Computer Stuff: July 2003 Archives

Too tired for a Title

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It's probably just what happens, that when so many things are happening, that you just don't feel like writing about it. There's been tonnes of stuff to talk/bitch about, but thats really probably all it would be, complaining about a hundred and one things.

But regardless I've just been feeling particularly reticent the past couple of days - and obviously things going wrong don't help.

I should, however be glad of having a nice, clean installed system in a couple of days time, pending a couple of inquiries in the right forums. When I'm done with my main system (and the ATI stuff doesn't fuck up - yet again) I'll probably get around to my notebook.

Doesn't help that I've heard SP2 isn't planned for months yet, so waiting for that would be pretty pointless. Pretty much going to stick with the as yet not updated ASUS drivers though, the nVidia ones would probably only cause too many problems.

Get the feeling I'm going to be avoiding Intervideo stuff, since it's really not that great, and it's not quite compatible with my S-Video out.

I do now have quite a few bits that I can bring to Singapore though, and at least I know they're gonna be quality. Vantec Heatsinks are to die for. If I never use another stock AMD heatsink it will be too soon. And I'm becoming all too adept at cleaning and applying thermal paste - and the Vantec supplied paste is pretty damn good I must say, in the continuing absence of Nanotherm PCM.

Oh, and I went to seen Mariah last night which was nice - not in the mood for a full review, but then Mariah is just Mariah anyway.

The whole writing in categories things is starting to annoy me a bit now, that I don't feel I have enough for another entry but just want to tack on a couple of random thoughts that are eminently off-topic.

Must resist the urge to go back to trawling forums - I really do have better things to do.

eDonkey

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Have rediscovered the wonders of eDonkey, a file sharing app that from what I've seen is probably the way to go from Kazaa, esp now that a bunch of people are probably going to be moving away from that subpoena-magnet. I could be stubborn and stay on Kazaa, but it's just more pleasing to move to an alternative that isn't being targeted yet. It's like Morpheus after Napster.

Small note, but please know what you're doing when you install eDonkey, since it's bundled with a bunch of Spyware - choose the advanced install and say no when they prompt you - if you can't be bothered to pay attention, it's your own fault. There's an alternative client that I haven't tried, called eMule, which uses the same network etc.

After that, you can just mosey over to ShareReactor to get verifieds that you can send to eDonkey through your browser (IE, haven't gotten Opera to work yet, check the forums, it should be there).

Oh, and I've changed my desktop theme again, I'll post screenies later.

Computer Stuff Update

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I seem particularly loquacious tonight, no doubt a function of my state of sloshed-ness. But I've been fiddling with my screen resolution, and am finding 1280x960 rather unexpectedly rewarding, despite the smaller text.

My overclocking is going okay, at least insofar as I've managed to get it up to 191x10.5 stably. I can go to 200x10 and probably higher, but it doesn't appear terribly stable, and I'm not going to push the voltage too high during summer till I get my new heatsink. It's not so much the performance increase that interests me though, it must be said, I'm more interested in the performance coupled with my clock not going horribly out of sync due to the irregular clock speeds. A particular problem with timed recording using my TV software

My plan of using the wireless mouse as a TV mouse, via the TV out on my AIW card is panning out rather nicely, except that I now miss the feel of that mouse for normal usage. And my switch is being rather disappointing, esp now that I've come to recognise the fantastic quality of my lovely monitor. Other than geometry issues, there's little I could think of to justify an LCD.

I've installed a nice new theme on my desktop, a lovely professional one by Nvidia no less. I was a bit squeamish, since my graphics solution is ATI after all, then I remembered I'm using the lovely Nforce 2 chipset. Details of the theme can be found here, along with screenshots.

Ah and due to the fact that Zonealarm is a flaky load of crap, I've moved over to Sygate once more - but again just for my machine as it's the DMZ. The slowdown in network recognistion speed I suppose is the price I have to pay. And probably reinforces my conviction that I might be better off having the IBM drive on HK's comp as a storage server, which I can add to later.

I've turned off my page file, just to see if it helps not having one, so far things seem fine. But then I'm wallowing in the splendour of my 1 gig of RAM.

