Welcome to my digital home! There are lots of articles you might find helpful buried in this site on topics such as modifying an Alfa Romeo 159, rebuilding a Lotus 7 (Robin Hood 2B), not to mention a ton of stuff on technology in general. It’s all here somewhere, so use the search function or navigate using the menu structure. if you want to talk, reach out via the contact function, I usually do answer!
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General…..after a day clearing out the garage (trust me, it needed doing), I came across the original install CD for my Stanton Final Scratch V1, which I thought was long gone. After further search through a lot of vinyl, I found the control records, which meant all that was left was to dig out the interface and hook it all up. After about 4 hours of kicking an old Compaq Laptop into shape, I had a working version of FinalScratch V1.1 up and running with a bunch of MP3’s ready to go……..
All of this equates to one simple thing, new mixes are on the way!
I had been waiting for a suitable opportunity to purchase the new Traktorscratch V3 setup, but to be honest, this works just as well. Sure, its a little clunky, very basic and quite slow, but once you get to grips with its idiosyncratic nature, it is actually quite usable.
Of course, now I have the basics back up and running, and can start to churn out some fresh mixes, which is what its all about.
Stay tuned
Pure Retro Sheek, Traktor FS V1.1 on an N800C!!!
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GeneralWell, despite wanting to spend thousands of pounds on the perfect setup, I decided I had to transition away from Vinyl completely first and get used to the fully digital interfaces. So, in my usual, straight out of left field way, I bought myself an M-Audio Xponent and some new speakers 🙂
The Xponent is an awesome tool, it is the perfect transition medium for anyone thinking of moving into digital and is very well featured. Its a little on the plastic side, and the faders feel like they are fisher price, but it works like a dream and is portable enough to follow me around the country!
I now have two primary setups, home & away.
Home is the Xponent, married to my main desktop feeding a pair of KRK RP6G2 Active Studio Monitors, and it sounds awesome!
Away is the Xponent. married to my X200s Laptop & feeding a pair of M-Audio AV20 portable studio monitors, although it lacks base, it has punch, power and clarity and lets face it, we don’t want to piss off the neighbours in the hotel now do we 🙂
I still suffer from the age old problem of not actually having time to use this lot, but the away kit helps with that problem a fair bit, so once I get fully transitioned, expect a flurry of new mixes on the way!
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LiveMixesA fresh mix for you all – Happy New Year!
Track List:
Albin Myers – Time Like These
Robbie Rivera – New Direction
Oliver Twizt – Yo’re Not Alone
John Dahlback – More than I Wanted
Chris Lake – If You Knew
Doman & Gooding Feat Dru & Lincoln – Runnin
Guetta Angello Gerraud Ingrosso Willis – Everytime We Touch
Steve Angello & Laifdback Luke Feat Robin S – Show Me Love
Planet Funk – Lemonade
Kurd Maverick – Blue Monday
Nari & Milani Feat Max C – Disco Nuff
Kevin Bryant – Who You Wanna Be
Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream
https://jabawoki.com/wp-content/mp3/Jabawoki_Sunny_Side_Up_25012010.mp3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Alfa 159 / ElectronicsFor a while now I have been looking into alternative power solutions for the Alfa due to its power hungry nature that is not helped by the many auxiliary systems I have added over time.
For the most part, the stock battery can cope just fine, but I have always wondered about the use of capacitors and what real value they hold. In years gone by, the capacitors you could get hold of were simply not that useful. A 1 Farad 12v capacitor like you would use in an car audio installation was simply too expensive and had far too little power storage.
One reason I had been considering capacitors was not for power storage but for the side effect of cleaning up the overall noise introduced by the power system in the car. This would serve to improve the overall sound quality of the entire system as well as benefit all electrical systems with a cleaner supply. A good explanation and test is here:
https://youtu.be/T9mlvbF0flM
Capacitors have come on a long way though and the new generation of “Super” or “Ultra” Capacitors are starting to become a viable alternative to a battery in a car. Because of this, I thought it only sensible to buy some parts and see what it was all about 🙂
Here is a video of a car replacement battery using 6x 2.7v, 500F super capacitors to show you what I mean:
Obviously starting the car and providing long term, offline power for the systems when its not running are two different things, so if you seriously wanted to replace your traditional battery you would need a hybrid solution that combined batteries with capacitors.
I’ll be looking into that next 😉
Super capacitors come in a few common shapes and sizes but by far the cheapest for the power are the common 2.7v 500 farad units. To hit the target voltage I needed (12-14v) I needed a few wired in series to increase the overall voltage. Fortunately this is a common solution as its a typical voltage used in solar installations.
Wiring the capacitors in serial actually decreases the overall farads of the bank, so 6 x 2.7v = 16.2v but the farads are divided by 6 to give you 83.333F. You could add a number of additional banks in parallel to bring the farads back up, but it starts to get a bit big then and you would be better looking into a different style capacitor. such as the Maxwell Ultra 2.7V 3000F, 6 of which would deliver a 16.2v 500F pack !
