well, figured it was time to update/change my blog theme. finally found a decent theme to use that met my criteria, black and basic. davak then uploaded it for me and made a few tweaks and thus the new look! thanks again for updating it so fast!!
after reading about twitter on the other techrx blogs, decided i'd join up and take it for a spin. its pretty sweet.  i've been using the text messaging option of posting since its so easy and i can do it anywhere. plus, its fun seeing what davak and q and shamantears are up to throughout the day. sure seem like a bunch of busy guys!
and finally, some randomness on randomness and shuffle. why is it that most media players have such a limited shuffle/random playback options? i really hate it when you put a bunch of songs (ie 100 to 300) on shuffle yet after each time i start playback it shuffles the same order as it previously did. this is a really huge annoyance i have w/my Civic Si's sound system. i have the navigation package and in turn have the PC Card reader for music files. i noticed that when i turn on shuffle/random it uses the same random list. come on, it can't be that hard to make the random playback order random on each time the feature is turned on!!!! you'd think its a very basic random function in the software. i remember making a few basic java script applets and the first excercise was to make a random number generator; so its not like i'm asking for anything complex or hard to do. just seems like most manufacturers just don't think that people use the feature or don't put much effort into it.
so thats my randomness rant on randomness. :P
peace
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
my W810i housing mod
well, i got my rma'd W810i back. so nice having a decent phone vs a crappy one. hehe. however, after verifying that it worked normally i decided to the front camera case mod. its probably one of the easiest housing mods you can do w/the W810i. Just remove the two screws under the battery cover, pop off the housing, put on the K750 or W800 housing (almost identical housings / hardware is used among these three phones).
afterwards!
in addition to the camera housing change, i also fully disassembled my W810i and used my silver buttons from the spare parts K750i i had. the camera cover slide will not turn off/on the camera (i even purchased the camera ribbon for the K750i which did fit, however the connector that goes to the phone's pcb was vertically set not horizontally). i can now fully disassemble and reassemble my W810i in prob under 5 minutes (tried to swap out a few parts but had to then go back and replace w/the W810i pieces).
my next step will be doing some File System customizations and CID49 hacking using XS++ and Far Manager. i'll post some screenies of my phone once i get some new flash themes added and custom drivers updated. should be fun, given i don't brick my phone!!
afterwards!
in addition to the camera housing change, i also fully disassembled my W810i and used my silver buttons from the spare parts K750i i had. the camera cover slide will not turn off/on the camera (i even purchased the camera ribbon for the K750i which did fit, however the connector that goes to the phone's pcb was vertically set not horizontally). i can now fully disassemble and reassemble my W810i in prob under 5 minutes (tried to swap out a few parts but had to then go back and replace w/the W810i pieces).
my next step will be doing some File System customizations and CID49 hacking using XS++ and Far Manager. i'll post some screenies of my phone once i get some new flash themes added and custom drivers updated. should be fun, given i don't brick my phone!!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
the future of the ps3.. brighter?
well, its been about 4 months since i've purchased my PS3 and figured its time to do a little recap on on my past, current and future thoughts on the big black beast (aka ps3.. hehe).
my past relationship w/sony has been a love / hate relationship. i loved the original playstation, didn't get a ps2 at all (really just modded xboxs, didn't really get into this generation; got into the computer gaming side), got a psp but was disappointed w/the lack of good games, had no original interest in the ps3 since it was just gonna be all glitz and not much of a new experience. my sony allegiance in the other consumer electronics area still burned bright. i love sony digital cameras and their nice highend mobile phones (ie K800).
however, after jumping into the HD realm i realized it was time to pick my other next gen system. i already had my wii and enjoyed it for what it was and not for what it wasn't. so it came down to the xbox360 and the ps3. the x360 had the game advantage and a year headstart on the ps3, however the x360 didn't do the music and photos like the ps3 so the ps3 it was. the bluray player also was a selling point and the possibility of future firmware updates to do upscaling of dvds helped.
