CPU Barbeque

I'm so anti SOPA that I'm Pro-SOPA

2012-01-23T00:12:00.008+11:00

Why the free world missed a trick in getting SOPA stopped, and why the people pushing SOPA are so stupid we might get the chance again (in fact it's probably inevitable).

As of the last couple of days it was announced that the SOPA and PIPA were shelved, much to the relief of the vast majority of informed internet users (including myself). However upon reflection I realised that given the way things actually would have turned out, It may well have been preferable for the act to go through.

Here are the facts as I see them. I can and will elaborate on each point, but just run with me here...

1) The people who wrote SOPA and PIPA are either adorably out of touch, mind numbingly stupid, or profoundly corrupt, or more likely some mix of all three. The point being they are probably incapable of setting a VCR, let alone understanding the issues of the internet well enough to just start messing with it. They certainly do not see any of the following issues..

2) The main "stick" in SOPA is based on delisting a site from DNS (the "phone book of the internet") .This will not work, and my short proof for this is that it has done nothing to stop spam.

3) SOPA enabled pretty much anyone to lay a complaint, and have it enforced without even notification, let alone due process. Con-men, people with fake medical treatments, dishonest financial advisers, even a simple commercial rival could shut down entire websites - without evidence.
In short, honest people would be forced off the internet

4) Although DNS is important to the internet, it is not essential. There are ways to override it, and there are certainly ways to do without it, but no-one really cares since it does the job without fuss.
If honest people were forced off DNS, alternative systems would spring up overnight, but unlike the existing systems, and due to their inherent clandestine nature would be locked down secure. Not only would it be difficult/impossible to trace data sources (using system designs like TOR) or alternate DNS systems, the systems would probably masquerade in such a way as it would be impossible to distinguish them from other internet traffic. Also (obviously) these systems would be beyond control of anyone (this is a good thing).

Conclusions
This means a new level of the internet would be created(or multiple versions of) that would be beyond the reach of any government (or Record label), or any legislation a redneck politician throws together. There would be issues, and probably annoying plugins, and various takedowns and cat and mouse games, but as long as there was an IP connection, there could be unfettered, unmonitored and uncontrolled communication, and isn't that what the internet was supposed to be about in the first place?

The truth is this legislation will return. The people with the money are too greedy and don't understand the technology. The politicians have no idea about the technology, and don't care about the people who elected them. Something will be forced through, sooner or later, and it will only take a few legitimate users being removed to get this ball rolling.

So what?
Illegal downloading is forcing this issue to a head, but it is an issue that we are fast approaching for other reasons.
Our right to privacy is not just being taken away, we are being put in a situation where we are obliged to give it away for free.
The tides of individual freedom are still receding, but they will turn, and a stupid action like the SOPA bill probably would have caused a reaction that would have significantly redressed the balance, or at least forced it to a head. We will need to wait for something like this again... but maybe not too long.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstien

HTPC Software

2010-05-19T00:03:00.055+10:00

Here is the software you need to run Windows Media Centre PC.
You don't need much software, and it is important you install as little software as possible. That means no games, no crazy video format decoders (Windows should be able to do almost everything, and some decoders will interfere with the smooth running of the stock decoders).
but you will need at least....
Windows 7 Home Premium or Ultimate edition - A$150
Home Premium or Ultimate versions are the only ones with Windows Media Centre
That will give you HDTV, recording and half decent DVD playback/upscaling as well as upscaling of DIVX/whatever files

Windows Security Essentials - $Free

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Basically it is the Anti virus system available for free from Microsoft.
It rates well in the defense ratings and most importantly has the smallest performance footprint (ie it has the lowest load on the system). Download it for free (assuming your windows is "authentic").

Those were the bare minimums, these are the things you will need as you move on up.

AnyDVDHD - €79

http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.html
This is the most useful utility for a media centre. It is central to converting DVDs or Blurays to ISO images, as well as performing the automounting of ISOs etc etc...
The lttle red icon sits on the task bar, you will find you use it again and again.
It is a great engine for mounting ISOs as well.
They are constantly updating and upgrading, so the price is justified for the free updates..

Arcsoft Total Media - US$89

http://www.arcsoft.com/estore/software_title.asp?ProductCode=TMT3P

Essential for the proper playback of Bluray.
Essentially Windows media centre can't play Bluray because of all the rights and security bullshit, so you have to buy player software. There are others like powerDVD, but TotalMedia Theatre 3 is the one I am used to, and it does a great job..
A license fee needs to be paid to legally play a bluray - and thats part of the cost.
Having said that,This has a bunch of extra features that allow your PC to behave like a proper Bluray player. Its a pretty good product, and if you buy it, you get upgrades and the like...

