All posts by AdminMan

Deux ex Machina Chief Blog Hoarder
Hardware

Fix HL-5470DW Laser Printer with B512342-5 controller

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This is a nice 600DPI PostScript laser printer from 2012- 10 years ago. 
* WIFI can be joined, USB recognizes its name on a MAC computer, Also Linux
Ethernet Cable registers on the 16 character LCD screen as Connected, With Address.
* Self-test Printing works fine from front panel delivering a nice report
BUT– It refuses to print through any interface  No BUSY light or anything
Bit o’ Research shows it has a primary circuit board to manage all this, I have to guess that’s (ir)responsible for this Problem.
I did spend some time monkeying around with the cursor keys and LCD display to reset the ROM, reset factory defaults et cetera et cetera… To No Avail.
Looking back now I might have considered trying to upgrade the firmware to see if that made any difference – I doubt it but only realised a firmware upgrade was available after replacing the motherboard. “maybe try that next time Paule”

My subjective impression was that there was no association between the printing part of the machinery and the outside interfaces.
I took the side panels off the checked the many cable connections for loose fit, burned chips, etc. and All seemed fine.
Nowthen– Curiosity aside, what is it worth spending to fix this? Surprised to learn on Ebay that these things come in at least $150+shipping. 
Refurb Toner Cartridges, if needed,  are not prohibitive– $17.00
Found a free return refurbished spare controller board on eBay (warranted) for $40- the upper limit of what seemed worthwhile.. 
the part happened to be labelled: 
B512342-5
I did find a dealership service manual online with excruciating detail about screw torques, Wire color coding, even a section on attaching a debugging port to the main circuit. 
Interesting: But Helpful?
Nothing of the surface mounted components would I try replacing. I have had dismal failure own that front, before….
Why look for Problems one has no direct solution for?

First thing to do was a Google Image Search for the card ID: to see whereabouts this thing shows up- Well several versions did show up- the -5 suffix is some kind of versioning because lower numbered revisions actually used some real estate on board for a Centronix Parallel Port- My circuit board only had the solder pads for that, But with USB and Networking, who needs parallel? It woudl have been easy to cut the case to match but… No, Paule.
Yes, by 2012 that was all Over, but the design obviously went further back.

Cuts a long story Short- 
– Before removing a circuit board I always label it OLD with a Sharpie
– The NEW or rather Refurbished one was so very similar I knew I was likely to screw up!
– Several zoomed photos to show plug color, location and wiring, though in this case nothing could be mis matched.
– two ribbon connecters made me think they might be the type that has a ‘captive’ clasp on the plug. The ribbon had a hard blue plastic card end-backing it seems in order to allow push and pull insertion and removal (AKA: Interference Fit) without whacking the cable.
– I usually pop out the white connectors with a screwdriver blade prying each side in turn Could fin no ‘retainer’ — some such plugs have a tint patch that needs to be pushed to release the connector. Not these.

Alright so the Printer is back together- It DOES take some puzzling to do this, but it’s OK.
On power the LCD showed ready but griped about the Electrostatic Drum being ‘End of Life’ which it never said before. I think this was an ‘ancestral memory’ of the Printer it came from. My Guess: That whoever recycled the printer this board came from gave up ion that Message on seeing the Brother price for a Fuser/Elctrostatic Toner unit was $80-$90
NOT worth it fro them! the LCD does allow resetting this to 0, and No More COmplaints

The former Page Count had been 80,000, it now dropped to 55,000 as the NVRAM on the board ‘remembers’ its old life

Also, the serial number label on back of this printer is now WRONG

Stats page
Stats page

and YES it DID take a Firmware Upgrade to 1.25- Wish I had tried this first with the Old Board though I suspect it was un revivable. AQt 10 years old it seems Brother is still happily supporting these units, and even successfully upgrade the Forward from a very modern MacBook M1!- also the Printer Preferences Found and Used this printer without further intervention

I. can see the high price of this laser printer comes from its ability to handle Postscript, lots of internal fonts an compatibility with several other Printer Standards from HP (Laserjet) its ability to be used in Windows Workgroups etc. It dod NOT seem to have AFP (Apple Networking) however.. 

pabulum

Log4j

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Log4j security Issues have come up and then been (ab)used a lot since October 2021 due to defects in its design that affect a lot of other products

It is a 20-year-old open source project Meaning that it is essentially a free software Library that may be used inside any number of a very large number of other pieces of software out there

Its purpose is to create a log file reporting what the main software is doing.

