This is the private blog of Stephan Bösebeck, covering topics like Multicopters, Drones, Games... Leisure stuff...

covering topics like ergonomic keyboard, Multicopters, Drones,... Leisure stuff...

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latest blog entries

Keyboardio Model 01

Morphium V4.2.0 released

Giving up Drones and FPV

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latest updates

Keyboardio Model 01

Giving up Drones and FPV

nie wieder 1und1

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category: global --> keyboards

Keyboardio Model 01

Well, I did it again. After I had my Kinesis Freestyle Edge Gaming for a while and wrote about it here, I went on and got another "keyboard endgame"

The Keyboardio Model 01! It has all I wanted to have in a keyboard:

• split, ergonomic layout
• ortholinear keys
• full RGB support for all keys
• a thumb cluster
• fast processor for cool LED effects (this was very much a problem with the kinesis...)

This started as a Kickstarter project, but by the time I found out about the keyboard, It was already sold out. Even worse, the Model 01 was not built anymore, as they want to release a new version of this. With Corona I think this will still take some more time now unfortunately.

So I got two used Model01 for cheap (one for home, one for office) a couple of months ago - before Corona forced us to do homeoffice all the time.

This is, what it looks like (Image is from the keyboardio website):

Yes, It has a unusual look but feels AWESOME!

little review

so, lets me write some words about the keyboardio Model 01 that I used for about 4 months now. Spoiler: its really great!

The look and feel

There were a couple of things, the Ergodox-EZ could have done better, for example the connection cable between the two halfs. The solution here is an RJ45 cable, which you can very easily swap out with whatever Ethernet-Cable you might have - works like a charm.

The wooden enclosure gives it an awesome look and feels... natural for lack of a better word. Really nice.

The keys are sculptured to make it easier to type on the corresponding position. This is a bit strange at first, but makes total sense, when you think about it. Having the keys in ortholinear position is one thing, but still the fingers are different, why are the keys on all other keyboards all the same?

Here every key is sculptured for best usablility on it's position. At first it feels a bit strange, but after 5minutes going back feels weird.

the obvious disadvantage is, that you cannot use standard keycap replacement, you have to get them from Keyboard.io directly. I have 2 different sets: one translucent white set - looks really cool with LED effects. And a set of symbolic keycaps, that gives the keyboard a great matrix like look, especially, if you switch your LEDs to green

the RGB Lightning

This is also really cool, all keys are lit.The programming is free to do whatever you want. There are Plugins with cool LED-Effects. But the standard, that supports the Software Chrysalis for editing your layout and LED configuration usually is enough.

The most important thing, the KEYS

I was a bit sceptical at first, Keyboardio uses Matias switches. I was used to cherry switches and loved those.

I had a "loud clicky" Model 01 and one with "silent clicks". I already read about the loud ones having issues. And that was true. The keys sometimes felt stuck and hence had a total different actuation force than others. This would kill my typing. In addition to that they were really extremely loud - I'd say a lot louder than the Cherry MX blue ones I have in my Ergodox-EZ.

But the silent clicks are awesome! Feel like Cherry MX Browns but really silent, even more silent than Cherry Keyswitches with dampening O-rings. Matias - those are awesome!

So I switched the keys from my loud model01 to those "Matias Silent Click"... and it works great! (the Model01 does not support hot-swapping of keyswitches, but you can manually replace the mechanical parts, if you want to. Its a bit of a stretch, but works).

the Software

This is also something really nice, the software is called Kaleidoscope and is opensource. But As I understand it, you can also install QMK to the Keyboardio Model01 if you want to.

But the concept of that Arduino based approach is appealing. With having a GUI to configure your board and the possibility to add / compile plugins for your specific needs is just awesome.

Building the software is very similar to QMK, the code actually also looks alike. But it is WAY better than the software support of the Kinesis KEyboard. They should really open up there, its a shame...

But having an arduino based system also gives opportunities: The keyboard can talk back to the system, there is a serial IO that you can use to, for example, switch on / off certain leds. And if you use tools like Keyboard-Maestro or some other automation on the mac, you can actually have the keyboard react on the currently open app or so. Really Awesome...

the Elefant in the room - Palm keys

yes, there are two keys, that are operated with your palm not with fingers. This is a brilliant idea for a programmable keyboard! You can easily switch layers with that or use at as shift or whatever...

This makes it almost natural to use layers in your layout, and in my case it switches on a function layer where I have my T-Shaped cursor key block and Media controls.

This is really cool to use!

Is it the "endgame"

Keyboard enthusiasts talk about and "endgame" in keyboards, the Ultimate Keyboard that exactly fits their specific needs 100% eliminating the urge to get a new keyboard.

Well, I guess, this is impossible. There will be cool new gimmics you'd like or so. But I really think, this one is not too far away for me.

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category: Computer --> programming --> MongoDB --> morphium

Morphium V4.2.0 released

We just released Morphium V4.2.0 including a lot of fixes and features:

• Feature: new MongoDB Driver 4.1 is used and so we do support mongodb 4.4 now
• Feature: direct support of all aggregation stages
• Feature: Expr-Language
• Feature: Collation support
• Feature: improved Geospacial searches
• Feature: iterable aggregation
• Feature: sending of exclusive messages to a list of recipients
• Fix: centralize id creation
• Fix: improved handling of fields, which have concrete list or map implementation as type (like HashMap or ArrayList)
• Fix: InMemoryDriver throws an Exception, if a feature is not possible inMem
• Fix: added lots of tests
• Fix: Sequences more stable now
• Fix: InMemoryDriver handling of $in on lists

in addition to that, tha documentation was improved a lot. It is available as .html and markdown in the project it self (on github) or here.

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category: global --> drones

Giving up Drones and FPV

I guess you already realized, that there were almost no new posts about FPV or Drones anymore here on this blog.

That was a fun hobby, for a while. After almost a year of not flying at all I think it's time to admit, that I am not really in to this hobby anymore...I quit my insurance last week. So I cannot fly anymore even if I wanted to...

First and foremost is the lack of time. I just cannot get out a couple of hours to go flying just that easily every week or so. I'd have to have my lipos charged all the time, which is not really wise to do. So... I did not fly quite some time now.

it was fun, to build something at home, go outside and try if it works as hoped. In my case, I was often going to fly alone. But FPV alone is not possible anymore according to the new regulations. You'll need to have a spotter in all cases - even when flying a toy of 30g.

The upcoming regulations are nuts! It kills the fun of the hobby, if you think you are in trouble because of something you missed about those regulations. This is real nonsense if you built your drones yourself. All Pilots will have a lot of problems with that. This is a pollitical topic and I do not want to get into details here - this will not be a political post. But every year the rules and regulations for drones and pilots got more strict, not for safety, because having a License on your drone does not increase safety for example. Those regulations are in my opinion installed by people not knowing the topic and filled with fear from the unknown. And the "terror" aspect of drones is just deception: I cannot think of a terrorist who will add a name plate to his bomb filled drone!

The people and bystanders are just unfamiliar with that topic. So the repeat, what they read and hear in the news. Drones are dangerous, they interfere with planes etc. And thus I get weird looks, sometimes weird speeches. I do not want to be an ambassador of that hobby anymore, if the hobby is treated like that.

I just need to clearify that rules for drones are a good thing! If the rules regulate the right problems. Like not flying over people is increasing security - cool! Flying near an Airport is forbidden, also increases security. Not flying near traffic or accidents, also fine. Why is a spotter needed in all cases when flying FPV? In my case it actually decreases Security, as I am a much better pilot with the glasses, than in Line of Sight. Why is it not allowed to fly higher than 30m when doing FPV? How the heck do you check that?

So, this is why I quit!

PS: Thanks a lot as long as it lasted. I do not know, what I will then post about here in future, but I hope it will be interesting for you as well.

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category: global --> keyboards

keyboard nerd

Am I a keyboard nerd?

Obviously I am in addition to building drones or multicopters, general computer / Apple in particular and the service desert in Germany also very much in to the topic (mechanical) keyboards. And apparently this is a topic that also concerns others, which is why I got some feedback on my post about Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB vs Ergodox-EZ.

So here are a few thoughts on the subject ...

Keyboards ... why is that an issue

In IT business we work on the computer far more than 40 hours a week. And the keyboard is the most important input device for these devices today. I hardly think that this will change in the foreseeable future, because voice input is far too inefficient for e.g. programming.

I've been working with computers and keyboards for almost my entire life. And I've now noticed that the choice of keyboard is important. Apart from the fact that you can get so-called RSI (pain from repetitive movements) if you work non-ergonomically, efficiency is important. If I type something 100000x per day (keystrokes) and get that faster by 0.05sec per keystroke, that'll save an entire hour!

If you check your typing speed on sites like typeracer, 10FastFingers or the Typing Game z-Type its If you test speed, you quickly realize how important the right keyboard is. To make matters worse, I have had problems with my elbows and wrists since my motorcycle accident a few years ago. Typing on a normal keyboard quickly leads to pain because I have to "bend" your wrist.

Egonomic keyboards

This is a wide field, because unfortunately many think a curved keyboard is ergonomic. But that's far from enough.

For me, a good ergonomic keyboard must have the following properties:

• It must be possible to get to the keys comfortably with both arms, straight from the shoulders. At least with my stature, this is actually only possible if I can separate the halves of the keyboard and make at least 10 cm space in between
• this way in between I can put the trackpad so I have much less "way" to reach the mouse.
• The keyboard halves must be tiltable so that the inner side is higher. This minimizes the twisting of the hands. Some even set the keyboards to 90˚ so that you can type with your thumb "upwards" .
• Ideally, I can adjust the inclination of the keyboard in the other direction, i.e. front / back. It would be best if I could raise the back end a bit.
• The keyboard should be "ortholinear". This staggered layout of the keys on today's keyboards still comes from the old typewriters. At that time there were levers on every key and for mechanical reasons they couldn't be "on top of each other". So there were mechanical optimizations, that drove the design. In general, the QWERTZ layout is designed precisely for this - not for ergonomic typing.

So, to sum it up. It is important that you can put your arms down as naturally as possible and start typing. Without kinking your wrists or having to bring your elbows too close to your body.

Mechanical vs. "Spongy"

Then there is a difference in the keyboards between mechanical keys and non-mechanical. Most keyboards available today use so-called rubber domes. These are small rubber domes that are pressed down while typing and then make contact. Or they use a membrane System (that actually works similar to rubber domes). These things naturally feel spongy, it's hard to say when the contact is really made. But they are quiet

Apple and some other manufacturers have the "scissor mechanism" on their keyboards. It feels a little better, but it hardly gives you any "travel" and typing feels a bit like typing on the iPhone screen. Mechanical keyboards have a mechanical switch with spring for each key.

There are many ways to influence the typing experience. The hardness of the spring, how is the switch closed (loud, quiet, tactile, linear ...) And that's where I have to mention the keyboard that keyboard nerds almost think is sacred: IBM Model M. It was the first keyboard with an audible and noticeable "click" when you typed.

This keyboard has spoiled me after using the IBM Keyboard once I only wanted to have such keyboards. The click was only somewhat suitable for work in the office, it was loud. But at the time, those keyboards were not really easy to find, actually.

There are a lot of manufacturers of such keyboard switches nowadays. First and foremost the company Cherry, which has probably made it a little famous. The switches are supplied in different "colors", each color has other typing characteristics and so by color you can exactly tell what the switch should feel like.

• cherry mx blue: noticeable, hard and loud bump when typing. Very similar to the IBM Model M
• cherry mx brown: a little more noticeable bump when activated, a bit quieter and therefore more suitable for the office
• cherry mx red: linear switch, no bump, relatively quiet All other manufacturers actually refer to this.

Manufacturer, wich also play some role in the market are Kalith and Matias

There are many more switches available, lots of other "colors" and such. But those are usually only variations of blue, brown and red.

Examples of keyboards

Oh boy ... I've tested a lot of keyboards in my career, I'm sure I won't be able to list all of them here. I will highlight the special keyboards:

• The strangest keyboard ever: Fingerworks Touchstream LP. Actually no keyboard, because it has no keys. The whole keyboard is a touch surface, and with two fingers you could move your mouse! That was the first way ever to make gestures and move the mouse cursor with fingers. The company was then bought by Apple and the technology was probably a basis for the modern IPhones
• Siemens Ergonomic Keyboard ... that was kind of mechanical, but more like Cherry MX Linear. Also rattled extremely. It felt quite good, was extremely expensive for that time (that was in the late 90s)
• In between I had a lot of "normal" rubber dome keyboards. But probably changed them on a weekly basis None of these were ergonomic keyboards. I remember I owned some forerunner of the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard, though.
• Razer Blackwidow Chroma - my first RGB keyboard. However, it was anything but ergonomic. Apart from the fact that the thing on the Mac hardly works at all, it was not my brightes idea to go for a non-ergonomic keyboard in regards to my condition with wrists and ellbows - here I learned things the painful way.
• My favorite and the keyboard that I have used the longest is the Ergodox-EZ. I have already talked about it here.
• currently in use: Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB. I also wrote a review here

The last keyboards were all mechanical ones, with Cherry MX Brown or Blue switches. These are the keyswitches I prefer to type on. And I'm pretty consistent with that.

but as you can see, I was not 100% satisfied with the keyboards - thats why I switched so often. Most of them did not break (apart from the very latest from the Ergodox EZ), but were simply exchanged because it was "time" ... or because I was fed up or there was simply a better / cooler keyboard.

In the early days of computing, it was actually just a necessary evil to get a keyboard ... you just took a keyboard for a few marks, it doesn't matter anyway, they're all the same anyway ... Oh boy...

A little bit of history

This is an intersting topic. We have achieved so many things in technology and yet we have hardly developed the keyboards in the past 120 years. Sure, there are no longer any levers that practically stamp ink on paper, the mechanical effort has become significantly lower. But the design criteria have actually remained the same. The well-known keyboard layout is still based on the layout for the first typewriters and was optimized in such a way that the mallets do not cross easily when typing and thus cause jamming. And, even though we no longer have levers or mallets, we still type on keyboards that look pretty much the same. Further details are also available [here] (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tastaturbellassung#Geschichte).

Therefore, the keys are not arranged "straight", but rather offset or staggerred. Because, back then there was no other way, there was one Lever underneath each key that went in the direction of the paper. Therefore it was not possible for mechanical reasons, e.g. to place the 'e' just above the 'd'.

Why are we still doing this today ?! well ... on the one hand there are a few standards that have been agreed upon and I am sure that there are laws somewhere that refer to them. But ergonomically that doesn't make sense ... Not only the arrangement of the buttons, but also the "distribution" of the letters, as already indicated above, is designed to get as little "jamming" as possible. So ergonomics has never been a priority.

Alternative keyboard layouts

If you take a closer look at the topic of ergonomics when typing, you will eventually find that QWERTZ is not the best choice regarding ergonomic typing. There have been some alternative keyboard layouts for a long time, such as DVORAK and alike. But my favorite is actually ADNW and there the variant XOY. I also find the optimization for straight (= ortho-linear) keyboards with thumbshift interesting - if I put shift on the thumb cluster of the ergodox, this layout would have been an idea.

Despite practicing the new layout from time to time, I have not yet managed to switch 100% to it. Well ... As soon as I type with the new layout, my typing speed drops from approx. 400 keystrokes / minute to less than 100 ... that feels sooo slow ... I'm going to do something about that, and I will write about it if I can do that in the new layout.

The right keyboard

Before ergodox-ez came onto the market with the keyboard via Kickstarter, the keyboard nerds had to build their own keyboards. When my Ergodox said goodbye, I wanted to familiarize myself with the topic. I can solder, tools are there ... But etch circuit boards? Milling the housing ... Nah ... that was too much work for me.

But this DIY community is the basis of the open hardware layout for the Ergodox keyboards. I can only hope that there are more companies that jump on this train and hopefully bring many innovations in the field to market.

future?

Something is happening in the area of ​​keyboards. The Ergodox keyboard was certainly one of the first good ergonomic, split keyboards. Ergodox-EZ then brought it to the mass market. There will be many other keyboards in the area.

However, the current trend is to make the keyboards as small as possible. Ergodox-EZ now also has one "mini" keyboard. It is not ergonomic. and with only 40 or so buttons, you have to use everything multiple times ... no idea why people think it is so great ... I hope the trend goes in the other direction again. With a mini-keyboard like this I couln't work 8 hours a day. And I will not be the only one.

Sure, the 105-key standard keyboard certainly has had its day, but why build a 40-key keyboard, where every key is assigned twice ...

Well ... How many keys are the "sweet spot", the best mix between size and ergonomics, because the smaller a keyboard is, the fewer distances the fingers / hands have to travel to reach the keys. But if you double-assign each key or just get the umlauts in German with a kind of shift key, then it slows down typing a lot. I think the sweet spot is certainly somewhere in the 60-70 key range, that could be a good compromise.

Not like with the Ergodox keyboard. Because there are actually enough keys, you cannot reach them easily, especially the lowest row of keys. There are a good 14 keys to drop.

My optimal keyboard

I have in my layout for the Ergodox-EZ e.g. the bottom row occupied with all sorts of double modifier assignments. Something like CTRL-Shift or CTRL-ALT ... I hardly used it because the keys are almost directly under the palm of my hand. I should change that, it's actually pretty nonsensical.

That is now better with the Kinesis, because there is no "hidden keys", there are only CTRL, ALT and CMD and Space ... standard. However, it is better to be a little exaggerated. The buttons are just not superfluous. : smirk:

The problems with kinesis are now of a different nature. Your fingers cover further distances before you hit the right key. There is a key for everything and it is a lot closer to the normal standard keyboard, but unfortunately the keys are staggered here again and not ortholinear. I think it's a shame that there is no thumb cluster at all. It was good that I could map backspace and space for my two thumbs, but one more key would have been cool.

No matter how you do it, apparently there is no optmial keyboard, unless you build it yourself. But, what would be the optimal keyboard ...

• mechanical switches
• split, so that I can pull the halves apart enough
• ortholinear
• at least about 60 buttons, which should all be easily accessible (or most of them)
• RGB lighting of the buttons, because it is cool and I think the feedback is useful
• and: programmable with several layers! This is the only way I can really switch between layouts, from ADNW-XOY to QERTZ, then another one Game Mode etc. Especially double assignments should be possible, they are often annoying, but sometimes also very practical.
• Tenting must be possible
• an easily accessible, meaningful cluster of thumbs
• a pleasant palm rest.

So, where could I get such a keyboard? The Ergodox Infinity keyboard mit fit best. but it is currently no longer available and I would have to build it myself. But even the individual parts do not exist, and I would even have to etch the circuit board myself ... that is too much effort for me. And I've never seen a tenting kit for that.

There are a few others, but they all go the way to drastically reduce the number of keys.

When I rate my keyboards according to the above criteria, it looks like this:

• normal Apple keyboard: I have used it for a long time and also applies to other normal keyboards ... does not meet any of the above points. Programmability only about the operating system, there is no tenting, not shared etc. 0/10
• razer blackwidow chroma: the keyboard is programmable and has RGB LEDs, but that's about it. The software is crap on the Mac, although it has a great feature, the automatic switching between profiles, depending on the open program. That's what I call practical. There's still an extra point for that, but I still can't get over 6/10 points.
• ErgodoxEZ: can do almost everything, RGB backlighting and the associated info channel is missing (unfortunately also in the current models), the thumb cluster is only of limited use. For this, the software is super customizable. tenting is also possible, the palm rest could be more pleasant (just a lump of hard silicone). So the keyboard gets 8/10 in my scale
• Kinesis Freestyle Edge: can do a lot, especially there are more keys. However, the thumb cluster is missing, programming is a bit too easy, features are missing. But typing is great. So I would also set it to 8/10, but because typing feels a bit better, there is 8.5 / 10: smirk: You can see that the Kinesis Freestyle keyboard is not ideal either.

Somehow I will have to keep looking and / or build something for myself. And to answer the initial question: I think I'm a keyboard nerd!

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category: global --> keyboards

Ergodox EZ vs Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB Gaming

I'm a big fan of the Ergodox EZ keyboard and have already written a hymn of praise here. I type a lot, in my free time (e.g. here) or at work. Since I actually spend 75% of my time on / in front of a keyboard, this is an important topic for me. The Ergodox-EZ was the first keyboard that I really used for years and it showed me what is really important when it comes to keyboard for my daily use.

Ergodox Review

I've been using the Ergodox-EZ (s) for more than 5 years now and I really can't complain so far. Because the keyboard is split, you can adjust it to your needs for your personal work - that's great and also indispensable for me. Because this also significantly reduces the strain on the wrists and shoulders. This is important for me, as the use of "normal" Keyoards caused paint (the motorcycle accident a few years ago left its mark).

The build quality is really good for a Kickstarter project. I got Cherry's keyswitches and they are really beyond any doubt, although the "color" must of course correspond to personal taste. I my opinion the "Cherry MX Brown" offer a good compromise, so that you also can use it in the office without getting everyone upset due to the noise.

