BeatificaBytes

The Joys of Computing

Category: Tips

  • Play a movie on multiple devices via WiFi-Direct

    When going to travel for hours by car with my kids, I usually copy some cartoons on their tablets before leaving. A question which arose recently was: how to play a movie from one tablet on the others, while there is no network in the car. Answer: using BubbleUPnP and Wifi-Direct.

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    The question arose as I forgot once to copy cartoons on one of the tablets. Being in the car, I had no Wi-Fi network to connect the devices (no wireless router). And I didn’t want to use a mobile data connection as, being in a foreign country, the cost would have been excessive. So I had to find another solution.

    Looking on internet how to share media or files between two devices without Wi-Fi access point, I found that the modern way to go was: wifi-direct.

    Connecting devices via wifi-direct was easy as natively supported by Android, as well as iOS (one can find many how-to on internet). But next, how to access the media on other devices was more tricky.

    Usually, on mobile devices, I am using:

    • Plex connected via internet to play media from my NAS.
    • Plex to play media synced locally on the device.
    • Plex to play media synced on another device with Plex «advertised» on the LAN, by that device, as a server (see settings of Plex on the mobile device).
    • Archos Video to play media available locally (internal or external strorage) or via FTP, SMB shares or UPnP.
    • Possibly MX Player to play media while directly browsing the storage of the device.

    I also used to play media via UPnP with MediaHouse as, just like Plex and Archos Video, it is managing libraries of movies with metadata automatically fetched from internet. But that was before getting support for UPnP within Archos Video.

    As Archos Video and Plex are IMO, the very best apps to manage libraries of movies, my hope was to use them. Unfortunately, none of them was able to access media on the other devices using Wi-Fi direct… Plex didn’t see the Plex servers running on the other devices, and Archos Video didn’t even display any menu to access media via network. I think that none of them was aware there was actually a network (WLAN Direct).

    As I read that UPnP over Wi-Fi direct was very well supported (it’s now a standard), I thought that a solution could be to use an upnp server/client. My favorite being BubbleUPnP, I gave it a try. And good news, it works like a charm. I was able to play the same cartoon simultaneously on three devices without any hiccup (with MX Video as a player).

    That being said, I wrote to the developer of Archos Video and on the Plex forum to ask if playing video with their app via wifi Direct was actually supported (with a trick) or would be soon or later…

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  • DNS name resolution not working anymore after Package update

    After updating my Synology with the latest version of the DNS Server, this one was not resolving my domain names anymore. I had to reset to “resolution service” to solve that issue.

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    To access my blog, hosted on my NAS, from my intranet but using its public domain name, I had to define the same domain name on my DNS Server, with A records pointing to the NAS’ IP… (see details here).

    When my DNS Server does not run anymore, trying to access my blog from my intranet, using its domain name, I get the web page of my ADSL Modem. Is IP address is indeed the one obtained when resolving my domain name using a public DNS Server.

    To check if my DNS Server runs fine, I simply had to run a dos cmd prompt and type ping www.beatificabytes.be. If I get the local IP of my NAS, it works fine. If I get the public IP of my ADSL modem, there is something wrong…

    It’s not the first time that I have this issue after updating my DSM or the DNS Server. But each time, the solution is the same: I have to uncheck and recheck the options “Enable resolution services” in my Synology’s “Control Panel > DNS Server > Resolution” settings.

    NB.: I have next to reboot my mobile devices. on PC, possibly execute “ipconfig /release” and then “ipconfig /renew” in a command prompt.

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  • Nabi 2 bricked

    I wanted to play with the Recovery and the Rom of my Nabi 2 and I ended with a bricked tablet. Trying to boot the OS, I was stuck for ever on the screen with a freezed Nabi logo. Trying to boot the Recovery, I was stuck on a screen with a dead android and an exclamation mark. Here is how to solve that situation.

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    Prerequisites

    First, be sure that the “Universal ADB Drivers” are installed. To be found here or here. the ADB command is available here. ADB documentation exists here. ADB won’t work if “USB debugging” was not enabled on the device. But it was, for sure, if as me your bricked it…

    Then, get a TWRP Recovery image from here that can be installed without the need for a previous version. I took the TWRP 2.2.2.1 which is the only one that works fine with my Nabi 2 due to a Calibration issue with the other versions. As not available anymore from the page mentioned above (with all versions for Nabi 2), I had to take it from the Auto-Installer mentioned here (from the subfolder twrp/old).