There is a small chance you may be aware that your piece of software uses this.

There’s a bigger chance you use some software that has got this embedded in it That will cause your security problems- And you may not even be aware of it.

The game software “Minecraft” is the most prominent example, but exists elsewhere.

The probability exists that in fact problems will arise from websites and web hosts who are more likely to use this software meaning that they could be issues securely accessing certain websites,

I will add more items here as I learn about it

By that I mean, you cannot be sure that Facebook, Twitter, your bank, PayPal etc. don’t in some form use this in their infrastructure – being 20 years old, quite often software infrastructure is incompletely documented and it’s not realized this is being used

Companies do have to be motivated to go look for it, and in the worst case they wait for something to fail then run 🏃‍♀️ and jump on it – the problem is, nothing may go wrong but it could be used as a way to steal passwords & credentials

If you were someone that is abusing the service in order to steal passwords and credentials, it behooves you to not damage the website so that nobody would notice… Just remember that.

More as we learn of it



pabulum

Interface design

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I did not design this therefore I am not supposed to criticize this,
am I?
But I did pay for this Device so does that give me Some Rights about Complaining?
How about if I am borrowing someone else’s stuff?
Here we go:

This above describes ONE button which affects a tiny display area of display on a remote concerning… well, you tell me.
That’s all you really need to know.
If you think I am not being helpful saying what the other seven controls are in the instructions, believe me, you don’t want to know. the only one that’s straightforward is the ‘On/Off” button which even so has a layer of qualifications about what exactly that means..
The symbology/synology is truly obscure even given that the Design is obviously from China and would better have been presented in Kana or actual ideograms
</RANT>, as they ‘Say’.

Business, pabulum

Business benefit of blogging

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I was talking to my friend S. today about why a blog just like this one could help one’s business.

On this site I blog my technical stuff all the time.
You might be surprised to learn that’s mainly so I can actually keep a record of some of the things I have learned which is a fraction of all the things that go past my desk every day.. Hopefully your Google search brought you here because of the terms used, so you know I have dealt with your situation on some level.

Item-
Make blogging as easy, fast straightforward and trouble free as possible:
This blog was “written” On the free WordPress app for the iPhone into which you can dictate which I’m doing right now

Item–
If what you are blogging about seems too simple to mention remember that people enjoy simple stuff when they are having trouble with it, so long as it’s explained in an un intimidating way.
Nothing is more frustrating than to hear somebody say to you: “oh that’s simple enough” when you know that it’s not – to which the response must be
“If you find it so easy, you go ahead and do it”

Item-
Do just one thing and prevent self censorship
So, why do corrections from the outset🥸? Fix it later but get it out the door.
It’s not a nuclear weapon or a defibrillator design. No-one will die.
it won’t even harm anything except your own self critic & ego if it’s Not Quite Right –
yet. Because it seldom if ever IS right.
Be Judicious With Your Critics- I don’t; mean ‘choose sycophants’ I mean choose those who have constructive insights and well proven techniques, not anecdotal things like:
‘Cat Pictures Always Improve Rankings!’

I just corrected that paragraph right now before finishing. Mistake. Better to go back and fix it after. I am subject to breaking the ‘rules’ I am talking about, too

Try to avoid overthinking things and just get the stuff out there with as few technical obstacles as possible

Case in point for my friend’s blog -she is a smart, determined virtual assistant which in simple terms means being roaming office assistant and facilitator with high attention to detail mostly working online who won’t give up when things get “interesting”.