Also, a point of note is that even though the planned bank has a capacity of 16.2v it will only operate at the voltage its charged too, so if the car charges at 13.5v then the bank will be charged to 13.5v. Its also important to balance the load across a serialized bank of capacitors to prevent damage. Fortunately due to the commonality of the target bank design, a balance board was readily available:
The plan was to build a 12v 83 farad bank that would act as a power reserve for the bass amplifier in the boot as this would be a good starting point and bolster the overall power system on easily accessible, existing 4AWG wiring
I first bought a few common, cheap and easily accessible parts off ebay:
6 x Green-Cap (Black) Super Farad Capacitor Parallel Battery 2.7V 500F 35*60MM @ 26.99
6 String 2.7V Super Capacitor Protection Balancing Board 100F – 500F 240x40mm @ 8.75
10 rubber lined 35mm pipe clamps @ £7.29
8 AWG power cable with in line fuse holder and fuse @ 4.99
So for less than £50 I had everything I needed for the experiment. I could have bought a pre-made board with unknown capacitors on for about £26 but I have read a few things about the capacitors being junk so went for a known good brand and DIY.
I first assembled the capacitor bank with the balance board to achieve the target solution. Hot gluing the capacitors to the board before soldering them to make sure the finished unit was as solid as possible. It took some real heat on the iron to get the solder flowing, especially soldering in the 8AWG wires.
I soldered the 8AWG cables directly to the board to ensure maximum power transfer:
Once the bank was ready I used the pipe clamps to install the unit in a free space within the amp enclosure and connected it to the positive and negative 4AWG distribution blocks I already had in place from the original installation of the enclosure:
I must admit, I was extremely worried when I first connected the fuse that it would just explode in my face, so it was a tentative and careful moment! Some people recommend installing a resistor inline initially to slow charge the capacitors and protect the systems in between, but as I was on a 4AWG connection direct to the battery I was not worried about the charge / discharge issues.
They did make a fizzing sound for a few seconds when they took there initial charge but I was stood by with a fire extinguisher!
Once the fizzing stopped and nothing looked like it wasd going to explode I checked the units for discharge / earth shorts and also for temperature. As everything was ok, I decided to start the car and run the amp.
The car started quicker than normal so clearly the extra high current supply had already made an impact on the overall electrical system. Its actually possible to start and run an normal engine on a bank of capacitors like this and replace the battery with them as can be seen in one of the videos at the top of the page. Although for the Alfa, I would need a larger bank with more capacity as the 2.4 is a bit of a power hungry beast!
I ran a Bass test loop to get the amp hot and push the sub to its limits for 30 minutes. The amp got very hot as expected but the capacitors only got a little warm which is great as if they got very hot that would be a problem.
Once it was all back together you could hardly notice the upgrade unless you looked very closely at the vent holes!
All in all this was a great upgrade and I am definitely going to explore more super capacitors in the engine bay in some sort of hybrid battery/capacitor solution next!
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Alfa 159This post covers the interior lighting modifications made to my 2008 Alfa Romeo 159 TI.For the exterior LED conversion guide, click here. This modification is worth completing as a single project as the results are a dramatic change in the mood of the interior of the car at night. The original filament bulbs are very yellow so choosing a good LED that puts out a colour range around 6000K changes the feel of the car to a much cooler, relaxed and crisp feel.The parts required to complete this conversion are as follows:
7 x w5w / 501 Type bulbs (all CANBUS) (Puddles, Maps & Glove box)
2 x 42mm FESTOON type bulbs (CANBUS) (Cabin & Boot)
Expected Cost: £35-40
Required Tools: One Bojo trim removal kit “Bojo Bars” (£30) …or a few screwdrivers and a steady hand!
I personally used two of these Festoon type bulbs for the courtesy lights in the front of the car and the boot and four of these 501 type bulbs for the rest of the courtesy & map lights in the front and rear of the car. These were a good balance of brightness and colour, and matched well as I did not want to flood-light the car at night. For the puddle lights and the glove-box I wanted more light so I chose these 501 type bulbs that provided much more light output than the other ones, as these were areas of the conversion that would benefit from more light output.
It is important to understand that the bulbs you use must be CANBUS ready. What this means is that the LEDs have additional resistance added to them that simulates the load of a normal filament bulb so that the cars internal computers do not think that the bulbs are blown. This is due to the fact that modern cars put a small electrical current across the lighting circuits to check that the bulb has not blown, and to report an error if it has, so you know to fix it. While the interior lights don’t report the errors, the circuit still has a small electrical current across it, so if you do not use CANBUS friendly bulbs you will find that some of the lights never turn off and instead stay illuminated (all be it quite dimly) forever!