    Restore a Recovery

    Now, connect the Nabi 2 on the PC and reboot the Nabi 2 in “Fastboot” mode:

    • Press volume + and hold it while pressing also Power.
    • Use Volume – to select “Fastboot” and select it with Volume +

    Next, open a command prompt as admin on the PC and type:

    fastboot flash recovery.img

    Wait for the image to be loaded and reboot the device by pressing Volume + (to Select Bootloader) and next twice Volume – and once Volume + (to Select “Recovery Kernel”). The “Recovery” should now load (not be blocked anymore with a dead android) !

    Upgrade to the most recent Recovery

    One can now upgrade TWRP to a version which may only be installed on top of an existing one, such as the TWRP 2.8.5.0. I took the TWRP 2.8.5.0 v2 for KitKat here.

    I went again into the “FastBoot” mode and uploaded the new Recovery image (TWRP 2.8.5.0) before restarting to enter the new Recovery Kernel.

    Flash a stock Rom

    And once in TWRP, I did “Backup” it on the SD card!

    I moved next the SD card into my PC, I went to the folder \TWRP\BACKUPS\<id of my table>\<current date> and delete all the files in there.

    Then, I downloaded the stock Rom 3.0.13 for KitKat (3013stock.zip) here and did unzip it in the backup folder before moving the SD back into the tablet.

    I did reboot again the tablet in the Recovery and once there I did a “Restore” (keeping all items selected).

    Once flashed, I did reboot the System (without installing SuperSU). After ~1 minute, the Logo started to spin and after ~2 other minutes the system started to initialize. After ~5 minutes, it was asking me to pick a language and configure the Wifi.

    Et voilà FIXED !!!

    Android is now 4.4.2, Build Bumber KOT49H, Product Version 3.0-release-keys.

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  • TWRP v2.8.5.0 works fine on Nabi 2

    The only version of TWRP that was previously compatible with my tablet Fuhu Nabi 2 was TWRP 2.2.2.1 due to a calibration bug (See Here). But I just found that TWRP 2.8.5.0 works fine!

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    My tablet was running:

    • Fuhu Nabi 2-NV7A-US
    • Version Android 4.1.1
    • Kernel 3.1.10-g160ecc9-dirty
    • Build JRO03C
    • Product Version 2.3-release-keys

    As I still have Android 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean) on my Nabi 2, I did get the Jelly Bean version of TWRP 2.8.5.0 mentioned here as I still have Android 4.1.1 on my Nabi 2.

    Next, I took the Auto-Installer to be found here.

    Then, I did unzip the “Twrp-recovery-JBNV7AUS-285.zip” into the Auto-Installer’s subfolder “twrp\new” and renamed it from “twrp-recovery.img” into “recovery.img” (replacing the existing img file).

    Finally, I run RecoveryUpdater.bat and pick the option 1: “1. Install TWRP 2.3.3.0 for Nabi versions 1.9.37 (recommended)“.

    It pushed the image I just copied into the subfolder “twrp/new” on my Nabi 2 and Bingo 😉

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  • Root Access for Fuhu Nabi 2

    “KingoRoot” also worked fine too root my Fuhu Nabi 2!

    See here how I previously used it to root my two Lenovo A5500-F.

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  • Root Access for Lenovo A5500-F

    I tried several tools to root my two tablets Lenovo A5500-F. I only succeeded “easily” with the free “KingoRoot“. Highly recommended 😉

    Lenovo A5500-F
    Lenovo A5500-F

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    My tablets are both:

    • Lenovo A5500-F
    • Version Android 4.4.2
    • Version Kernel 3.4.67
    • One with Build Number A5500F_A442_000_027_141207_ROW
    • One with Build Number A5500F_A442_000_029_150408_ROW

    Here is the procedure (described with images and further details everywhere on the web)

    First, configure the tablet to be able to connect onto it from the PC:

    • Enter the “Settings”
    • Select “About phone” (at the very bottom)
    • And press 7  times “Build number” to enable the developer mode
    • Go back to the “Settings”
    • Select “Developer Options” (now above “About phone”)
    • In the part titled “Debugging”, tick the option ‘USB Debugging’ and answer OK if prompted to confirm

    Now Plug the tablet into the PC and Run “Kingo Root” on the PC:

    • Kingo Root starts with the message “Not Connected”.
    • Then it immediately continues with “connecting…”
    • And finally it displays the name of the connected device “LENOVO A5500-F” with the messages “Mode Normal”, “Root Status : No”
    • On the tablet, you see a picture with “Kingo Root” and the message “USB connected”
    • If you have a prompt from the tablet to authorize the PC to connect on the tablet, accept it 😉

    You are ready to start rooting the tablet!