She was just asked by client ‘R’ to file paperwork for a fictitious business name renewal. This is a bit of bureaucracy which anyone who runs any kind of business is really supposed to do and on the face of it appears easy if you do it more than once-

She spent some time that I will not go into researching the county and state websites for the correct way to do this and any missing pieces of the puzzle.
Yes, of course it is easy to do but somewhat trickier to get it right
There’s a reason to take a driver test, for example,
because it’s easy to drive a car but you need to get it right :-)

Interestingly  this morning after my rambling about what a good idea this was, then I realized, “If it’s so easy, why don’t I just do it?”
Why ask your dog to do tricks that you wouldn’t do yourself?
so here we are. This. Here. Now.
I timed this initial free-ish form dictation and it was completed in under 10 minutes. corrections may take another 15 minutes because Google likes images put in with the blog. Here, I hope this one will Help! “You Just Never Know”
( I avoid that term but used it anyway)

That’s possible on the WordPress app on the iPhone but it’s far easier and basically faster to do that step from a full screen on my laptop. 
All about Efficiency. 60 seconds. I timed it.

But that is a whole different blog about making your blog itself tasty to Google. Which brings me to one final point:

Do one thing. Do only one thing. Do nothing but that one thing.

What I mean by that is right now, I am dictating a blog and not messing around with WordPress being funky, Internet woes,  or my rotten typing skills or being distracted by the need to go to the bathroom or figure the right moment.
There never is the right moment except: now.
Surely I could afford 10 minutes right now, couldn’t you?
And why not dictate your Blog while in the bathroom
(That’s two things but one is automatic, I assume, so may not count?). 

And if your technology is letting you down so you cannot get done with that one thing?
Stop  that one thing so the Obstacle Itself becomes that One Thing.
I was strongly influenced among others by the author A.J.Jacobs about this.
“Identify The Problem” is always the 1st. step in troubleshooting.
Then, Visit That.

I really propose it in my personal life and technology career everything consists of
one work around or another  at a time and occasional single Final Fixes; But not Often.. 

That’s One More thing: done. 
Breathes Again.

-paule

INTERNET, Software

Moving Steps

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This entry is about Moving a Website off one host onto another.

  1. Get all Contact details for the client; Send This Checklist : )
  2. Save & Mark Off completed Stages
  3. Get Consent from Site Owner & Former Host
  4. CHECK existing site for issues and errors
  5. Enquire about or AVOID anyone else moving any Parts
  6. Gather all usernames and passwords:
  7. For * Domain Name Registrar, * Host, *Email, * Control Panel, * FTP etc
  8. Name Registration should NOT be touched less than 60 days before Moving 
  9. Admin login to * WordPress if used
  10. Create NEW Host Account for site to move to (IONOS)
  11. Generate SSH/SFTP/SCP Login to Sync Data Over
  12. Launch Name Registrar Transfer (Takes up to a week)
  13. DUMP SQL database site.sql from old site
  14. Secure table prefixes (DO NOT keep “wp_” for Security!)
  15. take over & replicate BUT DO NOT CHANGE MOVED DNS servers
  16. Shorten TTL from 3600 mins to 5 mins ready for  Site Switch
  17. Modify Email DNS SPF records, SSL (Secure Site) & auto redirect
  18. Warn Client that site changes at this point may not Transfer.
  19. Wrap Up; NEVER us an admin login of “admin”. You Will BE Hacked!
  20. Hand Over Full Creds to New Site
  21. Get Okay & Bill

 

pabulum

Reset Android Phone

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The android phone such is made by LG, Samsung and others can over time become cluttered with software and files and unusable,
this can affect the speed of operations and even call quality

This can happen naturally over time as older phones have poor quality housekeeping and do not regulate their storage very well..
Can also happen because of the millions of applications out there, a few of which you may have on your phone which have been found to cause problems by snooping and behaving badly; Google often finds out about these and disables them, but not always.

Ideally you would have access to a second completely empty android phone and simply switch over. You do need to check the Google account you used on your phone which is the account it uses to back up your contacts and other information onto the Internet in the so-called cloud.

