Code Retard » PC

Dell Adamo. When?

Son Riku — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:10:17 +0000

Dell Pulls a wanna be Apple Air with Latitude E4200

Those EA Nazi’s and their crappy DRM

Son Riku — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:43:00 +0000

Those EA Nazi’s are at it again with their anti information campaign. Apparently this time EA moderators started warning users on their official message board with bans if they continued to inform others about their crappy DRM and their use of secruROM. The official post:

“Please do not continue to post theses thread or you account may be at risk of banning which in some cases would mean you would need to buy a new copy to play Spore.”

They later reversed this, but still that isn’t very cool to begin with…I really hope EA cleans up their act.

Download Midway’s 2004 Title The Suffering for Free

adm_snackbar — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:40:55 +0000

An oldie but goodie, The Suffering was a scary shooter/survival/horror game along the same lines as Resident Evil with a little bit of Max Payne style thrown in. The Suffering was developed in 2004 by Surreal and published by Midway. And now the full version of the PC game is available to the public as an ad-supported venture. Don’t miss out on this 1.2GB download.

Images/armcharempire.com

Slimmer than HP Slimline: Introducing the Wii PC

adm_snackbar — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:15:02 +0000

A modder whose Wii must have outlived its fun factor was converted into a fully functional PC with a 1.3Ghz CPU, 512MB RAM, 40GB hard drive running Windows XP. The miniscule Wii PC, slimmer than an HP Slimline, has DVI output and supports a keyboard and mouse are connected wirelessly via a USB transmitter so no need for PS2 ports, just a USB.

What else can I say about it except that it’s probably the greatest hiding place ever for your pr0n.

DCP Latency, What?

Son Riku — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:31:36 +0000

Ever had lags or drops when listening to music? Ever wonder why sometimes your computer lags inexpertly? Well DCP latency may be the cause of the problem.

If any kernel-mode device driver in your Windows system is implemented improperly and causes excessive latencies of Deferred Procedure Calls (DPCs) then probably drop-outs will occur when you use real-time audio or video streaming applications.

The DPC Latency Checker tool determines the maximum DPC latency that occurs on your Windows system and thus enables you to check the real-time capabilities of your computer. DPC Latency Checker works independent of any external hardware. Using this tool may be helpful in the following situations:

You experience interruptions (drop-outs) in a flow of data processed in real-time, for example an audio stream, video stream or a sequence of measuring data, and you want to find out the reason for this problem.

You want to verify that your Windows system is configured properly so that it is capable of handling real-time data transfer before you install the corresponding streaming application.

You want to check if a particular computer system is suitable for streaming applications, for example before you buy this system.

Download Program

Use the iPhone as a Remote Touchpad for Your Computer

adm_snackbar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:21:16 +0000

The Touchpad Pro app for the iPhone developed by Jahanzeb Sherwani will turn your iPhone into a wireless, remote trackpad, which gives you direct access to your computer as if you were using a mouse or touch device for input. The latest native iPhone application Touchpad Pro app is based entirely on VNsea.

You can do just about anything on your iPhone as a wireless touchpad as you could with the touchpad on your computer. You can move the mouse around, click, double-click, and even drag (double click but keep it pressed and then move around). Vertical scrolling is even possible, by click-and-dragging on the right edge of the iPhone screen. You can thus use it to control videos, show pictures, or advance slides in a presentation.

To install the native iPhone Application you will need to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch. Here are instructions on how to to install Touchpad app:

First you need to jailbreak your iPhone to allow third-party applications to be installed.
Add the repository required to install Touchpad to your Installer.
- Click on the Installer Icon.
- Skip to step 3 to see if you already have Touchpad Pro in your sources. Otherwise follow these steps and click on the “Sources” icon at the bottom.
- Click “Edit”.
- Click “Add”.
- Enter: “http://cnp.qlnk.net/”.
- Click “OK”.
Install Touchpad Pro from the Utilities category.
Install VNC on the machine you want to control and get your PC’s IP address from the taskbar icon when you finish.
Launch Touchpad Pro
On the VNC servers page click the “+” icon

Then follow these instructions:
The session name (e.g. mediapc) will now be added to the list of VNC servers. Tap it to connect.

(sources: iphonehacks and touchpadpro)

AM2 vs AM2+ – Will AM2+ CPU’s Fit in AM2 sockets?

Son Riku — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:41:11 +0000

Socket AM2+ is a CPU socket, which is the immediate successor to Socket AM2 that is currently used in several AMD processors such as Athlon 64 X2. Socket AM2+ is a mid-migration from Socket AM2 to Socket AM3 and is fully compatible with Socket AM2, so processors designed for Socket AM2 will work on Socket AM2+ motherboards and vice versa.

