Friday, January 28, 2011

Linksys PAP2 Caller ID / Call display troubleshooting

Many may experience this problem. I have Linksys PAP2 which I'm using along with Freephoneline. When I call somebody, it was showing my number. But when they call me, I was not able to see their name or phone number (call display was not working). It was very frustrating. I troubleshot with FPL tech support. They were not able to figure out why, even though they said the phone is working fine. I was thinking that there is some problem with the configuration. Note that I am using a telus High speed internet connection.

After attempting so many things, I finally changed the caller ID method in the Regional tab (advanced view) to DTMF(Finland,Sweden). It solved all the problems. Note that the phone used is Siemens Gigaset DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone System. The settings may be different for other phones. Good luck troubleshooting.

Update: I recently upgraded my internet connection to telus high speed 25 mbps connection. They provided a new modem/router ( V1000H ). Now my caller ID again stopped working. This time around I had to change the Caller ID method to ETSI FSK WITH PR (UK). Caller ID FSK standard is still bell 202.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Locate32 for fast search.

It is such an amazing tool to search the files in your computer. It is the best when it come to searching the file by file name. It searches in a snap the files in your local computer. The files in the network (meaning inside an organization, where it has to search all the folders in a domain) takes a bit more time. Don't keep in mind that you should develop a habit of naming your files in a proper way, ie

  1. name it the way you will remember
  2. add synonym in the names (like "list of mp3.doc" will be names as "list of mp3 mp3s music tracks.doc) - So even if you forget mp3, you can get the result by searching music as well.

Bye to Samsung Jack after 2 years.


It is really funny how I bought this handset, Samsung Jack. I initially bought Motorola RAZR2.

It was supposedly a high end phone 2 years ago and came with a context sensitive touchscreen. No the whole screen is touchscreen, but calls can be taken using the outside display. I tested it for 2 weeks, but didn't like it. Volume for music was too low. I was not able to hear anything when riding Calgary Transit. The interface was bad. It was not a smartphone. I couldn't install any apps.


Then the idea of smartphone crossed my mind. Fido as usual sucks wrt phone selection (even now they do). They had only Motorola Q9H or Samsung Jack. Motorola Q9H was not available anywhere (Fido online or Fido store). They were probably phasing out that phone. I think Sony Experia was coming at that time. That phone was highly anticipated at that time, as I read from various forums. Remember there were no Android fanboys then (well Android must've been there, but it was not popular the way it's now). Anyways, Jack was my last choice, since it looked like a brick for me.



I got it and tested for some time. That was my first smart phone. I installed some apps like CorePlayer. I installed Garmin mobile, it was a huge learning experience installing something like that. I used it as my first GPS. Getting the satellite takes painfully long, but once there, it will serve you nicely. We roamed around the whole of Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City with that GPS. It served my nicely. My wife always disliked the Jack because it lacked those aesthetics to attract females. And I always used to poke here saying that her Nokia N70 is not smart enough :). Actually it's a really nice looking phone.


Then other thing I like about Samsung Jack is the address book. It is simply the best I have ever used. Just type in the first or last name or number or anything on its QWERTY keyboard, contact will show up (I hate my Vivaz pro's contact manager, how many clicks to get the right contact, it's painful). Anyways, Samsung Jack, you did a good job. I am not sure what I will do with it. But most probably I will give it to somebody back in India.

My Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro

I got the phone from Fido. They are pushing Vivaz too much these days. Why? In any case it's not a bad phone, considering that I don't have to take a data plan with this phone. With all other smartphones, we need to, be it iPhone or any of those fancy Android devices. I have never used those devices too much. So I can't compare.

First thing,Vivaz is so difficult to open. No clear instructions were given in the quick manual. The keyboard is nice. It should be better that on-screen keyboard.