    • Press the Button “Root” in “Kingo Root”.
    • It starts to root the device. On the tablet, you see the message “Rooting…”
    • After a few minutes, the tablet will reboot automatically a first time (you will hear the sound of disconnection/re-connection on the PC). Wait until “Kingo Root” redetect the tablet. As soon as rededected, it will check that it’s well rooted. During that operation, the picture with “Kingo Root” reappears on the tablet.

    If you see a prompt from Google on the tablet, to check that the device has no security issue, just refuse it.

    After the first reboot, “Kingo Root” saw that my device was not yet rooted and it continued with installing more stuff… Soon later, the tablet rebooted again automatically and “Kingo Root” restarted the same process. Concretely, it did the same routine 5 times (I.e. it rebooted five times) before announcing that the device was successfully rooted.

    Something weird however… Although Kingo Root” pretended that the device was rooted, “Root Checker” told me it’s not the case ?!

    I did restart “Kingo Root” and pressed “Root Again”. It did some updates but didn’t reboot automatic and Bingo ! “Root Checker” now confirmed that it was rooted.

    NB.: you should be prompted to confirm that “Root Checker” may be granted Root Access by KingoUser.

    It took me a bit more than 30 minutes.

    NB.: Later, I did update the device with Build Number A5500F_A442_000_027_141207_ROW to Build Number A5500F_A442_000_029_150408_ROW and I had to re-root the device! It went fast and without any reboot. (NB.: I had to accept again to grant Root Access to Root Checker for KingoUser).

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  • Torch switching on auto-magically on One Plus One

    From time to time, the torch of my One Plus One (running Cyanogen) was turning on “by itself”, although the screen was switched off. I finally figured out why and how: it was due to a “Gesture shortcut” that was enabled…

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    I never enabled this Gesture feature explicitly, so I presume it was on by default. But when enabled, drawing a V on the screen, even if this one is turned off, switches the torch on (or off is already on)…

    This gesture (as well as other gestures) can be disabled via: Settings > Gestures

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  • One Plus One: rotate not working although enabled

    I recently noticed that chrome was not rotating anymore when I was turning my mobile, a One Plus One (running Cyanogen). I tried to disable and re-enable the feature “rotate” via the upper Menu Bar, without success. The trick is to authorize all the rotation angles: only 0° was enabled…

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    No idea how 90°, 180° and 270° were disabled, but that was my issue. Clearly, enabling the feature “rotate” with only the angle 0° is totally useless…

    To authorize various rotation angles, go to: Settings > Display and lights > Rotation. And there, enable the various mode.

    Et voila!

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  • “Alt Gr” not working: cannot type characters like backslash, arobas, etc… anymore

    I was close to bite my keyboard when I found the reason why I was not able to type characters like \, @, .. on my AZERTY keyboard on Windows 7 (Belgium/french) : it was due to the Remote Desktop window.

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    When there is an application opened on your desktop that handles keys pressed to forward these events, you can sometimes not type some extended characters anymore (I.e.: characters that require special key combinations). It happened to me for characters to be typed with Alt-Gr.

    This happens with applications like Remote Desktop (RDP)/Terminal Services and Virtual Box (VirtualPC/VMWare/Hyper-V/…)… Those applications handles indeed the key combination to possibly forward them to the Virtual Box/Remote PC.

    For some users, it happens when the application is in full screen or minimized. In my case, RDP was windowed (i.e. neither maximized nor minimized)…

    As soon as I closed RDP, the key Alt-Gr came back.

    An alternative could have been to use CTRL-ALT instead as this is another shortcut for Alt-Gr !

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  • Sound-bar + HTPC + TV: where to connect a headset ?

    In some cases, I want to use a headset to watch TV, the movies being played either by my HTPC, by the TV itself (internal receiver) or an external TV decoder. In some case, there is a sound-bar connected to the TV (via HDMI-ARC) or between the player and the TV. Where to connect my headset has been a source of headache until a professional audio dealer gave me the “universal” solution: a “Digital to Analog Audio converter”.

