{"@attributes":{"version":"2.0"},"channel":{"title":"nullsum.net","link":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/","description":"Recent content on nullsum.net","generator":"Hugo","language":"en-us","lastBuildDate":"Sun, 09 Jan 2022 18:10:48 -0500","item":[{"title":"Digitizing VHS Home Movies","link":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/digitizing-vhs-home-movies\/","pubDate":"Sun, 26 Sep 2021 17:32:53 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/digitizing-vhs-home-movies\/","description":"

One of the projects I did during lockdown was digitizing a number of home movies my family had on VHS.\nI initially checked the prices of professional services,\nbut discovered that I would save a good chunk of money by buying the equipment and doing this myself.<\/p>\n

\"Workstation\n<\/figure>\n\n

Hardware<\/h2>\n
\n

This hardware was recommended on various sites.\nIt’s not going to give me the absolute best results, but it should be more than adequate for the relatively low-quality source material.\nTotal cost for all the hardware was a little under $300 USD - with both the JVC and Panasonic being bought used on eBay.<\/p>"},{"title":"GPD Win 2: Ten Hardware Failures in Under Three Years","link":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/gpd-win-2-failures\/","pubDate":"Sat, 13 Mar 2021 22:20:14 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/gpd-win-2-failures\/","description":"

This is a timeline of all the hardware failures and defects I’ve had with my GPD Win 2\nsince I purchased in 2018.<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
Year<\/th>\n Problem<\/th>\n <\/tr>\n <\/thead>\n
2018<\/td>\n MicroSD reader failure *<\/a><\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>\n multiple clusters of stuck pixels *<\/a><\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>\n speakers out-of-phase *<\/a><\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>\n display cable failure #1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>\n left analog stick failure<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>\n right analog stick failure<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
2020<\/td>\n ABXY membrane failure<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
2020<\/td>\n CPU fan failure<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
2020<\/td>\n display cable failure #2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
2021<\/td>\n battery failure<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

*<\/a>Present from start. Would not ship back as I would have to cover shipping to China.\nSeller refused to send replacement parts for me to install.<\/p>"},{"title":"LG 34GK950F defect analysis","link":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/lg34gk950f-defect-analysis\/","pubDate":"Fri, 12 Mar 2021 14:44:57 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/lg34gk950f-defect-analysis\/","description":"

The LG 34GK950F-B<\/a>\nmonitor I purchased in May 2019 has died. Its fate is the “horizontal lines” issue that many others have reported [1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is not what a $799 display should look like, but here we are.<\/p>\n

\"lines\"<\/p>\n

Onset<\/h2>\n

While using the display, it randomly made a buzzing sound as horizontal lines appears on the display - still usable albeit\nin a degraded state. A few seconds later, the entire display turned into the picture above - completely unusable.\nThere was a loud buzzing sound from the lower right of the display throughout all of this.<\/p>"},{"title":"How DRM Negatively Impacted Me","link":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/how_drm_negatively_impacted_me\/","pubDate":"Wed, 24 Feb 2021 18:15:24 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/how_drm_negatively_impacted_me\/","description":"

Some history of how DRM negatively impacted my experience as a legitmate customer or user.<\/p>\n

Unable to activate Windows XP<\/h2>\n

When I was younger, I often reinstalled Windows XP after somehow borking\nthe system. This initially was not a problem as my legal copy of Windows XP\nHome Edition upgrade would activate online without issue. However, it eventually\nstopped activating due to exceeding the number of activations for my CD key.\nIt was possible to work around this by activating over the phone.<\/p>"},{"title":"Intel and Dell broke undervolting on my XPS 13","link":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/undervolting-blocked-xps13-9360\/","pubDate":"Tue, 23 Feb 2021 12:51:12 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/undervolting-blocked-xps13-9360\/","description":"

Ugh, my aging XPS 13 (9360 motherboard, Intel i7-8550U) becomes perceptually slower\nwith each security vulnerability mitigation. One of these mitigations also noticeably\nincreased both heat output and power consumption by breaking my ability\nto manage the system’s power usage more effectively than\nIntel and Dell’s defaults.<\/p>\n

Dubbed Plundervolt<\/a>, the vulnerability in topic relates exclusively to corrupting\nthe integrity of Intel SGX - a mechanism used to prevent\neven the kernel access to specific regions of memory.\nFor the XPS 13 9360, the vulnerability was patched in BIOS update 2.14.2<\/a>.\nThough this had the side effect of completely blocking the ability to undervolt<\/strong> - even for people like me with\nSGX disabled in UEFI settings.<\/p>"},{"title":"USB-C mod for New 2DS XL","link":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/usbc-mod-new-2ds-xl\/","pubDate":"Mon, 28 Sep 2020 23:53:42 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/usbc-mod-new-2ds-xl\/","description":"

Replaced the proprietary charging port on my New 2DS XL with a USB-C\nport (Adafruit USB-C breakout board<\/a>).\nThe exterior of the port was sealed with\nSugru<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"final\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The breakout board was trimmed and reinforced with epoxy and hot glue.<\/p>\n

\"exposed\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Was it worth the effort just to have one less charging cable? Absolutely.<\/p>"},{"title":"mpd-art-box: Minimalist MPD cover art display","link":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/mpd_art_box\/","pubDate":"Sun, 26 Jul 2020 22:21:23 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/mpd_art_box\/","description":"

I love using ncmpcpp<\/a> to control MPD music playback.\nIt’s lightweight, simple, and does everything I need with one exception - displaying\ncover art. After recently starting to learn PyGObject<\/a>\nfor PinePhone app development, it became clear that I could also use PyGObject to fill this need.<\/p>\n

Thus, mpd-art-box<\/a> was created. Nothing fancy - just 127 lines of Python\nwhich creates a window showing local cover art for the currently playing song in MPD.<\/p>"},{"title":"GPD Win 2 Antenna Mod","link":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/gpd_win2_antenna_mod\/","pubDate":"Sat, 16 May 2020 17:34:07 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/gpd_win2_antenna_mod\/","description":"

The WiFi antennas in the GPD Win 2 are poorly placed - located roughly under\nwhere one would grip the device with their palms. This results in noticeably\ndegraded performance when holding the… handheld device.<\/p>\n

I replaced the stock antennas with\na pair of MHF4 antennas<\/a>\nand installed them in saner<\/em> locations.<\/p>\n

\"antenna_locations\"<\/p>\n

Red lines mark roughly the location of the original antennas while pink and cyan\nmark the location of the main and aux antennas respectively.<\/p>"},{"title":"Bypassing GPD Win 2 Firmware Downgrade Protection","link":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/downgrading_gpd_win2_gamepad_firmware\/","pubDate":"Sun, 19 Apr 2020 12:28:50 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/nullsum.net\/posts\/downgrading_gpd_win2_gamepad_firmware\/","description":"

There are three different firmwares for the GPD Win 2 gamepad - each having\ndifferent “opinions” in terms of bindings and joystick behaviors. It is\nnot possible to downgrade the firmware after updating - leaving one stuck\nwith whatever opinions the latest firmware has.<\/p>\n

Some of the various differences in gamepad behavior are listed below.<\/p>\n