However, there are a few minor "problems" (complaining about first world problems here ) that annoyed me:

• The small number of buttons - I always miss one or the other. I would particularly like to have cursor keys in "inversed T" shape and that is unfortunately not possible here I now notice that I use the cursor keys a lot more on the Kinesis Freestyle than on the Ergodox where I always switched to mouse / trackpad when I wanted to place the cursor. It's somehow easier now.
• Because you don't have "enough" keys for the entire German layout, you often have to assign keys twice. In my layout, CTRL and y are on the same key, if you type briefly, if a y is typed, if you hold the key, CTRL is pressed. That doesn't sound bad at first, if you then need CTRL, you have to wait a bit. Especially when working in the shell, you often need CTRL-A or CTRL-E - and you have to wait a few hundred milliseconds before you can press the 2nd key so that this is recognized correctly. When typing those keystrokes in the shell, this often leads to errors and it somehow feels "slowed down".
• You have to get used to it if you use a "normal" keyboard again - which leads to strange mistakes there
• The "Thumb Cluster" (the buttons that can be reached with the thumb) is ineffective - well, most of them. There are 6 buttons in total, but you can actually only reach 2 of them comfortably with your thumb. The others are strictly "useless" and are not used.
• I think its strange that the "Wrist Rests" are separate, they slip again and again and you fiddle with things all the time. It would be better if they were attached to the keyboard
• The tenting of the keyboard is good, stable metal, it is well made. But why the hell is it only 3 feet? So I can't really tilt the keyboard very far (maybe about 7 °) without a corner hanging in the air and then everything starts to shake when I type. It feels really uncomfortable. Again: good start, unfortunately not thought through to the end.
• If you play a game from time to time, especially with first-person shooters or alike, the layout of the Ergodox is a bit of a hindrance. The defaults of most games cannot be used comfortably or things just do not work (like the double assignment for the y/ctrl key). That is why a separate layer is necessary so that you can adapt it to some extent. However, this may lead to the fact that you can no longer type normally ... a vicious cycle ...: smirk:
• by having up to 32 such layers, you get confused about which switch is which

I would have liked a little more feedback for the last point, e.g. through LEDs, preferably RGB LEDs under each key...

Ergodox-EZ recently built something like this with the RGB LEDs, but only roughly. With the Ergodox Glow you can only "illuminate" the "normal" letter keys in the US layout. Unfortunately, for a German layout, those that are not backlit are also assigned normal buttons, e.g. the ä and the ß. I find that - frankly - stupid. I also don't understand why this is done so half-baked. The Ergodox Infinity keyboard sports LEDs on all keys. Unfortunately, it was only available as DYI-kit and the individual parts for it are currently no longer in stock anywhere.

I really think the Ergodox-EZ is a great keyboard, but this is a bit annoying.

In general, I think that they have held back a lot with innovation. There are now three variants of the Ergodox-EZ, the normal one, the Shine (has an LED strip on the back that you can program ... looks like ambient Light) and the Glow, which has RGB LEDs for part of the keys.

In addition to that they have now released the Planck keyboard: this is much smaller and anything but ergonomic. The thing is about the size of half an Ergodox EZ. This is practical to carry around, but what for? It sells somehow, but I don't think it's great.

The biggest "innovation" is that there is now a fantastillion number key switch types you can choose from. And that these switches can also be replaced on the board. Wow ... that's great when one's broken. But otherwise it doesn't knock my socks off. Sure, there are a couple of keyboard nerds who will go crazy if WSAD has other keyswitches than the rest of the keyboard ... it's not really important for normal typing.

Then a few words about software / firmware. This is not 100% "good" either. You can download the qmk firmware and create and compile a layout in C yourself. This gives you the most opportunities and flexibility. But in addition, that not anybody is capable of doing that, it's really annoying! Everytime you have to reinstall your computer you first have to install a GCC and cross-compiling environment, before you can change something on your keyboard. That is fun at first, but grows awful soon.

Ergodox-EZ has now released a web based configurator that you can use to configure your keyboard. However, there are a few features missing, which are very important imho. Such as:

• Macros support - completely missing
• The configuration is quite graphical, but sometimes cumbersome. In addition, support for German Mac layout is missing, which leads to strange effects
• Some functions of the firmware are also completely missing, e.g. Leader Key (pressing the Leader Key followed by a certain combination of other keys within a certain time triggers a certain action) or Tapdance (pressing a key several times does something different than if I only press it once).

I used all of these functions in my layout, and so I am stuck to the QMK sources. That is not really a problem for me, but it is already cumbersome ... unfortunately.

Many of the functions are real gimmicks. For tap dancing e.g. I can hardly think of a practical use.

However, QMK solved the switching between the layers superbly! There are many different ways: as long as you hold a key, or toggling on / off, or if you type something, its normal, holding the key switches to another layer and and and ... This ton of options is really great. Some of those are also available in the Configurator, but - of course - the most complex ones are missing.

As I said, first world problems .

A special feature of QMK is that the layouts can overlap each other and are "stacked". For example: I have a default layer and in the next active layer only some changes are defined. The other buttons remain as they are defined in the default layout. So if I change the default Layer, all subsequent layers, that do not change that specific key, also get that change.

This is awesome when you can "stack" more than one layer. On the default layer, you add a layer for changing some keys for number keys, and then an additonal one to have an inversed-T cursor clustor somewhere else. But I do not have to have them both on at the same time.

Unfortunately, there is no "stagging" of the layers in the configurator either. But at least the fallback to default layer 0 remains.

Since one of my keyboards is starting to act crazy (after more then 5 years of heavy usage that is), I had really thought about ordering a new Ergodox EZ keyboard. But because some things are not 100% - at least for me - and because that thing is really expensive, I took a look around ... and after a lot of research I end up with the relatively new Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB keyboard.

Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB

I couldn't find a review on the internet that compared an Ergodox to Kinesis' Freestyle Edge. So, here is a review of Freestyle edge RGB by an Ergodox user.

Actually, RGB (i.e. LEDs under each key, which can shine in 16 million colors) is not absolutely necessary, but a nice gimmick, at least for the home office and to recognize the layers mentioned. with the Freestyle, however, it is quite helpful, because otherwise the different layers/profiles cannot be recognised at all.

Prices

Kinesis offers a similar keyboard without RGBs (Freestyle Pro), but that would have been more expensive, for whatever reason. Is 100% the same thing, but without LEDs. With the WristRest and the Tent Riser you end up at about 5 € more (depending on the shop and shipping costs of course, but you won't get it cheaper)

But the Ergodox Glow would currently be a even more expensive: you'd have to ship it from the USA (there is no reseller in Germany), so you have to pay import tariff. The base price with tent kit and palm rests is $ 354, - about 325 € + import tariff 62 € + processing fees, shipping etc then makes this about 425 €. There the Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB with approx. 310€ including the tent kit almost sound like a bargain.

In contrast to the fantastic number of key switch types at Ergodox, you can only choose between 2 key types for the Freestyle Edge RGB: Cherry MX Brown and Cherry MX Red. The latter are gaming switches that have little tactile feedback but more speed. Oh yes, speed ... the freestyle has a response time of 1ms - I haven't been able to find out what that is with the Ergodox EZ, but as some keyboard manufactorers point that out quite loudly, it seems to be something good

If you compare the two keyboards, the Freestyle Edge RGB seems huge and looks as if you had sawed through the middle of a "normal" keyboard without a number pad. Only the keyboard has a few more keys - in particular the macro keys on the left side of the keyboard (11 in total, of which 2 are already programmed for with LED on and FN) are noticeable. You have full blown row of function keys F1 to F12 (which I really missed during programming) and cursor keys in "Inverse-T" alignment - and they had me: smirk:

The palm rests are very comfortable and well padded. In contrast to the dust magnets that come with the Ergodox. They really attracted the dust extremely. And feel really hard in direct comparison. The wrist rests on the Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB are firmly attached to the keyboard. So they don't slip and you don't fiddle around all the time.

Advice: If you want to buy a freestyle edge or the freestyle pro, buy it in any case with the "Kinesis Edge Lift Kit" (unfortunately subject to a surcharge). Without that, the keyboard is only half as good!

The keyboard has a total of 98 keys, I think - have not found the number now, but at least significantly more than the 76 of the Ergodox EZ ...

build quality

The Kinesis board feels better than the Ergodox-EZ, it all feels valuable. This is particularly noticeable with the cables - with the Ergodox there are normal cables. They look like they were bought in the next craft shop around the corner. They look somehow cheap. Simply mini USB and a "stereo headphone cable" to connect the two halves. After all, the cables are removable and not soldered.

With the Freestyle Edge, the cables are braided and by default 50% of the connecting cable between the halves is stowed in one half of the keyboard. If necessary, you can prolong the cable up to 20".

Disadvantage: the cables are fixed and cannot be removed. Which is a bummer, it would be more flexible. But the quality is still much better than with the Ergodox EZ.

Keys and functions

There is a key cluster that sits on the top right half.

These keys are probably not mechanical - at least they don't feel that way, and you can't change the keycaps that easily. They are not lit either. There is a total of 4 buttons: Profile, Macro, Remap and a button that has a gear symbol printed on and is called the "SmartSet" button.

You can change the currently active profile by pressing the Profile button. There are 2 small white LEDs above the profile button, which indicate which profile is currently active. Anyone who knows the binary system knows that with 2 LEDs you can display a maximum of 4 different values ​​- 9 profiles and only 4 I can tell from the LEDs. The RGB lighting is almost imperative! The Profile button actually makes no sense for this, especially since you can only switch between the first 4 profiles with the button anyway.

With the Macro button you can easily define macros on the fly. With Remap I can directly change the mapping of the keyboard. The most important thing is this SmartSet button.

Attention: those makros and remapping is stored on the keyboard and it won't reset. This is a bummer... so you more or less only have permanent macros.

The SmartSet button, used in conjunction with F7-F12, numbers or the Profile key, then offers the following functions.

• SmartSet button + Profile button: Reloading the current profile. This is very useful if you tweak the configurations (either using the software or by editing the file directly) and profiles and want to see / try it out.
• SmartSet + F7: Status output:

• SmartSet + F8: This enables the so-called V-Drive, which is the internal storage of the keyboard, which is simply mounted as a drive via USB. And that's where the layouts and settings are stored - simple text files that are just as easy to edit. If you want to work with the SmartSetApp, the Vdrive must be mounted.
• SmartSet + F9: Set playback speed of macros
• SmartSet + F10: Switch on/off N-key rollover.
• SmartSet + F11: Game mode - deactivates the Windows key ... no matter what the key is is mapped to
• SmartSet + F12: reset! Reset all.
• SmartSet + key 1-9: activate the corresponding profile.

But we are already at a difference. There are no profiles at Ergodox-EZ. There are up to 32 layers. The Kinesis Freestyle Board has only 2 layers, but up to 9 profiles ... Well, actually there are always 9, they just do not differ. So that makes 18 layers in Ergodox terminology - just a bit more than half.

Well, who needs so many layers, you don't use that many anyway. And that's probably true. A total of 4-5 layers would be sufficient for most cases. But for switching between the profiles and layers on the kinesis, you are unfortunately pretty fixed. you can only switch between the profiles with a certain key ("profile") or by pressing the "SmartSet" key with one of the keys 1-9.

The button for changing from the normal to the "FN" layer (this is what the second layer is called) is freely assignable (thank god) and the switch can either be a toggle (so press it and you are in the FN layer until you press it again) or similar to Shift (i.e., FN Layer is active only as long as the key is pressed)

But you are not nearly as flexible in configuring the Kinesis as you are in Ergodox. But that doesn't have to be a problem, because you have enough keys available. And that is exactly the big advantage over the Ergodox - but also a small disadvantage, because it all takes up space on the desk. And you have to get your hand / fingers to those keys somehow. One tends to move more with the kinesis board.

The "problems" mentioned above with the Ergodox EZ do not exist this way with the Kinesis keyboard, but there are a few things that work differently:

• There is locally running, dedicated software for the configuration (Windows and MacOS). The configuration itself is stored in "simple" text files on the keyboard. So you could also correct your mapping via vi. : smirk:
• oh yes, you can change the mapping directly without the software using the keyboard. There’s a "remap" button that I mentioned above. This allows "on the fly" keys to be reassigned (e.g. very nice if English is accidentally set again instead of German to swap the y and z). But this changes the on board stored file, so this change is permanent.
• You can also store predefined macros via the software
• You can also define and play macros on the fly (those are added to your profile)
• Unfortunately, you cannot put the switch to a profile on a specific key
• there are no German keycaps from Kinesis directly ... This is not so tragic if you can touch type (like me), but it also irritates me. I got a replacement set from directly from USA (Maxkeyboard.com), without labels, but translucent to the LEDs. I left the special keys as they are now. Also the F keys ... because they are not assigned twice (as with the Ergodox), they can stay that way. The two space keys cannot be replaced at all, I have not found a shop offering keycaps with a width of 3.5U. So in the end it looks quite exciting ... and futuristic.

This is how "Translucent blank keycaps" look like on the kinesis freestyle edge rgb:

The whole thing requires a little getting used to in any case. No matter if you come from a normal "Ansi" keyboard, or from an Ergodox.

Details and review of Freestyle Edge RGB

I'm not quite through with the configuration, but as far as I can tell that I got almost everything working:

• the most important: the two space keys are configured differently. As with the Ergodox I have space on the left and backspace on the right key. That makes so much sense, I don't want a keyboard without the feature anymore.
• Since I have a few problems switching the layers, I had to be stick with FN a lot. I got the "Special" layer of the Ergodox layout (there are all brackets on the right half of the keyboard, helps a lot with programming) by just assigning the keys in the FN layer. The LEDs also highlight these buttons, which really improves orientation. I can also use ˚ and ^ to achieve what would have been a pretty monkey grip.
• I have now saved the number keys in profile 3. on the ergodox I could switch to those with just hitting another Layer Toggle key. But on the Kinesis, I need to switch profiles for that. This can be achieved quite simply by pressing the "Profile" button twice. The LEDs corresponding to the number keys are then highlighted by the LEDs
• I used Layer 4 for ADNW-XOY. I noticed a bug: when switching profiles the Tap'n'Hold keys do not work properly at first, they still show the behavior of the previous layer. You then have to select the layer again to get it working.
• The configuration is really a bit cumbersome but good brain jogging. The software works exclusively with the English/US layout. That would not be much of a problem, but if you e.g. if you want to store a macro, you have to enter the characters as if you were on an American keyboard and type it in. For e.g. a text smiley :-) results in something like </( - not really intuitive
• The software supports the dark mode of MacOS inadequately, because the macros are then displayed with black writing on an almost black background - not really legible.
• for some reason you can't put macros on the modifier keys (CMD, Shift, CTRL, ALT) ... no idea what the reason is, but it's a shame. Funnily enough, I can assign "normal" keys
• Unfortunately there are no German or OSX keycaps directly from Kinesis - at least not just like that. But with the blank keycaps from maxkeyboard.com it actually improved a bit as the keys are sculpted.

All in all, the software feels somewhat unfinished. Some things don't go the way you think. Sometimes messages pop up, telling you that Tap & Hold does not work on FN and when the same key as it in normal mode ... ok ... where does that come from?

In general, newer features of the keyboard are still a bit buggy. Tap & Hold e.g. has only been added with the latest firmware version. And in the "Reactive LED scheme", which highlights the pressed key a different color for a short time, does not work with keys, that have Tab'n'Hold enabled.

For example, you cannot enter Hyper in a tap & hold action via the software - however, directly in the layout file (with Vi: smirk :)

It all feels a little unpolished, unfortunately. The limitation of the keyboard to 9 profiles is probably due to the fact that it was not possible to assign more keys to it (switching is only possible with a SmartSet key + number - for the first 4 also with the Profile key).

What is also striking is that the keyboard is probably a little under-powerd in terms of computing power. When I press a button that changes Layer and therefore the the LEDs of several buttons (number cluser or something like that), I can almost watch the LEDs light up one after the other. Either this is programmed quite inefficiently, or the hardware is underpowered.

You can see that in some other places where the keyboard feels a bit "lame", especially with macros etc. I can hardly believe the 1ms response time here.

I expect more for that price tag and I really hope that they will improve here. You should be able to switch between the profiles on any key, defining it yourself. That would give the thing a real added value.

Then you should leave out the stupid profile button right away, because I cannot use it to call up profiles over 4. Conceptually makes no sense. or give it some additional useful functionality - or make it programmable, so that you can decide, what it should do.

The build quality is really extremely good. Nothing rattles (apart from the buttons :smirk :), even better than with the Ergodox EZ.

Typing feels surprisingly different than on the Ergodox, although both use Cherry-MX Brown switches. The typing feel on the Kinesis keyboard is "firmer" and I find it more pleasant.

Conclusion

Was the change good or bad now? Honestly, after a couple of days using I think so. At the moment I think it's all very good, I just have to get used to it.

I will probably play with the Freestyle edge RGB for a few more days / weeks, then let's see how it feels and post an update here.

But I can already tell: Typing feels more valuable, but the software still has problems.

But I would also like to put this into perspective: in comparison to the grotty software from the Razer Chroma keyboard, the SmartSet app for the Kinesis Freestyle Edge is a revelation! Razer's software force you online. Your keyboard does not work properly when you are not online. And a lot just didn't work as it should, especially on Mac OSX. And it was not really intuitive to use neither.

Just the automatic change between the profiles for the Razer Chroma is a feature that should also somehow find its way into the software of the Kinesis Keyboard. It would need some kind of API or something ... If they could build that in ... a dream.

So even with the perceived incomplete software, the Kinesis is clearly the winner in the sector against Ergodox EZ, even if the EZ offers significantly more features in programming.   If it weren't for the price difference of at least € 125 and the poorer build quality (cables - although you can buy replacement) and less suitable features for international users (LEDs only on the US letter keys), the two would be probably really equivalent.

So I have to say that the Kinesis Freestyle Edge RGB offers the more attractive overall package and you get more for your money.

Nevertheless, I miss the "thumb cluster" on the freestyle board. I really thought that the Ergodox was great from the idea, only the execution was rather poor, because - as already described - half of the keys in the thumb cluster cannot be used as intended.

One point that I have not mentioned above is the "ortholinear" layout of the Ergodox board. Since the keys are not staggered, as on a normal keyboard, but directly arranged one below the other. (The staggered layout was developed for typewriters).

Typing on an ortholinear keyboard is better, the keys are more "ergonomic", it seems. This is something where kinesis should have had more courage.

The bugs in the software and the missing functions are also a problem. Something has to be done by kinesis there. The best thing would be to install QMK.

Apparently the 100% keyboard just doesn't exist for me ... the question remains: what is the best compromise?

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category: Computer --> programming --> MongoDB --> morphium

Morphium messaging vs messaging systems

Morphium can also be messaging ... wow ... right?

Why do you still need such a solution? how does it compare to others, such as RabbitMQ, MQSeries etc.? Those are the top dogs ... Why another solution?

I would like to list some differences here

Conceptually

Morphium Messaging is designed as a "persistent messaging system". The idea is to be able to "distribute" data more easily within the MongoDB. Especially in connection with @Reference it is very easy to "transfer" complex objects via messaging.

Furthermore, the system should be easy to use, additional hardware should not be needed if possible. This was an important design criterion, especially for the cluster-aware cache synchronization.

Features

Morphium is to be understood as a persistent queue, which means that new consumers can be added to a cluster at any time and they also receive older, unprocessed messages.

Because Morphium persists the messages, you can use every MongoDB client to see what is happening purely in terms of messaging. there is a rudimentary implementation for Morphium messaging in python. This is used to e.g. display a messaging monitor, a status of what is happening right now.

Morphium is super easy to integrate into existing systems. The easiest of course, of course, if you already have Morphium in use. Because then it's just a three-line:

To e.g. To get RabbitMQ a "simple" producer-consumer setup, more lines and setup are necessary.

in the concept of Morphium, an "answer" was also provided. This means that every MessageListener can simply "reply" a message as a response. This message is then sent directly to the recipient. Something that is not easily achieved in other messaging systems.

An important feature is the synchronization of the caches in a cluster. This runs via annotations in the entity and then all you have to do is start the CacheSynchronizer, and everything runs automatically in the background.

  Morphium also provides a solution to "reject" an incoming message. Every listener can throw a MessageRejectedException. The message is then no longer processed in the current messaging instance and marked so that it can be processed by other recipients. This also happens in particular if an error / exception occurred during message processing.

JMS

Morphium also supports JMS, but there is a bit of a logical and conceptual "breach" ...

JMS sends messages e.g. in topics or queues ... in Morphium there is no or only a limited distinction. In this nomenclature, each message can be either a topic or a queue message.

If you send a message in Morphium Messaging that is marked as "non-exclusive" (default), then it is a broadcast, every participant can receive the message within the TTL (time to live). This is only decided based on whether you have registered a listener or not.

Every Morphium messaging listener can get topics, queues, channels, and direct messages. That is more or less determined by the broadcaster. The sender determines whether the message

• to be sent directly to a recipient (direct messaging)
• to all listeners (usually for a certain message name) - i.e. a broadcast (default)
• or to one of the listeners, but no matter which one (exclusive message, similar to the topics in the JMS)

Empty message-queue = healthy message queue

This is what you e.g. reads again and again about RabbitMQ. That is not the same with Morphium. The messages remain in the queue for a while and delete themselves when reaching the TTL. If I put a broadcast message in the queue with a lifespan of one day, then this message can still be processed within a day. And will it too, e.g. when new "consumers" register. (replay of messages).

This does not apply to exclusive messages, as you explicitly don't want to process them multiple times, i.e. the message is deleted after successful processing (only until V4.1.2 - after that, messages are only deleted when TTL is reached).

A Morphium message queue is always filled to a certain extent with this and that's a good thing.

Conclusion

Morphium messaging does not want to and cannot be a "replacement" for existing message systems and solutions. That was not the direct goal in development at all. There was a specific problem that could be solved most easily and efficiently.

Nevertheless, the areas of application of Morphium messaging are similar or overlap with other messaging systems. But that's in the nature of things. A migration from one system to another should definitely be possible in finite time. Morphium supports e.g. JMS, both as a client and as a server. This allows cache synchronization to be implemented using other, possibly already existing messaging solutions without having to forego the convenience of Morphium annotation-based cache definition. Or integrate Morphium into your own architecture as a messaging solution via JMS.

comparison table

| ---- | ----: |: -----: | | Description | Morphium | RabbitMQ | | runs without additional hardware X | - | | nondestructive peek | X | - | | high speed | - | X | | high security | X | X | | simple to use | X | depending on the use case | | persistent news | X | not mandatory | | get pending messages on connect | X | - |

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category: Computer --> programming --> MongoDB --> morphium

fieldbased encryption in mongo using Morphium

There will be a new feature in the next version of Morphium: automatic encryption and decryption of data.