Socket AM2+ has some differences however that will be used in AM2+ chips, there are two main features in Socket AM2+ not in Socket AM2:

HyperTransport 3.0 operating at up to 2.6 GHz
Split power planes: one for the CPU cores, and the other for the Integrated Memory controller (IMC). This will improve power savings, especially with integrated graphics, if the CPU cores are in sleep mode but the IMC is still active.
AMD confirmed that AM2 processors will work in AM2+ motherboards and AM2+ processors will work on AM2 motherboards. However, due to the lack of support of HyperTransport 3.0 and separated power planes in Socket AM2 motherboards, AM2+ chips will be limited to the specifications of Socket AM2 (HyperTransport 2.0 at the speed of 1 GHz, one power plane for both Cores and IMC). AM2 chips will not benefit from faster HyperTransport and separated power planes on AM2+ motherboards as they do not support them, AM2+ motherboard then fall back to compatibility mode using AM2 specifications.

According to confirmations from AMD, Socket AM2+ will have a compatibility path with Socket AM3, AM3 processors will work in AM2+ motherboards; however, AM2+ processors will not be compatible with AM3 motherboards.

HDTV vs Monitors

Son Riku — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:03:56 +0000

With the influx of new HDTV’s at 1080p, I was wondering to myself, why do we even need computer monitors anymore?

HDTV Numbers

Native resolution	Commonly called	Meets definition of high-def?	Frequency	Typical TV types
1,920×1,080	1080p	Yes	Rare but getting more common especially in larger TVs	Flat-panel LCD; DLP, LCD, and LCoS projection; very high-end plasma
1,366×768	768p	Yes	Very common in all screen sizes	Flat-panel LCD; 50-inch plasma
1,280×720	720p	Yes	Common in rear-projection but not flat-panels	DLP, LCD, and LCoS projection
1,024×768	HDTV plasma	Yes	The most common plasma resolution	37- and 42-inch plasma
852×480	EDTV plasma	No	Increasingly rare	37- and 42-inch plasma
640×480	VGA	No	Increasingly rare	Small LCD TVs

A 1080p set is 1920 x 1080 = 2.07 million pixels, which is high compared to even an old high-end monitor at 1600 x 1200 = 1.92 million pixels. A friend of mine bought a 40″ Samsung set for his PlayStation 3 and quickly discovered his gaming PC was perfectly usable on it from back on the sofa, especially with a wireless keyboard and mouse, of course.

Forty inches is probably a bit over the top for most needs – and the pixel per inch number for large sets is still quite far from high quality monitors – but it is more viable now than ever before. If you use a screen from anything but very close range, an HDTV can be a compelling alternative on price vs. picture size and pixels.

Computer monitors pixels are much smaller, and squeezed together tighter. They are clearer, whereas a television will be blurry. A monitor’s optimal viewing distance is about 28″ whereas a television, let’s say a 32″ for case being, has an optimal viewing distance of 7 to 8 feet.

The main test: take a 24″ monitor @ 1080p, and a 24″ TV @ 1080p resolution. Display a word document or a web page. Read the text on each. You’ll strain your eyes and squint at how blurry the television would be.

This is also why those crazy computer gamers with a a huge LCD TVs on their desks are all going blind.

Also, per size, you get far better resolution with a monitor.

Windows 2008 and SharePoint 2007 Don’t Play Nice

Son Riku — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:24:18 +0000

Recenlty i was trying to get a development environment setup on my new Windows 2008 computer, and was installing the typical Microsoft items. Little did i know that SharePoint 2007 wont install on Windows 2008:

Here is the error I ran into:

Contact Microsoft Corporation for support

This version of Windows does not support this version of Office SharePoint Server 2007. This product, which was created by Microsoft Corporation, has been blocked from running because it might keep your computer from starting correctly in the future.

Recommendation

——————————————————————————–

Contact Microsoft Corporation about upgrades or other possible solutions to help make this program compatible with this version of Windows.

Microsoft Corporation

Which version of Windows am I using?

You are using Windows Server 2008.

OpenOffice 3.0 Beta Now Available, Adds Native OS X Support

Son Riku — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:59:23 +0000

Windows/Mac/Linux (all platforms): OpenOffice.org, the free office application suite, has released a beta of its 3.0 version to the public with a few key features rolled in. The biggest update is native support for Mac OS X platforms, meaning no need to install X11 packages on older Macs or switch to NeoOffice for a smoother experience (although NeoOffice plans to release a 3.0 of its own, so stay tuned). OpenOffice also adds built-in conversion filters for Office 2007/Mac Office 2008 files, a new “solver” function for spreadsheets, enhanced notes and viewing options in Writer, and other enticements for those willing to risk a few bugs. OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta is a free download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux systems.

http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta/