Firefox 3 Release!!
Everyone,
First off, I haven't really had much time to compose the next installment of the series. Another thing is that I had issues with Vista and USB Keyboard drivers (apparently I'm not alone with that one...Vista and USB just don't get along).
Second, everyone who uses (and those of you who don't should really check it out) Firefox need to update to Firefox 3.0 today!! Mozilla is trying to set a world record for those downloading the new version at
www.mozilla.com. Currently, the record is set at 1,653,061 - not bad since they wanted to have 1 million within 24 hours. That's 1.65 million in about four hours!!! The interface is extremely smooth, and the memory resource issue has been resolved. In short, web browsing is much smoother, and Firefox doesn't consume near as many resources as 2.0.0.14 did. In a few days, I'll post a how-to on speeding up rendering and web browsing. Since Firefox is open-source, users can go through and actually alter code and attributes to their liking. In this way, a user can actually allow for multiple web pages to load (as many as the user wants to determine, within reason) and other such issues. But I'll post all of that either later this week or early next week. Have fun, and everyone download some Firefox goodness!
Labels: Firefox 3, Open Source
Interesting Science News
Ok, so one of the forums that I frequent quite often (and for those of you considering a computer build or have a computer issue should peruse),
OCN, I found the following two stories:
Waterless Washing MachineUniversity of Leeds Researchers Develop Waterless WasherNow, I just have one question about that WHOLE story... How do the smells come out? Now, I realize this sort of topic may be taboo, but if one has bad sweat stains/B.O. (and living in Louisiana, how does not have a somewhat offensive odor of B.O. after spending 5 minutes outside?), how does this come out!? Tiny plastic pellets? Isn't this somewhat synonymous to paintball, except minus the paint?! I wonder if we'll just be trading one resource (water) for using another (plastic). Still an interesting concept - wonder when we'll be able to pick one up at Sear's...
NASA Solar Probe
Nasa Proposes Sending Solar Probe, Sends Out Request for American Ice ProductionOk, now... Let me get this straight... The corona of the sun is something like a couple thousand C, right? And it's only going to enter
part of the corona. Doesn't this still need to resist more than 1500C? And how exactly do we design something to resist the radiation WITH the heat? I can see it now...
{Kirk}: Scotty, I need more power!
{Scotty}: I'm giving it all she's got, Captain, but the ice is melted!!
How exactly do the arrays continue to transmit data, also? Seems to me that there's too many questions... Besides, how do we keep the ice frozen when we blast it off from Florida?
Labels: Science News
Home Server/Home-Theatre PC -- Part 1
First Things First
Before one gets too far into developing, modifying, and using a system, one must plan for the creation and potential future upgrading.
Hopefully, in this part of the series, I will be able to walk you through the planning portion of your build.
System PlanningIn our situation right now, we have old computer parts lying around from previous builds and upgrades for other people.
For the most part, we will be recycling these parts and using them for a server/home-theatre PC (HTPC).
They may not be energy-efficient or top of the line components, but they will suffice for the uses that we currently have.
For the planning portion, we wanted to build a server that would house all of our music, including our ripped CD’s.
This will allow us to back up our CDs in the “unlikely” event that they become scratched.
Surely you haven’t allowed that to happen before, have you?
Additionally, we’d like to off-load as much of our digital media (podcasts, executable files, etc) as we can from our laptop.
So, in essence, we’d like to be able to copy music from the server to the laptop to allow us to take music with us if/when we leave the house.
Also, we’d free up space on our laptop and desktop.
In the future, we’d like to hook up our cable signal through the server to the TV.
This would allow us to set our computer up as a TiVo substitute as well as playback our DVD media.
So, in the future, we’d need to plan for high-definition content and cable playback.
Component Layout
The above planning allows us to know what we want/have and what we’d like to upgrade at a later date. We have a case from a pretty old computer that I’ll be modifying to fit our needs. It’s approximately four or five years old and made out of heavy-duty steel. The problem is that it’s an ugly off-white color with a rippled texture on top of the steel. We’d like for it to look fairly unobtrusive next to our A/V equipment if and when we upgrade to a fully integrated HTPC. So, I will be sanding down the texturing; priming and spray painting the steel sides and top, as well as the plastic front, jet black; and seal-coating the paint with a high gloss enamel. An old motherboard and processor from a two and a half year old computer will provide the raw computing power of the server. While it is not a recent dual-core processor, the single-core chip will provide plenty of power for the time being. Later on, we can upgrade to a power-efficient dual core chip. With that motherboard/processor combo, I have a couple sticks of old DDR2 533 MHz speed memory to provide us with 1 GB of system memory – plenty for serving up media. Several old hard drives that I have accumulated over the years and repaired provide the storage space. The nice thing about these is that they are identical in every way – same manufacturer, capacity, and firmware (software used to communicate). I’ll explain later, but as I have three of these 80 GB hard drives, I plan on using RAID 0 to expand our total capacity to 240 GB, spanned over all three drives. But more on this later… Now to move on to how to choose technology should you not have enough computer parts lying around to construct somewhere between five and ten computers.
