Archive for the 'Hardware' Category

Back with Windows

Published at December 15, 2007 in Hardware, Technology, Life and Programming. 0 Comments

As many readers may know, I have been using Linux for the past nine months or so. But now, to my slight chagrin, I announce to the world that I have reinstalled Windows XP, and am now using it as my primary operating system. I decided to do this for several reasons, first and foremost the greater compatibility with, well, everything. Except perhaps my open source ideals, which still remain intact.

In order to switch over, I needed to do several things. I wanted my data (music, code, photos, movies, etc) available from wherever I may be (on my system), so I bought an external hard drive (a Seagate FreeAgent 250G), upon which I currently have stored all my digital possessions. It seems to be working very well so far, and I can access it flawlessly from both Windows and Linux (Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon).

With the XP CD that I had, I kept getting a “session 3 initialization failure” (or something of the like), but then I realized it was scratched. It told me there was something wrong with my hardware, but it was wrong. So I had to use another XP install CD that we had, and that one worked perfectly.

I had a problem of having “No Device” for my sound, but then realized that Windows does not automatically recognize all my hardware, and I actually had to dig out my motherboard CD and install the drivers (my sound is integrated, I think). So, after two hours of frustrated attempts and fifteen seconds of brilliant insight, my sound works again.

I need software. I am downloading and installing all the necessary programs for my digital way of life (Firefox, OpenOffice, iTunes, Pidgin, VLC, Google Earth, Sketchup, etc), and installing some old stuff from when I used Windows before (like Photoshop).

But what of programming? I intend to try out Microsoft Visual Basic (since I have succumbed to Microsoft technology anyway, why not give it a try). I also want to try Java with NetBeans, Processing, and maybe Ruby. Maybe C#. Maybe I’ll go back to REALbasic, but that costs money, an obvious drawback. I have been working with PHP more lately, and HTML as always. I will probably continue using Python for some things (probably just simple scripting), but I have tried and failed to get the hang of GUI coding with Python and GTK and Glade. Maybe I’ll try again later. Not now.

So, after this slightly long-winded explication of my current digital status, I hope I have not bored you. I felt the need to make my doings known, and this is the place to do it. But the deed is done, and I shall thus sign off for now.

Volume Limit Escaped

Published at August 11, 2007 in Hardware. 0 Comments

I have recently been staying in a Hilton Garden Inn with my parents, on vacation in Oregon for a conference my Dad is attending. While attempting to watch a movie on the in room entertainment system, we noticed that we could not get the volume to rise above the paltry level 11, thus requiring action. We called down to guest services, and their tech responded with instructions on how to reset the volume limit. I will here make these directions available to you, dear reader, in case you are ever in a similar predicament.

  1. Make sure you are using the LodgeNet entertainment system, and see if you are using a Panasonic TV. I was, and this worked.
  2. Unplug the internet cable.
  3. Press the “Action” and “Volume Up” buttons at the same time, firmly.
  4. Then press the “Action” and “Channel Up” buttons at the same time, with vigor.
  5. A little “Off” thing shoud appear in the lower right of the screen. Now feel free to adjust the volume to your desired maximum.
  6. Repeat 3 and 4.
  7. Plug internet cable back into TV, and enjoy.
  8. Keep trying until it works. I had to try three times (exhibiting great sticktoitiveness) before it worked as desired. My hypothesis is that the buttons were on the fritz, not always accepting my input.

Please do not use this clever method to annoy your innocent neighbors, who would be greatly unappreciative when being forced to listen to your favorite show at top volume. Realize that there is a volume limit for a reason, namely that someone thinks that you are incapable of choosing a volume that is satisfactory to you and everyone else. Prove them wrong. Maintain a respectable volume.

Enabling A Graphics Card in Ubuntu

Published at July 16, 2007 in Hardware and Linux. 0 Comments

Recently, I had been disappointed with my graphics quality when running in Ubuntu Linux. I couldn’t run Google Earth (yes, there is now a Linux release!), my sparse collection of games lagged immensely, movies played in a choppy manner, and so on. I came to the conclusion that Ubuntu just didn’t do a very good job of managing my video card (a nVidia). Well this was true, but only because I didn’t have my card working at all with my system! Woah!

I figured this out when I thought that maybe I would need to reinstall my card driver (I thought I already had it installed, of course). I did a search on Ubuntu Forums (a great place), and one of the search results yielded the suggestion of checking the box next to one’s graphics card in the Restricted Drivers Manager to enable one’s graphics card. So I looked at it, and *gasp* it was not checked! So I clicked it, and thus enabled my graphics card. (If you think you have the same problem I did, to get to the Restricted Drivers Manager go to System>Administration>Restricted Drivers Manager to fix it.)

My graphics quality is now (unsurprisingly) much better. There is only one slight issue in that I can’t get my resolution above 1024×768, even after modifying xorg.conf to add higher resolutions (gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf). But it is probably a gift in disguise, as now I won’t have such a great chance of hurting my eyes. And now I can do many graphical things I could not do before, and do many others better. I am satisfied.

Cell Phone GPS

Published at July 3, 2007 in Hardware. 0 Comments

Did you know that it is required by law for all cell phones to have the ability to recognize their positions via GPS technology (or something similar)? This way, when you call 911 after you have just been mauled by a rampant rhinoceros, you don’t have to tell emergency response where you are, sparing the few critical words that end up saving your life. Everyone needs protection from extensive damage done by charging rhinos.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that all this hype about navigation enabled cell phones (!!!) is pretty much unwarranted. The stingy cell phone manufacturers have just decided to unveil another selling point in their “hot new phone” by adding a bit of software to implement hardware that was already there! Crazy capitalists…

Check the Air Flow!

Published at June 5, 2007 in Hardware and School. 0 Comments

My school district recently shelled out a whole ton of money to revive my school from its previously decrepit state, and as a part of this revival they added much new technology, including a digital projector for each classroom. Sounds like an great idea with incredible educational potential, eh? Well it is, when the teachers are able to get all the technology working at the same time. And most are capable enough that they can utilize it, or at least know how to call the tech (or ask a student) when they can’t figure it out. One example to the contrary, however, lies in my biology teacher.

In the past few days, we have been receiving a message declaring that the user must “Check the Air Flow”. This message is quite large, and effectively renders the machine useless by taking up almost all the screen space. For this reason, my biology teacher greatly wished to remove the notice, so she could once again use her projector (I don’t think she cared whether or not it burned up…). So I look over yesterday to see her physically propagating air flow over her computer. Yes, you read that right, her computer. Not even the obvious source of the difficulty, even if using a magazine to waft air in its direction would help. Her technological proficiency sinks even to the level of her aptitude in teaching biology (which, I may add, is not so lofty).

Moral to the story: don’t invest hundreds of dollars per classroom in technology if you are not going to teach those using it how to do so properly! Not doing so directly defeats the purpose of adding the technological tools in the first place.