This ensures that the data is only stored in encrypted form in the database or is decrypted when it is read. This also works with sub-documents. Technically, more complex data structures than JSON are encoded and this string is stored encrypted.

We currently have support for 2 types of encryption AES (default) and RSA.

here is the test for AES encryption.

There are a few classes you should know:

• AESEncryptionProvider: this is an implementation of the interfaceEncryptionProvider and offers AES encryption
• RSAEncryptionProvider: this is an implementation of the interfaceEncryptionProvider and offers RSA encryption
• All encryption systems access the EncryptionKeyProvider, which can be set in the MorphiumConfig.
  • DefaultEncryptionKeyProvider: you save the keys yourself
  • PropertyEncryptionKeyProvider: the keys are read in via properties, the keys themselves can be stored in encrypted form (AES encryption)
  • MongoEncryptionKeyProvider: reads the keys from the Mongo, Collection and encryption key can be specified
• Of course, all of these interfaces can be implemented yourself.

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category: global --> E-Mobility --> Tesla

900km road trip with the tesla model 3

Now we have the Model 3 for a few months and it was time for a slightly longer trip. Driving on shorter distances, commuting to and from work every day is not an issue at all, provided you have a charging option (at home using the normal socket would certainly be sufficient in most cases).

the trip

Our first long trip with the Model3 should take us to Paris (and more precisely to Disneyland Paris). Route from Munich there is about 900km.

When planning the route in advance, we used [a better route planner] (https://abetterrouteplanner.com) and were able to get a rough idea of ​​how long it would take.

The planning in Model 3 with the on-board software was then somewhat different, in particular easier. In addition, the on-board navigation does not run the battery nearly as empty as [a better route planner] (https://abetterrouteplanner.com).

Space

So, the Model 3 is the smallest limousine in Tesla's fleet, but as far as space is concerned, you really have enough storage space to accommodate everything for 3 people for 7 days (and also with a lot of Disney merchandise in your luggage when coming back :smirk.). 2 large suitcases fit easily in the rear trunk, and there is still the "lower additional compartment" where a lot can be put in, and on top of the suitcases is also some space and next to them also. The frunk also has room for 2 smaller bags. I would say that overall we have more space in Model3 than in the BMW 5 that I had before. So that was really ok ...

the charging

I have to confess, before the trip I was a bit nervous. How does it work with the super chargers? Do they work? Are they possibly overcrowded and you have to wait forever? How much time do you lose ...?

Spoiler Alert: I worried in vain. The whole thing was as easy as driving an internal combustion engine, if not easier.

But in detail:

Driving was nothing special anymore, I could get used to it pretty well in the last months (and I'm spoiled for other cars).

Still, I was amazed at how easy it all went. Since we were traveling with a child, we also had to take regular breaks. You can't shoot down 900km in one session.

All in all, we took more breaks than was necessary. The battery of the Tesla lasts longer than some of the passengers' bladders

We also used the first charging stop for a lunch break and while we're sitting down eating (at a well-known fast food restaurant), my Telsa app says I could actually drive off again.

Admittedly, it was not necessary to have the tesla charged there. But we were hungry. So we charged it starting with 30% remaining range ... in the end we drove off with 90%. I have to admit I felt a little rushed ...

We had been able to try out a few SuperChargers on the route, the Reims, in Ulm and the one in Metz ... the latter was certainly the stupidest of all locations. the SuperCharger is in the parking lot of a large supermarket in France. Isn't really the best, because except for the supermarket there is more or less nothing there. Especially on Sunday, when we were there for the first time, we somehow had to pass the 20 minutes of charging. Fortunately, there were also the games from Teslatari

We were only 20 minutes away and we were able to go on with our trip, but was still a little bleak there.

On the way back we stopped there too, that was on a Saturday. And there was more life. Not the best place to do shopping, it was enough for a small snack and drinks. But on the next trip I would try to skip the break in Metz.

Fortunately, we then had the opportunity to charge the Tesla at the hotel. Respectively. at the neighboring hotel. If you are looking for information on the Internet: the Sequoia Lodge Disney Hotel has no charging facility. The neighboring hotel Newport Bay Club does, however. I was allowed to just drive over there and charge my Model 3 there - in the end it was a normal socket, but I could stand there long enough to start again at 90% on the day of departure.

The driving

The Model3 is really great. It's comfortable, the seating position is great, and with Spotify in the car it doesn't get boring that quickly (although the playlists there are pretty stupid and feel like they only put together about 20 songs differently).

Listening to podcasts also works well, but you don't get the podcasts from Spotify but from TuneIn - and they have much less to choose from ... Well ...

The autopilot is a great thing, especially on highways. It makes driving more relaxed, even if you have to keep looking at the road (maybe the software is doing something wrong, where it didn't happen to me on the 900km). Other vehicle manufacturers can certainly do that, but as I said, the whole thing is really great.

"Navigate on Autopilot" is something that other vehicle manufacturers are probably not yet able to do. This is very pleasant, because the Model 3 drives off and onto the next highway itself. This is a great feature and helps you to catch the right exit.

If you travel that way, you can't and don't want to ract anyway. In Germany you drive about 150km / h and in France you can't drive faster than 130 km / h. So the consumption was limited. It was a pleasant ride, very relaxed.

I had already mentioned this in the last blog entry about the Tesla, that driving is less emotionally charged. And that also applies to driving on the motorway. You drive somehow more relaxed. Sure, if an idiot tries to bully, you press the "fun pedal" to make it clear who can go faster. But that's rather the exception.

All in all, including charging stops and breaks, we needed about 10 hours for the 900km. A better routeplanner says you could do it in 8:30, Google thinks it would take about 8:05 minutes by car ... Well ... in both cases the traffic is probably not taken into account 100%.

Conclusion

Road trips with the Tesla Model 3 (and probably also with all other Teslas) are amazingly.... boring - thanks to the SuperCharger network! It just works, you don't have to worry.

Charging took a little time, of course, but not so much that you would have been a lot faster with a combustion engine. Especially when children are on board, you have to take a break more often anyway. And we use them for charging ...

It worked so well and we liked it so much that we started another road trip for Christmas that went without any problems (apart from traffic jams).

I know if you have never had an electric car, then you will be shaken by the "range anxiety". But with the Tesla at least that's not a problem at all. You just drive off and the rest is done by the technology!

The Tesla is also high level when it comes to car comfort. So we will do even more road trips in the future!

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category: global --> E-Mobility --> Tesla

Tesla as a company car

Tesla as a company car

I was self-employed for a long time and drove a lot of good and new cars. All were leased and all were new. I will create a blog post with a list, was also an exciting journey.

Since I am no longer working as a freelancer and therefore no longer have a business, I have always driven used cars, mostly petrol engine with large engines (because of the assumed better durability and the fun that brings for a petrol head ).

But in my current company (https://www.genios.de) there is a company car scheme, which I can access. Since my 5 Series BMW ist slowly falling apart and there would be some TÜV-relevant repairs in the future (certainly in the range of around 5000, - €), it was time to at least think about a new car or even a company car.

So I started to look more closely at the topic. As is customary in Germany, the state keeps its hand in everything and has rules for everything to be observed. And it's not quite the right thing to do it blue-eyed. You try to go the best way and the cheapest.

For us it was important that we have a vehicle with which you can make excursions, go on vacation. And for this we need space - dog and child also want to go on vacation: smirk: D.h. a microcar is out of the question.

The costs, which we have now for the used, should not be exceeded if possible (and that was quite expensive with all the repairs, fuel, oil change, etc.).

And so I started the search. What do you do ...?

Sure, such a 5 BMW in "new" would have been chic. But unfortunately also very expensive. Why you have to deal more clearly with the costs ...

Company car - it's great, everything for free ...

Or not. For one, it's not really that interesting for the company in my case that I'm mobile. I am not in sales, have no customer appointments. So that would be "only" an incentive. So you get a company car in this case not for "free", but you must take over the costs largely.

salary conversion

As with almost all companies in such a case, you can have the car leased by the company, but you have to pay the cost of your gross salary. So the company calculates, what costs the car in the month all in all is there and this is then deducted from the gross salary - depending on the negotiating skills may also less.

The salary conversion sounds ok for the first time, but is increasingly interesting, the more taxes you pay. Example:

• I'm single, have a tax rate of 45% and would now have to pay 500, - € of my gross salary. Then my gross salary is reduced by 500, - €, my net is reduced by 275, - €
• I am a family man, my tax rate is about 33%. The gross salary is again reduced by 500 €, net, however, then amounts to 335, - € per month

Of course, these examples are not exact, solis etc are neglected here, just to clarify the background.

The much-known payment-in-kind

The above mentioned costs are joined by the so-called payment-in-kind. This means that you have to pay for the private use of the vehicle, taxes. And indeed, the amount of thepayment-in-kind is calculated on the gross salary and then just taxed. (for the sake of completeness it should be mentioned, that you can calculate the payment-in-kind with a logbook, but that only makes sense, if you have business trips!)

The monetary value is calculated as follows (as of 2019):

1. The gross list price of the vehicle (new price!) Is 1% for combustion vehicles and 0.5% for electric vehicles. With a vehicle, which costs 40000, - €, that are for a combustor 400, - € payment-in-kind, with the electric vehicle exactly half, thus 200, - €
2. In addition, there is the commute. 0.3% of the amount in point 1 is due per kilometer of work. With a working distance of 20km it makes an additional 240, - € for the combustor of 40000, - €. With the same-weight electric car, half is again.
3. In sum, comes a combustor of 40000 € on a payment-in-kind of 640 €, an electric car but only 320, - €

For electric vehicles, the whole then changes in the future, the gross list price is no longer halved from 2020, instead, depending on the size of the battery, the gross list price for the calculation is reduced. Per kWh 500, - € set (I think), but max 10000, - €. So if electric car, then soon!

Why electro?

So, since we also have some claims to such a vehicle, the "cheapest" were left out. With such a Dacia Duster a trip to South Tyrol would certainly be possible, but certainly not so funny: smirk:

Just because of the tax incentives an electric car is a very interesting alternative at the moment. That alone is of course no reason, there are other substantial reasons:

• The zero emissions of electric cars certainly ensures cleaner air, at least where they go. Of course, somehow you should not get the power out of coal so that the problem does not just shift. But that's another discussion.
• Driving with an electric car is "different", much more relaxed and, above all, quieter. It's hard to describe, but with the fact that no engine howls when you push the accelerator pedal, even an overtaking maneuver is just ... an overtaking maneuver. Less "emotional", if you can say so.
• The maintenance costs and the associated effort is virtually equal to zero. That's one of the reasons why the automotive industry so vilified e-cars in my opinion. Tesla himself says it is not necessary to bring your vehicle for maintenance. You should check after 4 years, if the coolants are still ok, but otherwise ... no maintenance intervals, no oil change, no nothing. Also saves money. And as a hint: the Teslas are all designed for a mileage of 1.6 million KM. How can that be? Well, such a internal combution engine (ICE) has about 2000-3000 moving parts, which must all be lubricated, maintained and possibly replaced if the wear is too high. In an electric car, there are on average 12 moving parts and they also have much less wear. So you will hardly have to change the brake pads in the electric car, because you hardly brake. The engine recuperates, i. he returns the kinetic energy back to the battery ...

Since the costs for the company are also lower due to an electric car, my gross content conversion is also smaller. You save a little bit on a monthly basis.

Why Tesla?

Well, to put it in a nutshell: the German carmakers have unfortunately totally failed to bring usable electric cars on the market. With the existing vehicles you can cruise wonderfully within the city, but traveling is really difficult or near to impossible. Just take a look at how the E-Cannonball ran in 2018, and when the individual vehicles arrived in Munich after the trip from Hamburg. In addition, they do demand maintenance at fixed intervals. That should actually be unnecessary.

And although Tesla does not require mandatory maintenance, you get a full 4-year warranty on the vehicle with each Tesla. And 8 years on drive and battery! Who else offers such a thing?

Tesla has not only built a fancy car (or several), but above all, they understood that you need a simple, unified, large-scale and fast charging infrastructure. In Germany, the SuperCharger (ie the rapid charging stations of Tesla) are hardly more than 100km apart, so there is always a charging station in reach. Of course, the range of> 400km from the Teslas helps as well.

And thanks to the high efficiency of the Tesla's and the fast charging power of the charging stations, you can recharge your car so far within a reasonable time, then you can drive on. This makes a relaxed journey within Europe very possible.

With the other manufacturers, there is not this infrastructure, there are _many- providers for charging. Ionity to Telekom, everyone has a different approach. This is hard to see through, the costs are different everywhere, the calculation methods, the loading speeds. This makes planning in advance difficult to impossible.

In addition, you may still need some charge cards from the respective provider or use a charge station of a provider that offers roaming for my cards (which, of course, are additional costs). This is not only inscrutable, this is actually a knock-out criterion, if you want to go further away with his e-car - in my opinion!

There is gossip on the internet of a report of one who has bought an Audi E-Tron and if he wants to go on vacation, the car dealer provides him with a diesel for free ... because of the charging issues!

Well, the charging infrastructure is one of the main reasons why I use a Tesla. Although we have to admit, that things tend to get better for others.

where to charge?

I started researching in March 2019 to find out what is the best way for us. Even finance a car, again a used car, a company car etc.

Then you come to a first conclusion, the company electric car fits actually the most likely. However, I am the first person in the company who wanted to have an e-car, i. E. there is still no process for it. What would be the costs for the company, what would have to be paid by me ...

And one of the most important questions: how to charge it! That is also an important point. In garages, it's not that easy to set up a charging point. There must still all owners agree in unison. This almost never works. At my home, e.g. no chance. They even refuse, if the garage should be swept ...

To charge at work would be great. The SWM has a funding for the charging of electric vehicles and the development of charging infrastructure. The package, which was laced by the public utilities, is really interesting. Actually, there is no reason even for the owners of garages to reject that. Basically, the owner has nothing to do. The SWM take care of connection, maintenance, setup etc., guarantee that it has no influence on the other power connections etc.

Nevertheless, you have to charge at home - there are also holidays etc ... For me it is not sooo easy. As I said, to get a power outlet in the garage is virtually impossible. So the Tesla is not charged in the garage, but must be charged in front of the house (public parking - not my own parking space). There I have to attach now a power outlet CEE16 and there I can then connect a wallbox.

A "charger" is with the Tesla yes, but this charger can only max 1 phase charge (the Model 3 that is, model s used to have a 3 phase charger). That you get max 3.7kW with it, if you can plug it into a 16A outlet.

That 's not all that much, so to charge a Tesla Model 3 with a battery capacity of about 75kWh from 10% to 80% (you should not charge every day to 100%, and 80% in my case is about 400km) about 15h. If you could do it now with a 3-phase charger, you would only get to about 5h ...

And for the sake of completeness: you can also load the Tesla on a normal power outlet. But you should limit the current to 10A max. Then you'll get 2.4kW charging power (in the most favorable case.) For me, the voltage dropped to just under 200V in this case). And so the Tesla needs from 10% to 80% in about 22h. Realistically more like 30h.

At the moment I'm thinking about taking a wallbox from stark-in-strom.de, which are quite cheap to buy and have everything you need (including the required RCCB and fuses). And if you ask them, they will add the the length of the charging cable you want. So I have 12m Charging cable now, although on the website 5m was maximum. But that is not the best solution. The parking space is occupied often, so I cannot charge the car. And during winter when there is snow on the streets, the snow-plowing service put the snow - exactly: to that specific parking place. So, for Winter I need another solution. Up until then I am fine.

These costs should be clarified then again with the employer, especially mobile solutions are certainly something that remains in the car and actually belongs to the car ...: smirk:

ok, go for a Tesla ... and now?

After a lot of back and forth a lot together with the managing director of [GBI Genios] (https://www.genios.de) the decision to bet on the Tesla and to try it out. I was, so to speak, the test balloon in this case ...

So, first, i contacted some leasing companies. Most had the Tesla Model 3 not on offer and if, then for some lunar prices (leasing rates of> 1200 € were not uncommon).

At some point I came to [Kazenmaier] (https://www.kazenmaier.de), which had a really interesting KM lease offer for the Model 3.

So, with the offer, the discussions continued and then ... Tesla changed the prices. Starting over...

the second offer comes in, also ok, and again Tesla changes the prices again. In the period from April to the end of May Tesla has changed prices about 4x.

During this time, I also contacted Telsa and asked when such a vehicle would be delivered. "It takes about 3 - 6 months," they said ... When we did the test drive, it was said that it would be "safe 3 months" ... well ...

Kazenmaier offers the lease but after deduction of all subsidies, i. The leasing rate is cheaper, which is definitely interesting for a company car. However, the subsidies are dependent on the gross list price and must be adjusted every time. That I had to wait from the beginning of April until pretty much the end of May, until we finally got the order.

It was somehow "different" than usual. We sent the documents to the lessor, everything was OK then. they ordered the "vehicle". Then Tesla called me and said "so, we can now perform the order together" .... Hä ??!?!?

On the phone we have the configured and ordered vehicle yet again. It turned out that the prices changed again. Great. We ordered the vehicle nevertheless. The leasing company has then promptly sent a new contract, but the lease has left the same ... back and forth ...

Then I was also told that "Tesla it is not able to register the vehicle due to the high order volume" - you have to do it yourself. awesome... NOT!

When ordering it was said, the vehicle would be here in "probably 6 weeks, but personally I think it comes in 3".

Well, that's cool, delivery time shortened to a sixth.

6 days later I get a call from Tesla, I could pick up my vehicle ... but it is in Nuremberg, but Tesla pays taxi and train tickets ...

Oh great ... then we'll go to Nuremberg. The conversation was on Wednesday, Thursday was Corpus Christi. The lady on the phone thinks I could pick up the car on Monday.

Of course that was not possible, I had no papers. And with that, I found myself in the Tesla universe, things are going quite differently than in the rest of the world ...

The documents for the approval were not sent on Friday ... on Monday, I try desperately to reach someone else, to make it still work. After some attempts, I reach someone in the evening and they say: "oops, the papers went to Karlsruhe" - To The Leasing Company. We really chewed that 10x that the stuff has to come to me, so that the registration could work ...

The leasing company received the documents on Monday, sent them back to me at the expense of Tesla via Overnight Express, and on Wednesday morning I got the papers. The appointment for the registration was the same day ...

That had then finally worked. E-plate and fine dust sticker taken, car is registered.

On Friday we went by train to Nuremberg, there by taxi to Tesla. At the Tesla Delivery Center, everything was really nice, the staff there were accommodating (though a bit foolish: "I can not get to your car right now, because the colleague is gone with the key")

At the handover, we complained a few flaws on the paint and then we drove off. And that was really great .... but more about that in a next blog.

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category: Computer --> Apple

MacMini 2018

MacMini2018

I am a Mac user for quite some time now and I was always happy this way. Apple managed it to deliver a combination from operating system and hardware that is stable, secure and easy to use (even for non IT-guys) but also has a lot of features for power users.

(i already described my IT-history at another place https://boesebeck.name/v/2013/4/19/meine_it_geschichte)

My iMac which I used for quite some time (since beginning of 2011) did die in a rather spectacular way (for a Mac): it just did a little "zing" and it was off. Could not switch it back on again, broken beyond repair... :frown:

So, I needed some new Hardware. Apple unfortunately missed the opportunity at the last hardware event end of 2018 to add newer hardware to the current iMacs. There is still an more then 2 year old cpu working. Not really "current" tech, but quite expensive.

The pricing of Apple products is definitely something you could discuss about. The hardware prices were increased almost for everything, same as with the costs for new iPhones. This is kind of outrageous...

In this context, the new MacMini is a very compelling alternative. The "mini Mac" always was the entry level mac and was the cheapest one in the line up. Well, you need to have your own keyboard, mouse and screen.

now, the MacMini got finally some love from Apple. The update is quite good: recent CPU, a lot of useful ports (and fast: 4x Thunderbolt-3, 2x USB-A 3.0, HDMI). This is the Mac for people, who want a fast desktop, but do not want to pay 5000€ for an iMac Pro.

I was a bit put off by the MacMini at first, because it does not have a real GPU. Well, there is one form Intel - but you could hardly name it a Graphics Processing Unit.

That always was the problem with the MiniMac - if you want to use it as Server, fine. (I have one to backup the photos library) But as Media-PC? or even a gaming machine? No way.... as soon as decent graphics is involved, the MacMini failed.

But with thunderbolt 3 you can now solve this "problem" using an eGPU (external graphics card). How should that work? External is always slower than internal, right?

Well, not always. Thunderbolt 3 is capable of delivering up to 40GBit/s transfer speed and current GPUs only need 32GBit/S (PCI-express x16). This sounds quite ok... (although there is some overhead in the communication)

But it is quite ok. I bought the MacMini with an external eGPU and I am astonished, how much power this little machine has. All the connectors, cables, dongles etc do not look as good as the good old iMac. And the best thing: if you want to upgrade your eGPU, because there is a better one fine... or upgrade the mac mini and keep the eGPU - flexibility increase!

Performance comparison

Of course, my 8 year old iMac cannot keep up with the current MacMini, that would be an unfair comparison. But I have to admit that the 2011 iMac was a lot quicker when it comes to graphics performance. So for gaming the Mini is not the right choice.

The built in Harddisk, of course, is a SSD. Unfortunately it is soldered fix and cannot be replaced. But it is blazingly fast and does read/write with up to 2000MB/sec.

