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" »
Monday, November 2. 2009
Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 Review
I've got an ASUS Eee PC 1000, and it is a fine little device. Originally it came with Xandros, which quickly became Ubuntu. I was especially happy futzing about with UNR 9.04. Unfortunately for Linux, Windows 7 was coming out, so I wanted to try that out on the netbook. I like Windows 7, but it wasn't designed specially for Netbooks; I find that it runs a lot of background processes that slows the machine down. So with the release of Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, it was time to re-install again! Of course, I wasn't going to install the regular Ubuntu when there was the Netbook remix available. I have written my review in the form of pros/cons. Much of my comparison is based on UNR 9.04 (what I remember of it) and Windows.
Continue reading "Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 Review" »
Continue reading "Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 Review" »
Monday, July 20. 2009
Eee: Game On
Everyone knows the real reason anyone uses a computer is to play games (or at least a close second... but not everyone watches porn). With that in mind, here's a few games that I have enjoyed investigating.
Still haven't got StarCraft to connect to Battle.net, so no fix to pass on there.
PlanetSide - I right-clicked the link on my desktop and then used the "Troubleshoot Compatibility" option and it chose XP SP 2 and then launched up something I hadn't seen before that I couldn't actually use to get into the game. Then Jon reminded me of the incompatibility on Vista, and the fix. I navigated over to planetside.exe and followed the instructions on the aforementioned link and it got up and running all pretty like. Well... at least it got to the login page popup that then scans your computer.
Then it errored out saying "Please start PlanetSide using the LaunchPad"
So then I went and set LaunchPad.exe to run as Win95 (like the link told me too and I ignored thinking Windows 7 knew better...) and the launcher and login page came up, and then I hit play and... I hear sound... and start to see some of the initial screens, but when I go to use Fn F7 to mute it, it goes back to the desktop and shows a black screen, so uh... don't do that. Task Manager, End Process Tree again, and try to start it again (this time with headphones plugged in, so it doesn't serenade everyone).
And again with the back to desktop with the black screen. Music still playing though, until it wasn't.
I'm going to rule this one a no-go on Win7
Guild Wars -for a quick and easy install, here's a tip: if you already have GW installed somewhere else, you can speed up the install by downloading the tiny client install, run it and it will start to download, feel free to kill it as soon as it shows up on your Start Menu. Then grab Gw.dat from another machine and copy it over, then no more download necessary (presuming it was already up to date). Also, if you want to skip ever having to download in the middle of a mission/party, you can run this before you start playing:
and it will download EVERYTHING, including those expansions you have not yet purchased.
I played Guild Wars for a bit and have to say it runs pretty darn smoothly. Loading the non-instanced areas take a little bit of time, but I generally don't need to find anyone who isn't an NPC, so this isn't a problem (as they load first).
Recently, DDO announced it was going free to play, so I might have to give that a shot once more. Jon and I played it a while back; he as a Cleric and I as a Rogue (a class that apparently does it from behind). When it comes available August 6, Jon and I will have to try it out.
Win7 comes with a number of games, more than just Spider, Solitaire, and Minesweeper of old. Mahjong, Spades, Hearts, Backgammon, Checkers, Freecell, Chess, and Purble Place. The last one is the only one I had no clue about. Seems to be a kids game.
Jon had a good suggestion, which is to explore Portable Games as a source of other games. The premise here being that if it works on a thumbstick it will work on an Eee.
One last place of note, Kongregate. This is a nice flash site and one of my favorite online game sites. With the smaller screen factor, you will need to utilize F11 (aka the full screen key) to be able to get the most out of your gaming experience.
Still haven't got StarCraft to connect to Battle.net, so no fix to pass on there.
PlanetSide - I right-clicked the link on my desktop and then used the "Troubleshoot Compatibility" option and it chose XP SP 2 and then launched up something I hadn't seen before that I couldn't actually use to get into the game. Then Jon reminded me of the incompatibility on Vista, and the fix. I navigated over to planetside.exe and followed the instructions on the aforementioned link and it got up and running all pretty like. Well... at least it got to the login page popup that then scans your computer.
Then it errored out saying "Please start PlanetSide using the LaunchPad"
So then I went and set LaunchPad.exe to run as Win95 (like the link told me too and I ignored thinking Windows 7 knew better...) and the launcher and login page came up, and then I hit play and... I hear sound... and start to see some of the initial screens, but when I go to use Fn F7 to mute it, it goes back to the desktop and shows a black screen, so uh... don't do that. Task Manager, End Process Tree again, and try to start it again (this time with headphones plugged in, so it doesn't serenade everyone).
