Snakeoil OS: The Blog

Music is food for the soul.

It’s great to listen to music in the comforts of your own home. However, sometimes it’s a great experience to re-calibrate your auditory sensors by going to concerts and live events. I’d avoid crowded venues whenever possible, however when Michael Ball and Alfie Boe announced their Australia Tour 2017 and will be in town (Perth, Western Australia), it’s a opportunity that simply cannot be passed up. I love musicals! This show is the best performance I have been to so far. Perhaps it’s because I’m so close to the performers.

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So my Accuphase DC-37’s USB input was damaged a while back. It was broken, but it’s fixed now.

Cannot remember what the exact message was, but neither Windows nor Linux can detect the Accuphase DC-37’s USB input. The Snakeoil OS logs returns an error message with the error code of -110. 

So what have I done to damage the USB port?

On the day, I had a problem with my PS Audio P5 - it refused to turn ON. To try and get the P5 working again I had to power on/off several equipment multiple times. By the time the P5 is working, the Accuphase DC-37’s USB port is dead. 

In the Linux world the code -110 means an I/O READ error; but what is the problem, and the cause?

A colleague of mine (Steve) has kindly helped me out on this matter. He has diagnosed the problem, fixed the USB and modified the board to prevent this from happening again. Here’s a review of his findings, note that as I’m not a tech, everything is likely lost in translation!

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Excited to turn your home into the Ultrahouse 3000?

Use Google Home and/or Google Home mini to control your Xiaomi Vacuum with your voice!

Here are the things you need:

• Software
• Home Assistant
• IFTTT
• Hardware
• Xiaomi Robot Vacuum
• Google Home Assistant (Original or mini)
• Android Phone
• Computer running Windows

This is a brief HOW-TO guide and some of the finer details may be omitted. If you hit any trouble just ask in the comments below. [2019-03-24: Updated walkthrough to use the new access methods for Home Assistant]

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The TV show Simpsons is ahead of it’s time in so many ways - fans of the Simpsons will remember the Ultrahouse 3000. Now we have the technology to do exactly that, with a few simple gadgets you can turn your house into a ’smart house’. This is the beginning of my journey.

The following 4 ingredients is all you need to turn your house into Ultrahouse 3000: 

1. Google Home Assistant
2. Xiaomi Robot Vacuum
3. Home Assistant software
4. IFTTT web account

In this short video, the voice command ‘Clean House’ is picked up by Google Home, and the XiaoMi robot will start doing it’s thing. Not too sure why there is a lag of 10 seconds, putting that down to my slow Internet at home.

This is just the beginning. Later I will write HOW-TO blogs on how to do all this, and more.