If I take a look at my GeekBench results of the Mini, the single core benchmark is similar to the curren iMac Pro with a Xeon processor. That is truly implressive. But, of course, in the multicore benchmark the mini can't keep up - it just has not enough cores to compete with a 8-Core machine - I have the "bigger" MacMini with the current generation i7 CPU.

I plugged in (or better on) an external Vega64 eGPU. This way I could compare the Graphivs performace with other current machines using the Unigine benchmarks. In those benchmarks, my Mini has about the same speed as an iMac Pro with the Vega64. This is astonishing.

Costs

Well, how much does all this performance cost? Is it cheaper than a good speced iMac 27"?

The calculation is relatively simple. To get something comparable in an iMac you need to take the i7 Processor - although this one is about 2 generations behind. As an SSD-Storage, 128GB is probably not enough, 512 sounds more reasonable. Anything else can be attached over Thunderbolt-3. A Samsung X5 SSD connected via Thunderbolt-3 is even faster than an internal SSD - so no drawback here.

You should increase the memory yourself, as Apple is very expensive. This way an upgrade to 32GB is about 300€ - Apple charges 700€!

But for comparison the RAM is not important, as with the iMAc I would do it exactly same. So lets put that together. Right now, an eGPU case is about 400€, than a Vega64, also about 400€, the MacMini is about 1489,- € plus 250€ for a screen (LG 4k,works great), and additional 100€ for Mouse and Keyboard. All in all you end up with 2539,- +/- 200€!

Just for comparison: the iMac would cose about 2839,- € - but in this configuration it would be slower than the Mini. With a Vega64 and a comparable CPU the mini in this configuration is more comparable to the base model of the iMac pro, which is 5499,-€ (but still has a slower GPU!).

conclusion

The new MacMini is definitely worth a thought. Considering the costs in comparison to other Macs, especially when you do not have to buy everything at once (like buy the MacMini, 3Monts later the RAM upgrade, 3 Months later eh eGPU case and again later the GFX-Card). The biggest disadvantage of the Mini is, that you now have more cables on your desk compared with the iMac...

I do have the Mini now running for some months and I love it! If you need a desktop, the MacMini is worth a try! Even compared with a MacBook!

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category: global --> drones

5 inch sub 250g possible?

Thanks to the not so new drone laws and the rules that were introduced, it is in most countries only allowed to fly drones freely without regulations if the drone is lighter than 250g - especially if you want to do FPV. (in Germany, if the drone is heavier than 250g you need a Spotter, which keeps an eye on your drone and shouts out "Danger" if something happens or whatever).

Regarding to ensurance a sub 250g drone is considered a toy and is also better.

But real racing quads do have 5" props, sub 250g is only possible with 3" - or is it?

Druckbär Ultralight

Have a look at Druckbär. The frame Ultralight 3, only weights 30,7g in 5 Inch!

Using a 20x20 Flightcontroller-Stack it is possible to keep the weight unter 250g including a Runcam Split mini. Then you can do full-HD recordings AND fly FPV.

Parts used:

• Druckbär Ultralight 3
• HGLRC XJB F440 Stack inkl. VTX
• Runcam Split mini
• XNOVA 1804 Motoren - 15g jeder!

All put together the mini racer weight with props about 160g. With a small Lipo (650 or 850 mAh minimum) you end up with about 250g.

Hints for the build

The Stack is simple to build, but we need to keep an eye on some specialities. I wanted to achieve some things with that build:

1.lighter than 250g (that’s the point, right?) 2. I wanted to control the Runcam Split Mini via the FC and the Taranis (switching on and off would be enough for a start) 3. I want SmartPort Telemetry on the Taranis. The OSD would warn about end empty lipo, but the audible warning is a lot better. 4. I wanted also to be able to control the VTX settings using the OSD or Taranis.

Spoiler-Alert: I got everything to work, except for number 4.

How did I do that?

The FC does have 2 "free" UARTs (serial ports that can be used for some periperals). One is used for ESC-Telemetry (the FC can read out temperature, RPMs etc) the other should be used for controlling the VTX.

All that is a bit of a problem, as we need 4 UARTs: ESC-Telemetry, RuncamSplit Mini, VTX and SmartPort.

FrSky SmartPort Telemetry

The simplest thing first: Smart port is possible using the LED-UART, which I did not use for this build. So jus solder the SmartPort Telemetry from the FrSky-Receiver to the LED OUT port

in Betaflight you need to remap the corresponding resources, this was in my case like this:

resource LED_STRIP 1 NONE
resource SERIAL_TX 11 A01
save

For that to work, the checkbox for "softserial" needs to be checked (Configuration Tab). After running those commands, you can see the virtual UART in the Serial Port Settings - set this to SmartPort then.

That was it for me. If it does not work for you, you should try to change the settings for tlm_inverted (on or off). In any case tlm_halfduplex should be set to on

set tlm_halfduplex = ON
set tlm_inverted = OFF
save

(Hint: the smartport of FrSky is inverted. But the FC is expecting an inverted signal. So if you set inverted to on, it will invert its expections! Crazy thing, but this acutally meens inverted from expectation.)

Controlling Runcam Split Mini

from the hardware this was quite simple. I used UART6 for the Runcam. You solder RX to TX, meaning RX6 from the FC is connected to TX from the Runcam, and TX6 from the FC to the RX pad from the runcam. Ground needs to be added also - voila!

Do not vorget to solder the video out of the runcam to the CAM-Port of the FC.

Well, this should work. But it did not... at least not really. It seems there are some problems with the firmware and runcam, so it works from time to time but not reliably. With Betaflight 3.4 new settings were added, which should fix those problem:

set rcdevice_init_dev_attempts = 8
set rcdevice_init_dev_attempt_interval = 2000
save

It seems, the problem was that the Runcam needed to long for initializing. That means, the FC was up, the runcam not. And so the FC did not find it reliably. So I increased the timeout with those settings. Theoretically the Runcam may now need 16secs to init.

Remark: there seems to be a bug in Betaflight, i could not store those settings! Did not work as expected

ESC Telemetry

This is also quite simple. ESC telemetry should be configured for UART3 and you are done. Well... almost ESC telemetry is read only, means, you solder the RX-Pad of the UART (here UART3) to the ESC-Telemetry port of the FC.

VTX Steuerung

This is not really working yet, I do not know why. The Idea is, that the vtx control is connected to a sending only pad of the FC. So I soldered it to the TX-Pad of UART3. Now you only need to create a new virtual UART that is using this pad:

resource SERIAL_TX 3 NONE
resource SERIAL_TX 12 B10
save

done...

Now I could set the VTX-Control in the port settings. The Setting was possible, but it is not working. I also tried to configure it the other way round - creating a virtual RX-Pad. Did also not help.. (then nothing works)

I will put an update here if I know more

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category: global --> drones

DIY Lipo 1s Volt Checker

If you fly small drones like the Blade QX Nano at home in your livingroom or any other tiny whoop, you end up with the problem having a lot of 1s batteries but no 1s battery checker. There are a ton of checkers out there, but most of them need at least 5V to operate - 1s only has 3.7 to 4.2 V...

so up until now I used a standard multimeter to check it or have the lipos checked by the charger.

But that is clumsy to do so I created my own little DIY 1s lipo checker (well, you could use it for all other types also, but there is already something available, right )

You need:

1. A volt meter, like this here: (get it from Amazon)
2. Female connectors for your 1s batteries. In my case it was a molex for the blade nano ( from MyLipo) and a Walkera plug (also from MyLipo)
3. if you want, you can use a fancy litte box. If you happen to have a 3D-Printer, just print that one here: STL-File: 1s_lipo_check_box.stl

Now lets put all together. Which is also quite simple:

1. if you use the box, please put the plugs in first! After you soldered everything, you won't be able to fit the plugs in!
2. Just connect the two red cables from your to plugs to the red cable of the voltmeter. This is a 2-in-1-Connection then. Use heatshrink here.
3. same with the black wires
4. put the voltmeter from underneath into the lid of the box. Should fit on its own, but just add some hot glue for safety.
5. close the lid - done!

if you want, you can add a little hot-glue to the lid.

At the end, it looks like this:

Have fun building it!

PS: with the same principle you can build a 4s checker. Well, there are a lot of good ones out there, but I created one, I can also connect to a balancer board (because it has both a male and female 4s balancer plug):

this way I can monitor what happens on my parallel charing board when connecting the lipos and even see what happens during charing and balancing. Pretty cool...

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category: global

Worauf es beim Homepage-Layout ankommt

there is no english version of this text available

Anm.: Dieser Text wurde zur Verfügung gestellt von homepage-erstellen.de

Worauf es beim Homepage-Layout ankommt

Hat man erst einmal die ersten Hürden bei der Erstellung einer Homepage gemeistert, muss man sich um ein passendes Layout kümmern. Ein übersichtliches und ansprechendes Layout sorgt dafür, dass relevante Inhalte leichter gefunden werden können und Seitenbesucher eher zurückkehren.

Was ein gutes Layout auszeichnet

Beim Layout einer Homepage gilt es zunächst darauf zu achten, welchem Zweck die Homepage dienen soll. Soll ein Produkt vorgestellt werden? Möchte man über die Dienstleistung einer Firma informieren? Oder nutzt man die Homepage, um über ein persönliches Anliegen aufzuklären? Wichtig ist, dass alle relevanten Informationen jederzeit gefunden werden können. Ein gutes Layout besteht aus Überschriften, Bildern, Fußzeilen und Spalten. So werden Informationen sinnvoll vorgefiltert und können schon mit wenigen Blicken erfasst werden. Das erhöht für den Besucher der Seite den Bedienkomfort und die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass man zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt die Seite nochmal aufsuchen wird. Zuerst werden beim Layout Farben und Formen wahrgenommen. Ein farbenfrohes Layout kann sich zum Beispiel für ein Portfolio eignen, das Kreativität ausdrücken soll, passt aber kaum zu bestimmten Firmen oder Dienstleistern. Bei diesen ist es wichtig, dass man die Informationen zu jedem Produkt sofort finden kann.

Seitenleiste zum Teil sehr nützlich

Laut www.homepage-erstellen.de kann sich eine Seitenleiste als sehr nützlich für Besucher der Seite erweisen. Dort sollten aber nicht die wichtigsten Inhalte, sondern hauptsächlich ergänzende Informationen zusammengefasst werden. Die Ausrichtung spielt dabei keine große Rolle und die Seitenleiste kann sowohl auf der rechten als auch auf der linken Seite angebracht werden. In der oberen linken Ecke sollte sich ein Logo befinden. Bei E-Commerce-Seiten ist der Warenkorb meist in der rechten Ecke angebracht. Das Suchfeld befindet sich oftmals direkt neben dem oder in direkter Nähe zum Warenkorb.

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category: global

T-Entertain-hell

For quite some time we used satellite tv and had a dish on our roof. So far so good, all was ok more or less. Then this ineffable HD+ came along, you're not allowed to record anything in HD, and if, then you are not allowed to fast forward anything... when timeshifting, no fast forward is allowed and so on. (Why would you want a hd-receiver then?)

Well, my contract with Telecom is quite old, so I decided to give them a call and get a better deal. And during that call I was also asking about T-Entertain. The callcenter agent was very polite, although she did not have deep technical knowledge. She mentioned the data rates would be higher with T-Entertain than with satellite... well...

But what really annoyed me most are those statement, all of which i had confirmed several times during the call:

• "Of course you can fast forward HD-Recordings" - ** wrong! Private tv channels can not be fast forwarded**
• "of course you can fast forward during timeshift in HD" - ** also wrong - same as above**
• "You can also use the app and see everything you recorded on your device" - wrong, if you pay additional 6€ a month you can watch live TV, but not your recordings

This was not something mentioned by accident, I asked several times and had that confirmed. The callcenter agent also came up with a story about her parents moving to t-entertain and everythin was soooo awesome and she knows all the features because of that.

I called a second time and had a guy on the phone, who seemed to have more knowledge. He also mentioned "of course HD recordings can be fast forwarded", but when I asked "also the private channels", he mumbeled something like "no, those not"... this seems to be the "official wording"

I feel a bit kidded at the moment...

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category: Computer --> programming --> MongoDB --> morphium

MongoDB Messaging via Morphium

One of the many advantages of Morphium is the integrate messaging system. This is used for synchronizing the caches in a clustered environment for example. It is part of Morphium for quite some time, it was introduced with one of the first releases.

Messaging uses a sophisticated locking mechanism in order to ensure that messages for one recipient will only get there. Unfortunately this is usually being solved using polling, which means querying the db every now and then. Since Morphium V3.2.0 we can use the OplogMonitor for Messaging. This creates kind of a "Push" for new messages, which means that the DB informs clients about incoming messages.

This reduces load and increases speed. Lets have a look how that works...

Messaging in Morphium - how it works

As mentioned above with V3.2.0 we need to destinguish 2 cases: are we connected to a replicaset (only then there is an oplog the listener could listen to) or not.

no Replicaset => Polling

No replicaset is also true, if you are connected to a sharded cluster via MongoS. Here also messaging uses polling to get the data. Of course, this can be configured. Like, how long should the system pause between polls, should messages be processed one by one or in a bulk...

All comes down to the locking. The algorithm looks like this (you can have a closer look at Messaging.java for mor details):

1. send a command to mongo, which will lock all messages either send directly to me (= this messaging) or is for all and exclusive (should only be processed once). Every system can be identified with a unique UUID and this id is use for locking, too. it will either lock one or all matching messages - depending if you want to process one or all
2. read in all locked messages
3. process them
4. mark message as processed by me (UUID->processed_by)
5. do a pause (configured) and go to 1.

Replicaset => OpLogMonitor or ChangeStreamListener

The OplogMonitor is part of Morphium for quite a while now. It uses a TailableCursor on the oplog to get informed about changes. A tailable cursor will stay open, even if thera are no more matching documents. But will send all incoming documents to the client. So the client gets informed about all changes in the system.

With morphium 4.0 we use the change stream instead the oplog to get polling of messages done. This is working as efficient, but does not need admin access.

So why not use a TailableCursor directly on the Msg-Collection then? for several reasons:

1. it only works with capped collections. Which is not a showstopper in our case, but unpleasant
2. it only informs about new entries in the collection. But the locking algorithm depends on the update being atomic - hence this is not working. We could try to lock messages by erasing old ones and creating new ones, but this is not atomic and will lead to misreads.

Messaging based on the OplogMonitor looks quite similar to the algorithm above, but the polling simplifies things a bit. on new messages, this happens:

1. is the incoming message an exclusive one, just try the locking described above. But as we now have the ID, it is a lot simpler and more efficient.
2. is it non exclusive (and not send by myself), just process it
3. is it an exclusive message and sent directly to me, process it

usually, when an update on messages comes in, nothing interesting happens. But for being able to reject messages (see below) we just start the locking mechanism to be sure.

how to use Messaging

Well, that is quite simple. Kust create an instance of Messaging and hit start.

of course, you could instanciate it using spring or something.

Message sending

to send a message, just do:

this message here does have a ttl (time to live) of 5 secs. The default ttl is 30secs. Older messages will automatically be deleted by mongo.

Messages are broadcast messages by default, meaning, all listeners may process it. if you set the message to be exclusive, only one of the listeners gets the permission to process ist (see locking above).

this message will only be processed by one recipient!

And the sender does not read his own messages!

Of course, you can send a message directly to a specifiy recipient. This happens automatically when sending answers for example. To send a message to a specific recipient you need to know his UUID. You can get that by messages being sent (sender for example) or you implement some kind of discovery...

storeMessage vs queueMessage

in the integration tests of Morphium both methods are being used. The difference is quite simple: storeMessage stores the message directly do mongodb whereas queueMessage works asynchronously - which might be the better choice when it comes to performance.

receiving messages

just register a Message listener to the messaging system:

here, messaging is the messaging system and message the message that was sent. This listener returns null, but it could also return a Message, that should be send back as an answer to the sender.

Using the messaging-object, the listener can also publish own messages, which should not be answers or something.

in addition to that, the listener may "reject" a Message by sending a MessageRejectedException - then the message is unlocked so that all clients might use it again (if it was not sent directly to me).

usage of messaging - cache synchronization

Within Morphium the CacheSynchronizer uses Messaging. It needs a messaging system in the constructor.

The implementation of it is not that complicated. The CacheSynchronizer just registers as MorphiumStorageListener, so that it gets informed about all writing accesses (and only then caches need to be syncrhonized).

on write access, it checks if a cached entity is affected and if so, a ClearCachemessage is send using messaging. This message also contains the strategy to use (like, clear whole cache, update the element and so on).

Of course, incoming messages also have to be processed by the CacheSynchronizer. But that is quite simple: if a message comes in, erase the coresponding cache mentioned in the message according to the strategy.

And you might send those clear messages manually by accessing the CacheSynchronizer directly.

And we should mention, that there you could be informed about all cache sync activities using a specific listener interface.

conclusion

the messaging feature of morphium is not well known yet. But it might be used as a simple replacement for full-blown messaging systems and with the new OplogMonitor-Feature it is even better than it ever was.

---

category: Computer --> programming --> MongoDB --> morphium

New Release Morphium 3.2.0Beta2 - Java Mongo Pojo Mapper

Hi,

a new pre-release of morphium is available now V3.2.0Beta2. This one includes a lot of minor bugfixes and one big feature: Messaging now uses the Oplogmonitor when connected to a Replicaset. This means, no polling anymore and the system gets informed via kind of push!

This is also used for cache synchronization.

Release can be downloaded here: https://github.com/sboesebeck/morphium

The beta is also available on maven central.

This is still Beta, but will be released soon - so stay tuned

---

category: global --> drones

Drone beginners guide

This is the german version, I will translate it bit by bit in the upcoming weeks

(Achtung: das hier hat keinen Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit, die Links zu Amazon habe ich nur der Einfachheit wegen gewählt. Amazon hat auch nicht immer das günstigste Angebot! Diese Anleitung und Empfehlung muss nicht für jeden passen! Die Gesetzlichen Bestimmungen die hier erwähnt wurden sind Stand Jan 2018 in Deutschland, ich habe keine Ahnung, wie das in anderen Ländern aussieht!)

Aber ich wurde jetzt schon des öfteren gefragt, wie soll man anfangen, mit Drohnen und ist das nicht fürchterlich teuer...

... und da fängt es ja schon an. Eigentlich sagt man ja nicht mehr "Drohne" sondern eher "Multicopter". Die Medien haben dem Begriff "Drohne" einen so negativen Stempel aufgedrückt, dass die Community oft lieber was anderes hört. Ich nutze den Begriff hier aber doch. "Copter" fühlt sich irgendwie hölzern an.

bevor man überhaupt fliegt.

Es ist schon auch wichtig, sich mal mit dem Regeln im Bereich Modellflug / Drohnen vertraut zu machen, bevor man sich überhaupt so ein Ding zulegt. Es gibt nämlich viele Leute, die einfach aus Unwissenheit in diesem Bereich Straftaten begehen.

Grundsätzlich hilft es aber, den gesunden Menschenverstand einzuschalten.

Disclaimer: das ist mein Verständnis von den Regeln und das, was ich mir dazu angelesen habe. Es soll eine Einstiegshilfe sein, ist aber sicher nicht 100% vollständig und deckt sicher nicht alle Fälle ab! Lest auch die Drohnenverordnung einfach noch mal durch.

Auch wenn ich selbst die Drohnenverordnung für zum Teil ziemlichen Blödsinn halte, plädiere ich dafür, dass man sich daran hält, denn sonst kommt es für alle nur noch schlimmer!

Haftpflicht Versicherung

Das wird auch beim Kauf eines Copters immer wieder unter den Teppich gekehrt: man ist verpflichtet in Deutschland eine Haftpflichtversicherung zu haben, die Drohnen- / Modellflug mit abdeckt. Und dann auch in entsprechender Höhe. Des weiteren sollte in den Bestimmungen der Versicherung das "wild" Fliegen erlaubt sein, d.h. einfach über irgend einem Acker fliegen. Wenn das nämlich nicht drin steht, kann man nur auf Modellflugplätzen fliegen.

Die meisten "normalen" Haftpflichversicherungen haben Modellflug explizit ausgeschlossen oder nicht implizit eingeschlossen. Deswegen wird man sich in den meisten Fällen eine gesonderte Versicherung zulegen müssen. Da gibt es in einigen Foren ein paar echt gute Vergleiche, beispielsweise im drohnen-forum.de.

Ich selbst habe mir eine Versicherung bei der Deutschen Modellsport Organisation DMO besorgt.

Und nicht vergessen: um Probleme zu vermeiden, sollte man den Versicherungsnachweis beim Fliegen mit sich führen!

Kennzeichnungspflicht

Drohnen ab einem Startgewicht von mehr als 250g benötigen eine Kennzeichnung mit einem nicht brennbaren Schild, auf dem die Adresse des Drohnen Besitzers steht.

Der Sinn dahinter ist sicherlich fraglich, Verstöße dagegen könnten aber theoretisch mit hohen Geldstrafen geahndet werden.

Davon wird sich der Terrorist sicher abschrecken lassen, sein Drohne mit Sprengstoff zu beladen - denn ohne Adresplakette darf er ja nicht starten -

Gewicht der Drohne

ist erstaunlicherweise auch vom Gesetz her wichtig. Denn alles was leichter als 250g ist, gilt als "Spielzeug" und bedarf kaum weiterer Regeln (abgesehen von der Haftpflicht). And die Regeln, wo man fliegen darf muss man sich aber natürlich auch halten!

zw. 250g und 2kg muss die Drohne gekennzeichnet werden, darf aber sonst - gemäß aller anderen Regeln - frei geflogen werden (wenn die Versicherung vorhanden).

zw. 2 und 5kg darf man die Drohne nur dann fliegen, wenn man den berühmt berüchtigten "Drohnenführerschein" sein eigen nennt. Kostet auch noch mal was...