Here are some images taken from an iPhone, which explains why they look very dark. Its not actually dark at all!
The following expanding links give you the specific guides for each light unit to perform this upgrade yourself:
The front courtesy light is a single unit with several components in it including switches, alarm sensors and the B&M microphone so care is required when replacing the bulbs. The unit itself is held in place with a series of clips down each side that hold it against the roof lining (1a in diagram). You will need 1 x 42mm Festoon bulb (1 in diagram) and 2 x 501 bulbs (2c in diagram) to upgrade this component, below is the removal guide from eLearn:
Like the front courtesy light, this unit is held against the roof lining by a series of clips (1a in diagram). care must again be exercised so as not to damage the unit during removal. You will need 2 x 501 type bulbs (1c in diagram) for this light unit. Below is the removal guide from eLearn:
The puddle lights are located in the base of each front door and provide illumination of the ground when the doors open. They are held in place using a simple clip mechanism (1b in diagram) and are a self contained plastic unit which the bulb sits inside. You will need 2 x 501 type bulbs (1c in diagram) to complete both doors. The guide below from eLearn shows how to remove the units:
The glove box makes use of the same style bulb holder as the puddle lights and requires a single 501 type bulb (2 in diagram). The eLearn guide below shows how to remove it:
The boot light makes use of the final 42mm Festoon bulb (4b in diagram) and is located behind a simple clip on housing (1c & 1b in diagram). The eLearn guide below shows how to remove this:
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RH2B Build DiaryI had wanted a flat bottomed race wheel from the day I bought the car but other more pressing issues were ahead of the modification! The original wheel was a 280mm (small) 10″ old style wheel that was just difficult to use. It was also so far forward that your legs were right on it so it needed to be modified!
That said, I bought myself a very reasonably priced 320mm flat bottomed suede OMP Racing wheel, a universal quick release boss, and a Momo steering wheel hub to fit the Sierra base. Once I had the parts, it was far more of a mamouth task than I originally thought!
OMP Wheel on quick release boss.
The first problem I had was getting the old hub off. I had to make a bar with a bolt in the center and bolt that to the hub then use the center bolt to push the wheel off the spline. Getting to that point took me the best part of 4 hours!
Once it was off, the new Momo boss went on like butter, and then the back half of the universal boss mated straight to it. Up came the next problem though as the centre horm push was slightly too big to go into the universal boss so I had to modify it and sold the wires on the back of the horn push in order to get it all fitted.
Ready to race!
Once the wheel was installed I had to readjust the toe on the front end to line up the wheel and the wheels, but its going in for an MOT and a full alignment once its back on the road so I am not too worried!
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Alfa 159 / ElectronicsThis is the final update to the schematics and overall design and concludes the R&D aspects of the project. What I have now is a good mix of design good practice and intelligent thinking that results in a solid architecture for a production run. So far I have just prototyped the design into the car using readily available breadboards, however, the next step is to move to a manufactured circuit board that will give much better longevity and easier assembly.
Content relocated to Project Page
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InfoSecWhich Penetration Testing Qualification is best from a client perspective:
Which Penetration Testing Qualification is best from a Testing perspective:
(NB: I have deliberately excluded “accreditation schemes” such as CREST and CHECK)
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InfoSecThis is a brief interview about my role and the assessment process designed for the challengers playing the UK Cyber Security Challenge while at the Cyber Camp 2012:
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InfoSecPersonally, I think this is one of the most important concepts of today. Its simple enough to grasp and illustrates the point very well.
Consider these examples:
From an effort perspective, the effort required to secure a system is significantly less than that required to exploit it.
From a cost perspective, it is less expensive to prevent a serious data breach than it is to clean up and recover from one.
Point 1 above was illustrated very clearly to me on the IISP’s TopGun event I attended recently, and is a scenario that you have to step back from to fully appreciate. Eg. If you have a smallish network, with most modern services such as web, email, mobile, databases, websites etc, then the effort to secure that is quite mammoth. You have to consider the perimeter, the information, how its stored and used, what services are on offer and the impacts etc. Then you have to consider every conceivable vulnerability, patching strategies and stay on top and at least up to speed with the curve of change. All of these efforts equate to a team of people, but all it takes to break in, is 1 person with a brain, motive, and a few freely available tools.
Point 2 of course, was illustrated very well by a study by the Pnemon Instutue LLC in conjunction with PGP and Vontu (Symantec), this study evaluated the true cost of a breach of data security and considered factors such as direct and indirect costs, and has trended the data over the last few years with enlightening results.
Despite both of these points clearly illustrating that the best way to tackle the security conundrum is head on and proactively, those of us in the industry will all surely testify that getting the right backing, funding, and often, even the right audience with the business, is still a hard task. From my perspective, I will keep on trying, and keep on flying the flag in the hope that one day reality sets in and my job / life gets easier!
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