bluray looked great, the audio/video options were a nice bonus, and the initial games were pretty decent (being a racing fan, nfs:carbon was my kind of game). however up until recently, the ps3 saw a pretty nasty game drought, which really wasn't that bad since it was from early to late summer and i was super busy and its summer!
the near future for the ps3 looks very promising. we'll see some great looking games in the next few months including Lair, Heavenly Sword, Stranglehold, EyeCreate, Warhawk, and the usual sports games. the game i'm most excited for is LittleBigPlanet. that game looks amazing and so much fun, plus i'm a huge fan of games that allow for user submitted content. should be a blast and perhaps will establish its own cult following to say the least. plus, we'll have metal gear and gt5 to look forward to and also ffxiii (however that may be late 08 or even 09 for us americans.. boo! however i'd take a remixed/upconvert of FFVII to hold me off though. ).
i haven't lost faith in sony yet. i'll give them to 2008 to sell me on my purchase and the next few months should do that. lair could end up being a system selling game, the scale of it seems almost on the epic side (seeing that many enemies on screen is crazy!).
so go sony, keep up the good firmware updates and releases!!
my past relationship w/sony has been a love / hate relationship. i loved the original playstation, didn't get a ps2 at all (really just modded xboxs, didn't really get into this generation; got into the computer gaming side), got a psp but was disappointed w/the lack of good games, had no original interest in the ps3 since it was just gonna be all glitz and not much of a new experience. my sony allegiance in the other consumer electronics area still burned bright. i love sony digital cameras and their nice highend mobile phones (ie K800).
however, after jumping into the HD realm i realized it was time to pick my other next gen system. i already had my wii and enjoyed it for what it was and not for what it wasn't. so it came down to the xbox360 and the ps3. the x360 had the game advantage and a year headstart on the ps3, however the x360 didn't do the music and photos like the ps3 so the ps3 it was. the bluray player also was a selling point and the possibility of future firmware updates to do upscaling of dvds helped.
bluray looked great, the audio/video options were a nice bonus, and the initial games were pretty decent (being a racing fan, nfs:carbon was my kind of game). however up until recently, the ps3 saw a pretty nasty game drought, which really wasn't that bad since it was from early to late summer and i was super busy and its summer!
the near future for the ps3 looks very promising. we'll see some great looking games in the next few months including Lair, Heavenly Sword, Stranglehold, EyeCreate, Warhawk, and the usual sports games. the game i'm most excited for is LittleBigPlanet. that game looks amazing and so much fun, plus i'm a huge fan of games that allow for user submitted content. should be a blast and perhaps will establish its own cult following to say the least. plus, we'll have metal gear and gt5 to look forward to and also ffxiii (however that may be late 08 or even 09 for us americans.. boo! however i'd take a remixed/upconvert of FFVII to hold me off though. ).
i haven't lost faith in sony yet. i'll give them to 2008 to sell me on my purchase and the next few months should do that. lair could end up being a system selling game, the scale of it seems almost on the epic side (seeing that many enemies on screen is crazy!).
so go sony, keep up the good firmware updates and releases!!
Friday, July 13, 2007
is july RMA month?? wsod on new W810i and more geek pains
is july the official RMA month? sure seems so for me, had to RMA three items this last week: my new W810i phone (arrived DOA, argh!!), a 1GB MicroSD card, and of course my Western Digital 80GB laptop hd. however, i guess i can't really complain since prior to this month i've only had to RMA 4 items in the last 5 years (considering how many geek toys/items i buy, not a bad number).
i've officially given up on getting OSX on my HP TC1100. using a different external cd/dvd drive did not seem to resolve any of the install problems/slowness. i might try the deedmo image method but at this point don't see any reason to try since it will prob run slow as heck. so instead, i'm back to my dual booting XP/Vista setup.
