As you may or may not know, Windows 7 RC is coming to an end. This isn't unexpected (presuming you remembered to read this at some point), but it is a problem. So with that in mind, I decided it was time to install the actual version of Windows 7.
Since Jon was up and harassing me, I handed it to him while I was working on other things. He delivered it back a little while later and I started Windows Update (one of the Optional Items I selected was Atheros 5007EG Wireless Network Adapter). Things were going fine until the screen went black.
Continue reading "Lose your wireless adapter? Check the BIOS" »
Wednesday, September 23. 2009
Today In: Initializing a new hard drive
So, I haven't done this in freaking forever. The last clear memory I have of setting up a brand new drive is sometime in the late 90s and doing everything in DOS (fdisk anyone?). Because of this, I had forgotten all about the joys of doing this.
But first, a little background info. Earlier this month, I got a Newegg combo deal for a 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Green drive plus dock for $84.99 Shipped
That deal is no longer available, but a similar deal now available for $79.99. Though it uses a Seagate Barracuda rather than WD Caviar.
The dock arrived before the drive, so I tested it out with a spare SATA drive Jon had on his desk. Plugged it in and worked great, no problems.
The next day the drive arrives, I plug it in and then nothing happened (other then the standard windows installation for new devices being plugged in). I try it on another computer before harassing Jon about it and then realize "Oh yeah, have to format it!"
Continue reading "Today In: Initializing a new hard drive" »
But first, a little background info. Earlier this month, I got a Newegg combo deal for a 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Green drive plus dock for $84.99 Shipped
That deal is no longer available, but a similar deal now available for $79.99. Though it uses a Seagate Barracuda rather than WD Caviar.
The dock arrived before the drive, so I tested it out with a spare SATA drive Jon had on his desk. Plugged it in and worked great, no problems.
The next day the drive arrives, I plug it in and then nothing happened (other then the standard windows installation for new devices being plugged in). I try it on another computer before harassing Jon about it and then realize "Oh yeah, have to format it!"
Continue reading "Today In: Initializing a new hard drive" »
Friday, June 26. 2009
Optimizing Windows 7 for Netbooks
A while back I got an Eee PC 1000, which I've talked about a number of times. At first I installed Ubuntu 9.04 on it, but after a while I got bored and decided to give Windows 7 a try. While I prefer Linux servers, my desktop machines tend to run Windows, mainly because it can run the software I need for desktop machines - like Photoshop & games. Granted a Netbook isn't going to be a machine for Photoshopping, but you get the point. After a while of playing with my netbook, John got jealous and decided he had to have one for himself. He got his Eee PC 900A and installed Windows 7, which he just covered in the previous blog entry (something I probably should have done, but never got around to doing). If you're playing along at home, you've got Windows 7 installed on your netbook, but it isn't necessarily running as well as it could be. There are a few easy things you can do to "optimize" Windows 7 for the netbook experience.
Continue reading "Optimizing Windows 7 for Netbooks" »
Continue reading "Optimizing Windows 7 for Netbooks" »
Wednesday, June 24. 2009
Eee: Installing Windows 7
Since Microsoft has been generous enough to share the Windows 7 RC with everyone, and because Jon has enjoyed it so much, I decided my Eee should be running Win7. Getting Windows 7 is fairly easy, download site and key available from Microsoft and Microsoft TechNet. Both have the same information, the former looks prettier, while the latter offers a more utilitarian experience. Either one will get you what you need. Oh yeah, the ISO is about 2.5 GB, so make sure you have a bit more than that available on the machine that is downloading it.
Next up is getting the image somewhere useful. You have two choices:
1. Burn a DVD and then hook up an external DVD drive to your Eee...
2. Bootable Thumb Drive
Not wanting to deal with #1, I chose option #2, as I believed it would be much faster (no DVD to burn) and less hassle (no external DVD drive to acquire). Now, how do you make a Thumb Drive bootable? An excellent question, for which I turned to google.
Continue reading "Eee: Installing Windows 7" »
Next up is getting the image somewhere useful. You have two choices:
1. Burn a DVD and then hook up an external DVD drive to your Eee...
2. Bootable Thumb Drive
Not wanting to deal with #1, I chose option #2, as I believed it would be much faster (no DVD to burn) and less hassle (no external DVD drive to acquire). Now, how do you make a Thumb Drive bootable? An excellent question, for which I turned to google.
