XPR 7550e ... just wow...

[WyoJoe]

On 1/19/2022 at 3:04 PM, gman1971 said:

Yeah, as for the Microsoft... I know exactly the feeling, that is why I am staying on Windows 7. I have a machine that should last me no problem to the end of the decade, if not more, for what I need to do with it; and then, I'll see if M$$ has gotten their heads out of their rear ends with Windows 12 or 13, or whatever, or even if its even still in business...

I pretty much stopped using M$ operating systems at home several years ago, and am using Linux Mint instead. It has software to do almost everything I use a computer for, and will even run a lot of Windows applications using the Wine compatibility layer. I have several radio programming applications that I've run on it successfully.

The only things I use Windows computers for (other than at work) are TurboTax and a couple of old Windows games that I play every once in a while that won't run under Linux. It seems that every time I start my old Windows (8.1) laptop, it wants to run lots of updates that came out since the time before.

[gman1971]

Certainly, I should probably go to Linux, but I never did get around that. I have way too many things installed running on windows that at this point its just easier for me to stay on Win7 than move to anything else. I upgraded machine a year back, just to get the most powerful machine that still runs Win7 which should last me to the end of the decade...

I stopped purchasing new software because none of the new stuff has/does anything I really need... Word? Excel? Powerpoint? I still run my legal Office 2007 copy. Works perfect, doesn't dial home, allows me to type what I want, just like every other software I own, no dialing home, no BS. And since I only visit a few internet sites, so long a browser still works on Win7, I am good.

G.

[PACNWComms]

My own personal computers top out at Windows 7 Pro, then Linux (Ubuntu and Mint)......but at work, I had to upgrade to Windows 10 for Motorola CPS compatibility. APX CPS version R25 and XPR (Trbo) CPS 2.110.120.0. These two version of CPS were needed for newer firmware APX and XPR series radios respectively. (I miss when XPR7550e radios would be programmed with either CPS 16.0 or CPS 2.0........16 was so much easier to use, and did not have the hex edit glitches, with the Microsoft mentality built in. I will have to play around with the Wine layer and Motorola programming when I have some time.

I like Linux Mint, and was first introduced to that when I went to a recycled PC shop nearby and bought an eMac that was a mangers special for $75. The computer itself was worth at least $400, but did not have the Apple keyboard or mouse, and had a sticker over the camera stating that is was running Linux Mint, not Apple OS. I looked in nearby bins of keyboards and found an Apple one for $5, then the mouse bin and found one for $3. Then, for less than $25 shipped on and auction site, I had the Apple OS restore disk. I used Mint until the Apple OS software disk arrived, and found that I liked it. So, and old Toshiba that would have been scrapped otherwise ended up running Mint. It has since only been a web browsing computer though, have not tried radio programming with it. 

[Lscott]

2 hours ago, PACNWComms said:

My own personal computers top out at Windows 7 Pro, then Linux (Ubuntu and Mint)......but at work, I had to upgrade to Windows 10 for Motorola CPS compatibility. APX CPS version R25 and XPR (Trbo) CPS 2.110.120.0. These two version of CPS were needed for newer firmware APX and XPR series radios respectively. (I miss when XPR7550e radios would be programmed with either CPS 16.0 or CPS 2.0........16 was so much easier to use, and did not have the hex edit glitches, with the Microsoft mentality built in. I will have to play around with the Wine layer and Motorola programming when I have some time.

I like Linux Mint, and was first introduced to that when I went to a recycled PC shop nearby and bought an eMac that was a mangers special for $75. The computer itself was worth at least $400, but did not have the Apple keyboard or mouse, and had a sticker over the camera stating that is was running Linux Mint, not Apple OS. I looked in nearby bins of keyboards and found an Apple one for $5, then the mouse bin and found one for $3. Then, for less than $25 shipped on and auction site, I had the Apple OS restore disk. I used Mint until the Apple OS software disk arrived, and found that I liked it. So, and old Toshiba that would have been scrapped otherwise ended up running Mint. It has since only been a web browsing computer though, have not tried radio programming with it. 

When I lived in an apartment years ago I went trash picking around the complex. Surprising how many computers you find that were fully functional and still had stuff on the hard drives! 
 
Used parts from some to upgrade others, mostly memory, and sometimes got a  new cheap hard drive. Lot of PIII’s, Celerons and a few P4’s. Speed from a few hundred MHz up to a GHz.

I loaded various versions of Linux, mostly Fedora at the time, to run on them. I stuck them on my network and let them run 24/7 until they died. Then just built new ones out of the old ones I find.