been thinking about a few of the mods i want to do w/my new phone (that is once i get a replacement and verify that it works fine since my mods will nullify the warranty). so far these are the mods i plan to do (given the phone is CID36 not CID49; the RMAd W810i was a CID49 so i may be limited on what i can do w/the filesystem and UI hacks). glad i held onto my buddies dead K750 so that i can use those parts w/my W810i. i love how sony ericsson phones are so moddable! now if only they could get rid of that WSOD; however i think the problem i had w/my phone was mainly because it was really not a NIB phone (phone had signs of wear and tear; the camera lense had a nasty coating on it and the memory card slot was broken and the LCD display was not properly centered; i could see light on the side of the lcd). so hopefully get that back soon.  here's the mods list i want to try:
-housing mod:Â going to use K750i camera cover side, replace all black buttons w/silver K750 buttons
-software mods: complete overhaul of UI (black/orange brushed metal style) and Walkman player. Possible camera and acoustic driver hacks (use drivers from K750, W800). I may see its possible to add the camera lense switch from the K750 (given there this is supported on the W810i, which it may not be).
and i'll see if i can get tethering working too since i was able to get the non-existant VPN Internet plan from Tmobile (the $19.99 that doesn't include wifi since who wants hotspot service to start with eh?).
i'll be posting up some recipes to my hacks/mods later next week. btw, if your a sony ericsson user, head over to my other fave SE hangout area: http://se-nse.com some good SE fanboys/hackers over there.
peace
i've officially given up on getting OSX on my HP TC1100. using a different external cd/dvd drive did not seem to resolve any of the install problems/slowness. i might try the deedmo image method but at this point don't see any reason to try since it will prob run slow as heck. so instead, i'm back to my dual booting XP/Vista setup.
been thinking about a few of the mods i want to do w/my new phone (that is once i get a replacement and verify that it works fine since my mods will nullify the warranty). so far these are the mods i plan to do (given the phone is CID36 not CID49; the RMAd W810i was a CID49 so i may be limited on what i can do w/the filesystem and UI hacks). glad i held onto my buddies dead K750 so that i can use those parts w/my W810i. i love how sony ericsson phones are so moddable! now if only they could get rid of that WSOD; however i think the problem i had w/my phone was mainly because it was really not a NIB phone (phone had signs of wear and tear; the camera lense had a nasty coating on it and the memory card slot was broken and the LCD display was not properly centered; i could see light on the side of the lcd). so hopefully get that back soon.  here's the mods list i want to try:
-housing mod:Â going to use K750i camera cover side, replace all black buttons w/silver K750 buttons
-software mods: complete overhaul of UI (black/orange brushed metal style) and Walkman player. Possible camera and acoustic driver hacks (use drivers from K750, W800). I may see its possible to add the camera lense switch from the K750 (given there this is supported on the W810i, which it may not be).
and i'll see if i can get tethering working too since i was able to get the non-existant VPN Internet plan from Tmobile (the $19.99 that doesn't include wifi since who wants hotspot service to start with eh?).
i'll be posting up some recipes to my hacks/mods later next week. btw, if your a sony ericsson user, head over to my other fave SE hangout area: http://se-nse.com some good SE fanboys/hackers over there.
peace
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
my tip on getting 'hooked up' in life as a geek/person
let me start off on the right foot and warn my readers that this is not one of my typical geek posts. it is, but isn't. no, this really is a post with some tips on life itself and getting oneself through it a little easier. like most geeks of my generation (ie Nintendo generation, late 20s to 30s), i've got 'soft' skills. no, i'm not good at knitting or stitching, but i'm good with people. the previous generation geeks were always criticized for lacking these skills (for most of the prev gen, you could get away with being a total geek/tech expert and not have to worry about the people skills. the technical knowledge itself overrided dealing w/co-workers and supervisors and others outside of the tech realm (not a rip on any generation or a 'my dads stronger than yours' statement, our world got much more 'PC' than previous).
