Category: Tips

  • Insta360 Studio crashes immediately when exporting

    After upgrading to the version 4.9.1, from Insta360 Studio started to crash immediately after pressing the export button. A downgrade to 4.8.4 didn’t solve the issue. But using “CPU” instead of “Auto” as “Image Processing Acceleration” did the trick !

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    I was expecting an issue with the Codecs and so I did first untick all the options enabled by default in related tab of the User Preference

    But that didn’t help. So I tried next to set “CPU” instead of “Auto” for “Image Processing Acceleration” in the Hardware Acceleration tab. And it solved the problem.

    I didn’t find any information on that flag on Insta360 forum…

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  • How to identify a USB device

    You found a USB device (a dongle or whatever) but have no idea what it is ? USBDeview is the tool to help you in identifying that device.

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    Here is what you must do to get information on your device:

    1. Download and store USBDeview on your PC
    2. In the same folder, store this file with an unofficial list of USB devices
    3. Run USBDeview and in the “View” menu, “Choose Columns”
    4. Sort the Columns to have: Device Name, Description, Device Type, Drive Letter, Serial Number, Registry Time 1 and 2, VendorID, ProductID, InstanceID
    5. Plug your USB device into your PC
    6. Look for the latest updated USB device in USBDeview (sorting on the column “Registry Time”). This is your device to be identified (you see several lines with the same timestamp, VendorID and ProductID)

    You can also get extra information on this web site, searching for the VendorID and ProductID. You can also use there software, temple, to find the name of the vendor if it was unknown for USBDeview: Run Temple and filter on the VendorID or ProductID to highlight the device (DO NOT TYPE ENTER, as it close temple). Ex.: for the ProductID 1701 here above, with an unknow vendor, Temple tell us that it is “Lester Electrical”:

    Does “Lester Electrical” ring a bell for you ? Then you found what’s this dongle.

    In many cases unfortunately, you can’t do any link between the vendor of the hardware (in the usb device) and what this device is actually used for. Here above, I finally figured out that this was the wireless dongle to connect one of my mini keyboard Rii mini i8 imported from China by RiiTek. But there was really no link between both…

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  • Nvidia : how to force detection of a Missing Display ?

    It happens regularly that my PC does not detect all of my 3 displays when starting. There are several options to fix this: reboot the PC, use Ctrl+WinKey+Shift+B, unplug and replug the cable of the missing display, or force Nvidia to detect that missing display.

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    For the last option:

    1. Run the NVIDIA Control Panel
    2. Select “Set up multiple displays”
    3. Click “My display is not show”
    4. Turn off and on again your display
    5. Click “Rigorous Display Detection”

     

    In many cases, the only option working fine is however to unplug and replug the cable of the missing display :/

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  • Setting distinct email user account and email address in Outlook

    Initially, with Outlook 2021, I couldn’t set my email account to use an email address “From” as I used to do it. All emails were sent from “MyUser@MyDomain on behalf of MyAddress@MyDomain”. To sent the mail from “MyAddress@MyDomain”, I had to configure my account via the email “Manage Profile” menu.

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    I want to send my emails with “MyAddess@MyDomain” as a From, without specifying explicitly this address as “Reply To” (Because I want the recipients to see “MyAddress@MyDomain” as origin of my emails).

    But the account to login into my mailbox, at my domain provider, is “MyUser@MyDomain”.

    The reason is that I have configured “MyAddress@MyDomain” to be a forward to “MyUser@gmail.com”. And I have configured an autoforward of “MyUser@gmail.com” to “MyUser@MyDomain”. Doing so, I benefit of the gmail anti-spam and I have a copy in gmail of all my emails (just in case of DRP at my provider).

    So, a mail sent to me (MyAddress@MyDomain) is actually passed to Google (MyUser@gmail.com) before being forwarded into my mailbox (MyUser@MyDomain) as illustrated here under.

    The issue is that it’s not possible to configure Outlook 2021 to send email from “MyAddress” while connecting to the mailbox “MyUser” with its new configuration wizard.

    This new configuration wizard can be accessed via File > Account Settings > New :

    Even if you tick the option “Advanced options”, you will not be able to configure distinct “email address” and “email account”, as in previous versions of Outlook. You will be able to change a edit the “Account Name” and few other options, but the best that you can do is sent an email from  your “email account” on behalf of your “email address”  (I.e.: from MyUser@MyDomain on behalf of MyAddress@MyDomain)

     

    The solution is to use instead : File > Manage Profiles > Email Accounts > New

    And then, configure your account as you used to do it in the past, with distinct “email address” and “user name” :

    Et voilà

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  • Play Meta/Oculus VR Games with a HTC Vive VR headset

    My daughter wanted to play “Vader Immortal” which is only available on Meta Quest for Oculus, while I have a HTC Vive Pro 2.