[PACNWComms]

5 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Surprising how many computers you find that were fully functional and still had stuff on the hard drives! 

I am amazed how many of these end up on online auction sites as well. Working on public safety radios much of my time, I sometimes save a little by using more "well healed" departments cast off gear. some of this comes from online auction sites, and once I received a broken Motorola MW520 mobile data terminal, sold as having a broken power connector. The connector ended up being the standard two prong Motorola power connector installed in mobile radios for the past forty years.

Once the broken power connector was by-passed the computer powered up, and still had radio programming software, and reports from several years of use in a law enforcement environment. Out of professional courtesy, I contacted them and asked if they wanted it back, as the new connector only cost a few dollars. They declined, and I then warned them they should remove the hard drives of computer/radio related equipment before sale, as everything was valid and functional. Even licensed software for dispatch and radio control head programs. I was amazed to see this as I would have been fired to let something like this go to the public in my own work. 

As for individuals, many seem oblivious to what they keep on their computers and old hard drives as they upgrade computers. I do not bother to tell anyone anymore as they just think I am paranoid, and in their case "ignorance is bliss" to them. Then they wonder why their personal data gets stolen. I have even purchased working hard drives in external cases at thrift stores, purchased for the external drive case and a few dollars, that had years of information on them. Happy hunting, people will never really learn.

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, PACNWComms said:

I am amazed how many of these end up on online auction sites as well. Working on public safety radios much of my time, I sometimes save a little by using more "well healed" departments cast off gear.

A Ham buddy picked up a "ToughBook" laptop at a swap a few years ago that was used as a mobile data terminal in a police car. It still had the software installed on it and I think it even updated itself. The login to the server however didn't work. That would have been very interesting if it did.

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, PACNWComms said:

As for individuals, many seem oblivious to what they keep on their computers and old hard drives as they upgrade computers. I do not bother to tell anyone anymore as they just think I am paranoid, and in their case "ignorance is bliss" to them. Then they wonder why their personal data gets stolen. I have even purchased working hard drives in external cases at thrift stores, purchased for the external drive case and a few dollars, that had years of information on them. Happy hunting, people will never really learn.

The few hard drives I had fail I opened them up, removed the platters and then physically destroyed them by bending them up before depositing them in the local dumpster. No chance anybody was going to swap them into a functioning drive using a clean room.

The company I work for any old computers they trash have the hard drives removed and separately destroyed, physically, as a normal security protocol.

Also using the so-called multi pass random data write/erase programs aren't that good either. The area on either side of the read/write heads may contain enough residual field for the head to read in some cases. Reprogramming the drive's micro-controller to offset the head position over the track edges could still allow data to be recovered from the drive. You best bet is to destroy the platters.

[PACNWComms]

I used to use a drill press and later a hydraulic press to destroy hard drives for the oil industry. They did not trust the company they had contracted with to actually damage the hard drives (before possibly reading them first), so pressing them until physical damage was used. They also had me destroy CD/DVD material in an old microwave over, that method is even NSA approved for expedient use for that type of material. 

[tweiss3]

I've replaced a few well working older computers with recycled workstations, more power and better efficiency on the electric bill.

15 minutes ago, PACNWComms said:

I used to use a drill press and later a hydraulic press to destroy hard drives for the oil industry. They did not trust the company they had contracted with to actually damage the hard drives (before possibly reading them first), so pressing them until physical damage was used. They also had me destroy CD/DVD material in an old microwave over, that method is even NSA approved for expedient use for that type of material. 

We use some high-pressure wireless hole punches  on our hard drives, sometimes we also used some "make it disappear powder".

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, tweiss3 said:

sometimes we also used some "make it disappear powder".

I assume it's the same sort of stuff used on July 4'th.

[SteveShannon]

We used an industrial degausser. 

[Lscott]

2 hours ago, Sshannon said:

We used an industrial degausser. 

Oh, ok. I thought you had a bit of fun decommissioning old hard drives.

[SteveShannon]

2 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Oh, ok. I thought you had a bit of fun decommissioning old hard drives.

We were pretty boring!  But we had a NERC requirement that we had to comply with so we degaussed them and logged it.

[Lscott]

1 minute ago, Sshannon said:

We were pretty boring!  But we had a NERC requirement that we had to comply with so we degaussed them and logged it.

Afterwards you could hang them up as practice targets at a pistol range just to be sure.

