(FPV) Quadcopter X Setup

So as of yesterday i finally finished something that i had in my mind for such a long time.

My (FPV) Quadcopter X setup!

As i do not have any flying skills yet i will not get the FPV (First Person View) equipment yet.
For now i definitely want to practice otherwise it would just crash my stuff.

This is my parts list and i am really really satisfied with the quality / performance of the parts.
You can basically call it a budget build but it’s not trading quality against price. So it’s not super super cheap.

Quadcopter Parts

1x AfroFlight Naze32 Acro AbuseMark FunFly Controller – Soldered version (Horizontal Pin)
2x Turnigy nano-tech 1500mah 3S 25~50C Lipo Pack
6x Afro ESC 20Amp Multi-rotor Motor Speed Controller (SimonK Firmware)
6x DYS BE1806-13 Brushless Motor for Multirotor (2300KV) 24g
1x Turnigy 9X 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver (Mode 2) (v2 Firmware)
10x Gemfan 5030 Multirotor ABS Propellers One Pair CW CCW (Black)
1x Tarot 250mm Mini Through The Machine Quadcopter With PCB

Accessoires

1x 3W Red LED Alloy Light Strip 120mm x 10mm (2S-3S Compatible)
1x (Cutting Mat) WEDO Schneideunterlage Cutting Mat, selbstschließende Oberfläche, 45 x 30 x 0,3 cm CM 45, grün
1x (Solder Iron) OHE Profi Lötstation Starterset – Lötkolben + Station + Lötzinn + Lotsaugpumpe + Spitze
1x (Lipo Beeper) 1-8s Spannung Lipo Akku Alarm Checker Schutz Anzeiger
1x (Battery Charger) Andoer SKYRC iMAX B6 Mini Profi Balance Charger / Disch für RC-Akku Lade ( SKYRC iMAX B6, B6 Mini Balance Charger )
1x (Power Adapter for Battery Charger) LEICKE Netzteil 60W 12V 5A 5,5*2,5mm für LCD TFT Bildschirm Monitor, LED Strips, NAS, ext. Festplatten, Pico-PSU bis 60W

Some things to mention

The Afro ESCs 20A have different bullet connectors than the motors so you would need to be aware of that when you do not want to solder things.
Sadly the Afro 12A ESCs were out of stock during the time i ordered and 20A are doing the same job.

Build everything starting from the motors to the “wings” to the frame.
After that start with the transmitter and flight controller.
Try to imagine the whole setup in the beginning or just check out the internet for similar builds.

One thing to mention is this Youtube playlist that helped me a lot during the whole process:

 

Have in mind that you need to check the motor setup (which motor is where) on your flight controller.

First i was building everything counting from 1 to 4, starting on the upper left.
Big mistake! You need to checkout the setup in your configuration software of the flight controller.

Gallery

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/109230190124733572758/albums/6155262292044435185

Shellshock – Fix your security

Shellshock – A bug discovered in the widely used Bash command interpreter.

It does poses a critical security risk to Unix and Linux systems –and, thanks to their ubiquity, the internet at large.

 

More info here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/09/24/bash_shell_vuln/

 

Some more nice info:

https://blog.cloudflare.com/inside-shellshock/

VMWare Tools Installation | Network resource unavailable (error1316)

If you ever encounter the problem that you can’t update or install vmware tools (uninstall is also affected) due to missing soure.
Try this KB from VMWare.

VMware Tools may not install on a Windows guest operating system after upgrading to a newer version of ESX/ESXi (1012693)

Symptoms

  • VMware Tools does not install on a Windows 2008/2003 guest operating system after upgrading to a newer version of ESX/ESXi.
  • Automatic installation of VMware Tools fails.
  • Interactive installation of the VMware Tools tries to uninstall the previous version, but it fails because it cannot reference the previous VMware Tools MSI.
  • You may receive errors similar to:
Error1316 A network error occurred while attempting to read from the file C:\Windows\Installer\VMware Tools.msi.
Error 1706. Setup cannot find the required files.The installation source for this resource is not available. Verify that the source exists and that you can access it.

Cause

This is an issue with Microsoft Windows Installer and does not affect all Windows 2008/2003 systems. The problem can occur when the original install path from the older version of VMware Tools is invalid, such as if the install path was E:\ and that path is no longer present. For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 555175.
Note: The preceding link was correct as of June 21, 2013. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must perform a forced uninstall and reinstall of VMware Tools.
To uninstall and reinstall VMware Tools:
  1. Right-click the virtual machine and click Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.
  2. Open a Console to the virtual machine and log into the guest operating system.
  3. Click Start > Run, type cmd, and click OK. A Command Prompt window opens.
  4. Change the drive to your CD-ROM drive (For example, D:\).
  5. Type setup /c and press Enter to force removal of all registry entries and delete the old version of VMware Tools.Note: For 64-bit guest operating systems, type setup64 /c
  6. Open My Computer and double-click the CD-ROM that contains VMware Tools.
  7. After Auto-Run starts, follow the prompts to install.Note: This must be done from the GUI interface. Do not launch the install by running Setup from the Command Prompt. Also ensure that the CD-ROM is enabled. In the virtual machine properties select CD-ROM under Device Status, and ensure that Connected (if the virtual machine is powered on) and Connect at power on are selected.
  8. When the installation completes, reboot the guest operating system.

Win7/Vista – MSI Installer Safe Mode

Referenced from: http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/windows-installer-safe-mode

Windows Installer will not work under Safe Mode, this means that programs cannot be installed or uninstalled in safe mode without giving a specific command using msiexec in command prompt.

To make Windows Installer work under safe mode, you need to create a registry entry for every type of safe mode you are logged in to.

  1. Safe Mode.
    Type this in a command prompt:

    REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"
    

    and then

    net start msiserver
    
    

    This will start the Windows Installer Service.

  2. Safe Mode with Network
    REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\MSIServer" /VE /T REG_SZ /F /D "Service"
    
    

    and followed by

    net start msiserver 
    
    

    This will start the Windows Installer Service.

Win7 / Vista – Registry access denied

If you ever happen to be in the same position as me and your registry doesn’t let you change keys/values, check this article as it resolved my issue.

http://www.smartestcomputing.us.com/topic/51422-vistaseven-the-registry-editor-could-not-set-security-in-the-key-currently-selected-or-some-of-its-subkeys-error-fix/

 

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Download PsExec.exe to your desktop (IMPORTANT!)
Go Start and in “Start search” type in:
cmd
Hold CTRL and SHIFT keys, press Enter.
Command prompt window will open.
Copy and paste following command:

“%userprofile%\desktop\psexec” -i -d -s c:\windows\regedit.exe

Press Enter.
Registry Editor will open.

Now you’ll be able to change permissions for any key.

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Site layout

I just changed some margins to lower values as i had the impression there was too much space in between the elements. Let me know what you think of it.

New Job

Since the 1st of july i finally got into a very interesting position in my company.
I will now be responsible for support, reporting and analysis of a VMWare View virtual desktop infrastructure.
Starting off with a 90day training plan and a View 5.2 class room training i am looking forward to be on a good level pretty soon.