Full Spec HTPC

2010-05-16T19:14:00.016+10:00

Based on the previous HTPC posts, here is a current fully specced out Windows Media Centre Home Theatre PC. $1099.50

ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO mATX Motherboard
Same motherboard as the sub $500 version.
this one ticks all the boxes.

AMD Phenom II X2 550
I was tempted to use the slower colder X2 235e, there will be some minor advantages to this chip, such as encoding, also there may be some upscaling advantages...

OCZ Vertex 30GB SSD
Ideal for a media centre OS disk. Makes the whole system snappy, runs cold and absolutely silent.

Western Digital Green 2TB WD20EARS
Still from the Greenpower range, run cold and quiet, and only $170
Enough space for 220 DVDs. Enough said.

Seasonic M12 II 520W Power Supply
Legendary Seasonic. Silent, Stable, reliable.
Modular version to keep cables in the case to a minimum, 570 watts is probably twice the required power, especially at this high efficiency rate, but this model has the smallest size.
At $99 its a bargain.

SilverStone GD02 Black
Cases are quite personal, so check out the one you want.. there are reports that this is a bit cramped inside, but remember there is no Graphics card required.
This one is looks nice, and definitely has room for an optical drive and and two 3.5" Hard drives, and I'm hoping enough room to sneak the SSD in there also.
If you want a full size media centre PC in your living room, thats up to you, but I find them a bit imposing... the GD02 is a nice size.

Samsung SH-B083A Blu-ray DVD Combo Drive
This is the model I have, it can read DVD or Bluray.
It is very quiet, and does the job nicely for $120.
It it not a burner, but I cannot imagine any scenario these days which would require me to burn a Bluray (at $10 for the blanks as well)

GeIL GV34GB1600C9DC 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3
I went for the 1600 as there are some (upscaling) advantages that are available at 1600 on some CPUs. I would check around for price on the day, as memory prices change with the weather.

Nexus Real Silent 120mm Case Fan
Maybe it is a bit slack, but I use these as CPU fans.
The AMD fans are completely useless. I simply rip them off and put a large silent fan over the top. It puts about 6 times as much air over the CPU and the RAM, and makes hardly any noise.
Sometimes I get one or two screws in... sometimes I use gaffa tape :)
Truth be told, Arctic Cooling make the best fans, their PWM range are awesome. PWM enables better control of the fan from Software.
If I was getting serious I would look at a Scythe Low profile CPU cooler ($70), but you really should not be stressing the CPU that much.

HTPC Extras

2010-05-16T16:10:00.011+10:00

This is all the bits you will need apart from the PC, "outside the box" as it were

Technically you can get away without any of these parts, but sooner or later you will want to upgrade...

Logitech Anywhere mouse mx.
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/mice_pointers/mice/devices/6536
You will need to use a mouse, and a wireless is the best for a media centre.
The new "darkfield" technology from Logitech works on glass (and other stuff also).

Microsoft ARC wireless Keyboard.
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=120
For some reason every decent wireless keyboard was either too big (why do they all have numeric pads?) or too expensive ($300 for a diNovo - really?).
In a stunningly rare example of picking the niche, Microsoft made the ARC keyboard which is small, functional and looks nice.
Amazingly, it can be found for as little as $50 on www.staticice.com.au (a meta price searcher in Australia).

Media Center(sic) Remote
Microsoft make a good one, although they are getting hard to find, there are many third party ones. Media Centre will suck without a remote.

Windows 7 Home premium 64bit OEM
No one really buys a new version of windows, but Microsoft goes out of their way to make an in place upgrade virtually impossible.
The OEM version costs the same as an upgrade, but can be installed in one go.
Yes Microsoft suck, but this is actually good software, and at the cost of slightly more than the mouse, you may as well buy it.
Home premium is the ideal version. Remember - the "Professional" version does not have Windows media centre.
64 bit is necessary if you ever want to use more than 4GB of RAM.
both 32 and 64bit versions run MCE equally well, there is some software that does not run so well on 64bit, but in the long run, 64bit is the best choice.

