So yesterday I got a Pentium 2.0A GHz Socket 478 CPU from eBay and I tried to install it in my system that had a Celeron 1.7 Ghz, but somehow I managed to break off part of the "retention mechanism", that is the square plastic thing that holds the heatsink to the motherboard. I also forgot that I'd need to add new thermal paste to the CPU for proper heat conduction. So I tried turning it on with a broken retention mechanism and barely any thermal paste for whatever reason and it instantly heated up to a nice 69 degrees celcius. Not exactly good for the processor. But thankfully a guy at a local computer shop had an extra rentention mechanism handy so I bought that from him, stuck on some new Artic Silver thermal paste and now it works very well :)
In other news, I'm going to Germany (as well as Switzerland and Austria) tomorrow for six weeks! Its going to be great especially since I'm going with Leanne and don't have to relive last summer. I'm very excited even though I probably won't be able to say more than "Where is the bathroom?". Leanne also payed for my plane ticket so I owe her big lol. I'll have to buy her some sweet German chocolate.
I'll try to post on here when I get internet access and hopefully some pictures too in my gallery.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Facing the MPAA
No this isn't going to be a post about how the Motion Picture Association of America is suing a single-parent family for downloading a movie. Its about a rating they have applied to a movie called Facing the Giants. This is a movie (which I have not yet seen) about a football coach that uses faith to motivate the players. This movie has been given a PG rating because some topics could be "unsuitable for children"!
When was it decided that faith and mentioning God would be considered equal with violence and brief nudity as some movies with an equal rating have received. I'm not saying that PG is a very severe rating, but it could stop a parent from taking their kids to see it, thinking there is something worse in it.
This is just more proof at how western culture is turning on the very values that founded it and stabbed it with many sharp knives. Oh sorry... I guess I should have warned you this post has a PG rating... because I said God.
When was it decided that faith and mentioning God would be considered equal with violence and brief nudity as some movies with an equal rating have received. I'm not saying that PG is a very severe rating, but it could stop a parent from taking their kids to see it, thinking there is something worse in it.
This is just more proof at how western culture is turning on the very values that founded it and stabbed it with many sharp knives. Oh sorry... I guess I should have warned you this post has a PG rating... because I said God.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Windows Vista: First Impressions
So here's my personal review of Windows Vista Beta 2 (Build 5384). I finally downloaded all 3GB of it yesterday and installed it. My first question is what could cause the installation files of Vista to be about four times larger than that of Windows XP. Is there a whole secret library of videos somewhere that I haven't found?
The interface is nice looking. Edges are all rounded and shading looks nice. One big thing I find missing is this supposedly revolutionary Windows Aero interface that is supposed to make windows look like glass and basically take advantage of the video card more. I'm not sure why I don't have this feature. My video card meets the system requirements. Very odd.
I tried out some of the software and came across this "Windows DVD maker" so I tried it out. But I couldn't get past the first screen because apparently my video card does not meet the minimum system requirements! Well this wasn't a cheap video card so are they expecting me to buy a video card that costs more than the whole computer? It could run Battlefield 2 in Windows XP without any problems so I'm not sure what they're expecting.
So far my hardware hasn't worked too well with Vista. Windows automatically installed video drivers but is missing many of the features of the drivers that came with the video card. I tried installing from the CD but was told the drivers could not be installed.
Wireless keyboard and mouse, and my flash drive worked fine as they should have. My Linksys USB wireless adapter was not even detected my Vista. Once I had installed the drivers off the cd it was found though I manually detected it and then it installed fine. Vista seems to support WPA2 encryption so that is one thing better than XP. Vista wouldn't let me install the Linksys connection manager though so I had no choice.
The biggest problem was the integrated sound. Vista installed drivers for it and it appeared to work properly but there is no sound in Windows Media Player and Winamp worked for a few songs, then lost all sound. Now I have no sound at all.
I think the best feature of Vista is the new version of solitare :)
In conclusion, I will be keeping Windows XP as long as I can. Either until I buy a new computer with Vista pre-loaded on it, or Firefox is no longer supported on XP :)
The interface is nice looking. Edges are all rounded and shading looks nice. One big thing I find missing is this supposedly revolutionary Windows Aero interface that is supposed to make windows look like glass and basically take advantage of the video card more. I'm not sure why I don't have this feature. My video card meets the system requirements. Very odd.
I tried out some of the software and came across this "Windows DVD maker" so I tried it out. But I couldn't get past the first screen because apparently my video card does not meet the minimum system requirements! Well this wasn't a cheap video card so are they expecting me to buy a video card that costs more than the whole computer? It could run Battlefield 2 in Windows XP without any problems so I'm not sure what they're expecting.
So far my hardware hasn't worked too well with Vista. Windows automatically installed video drivers but is missing many of the features of the drivers that came with the video card. I tried installing from the CD but was told the drivers could not be installed.
Wireless keyboard and mouse, and my flash drive worked fine as they should have. My Linksys USB wireless adapter was not even detected my Vista. Once I had installed the drivers off the cd it was found though I manually detected it and then it installed fine. Vista seems to support WPA2 encryption so that is one thing better than XP. Vista wouldn't let me install the Linksys connection manager though so I had no choice.
The biggest problem was the integrated sound. Vista installed drivers for it and it appeared to work properly but there is no sound in Windows Media Player and Winamp worked for a few songs, then lost all sound. Now I have no sound at all.
I think the best feature of Vista is the new version of solitare :)
In conclusion, I will be keeping Windows XP as long as I can. Either until I buy a new computer with Vista pre-loaded on it, or Firefox is no longer supported on XP :)
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