Computer Theory and Background
In computers, all things upgrade at a phenomenal rate. According to one rule, all technology, whether speed, capacity, or bandwidth, doubles every eighteen months. Just think about it – just recently, 1 Terabyte (1024 Gigabyte) hard drives were released to the public. In about a year, 2 TB (Terabyte) drives will be released in the size of one hard drive. Quad-core processors are currently on the market for purchase, however, according to this rule, we will be able to buy 8-core processors in about a year. So, how do you decide what to do about technology when it advances so quickly? The approach I have taken over the past six years or so that I have been building computers has been to set a plan for what I want my computer system to do, set a reasonable budget (realizing that I will most likely go over, thus adjusting it to reflect this). After I have adjusted my budget for this inevitable “oversight”, I sit down and do research to find out what technologies were released about four to six months ago, and find out which particular components faired the best. In this way, I still purchase recent technology, however, I bypass the first few months of incompatible software and buggy drivers. Usually, by the fourth month, Apple, Microsoft, and various collaborators for Linux have fixed whatever issues may have arisen and incorporated those solutions into the retail boxes we as consumers purchase. Therefore, when you buy that hard drive at your local office or computer supply store, you have a fully functioning piece of hardware – not one that you have to try to fix later on.
Proposed Series Outline
So far, we have discussed what to consider when building a computer system.
To determine this, one needs to decide what purpose it will server – is it just going to hold your music and media, or will you use it to tape your TV shows, hold your DVD movies, and listen to music?
After you decide your purpose, you can go about determining your components.
In the next series, we’ll cover what I would use, were I to upgrade/build today for a server/HTPC for our needs.
For the most part, this covers any and all options most normal home users would use.
In other words, normal people will only have the most needs for a server/HTPC.
Following is a rough outline for what I am planning to cover:
o – Address new or upgrade components
o – Discuss pros and cons of the various operating systems
o – Discuss the installation and planning of the architecture and components
o – Discuss the consideration of modding before assembling
o – Discuss actual assembly and connection of components
o – Discuss initial boot and configuring the BIOS
o – Discuss construction of RAID array using motherboard documentation
o – Discuss installation of the operating system
o – Discuss configuration of network and security tweaks
o – Discuss bundling of media for distribution
o – Discuss possible alternatives and provide information for tweaking the performance for them
o – Any other concerns or problems that you, as the audience, raise
Conclusion
That is a proposed schedule for what I will cover. If there is enough interest in any one particular area, or misunderstanding about one portion of the build, I will be more than happy to modify the outline above. As always, please feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments you wish. I have benefited greatly from people’s experience and teaching in the past, so it is my hope that I can help you all with computers in any way I can.
Labels: computer help, home file server, HTPC
Quick Update
I know I've been a bit slow in updating (even though I said I wouldn't), but we've had several different things going on, both at the office and at home. We just returned from a banner weekend driving to southern Georgia Friday and back home Sunday for a wedding. I'm hoping to go home tonight and do some write-ups on the intial setup and some considerations to take into account (such as operating system choice, RAID and hard drive setup, etc). The first post will probably be a planning section for determining specifically what you want your home server/home-theatre PC to do, and how to plan for eventual upgrades. There should be pictures as well. I'm trying to do all of this ahead of time so you all don't have to wait for pictures showing what to do.
In consideration for our server/HTPC, I have decided against using an old Socket 478 processor from an upgrade for my father-in-law, and go with my old Prescott Socket 775 processor. The only thing that concerned me with this is the heat factor. The Prescotts are known to be an extremely hot-running chip. As such, I've gone ahead and lapped (I'll explain in a moment) the processor and am trying to figure out a way to lap the stock (meaning from the manufacturer) heatsink/fan (HSF). I'm trying to provide the acronyms for everything, as I have a tendency to use the acronyms rather than the full-length name. The process of lapping basically entails using progressively finer grits of sandpaper and sanding down the object (in this case the processor and HSF) until it is perfectly true (as flat as the state of Kansas, in other words). I have completed the lapping of the processor, though I used both methods of lapping (one which gives an extremely flat surface and the other which provides an extremely reflective surface but not necessarily as flat a surface). I took pictures throughout the entire process, however, I forgot at the very beginning to take a picture of the initial processor and how it would look before you began. I do have to provide a warning: If you lap anything, whether it be the processor or the HSF, it WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY! If you want to maintain the warranty from the manufacturer, then DO NOT lap your products. I decided to lap mine as I have several stock Intel HSF's; additionally, the processor from Intel is approximately 3.5 years old (so the warranty may have already been void due to its lifetime).