HTPC Cheap version

2010-05-16T11:42:00.021+10:00

Hi Guys,

Here is the skinny on building a decent HTPC (Home Theatre PC) based on Windows 7 Media Centre.
Thanks to Brucey for many of the technical details, and bringing it up from "really good" to "outstanding".
Prices and cart screenshots are from pccasegear.com.au. They have the best range, really good stock and great support. They do not sponsor me at all BTW (but are welcome to if they want to).

THE BASIC UNIT - around $500
This is the cheapest I can make it, with absolutely minimal cost, It will not have all the features out the box, can be upgraded to the big daddy eventually.
If you want to try and source all these parts from different places on the web, you could save another $50, but you will probably lose that in separate postage, as well as wasting alot of time...
If you dont mind waiting in a queue for 30 minutes, then in theory you could get all these bits MSY for around $425 (based on their parts list), however they often don't have the parts you want, and you end up buying not quite the right stuff

Rundown on each part
AMD Athlon X2 235e
I don't recommend AMD unless there is a really good reason to (in this case the 785G chipset). So this is praise indeed. This is their weakest CPU, but gets the nod as it uses the least power (45W), so will be the quietest and coolest. Remember that most of the work will be done by the ATI 4200 GPU on the motherboard, most of the CPU work is just "directing traffic" and "house keeping". Myself I use an Athlon X3... but this is for the cheapest version of the HTPC, and its $10 cheaper, and until I see evidence to the contrary, there should be no real disadvantage to using this CPU. Indeed the heat issue could make this preferable.

ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO mATX Motherboard
This is $8 more than the Gigabyte version, but it supports Sideband (SBA710), which is a way for the GPU to get better performance by going straight to the RAM rather than through the main BUS. SBA may not be available with only one memory module installed (you need an even number I think).
The AMD785G chipset is the core of this entire system. It is the one part of this system that is not negotiable.
There is a more recent verion (the AMD880) but until I use one of those, I am sticking with these.
The key to the 785 is the ATI 4200 embedded GPU. It looks great, and with the correct software will outperform just about any hardware BluRay player on the market (certainly ones that cost less than $2000 anyway).
Anyone who wants to argue that point, I simply say "x.v. color?".

Corsair VS2GB1333D3 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3
Really any single DDR3 chip that can do at least 1333 will be good, 2 x 1G would actually be better since you could get SBA running, and WM7 should manage (just!) on 2GB of RAM (althoug it will be less since the GPU will be using some of it).
Go to 2 x 2GB as soon as you can, although thats an extra $75.
Faster ram (1600, 1800 whatever) is fine as well, as long as it does not run too hot.

Thermaltake SD200 with 270WTT FTX PSU
This could be any one of many generic Micro ATX cases. I have not chosen this one for any real reason. I use an Antec minuet 300. The main criteria is it looks OK, can take a M-ATX Motherboard, an optical drive (DVD, or Bluray) and fit a couple of 3.5 HDDs as well.
It has an 80mm fan which is a good size for a tiny case. To me the main challenge for the case is to be small and silent as possible.
If you ever notice noise from it, during normal use, then its too noisy in my opinion.

Western Digital GreenPower 1TB
WD Greenpower drives run at 5400 RPM rather than the standard 7200RPM.
This makes them a little slower, but cooler, quieter, more reliable and they use less power - all important characteristics for an HTPC.
I currently run my OS on one partition of a 2TB GreenPower, and can copy large files to a separate partition on it, while playing a bluray file from another partition without issues.

OSX on a PC!!

2008-02-01T14:15:00.001+11:00

That's right. the holy grail.
Finally freedom from lame windows.
OSX running on your PC hardware. I have always been a fan of PCs, changeing motherboards, overclocking CPUs, plugging in weird Video cards, and getting the whole thing to work only to be confronted at the end with lame Windows XP (don't even mention Vista).
Its kind of like building the best car ever, getting dressed up in you best clothes, and going out on the town, only to find yourself at a party with 10 friends of your parents who you hate, talking about a TV program that was cancelled 15 years ago, that you also hated, and even getting that wrong.
Well anyway, if you want the blow by blow how to, please see my article http://cpubbq.blogspot.com/2008/01/osx86-on-ga-g31m-s2l-intstructions.html

Who did what?
The problem with getting OSX to run on a PC, is that most PCs run at the lowest level, a program called a BIOS (Basic Input Output System). This is used to direct calls from the operating system to the hardware.
BIOS has been with us since the first PCs back in 86'.
Macs use a system called EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface).

Why is this good for Apple?
Apple makes great stuff, but they are stuck in the 10 - 12% of total machines out there. If they don't want to play second fiddle to Microsoft, they are going to somehow have to get that up to 30 or 40. How?