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    Why this question is such an issue?

    1. First, because the sound-bar I am using has no audio out for a headset (i.e: a “AUX” connector). Otherwise, that would have been the logical place to connect the headset.
    2. Next, because I gave up to use the TV “AUX” audio out for headset:
      1. If a sound-bar is connected between the player and the TV, this last one automatically mutes its speakers and I don’t get any sound via the headset. It’s maybe possible to force the sound on the TV, but I didn’t find any such option (neither on the TV nor on the sound-bar).
      2. If the player is connected directly on the TV (when I don’t use a sound-bar), I have to unplug the headset each time I don’t use it. The headset is indeed automatically detected by the TV if it is plugged and the speakers are muted. This is really not practical.
      3. I didn’t try with the player connected directly to the TV and the TV connected to the sound-bar via HDMI-ARC (which could maybe work: i.e.: have sound via both audio output) as I gave up trying to use the TV audio “AUX”. Indeed, I have a Samsung TV with a really crappy audio “AUX” connector. The signal coming out is so poor that my wireless headset regularly switches off as detecting no good signal anymore.
    3.  Finally, because using the HTPC audio “AUX” connector is far from practical.
      1. To use the headset, I have to reconfigure the Audio Device in Windows which is set by default to use the HDMI audio output (specific graphic drivers being used to send the sound via the HDMI connector).
      2. And when I unplug the headset, I have again to reconfigure the Audio Device to used the HMDI otherwise I get no sound anymore.Switching back to HDMI is indeed not automatic.
      3. Also, this solution only works when watching a movies with my HTPC, not when watching a broadcast on the TV itself or from any other external player…

    The best solution is to connect a “Digital to Analog Audio converter” on the optical output of the TV.

    Analog to Digital Audio Converter
    Analog to Digital Audio Converter
    • Albeit using a player directly connected on the TV, or when watching a broadcast directly received be the TV tuner, I simply have to mute the TV Speakers (or the sound-bar when one connected via HDMI-ARC). The sound continues to be flowed through the Optical output and I can regulate the volume directly on my headset.
    • I didn’t try yet and will do so asap… but if the sound-bar is used and connected between the player and the TV, the sound should also still be flowed from the sound-bar to the TV though HDMI and next to the Optical Audio output. Only the Speakers and the Audio “Aux” should be muted… [to be continued]

    IMPORTANT NOTICES 

    • Choose a Converter supporting all compressed audio formats such as Dolby Digital (AC3) and DTS 5.1. Some don’t fully support e.g. DTS and this could be very disappointing. Ex.: When using Smart Apps such as Plex or DS Video (from Synology) on a Samsung Smart TV, playing direct sound, the Converter will have to support correctly all the formats also supported by the TV and therefore not transcoded by Plex or  Synology.
    • To have sounds via both the HDMI-ARC and the Optical output, you may have to reconfigure some TV parameters. Ex.: on my Samsung Smart TV I had to set “Audio Output” = “Receiver” (instead of “Speakers”, …) and maybe set “Audio Format” = “PCM” (instead of DTS Neo 2:5). NB.: When using a Smart App, this one is able to change the “Audio Format” (via the Samsung API). I.e.: if you set “PCM” because “Dolby” is not supported by your Converter, an App like Plex could set it back to Dolby when direct playing a movie using that format…

    I have tried a KanaaN (Digital to Analog Audio Converter): it was really not great… No support of DTS and continuous “noises” within Smart Apps (until one starts a movie)

    I have now a Fiio DAC Audio USB D07. It supports both DD and DTS with great quality, works with all my TV channels (including HD such a TF1 HD in France) and produces no “noises” when using Smart Apps (like Plex, DS Audio, Youtube, Netflix, …) even with the volume of the headset at a high level.

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Tags

Acer iDea 510 AirPlay Android Backup DD-WRT DNS DS209+ DS713+ DS1815+ FlexRaid Galaxy Galaxy S2 Galaxy S7 Google Assistant Google Home HTPC Kies MCE MySQL Nabi 2 Nvidia TV Shield One Plus One OnePlus One OpenHab Outlook Philips Hue Plex RAID Raspberry PI Remote Desktop Root Access Samsung Scripts Synology Team Build Visual Studio VMWare Wi-Fi Windows Windows 8 Windows 8.1 Windows 10 Windows Server 2012 XBMC Xpenology

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