Continue reading "Eee: Installing Windows 7" »
Wednesday, April 22. 2009
Thanks for failing CNBC!
Words can't even begin to describe the amazing stupidity of CNBC in their recent segment on "Money trend: Mac vs PC". Gizmodo has an excellent article (with embedded video) about the segment, titled "CNBC Is Ridiculous: Macs Come With Photoshop, PCs Need $600 Extra to 'Perform As Well As a Mac'". Basically CNBC decided that the price premium that comes with your Mac is "worth it" because you get all sorts of included software and extras, like Photoshop. That's right, you get Photoshop for free on a Mac. Own a Mac? Didn't get Photoshop for Free? That's ok... no one does, except in magical CNBC land. Oh, and in this same magical land filled with ponies and stoners you can also buy Photoshop for $140. That is, of course, the 3 finger discount price because Adobe.com lists it for $699. Yes, Mac's are more expensive, no one disputes this, not even Apple. Is the machine nicer/better/etc because Apple does everything? In some cases, yes. You don't have to worry about hardware compatibility, that's for sure. Is the OS inherently better? Not really. Apples and oranges and all that.
So let's take a quick look at the 'true cost' of owning a Mac vs a PC. CNBC had a purdy little chart in their video which I'll replicate with REAL costs for each side.
Let's be realistic. If Apple has included the software on a Mac, Microsoft has included something similar under Windows. They have to in order to stay competitive. Generally anything you can get for free for one OS you can get for the other for free. If you have to pay on one, you're gonna be paying on the other. That is of course if the software you want even runs on Mac. Yes there is some software that is Mac-only, but it definitely in the minority compared to that which doesn't run on Mac (see also: 99% of all video games). Is a Mac bad? Not necessarily, they're definitely very shiny machines and generally very polished (literally in some cases with the brushed steel looks). Do I want one? Yes. Am I willing to pay a 500$+ premium on a computer when I don't have to... No.
It's gonna be running Linux at the end of the day anyways.
So let's take a quick look at the 'true cost' of owning a Mac vs a PC. CNBC had a purdy little chart in their video which I'll replicate with REAL costs for each side.
| Item | PC Price | Mac Price | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-Virus | Free - $50/yr | Free - $50/yr | You can get free virus scanners for both operating systems. Granted Mac's have less viruses, but that is only because they are less numerous and thus less targeted. If you have half a brain, you've got an A/V. Even my LINUX computers have A/V on them. |
| Photoshop | $699 | $699 | No price difference and it certainly doesn't come for free with Mac's. You want it? You gotta buy it. |
| Basic Image Manager | Free | Free | Both Windows and Mac have simple image offloading & manipulation software built in. If that doesn't suit your taste you can always download Picasa |
| Video Editing | Free | Free | Windows Movie Maker & Apple iMovie. Nuff said. |
| Audio Player | Free | Free | I've yet to see an OS that can't play music out of the box in the last decade. Plus there are literally dozens if not hundreds of free players for every OS. |
| Audio Editing | Free | Free | Audacity and your done. |
| Repair Cost | Free | Free | CNBC made a big deal about the costs of Geek Squad. But guess what? You fuck up your Mac and you've gotta pay to get it fixed. I listed both as free because you can get a friend to help fix your machine. Hell, you're more likely to get a friend to fix your machine for free on Windows because more people use it. |
| Web Browser | Free | Free | FIREFOX |
Let's be realistic. If Apple has included the software on a Mac, Microsoft has included something similar under Windows. They have to in order to stay competitive. Generally anything you can get for free for one OS you can get for the other for free. If you have to pay on one, you're gonna be paying on the other. That is of course if the software you want even runs on Mac. Yes there is some software that is Mac-only, but it definitely in the minority compared to that which doesn't run on Mac (see also: 99% of all video games). Is a Mac bad? Not necessarily, they're definitely very shiny machines and generally very polished (literally in some cases with the brushed steel looks). Do I want one? Yes. Am I willing to pay a 500$+ premium on a computer when I don't have to... No.