Why is this good for Apple Users?

Why is this good for PC Users?

Why is this really REALLY bad for Microsoft?

OSx86 on GA-G31M-S2L (Instructions)

2008-01-28T12:30:00.001+11:00

These are the verbose instructions for installing OSX on a Gigabyte GA-31M-S2L motherboard. For an explanation on this, see the next article. If you have a different motherboard, you may still find this useful, since I worked through some interesting issues that would affect everyone.

For extra help and instructions, go to
http://forum.insanelymac.com and read alot.
http://forum.osx86scene.com/
You find everything you need there. Since there is a alot of hunting around, I have tried to centralise everything I did here.

What I have;

Motherboard; Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L firmware F4 (latest)
CPU; Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 running at 2.66Ghz
Video Card; MSI NX7900GT 256MB (and MSI 8600GT)256MB
RAM; 2GB Corsair XMS 800;

What you will need;

Similar Hardware to above. Particularly the MB, since that has the Sound and Ethernet adapters.
The Software; the "Kelyway Leo 10.5.1 SSE2 SSE3" DVD image. Get it off bit torrent. The file is about 4 GB
Realtek RTL8111C is the onboard NIC for this the motherboard. Get the drivers here. You will probably want to copy them onto a USB key or something so you can copy them onto the Hakintosh.
ALC662 The Onboard soundcard for this motherboard is not supported, and there are no drivers (yet), however the motherboard does support Azalia HD sound. There is a driver for that which you should get and install once you have OSX actually running. Get it here.
NVIDIA Geforce 8 series will also need post install drivers that you can get here.

Things to remember;
Although my install (after a couple of days) is quite stable, this is not a serious solution (running OSX on PC hardware). It is a hack, and is fun for that purpose only.
If you are thinking of using a system like this for serious or commercial purposes, you are insane.
If you like OSX, go out and buy a Mac!, if you really can't do that, then at least go and buy a copy of OSX.

The system for this has been evolving over the past 2 years, and alot of the (previously important) help is now redundant. There are many references to installing EFI drivers.
With the Kelyway DVD listed above, that is done automatically so you don't have to. I wish someone had told me that :).

Prerequisites (you)

Do you know the difference between IDE and SATA?
Can you set your IDE DVD player to "slave mode"?
Do you know how to change settings in the BIOS?
Do you know how to burn an ISO image?
Do You know the difference between a volume and a partition?
If you answered "no" to any of these questions, then go away and find out before proceeding (ask a nerd friend).

Preparation of the machine;

First off; Multi boot. There are so many questions/problems with multi boot (installing this and windows XP/Vista on the same HDD) I can't believe it.
While it is possible, it is quite problematic and relativly pointless.
If you want to do multi boot, wait until you know what you are doing.
In the meantime get a HDD which you can totally reformat/repartition that has no data on it that you need.
The HDD will be wiped, and any data on it will be gone
Next Configure the drives in such a way that the harddisk is the first drive (ie SATA port 0, or master of the IDE channel).
Change These Settings in the BIOS;
CPU Ehanced - Disabled; EIST - Disabled; Virtualisation -Disabled; Init Display - PEG; ACPI Suspend s3 (STR); set the USB Keyboard support to enabled; and USB mouse support to enabled;
You may be fine with a PS2 keyboard, but a USB keyboard makes life a little easier.

Begin the Install;

Boot from the Kelyway DVD, it should take a few minutes to boot into the installer.

Preparing the Disk

Once you are in the installer Select "Disk Utility" from the "Utilities" menu.
Select your hard drive and erase any partitions and create a new single partition (or any amount if you know what you are doing) format it as "MAC OS Extended (journaled) and make sure the partition is set to Master Boot Record (MBR).
Once that is set up you may continue with the installation.
Select a Target Disk (the one you just created should be your only option.

Final install;

The final installation screen which will have a "Customise" button. press that and select the following....

Select both settings for the top option (Vanilla ACPI and ACPI_Fix)
Select SSE2
Select The Geforce Video driver if you have a series 6 or 7, otherwise just leave it. (I have a series 8), although my original series seven worked perfectly with the default "geforce Desktop" drivers.
Select the EFI_MBR for the last option --- IMPORTANT! This usually defaults to the wrong setting so make sure it is the correct "MBR" Setting. I am assuming you partitioned the disk with MBR (as described earlier).