OSX86 update and other geeky tidbits
well, i figure its time for me to do a follow up post on my recent experience on getting Mac OSX 10.4.6 on my HP TC1100. previously i was having some major problems getting OSX86 to install and to even boot after install. sadly, my situation/experience has not changed in regards to getting OSX86 installed and running on my TC1100 tablet pc.
my installation will take over 5 hours to complete (if it does complete) but never boots. i have tried using all of the known flags for darwin to see if that would speed up the install but none of them seem to have any effect (ie tried platform=x86pc and acpi, tried idehalt=0 and cpu=1, nothing seems to help). i also have tried using a different install dvd (10.4.6 and 1.04.8, both JaS versions w/the amd/intel patches built in), different harddrive (since my 80gb died, but should be back this week), removed my 1GB memory and used only the builtin memory (512mb), removed the battery; again still over 5 hours to install and no luck on booting.
my installation will take over 5 hours to complete (if it does complete) but never boots. i have tried using all of the known flags for darwin to see if that would speed up the install but none of them seem to have any effect (ie tried platform=x86pc and acpi, tried idehalt=0 and cpu=1, nothing seems to help). i also have tried using a different install dvd (10.4.6 and 1.04.8, both JaS versions w/the amd/intel patches built in), different harddrive (since my 80gb died, but should be back this week), removed my 1GB memory and used only the builtin memory (512mb), removed the battery; again still over 5 hours to install and no luck on booting.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
happy 4th of july!
some fireworks from the good ole taste of mn (where you can get anything fried! hehe)
hacks and developers
just recently two huge breakthroughs were made in the PSP underground/hacking world. Noobz and Archaemic found an exploit in the game Lumines that basically allow all PSP firmware versions (1.5 to 3.50) and allow it to run homebrew. this is a pretty huge find, so much so that for a few days Lumines sales on amazon exploded, at one point its sales were up 5,700%! whoa.
however, this is not the first instance that a game exploit/buffer overflow has been the entry point for hackers into a gaming console. with the xbox there came to be a way to softmod it via a hacked game save file, i believe the game used was mech assault.Â
the gamecube also had a game hack too, that game was phantasy star online. it allowed users to even put linux on the gamecube.
so i've always wondered, do developers purposedly leave the rare exploit in their code in hopes to drive their own software sales due to the exploit? even though the console maker and other software makers may not like the idea, it really seems to be plausible thought. one that i am sure that most devs would ever speak of.Â
anywho, i also see that the iphone activation has been hacked, DVD Jon has figured out a way to emulate the apple activation servers, however you will not have any cell phone abilities (but give this some time, once the sim card lock has been broken, a combination of this hack and a future one could allow those non-cingular/att users to have actual working iphones; not saying it will be me but ya never know.. i like a good hack!).
peace
however, this is not the first instance that a game exploit/buffer overflow has been the entry point for hackers into a gaming console. with the xbox there came to be a way to softmod it via a hacked game save file, i believe the game used was mech assault.Â
the gamecube also had a game hack too, that game was phantasy star online. it allowed users to even put linux on the gamecube.
so i've always wondered, do developers purposedly leave the rare exploit in their code in hopes to drive their own software sales due to the exploit? even though the console maker and other software makers may not like the idea, it really seems to be plausible thought. one that i am sure that most devs would ever speak of.Â
anywho, i also see that the iphone activation has been hacked, DVD Jon has figured out a way to emulate the apple activation servers, however you will not have any cell phone abilities (but give this some time, once the sim card lock has been broken, a combination of this hack and a future one could allow those non-cingular/att users to have actual working iphones; not saying it will be me but ya never know.. i like a good hack!).
peace
Friday, June 29, 2007
the iphone launches, and i still don't care...
yes, you heard that correctly. the iphone launch has come and gone yet honestly i still could care less about this phone. to me its still an overpriced, uber locked down, last years feature phone...Â
i guess i have not really ever bought into the whole hype of the phone. as a self-proclaimed phone geek, the iphone does not offer me the features i want for a phone that costs that much. i'd much rather save my pennies and get sony ericsson's new replacement to the K800/K790. hey, atleast then i get a 5.0 mp camera and a phone thats capable of sending MMS. and again, i hate itunes and refuse to use it on my windows machine.Â
plus, i've grown up in life and need to actually be able to access work emails to justify such a price for a phone (hell, my MDA cost me only $349 and prob still can offer the same exact features w/appropriate add-ons or hacks).