Messenger Spam

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I've just recently been experiencing what is being called messenger spam. It's when alert dialogs appear with spam messages. There's a website that's been set up to combat the whole thing here. Just to be clear, this has nothing to do with Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger.

Apparently all this has to do with the fact that I'm now set as the DMZ host behind my router, and I'd uninstalled my firewall (since reinstalled), so that my IP and Netbios were somewhat exposed. Naughty bastards. But well, if you're behind a router it's probably not really an issue. I'm still not reinstalling my antivirus.

RAM and Video Editing

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My RAM arriving means that I'm up to 1 gig now, which is cool, and I suspect that what was the issue with Ulead was more to do with lack or RAM and hence constant paging which led to the slowdowns.

Shall have to wait to get my drive more fragmented before I really know if this increased responsiveness in editing is really due to the RAM.

Called the people about my drives, which shipped today. Hope the RAID sets up easily. My next motherload of DVD-R should be coming soon.

The keyboard I have here I just find better for typing, for whatever reason, even though they're supposed to be the same. Might be because it's slightly more worn and the keys aren't quite as stiff as they used to be.

Oh, the new 3.6 Catalyst drivers are great, in that the jerky scrolling I used to have is pretty much gone, and with the new RAM, it's smoother than ever.

I'll just have to see when I can be bothered to get my router sorted out - hope the warranty isn't over.

Hmm... checking out using my fallingbeam account for SMTP so again I don't have to be dependant on an ISP for sending mail. Finding out that actually the features of the hosting plan mail is quite cool, they actually allow both pop and imap, so if and when I ever migrate new addresses, they'll probably be fallingbeam addresses.

I know my site's been a bit neglected of late, except perhaps for the blog, but as I'm now in Chicago and ordering a sinful amount of computer hardware (RAM and 2 SATA drives for my RAID setup) I should be paying more attention to it. And also I no longer have the excuse of the books not being around for the front page quotes on my site. And all the assessment rubbish should be going too. Really need the RAID setup, since the IBM drive seems less than capable of dealing with the demands of video editing.

Found out that it's probably better to record Once and Again on analog cable rather than digital, less jerkiness. Oh and I'm taping Red Cap since it's not on DVD. I really wonder when I'll get around to watching all the crap I bought.

Oh and I've been using K++, not noticing too much difference from Kazaalite, been busy downloading the absolutely hot Liz Phair (thanks Tag and Rename) and getting the unaired episodes of Firefly. November seems a long way away to wait for the DVD.

Editing video is a bit tedious, but I suppose the policy is that I don't record to keep stuff unless it's not available to buy (yet at least) hence the taping of Once and Again season 2.

Gave Su-lin a little tutorial on using Kazaa. Su-lin seems to get it better than Peishan, though both had to be handholded - Su-lin just seems more intuitive about it. I get the feeling Su-lin takes issue with me railing against York, but then, as 'In a Lonely Place' suggests, there is every reason for being not 'normal'.

I'm still quite swayed by the idea that the film uncovers the futility of reading signs as if they were traffic-stop-signs, that the element of faith and belief - the appreciation of the unseen/unproven - is the post-lapsarian frustration of spirit in being unable to quite divorce the self from the need for interpretation, the need for reading and proof.

I don't think I'm wrong in asserting the urgency or primacy of this semiotic engagement in the period, I would assume that the detective fiction genre is merely a happy coincidence and convenient catalyst for these impulses.

Maybe Waugh can convince me to convert to Catholicism :P.

Browser Stuff

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Just installed Netscape 7.1, which is reasonably nice, if unsurprising, since I'd been using Mozilla 1.4. They turn on smooth scrolling by default, and mouse gestures install without a hitch, so it's definitely got my vote.

All the crap that installed with it is not for the uninitiated however, and as with most things, advanced settings for install are mandatory. As always, it remains second (actually third) fiddle to Opera, and is there mostly for Composer more than anything else.

There's also a brand spanking new beta for Opera 7.2, if you have a gander at the forums, you'll find it in the beta section (unsurprisingly). Very stable beta, as most of the Opera point release betas tend to be, and they seem to have fixed the rather annoying bug with my intellimouse, which is lovely. Looks like the next 6.05.





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About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Computer Stuff category from July 2003.

Computer Stuff: June 2003 is the previous archive.

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