It's gonna be running Linux at the end of the day anyways.
Tuesday, January 20. 2009
Installing Windows XP under VMware GSX Server
If you try to install Windows XP under VMWare GSX Server, it will not work by default. The Windows install kicks back saying it is unable to detect any hard drives. This is because VMWare emulates SCSI drives which XP doesn't have drivers for by default. Luckily it is very easy to get around this problem.
While the Virtual Machine is off, download the "SCSI Disk Drivers" from VMWare (Direct link). Upload those to the GSX Server. Edit the VM's settings. Under floppy drive select "Use existing floppy image..." and browse to the image that you just downloaded. Make sure to also check "Connect at power on". Then, power on the VM; just after the XP install starts, stab F6 (when it says so). Once it finishes loading up, Hit "S". It should highlight an option for "VMWare SCSI Controller", hit enter and then enter again.
After this you should be able to install just like normal. It is somewhat annoying that VMWare doesn't have a setup that works by default in XP, but I also blame XP for having an old and crappy setup. Also, to be fair, GSX is generally used for hosting server OS's, not clients like XP.
While the Virtual Machine is off, download the "SCSI Disk Drivers" from VMWare (Direct link). Upload those to the GSX Server. Edit the VM's settings. Under floppy drive select "Use existing floppy image..." and browse to the image that you just downloaded. Make sure to also check "Connect at power on". Then, power on the VM; just after the XP install starts, stab F6 (when it says so). Once it finishes loading up, Hit "S". It should highlight an option for "VMWare SCSI Controller", hit enter and then enter again.
After this you should be able to install just like normal. It is somewhat annoying that VMWare doesn't have a setup that works by default in XP, but I also blame XP for having an old and crappy setup. Also, to be fair, GSX is generally used for hosting server OS's, not clients like XP.
Thursday, January 15. 2009
Windows 7 - Subtitles not working in CCCP/MPC
If you happen to be involved in the downloading of videos off the net, you probably have CCCP. If you don't have it, get it, you'll thank me later (not technically true, but perhaps you will remember me telling you to get it). The problem at hand today was that while I have a rather extensive collection of (legally) downloaded anime, none of the subtitles seemed to work under Windows 7. I had just downloaded the latest CCCP version (2008-09-21), so that wasn't the issue. I googled up some people complaining about subtitle issues in WMP (Windows Media Player) but that wasn't my issue either, as I always use MPC (Media Player Classic). As it turned out, the sub issue was limited to my MKV files (always the MKV's that have issues, see also: ubuntu). After some digging around on the CCCP forum I found the answer.
Launch MPC > Click "View" > Click "Options" > Select "External Filters" > Click the "Add Filter" button > Select "DirectVobSub (Auto-loading version)" > Click "Ok" > On the right hand side, click the radio button for "Prefer" > Click "Ok" > Exit MPC and Restart MPC.
After that, I had no problems with subtitles in any anime. I tried a few including some 720p's and I had no play issues. In fact, while playing those high quality MKVs I checked the CPU burn and it was negligible, maybe 30% tops. For an MKV that is really good, I've seen them burn in excess of 80% CPU power. Maybe Windows 7 is an improvement after all.
Update: More than few of the comments left below include other options that may work for getting subtitles to work, or how to get them to work in Windows Media Player. If you know of any other options, leave em as a comment. Thanks!
Launch MPC > Click "View" > Click "Options" > Select "External Filters" > Click the "Add Filter" button > Select "DirectVobSub (Auto-loading version)" > Click "Ok" > On the right hand side, click the radio button for "Prefer" > Click "Ok" > Exit MPC and Restart MPC.
After that, I had no problems with subtitles in any anime. I tried a few including some 720p's and I had no play issues. In fact, while playing those high quality MKVs I checked the CPU burn and it was negligible, maybe 30% tops. For an MKV that is really good, I've seen them burn in excess of 80% CPU power. Maybe Windows 7 is an improvement after all.
Update: More than few of the comments left below include other options that may work for getting subtitles to work, or how to get them to work in Windows Media Player. If you know of any other options, leave em as a comment. Thanks!