as for the iphone.. i'll pass... to me, its just a glorified music sidekick... plus, i want that damn sliding qwerty keyboard; software keyboards will never live up to an actual full qwerty keyboard.
however, to each his/her own. perhaps that is why i still don't own an ipod too.. :)
i guess i have not really ever bought into the whole hype of the phone. as a self-proclaimed phone geek, the iphone does not offer me the features i want for a phone that costs that much. i'd much rather save my pennies and get sony ericsson's new replacement to the K800/K790. hey, atleast then i get a 5.0 mp camera and a phone thats capable of sending MMS. and again, i hate itunes and refuse to use it on my windows machine.Â
plus, i've grown up in life and need to actually be able to access work emails to justify such a price for a phone (hell, my MDA cost me only $349 and prob still can offer the same exact features w/appropriate add-ons or hacks).
as for the iphone.. i'll pass... to me, its just a glorified music sidekick... plus, i want that damn sliding qwerty keyboard; software keyboards will never live up to an actual full qwerty keyboard.
however, to each his/her own. perhaps that is why i still don't own an ipod too.. :)
Monday, June 25, 2007
netflix and Watch Now..
well, i've been using the Netflix Watch Now option w/my netflix account. basically what the Watch Now option is netflix's VOD via the internet and an embedded video player in IE. they offer a slim selection but have been good about adding more and more older movies.Â
however, i am blogging about their service since tonight i've noticed a very dramatic boost in quality. the video looks pretty decent even on my 24" fullscreen. pixelation is pretty low and i have not experienced any lag or stuttering most services usually encounter. then again the performance boost i'm seeing may be due to the fact that i've been getting some nice 2mbs download speeds lately w/azerus and just normal web downloads.Â
the amount of free per month viewing you get depends on what type of subscription you have, basically for each $1 of your subscription, you get 1 hour of viewing; with a max of 13 hours per month. ( more details over here: http://www.netflix.com/WatchNowMessage?msg=99 )
so check it out if your a netflix member w/a highspeed internet account! i know i can't say no to some free and decent quality VOD! peace
however, i am blogging about their service since tonight i've noticed a very dramatic boost in quality. the video looks pretty decent even on my 24" fullscreen. pixelation is pretty low and i have not experienced any lag or stuttering most services usually encounter. then again the performance boost i'm seeing may be due to the fact that i've been getting some nice 2mbs download speeds lately w/azerus and just normal web downloads.Â
the amount of free per month viewing you get depends on what type of subscription you have, basically for each $1 of your subscription, you get 1 hour of viewing; with a max of 13 hours per month. ( more details over here: http://www.netflix.com/WatchNowMessage?msg=99 )
so check it out if your a netflix member w/a highspeed internet account! i know i can't say no to some free and decent quality VOD! peace
Saturday, June 23, 2007
OSX86 fun.. or not!
well, as previously blogged; i have been attempting to get Mac OS X 10.4.8 up and going on my HP TC1100, however i have not had much success. the first installs never completed (over 6 hours and sitting at end of install, gave up at that point and tried again), second install did install but never made it past the grey Apple logo on the first boot, the third and fourth times came up with errors.Â
 Oh yea, and to top it off; my TC1100's HDD poops out yesterday. Hmmm, i almost wonder if the OSX86 installs might have caused the failure or not. had me worried, however my 80gb is still under warranty and i had my original 60gb that i could swap back in. btw, i still am a huge fan of making ghost backups in case things like this happen. did a ghost bkup before doing the OSX stuff so i had my system back up and running in 15minutes. its nice being a geek. :P hehe.
anywho, so round 1 of my OSX86 install goes to Apple.  i'm wondering if my problems may have been related to my tc's hd failing or did the installs/failed installs cause the failure? i swear the drive was beeping (like when your desktop won't POST and all you get are the error diagnostic beeps); couldn't even boot from a LiveCD or floppy w/the drive in.
