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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2014-04-08 5:49 PM
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How's that FrankW? You have something to do with that? Can we get a version for CE3 HPCs...or a MIPS build?
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FrankW Page Icon Posted 2014-04-09 10:27 PM
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Rich Hawley - 2014-04-08 6:49 PM

How's that FrankW? You have something to do with that?

I'm the author of SysBackup.

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Rich Hawley
Can we get a version for CE3 HPCs...or a MIPS build?

Sorry. This was created exclusively for the Skeye Webpanel and H&W Corp. in Germany as an alternative to the expensive bSquare backup solution.
The bSquare tool was not able to create a backup of the CE databases.

Some SysBackup features:
-Fast recursive differential backup of all files in gzip compressed files on any storage media
-Fast backup and restore of the complete registry
-Fast backup and restore of the complete CE databases
-Optional automatic restore after a hard reset of the device

You can skip an auto restore by holding the power button while the device starts up.

Frank
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2014-04-09 10:38 PM
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Well, regardless, it is very fine software....my favorite backup program I've ever used on any CE device. Fast, easy, and makes perfect backups every time.

Wish you had made an independent version for other processors...mainly MIPS and SH3.

For everyone else, I'll grap some screenshots of my Skeyepad and post them here so you can see the software...
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CE Geek Page Icon Posted 2014-04-10 4:15 AM
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Frank, are you saying that bUSEFUL Backup Plus doesn't back up databases on the skeye.pad, or on any device? I've tried it on lots of ARM-based devices, and it seems to be backing up databases fine on all of those devices.
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FrankW Page Icon Posted 2014-04-10 10:24 AM
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CE Geek - 2014-04-10 5:15 AM

Frank, are you saying that bUSEFUL Backup Plus doesn't back up databases on the skeye.pad, or on any device? I've tried it on lots of ARM-based devices, and it seems to be backing up databases fine on all of those devices.

Not in the year 1999 or 2000.
And I'm not sure if the bSquare offer was bUSEFUL Backup Plus or something else.
Have somewhere the old emails...
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2014-04-10 1:45 PM
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Just a picture of the backup program for anyone interested....easy, fast, nice...the program itself as designed is way too big for our smaller HVGA screens...

BTW, does anybody ever use differential backups? I understand the logic behind them, just to update newer files from previous backups and to save time in the process...but I always perform full backups each and every time, and full restores as well.

I also wonder if any of the new Skeypads use non-volitile memory in case of a total power failure...



(sysbackup.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments sysbackup.jpg (281KB - 0 downloads)
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2014-05-19 10:15 PM
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Well, just an update on my Skeypad. I used the 18650 cells with the built in circuit protection. They were okay, but I never got the full charge that I liked. then I went back to the external charger, and that worked great, but I had to take the batteries in and out, in and out, in and out...and that got old too.

Well last week I cut the opening to my Skeyepapd a little larger and discovered that the recessed area where the square type batteries once were is actually large enough to hold an 18650 and still have a little room left over.

So I taped up a series-parallel group of 4 batteries. They fit very nicely Finally I got on eBay and ordered a circuit protection board for 7.2V cells. It is really tiny. Actually they were only $4 each, delivered from China, so I ordered 3 of them. First time I wired them up, they Skeypad kept trying to turn on and then it turned off. It kept repeating that cycle. It was like the protection circuit cutoff was engaging and not letting power run through board.

Well, that was exactly what it was. The current of two 18650 cells was too much for the circuit. So then I separated out the cells into two separate circuits, using two of the boards. That solved everything. Now the cells charge up fine...when they get to 90% of their maximum charge, the circuit cuts in and stops the charging process.

With 2400mAh cells, that gives me just about 2100mAh of useful energy per pair of cells. Doubling that for the 4 cells, I get about 4200mAh of reserve power with this configuration. The original battery had 3600mAh of reserve. So with a full charge, my Skeyepad shows 100% charge for about 2 hours and then it starts dropping off at a normal rate. I can live with that, since it more than doubles my previous run time.

In the pictures below you can see the battery bay with just one 18650 cell laying in it. More than enough room for 4 of them. The next picture shows the protection circuit board. The last shows how I wired it to my Skeyepad.