When you are finished go back and begin the install proper.... It will go for about 10 minutes (although it will report something like 40 at the begining). Another important tip! move the mouse every two minutes or so during the install. . I know this sounds dumb, but I found that if I just left it, it would sleep the HDD (or something) and the install would fail near the end...

When that has completed, it will restart.

Remove the DVD, and you should boot into OSX!!

If you get the dreaded "b0 error" and no start, try to make the OSX partition "active" this can be done by booting from the install DVD and breaking into the command line, then using fdisk. There is an excellent tute on how to do this at http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=22844 just search for "active partition" or "b0 error".

All other things being equal you should boot into OSX.

The first thing you should do is copy the Network drivers from the USB key as previously discussed. If your USB key works, it should mount as a disk on the desktop and just run the drivers from there. you may have to fluff around with manual link speeds, before you get a result. I found I needed to reboot a couple of times, and spent a while with it on 10Mbps before it was happy at 100Mbps (I will discuss this process more later). Reboot

Next install the Azalea drivers. Reboot

If you have a Geforce 8, install those drivers now. Reboot.

Sometimes the ethernet port will not seem to connect properly, particulary when you have just been running windows on it (I guess the windows driver does something to the autosense mode or something) anyway, if that happens, go into the BIOS and run the "Smart Lan" option [from "integrated perepherals" I think] and let it do whatever the heck that actually does for about ten seconds, then reboot (you don't have to save the BIOS again). All should be OK.
Now you should be Double Happy! go and download Xbench and work out how fast your mac is compared to the others.

The obligatory Vista review..

2007-11-12T12:25:00.000+11:00

OK,OK, so this site is called CPUBBQ, and I have yet to "barbeque" a CPU, or even review one. But to be honest, "SoftwareBBQ" makes no sense and/or sounds too geeky, so here we are.

Anyway the dead horse I am flogging today is called "Microsoft VISTA".

Installation;
Installation was easy. Having tried every version of Windows ever, and many versions of other software, I have to say that this all went pretty smooth.

Aero;
Having some kind of underlying requirement for my desktop to look as awesome as possible (I blame my childhood), I went straight for Aero, but how do I turn it on? I could see it was sort of on, since when I used "Alt TAB", I got the (not)3D effect of the windows being presented in trimetric elevation and looking a bit cool, also some of the window headings, which were sort of transparent, but that was about it. I looked around a bit more, then ALOT more and found out I was already using Aero and THATS IT!, like what???

All these people that have been talking about "Aero eye candy", like it was Jessica Alba, mixed with a ferrari, and talking like the chick out of Max Headroom, and that was it???, It was more like a mix of FoxNews, A book on flower arangement, and one of those clothing labels that say "Don't remove this label".

In six years we have come from XP to this?, and all those stupid Hardware requirements. Where is the 3D desktop? (I mean actual 3D - you know - DEPTH!) not just lame rotating jpgs et al.

The Inane messages;
We all know and loved the crazy old message we used to get from windows, such as "The thesaurus is not in the thesaurus" and "That font is not available, do you want to use it anyway?". There was a smug satisfaction in the fact that the messages were a bit crosseyed, and windows was'nt really sure what was going on, but was sort of muddling through, like the old guy at the petrol station, not quite sure how the cash register works.

Welcome to the bad new days;

I know that someone invloved with "Clippy" was involved with this. I can't prove it, I don't need to. Evil stupidity like this never happens in the same place twice by chance.

It seems like they have been moved from MS office to the operating system, and rather than sitting on their laurels with that all time low (Clippy), got a Kanga hammer and started digging.

Why is it bad? firstly unlike the crazy messages we used to get with Windows, this one is completely intentional, and thereby berift of anything but the most dark ironic humour.

Secondly; having shown people how to use computers for over 20 years, I know, that you never tell them that anything they can type (or click) will "damage" the computer. Yes they may delete data, but they are far more likely to do so if they are terrified of the machine.

I was trying to think just how a mouse could "... potentially damage your computer...", and realised that the only way you could "damage a computer" with a mouse, would be to open up the case and smash the innards with the mouse repeatedly,
holding it by the cord for extra effect, and maybe in slow motion with the soundtrack to 2001 a Space Odyssey playing in the background. like the scene with the Ape and the bones.....

The fact that the testers were aware that the operating system could cause this kind of cro-magnon regression on the users, shows at least that they have tested it, and were aware, at least sub-consciously, of what it could cause a person to do. Although the message would probably be more accurate if it said at the bottom "Messages like this may potentially cause you to smash your computer to bits!", but maybe thats where the legal department got involved.