however, round 2 hopefully will go my way; i've decided to install it on my main desktop pc on a spare p-ata harddrive (20gb). realized the OSX86 install does not let you install to S-ata harddrive (i have 3 of them of course and no P-ata), so i had to pull out a 20gb p-ata drive from a gutted system and find a spot in my case. sure am glad i upgraded away from my htpc cases; no way i could fit my: 3 s-ata drive, 1 p-ata drive, 1 dvd burner, 1 front panel VFD display/remote.
got the install running right now and so far so good (knock on wood), figure it should run pretty decent on my system since i finally upgraded to 2gb of memory; really need to get a new mobo and upgrade to 4gb memory and newer x2 cpu. however, bills be bills..
if only computer upgrades grew on trees.. ;)
--update: just got osx86 running on my desktop machine, runs pretty smooth! also got my system setup to triple boot via the vista bootloader and chain0 hack; works like butter. i posted a recipe to triple booting over at http://tech-recipes.com 's main site, should be live in a day or two. i'll post more tips and notes as i come across them.
 Oh yea, and to top it off; my TC1100's HDD poops out yesterday. Hmmm, i almost wonder if the OSX86 installs might have caused the failure or not. had me worried, however my 80gb is still under warranty and i had my original 60gb that i could swap back in. btw, i still am a huge fan of making ghost backups in case things like this happen. did a ghost bkup before doing the OSX stuff so i had my system back up and running in 15minutes. its nice being a geek. :P hehe.
anywho, so round 1 of my OSX86 install goes to Apple.  i'm wondering if my problems may have been related to my tc's hd failing or did the installs/failed installs cause the failure? i swear the drive was beeping (like when your desktop won't POST and all you get are the error diagnostic beeps); couldn't even boot from a LiveCD or floppy w/the drive in.
however, round 2 hopefully will go my way; i've decided to install it on my main desktop pc on a spare p-ata harddrive (20gb). realized the OSX86 install does not let you install to S-ata harddrive (i have 3 of them of course and no P-ata), so i had to pull out a 20gb p-ata drive from a gutted system and find a spot in my case. sure am glad i upgraded away from my htpc cases; no way i could fit my: 3 s-ata drive, 1 p-ata drive, 1 dvd burner, 1 front panel VFD display/remote.
got the install running right now and so far so good (knock on wood), figure it should run pretty decent on my system since i finally upgraded to 2gb of memory; really need to get a new mobo and upgrade to 4gb memory and newer x2 cpu. however, bills be bills..
if only computer upgrades grew on trees.. ;)
--update: just got osx86 running on my desktop machine, runs pretty smooth! also got my system setup to triple boot via the vista bootloader and chain0 hack; works like butter. i posted a recipe to triple booting over at http://tech-recipes.com 's main site, should be live in a day or two. i'll post more tips and notes as i come across them.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
osx86 and the TC1100: round 1, install frustrations
well, this weekend has been a weekend of some geek frustration. previously i had mentioned i wanted to try to get OS X Tiger up and running on my HP TC, however i have been having some issues.Â
my main problems have been the install itself. my first install attempts ended w/me not being patient enough and giving up. after about 3 hours of waiting and seeming like nothing was happening i would power off my tablet and start over. i realized that stuff was going on in the background but the Apple boot screen was hiding it, i decided to use the -v flag while booting via darwin. this atleast gave me the piece of mind knowing something was going on.Â
however this still did not resolve the SUPER long time it takes to install. my first install did not boot past the grey Apple logo and the install itself took over 5 hours (took a nap in between prompts). the logs seemed to point to titan failing to start. i decided to now try another full install and not installing the titan video drivers. hopefully my tablet will boot!
if it does, i think i will make a ghost image of the partition (avoid having to go through the painful install again!) and then reghost my whole machine w/OS X on the first partition and my tablet xp on second and then using Darwin bootloader for my dual booting.
i'll post an update once or if i get it running or not. btw, i'm using the JaS 10.4.8 AMD Intel SSE2/SSE3 PP1 and PP2 iso. i also patched w/the defiant ppf patch. it almost seems like my problems may be my cd drive, i might grab my ext from work tomorrow if i can't boot after this install and start from scratch.