(big enough.jpg)



(protector.jpg)



(chips.jpg)



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Attachments big enough.jpg (283KB - 0 downloads)
Attachments protector.jpg (229KB - 0 downloads)
Attachments chips.jpg (107KB - 1 downloads)
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C:Amie Page Icon Posted 2014-05-20 11:04 AM
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Differential backups become useful if you are dealing with large amounts of data or very slow backup media. There are two main types, file system and block delta. File system works by using a file system attribute (like read only, hidden etc) called archive. When a file Is modified, the archive attribute is set to true. The differential simply looks for any files with it at to true, copies the file. If it is a true differential it will leave the value on true, if it is actually an incremental, it will set it back to false. Simple, safe. Block or page delta is even more efficient, it only copies parts of the binary that are different, making then much smaller. The process is more complicated though. Delta is great... but you have to hold a full backup as the master for the set. Until something happens to the master. If something happens to the master, you are finished as the differential doesn't contain whole files.

I have a client who suffered from the most improbable set of bad luck in a multi system failure. The resilience should have worked, were it not for them being independently fed from the same switching board. The master system blew up and the backup repository cracked the media. All the deltas were fine, but the last few masters (very large so probabilisticly more likely to be damaged) were all scratched though and no longer usable. The first coherent restore that I could achieve was 5 months old.

Tough week that one.

The moral of the story, the more complexity you add to a system, the more can go wrong.

Please excuse typos, I am on a phone on a train.
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padfreak Page Icon Posted 2014-12-30 1:22 AM
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Interesting Stuff going on here since i've been registered ;-)
I've got two Skeye SL and one XSL, while the XSL does work fine the SL's have battery problems too. Nice to have some sort of fallback option to fix those things in the future, thanx!

Edited by padfreak 2014-12-30 1:28 AM
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2015-03-26 4:57 PM
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I was watching something on Youtube that I found interesting. It was a video on casting resin. Looked really cool and I thought to myself that I could probably repair an HPC using that stuff. So I bought some and decided to redo the back of my Skeyepad SL and make it solid. Worked really well. I just need to paint it now and it will all be done. Here are the pics describing my project.

1. The resin I bought...16oz total, only took about 1/3 of what I bought.
2. Tape up the batteries so the resin doesn't get inside the unit. You can see the 4 18650 cells under the tape.
3. I didn't have any clay, so I just used foam weather stripping to make my fluid-proof borders to dam up the resin.
4. I had to make the foam a couple of layers thick to build up the "walls".
5. I poured in the resin...it went from clear to white in about 3 minutes and rock solid hard within 5. Here I pulled off the foam boarder...looks rough.
6. Now I removed the new cover...really rough around the edges...time to get out the belt sander.
7. Sands pretty easy...now contoured and shaped, you can see the view from the end.
8. Here is cover removed, all sanded and shaped and ready to epoxy onto the back of the Skeyepad.
9. Cover in place...just need to paint it and all will be done.



(1-resin.jpg)



(2-tape opening.jpg)



(3-weather stripping foam.jpg)



(4-several layers of foam.jpg)



(5-foam peeled away.jpg)



(6-rough cover removed.jpg)



(7-cover from end.jpg)



(8-sanded.jpg)



(9-final.jpg)



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Attachments 1-resin.jpg (347KB - 0 downloads)
Attachments 2-tape opening.jpg (368KB - 0 downloads)
Attachments 3-weather stripping foam.jpg (388KB - 0 downloads)
Attachments 4-several layers of foam.jpg (317KB - 0 downloads)
Attachments 5-foam peeled away.jpg (263KB - 0 downloads)
Attachments 6-rough cover removed.jpg (286KB - 0 downloads)
Attachments 7-cover from end.jpg (185KB - 0 downloads)
Attachments 8-sanded.jpg (467KB - 0 downloads)
Attachments 9-final.jpg (194KB - 0 downloads)
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Karpour Page Icon Posted 2015-03-26 7:38 PM
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That was an interesting read, Rich, thanks for sharing!

I wanted to ask, since you know about the matter, could you maybe write an article describing building batteries in general? For which types it's possible, what to consider, etc?
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2015-03-26 9:11 PM
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Thanks Karpour...really no need for battery rebuilding guideline as there are hundreds of them already on the web. I imagine that just about any battery can be rebuilt with a minimal of effort. Certainly it saves a lot of money.

I used 18650s in this Skeyepad cause they are plentiful and cheap. Actually I have some used ones that I tore out of a failed laptop battery that work like new.

I only recently found a good source for prismatic batteries however...but they are kinda costly compared to the 18650s or 18500s.

A pretty good tutorial and info for battery rebuilding can be found HERE.

Oh...and if anyone needs some prismatic batteries, I've purchased a few from HERE.
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