Alles was schwerer ist als 5kg benötigt eine gesonderte Aufstiegserlaubnis von der Luftfahrtbehörde.

Wo darf ich fliegen?

Eigentlich ist das keine positiv, sondern eine Negativliste - müsste also heißen, wo darf ich nicht fliegen.

Grundsätzlich gilt: auch bei Flug per Videobildübertragung (FPV) immer nur in Sichtweite bleiben! Und grundsätzlich nicht höher als 100m. (beim normalen FPV-Flug nicht höher als 30m)

Es gibt aber noch eine Menge Flugverbotszonen, z.B. um Flughäfen (2km von der Außengrenze weg), öffentlichen Gebäuden, Justizgebäuden, Autobahnen und Seestraßen / Verkehrswege auf Flüssen etc. und Industrieanlagen. Das ist schwer zu erkennen, wenn man sich in der Gegend nicht auskennt. Deswegen mal im Internet nach "No-Fly-Zones" suchen, da gibt es Karten. Und natürlich gibt’s dafür auch ne App

Die teureren Kameradrohnen haben teilweise diese No-Fly-Zones auch einprogrammiert. Eine DJI Phantom mit aktueller Firmware lässt sich z.B. in der Nähe eines Flughafens so ohne weiteres gar nicht mehr starten. Ob das nun Gängelung oder ein Sicherheitsvorteil ist - darüber erhitzen sich die Gemüter...

Außerdem ist es verboten über "Wohngrundstücken" zu fliegen, es sei denn, man hat die Erlaubnis des Eigentümers / Mieters. Also in der Stadt ist fliegen damit eigentlich grundsätzlich nicht erlaubt!

Man darf auch nicht über Menschenansammlungen fliegen - mehr als ca. 5-10 Personen reichen da schon.

Naturschutzgebiete sind auch tabu. Landschaftsschutzgebiete gehen, es sei denn, es ist ausdrücklich verboten.

Grundsätzlich sollte man niemanden gefährden, seine Privatsphäre verletzen oder ihn einfach nur stören. Nehmt Rücksicht!

Eigentlich alles "Gesunder Menschenverstand", oder? Aber dennoch kommen immer wieder ein paar Super-Spasten auf die Idee, auf dem Münchner Flughafen startende / landende Flugzeuge möglichst nah zu filmen.

Wenn ihr euch nicht sicher seid, kann man bei der zuständigen Gemeinde im Zweifel auch mal anfragen. Die sollten Auskunft geben können.

Eigentlich ist das Fliegen überall sonst erlaubt, es sei denn, der Grundstücksbesitzer verbietet es. Grundsätzlich darf man ja auch z.B. private (und natürlich auch öffentliche) Waldstücke betreten zu persönlichen Erholung (wenn die nicht eingezäunt sind - sobald der Zugang beschränkt ist, darf ich auch nicht drauf und dort starten). Solange man da nicht allzu sehr stört, darf man dort auch fliegen.

Falls der Besitzer allerdings es euch untersagt, müsst ihr gehen. Aber: den Überflug kann er meiner Meinung nach - sofern es sich nicht um ein Wohngrundstück handelt, denn da ist's eh verboten - nicht wirklich verbieten. Insbesondere in größerer Höhe - wenn man da auf Kopfhöhe rumfliegt ist das sicher was anderes.

Was darf ich und was nicht?

Wieder: Gesunder Menschenverstand! und Respekt gegenüber anderen und deren Privatsphäre.

Also: Privatsphäre ausspionieren ist natürlich verboten. Also ist nix mit der Drohne mal eben in Nachbars Schlafzimmer filmen oder die sexy Nachbarin beim Sonnenbad beobachten.

Kleine Anmerkung am Rande: das geht unbemerkt 100%ig nicht! Selbst mit den teureren Drohnen ist es aus einer Höhe von mehr als ca. 30m kaum noch möglich eine Person zu erkennen, geschweige denn Details die ein Ausspionieren "interessant" machen würden.

Außerdem müsst ihr, wenn ihr eure Videos auf Youtube oder ähnliche Plattformen hochladen wollt darauf achten, dass ihr nicht gegen den Datenschutz verstoßt. Personen müssten theoretisch der Veröffentlichung zustimmen!

Gefährdung: die Propeller von so einer Drohne drehen sich mit mehreren 1000 Umdrehungen pro Minute und sind relativ "scharf". Wenn da eine Hand, ein Arm oder ein Gesicht dazwischen kommt, sind heftige Verletzungen vorprogrammiert! Denkt daran, dass so eine Drohne auch mal einen Fehler haben kann. Die Elektronik versagt, so ein Propeller bricht, ein Lager klemmt, die Software hat Schluckauf, was auch immer. Und dann fallen da 1,5kg vom Himmel oder fliegen mit Vollgas gen China (wenn der GPS Empfang ausfällt z.B.)!

Also denkt an den Worst-Case! Kein Foto/Video ist es wert, dass da jemand zu Schaden kommt!

Nachtflug: ist in Deutschland für Privatleute verboten. Also man darf von Sonnenaufgang bis Sonnenuntergang +/- 30 Minuten fliegen.

Autonomes Fliegen: In Deutschland verboten. Der Pilot muss immer Herr über sein Flugfahrzeug sein, auch wenn es unbemannt ist. Alle Automatismen funktionieren zwar, man muss aber zugegen sein und eingreifen können. Und es muss in Sichtweite geschehen.

Fliegen Außerhalb der Sichtweite: Auch wenn die modernen Kameradrohnen eine hohe Reichweite für die Videoübertragung haben (DJI rühmt sich mit bis zu 2km), ist es in Deutschland verboten außerhalb der Sichtweite zu fliegen.

FPV Flug: Das bedeutet, man fliegt mit einer Brille vor den Augen, die einem das Video-Signal der Drohne zeigt. Das sieht so aus, als würde man "auf" der Drohne sitzen und selbst fliegen. Einfach nur geil.... so sieht das dann aus. Aber auch das ist gesetzlich geregelt. Auch hier: nur in Sichtweite. Wenn die Drohne mehr als 250g wiegt, dann auch nur mit Spotter und normalerweise nicht höher als 30m.

Ein Spotter ist eine Person, die soz. aufpasst, dass keine Gefahr übersehen wird und den Copter auch immer im Blick hat. Das ist auch wirklich hifreich, wenn man mal wieder gecrashed ist. Nur weil man das Video-Bild hat, weiß man noch lange nicht, wo man eigentlich ist!

Racer vs. Fliegende Kamera

Zurück zum Thema, wie fange ich an mit den Drohnen.

Da muss man sich auch erst mal schlau machen, was man eigentlich will. Im Grunde gibt es für den privaten Sektor 2 "Arten" von Drohnen: Fliegende Kameras und Racer. Und dann gibt es noch die Frage zu klären, ob man lieber eine Drohne von der Stange kauft oder doch sein handwerkliches Geschick nutzt und sich selbst was baut.

Fliegende Kameras

Das sind die Dinger, die extrem einfach zu fliegen sind (meistens) und auch die meisten Probleme in den Medien machen. Wenn irgendsoein Voll-Horst in der Einflugschneise von einem Flughafen rumfliegt, ist das eigentlich immer jemand mit einer Phantom oder so was in der Art.

Das liegt in der Natur der Sache: diese Drohnen sind dafür gemacht, dass man sich aufs Fotos oder Videos Schießen konzentrieren kann, und das Fliegen findet nur nebenbei statt.

Ernstzunehmende Vertreter dieser Kategorie Drohnen haben eigentlich immer einen GPS-Sensor, Kompass und Höhenmesser an Board, mit dem man das Teil einfach an den Himmel nageln kann. Wenn man über die Fernsteuerung (oft auch Sender oder "Funke" genannt) keine Eingaben macht, bleibt so eine Phantom da stehen, wo man sie hin manövriert hat. Und da bleibt sie dann so lange, bis der Akku leer ist.

Diese Teile haben als Design-Ziel, dass das Fliegen in den Hintergrund tritt, d.h. die Technik nimmt einem so gut wie alles ab. so muss man sich noch nicht mal Gedanken über den Akku machen - ist der nahezu leer, fliegt die Drohne selbsttätig (wenn man nicht eingreift) zum Startpunkt zurück und landet dort (GPS sei Dank). Und ja, da kann man eingreifen - wäre ja sonst nicht erlaubt

Die Technik

Die ist bei dieser Art von Drohnen eher Foto-Technik denn Flugtechnik. Das Fliegen dient quasi nur als Plattform und ist nicht der Mittelpunkt. Man kann dort meistens auch nur wenig "rumbasteln". Allerdings machen diese Drohnen auch normalerweise weniger Crashes, weshalb ein "Basteln" nur wenig Sinn machen würde. Vor allem will man das gar nichts riskieren, da die Teile recht kostenintensiv sind.

Das bedeutet auch, die Lernkurve ist recht flach: Jeder kann so ein Ding nach der Anleitung abflugbereit machen und ne Runde drehen. Das ist kein Hexenwerk. Viel können / üben muss man dafür nicht.

Eigentlich wären das die Idealen Einstiegsgeräte, nur leider halt recht teuer in der Anschaffung.

Für wen?

Wenn ihr also atemberaubende Fotos und Videos aus der Höhe machen wollt, ist so eine Kameradrohne sicherlich eine Überlegung wert.

Ich habe recht schnell rausgefunden, dass es für mich nicht das alleinig richtige war. So eine Phantom 3 fliegt sich wirklich super einfach, die Fotos und Videos sind toll. Aber dynamische Videos lassen sich damit nur schwer drehen. Der Gimbal entfernt jegliche Dynamik. Das Teil fliegt sich eher wie ein "Omnibus".

Wen das Fliegen interessiert und die Videos sollen echte Flugmanöver zeigen, der sollte lieber auf Racing Drohnen setzen.

Auf was sollte ein Anfänger achten

Das Problem mit diesen Kamera-Drohnen ist, dass sie recht teuer sind - diese ganze Technik kostet halt. Und leider macht es überhaupt keinen Sinn, eine Billig-Drohne für diesen Zweck zu kaufen.

WiFi in diesem Segment sicher eine Möglichkeit, um damit auch die Steuerung der Drohne zu übernehmen. Bei all meinen Versuchen mit verschiedenen Drohnen hat Wifi aber leider gezeigt, dass es eben nicht für so was geeignet ist. Die hochpreisigeren Exemplare haben jedoch eigentlich immer einen eigenen Übertragungsstandard (DJI setzt z.B. auf eine LTE ähnliche Übertragungstechnik) oder übertragen einfach ein SD-Bild (meistens als normales RF-Video-Signal), speichern aber selbst ein HD-Bild auf einem lokalen Datenträger ab.

Achtet darauf, dass die Drohne die Videos selbst auf eine SD-Karte o. Ä. speichert. 4K-Videos lassen sich nur schwer störungsfrei übertragen, die Aufnahmen leiden stark drunter (selbst die aktuellen DJI-Drohnen übertragen kein 4k Bild!).

Die Drohne sollte die Kamera über einen sog. Gimbal stabilisieren. Da sich der Copter in die Richtung kippen muss, in die er fliegt, ist es nötig, die Kamera entgegen zu neigen. Das erledigt das Gimbal. Hat man kein Gimbal, wackelt das Bild, so wie die Drohne eben auch. Das ist einer der Hauptunterschiede zu Racern: da will man ja, dass man die Dynamik des Videos mit bekommt, und sich das Bild neigt!

Also, meine Empfehlung im Bereich semi-professionelle Kameradrohne wäre (wobei ich da nur wenige getestet habe - es gibt sicher noch andere):

• DJI Phantom 3 oder 4 (muss nicht die Pro sein, sollte aber auch nicht die Standard sein)
• Yuneek Typhoon Q 500 (kann auch 4k, ist deutlich größer als die Phantom, aber auch günstiger)
• DJI Mavic Pro (zusammenklappbar - super für unterwegs).

Die Dinger sind natürlich alle eine recht hohe Investition. Mit Zubehör ist man da gleich mal gut 1200 bis 1800€ los +/-. Will man einfach nur mal reinschnuppern, gibt es auch Modelle, die einem da helfen, aber qualitativ bei weitem hinter den oben genannten liegen. Da gibt es Modelle schon ab ca. 200-300€. Jedoch ist es auf Grund der doch recht komplexen Technik eher ratsam sich das zu sparen und was brauchbares zu kaufen (z.B. gebraucht). Ist man sich aber nicht sicher und bewusst, dass die billigeren Vertreter dieser Gattung auch mindere Qualität (sowohl was die Flugeigenschaften, die Sicherheit als auch die Foto und Videoqualität betrifft) liefern, dann wäre das ein Einstieg.

In dem Seqment sind das eigentlich alles sog. "Ready to Fly"-Sets, man benötigt also nichts weiter als das Teil (evtl. noch einen Satz Propeller, und den ein oder andern Akku). Das sind alles im Normalfall rundum-sorglos-Pakete. Da sind ein oder zwei Akkus dabei, meist auch Ersatzpropeller, eine Fernbedienung und manchmal sogar ein Bildschirm, welcher das Bild der Drohnenkamera zeigt.

DIY Kameradrohne

Das ist natürlich auch möglich. Durch die vielen Verbauten Komponenten (GPS, Kompass, Höhenmesser, am besten Redundant mit Luftdruck und Sonar, Steuerung der Kamera / des Gimbal etc) ist das aber deutlich mehr Aufwand als eine Racing Drohne zu basteln. Und auf deutlich mehr Recherche nötig.

Für Anfänger in dem Bereich ist das sicher nicht das richtige. Baut zunächst mal was einfacheres...

Racer (FPV)

Das sind die Formel-1 Boliden unter den Drohnen. Diese Dinger sind recht schnell (100km/h keine Seltenheit) und man fliegt damit Rennen - wenn man will. Viele Nutzen die aber auch für sogenanntes "Freestyle" fliegen - im Endeffekt macht man dabei Stunts, Rollen, Flips etc.

Da die Racer für Crashes ausgelegt sind, kann man auch mehr risiken eingehen beim Fliegen - Stunts nahe am Boden, Fliegen mit High-Speed durch Wälder...

FPV steht hierbei für "First Person View", man hat so eine Brille auf, die einem ein Videobild Zeigt als würde man "auf" der Drohne sitzen und mitfliegen. Das hier wäre so ein Video - so ähnlich war es auch in meiner Brille zu sehen, allerdings in schlechterer Qualität.

Das Feld der FPV-Racer ist mittlerweile extrem... es gibt tausende Sets, Technologien etc. Das ist kaum zu überblicken für jemanden, der neu ist.

Hier mal ein paar Vorschläge, womit man anfangen könnte:

Tiny Whoop / Micro Quad

Für den Anfang sind die FPV-Flieger in der Tiny Whoop-Klasse (ich nenn die mal so, wenn man nach Tiny Whoop sucht, bekommt man viele Treffer) echt super. Die kann man auch in der Wohnung fliegen, draußen geht auch schon mal, wenn es nahezu windstill ist. Die Anschaffung ist nicht allzu teuer und die Teile machen Spass.

Beispielsweise die Blade Inductrix FPV

Das Teil macht einfach nur Spass! Leider benötigt man dafür eine Spektrum kompatible Funke. Aber dazu später noch mehr.

wobei das nicht ganz stimmt, ich hab mir meine TinyWhoop auch selbst zusammengebaut: Acrowhoop Flight Controller inkl. Taranis Empfänger, Mircomotor Wharehouse Insane Motoren!

Ein weiterer Vertreter dieser Indoor-Variante, allerdings mit deutlich mehr Dampf, als die Inductrix ist der Armor 90 (ist auch etwas größer)

Das Teil ist nur unwesentlich teurer als die Blade, hat aber durch die Brushless Motoren wesentlich mehr Power und kann dennoch einen Crash verkraften. Der Flight-Controller ist ein "Standard" FC und läuft mit Betaflight! Betaflight ist die Software auf dem Flight Controller (FC). Das ist wichtig, da proprietäre software - gerade bei billigerer China-Ware - einen nichts anpassen / einstellen lässt. Z.B. der die FPV-Micro-Drohnen von hubsan:

Die Hubsan-Dinger sind toll, haben eine Funke mit eingebautem Video-Monitor drin und, das beste, man kann auch eine Brille nutzen, denn das Video-Bild ist ein normales 5,8GHz RF-Signal, dass z.B. auch eine Fatshark Brille "versteht" (siehe unten). Ich hab mit dem Vorgänger von diesem Copter-Modell echt viel spass gehabt. Allerdings: die Software von der Funke und dem Hubsan ist proprietäre. Da kann man nicht auf ein update hoffen, wenn was klemmt.

Außerdem hat der Hubsan auch brushed Motoren, deswegen würde ich eher zum Armor90 tendieren. Wobei man da noch eine Funke braucht. Und durch die stärkeren Motoren kann man auch mal einen Flug nach draußen wagen, selbst wenn es ein wenig windiger ist.

Damit kann man sicher super anfangen, die Teile machen Spass. Ich fliege mit der Blade-Inductrix und dem Armor90 im Winter hier in der Wohnung rum - man muss ja im Training bleiben...

Die Aufnahme der Videos / Fotos geschieht bei diesen Micro-Flitzern immer im Empfangsgerät! Die Drohne selbst kann nichts aufnehmen. Das ist natürlich etwas blöde, da die Qualität eher so meh ist und man immer wieder Störungen im Bild hat - insbesondere, wenn man im Haus rumfliegt.

größere Racer

Größere Racer bieten natürlich gleich viel mehr Power und somit auch mehr Möglichkeiten, was das Fliegen betrifft. Außerdem kann man da auch besseres Kameraequipment anbringen das FullHD-Aufnahmen in 60fps ermöglicht - sieht natürlich deutlich besser aus, als was man bei den oben genannten Winzlingen aufnehmen kann.

Auch diese gibt es natürlich schon "fertig" im set. z.B. von Graupner.

Diese Sets haben den Vorteil, dass alles in einem Kit beisammen ist, und man "nur" noch eine Funke benötigt. Da unterscheidet man zw. "RTF" also "Ready to Fly", "BNF" bind and Fly und "ARF" - Almost ready to Fly.

• BNF - Bind and Fly-Sets setzen voraus, dass man einen bestimten Typ Sender hat. Oben wird z.B. ein Graupner-Sender vorausgesetzt
• RTF hat im Normalfall gleich eine (billige) Funkte mit im Set dabei. Für den Einstieg sicher ganz nett, aber man ärgert sich (hab ich) dass man dann noch eine Funke daheim rumfliegen hat... oder, wenn man zum Fliegen geht, mehrere Sender mit sich rumschleppt.
• ARF sind normalerweise ohne Empfänger. D.h. man kann seinen eigenen Empfänger entsprechend seiner eigenen Funke nutzen. (und anschließen!)

Ein Beispiel für ein ARF-Set wäre das hier:

Die beliebteste Variante sind die sog. 5" Racer oder 250er Klasse. Das bedeutet, die Propeller haben 5 Zoll und der Motorabstand beträgt 250mm (wobei das mehr so ein ca. Wert ist). 5 Zoll trifft eigentlich eher immer zu. Der Motorabstand ist mittlerweile nicht mehr auf 250mm festgelegt, häufig findet man Rahmen, die einen Motorabstand von 210mm vorgeben.

Die 250er / 5" Drohnen werden gerne beim Racing verwendet (z.B. in der Drone Racing League DRL). Die sind im Verhältnis von Gewicht zu Power auch wirklich gut aufgestellt. So ein guter Quad kann gut 4-5kg Schub entwickeln, wiegt aber nur ca. 600g. Da passiert was, wenn man das Gas hochdreht

U250g Racer

Jetzt kommen immer mehr die sog. U250g-Racer in Mode: Racer mit einem Gewicht von unter 250g. Das wurde durch die neue Drohnenverordnung wichtig (welche auch in anderen Ländern in ähnlicher Form existiert und eine 250g Grenze etabliert). Diese haben zumeist Propeller mit 3 oder 4 Zoll. Die haben natürlich viel weniger Leistung, wiegen aber auch viel weniger. Vom Flugverhalten sind die den 250ern sicherlich in vielen Bereichen unterlegen, aber fühlen sich auch in vielen ebenbürtig an.

Diese Art Quads hat den Vorteil, dass man ohne Spotter - also auch mal allein - FPV fliegen kann, ohne gleich Probleme mit den Gesetzeshütern fürchten zu müssen.

noch größer?

Geht natürlich auch. Wer mag, kann sich auch einen 10" Copter bauen. Diese sind dann aber zumeist deswegen so groß, weil man Kameraequipment mit tragen möchte. Also eher die DIY-Version von einer Kameradrohne...

Lipo

Das ist der Akku der den Copter mit Strom versorgt. Lipo kommt von "Litium Polymere" und zeigt die Technik dahinter. Diese Dinger sind echte Power-Wunder. So ein Lipo kann gerne mal mehr als 100A Strom liefern!

Achtung: Ladegeräte sind in fast keinem Drohnen-Set dabei! bei einigen RTF-Sets sind (recht schlechte) Ladegeräte im Lieferumfang enthalten. Man sollte aber wirklich die 50€ für ein brauchbares Ladegerät investieren. Wenn so ein Lipo kaputt geht ist das auch nicht gut. Aber ihr benötigt ein Ladegerät das Litium Polymer-Akkus (Lipos) laden kann! Für den Anfang reicht sicherlich ein einfacher iMax B6, damit hab ich auch angefangen (ok, ich hatte am Schluss 3 davon - aber so kann man 3 oder mehr Limos gleichzeitig laden ) Auf Amazon gibt es da auch noch eine Menge Alternativen. Am besten sind wohl momentan die Lader von ISDT, kann ich nur empfehlen.