I won't bore you with the further examples of this, but they are repeated to a point worth mentioning, that if you had'nt already been going to "...potentially smash your machine to bits..", you were now "..potentially going to throw it out the window..".

More of the same - only different.
Imagine if you got a new car that was exactly like your old car (but slower), the paint looked a bit nicer and all the controls looked the same, but did different things. So the gearstick was now the brake, the clutch was now the accelerator. The changes made no real ergonomic sense, they were made more becasue the designers had run out of ideas rather than had any good ones.

Summary;
I think what everyone seems to have lost sight of, is that an operating system is a means to an end, and the ideal one should be invisible. Getting an Operating system for its own sake has always seemed a bit stupid, and getting one that gets in the way of everything else is a multi level exercise in counter productivity.
Microsoft have a long way to go to fix this mess...

Gigabyte iRam

2007-10-14T19:28:00.000+10:00

OK Lets get this straight.

The Gigabyte iRam is the single most effective performance boost you can give your PC.
http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/Storage/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2180&ProductName=GC-RAMDISK

There are problems with it no doubt, but the rewards are immense. see the attached video...

In case you did'nt catch that, the computer shutdown, restarted and rebooted, all in about 25 seconds, while running windows XP. The operating system itself booted in about 7 seconds, and was available immediately. Admitedly this is probably a "cut down" version of XP, but you get the idea.

What is it?
The Gigabyte iRam (Also often called the Giga-byte GC-RAMDISK) is a PCI card which is used like a Hard Disk. No data passes down the PCI bus, which is only used for power. The iRam poses as an (up to) 4GB Hard Disk and is plugged into the motherboard via a SATA cable. This makes it very easy to install and use, since no drivers are necessary.
To the operating system, it appears simply as a very fast hard disk.

Limitations;
can only take 4GB of RAM.
RAM speed only same as PC200 RAM (although that is still miles quicker than the SATA bus can handle).
SATA 150Mbps only.
quite bulky for a PCI card.
data held will be lost after 16 hours without power.
Some versions of Linux don't support it due to its "odd" disk structure; this is always changing so check your distro version first.

Advantages;
Clean boot within 30 seconds on an average XP system (installed on the iRAM)
Massively improves performance, even if just used for the XP swap file.
Machine seems "snappier" even when doing things that would not seem to invlove much disk IO (like web browsing).
Machine does'n t go off on apparently random harddisk thrashings all the time, like XP is prone to do.
It is completely silent.

The next version?...
Gigabyte have been talking about the iRAM2 for a long time (over three years now). The supposed improvements include; up to 8GB storage (DDR2), SATA 2 (300Mbps), 5.25 inch drive bay model (cd bay) using ATX(molex) power (saves the PCI slot).
Personally I got sick of waiting for the next version to come out and I bought the first and am very glad I did.

Giga-byte have just recently released the iRAM Box, which is the same as the iRAM, except it is CD tray mountable. This still leaves room for improvement.
http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/Storage/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2678&ProductName=i-RAM%20BOX

Ten things wrong with windows

2007-10-14T14:52:00.001+10:00

OK, here it is, the first list. I was hoping it would not be negative, but there you go.
Here is a list of ten things that really bug me about windows that have never really have been fixed.

1. UPDATES.
Especially for security. They don't work. They will never stop the zero day exploit, or pretty much any other exploit. If they were going to work, they would have by now (5 damn years we have been updating XP, and there are still serious holes every month) one assumes that most of them have been around for most of that 5 years. If you think it does work, I suggest you try putting a brand new fully up to date windows machine on the internet without a firewall for a couple of hours and see what happens. I suggest you format it afterwards. There are some serious estimates that up to a quarter of all the windows machines in the world are compromised in a serious way (ie someone is able to surruptitiously control it). If windows was secure by design, none of this would be an issue.Some people may contest this point, or this whole concept... read this..... http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/dumb/ in particular #3 "penetrate and patch"Good quotes...."Unless your system was supposed to be hackable then it shouldn't be hackable."" I've tried using Windows XP Pro's Program Execution Control but it's oriented toward "Enumerating Badness" and is, itself a dumb implementation of a dumb idea. "