more to come!
my main problems have been the install itself. my first install attempts ended w/me not being patient enough and giving up. after about 3 hours of waiting and seeming like nothing was happening i would power off my tablet and start over. i realized that stuff was going on in the background but the Apple boot screen was hiding it, i decided to use the -v flag while booting via darwin. this atleast gave me the piece of mind knowing something was going on.Â
however this still did not resolve the SUPER long time it takes to install. my first install did not boot past the grey Apple logo and the install itself took over 5 hours (took a nap in between prompts). the logs seemed to point to titan failing to start. i decided to now try another full install and not installing the titan video drivers. hopefully my tablet will boot!
if it does, i think i will make a ghost image of the partition (avoid having to go through the painful install again!) and then reghost my whole machine w/OS X on the first partition and my tablet xp on second and then using Darwin bootloader for my dual booting.
i'll post an update once or if i get it running or not. btw, i'm using the JaS 10.4.8 AMD Intel SSE2/SSE3 PP1 and PP2 iso. i also patched w/the defiant ppf patch. it almost seems like my problems may be my cd drive, i might grab my ext from work tomorrow if i can't boot after this install and start from scratch.
more to come!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
New geek project: getting OS X Tiger on my HP TC1100
well, after helping one of my pals get her work Mac G4 server back up and going, i decided that its time that i tried to get OS X Tiger going on one of my Intel/AMD machines.Â
since i rely on my main pc and can't afford to 'accidently' wipe out any of my 3 hds in that sytem, i had to find an alternative system to try the farked install on.
hmm, thus my HP TC1100 came to mind. how sweet would it be to have a Mac Tablet, eh? hehe. i have not done any installing yet but have been doing mainly just some research on it prior to installing.
my goal is to triple boot my tablet pc w/XP, Vista, and OS X Tiger. I currently have 4 partitions on my 80gb drive and have allocated about 10gb for the OS X install.Â
Partition0=XP
Partition1=Vista
Partition2=User files
Partition3=OS X
also, i am using the Vista bootloader and intend to use that for my triple booting.
tonight i plan to try the install and will post my results/notes on the process (since i have not seen any TC1100 running OS X yet).
i am hoping that i can use drivers from a serial based wacom tablet for the TC1100's wacom digitizer, but this may be very interesting. also, from what i've been reading i may need to recompile a few things to work w/my tablets Intel Centrino processor; i'm hoping there have been others w/this processor that have gotten OS X to work.Â
nonetheless, should turn out to be a pretty fun sounding project! i'll post a followup this weekend on if or how i got it all working! :)
since i rely on my main pc and can't afford to 'accidently' wipe out any of my 3 hds in that sytem, i had to find an alternative system to try the farked install on.
hmm, thus my HP TC1100 came to mind. how sweet would it be to have a Mac Tablet, eh? hehe. i have not done any installing yet but have been doing mainly just some research on it prior to installing.
my goal is to triple boot my tablet pc w/XP, Vista, and OS X Tiger. I currently have 4 partitions on my 80gb drive and have allocated about 10gb for the OS X install.Â
Partition0=XP
Partition1=Vista
Partition2=User files
Partition3=OS X
also, i am using the Vista bootloader and intend to use that for my triple booting.
tonight i plan to try the install and will post my results/notes on the process (since i have not seen any TC1100 running OS X yet).
i am hoping that i can use drivers from a serial based wacom tablet for the TC1100's wacom digitizer, but this may be very interesting. also, from what i've been reading i may need to recompile a few things to work w/my tablets Intel Centrino processor; i'm hoping there have been others w/this processor that have gotten OS X to work.Â
nonetheless, should turn out to be a pretty fun sounding project! i'll post a followup this weekend on if or how i got it all working! :)
Sunday, June 10, 2007
XP vs Vista: the crappy pc test
well, like most geeks out there, i have quite a few 'crappy' systems. basically computers that have been 'frankensteined' together with parts i've gotten from pals, co-workers, random strangers.Â
one of these systems consists of an Athlon 64 3000+, Winfast mobo, 512mb memory, 100gb hd, and using onboard memory (64mb shared). for a while i was using this pc as a living room pc and had vista business ed running on it, however dvd playback on it was horrible, unbearable and the OS just seemed to lag. i decided to bring it back to the parent's farm so i had a pc to watch movies at night when up there. after struggling through the choppiest movie i've ever seen (major lag probs in vista, video playback just seems to blow).Â
so this last weekend i decided to put good ole XP Prof back on it. dvd playback was perfect, no lag or anything. os was much snappier and music playback also was smoother.