    Installing “Revive” and starting the game from “VivePort” did the trick.

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    If you have an HTC Vive, you should have “VivePort” and “SteamVR” installed already. The issue is that VR Games for Oculus (Rift) are compatible with SteamVR, but not available in Steam for Vive. But as explained on the web, there are tricks…

     

    Download and install the “Oculus Rift Software” (using your old Oculus account, a Meta account or your Facebook account), but SKIP the hardware setup part !

     

    Next, download and install the latest stable release of “Revive“. Once installed, close its Dashboard.

     

    Then, open “Oculus” to install a free Game, for testing purpose.

    Go to Settings > Library Locations > Edit, to pick the folder where you want to store your games:

    Reminder: Just in case you want to use the same location as your games for Steam, this one can be found via Steam’s menu View > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders

     

    Go next into the Oculus Store > Top Free, and pick, for example, “Répulbique VR” to install it.

     

    Once installed, you will obviously not be able to run it from the Oculus Dashboard, as you don’t have any compatible hardware. Instead, run “Steam VR”:

    And keeping both “SteamVR” and “Oculus” opened,  rerun “Revive”

    In the Dashboard of “Revive”, you should see your Oculus games.

    Click once onto one to run it. If it starts but closes suddenly soon after (wait a minute to be sure that it’s definitively closed, as most games  “popup” again later) , run also “VivePort”:

    Just as a summary, you should now have SteamVR, Oculus, Revive and VivePort opened : 

     

    In VivePort, you should see your new Oculus Games

    If you do not see them, close SteamVR, Oculus, Revive and VivePort (via the SysTray menu !!) and restart them: SteamVR, Oculus, Revive and VivePort. Also double check that your heaset and two remotes are turned on.

    Start the games from there. At least for me, they just runs fine. Only when run from Revive, they “auto-close” themselves without any notification.

    [PS: check the list of compatible games vader]

    Et voilà,

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  • JBL Link 20 and 300 having crunchy, crackling, static pop noise

    Since I am using a mesh network (based on TP-Link Deco M9 plus) I started to have more and more crackling noise on both my JBL Link 20 and 300, even if located very close to the repeaters. The only solution is to reset the JBL.

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    It’s a very common issue, due to the “Wifi stability”, not only experienced with the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus (quich are actually quite good for their purpose) and even not only with the JBL (Read these posts).

    I have read a lot of posts on this issue and none could help. it has been useless to update the firmware, to open the devices and apply the tricks and tips found on the web, …

    The only trick, which work immediatly, is to reset the JBL and reconfigure it in Google Home. Next, it works like a charm.. for quite some time (months in my case)… but at the end, the crackling noise come back and you have to reset again.

    To reset the JBL Link 300, hold both the “Bluetooth” and the “Volume up” buttons for up to 20 seconds (until you see the “Mute” button becoming orange) as ilustrated on the video here after. Next wait until you the JBL has rebooted and open Google Home to reconfigure it.

    To reset the JBL Link 20, hold the “Mute” button for up to 10 sec until the Wifi led switch off. Next hold both the “Mute” and “Power” buttons for about 20 seconds (until it restarts) as ilustrated on the video here after. Next wait until you the JBL has rebooted and open Google Home to reconfigure it.

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  • How to change the color of a Fibaro Wall Plug using Z-Wave PC Controller

    I have been searching for an easy way to change the color of my Fibaro Wall Plugs without coding/scripting/configuring anything… The solution is to use the “Z-Wave PC Controller” from Sigma on a Windows PC!

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    I have the Fibaro FGWPef-102, documented here. As per that documentation, to set the color of the plug when it’s ON or OFF, one has to send the color code to respectively the parameter 41 or 42 (a parameter of size 1 byte):

    Here is how to do it with Z-Wave PC Controller (version 5 here under). Run the application on your PC, once the controller is plugged into it (I am using a Sigma ACC-UZB3). Click on the gear icon to select the port of your controller and click “OK”.

    Now:

    1. Select a node representing one of your Fibaro Wall Plugs in the top left frame and press Enter (or click the “Node Info” button) to fetch the available commands
    2. Select the Command Class “CONFIGURATION” in the bottom left frame 
    3. Select the Command “CONFIGURATION_SET” to set a new value
    4. Set the Parameter Number to 41 or 42 as documented above. Set the Size to 1 and the Configuration Value to the desired color. Ex.: 08 for Cyan.
    5. Click on Send

    To be sure it works, look the color of your Wall Plugs 😀 

    Or, you can now

    1. Select the Command “CONFIGURATION_GET” to read the value
    2. Put 41 or 42 as Parameter Number
    3. Open the Log file to see the output which will be returned by the Command
    4. Click on Send. You should see in the log a Configuration report with the value set previously. Here “08” (Cyan)

     

    “Z-wave PC Controller” is available inside the free “Simplicity Studio” of SiLabs, as explained here. You only have to subscribe to get it ! (As an alternative, if you have already an SiLabs account, click here to download it directly). The user manual is available here.