So for next time (as much a teaser for all of you, as a reminder for me as to what to post), I'll discuss the considerations for the operating system and the entire planning of the layout of the server/HTPC. As it stands now for us, we are looking at making a file server (for both our media and our executable and work files) with the eventual upgrade to a full-fledged HTPC with the addition of two or three components. So, we will discuss how to determine your needs and how to achieve them. If you have any specific questions or things you want me to address, please feel free to comment or email me. Until next time, don't fry anything too important.
Labels: home file server, home theatre pc, HTPC
Potentially bad news
I've just returned from an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon, and I'm left in a quandary. You see, back in September/October, I had developed a sharp pain in my right foot. Xrays revealed that I didn't have a stress fracture in my foot. A nuclear bone scan revealed that my bone structure was fine. An MRI finally revealed a small lump between the third and fourth toe. After my surgeon and another surgeon friend of his talked, they determined I had what's called a Morton's Neuroma. Interestingly, women are more susceptible to getting this type of neuroma because they routinely wear high heels and confined-toed shoes. This makes the second time I've gotten the site injected with a corticosteroid and anesthetic. The surgeon suggested that if my foot starts hurting again, we should consider surgery to remove the neuroma. However, I'm not sure if I'm too keen on the idea... Time will only tell I suppose. For those interested in reading about this type of neuroma,
this link should provide you with more than enough information.
Labels: Foot Pain, Morton's Neuroma
Update and Housekeeping
So, I figure that MD and I set up this blog in the spirit of sharing information with other people that would aid in making their lives a little more enjoyable on the one hand, and in the essence of sharing information about our lives with others as well. So, I figure an update is in order (HA!).
HTPC (Home Theatre PC)/Home File ServerSince I've been doing computer work for some businesses and several people, I have accumulated a plethora of computer parts that do not have a home. So, Mary Drew and I have talked about it and are considering making a file server/home theatre PC for our home. We'll put our music, DVD collection, and eventually record tv shows to the computer and have the ability to play back all of those over time (with the eventual ability to watch TV on one channel while digitally recording on two other TV stations!). Right now, we've got our motherboard, processor, and memory from past people's computers (parts is parts, as the saying goes...), so we'll have to pick up a video card that will be able to decode HD content (HDCP compliant, in computer terms). Right now, as far as visual image quality goes, ATI has the best component video cards for the money. We'll also have to buy atleast one TV tuner card (two if we're going to record on more than just one channel while watching a second - there are only two inputs on a tuner card). As far as storage space, I have three fully functioning SATA (serial advanced technology attachment) hard drives. Eventually, if we start coding our DVD collection onto the server, we will have to find larger drive space. Over time, my hope is to provide you all, the reader, with enough information that should you desire to construct (or have constructed by someone such as myself) an HTPC, it is not far from the realm of possibility. So, I will leave you all with this teaser with the promise of providing further information on the build, configuration, and usage of this project (including plenty of pictures for all of you visual learners out there!).
Labels: home file server, home theatre pc, HTPC
20 Concerns of Tech Support
So, I suppose I haven't been working in IT for forever, but long enough, I think, to be able to make a list and be able to laugh at lists like this. I found this off of digg.com while I was perusing the normal web haunts this morning and found this to be hilarious. Though it may not make much sense to some of you, I found it very fitting for the profession.
Substance abusers and computer operators are the only folks called users. This isn't by chance
When in doubt. Reboot
Sooner or later you will meet a person who types out the words "backslash" or forgets to plug in the power cord. If you haven't yet, just wait, you will
Fear the phone. No one just calls tech support to wish you good morning
No user will tell you the whole truth at the beginning of a call
"I didn't do anything" or "It just happened" Are the users mantra
As a support tech, it is your job to break down resistance and get the truth
This is so you can rub the lie in their face, fixing the issue is just a perk
Some people will never learn
This means you will always have a job
Maintain a calm voice, even if you're screaming on the inside
The hold button is your friend
Whatever you do, don't panic
The answer to all users questions should be "Trust me, I know what I'm doing" even if this is a bald-faced lie
Users can smell fear. Once you've lost control, all is lost
A user who is not listening to you anymore, but rather is trying "their own thing" is not worth your time. Simulate a telephone disconnect and hang up. Trust me, you're better off.
Sometimes fixing a computer is easier than figuring out why it was broken
Users always want a reason things are fixed. If you're not sure just lie. They won't know anyway. "A stray electron passed through the processor and caused..."
If possible ask to speak to the youngest person presentLabels: computer help, help desk, IT, tech support