Achtet beim Kauf drauf, dass ihr nicht einen China-Clone bekommt - die messen sehr häufig falsche Werte und überladen gerne mal eine Zelle! Das kann gefährlich werden. Also nicht am falschen Ende sparen.

Apropos Zellen: Lipo-Zellen liefern immer 3,7 (leer) bis 4.2 Volt (voll). Um höhere Voltzahlen zu erreichen werden mehre Zellen zusammengeschaltet. So werden z.b. für Quads meist 3 oder 4 Zellen seriell geschaltet, man nennt das dann einen 3S oder 4S Lipo (genau genommen einen 1P3S also 1x parallel, 3xSeriell).

Da die Zellen mehr oder minder getrennt voneinander sind, können sie sich auch unterschiedlich laden / entladen. Deswegen müssen Ladegeräte das sog. "Balance Charging" beherrschen. D.h. sie messen die Voltzahlen der einzelnen Zellen und sorgen dafür das keiner überladen wird und alle am schluss gleiche Spannung haben.

Aus diesem Grund haben Lipos meistens auch zwei Arten von Anschlüssen: Den, über den der Strom abgezogen wird (Meist ein sog. XT60 Anschluss bei den größeren Drohnen, XT30 bei den kleineren) und einen Balancer-Clip.

Die Voltzahl bestimmt wie schnell sich so ein Motor drehen kann. Je größer die Volt-Zahl, desto größer die maximale Power. Aktuelle 5"-Modelle fliegen im Normalfall mit 3S oder 4S, einige verkraften auch 5S.

Die Winzlinge under den Coptern, die Micro-Copter, fliegen normalerweise mit 2S oder 3S lipos.

Tiny Whoops nehmen 1S lipos.

man sollte sich zwingend ein wenig in die Technik und die Gefahren von Lipos einlesen, denn sonst geht so ein Teil bei stark unsachgemäßer Behandlung gerne mal recht spektakulär in Flammen auf! Das ist bei sachgemäßer Behandlung zwar kein Problem, aber man muss es halt wissen.

Basteln

Wenn man sich so einen Racer zulegen will, muss man sich zwangsläufig mit der Technik auseinander setzen. Das hat mehrere Gründe:

• es gibt schon fertig zusammengebaute Sets, jedoch hat man da häufig nicht die Premium-Qualität
• man wird, wenn man so dynamisch fliegt wie es so ein Racer eigentlich verlangt, 100%ig crashen und es geht 100%ig irgendwann was zu Bruch. Dann muss man es reparieren.

Wem also der Lötkolben ein Graus ist, wer keinen Bock hat, sich mit der Technik auseinander zu setzen, der sollte von einem "echten" Racer eher die Finger lassen. Oder extrem vorsichtig fliegen

Die Komponenten:

Wie fliegt eigentlich so ein Ding und was muss man wissen. Deswegen hier kurz mal erläutert, was man braucht:

Der FC oder Flight Controller

das "Gehirn" von so einem Copter. Das ist normalerweise eine erschreckend kleine Platine mit 30 oder 20mm Lochabstand (für die Montage am Frame). Der FC regelt die Lage und nimmt die Befehle vom Empfänger entgegen (die dieser wiederum von der Funke erhält)

An Hardware mangelt es da überhaupt nicht, bekannte Marken sind Matek, TBS, Flyduino, Raceflight, Betaflight, HGLRC. Fast alle setzen auf die Opensource-FC-Software "Betaflight".

Betaflight ist die Software (das Betriebssystem) des FC und man wird sie selbst konfigurieren müssen. Selbst bei einem Set wird man sich mit damit auseinander setzen müssen. Zu Informationen dazu, wie man die Software einrichtet und konfiguriert, schaut euch die Videos von Joshua Bardwell an - sind zwar auf Englisch aber echt informativ. Ich mach evtl. hier auch noch mal den ein oder anderen Beitrag dazu - wenn ich wieder oft gefragt werde

In der von mir genannten Riege sind Fylduino und Raceflight Ausnahmen: die setzen nicht auf Betaflight, sondern haben eine eigene Software. Flyduino hat als Markenname KISS etabliert und das steht für "Keep it Super Simple". Die KISS FCs sind auch recht einfach zu verlöten. Aber haben nicht so viele Features, wie die meisten anderen Betaflight Fcs. Raceflight ist im Endeffekt das gleiche (wobei sie jetzt wohl Teile der Software opensource gemacht haben).

Ich persönlich habe die besten Erfahrungen mit KISS-Fcs gemacht. Die sind recht einfach zu verdrahten und die Firma sitzt in Deutschland (Hamburg glaub ich). Der Support von denen ist auch gut. Allerdings können die preislich natürlich nicht mit der Chinaware mithalten...

Am Einfachsten zu verbauen sind sog. AIO-Fcs. Das sind "All in one" Flight controller, die haben z.B. noch ein OSD mit auf der Platine, und ein PDF (beides s.u.) und manchmal sogar noch die ESCs...

Von KISS gibt es da das AIO CC. Die sind gerade für Anfänger super simpel zu verlöten - da muss nämlich nur der Motor dran, der Empfänger und eigentlich kann es dann schon los gehen! Allerdings sind die mit 99€ auch nicht ganz billig.

Kritiker betonen gerne, dass wenn irgendwas kaputt geht - und wenn man crashed, passiert das schon mal - dass man immer gleich die ganze 100€-Platine tauschen muss. Das ist wohl richtig... Aber dafür geht es super simpel. Und bei einem Crash, bei dem der FC komplett kaputt geht, da wäre auch bei einer Trennung der Komponenten viel hin gewesen.

Betaflight Fcs gibt es viel zu viele um die hier aufzulisten. Mal abgesehen davon, dass ich wirklich nur einige wenige getestet habe. Joshua Bardwell hat eine Übersicht über die Seiner Meinung nach besten gemacht - youtube

Von Flyduino gibt es natürlich auch einen "normalen" FlightController. Den KISS FC. Die Version 1 davon bekommt man gerade recht günstig, da die Version 2 mittlerweile verfügbar ist.

Im Moment ist noch kein Unterschied zu merken, habe ich mir sagen lassen. Ich habe hier aber biser nur die V1.03 laufen gehabt.

Die Motoren

Da unterscheidet man zwischen brushed und brushless Motoren. Erstere werden hauptsächlich für Micro-Quads wie z.B. Tiny Whoops verwendet. Brushed Motoren sind leicht anzuschließen und zu steuern (2 Kabel dran. Je nach angelegter Spannung, dreht sich der Motor). Allerdings haben diese Motoren einen rech hohen Verschleiß und gehen schnell kaputt. Brushless Motoren haben im Normalfall auch deutlich mehr Power und weniger Verschleiß, wiegen dafür aber mehr. Die brushless Motoren für Copter sind im normalfall 3-Phasen Motoren und haben somit 3 Kabel - eins für jede Phase.

Die Motoren haben verschiedene Kennzahlen, die man kennen sollte: Die wichtigste Zahl ist die Größe des Motors. z.B. 2206 bedeutet 22mm Durchmesser, 6mm Höhe. Je größer diese Zahlen, desto Mehr Kraft hat so ein Motor. Aber er benötigt dann im Normalfall auch mehr Strom.

Die zweite Zahl ist die KV-Zahl. Das heißt wie viel Umdrehungen schafft so ein Motor pro Volt. Üblich sind z.B. 2500kv = d.h. bei 16,8V sind max 42.000 Umdrehungen drin!

Bei einem 5"-Copter wird man auf normalerweise 2206 / 2207 und irgendwas zw. 2100 und 2500kv setzen. Ich hatte z.B. die "Schubkraft 2206, 2500kv" Motoren auf einem meiner Quads. Bei einem heftigeren Crash hat es mir da einen Motor zerlegt. Momentan fliege ich auf meinem 5"er Cobra 2100kv Motoren.

Grundsätzlich gilt zu sagen, dass man sich vorher evtl. mal auf youtube über Motoren schlau machen sollte, jedoch reichen für den Anfang vermutlich billigere. Die Teile reizt man eh nicht aus. Ich würde evtl. auf DYS Motoren gehen, sind zwar nicht die Effizientesten, aber dafür recht robust.

Sehr beliebt sind Motoren von Lumier oder gebrandete Motoren von bekannten Quad-FPV-Piloten wie Mr Steele, oder Skizzo.

ESC

Das sind die "Electronic Speed Controller" die man für brushless Motoren benötigt. Oft auch einfach "Regler" genannt. Diese nehmen das (heutzutage meist digitale) Signal entgegen und übersetzen das in eine Drehzahl. Die ESC steuern auch die 3 Phasen des Brushless-Motors. D.h. auf der einen Seite geht rein: Strom +/-, Steuersignal. Raus gehen die 3 Kabel für den Motor.

Bei den ESC ist es wichtig, dass die gut mit eurem FC können. Sehr verbreitet sind momentan ESCs mit der Software BLHeli drauf. Aber auch hier gibt es welche von Flyduino mit einer proprietären Firmware: den 25A Race ESC oder den gleichen mit 32A.

Was bedeutet das? Nun ja. Die KISS ESCs haben (im gegensatz zu vielen billigeren Varianten) eine Maximale Ampere Anzahl, bei der sie irgendwann einfach abschalten. Würden sie das nicht tun, würde die Platine durchbrennen.

Das ist äußerst ärgerlich wenn das im Flug passiert, sie aber spektakulär aus

Achtet darauf dass die max Ampere eurer ESCs zu den Motoren passen. Insbesondere wenn die nicht geregelt sind!

Das PDB

Das Power Distribution Board. Irgendwie muss der Strom ja vom Akku zum Motor gelangen und sollte auf dem Weg auch gleich noch so Dinge wie die Kamera und FlightController betreiben. Das PDB regelt genau das. Es gibt dort normalerweise ausgänge für die ESC, 5v/12v geregelte Ausgänge für Empfänger, FC, Kamera etc.

Diese Teile sind im Normalfall recht billig. Kein großer Kostenfaktor. Achtet nur darauf, dass die anvisierte Ampere-Anzahl auch vom PDB verkraftet werden kann. Einige PDB haben auch noch ein OSD eingebaut, was einem dann wirklich hilft, die übersicht zu bewahren. Ich hab so ein PDB von Matek in meinem 5-Zöller Lisam210.

Empfänger / Funke

das Ding ist der Empfänger für die Steuersignale der Fernbedienung (Funke). Was mir am Anfang überhaupt nicht klar war, war das jeder Empfänger nur das Protokoll eines Herstellers spricht. Hat man also einen Empfänger von FrSKY, kann man keine Funke von Spectrum nutzen. Steht so irgendwie nirgends erklärt... fand ich mal wichtig zu erwähnen.

Es gibt da momentan wohl ein paar "Große" Player am Markt:

• Spektrum: war schon immer da war wohl einer der ersten, der Funken für Privatleute angeboten hat. Fast alle RTF-Modelle setzen auf das Spektrum Protokoll
• FlySky: bietet recht günstige Funken an. Ich habe dieses System nie ausprobiert, die Funke fühlt sich aber echt bililg an
• FRSky: wohl eine der Beliebtesten Marken unter den Herstellern von Fernsteuerungen. Die setzen zu 100% auf OpenTX und das macht es so flexibel. Außerdem können sie Telemetrie, ich bin mir nicht sicher ob alle anderen das können
• Graupner: ein Hersteller aus Deutschland der mit seinem HOTT-System wohl große Reichweiten erreicht. Auch können sie, ähnlich wie FrSky, telemetriedaten an die Funke senden.

Ich würde da immer wieder FrSKY empfehlen. Da gibt es eine recht günstige Variante, die Taranis QX7.

Ich persönlich würde aber die Taranis X9D Plus Special Edition wählen. Die ist zwar teurer hat aber deutlich bessere Komponenten verbaut und fühlt sich für mich einfach wertiger und passender an.

FrSky hat den großen Vorteil, dass sie als Betriebssystem der Funke OpenTX einsetzen. Das ist ein OpenSource Betriebssystem für Modellbau Fernsteuerungen! Damit lassen sich tolle Dinge machen. Außerdem bieten fast alle Receiver von FrSky einen Telemetrie-Kanal an. Damit können Informationen wie z.B. der Ladezustand des Lipo an die Funke übertragen werden. Das ist wichtig zu wissen, wenn so ein lipo zu weit entladen wird ist er im besten Fall einfach nur hin... im Schlimmsten Fall wird der Quad zum Feuerball!

Da scheiden sich auch die Geister. Einige mögen es lieber, diese Information in einem sog. OSD angezeigt zu bekommen. Das ist Geschmackssache.

VTX

Das ist die Abkürzung für den Video-Sender. Der ist erstaunlicherweise nicht proprietär. Wenn ihr einen 5,8GHz sender habt, funktioniert der mit jedem 5,8GHz Empfänger (Brille oder Bildschirm). Das Signal ist dabei ein analoges RF Signal. Wer sich noch an die früheren Röhren TVs erinnern kann - genau so was, halt nur viel kleiner

Die beliebtesten Hersteller dafür sind wohl TBS mit ihrem TBS Unify Pro, Matek mit dem Matek VTX HV und Immersion RC Tramp.

Ich habe hier momentan den TBS Unify Pro im Einsatz und den Matek VTX Hv. Ich kann den Matek aber wirklich empfehlen, kostet die Hälfte vom TBS Unify und hat einige Vorteile gegenüber dem Unify Pro. So hat der Matek z.B. LEDs die auf einen Blick anzeigen, welcher Sender und welches Frequenzband eingestellt ist. Außerdem hat er einen geregelten 5V-Ausgang, der für 1A ausgelegt ist. Was für den Betrieb von einigen FPV-Kameras ganz interessant ist.

Dafür hat er "nur" 32 mögliche Kanäle, der TBS derer 40. Das war für mich bisher kein Problem, allerdings kann das zu einem Problem werden, wenn mal wirklich "Racen" will.

Außerdem hat der TBS einen Sog. PID-Mode. Das bedeutet, er sendet nicht gleich beim start mit voller Sendeleistung, sondern nur minimal. So dass man die anderen Racer weniger stört und doch an den Einstellungen feilen kann.

Ich würde für den Anfang aber auf jeden Fall den Matek vorziehen.

FPV-Camera

das ist die Kamera, die das Bild "zum Fliegen" aufnimmt. Die sind meistens mit nicht waagrecht ausgerichtet, sondern zeigen "nach oben" - meistens zw. 30° und 40°. Macht man das nicht, filmt die Kamera in den Boden, wenn man nach vorne fliegt.

Die beliebtesten Hersteller davon sind wohl Runcam und Foxeer. Beide haben mehrere Modelle im Angebot, die man in den Racer bauen kann. Für den Anfang würde eine Runcam Swift oder eine Foxeer Arrow vermutlich reichen.

HD-Camera

Die FPV-Camera hat naturgemäß eine recht besch... Qualität. Ist aber auch auf Latenz ausgelegt. Beim schnellen Fliegen ist eine Latenz von 50ms schon fast zu viel (eine Phantom liegt da deutlich drüber!) Damit man dennoch schöne Videobilder bekommt, schnallen viele noch eine Full-HD Kamera oben drauf. Mittlerweile gibt es aber auch kombinierte Systeme.

Ich habe hier in allen meinen Racern mittlerweile die Runcam Split verbaut (V1 und V2). Ich bin damit sehr zufrieden. Denn so muss ich nicht noch eine GoPro oder Xaomi Yi auf den Copter schnallen.

OSD

Falls man sich Informationen über den Quad in dem VideoFeed anzeigen lassen will, benötigt man ein OSD - On Screen Display. Das zeigt dann, je nach Konfiguration, z.B. die Fluglage an (künstlicher Horizont), Ladezustand des Lipo, Flugdauer etc.

Ein OSD ist eine zusäztliche Platine, die man mit unter bringen muss. Bei einigen FCs ist so ein OSD mit drin. Wichtig ist, das OSD muss natürlich mit dem FC "reden" können, denn sonst hat es ja nichts zum anzeigen

Auch für KISS-FCs gibt es OSDs von Flyduino.

Frame

oder auch Rahmen. Das ist das "Gerüst" an dem all das oben genannte angebracht wird. Der Frame bestimmt auch, was überhaupt möglich ist. Deswegen sollte man sich da auch genau ansehen, was man Kauft. Die Frames sind heutzutage eigentlich immer aus Carbon gefertigt, d.h. extrem stabil und das sollten sie auch sein. Der Frame muss nämlich die Innereien bei einem Crash schützen!

Für 5" Frames sind momentan wohl die sog. "Alien" Frames beliebt oder "Lumier 250". Ich persönlich hab hier einen "Emax Nighthawk 210" und einen "Lisam 210". Beide wirklich gut. Das hier ist der Lisam210:

Bei den 3-Zöllern wird es schon spannender. Der Leichteste Frame ist der "Redux 130" von Flyduino. Ist auch recht simpel zusammenzubauen. Allerdings ist die Elektonik nur wenig geschützt. Toll ist er dennoch...

Mein neuester zugang ist der GepRC Sparrow - auch ein 3" Flitzer, leichter als 250g:

Ich hab hier noch ein paar andere, die sehen aber entweder dem einen oder dem anderen ähnlich.

Eigentlich kann man sich den Frame aussuchen, der einem am besten gefällt. Der rest ist eigentlich egal. Es muss halt nur alles reinpassen. Das kann schon mal etwas "spannender" sein

FPV-Goggles

Da gibt es eine Menge unterschiedlicher Systeme. Aber eigentlich haben alle eine Brille von FatShark. Ich habe u.a. eine Fatshark Dominator V3.

Die sind nicht umsonst die Platzhirschen unter den FPV-Brillen. Aber es gibt auch deutlich günstigere Alternativen, z.B. die Eachine EV800d.

Das teil ist wirklich gut, und vor allem nicht allzu teuer. Wobei es die Variante ohne D schon für weit unter 100€ gibt - für den Einstieg sicher die bessere Alternative.

Der Unterschied zwischen beiden ist die sogenannte "Diversity" - d.h. die goggles haben 2 Antennen (meist verschiedene Bauarten) um damit optimalen Empfang zu erhalten. Der Empfänger schaltet automatisch auf die Antenne um, die das stärkere Signal hat.

Damit haben wir die Komponenten mal aufgezählt. Jetzt gibt es für alles 100e Alternative.

ok, ich will fliegen...

Dann geht man als Anfänger vielleicht folgendermaßen vor:

1. Will ich mehr so Luftaufnahmen machen und weniger fliegen? Dann auf zur nächsten Kameradrohne! Phantom 3 sind mittlerweile ganz gut gebraucht zu bekommen und nicht allzu teuer. Aber das sind die Luxus-Flieger!
2. will ich doch so in Richtung FPV und "Spass"-Fliegen, dann sollte man sich evtl. zunächst so ein RTF-Set besorgen, evtl. das Teil von Hubsan mit dem eingebauten Screen in der Funke. Zum Anfang völlig ausreichend. und da kann man daheim gut rumfliegen. Und dann ist man schon mit weniger als 150€ dabei.
3. Dann gilt noch eines klar zu stellen: Will man FPV-Fliegen, dann will man auch löten! Es wird nicht ohne Crashes von Statten gehen. Das Hubsan-Teil wird auch irgendwann neue Motoren benötigen. Also macht euch damit vertraut.
4. Übt den Flug LOS (Line of Sight), denn wenn eure FPV Übertragung warum auch immer ausfallen sollte, müsst ihr den Vogel landen können! Das geht in der Wohnung aber natürlich auch draußen. Am einfachsten Fliegt sich so ein Teil, wenn das Heck auf euch zeigt. Sobald das Ding auf einen zu fliegt, ist alles verdreht und es macht die Steuerung extrem gewöhnungsbedürftig.
5. kommt man auf den Geschmack und möchte so "echtes" FPV Feeling, sollte man sich eine Brille zulegen.
6. Ist man mit dem Hubsan zufrieden und stellt fest: "I feel the need, the need for speed" dann sollte man brauchbares Equipment besorgen.

Spätestens bei Punkt 4 sollte man eine Versicherung haben, wenn man noch daheim in der Wohnung und im Garten rumfliegt ist ja alles ok, aber sobald man "größer" wird und raus geht, ist das zwingend nötig!

Außerdem sollte man sich in der Umgebung mal nach Gleichgesinnten umsehen. Denn - sobald man einen 5" Copter sein Eigen nennt, kann man FPV nur noch fliegen, wenn man einen Spotter zugegen hat. Außerdem kann man beim Austausch mit den anderen eine Menge lernen.

oder man baut sich einen 3" Copter und kann als lone flyer die Gegend gesetzeskonform unsicher machen

Für den Anfang würde ich folgende Ausrüstung emfpehlen:

• Eine Funke, ich empfehle Taranis X9D Plus SE (oder, wenn es etwas günstiger sein soll die QX7 - ca. 100€) Aber macht das auch ein wenig vom persönlichen Geschmack abhängig. Preis/Leistung ist bei FrSky eigentlich ungeschlagen...
• wenn ihr die Funke habt, könnt ihr auch schon mal am PC / Mac üben. Es gibt da einige Quad-Simulatoren, da kann man schon mal ein Gefühl bekommen. z.B. auf Steam: Liftoff!
• Besorgt euch eine leichte mini-Drohne mit brushless Motoren. Ihr werdet selbst mit 3s beim Umstieg von Hubsan extrem staunen, was das Ding an Leistung hat. Ich kann den oben erwähnten Armor 90 nur empfehlen! Flotter kleiner Winzling
• ein paar Lipos. Für den Armor 90 gehen 2S und 3S lipos mit max 450mAh.
• Ein Lipo Ladegerät. Ich hatte für dein Anfang ein iMax B6... dann 2... dann 3
• FPV Goggles - die oben genannten Eachine sind für den Anfang super. Damit habe ich auch angefangen.
• Einen Lötkolben, Lötzinn etc. Werkzeug, eine sog. 3. Hand

Spart nicht am Falschen Ende: die Funke wird man wirklich lange haben, aber Copter vermutlich eher viele! Die halten nicht wirklich lange

Alles zusammen kommt man auf ca. 500-600€. Dann ist man aber wirklich gut aufgestellt für die Zukunft.