Vivaz has Symbian OS. It used to be a leader but not anymore. The UI is ok but using it with touch screen is a pain most of the times. YouTube app is already there. But it doesn't stream continuously in 3G connection. I think not even with wi-fi. Is it a phone problem that it's not able to play continuously. I am not sure. But the screen is big and the resolution is not bad. I installed Opera mobile. Websites look good now. I had a really bad experience with Opera mini on my Blackberry curve 8530. Oh! man, I was not able to use the Blackberry touch pad to do anything in Opera. Maybe I had to do some other settings. But a fresh install of a software should at least do things half right and be at least usable. I still use Blackberry browser, which I feel is doing things half right.

Vivaz's Address book is a pain. You cant just type the first few letters and get the matching names. How painful. My old Samsung blackjack could do it. Really Symbian/SE, you need to get your act together. The customization of themes is good enough. There are lots of apps. some of the apps will not work on Vivaz even if it works on S60 5ed. Like Best answering machine. It tried, it didn't work. I really need to get some answering machine for this phone. hmm.. I need to search more...

Google maps is good. I tested the voice commands in G maps. It's pretty good. Ndrive is working fine I guess. Didn't get enough time to play with that. OVI maps didn't work. I didn't install any other apps. Kinetic scrolling works for photo viewer only, I guess. The media player is good. The pics taken are good enough at 5MP, but not the best at night. The video at 72op is also good. A little bit grainy at night. There is an LED flash, which is to be mainly used for video (it may not be powerful enough for night and it's not attached to digital camera-like you click the shot and the flash flashes. Many reviewers have criticized this in the review). I am yet to shoot videos with LED on. It should be better than now for sure.But HD videos are nice and 720p is best for my current needs.

Overall I am not going to return the phone, I got it for $80 with 2 yr contract. The rates I got is pretty good. Free incoming, caller ID, 200 min, free evening/weekends, unlimited browsing (no downloads) all for $25.

Skydrive for document storage.

Well, we always need more and more space. Dropbox is giving 2GB, but that's enough to store only important documents. What about those backups. and those pics. How about HD videos. With new Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro, you can do HD videos. and I have the Sony CX100, which shoots 1080p videos. I have documents from all over the places.

Then I found skydrive from MS. I downloaded the skydrive explorer, which can be used for copy pasting the documents to the online drive. After few days of uploading, Bing will index your files and you can search for things (I got scared when I was not getting any search results, 1-2 days are uploading. then the idea clicked my mind that it takes time for indexing). 25GB is good enough for now. But those HD videos should still be happy on my HDD/DVD since 25 will get filled up very soon if i upload all my HD videos.

What I should be doing is that, I should upload all my 720p videos from Vivaz to youtube and keep it private. That way I get unlimited storage for my videos (i think there is not limitation on the number of uploads to youtube).

P&ID mark up using acrobat professional

I never thought I can do such a thing using acrobat. But I'm getting more and more comfortable with that. It's a bit clumsy to work. Like you can't go to line "properties" by double clicking (it will go to comment mode, which frankly i never use). But I can create lines,clouds, etc after some practicing. But you can't create custom shapes... like not all things you want in your P&ID can be created. Still it's serving the purpose now.

A far better solution is to use PDF revu. It is cheaper than Acrobat Professional, I guess. You can make the pdf edits quickly using this software. You can create custom shapes and add it to library. After using PFD revu, I really don't feel like going back to Acrobat.

Sony STR-DH510 receiver.

Planning to buy this. Visions has this for $200. I will get $100 cashback from my Sony MC. So it's just 100 bucks. The reviews are positive wrt sound. Now it doesn't have the bells and whistles. But this is my first receiver. So I may not need too many things there. I'm planning to use this in my bonus room, as of now. I will reuse my Pioneer hifi speakers and the woofer from my logitech 5.1 (which is not working now). I can resue some of its speakers as well.

TomTom XL540.

Really liked the interface. Some canadian roads wrong. But it was only $80.

Bought OLYMPUS | STYLUS 7040

This is for my FIL. It has reached home. I will test it when I reach home. Many say the pics have some noise. But for $85 who cares. In b/w newegg lowered the price by 8 dollars. I chatted with their web support and they refunded $8. Nice chaps.