obviously this makes sense since vista requires a much higher set of hardware requirements and i was using onboard video. however i never thought the difference in video playback would be so much different (unbearable in vista and smooth in xp).
this actually leads me to my rant on vista. where is the video driver support?? seriously, i'm a little sick of not having the ability to use full screen overlays on my secondary monitor. for being an OS that claims to be aimed towards multimedia, it sure seems to fall flat on its back. however most of the blame still goes towards the video card manufacturers and their horribly slow updates to drivers. come on! you've had over 2 years to get drivers working.
i'll get off my box now, but seamonkey's 'mr. obvious' tip of the day, stick w/XP for those crappier, slower systems. vista just is too much of a hog for these notsopowerful systems.Â
peace
one of these systems consists of an Athlon 64 3000+, Winfast mobo, 512mb memory, 100gb hd, and using onboard memory (64mb shared). for a while i was using this pc as a living room pc and had vista business ed running on it, however dvd playback on it was horrible, unbearable and the OS just seemed to lag. i decided to bring it back to the parent's farm so i had a pc to watch movies at night when up there. after struggling through the choppiest movie i've ever seen (major lag probs in vista, video playback just seems to blow).Â
so this last weekend i decided to put good ole XP Prof back on it. dvd playback was perfect, no lag or anything. os was much snappier and music playback also was smoother.
obviously this makes sense since vista requires a much higher set of hardware requirements and i was using onboard video. however i never thought the difference in video playback would be so much different (unbearable in vista and smooth in xp).
this actually leads me to my rant on vista. where is the video driver support?? seriously, i'm a little sick of not having the ability to use full screen overlays on my secondary monitor. for being an OS that claims to be aimed towards multimedia, it sure seems to fall flat on its back. however most of the blame still goes towards the video card manufacturers and their horribly slow updates to drivers. come on! you've had over 2 years to get drivers working.
i'll get off my box now, but seamonkey's 'mr. obvious' tip of the day, stick w/XP for those crappier, slower systems. vista just is too much of a hog for these notsopowerful systems.Â
peace
Friday, June 01, 2007
Blackberry 8830 - Mini-review/first impressions
For all of those Blackberry users (or crackberry), Verizon released the much anticipated 8830 World Edition phone.Â
The Blackberry 8830 is offered by Verizon and has both CDMA and GSM technology in it. Basically this phone should work anywhere in the world, hence the "World Edition" branding. Of course, using the phone/data in a different country will require the World plan.
I got my grubby little mits on one just last week since we have a ton of attorneys that travel abroad. I've so far used the following blackberry phones and will use them as reference to the features/options of the new Verizon Blackberry 8830: 7250, 7103e, 8703e, 8800 (pearl). I've also used the following smartphones too: Motorola Q, Treo 600/650/700P/700W/700WX/755P/678, Tmobile MDA/Cingular 8125.Â
Â
The Blackberry 8830 is offered by Verizon and has both CDMA and GSM technology in it. Basically this phone should work anywhere in the world, hence the "World Edition" branding. Of course, using the phone/data in a different country will require the World plan.
I got my grubby little mits on one just last week since we have a ton of attorneys that travel abroad. I've so far used the following blackberry phones and will use them as reference to the features/options of the new Verizon Blackberry 8830: 7250, 7103e, 8703e, 8800 (pearl). I've also used the following smartphones too: Motorola Q, Treo 600/650/700P/700W/700WX/755P/678, Tmobile MDA/Cingular 8125.Â
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