Fazit

Macht euch vorher gedanken, geht mit gesundem Menschenverstand and die Sache ran und ihr werden super viel Spass damit haben. Sei es mit Kameradrohnen, mit Racern oder Micro-Quads.

Ich hoffe, ich konnte bei einigen von euch ein paar Fragezeichen klären...

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category: global --> drones

New mini drone sub 250g

partlist:

• Frame GEPRC Sparrow Mini 139mm, got it from Amazon
• Motoren Emax 1306 4000kv - also Amazon
• KISS AIO CC - from Flyduino or n-factory
• RUNCAM Split V2 -I got it from n-factory
• MATEK VTX HV - got it from Amazon
• FrSky R-XSR Empfänger - N-Factory
• Aluminium Prop nuts from Banggood
• you will need a lighter linear antenna for the VTX - the one(s) from Matek are too heavy and too long for this build. I got some from ebay

building it

The best thing about KISS builds is that they are simple (KISS = Keep It Super Simple). So, if the build itself is simple, you can add some complexity like keeping it below 250g including HD Recording...

If you want to put these parts listed above together, you will need to modify the frame a bit. There is a little notch that is used for keeping mini cams in place. but in our build, it is using too much space. You need to grind or cut it.

Make it as flat as possible, it will keep marks in the case of the Split otherwise.

Then put together the roll bar. This is a bit fiddly but the split will fit exactly. So it will be a very tight fit. If you do it that way, the minimal angle at which the split can be positioned is about 35°. If that is too steep for you, you will have to use a different frame or a different camera.

Once you got the roll bar finished, the rest is quite simple... except...

you will have to rotate the FC 90° in Yaw (either clockwise or counterclockwise). I chose clockwise, so that the USB-Port is in the Back of the quad. You need to do the rotation as the roll bar would not fit otherwise. The FC is just a couple of mm longer than wide.

But if you rotate it, it fits perfectly

Attention: even if you set the rotation in the FC GUI for the FC itself, the motors do not rotate! Motor #1 is still front left!

But the rest is quite simple - its a KISS build after all...

1. update the Firmware (FC and ESC) first, as it is probably not easily possible afterwards. (boot button is blocked by the buzzer)
2. Mount the EMax Motors to the Frame. Mind the rotation! I only used 2 screws f- we need to save weight.
3. Solder motors to the motor outputs of the FC. As the FC is rotated, you will have to lengthen the motor leads a bit. 1.use short standoffs (Nylon because of weight) and attach the FC with them to the frame.
4. solder Lipo connection. I used Xt30 (for weight and all my other builds use xt30)
5. connect the R-XSR receiver. It is rather straight forward: red 5v, black GND, white S-Bus, yellow Telemetry / SmartPort

7. solder a connection from the RX-Pad of the Runcam Split (or Split V2) to the TX-Pad of the KISS AIO CC.
8. In order to be able to control the Matek VTX via the FC, you need to solder a connection between the TX-Pad of the Matek to the RX3 Pad of the AIO-CC.
9. Connect the beeper / buzzer. The only place I found to put it is in the front of the quad. Unfortunately it will block the boot button. Maybe I can put it to the top later. If you want to put it there as I did, use some hot glue to mount it there

10. connect video out from RunCam to VTX
11. Power from LIPO directly to the Matek VTX
12. I used the 5v output of the Matek to power the Runcam. I read it is possible to do that directly from the lipo, but I did not dare to. The 5V BEC of the Matek is rated for 1A - so it should be fine.
13. Put all together (small standoffs), put the roll bar on and do not pinch cables.
14. Throw away the ultra heavy prop nuts from emax and get some aluminium ones from Banggood!
15. Test it using a smoke stopper - just to be sure you did not short something.
16. bind the receiver to the taranis.
17. Check in the KISS Gui that everything works. Test the motors one by one if they spin in the right direction. If not, exchange 2 of the 3 motor leads.

Aaaand... here you are. should be fine now. You just finished the 3-inch-KISSer. If all worked out, it should fly now.

but you will have to have a closer look at the GUI first.

Configuring the FC...

UAV Type / PIDs

We do have a quad, a receiver that speaks S-Bus and the Failsafe should kick in after 2 Seks. The default setting was 10s, but I think 2 seks is even long! I kept the standard PIDs (3 - 0,035 - 10 für Pitch / Roll und 8 - 0.05 -0 für Yaw). Of course we will do some PID tuning later..

General Settings / AirMode

I used no Air Mode on this build, just to see a difference. Airmode means (simplified), that the FC is powered on, even if there is no throttle on. Usually when there is no throttle, the FC is more or less switched off. The advantage is, that in flight, especially when doing tricks, your quad is still controllable even if you set to min throttle. The downside is that you need to be careful when landing. This sometimes causes the quad to bounce.

When using KISS you can enable AirMode by setting Min-Command to 1000.

The alternative is, in order to keep the Quad controllable even during no-throttle time, is to set an idle up switch in der Taranis. This only adds a little value to the throttle value and keeps the FC "on" even if thottle is set to minimum.

AUX functions

With the AUX Channels you can configure additional functions that can be enabled using additional switches / sticks on the FC. So you can switch beween stabelizd /level mode and acro mode, switch on the split, change power settings of the vtx and so on.

I use AUX1 to arm the quad. When switching AUX2 to high or mid position, I switch on level/stabelized mode. The Buzzer is enabled when AUX2 is high, that means when enabling the buzzer, the quad is stabelized. That may sound a bit strange, but you only switch on the buzzer when the Quad is lying on the ground.

Using another switch, which sends via AUX4, I can switch the Power of the VTX to High. Attention in Germany you may only use 25mW!

I can switch on/off the recording of the Runcam Split using the AUX3 channel. This is cool, I can switch on / off hd-Recording mid flight!

Usually, if you have such a switch, you do not want the switch to start recording when powered on. You need to change this setting via the OSD or the Wifi-Module and the App.

Advanced Tab - Lopo Alarm

I set a lipo alarm f just for safety.

13,9v only works for 4s lipos!

Advanced Tab FC Orientation

very important here you need to set the 90° for Yaw - or the copter will not fly at all or crash instantaneously!

if you rotated your FC the other way, you will have to set 270° here. Check your settings in the live view on the Data Output Tab!

Advanced Tab - VTX Config

This is very important. You need to set the right vtx type here. If that is correct, you can change power, band and channel via the taranis. For the Matek VTX you need to set it to IRC Tramp!

Band and channel is the Band and channel that will be set when powering on the FC. You can change that via the Taranis later if you want.

Verdict

It is still a bit early as I could not fly her yet. But she is a beauty the 3-inch-KISSer

And it is below 250g Puh...

Update 1st of January 18

I went for the Maiden Flight. It was fun and all went well... almost. One Crash and the frame broke. Not sure if it was my flying "skills" or the Frame...

Watch the whole Flight on youtube

update 2nd update 10th of January 18

got spare part (a new Frame) and re-built it. Flies now as before. It does not look like, there is a design flaw at the frame. Hope this one lasts longer than the last.

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category: Computer --> programming

create your own custom sounds for Taranis X9D (Mac OS)

Everybody who owns a Taranis X9D (or something similar) is familiar with this problem: the standard soundfiles are crap and the soundpacks available for the tarans can do a hell of a lot, but not what you need.

For example, right now you can configure your quad with the Taranis and LUA-Scripting via telemtetry. You can also configure your FC to have some of those functions on certain switches - which you do not have a proper soundfile for.

So, I thought we need to create our own soundpack. fortunately this is quite simple on MacOS. There is the command say which lets you run the text-2-speech system on the mac to say something. and this works from commandline! Awesome wonders of unix os!

say does take some options. with -v you define the voice to use and with -o you can define an output (aiff) file. That is cool, but the taranis cannot use aiff - you need to convert it.

If you did not install bew on your mac already, you should do that right now. With brew you get access to all those unix-tools that help us a lot on linux. So then you have access to ffmpeg which is able to convert aiff into wav as we need it - just be careful to use the right settings (32000hz, mono).

You need to do more or less the same, if you want to use your taranis as Music Player during flights.

I uploaded the script here! Attention: use at own risk! And: careful - the script will erase a folder called SOUNDS in the current directory! Please be careful!

in this file, you can define the voice quite at the beginning of the file:

I use the voice "Daniel" which is an UK-English voice. But I like it, sounds quite cool.

If you have your taranis running with a different language than english, you will need to change the directories, especially rename en to the corresponding language code.

There you can see a bash function I created to crate a wav-File from text.

Attention: the aiff files are kept for a while as ffmpeg runs in the background for performance reasons. those files get deleted later.

With this function you can define your sounds. It takes 2 parametrs: the filename (without extension) and the text to say to that file.

you should not change the files in the upper part of the script, as those create the system files needed by opentx to run smoothly.

At the end of the file, you can add custom texts which need to be created. I added here only a couple of values, most of them I really use in my setups:

here you can add your stuff... whatever you like!

and here you can download the script!

Have lots of fun with it!

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category: global

new brushles micro built

I do own quite a lot of drones now, as you can read and see here for example. Especially the tiny whoops below 250g got my attention - not only because that with the new regulations for drones, everything that is lighter than 250g can be flown FPV without a spotter.

I do have 2 of those lighter 250g ones and a couple of brushed racers with 6 or 8mm brushed motors (like the eachine QX95).

But brushed motors do have their disadvantages and fortunately the brushless motors get smaller and smaller... So I built a small 90mm brushless quad racer:

These are the parts:

• Awesome E90 Frame from Bangood
• XJB V2 PBF3 EVO from Banggood, FC, 4xESC and PDB all in one (or better: all-stacked)
• Motors: BGNing 1104, 4000kv - available from amazon
• AIO Camera VTX, could use the Eachine TX01 - also available from Amazon. I used a no-name one, that I cannot tell where I got it actually
• FrSky XSR Receiver, available at Amazon

of course, you need some props and a buzzer and cable and zip-ties for mounting etc. But it was not too complicated to built, although there is not much room there...

Telemetry FrSky Taranis with Betaflight boards

This is pain in the ass! It took me ages to get that running. The problem is, that FrSky need an inverter for their protocol to work on the UART. So, if your FC does not have an inverter for your UART, you are screwed...

But, if you do a bit of research, heat up your soldering iron, it is not so hard to get done. You need to follow the instructions here, which explains where to solder one or two little cables on the XSR for this to work.

It is not that hard, you need a magnifying glass, calm hands and a very pointy soldering iron

But what really drove me crazy is the fact that, even after all this soldering action, that godamned thing did not work at all. But as usual, the problems was in the settings.

You need to open the betaflight console and disable the software inversion: set tlm_inversion=OFF otherwise it would not work. And do not forget to call save afterwards.

keep that in mind after updating!

Then telemetry worked fine!

The lipos

I did not want to have an additional connector and dedicated lipos lying around here. So I usually do only have 4s Lipos and for the brushed ones 1s of course. As I have a lot of 1s batteries here, I wanted to make use of them. So I soldered one cable that creates one 2s Lipo out of two 1s lipos (putting them in Serial, quite easy actually.) Soldering it was not that hard, but it was freaking me out connecting a red wire to a black one...

USE THIS AT OWN RISK!

So with this cable I can use the lipos of the blade Inductrix. And I do have telemetry, so I know how things are doing...

As soon as I lift off, the voltage of the lipos dropps down to about 7V more or less emediately. The mini racer flies well, but the voltage is dropping.

I do have a similar problem with the AcroWhoop - read here - I think the lipos do have some fault or they are at the end of the lifetime. I will use some replacement lipos and see how that goes.

Conclusion

This is a very much fun little racer, not too expensive and easy to handle - especially in small areas. I did get some new lipos, but as the voltage measured goes up again after landing immediately, I decided to lower the warning levels to 6,8V and 6,6V. With that I can fly about 4 minutes with 2x 600mAh lipos...

first time flying outside in the "wild" is available on youtube - raw dvr footage

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category: global

git and optware fail after Qnap update to 4.3.3

for quite some time now, I have a qnap runnin in my basement storing whatever Storage needs, my servers or family members might have.

The qnap is also being used as git server - wich was totally fine the last couple of years but failed recently...

fail after update

I just saw, that there is a firmware update pending for the TS and that this is more or less the last one for this old model (hey, the qnap is not that old, is it 3 years maybe?). There also was a warning message in the release notes that the switch to 64bit might cause some apps not to work anymore...

so far, so uninteresting. The usual blah blah... Unfortunately Optware (which installs addidional opensource software) is only available in 32 bit obviously.

But this is something you will only learn the hard way: the software just woud not work. trying to access the GUI of it, will just result in "internal server error", "page not found" or simply "Permission denied" - depending on what you just tried to make it work.

if you log in via ssh and try to use ipkg in the shell, you will get a file not found error, although you tried to exec the file specifying the absolute path. The linux gurus know - this means some lib is missing!

And in that case, I do not need to dig further - the 32 bit libs are not there anymore.

That would not be the problem, but everything installed by Optware also relies on those libs and hence fails now... bummer!

to solve the problem..

.. you install an alternative to optware called entware. You download the file and install it via Qnap-GUI. Unfortunately this tool does not have a "nice" (the so called gui of Optware was never nice) GUI for this, just a command line command called opkg (mind the o).

after that you only need to create symlinks for the git-binaries (after fiddling with the sshd for enabling pk auth and more than just the admin user):

And as always - happy hacking!

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category: global --> drones

Blade Inductrix upgrade

Blade inductrix upgrade

unfortunately it was necessary, to upgrade the blade inductrix. The original one is a bit... lame! so I exchanged the flightcontroller and gave the inductrix a new brain (Furious FPV ACROWHOOP V2 Mini available at RCTech.

I also own the blade inductrix pro, which also runs betaflight and can be configured as such. This is helping a lot, but the Acrowhoop V2 also does support Taranis telemetry! Awesome!

externally there is not much to see, as the frame and the shell is the same. But the engredients changed a lot. This one is even better flying than the Blade Inductrix Pro so you can do a Split-S indoors also!

If you are an FPV enthusiast and need some good indoor training gear - go for it!

But: i need to upgrade my Lipos a bit, they are sagging a lot right now. I already had the Insane-Speed motors from MicromotorWarehouse but the original FC could not handle them - and i could not change the pids...

Now, the Acrowhoop flies great, bot after a couple of seconds the voltage drops to 3.3V... as soon as you land, the voltage rises to 3.9V or so. So, either the lipos are dead or the C-rating is too low for that. I will have to dig into that deeper...

Maybe you have an Idea?

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category: security

Virenscanner for Mac or Iphone

As some of my readers are not that good in reading and understanding German, I'll try to write some of my posts, which might be interesting in english also. I hope everything is understandable so far - This is not a translation, just a rewrite in English. Lets start with the last post about Anti-Virus Software

Anti-Virus software on the Mac or iPhone?

People are more and more concerned about viruses. Also Mac users start to worry about that threat. So, is it neccessary to install anti-virus software on the mac? I was asked that question several times lately...

First of all, this question it totally justified. Everyone should harden his computers and phones as far as he feels safe. Actually, more than a feeling would installing an anti virus software on the mac not produce. As of now there is a handfull of harmful software known for the mac, all of them will be filtered by macs own security mechanisms and thus are not really a thread anymore.

At the moment the Mac is safe - but soon...

"Soon it will be very bad for Mac users. Viruses will come..."

I hear that every year. When the new market share numbers are published and OSX gains. Then everybody tells me, that the marketshare is soon reaching some magic percentage when it will be so interesting for Virus-Programmers to write Viruses for Macs that ther will be a flood of malware. Or will there?

Of course, marketshare is definitely influencing the number of malware for a certain system. But in addition to that, you should take the necessary effort and feasibility into account. And the use... (in terms of malware: what could I gain? Keylogging? Botnet?)

I think, one should take both into account: Is the system easy to hack, it will be hacked, even if almost nobody is using it. Is the systems' marketshare not that high, but relatively simple to hack - it will be hacked! For example: the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is being attacked far more often than the marketshare leader Apache. When a system is very hard to hack, you need some good incentive to take the effort. Which could be the reason why there is no real virus for Linux or OSX.

And when I write "hacked" its more in a viruses term of use - not remote hacking of user accounts. And: it needs to be done more or less automatically by software. Otherwise there will be no real virus or worm. If somebody wants to hack a certain machine and has the knowledge, he can do it - depending on resource, effort and motivation ;-) I knew a hacker once, you could hire to hack the servers of an competitor for example. Those things are always possible. But this is almost always an administrative problem. There is no real protection against those guys. You can hack any machine you can physically touch - resources and motivation required, of course. Best example: the Jailbreaking of iOS! But if there is enough motivation, resources and knoledge, you're not really safe (see NSA & Co). So it's a question of effort: to hack the machine of a 14 year old student is definitely not as interesting as hacking the machine of a CEO of a big company or a politician.

Same thing is valid for malware and viruses: Malware is not developed for the fun of it (well, at least most of the time it's not). People want to make money with them. This is the only reason why there are Viruses! Maybe that's the reason why there is still the rumor, that actually the Anti-Virus-Software vendors pay some virus developers to spread viruses every once in a while. who knows... i cannot rule that out for sure. I met some Russian guys who claimed that to be true. If so, then I don't understand why there is so few malware for Linux and OSX. That would be a huge market for Anti-Virus-software vendors - millions of users, complete new market segment worth millions or billions of dollar.

I think, viruses are only developed to directly (data theft, credit card fraud etc) or indirectly (by spamming, using hacked machines as bots on the way to the real target, bot nets etc) to MAKE MONEY! And when money is involved: the effort and resources necessary to achieve that must be lower as the estimated revenue of course. So we are at the combination of effort and marketshare again. Marketshare influences the potential revenue (assuming that when more machines are hacked or affected by malware, more money is being made), efforts are the cots. And in some cases this is obviously not a positive figure...

malware in general

First of all, you need to distinguish between the different kinds of malware. In media and the heads of non-IT-guys all malware is named "Virus". But it's necessary to know what kind of software pest is out there in order to be able to protect yourself against those effectively.

The media and in the heads of non IT guys usually every malware is called a "virus". But in order to be able to protect yourself from those malware, it is important to know exactly what you're dealing with. You can classify three different kinds of malware: Viruses, Trojans and Worms - but there are some mixtures of those in the wild, like a virus which spreads like a worm - hence toe umbrella term "malware").

• a virus is a little program, which reproduces itself on the system and does dort it's dirty stuff. most of the time, those viruses do exploit some security holes in order to get more privileges. If those privileges are gained, the virus will do things things, you usually do not want him to do - like deleting things, sending data do a server...
• a trojan is most similar to a virus, but needs the users help to get installed. Usually it looks like some useful piece of software, a tool of some kind, but in addition to the funktionality you desire, it also installes some malware on the system. Usually the user is being asked, that the software needs more access - on OSX at least. But even if it does not seek privilege escalation, your data still is at risk. See wikipedia
• a worm is a piece of malware, that is capable of spreading itself over the network (either locally or over the internet, see wikipedia). You can easily protect yourself against worms if you just unplug the network from your computer (and/or disable WiFi) or at least disable internet access. Sounds insane, but I myself was at some offices and departments, who do exactly that: They are unplugged from the internet in the whole building, only a certain room, which is specially secured, does have internet access - but not into the local network.
• a new type of malware just got famouse with wanacry: ransomware these are usually some trojans which do then use bugs in the system to encrypt all data. And you only can decrypt it, if you send a couple of bitcoin to the author.
• of course, there are mixrures of all those types. Usually there is a trojan, that acts like a virus on the system to gain root (or admin) access and uses that to spread himself over the network (worm).

on the Mac?

you always get such "warning messages" on the mac, if any malware wants to do something, that is out of the ordenary and does need system privileges. Exactly that happened a couple of months ago when there was a Trojan, who was installed using Java and a security issue therein. But still, the users were asked, that the software needs more privileges. And enough people just said "yes" to very question...

Please do not get me wrong, I do not want to deemphasize malware. It is out there, and does cause a lot of harm and costs. But you can be saved by trojans more or less by using common sense:

• Why does the new calculator app need access to my contacts?
• Why does my new notes app need admin permissions?
• why does software XY ask about this or that permission?
• is it clever to download tools from an untrusted source, especially if this source does offer cracks or exploits or something?

It is getting harder, if the trojan uses its newly gained privileges to hack the system itself, maybe even exploiting additional security issues there, so that the user is not being asked. Then a secure operating system architecture is helping to avoid those kind of things. Which is usually implemented by all unix OS.

Viruses and worms can not be avoided so easily hence those do exploit bugs in the system. But even then, Unix based systems are a bit better suited for that case than others.

This is according to a very strict separation between "System" and "Userprocesses" and between the users themselves. And, especially on OSX, we have Sandboxing as an additional means against those malwares. And the graphical user interface is not bound so tightly to the operating system kernel like it is in Windows NT for example.

But, overall, the Admin of the system is the one, really determining how secure a system is. He should know about the problems, his OS has and can take counter measures accordingly.

Malware on mobile devices

if we are talking about malware, whe should also have a closer look at mobile devices. Especially Smartphones and alike are often attaced, because they do have a lot of interesting data which are just worth a lot of money. Or you can just make money directly (e.g. by sending expensive SMS).

to "beak into" such a closed system, very often security relevant bugs are exploited. But sometimes just social engineering is also successful.

