Tag: Mods
Overhauling the Battery Backup in an HP DL380
by firestorm_v1 on Jun.20, 2017, under Hardware, How-To's
Ain’t no one got that kind of cash!
Everyone knows that in most if not all devices, batteries are considered a wear item, an item that’s designed to be replaced at certain intervals of a machine’s lifetime. (Ok, unless you’re Samsung… or Apple… or any one of a bunch of stupid laptop vendors) Enterprise level servers are no exception. What is outrageous though is these consumables are usually stupidly expensive and can be repaired for much less than the replacement part. In this case (and this post), I saved myself about $63 by building my own replacement battery pack for my HP SmartArray P400 raid card.
Giving a PIX firewall a new lease on life
by firestorm_v1 on Jan.24, 2014, under Embedded devices, Hardware, Networking
Buying networking equipment off of Ebay can be one of the most rewarding and frustrating challenges you may ever face. Of course, being able to identify and fix issues with newly purchased hardware may mean the difference between having purchased a $500 firewall for $11 and some parts versus buying another piece of crap for $11 that will live out its life in the back of the parts closet. In this article, I’ll cover how to replace the power supply to a Cisco PIX 506E firewall with a standard computer power supply.
Squirrelcage blower keeps small form factor PCs cool
by firestorm_v1 on Aug.14, 2010, under Embedded devices, Hardware, How-To's
As long as there has been electronics, there has been the problem of how to keep them cool. Unfortunately, the problem gets more complex the smaller that computers get and what works for one PC might not work for others. This is clearly the obstacle to overcome when trying to cool down a settop box. Read more to find out how I was able to pull it off very well for a little over $10 in parts and still maintain all my hair.
Seagate Dockstar: Add an accessible serial port
by firestorm_v1 on Jul.21, 2010, under Embedded devices, Hardware, How-To's
Ok, so not long after I published the article on the hardware teardown of the Seagate Dockstar, I couldn’t help myself so I started working on things to do with this device. I did a lot of research in regards to the capabilities of the Dockstar, including being able to push a customized Linux OS on the device. Once I saw the article at Hackaday that covers exactly how to replace the OS, I knew I had to do it for myself. There are two ways to perform this upgrade however in order to capture syslog output and to be able to get to the bootloader, a serial port is required. Just about all of the sites will describe the pins needed to make the connection, however none of them detail how to do it very clearly and none of them address the issue of aesthetics. Read on for my method of adding a serial port to the Dockstar without affecting the look of the device.
Android:Sprint officially releases Android 2.1 for Samsung Moment!
by firestorm_v1 on May.15, 2010, under Embedded devices, Linux, Product Reviews, Software
While writing up the review for the Samsung Moment versus the Palm Pre, I happened to find out that Sprint has now released Android 2.1 (Eclair) for the Moment. Guess now I have to start over again, but the up side is that this is a very significant update from Samsung’s initial release, Android 1.5.
You can download the update from Sprint at http://shop.sprint.com/en/software_downloads/pda_smartphone/samsung_moment.shtml
Please note: According to the instructions available at the link above, you will need to use a Windows PC to apply the update to your phone. I will be posting a mirror shortly and it will show up in the “Download Files” page at the top of this page.
Add a real lasersight to the Nerf Nitefinder
by firestorm_v1 on Nov.24, 2009, under Hardware, Toys and Games
Well here’s the seccond post as promised. These posts should also proves that you don’t have to know sick computer skills or mad hardware to be able to pull off some bad ass hacks. In this post, we will address the Nerf Nitefinder and it’s so-called light sight. While the verbage does get around the expected/anticipated lack of a good lasersight, this post will walk you through adding a real laser sight to your Nitefinder. Read on for more details along with lots of pictures. (continue reading…)
Mod the Nerf Maverick to eject chamber right
by firestorm_v1 on Nov.24, 2009, under Hardware, Toys and Games
Well, I will admit that I’ve been slacking a lot. There are posts that need to be posted, and I’ve been extremely busy at work. So, to make up for it, today’s going to be a two-post day!. In this post, I’ll demonstrate how to modify the Nerf Maverick chamber to work properly like a real revolver. Read on for a complete step-by-step guide to this basic Nerf mod.