2. CD ROM support.
How about this for a feature, when I put a CD in the drive, it HANGS the operating system, until it has completed reading the Index!!. Hard drives stop responding. Network stops responding. Applications hang - on the momentus uncommon event of inserting a CD in the CD drive!!. Even worse, if the CD is unreadable, it starts crashing everything. Explorer hangs, Network hangs, mouse stops responding. It's like a Marx brothers movie, except its your data getting cake thrown in its face, and your time being wasted. It also stops being amusing after the third time. Although I hope that after reading this, next time you use a CD in a windows machine, you will see how truly funny it is that this OS can't correctly handle the wordwide standard data medium. (Don't get me started on the Autorun debacle - Sony rootkit anyone?) This was just lousy programming when windows 95 did it 12 years ago, and CDs were still a bit of a novelty. Now it just shows they don't give a damn. No excuse such as "bus mastering " or "DMA blah blah" is even slightly acceptable after 12 years. If you can explain it, you could have fixed it by now. Still a nasty feature on Vista - thanks MS

3. Network share unavailable.
OK so a share on the network that was available yesteray, is not there today. DEAL WITH IT!. Don't Hang the operating system. you arent running any software from it. It is not an unusual event. It is a common normal event that happens often everyday in a normally functioning network. Unfortunatley so is windows hanging. Still a nasty feature on Vista - thanks MS

4. Windows Driver Search.
Don't offer to go on the web to look for an appropriate driver if you have no intention of doing so. I have never found a driver for by using that option. It is just a waste of time for everyone involved. This may be fixed in Vista. but that still has to be proven properly.

5. Hordes of anonymous processes.
WTF are all those apps??? no really, I DON'T want to know. Just get rid of them. Why is my computer running 25 different apps simultaneously?, and I haven't even installed anything yet!. And give them a name. "svchost.exe" never meant much to people who knew what it meant. When repeated, it means hardly anything. If you don't deem it important enough to have a name, why should I deem it important enough to run on my computer.

6. Just Shut Down!.
You aren't a server. We both know you have no open files. You are running no apps (that I have started) just shut down. Now. not in two minutes. Don't claim to be "saving your settings" like you are somehow shifting the blame onto Me. Shut up and shut down!. I had a bet with a colleague once that I would just close my apps, then literally pull the power plug out of my computer, and he would patiently carefully and studiously shut down windows, and answer all the stupid, redundant, retarded questions it asks. He said my PC would become unusable after a couple of weeks. After six months HIS PC became unstable (probably for other reasons), and mine was running fine. I actually lasted another 3 months, before I was issued a new PC.

7. Fix that crummy firewall.
In 2003, Windows XP SP1 brought windows kicking and screaming into the nineties with a firewall. Of course it would not have been necessary if the OS had been more secure than a supermarket in Sierra Leone during a looting riot, but thats another story. How about it blocks outgoing as well as incoming traffic. Personally, Like just about everyone else in the western world, I have a hardware firewall. What I need the operating system to do is alert me when something is trying to get out. To do this you need a third party firewall, I always have it completely block Internet Explorer from getting out. Its amazing how often Kerio catches it trying to sneak out.

8. DOS Prompt.

The DOS prompt has not changed since Windows NT. where is the coloured text? here is the transparent windows. This is one area windows SERIOUSLY needs to to start copying from Linux.

9. Pop ups (and pop-up blockers).
We have all been duped with this one. Although I probably recommend pop-up blockers, think about it for a minute how stupid MS must think we are that they give us a pop-up blocker, rather than removing the pop-up feature from IE.This is like James Bond tying a rope around his car ejector seat so it won't go off. If you don't want it, remove it. Don't put another program in to stop it working - thats just plain crazy. Of course anyone who has used any pop-up blocker knows they don't work all the timeAs I mentioned before, the best way to block pop-ups, is to use something like Crazy browser, completely block IE from the internet (notice you can't use windows Firewall to do this)

10. JAVA
You have to feel for Sun, in that Microsoft has gone out of their way to stop java from working.But C'mon! it has been how many years? surely they can write a decent Runtime Environment by now.Even the most simple apps (and I mean really simple) can bring a powerful modern computer to its knees, just getting apps started is a demonstration of how software should'nt run, with a seemingly insatiable requirement to update itself, and a series of meaningless, hysterical security warnings. Even the fundamentals have been forgotten, as no two java apps seem to be able to run at the same time on the same PC.User unfriendly, unstable and resource hungry. Its mystifying control panels (that won't bloody go away). It actually makes Lotus Notes look good (and thats REALLY saying something).I really feel sorry for programmers who have slaved away to program something which will always be sluggish and annoying thanks to this terrible product.

