home Hub Blog is an interesting collection of notes about the author’s attempts to unlock the Hub so that it can be used on other ISP’s networks. This is the reverse …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2007/01/02/bt-home-hub/
Dec 31 2006
update to correspondence with a corporation
BT support finally called me back again today (two days late, but hey) and again attempted to transfer me immediately to the Broadband Talk support department. Before I allowed them to do so, however, I made certain that the person I was talking to fully understood my problem. I believe she did. But she confirmed …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2006/12/31/update-to-correspondence-with-a-corporation/
Dec 30 2006
DMT for linux
I have just found a rather nice tool for querying my Thomson DSL modem. It is rewrite of a tool originally written for windows by A. Matthoefer. The author of the linux version is Timo Boettcher. The tool compiled cleanly and worked first time with my ST780WL. It should work equally well with the BT …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2006/12/30/dmt-for-linux/
Dec 29 2006
correspondence with a corporation
Recently I have been experiencing a small problem with my BT broadband connection. I should point out that in general my experience wth BT’s broadband offering is very good. Whilst not the cheapest around, the quality and reliability of the connection are better than I have heard reported from friends and colleagues with other ISPs. …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2006/12/29/correspondence-with-a-corporation/
Dec 26 2006
Mike Harrison
I admire the offbeat, the unusual, and the plain weird. I came across Mike Harrison’s site when I was looking for information about Tesla Coils. It is well worth a visit – I mean the man collects thermionic valves such as this: A bit bigger than a transistor
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2006/12/26/mike-harrison/
Dec 24 2006
first post
I am not a great fan of blogs. Before blogging became popular, people who wrote diaries used to do it in private and wash their hands afterwards (to misquote Heinlein). But occasionally I have found a blog which has been useful to me. Typically such blogs have been single topic or specialist sites devoted to …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2006/12/24/first-post/