[SteveShannon]

6 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Afterwards you could hang them up as practice targets at a pistol range just to be sure.

There used to be a machine gun range that let people bring in computers as targets. 

[gman1971]

but... will it blend?

 

[PACNWComms]

2 hours ago, Sshannon said:

There used to be a machine gun range that let people bring in computers as targets.

For one training evolution in the military, we used keyboards, and had to tell the trigger puller which letter or key to hit. I want to do this with Kenwood P25 radios every chance I get. After dealing with APX4000/XPR7550e radios for years, I now have to support APX7000/8000/8500's alongside Kenwood NX5300's. 

However, I have seen my share of XPR7550e radios where disgruntled employees have drilled the LCD display, scratched "BROKE" on the display, when another else was wrong, and used the radio as a hammer on something else to vent their frustration.

[tweiss3]

21 hours ago, Lscott said:

I assume it's the same sort of stuff used on July 4'th.

It makes a boom like firecrackers (and shook windows).

[gman1971]

And the new Motorola MotoTRBO R7 is almost upon us...

https://fccid.io/AZ489FT7143

Large screen, same antenna, same charger, same belt clip, different batteries and different connector port... so APX/current XPR microphones won't be compatible with it. 

The only thing I consider an upgrade in my book, from just skimming through the FCC application is the larger screen...  I like large screens (who doesn't LOL).... but receiver specs are yet to be seen how they stack to the XPR7550e... and unless they are on another dimension good, I'll stick to the good old XPR7550e for the foreseable future. Also pricing on this thing is going to be APX level of expensive... so at that point I think it will be better to just go with APX radios altogether.

I'll reserve judgment until I see some reviews and videos of the radio, but it looks to me like the XPR7550e might be the last of a kind... 

G.

[Lscott]

7 minutes ago, gman1971 said:

And the new Motorola MotoTRBO R7 is almost upon us...

https://fccid.io/AZ489FT7143

Large screen, same antenna, same charger, same belt clip, different batteries and different connector port... so APX/current XPR microphones won't be compatible with it.

Just another way to make more $$$$$$$$$$$

[gman1971]

@Lscott

Agree, because a lot of customers just won't have a choice... they will be forced to "upgrade", but I really think they could've made even more money by keeping the accessories/batteries the same. If you improve the radio but keep the accessories/batteries the same, I would think it would've made the decision a lot easier for a lot of people,

Then there is the CPS deal... we'll have to wait and see how its programmed, via CPS or via cloud BS...

To me, tho, it really looks like the old "junk" XPR7550e is about to become quite affordable!

G.

[tweiss3]

I see a few additions, most of which I saw on RR's thread:

1) Better wifi

2) 0.8W more power

3) as noted, bigger screen

4) new battery, but can use old chargers if you update the charger firmware

[Lscott]

16 minutes ago, gman1971 said:

Then there is the CPS deal... we'll have to wait and see how its programmed, via CPS or via cloud BS...

To me, tho, it really looks like the old "junk" XPR7550e is about to become quite affordable!

Then again maybe not if people say screw the new radio and would rather keep using the older model. The price used might go up.

[gman1971]

20 minutes ago, tweiss3 said:

I see a few additions, most of which I saw on RR's thread:

1) Better wifi

2) 0.8W more power

3) as noted, bigger screen

4) new battery, but can use old chargers if you update the charger firmware

1) Better Wifi seems moot, maybe the addition of 5.8Ghz... but its a radio, not a phone, nor a computer. We'll see how well the receiver is compared to the XPR7550e. 

2) 0.8W isn't much, really. 

3) This is the only thing I would consider a true upgrade, again, pending on receiver specs.

4) New battery type for people who have a fleet of XPR7550e in service seems like a logistical nightmare. Now they have to stock on 2 battery types, and 2 different microphones... I really hope this radio tanks, but I don't think it will... they will sales pitch the heck out of it making the "old junk" feel obsolete... 

 

@Lscott XPR7550e have been going up in price for the past year or so, so I doubt we'll see a price drop anytime soon. Also, availability of the new radio is yet to be determined, along with price. If the new radio is super-expensive, I see the older TRBO stuff getting close in price to the new R7, but if the R7 is like the cost of a new XPR7550e, I think the XPR7550e stuff will eventually go down in price, once large fleets of radios are dumped, you'll end up like the SL7550 huge eBay dump that were selling for 69-79 bucks for a perfectly working SL7550... we'll see...

G.

 

[tweiss3]

I will say, I think the "behind the keypad" speaker and microphone is a negative as well.