Ten Great pieces of Free software

2007-10-14T14:49:00.000+10:00

Ten Great pieces of Free software

These aren't in any order (how would you compare a graphic viewer to a file utility?).
These are really good examples and worth a look, and if you think they are really good, them give em' your money :)

CPUBBQ.COM has no affiliations with anyone, we get nothing for refering to any of these sites - they all earned it already by making great software. We will only start using ads if we start blowing out our monthly bandwidth limit, or I lose my job, in which case this will become a porno site with agressive pop-up windows and exploit launched viruses attempting to bilk any credit card numbers from your hard drive, before I make a dash to the Ukraine to live with my spamgang buddies (where I will probably end up being accidently shot after a hard night of vodka drinking and AK47 brandishing)
anyway, back to reality....

1. SeqoiaViewHard disk file utility
Whether you are trying to free up some space on your hard drive or just want a great visualisation of the data structure of your disk, this is for you.Its ability to help you instantly find what is taking up space on your hard drive, is sublime.The way the little blocks that represent your files all add up to exactly the size of your partition is fascinating.Anyone who enjoys watching a graphic disk defragger move data blocks around the disk will love this.
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

2. IrfanviewGraphic file viewer/editor
So simple and so useful. Want to resize, rotate, change format, convert, crop a graphic file or bunch of files? This is it. I don't know how anyone can use a digital camera without this program. It is so slick and intuitive it seems simpler than most applications that have nowhere near the power it does. I don't even bother installing software from camera manufacturers anymore. I have never seen anything come close to Irfanview.
http://www.irfanview.com/

3. Real Alternative.
If you have used a computer for more than 5 years, you will probably have encountered RealMedia and the various nasty incarnations of its software.I don't need to say anything more than - "its a free, ad free, bug free alternative to RealPlayer, that just works". After using Real Alternative, you will never think of using Real Player again.
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/codecs_and_filters/real_alternative.cfm

4. Quicktime Alternative.
Sorry Apple. I'm not going to pay $50 per upgrade of your ad spewing, cult of Mac, overdesigned, under intuitive Quicktime product, just so I can watch .mov files in Full Screen. Don't get me wrong, I love apple, and the next machine I get will be a mac of some kind, but somewhere around 2005, (probably when iTunes and Quicktime became locked together) I found I just could'nt stand either Quicktime or iTunes anymore. To put files on an iPod use Yamipod. To play MP3s on your PC, use 1by1, for editing and prepping Mp3s, use MP3tag.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Video-Players/QuickTime-Alternative.shtml

5. YamipodiPod file transfer utility
Afraid to plug your iPod into your friends PC, because iTunes threatens to format it?Want to copy files to AND FROM your iPod?not perfect yet, but always improving.Easy to use.
http://www.yamipod.com/

6. CDexMP3 (or whatever) encoder
Open source (yay!), fast, simple.
http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

7. 1by1PC MP3 player
http://mpesch3.de1.cc/1by1.html

8. MP3tag MP3 tagger
Put proper tags on your MP3s.Add images, fix up the album names and other info in your MP3 library.I did'nt realise how good this was til I started really using it. Its ability to help you get the correct info out of the filenames and into the tags (or vice versa) is incredible.
http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

9. DaemonTools
Virtual CD/DVD drive software
http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/index.php

10. microTorrent Torrent Downloader
Similar in many ways to Azureus, but without a few of the features, and without the usual Java nightmare, (no Java, I don't want to update your updater now).It is basically one file that runs, so almost no installation is required.It does what you need it to and gets out of your way when its finished.So many programs should be this way that are'nt.
http://www.utorrent.com/

New Homepage.

2007-10-14T14:38:00.001+10:00

Hi Everyone.

I'll keep this brief since you should'nt really care.
I got bored of trying to build the perfect website from scratch rather putting out the good articles I know I can.
Lets say I was getting sidetracked trying to build a deep fryer rather than selling doughnuts.
Anyway I am now moving everything to blogspot until I become proficient in the ways of dreamweaver /asp.net .
My testing team (Me and a couple of sock puppets) have told me they like it already.
It was always my aim to a create new article up every week. Maybe now I can achieve that.
For what it's worth, blogspot is a great/easy/cheap way to get a web page up and running. If anyone tells you they want a website, but knows nothing about anything, send them to blogspot (they'll need a gmail account).

This is all still work in progress..

I'm going to fix up the logo and colour scheme and all that unused space in the middle.

Just for posteritym heres a pic of the site on the evning it was set up.

OK enjoy.