    Et voilà.

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  • How to identify the Philips Hue sensors in OpenHab ?

    When looking at the Things within OpenHab, each “Hue Motion Sensor” device appears as multiple things: the “Motion sensor xyz” itself but also a “Hue ambient light sensor i” and a “Hue temperature sensor i”. “Motion sensor xyz” is the name you gave to the device via the Philips Hue App and “i” is a sequential id which can’t be easily linked to the related “Motion sensor” device… The App Hue Essentials can help you !

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    On the screenshot bellow, one can see that I have renamed the Motion Sensors into “Motion sensor Door” and “Motion sensors Entry”, within the Philips Hue App. NB.: Only the Motion sensors appears in the Philips Hue App. One doesn’t see the Temperature and Ambient Light sensors…

    In OpenHab, we see all the sensors, but the Ambient Light and Temperature sensors are not named accordingly to the related Motion sensors. Instead, the are named “Hue ambient light sensor i” and a “Hue temperature sensor i” and one has no idea which one is part of the “Motion sensor Door” or “Motion sensor Entry”:

     

    The App Hue Essentials is not free but is really great (opposite to Philips Hue, you can for example control devices from multiples Bridges without switching from one to the other all the time). It’s the first App I found, made for end users (and not for developers), which give access to the internal sensors of a selected device. I.e.: the other Apps list all the sensors but does not tell which sensors belongs to which device.

    One way to identify which sensor belongs to which device is to go to the Devices (1) within the App Hue Essentials, select the device (2).

    Next , select, the menu Details (1 then 2):

    In these details, you see the Identifier of the device. Here, the identifier is 13. 

    Back into OpenHab, you can now filter the list of Things on ‘:13’ and find the device. 

    That was quite useless as the name of the device is the same in OpenHab and Philips Hue… but you can see that, obviously, the “Unique ID” displayed in Hue Essentials (00:17:88:01:06:44:42:35) is not the full id displayed (0107:ecb5fa857069)..

    One can do the same to find the id of the other sensors of this device: instead of the menu “Details”, select now the menu “Temperature” or “Light Level”. One can see immediatly the name of the related sensor (Here under “Hue light sensor 1”). One can also take the menu “Detail” (1) to take note of the identifier (here under “14”) to filter for it in OpenHab’s Things list.

    The best is however to rename these sensors according to their device (The “Hue light sensor 1” could be renamed “Hue light sensor Door”), remove all of them (especially the “Motion Sensors” which were properly named otherwise,  the other sensors won’t be re-detected) and rescan for Hue’s Things in OpenHab.

    Et voilà.

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  • Use Android Tablet as additionnel screen

    A Galaxy Tab S7 can be used out-of-the-box as second screen for a Windows 10 laptop or PC connected on the same Wifi. But what about using this tablet as additionnel screen for a PC connect via ethernet ? The solution is SuperDisplay. And it works for most Android Tablets…

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    You won’t be able to connect your Galaxy Tablet S7 as second screen with your windows PC, as explained here, if this one is not connected via Wifi. 

    It’s a pitty as using a tablet with a pen to do photo editing for example is really great.

    The solution is simply to use an alternative “wireless display” solution such as “SuperDisplay”; install the App on your tablet and the related drivers on your PC, et voilà !

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  • EdgeRouter X – Speed limited to 250Mbps instead of 1Gbps

    I have upgraded my Internet abonnement from 100Mbps to 1000Mbps but couldn’t get more than 250Mbps. The reason was not an issue with the fiber or the modem but a limitation on my EdgeRouter X.

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    I bought this Ubiquiti router to have the capability to view the bandwidth on each port as well as to fine-tune the configuration if required. Its OS “EdgeMAX” is indeed very flexible and powerful. Obviously, I did check that it was capable to deliver 1Gbps. 

    It was clear for me that it would be “1Gbps for all ports” (4 ports). But as the Router is connected on a Switch “1Gbps per port”, that was not an issue for my LAN (And it was much cheaper).

    Nevertheless, having max 250Mbps was disappointing.

     

    This throughput was reached with defaults settings, as I didn’t fine tune anything so far.

    The solution was to disable the “hardware offload” as well as the “flow-accounting (NetFlow)” (NB.: QoS may also not be used, but it was the case).

    To disable these features, click on ‘CLI’ in the upper-right corner to open a console and login with your administrator account. Then type:

    configure
    set system offload hwnat enable
    delete system flow-accounting
    commit
    save
    exit
    reboot

    Once the router as completed the reboot, you get the maximum bandwidth !

    Et voilà.

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