Usualy the user is than made to do some certain action, that does involve downloading something, that is installing a trojan on the system. or just opening the system that the attacer than can install some malware. Or you just "replace" an official app in the corresponding appstore.

Trojans on the smartphone usualy are masked as litte useful tools, like a flashlight app. But they then copy the addressbook and send out expensive short text messages, switch on video and audio for surveillance and so on.

It's hard to actually do something against that, because you do not know, ob the app, you install does something evil or not. Apple is trying to address this problem with the mandatory review process that all apps in the Appstore need to pass. All apps need to pass an automated and a manual check before anyone can download it. The apps are for example not allowed to use unofficial API (for accessing the internals of the os) and that the app does exactly what the description of the app tells the users it does.

This is no 100% protecion, but it is quite good (at least, i do not know any malware on the appstore right now).

But I would also name WhatsApp, Viber and alike as malware. Those do exaclty that, what a trojan would do. Grab data, upload them to a server. But here the user happily agrees and likes it.... but that is a different topic.

on iOS users are a bit more secure, than on andriod (if you do not jailbreak your iphone). Android is based on Unix, but some of the security mechanisms within uinx have bin "twisted". So there is a "kind of" Sandbox, just by creating a new user for every app on the device. So all processes are separated from each other. Sounds like a plan. But then you end up having problems with access to shared resources, like the SD-Card. This needs to be global readable!

Also the Security settings of apps can at the moment only take "all or nothing" (that did change in later versions, at least a bit). So you can either grant the app all the permissions, it wants. or No permission at all.

Problematic is, you need to set the permissions before actually using it. This makes it very easy for malware programmers, as people are used to just allow everything the app needs.

IN addition to that, Andriod apps do have an option to download code over the internet - this is forbidden in iOS. And there is a reason for it: How should any reviewer find out, that the code downloaded stays the same after the review? Today I download weather data, tomorrow some malware wich sends chareable short texts?

Another problem is, that there is not one single store for android but more like a quadrillion of them. Hence you can install software from almost any source onto your andriod device.

of course, every os does have bugs which might be used to execute good or evil code on the device. Hence there are updates on those OS on a regular basis, which should fix security relevant bugs and issues. with iOS you can be sure, that you get updates for your device and the OS on that for at least a couple of years. (current iOS run on 3 to 4 year old hardware still). With android it is not as easi to make such a statement as the support is strongly depending on the vendor. It might be, that support for devices not older than 1,5 years are stopped. Especially the cheap Android phones loos support quite ealry, which means there are still Android 2.x out there (and you actually still can buy new devices with that installed). Including all the bugs, that the old OS version had - which makes it quit interesting for malware authors.

in combination with the a bit more insecure system and the unsecure sources of software, this makes android a lot more prone to be hacked or infected by malware. And this makes it especially interesting for the bad guys out there.

This is leading to really rediculous things like virus scanners and firewalls for smartphones. read it here in German

You can say about apple, what you want, but the approach of the review of every app for the appstore is at least for the enduser a good thing (and by that I do not mean the power user who wants to have his own Version of the winterboard installed). Even if you are not allowed to do "all" with your phone - Normal users usually do not need to.

And the poweruser can jailbreak his iphone still - and if he knows what he is doing, it might be ok.

installed software as a gateway for malware

Unfortunately viruses, trojans or more generic malware, can use any bug of any software on the system, no matter if it is part of the OS or not. So a breach can be done via a 3rd party software. Like the "virus" that was infecting a couple of thousand macs through a installed java. In this case, the user again was asked several times(!) if he wants to grant admin permission to a java app - if you agree to that, your system is infected. If not - well, nothing happens. Common sense is a great "Intrusion Prevention System" here.

Of course, osx or any other operating system cannot avoid 3rd party software of doing some dubious things - especially, if the user agreed to it. But the software is only able to gain the permissions, what the software that was used as gateway has. An on OSX and iOS all applications run in a Sandbox with very limited permissions. If the app, a malware uses as gateway does not have admin permissions, well, the malware won't have it neither.

If all 3rd party software you run on your system only has minimal permissions, then a malware that would use those as a gateway would also have minimal permissions, and could not do too much harm (and could easily be removed).

But the thing is, just getting access as a normal user is not the goal of such a virus vendor - they want your machine to be part of a botnet in order to sell your computing power or to use it in the next DDOS-attack. Or just use it as spambot.

Also it is in the best interest of this virus vendor to make it as hard as possible to remove the software from the system. So everything needs to be burried deeply into the system files, where normaly no user takes a closer look at.

And this is usually only possible, if the malware would get admin permissions. It could use "privilege escalation" hacks in order to gain more permissions - best case, without the user knowing.

Usually, the user should be asked, if any process tries to gain more permissions, and the user may or may not agree to that (that happens every time, a process tires to do something outside of the sandbox). of course, that would be bad, as it would reduce the success of the virus. So virus vendors try a lot to avoid this kind of informing or asking the user.

on unix systems this is quite some hard task, or at least a lot harder as on windows OS see here or here. In almost all of the cases, on osx the user is informed about software that does do something strange.

But there is one thing, we should think about even more: if any software could be used as a gateway, I should reduce the number of programs on it to a minimum (especially those, with network functionality... which is almost any app nowadays). Especially I should keep software that runs with admin permissions do the absolute minimum - which is 0! Unfortunately, virus scanners and firewalls and such "security" software, need admin permissions to do their job. This is one of the reasons, why anti virus software is very often target of attacks from malware and viruses and end up as spreading the very thing they try to protect us from. (this has happened on windows machines)

Then, count in that a Anti-Virus software can only detect viruses, that are publicly known for a while, you actually would not increase the protection a lot by installing this on your machine.

Same thing goes for firewalls, which have their use on windows systems unfortunately, but not on unixes or osx. How come?

Well, on unix systems the network services are usually disabled, or not installed! so the visible footprint on the internet for such a machine is quite low.

Windows on the other hand, is depending on some network services to run, even if you do not actively use it. Disabling those serivces (and SMB is one of them - this was used by wannacry!) would affect the system in a bad way and some things would not run as expected see here.

Hence, if your system does have a minimal footprint - or attackable surface - you do not need a firewall.

Btw: do not mix up this local firewall, with a real IP-filter firewall that is installed in routers!

Virus scanners on servers

So, there is a lot that explains, why using virus scanners on the desktop (especially if it is a unix desktop) can have negative effects or at least no effect. So, you're probably fine without them...

But on servers, things look a bit different.

If i have clients are not well maintained or I just do not know (or just windows ), I want to avoid storing data on my server, that could infect them. So, even if the viruses do not infect my server, or my mac. The mails could be read by other clients, that might then be infected. So, be nice to your neighbors...

Do not forget, virus scanners do need some resources. And sometimes a lot of it (they monitor every access to/from the system, which in return can or will slow it down to a certain extend).

Security is not for free

Whatever you do, security comes with a cost. in "best" case, things get inconvenient to use, cause you need to do complex authentications or need to agree to a lot of popups that pop up every second (remember Windows Vista? )

in the worst case, there are errors because of the high complexity, or expensive bacause you need additional hardware (iris scanner, external firewalls, Application-level firewalls that scan data for viruses...) and still being inconvenient at the same time. And time consuming (those systems need to me maintained).

So, you need to decide, what level of security do you want, and what is senseable. The use of an Iris Scanner for the Bathroom is probably a bit over the top... don't you think?

common sense

the best weapon in our hands against malware still is the thing between the ears! Use it when surfing, when installing software. No software will ever be able to stop you from doing something stupid to your system.

So, it is not ok to feel to safe when being on a mac. This leads to sloppiness! Passwords for example, need to be real passwords. If the password could easily be guessed, why should a malware take the detour for hacking the system? It could just "enter" it and you lost your system to the bad guys....

I don't want you to get paranoid on that neither! Just keep your eyes open. When installing software, only do it from trusted sources. And, from time to time, have a closer look. There was malware available in the AppStore for a couple of days / weeks before apple removed it. Even the best system can be outwitted.

You should think about, which apps you use and which not. And even apps, that are not really malware per se, dan do harmful things - like whatsapp and viber. You should ask what is happening there! I mean, whatsapp is uploading the addressbook to facebooks servers and the people whos data you upload there, are not asked if they like that... just a small example...

Just remember: if the product is for free, then YOU are the product

There is no such thing as free beer!

conclusion

I tried to be not tooo aniti microsoft - which is hard, because most of the security issues are only existing on windows systems. Unfortunately on windows the user needs to make it secure and stop it from doing harmful things.

Anti Virus software does lull in the user to make him feel safe, but most of them really have a louse detection rate. And really new viruses are not detected at all.

So, should you install anti virus software on a mac? You need to decide yourself, but I tend to "no, you should not". But there are valid reasons to see it differently. But I am not alone with my thoughts: see here and here.

But you definitely should distinguish between desktop and server, as you may be serving out data to windows machines as well, a virus scanner might be a useful thing.

Almost all I wrote here is valid for osx and for linux or other unixes. Right now, there is no know wide spread malware out for unix based systems, that I know of.

Additional links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_by_design
• http://www.wikivs.com/wiki/Apple_Mac_OS_X_vs_Microsoft_Windows
• http://www.macmark.de/antivirus_impossible.php
• http://www.macmark.de/osx_security.php
• http://www.hackmac.org
• http://www.maclife.de/mac-os-x-schutz-vor-viren-am-mac
• http://www.apfelwerk.de/apple_support_stuttgart_mac_os_viren.html
• https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2472

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category: Service in Germany

Ergodox EZ - That’s what support should be like

about 2 years ago I got my Ergodox EZ Keyboard via Kickstarter. I now own two pieces of them, one for home, one for work and I really lave them. I wrote here a little review about them.

Now, the older one has a little flaw now. for some reasons the E- key sometimes just does not work (so if you see an e missing here somewhere, it is due to that... and that I did not notice it).

The guys at Ergodox-EZ (well, not someone, actually the Founder himself Erez Zukerman) did answer very quickly to my question. They told me quite fast, that I will get a replacement unit in the next couple of weeks.

This is awsome! I really love the support they do! This is what support should be like!

I will post here, when I got the replacement...

Update 29.05.2017: The replacement unit arrived today. Everything is working flawlessly and it took only 3(!) days to have that sent over from Korea! No problems with customs and especially no problems with the e-key anymore

Thanks to ergodox-ez and especially to Erez Zukerman!

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category: global --> drones

My drone pool

During time and usage the number and kind of drones one flies change... so I wanted to show here my current pool of drones. This will change over time, of course. These things tend to get broken more or less often - if you do it right So, hier is a list of all flyable drones...

Some words for the technology behind it. Not everyone does know, what these mean:

• the Frame: I name my drones like my frames. As all frames are different, this is no problem. Usually made of carbon or something that is similar stiff (needs to take an impact), determines the size of the quad and which propellers you can mount (for FPV-Racer usually something between 3 and 6 inch). These frames are available in a lot of different shapes, but you can put them more or less in two classes: X and H-shaped. I own more H-Shaped drones - they look better.
• the flight controller. This is the brain of the thing. This is controlling all motors and speeds them up or down to hold a certain angle in the air. This is what makes the flying so much easier than it used to be. There are hundreds of flavours, but I prefer KISS (Keep It Super Simple) - like that motto. The Hardware of those FCs is more or less similar, but the software available for them differs: KISS, Betaflight, CleanFlight, BaseFlight, RaceFlight (KISS and Raceflight are closedSource!)
• the ESC: these are the speed controllers for the brushless motors. They actually pump in the Amps to the motor to make them spin faster. The FC tells the ESC to increase or decrease speed and they will send these speed settings to the motor accordingly. I also use ESC from KISS here, as they work great in conjunction with the KISS FC.
• The motors. As mentioned above, those are brushless electro motors. These are also available in tons of different shapes and colors. If you build an FPV-Racer with a 5" prop you usually have 2206 Motors (this number describes the with and height of the stater, the part of the motor, that actually produces force). For 3" racers usually 1306 Motors are used. Then there is the KV-Number. This has nothing to do with kilovolt, it determines rather the rpms per volt. Meaning, if you put 10 Volts to a 2100KV Motor, the RPMs the motor does would be 21000. For 5" racers these KV is usually in the range of 2000-2500kv wheres for 3" racers it is about 3000-4000kv. I use in my 5" builds Schubkraft 2205/2500kv and Cobra 2206/2100kv motors, for the 3" I used Emax RS 1106 (you need to buy those in 2 spin directions!) and DYS 4000kv.
• the FPV-Camera: this is no HD camery, this is just for transmitting an (analog) signal to the googles of the Pilot! you just connect it to the video transmitter and the pilot will see, what the camera sees. I use a Runcam Swift Rotor Riot Edition and a Runcam Owl Plus and the 3" use a Eachine 1000tvl.
• video transmitter (VTX): very important. But actually, most of the different flavors are similar to use. Some of them have additional features like Smart-Audio. This is cool, as in FPV you usually do not need audio transmission. (you would only hear feeping and rushing from the props and motors). So you can use that, to actually have the FC change settings of the VTX! So you can change the VTX-Settings via an osd or with your Taranis!
• OSD - on screen display. This is put in the middle of the Vide Camera to the VTX and will add some text to your video feed. Like current Voltage of battery, currently drawn AMPS and such. But you can also use that to change settings in some cases
• PDB: Power distribution board. This is taking the power from the Lipo and puts it out to the different consumers (motors, VTX, Camera etc). Sometimes there is additional funktionality added to it like a integrated osd or special LED controllers. I build the Matek PDB with OSD into the 5" quads - the 3" have an integrated kiss board.
• the Transmitter: It took me quite a while to understand that, but if you have a transmitter, you also need a corresponding receiver that understands, what the transmitter is sending. Every vendor do have their own system. I went for the ecosystem of FrSky and use the Taranis X9D Plus which I can really recommend to anybody. If you want to get in to this hobby, you should first get yourself a propper transmitter! This one you can plug into your computer and can practice until you finished your real quad. I got mine from Amazon

but now back to my list:

1. Phantom 3 Pro - super cool drone, but no comparison to the others. This is simply a different thing, A flying camera. Not a copter with a camera. You can do areal photography or filming with it super easily. Just love shooting vids with it:
   I got mine from Amazon
2. the first FPV-Racer. From big to small the Lisam210 Frame. is a 5" Racer, KISS based, Schubkraft 2206/2500KV Motors
   
3. the Emax Nighthawk 200 - my first self build or self rebuilt drone...
   
4. my first under 250g copter: Redux 130. There is a KISS AIO CC in use, that is one board, that combines FC, PDB and 4x ESC. Super easy to built. my only X-Frame... hmmm...
   
5. my second u250g copter: a Shendrones Shrieker 130 - super nice. But it seems, the motors are a bit to strong for the little one. The Lipo is empty after about short flight already.
   
6. Eachine Qx95 - does not fly at te moment, but it is a fine indoor racer. (although it as brushed motors!)
   
7. Blade FPV
   
8. and Blade FPV Pro
   
   - great to fly indoors if the weather is bad

So, that’s it for now. It will be changing over time. And I will post some things about how to build them, and what I learned during time.

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category: security

clensed from hacker content

so, I just took the time (hours) to clean all old imported blog entries from hackers content.

Was not as easy as hoped, as the hackers just changed some posts and added some links in there. The links usually did not work anymore, but it is annoying anyways.

I hope, I removed everything. If you see anything, please let me know...

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category: global

Rückenschmerzen nerven… :-(

no english version available yet

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category: global

Developer motto

"The difference between crap and nothing is actually quite big..."

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category: Computer

Drosselkom verhindert - yeah

no english version available yet

Das war knapp. Die Telekom wollte ja ab 2016 die Downloads der  Flatrates beschränken, was ja angeblich nur „wenige Nutzer treffen würde, die hohes Datenvolumen“ benötigen. Jetzt sahen das Richter am Landgericht Köln dann doch anders…

Im Endeffekt folgten sie auch der Argumentation der Kritiker dieser Drosselungsstrategie, dass damit eine ungerechte Benachteiligung stattfinden würde – insbesondere für Nicht-Telekom-Dienste! Denn telekomeigene Dienste (wie z.B. T-Entertain) würden ja nicht zu dem Datenvolumen hinzugezählt werden, alles andere (wie z.B. Youtube) aber schon.

Auch würde es über kurz oder lang eben nicht nur einige wenige treffen. Streamingangebote sind gerade stark im kommen und diese Dienste werden immer wichtiger werden.

So sahen es auch die Richter…

Nachdem sogar die Bundesregierung das ganze eher kritisch gesehen hat, ist das Urteil zum Glück nicht ganz unerwartet. Es gibt doch noch Recht und Ordnung in Deutschland! 😉

Natürlich geht das den Verbraucherschützern noch nicht weit genug, aber es ist ein Start!

 

Details dazu gibt’s hier:

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/digital/urteil-zu-plaenen-der-telekom-gericht-stoppt-drosselkom-1.1807138

 

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category: Computer

WLAN im Haus - #Apple Airports vs. #Fritz!Box

no english version available yet

So, das war erstaunlich einfach. Gestern ist mein Airport Extreme von Apple geliefert worden und ich hab mich ran gemacht, das ganze mal einzurichten.

Apple-Üblich lief das total unproblematisch… Das MacBook hat von sich aus das Airport Konfigurationsprogramm gestartet, und auf den iOS-Geräten tauchen die AirPorts dann in den Einstellungen unter WLAN auf – echt vorbildlich!!! super einfach

Naja, so richtig viel einstellen kann man da eh nicht, muss man ja zum Glück auch nicht – es funktioniert Apple-typisch simpel. Eine super einfache Lösung für 90% der Haushalte! Und die werden eben nicht mit irgendwelchen zusätzlichen Optionen genervt, die sie sowieso nicht verstehen.

Ich hätte gerne mehr an den Optionen rumgespielt, aber es geht ja auch so 🙂

Wie hab ich das eingerichtet:

Die Einrichtung war denkbar einfach, ging mit dem Telefon völlig unproblematisch.

 

Jetzt werden einige vermutlich sagen „der hat sie nicht alle, warum braucht der ein WLAN im Keller?“. Der Einwand ist berechtigt, aber dort steht unser NAS und auch der MacMini, welcher die iTunes Mediathek verwaltet. Deswegen war es nötig bzw. sinnvoll auch da ein WLan einzurichten – vor allem auch wegen dem WLAN-Sync von den iOS Geräten.

Vergleich zu vorher:

Ganz ehrlich – kein Vergleich! Die WLAN Stabilität hat um 1000% zugenommen! Wir können jetzt surfen, auch wenn im iPhone oben die WLan-Signalstärke mit nur nem winzigen Balken angezeigt wird. Funktioniert tadellos! Auch Streaming funktioniert nun ohne Probleme! TV Genuss auf jedem iOS Gerät oder Computer… keine Aussetzer mehr!

Was erstaunlich ist, jetzt funktioniert auch das Surfen mit dem iPhones besser. Es war mir bisher nicht aufgefallen, dass es vorher wirklich einen „lag“ gab, aber jetzt ist es gefühlt 100% schneller. Außerdem funktioniert jetzt endlich der iTunes WLAN-Sync wieder. Der war so gut wie nie stabil gelaufen – ich hab es immer auf die Baulichen begebenheiten der Wohnung / des Hauses geschoben. Jetzt weiß ich: die Wohnung war unschuldig!

Die Fritz!Box ist im Vergleich ja echt ne lahme Krücke 😉

Klar, man kann jetzt sagen, dass sich die Geräte aus einem Hause vermutlich am besten vertragen – was sicherlich richtig ist, aber auch die Playstation und das Samsung-TV hat jetzt endlich eine stabile Anbidung.

Es gibt da wohl ein paar Foren Einträge, dass sich die Fritz!Boxen mit ihrem Draft-N-Standard nicht mit Macs vertragen – oder umgekehrt. Das ist das blöde an einem Draft-Standard: Es ist kein Standard! Also Augen Auf beim Routerkauf! Dennoch lief ja alles so weit und beim normalen Arbeiten ist es einem nicht wirklich aufgefallen. Aber wenn größere Datenmengen übertragen wurden, oder streaming Services (Radio, TV, youtube, …) genutzt wurden, hats schnell geklemmt. Und die Reichweite war im Vergleich doch eher gering. Mit der Fritz!Box und 2 Repeatern bin ich nicht so weit gekommen, wie mit den Airports

Und ja, das ist vermutlich nicht die Fritz!Box allein, sondern eher Fritz!Box an ungünstiger Position in Verbindung mit dicken Wänden und nur in Verbindung mit Apple… ehrlich gesagt: is mir egal, was genau es war – nun läuft’s, wie es soll 🙂

 

Empfehlung:

Falls ihr eine Fritz!Box habt und ihr Verbindungsabbrüche und WLan-Probleme habt, bzw. das einfach nicht so flott funktionieren will, wie es eigentlich sollte. Dann schaut euch doch mal nach einem neuen WLAN-Router um. Die baulichen Begebenheiten müssen nicht unbedingt die Ursache für die WLan-Schwierigkeiten sein – diese Begründung hab ich mir auch die ganze Zeit eingeredet. Offensichtlich war es doch die Box.

Versteht mich richtig: Die Fritz!Box ist ein super DSL-Router, Funktionalität ist sehr gut, nur weil das WLAN nicht sooo leistungsstark ist, werde ich nicht wechseln. Aber falls ihr euer WLan dann doch verbessern wollt, schaut mal, ob es irgendwo nen günstigen WLAN-Router gibt. Evtl. könnt ihr euch ja testweise mal einen ausleiehen (oder ihr findet einen beim Aufräumen, so wie ich ;-)). Hier hat das die Qualität des Interet deutlich erhöht!

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