You can visit https://contacts.google.com first, on a webpage on a separate computer ideally and be sure to use the exact same account as exists on your phone right now (some people have more than one Google account… )
to see that your important contacts and phone numbers are indeed stored in the google Cloud.
What you see there is what will come back after you have reset the phone and put the Google account back in

Other stuff will be backed up as well; Be sure you have the right password!
but possibly important things may not be backed up such as text message history

pabulum

Bus Speeds

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Not taling about public transport here so much is the interface on computers whether they are Mac or PCs, to communicate with peripherals,  a.k.a. outside devices. I would give credit for this graphic but I can’t remember where it came from and I’m looking for a clearer one

Some of these interfaces are not available in all machines for example PCI/PCI-E requires plug-in slot on what is typically a desktop machine- if you are a Mac user you need to pick one of the species of Mac pro tower machines for that because you will not be able to do it on a Mac mini nor any laptop

Hardware

Check You Cables!

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This describes an instrument to check allsorts of different cables. This is

 an ethernet cable being checked,
Although the RJ11 ethernet plug has got eight conductors only four are needed for basic network communications two receive and two transmit pairs wired 1 to 3 and 2 to 6 both ways as in this testing Rig. Conventional ethernet cable can be up to 600 feet long so you would simply flag the yellow terminator in at one end and the blue box at the other to test the continuity of DC voltage. It does not do much checking for resistance between the leads as might happen if water got in to the conductors as it does not really measure resistance very well but it would for example show you if you had a defective plug if you wiggled it in the connector…
The display shows the simplest cable having wires 1,2,3 & 6 all connected but the other four conductors not. This will not operate at gigabit speeds– that will need all 8 connected!

some remote Wi-Fi equipment for example can be powered through the ethernet cable using a technology called POE. Note that it is not as simple as just pushing some voltage up the wires because the specification makes allowance for line resistance and proper correction for voltage drops with special terminating gear..
the DC voltage ‘rides under’ the high frequency communications on some of the same wires.
This is especially important for those Wi-Fi antennas and powered relays that are way up high in trees  for example

pabulum

IMAP Mailbox Move

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Switching Email address?
Switching hosting-providers?
Gigabytes of valuable mail you cannot afford to lose?
You could use free THUNDERBIRD Email program and load it with more than one IMAP Email account, for each Email system you have
Then drag files and folders between the two- effective for low volumes but highly unreliable and requires a high level of attention to detail, double-checking and second guessing as it is you alone that keeps track of what you have and have not copied- The rate is typically about 30 standard sized messages per minute- Attachments can slow down or break the transfer : (

Best Strategy-
First:
Backup your Email somehow, do some Housecleaning- Sorting messages by attachment size and try to kill of the largest offenders– you can detach important attachments like photos THEN delete the messages- Thunderbird even allows you to “Detach” attachments leaving the parent email behind without its attachment,

Sort By Subject
This will bring all the Mailing-List items into a group as they tend to share the same initial wording at least like 
“[Poodle Fanciers] Q: About miniatures…”
Sort by Sender. 
Whoever sends you all this cartoons everyday can be batched up and dealt with. Finally:
Empty Trash.

Art Of Logic specializes in large IMAP mail migrations using PERL scripts customized from the command line using
https://imapsync.lamiral.info by Gilles Lamiral. That site actually will do up to 3GB free at one go for you
(YOu are of course trusting your Username & Password to him while doing so 🙂 I use highly customized version of this script whose only size limitation is the transfer rate and time

We can move a whole office of Emails between hosts for you or between providers

In particular we can migrate you off ugh Office365, Yahoo!, AOL.COM and other vexatious troublesome hosts. 
It seems like you may have Downtime on your valuable communications– Not necessarily.
We can sync up your Email folders from our high speed colocated servers without interfering with your Workflow.
In fact, we specialize in moving everyone’s Emails into the likes of GMAIL, Google Apps AKA Google Workspace
Usually $5/mo per account, this is free if you are a legitimate NonProf 501(c)(3) for your whole enterprise. 
We can do this for you, too.

Enjoy!