- 2022
- Mar
- 26
Updating the Linksys WML11B media player for the modern age
It’s interesting to note that consumer grade Ethernet has been with us, in a standard comes-with-everycomputer way for about 25 years. This means there’s a wealth of Ethernet-enabled devices out there that may not be good for the professional or other use they were originally intended, but are fine for the home lab hobbyist. One of those items is the Baytech RPC-3 Ethernet connected power switch. A fully obsolete device with only a telnet server, it’s perfect for home use.
A device that came out of the early days of Web 1.0 is the Linksys WML11B Wireless-B/Ethernet enabled Internet Music Player - think those streams you played in Winamp back in the day. Officially streamed by the Shoutcast server package, there are now open source replacements (Icecast) that do the same thing. A small machine like a Raspberry Pi and some music means you can stream your own stuff, if you’re so inclined. (Keep this to yourself, the music industry giants are unfriendly towards anyone they think may be depriving them of a dime.)
While it’s common now to lock a device to a single service so the device dies with the service, this wasn’t really the case back then. The WML11B did have a music directory service provided by Linksys, and later by a third party - those are long gone. What makes this device of interest is it will still connect and play Shoutcast/Icecast streams without issue.
There are a couple of caveats, however. You need to update the firmware to the last package available, the one provided by the third party music service. However, even though this service doesn’t exist, the firmware is simply a modification of the last Linksys firmware and makes the device available on a local network. That firmware package and the updater can be downloaded from this dropbox link:
Firmware https://www.dropbox. … mls11b_files.7z?dl=0
The other caveat is that it works on Windows XP, and nothing higher. I tried Windows 7 with no luck. 8, 10, and 11 are right out. So you’ll need to find a friend with an old XP machine, or dig one up for yourself. Inside the file (You’ll need the 7zip archiver to open it) are a number of files. Start with the ones marked FAQ and you should have a good handle on where to start.
The rest of the files are various firmware versions, data and documents on the device, and other things of interest. This all came from the Yahoo! groups forum, now gone sadly. If you’d like to read those messages, you can download them here:
Message archive https://www.dropbox. … s11bmsg.tar.bz2?dl=0
This is a direct raw dump from the Yahoo! group, and is in .tar.bz2 format. 7zip should have no trouble with this.
It’s kind of a pain to get it updated, but once you do you’ll find an interface similar to other Linksys products. If you’ve messed around in a router you shouldn’t have any problem with this.
(I think it goes without saying, don’t open a 802.11b wireless network. Connect this thing with Ethernet.)
- 2022
- Mar
- 23
Just because it fits doesn’t mean it will work…
One of the things you have to deal with while using old equipment is ancient batteries.
This 1985 Kaypro 2X+88 machine has an early real-time clock, but hasn’t kept time for the better part of two decades.
Interestingly, the battery (the yellow cylinder in the right of the picture) was still available as an off-brand replacement. Voltage checked ok, but soldering the battery on the board resulted in a no-boot condition. The battery was removed and the board completely cleaned of any flux before re-installation and successful boot.
I’m not sure what happened here, but that’s another danger of old equipment - stuff may just not work anymore. I assume that either the little bit of flux on the board was causing issue, or perhaps the clock chip is now damaged from the long-term low voltage. In either event, I need to see if I can get a NOS clock chip before replacing the battery with an off-board 3V pack made up of standard alkalines.
The machine seems happy, and has been sitting at directory for quite some time.
This post is from my LinkedIn profile, you can view it here:
- 2022
- Mar
- 23
Don’t overlook the power cord.
One of my pieces of bench equipment needed some minor maintenance recently.
This Eico 147A Signal Tracer, used for tracking audio down in equipment as well as pulling a demodulated signal off AM circuits, needed a new line cord. There really wasn’t a lot to do here save to be careful when working around older components.
The device itself is very clean inside, and appears to have seen very little actual use before my acquisition. As you can see by the picture of the cord itself, it was well past time for replacement.
This post is from my LinkedIn profile, view it here:
- 2021
- Jul
- 20
Getting set up.
Welcome to Projects from the bottom drawer and wereboar.com. This blog used to be hosted on pygg.xyz, and was hosted on blogger.com before that. Pygg has since been relegated to a (poorly performing) redirect to here, and the blogger links are long gone.
If you’ve arrived at this page by scrolling through my blog, thank you. This is currently both the beginning and end, check back soon for more posts about hamfests, projects, and the random ramble about tech things.
If there’s something you’d like to see more of (or less!) then LinkedIn is a good way to contact me. If you’d like a more user-friendly venue, you can find me on Mastodon. That avenue is fairly new to me, it will generally follow new posts as they appear here, with comments and conversation.
I also post infrequently on satellite.earth, a nostr instance. This is a federated, decentralized social network that doesn’t limit what you can see. Anyone can post in this forum (with signup,) check it out if you’re interested.
Again, welcome, and thanks for stopping by. See you at the hamfest!