And again with the back to desktop with the black screen. Music still playing though, until it wasn't.
I'm going to rule this one a no-go on Win7
Guild Wars -for a quick and easy install, here's a tip: if you already have GW installed somewhere else, you can speed up the install by downloading the tiny client install, run it and it will start to download, feel free to kill it as soon as it shows up on your Start Menu. Then grab Gw.dat from another machine and copy it over, then no more download necessary (presuming it was already up to date). Also, if you want to skip ever having to download in the middle of a mission/party, you can run this before you start playing:
"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -imageand it will download EVERYTHING, including those expansions you have not yet purchased.
I played Guild Wars for a bit and have to say it runs pretty darn smoothly. Loading the non-instanced areas take a little bit of time, but I generally don't need to find anyone who isn't an NPC, so this isn't a problem (as they load first).
Recently, DDO announced it was going free to play, so I might have to give that a shot once more. Jon and I played it a while back; he as a Cleric and I as a Rogue (a class that apparently does it from behind). When it comes available August 6, Jon and I will have to try it out.
Win7 comes with a number of games, more than just Spider, Solitaire, and Minesweeper of old. Mahjong, Spades, Hearts, Backgammon, Checkers, Freecell, Chess, and Purble Place. The last one is the only one I had no clue about. Seems to be a kids game.
Jon had a good suggestion, which is to explore Portable Games as a source of other games. The premise here being that if it works on a thumbstick it will work on an Eee.
One last place of note, Kongregate. This is a nice flash site and one of my favorite online game sites. With the smaller screen factor, you will need to utilize F11 (aka the full screen key) to be able to get the most out of your gaming experience.
Wednesday, July 1. 2009
Optimizing Firefox for Netbooks
Most commercial applications in this day and age have fairly decent user interfaces. A lot of money is put forth into making them as user friendly as possible. The problem is that sometimes these "friendly" ways aren't necessarily the best users of screen real estate. Nowhere is this better exemplified than Office 2007's "ribbons". Now if you're on a screen that is 20"+ and running at 1680x1050 - who cares? I certainly don't mind. On the other hand if you are on a netbook that is running 1024x600 on a screen that is 10" or less, you want every pixel you can easily get. I went over some of this (albeit, indirectly) in Optimizing Windows 7 for Netbooks, but since it is a netbook after all, you're probably going to be making good use of our favorite web browser - Firefox.
Continue reading "Optimizing Firefox for Netbooks" »
Continue reading "Optimizing Firefox for Netbooks" »
Monday, June 29. 2009
Netbook Friendly Software
For those that haven't been following along at home, we've been doing an entire series of netbook related posts. Today's posting is about what software we enjoy using on our Netbooks, specifically Windows compatible software (after all we did just talk about installing Windows 7). Most of the software here is probably going to come across as "run of the mill" to tech-heads, but I'm also taking a small bit to explain WHY I think it is good to have on a Netbook.
- Firefox - I'm a big fan of open source software, but more to the point I really loathe Internet Explorer and love my Firefoxy. On top of my love for it as a browser, Firefox has a lot of extensions and communicability. This is really important because you can make Firefox better fit the Netbook screen size. In other words, you can make the UI tiny and have as much space as possible for browsing (critical when you screen is only 5" tall). The next blog post in the series will be about Optimizing Firefox for Netbooks.
- The Combined Community Codec Pack - CCCP is the best all around media playing package I know of. I'm a big fan of Media Player Classic, which they package as one of the two players in the CCCP. MPC has one feature that I find critical for Netbooks, the ability to boost the volume (In MPC - View > Options > Audio Switcher > Check "Normalize" and "Regain volume" then drag the "Boost" slider up as needed > Ok). I find that with some environments (say a car) and some video files - even with the volume all the way up (in Windows too) it just isn't enough - this is where the Boost comes in. At the current version, if you use MPC on Windows 7 to watch anything with Subtitles, it wont work unless you follow this fix.
- Skype - Since we use Skype at the office, it is a requirement for me to have it. That being said, Skype is useful for even the part time users, because of its excellent VoIP to POTS services. Translation: You can make damn cheap calls to and from anywhere in the world. If you make a lot of calls, Skype has many subscription plans. Even if you don't, it is only $0.021 per minute to call the US, which is cheaper than most people pay for long distance inside the US. Now keep in mind if you are in San Francisco or Sydney, it makes no difference to Skype - as long as you can get on the internet. Also for those really long trips Skype has Video Chat, which works well since most Netbooks have webcams.
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" »
