Blogger Stats: Cool stats !

• Got a promo mail frm the blogger team abt Blogger Stats. It was a long standing requirement. Finally got and it and how!
• It shows who accessed my page and how they landed on it, which  pages in particular and which locations were they accessed from.
• It gives me amazing feedback as to which information that I put up is relevant and sought after, based on history (day, week, month, etc).
• It still is in the draft stage and can be accessed here http://draft.blogger.com
• Thanks Blogger Team !

Win XP on HP Mini 210 1084 TU

• Got HP Mini from a friend. The Spec is  here
• It came with FreeDOS and win xp sp2 install apparently had issues.
• Upgraded the OS to win xp sp3 from the Microsoft site.
• Downloaded HP drivers from this site HP Driver download for 210 1084tu.
• Only HP Bluetooth Module driver had some issues as the support team pointed me to the wrong driver. The USB BT  module is the following: Vendor_id: 03F0 Prod_id: 2A1D. The correct driver + stack is here. It is 100 MB !!
• The Synaptics touch pad has to be enabled differently. One needs to go to the properties to understand its operation: double click on the left top to enable/disable, etc.

12 volt Low-Cost Amplifier

• Aim is to build an amplifer for  an Autorikshaw. Has to be low cost, music quality doesnt have to be great.
• Availability of Low Cost MP3 SOCs boards like the AX2008, AJT, etc. Looking at extending these SOCs for other things. They have on-board SOC from Appotech, etc, a USB connector, an SD reader, an FM receiver, a Remote and is available as a board for Rs 150 ie 3$ !!
• Can couple it with an amplifier. Got an amplifier for Rs 150 and this works on 12 V and is a dual bridged amplifier with roughly 15 + 15 Watts of power. Audio board mfd by Shan. It has bass and treble controls. Uses a dual SANYO 4440. Had to experiment with the connections: connect the MP3 player to the AMP to the speakers.
• Got the casing and accessories from Pooja electronics frm SP Road. Roughly 150 Rs and cheap speakers for Rs 50 without box.
• Audio quality is ok. The box provides: MP3 playing, FM, AUX INPUT and works on 12 V.
• Had to use a voltage reg: a 7812 and 7805 for the 12v to the amp and 5v to the MP3 player.
• Picture 1 is the almost finished amp and Pic 2 is from an earlier stage.
• Total cost of amp+player around 500-600 Rs.

GPS on a Java enabled phone

• GPS device is a Holux  GPSLIM240: Bluetooth based return NEMA 0183
• Phone is a Motorola Ming 1200 having Bluetooth etc.
• A J2ME phone having MIDP 2.0 and CLDC 1.1  or above is needed. CLDC 1.1. supports floating point.
• Used SUN's java development environment on Ubuntu Linux 9.04
• Debugging on a phone is pretty problematic. I did not enable bluetooth via the emulator.
• Used a Bluetooth app provided by Bruce Hopkins for device discovery, etc.
• The App shows speed, the direction of travel, odometer, date and time.