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Archives 2006 Mar - Apr

April 29, 2006

GTM -8:00

New Computer Case Fan

6:36 PM

Got a new computer case fan.

Vantec Stealth 80mm
- Max 2050 RPM
- 27 CFM airflow
- 21 dBA at max speed. Can hear a little wind buzzing sound, but if you use software to control it to ~1500RPM, it's almost noiseless.
- 2 Ball Bearings
- 3 to 4 pin adapter
- Lifetime warranty.
- CDN$8.95

The fan is place directly beside the CPU heatsink. Instead of depending on the original CPU fan to blow air through the heatsink and part of the heat gets carry out of the case and part of it gets stuck within, the new fan work with the original fan so that the new one pulls the hot air directly out of the case on the other end of the heatsink.

With the new fan, I bearly manage to put the case back. If the fan is 0.5mm thicker, I guarantee I can't fit the case back onto the comp.

For those ppl wondering how a microATX motherboard looks like. You can see all the components are being packed into a small space. And because of the crappy airflow and BIOS fan speed control design by AOpen, I have no choice but to add an extra fan to keep my CPU from reaching over its maximum temperature.

Without the new fan, the CPU temperature can easily reach over 72 degree (that's when the BIOS will start spinning up the fan a bit... and you can't config the settings). Of course, I can use software to control the fan. But to keep it at 72 degree, the fan will get quite noisy at 4000RPM... Bearable, but annoying. However, the other thing is that my CPU max torable temp (so that it won't melt) is 69 degree. To keep it at 69, my original CPU fan have to spin at 100% speed (6800 RPM) which the noise is soooooooooooooooooooo bad that you can hear it 2 rooms down the hall with doors closed. With the new fan sucking heat out, the comp can now run below the max temp at a torable noise.

Software Fan Control (older motherboards may not support)
SpeedFan (freeware) - http://www.almico.com

Computer Stress Test
BurnInTest (30 days trial) - http://www.passmark.com/

19" LCD Monitor

6:36 PM

Other than the fan, I also bought a new 19" LCD monitor to replace my old flickering CRT monitor. With the CRT monitor gone, there's so much spare space on my desk so that I have to reorganize my whole desk.

*my desk is so spacious~~*

Philips 190S
- 19 inch (1280 x 1024 resolution)
- 8ms response time
- Anti-glare polorizer
- 250 cd/m brightness
- 500:1 contrast
- viewing angel - 160 horizontal 160 vertical
- VGA output
- first year exchange (no dead pixel policy), 3 more years service warranty
- CDN$269.95

Well, for those who are planning to buy a new LCD monitor, here's a few advice:
1) 19" is only $20-30 dollars more than 17"
2) 20" price is dropping (now the cheapest is about $469) and will soon dominate the market in a year (my guess), so 19" is time for clearance
3) well, but if you can wait a year, I suggests you wait for the 20" because 20" provides higher resolution (1600x1200).

April 15, 2006

GTM -8:00

Tax Tax Tax~!!!!!! Have you filed ur tax today?

11:22 AM

Yes, it's time for last minute tax filing again.
Source : http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=702

Electronics Recycling (FREE USB Memory Key~~)

11:13 AM

A couple of days ago, Taiwan mandates that failure to recycling mobile phones and optical discs (CDs, DVD, etc) will face fines of up to NT$6,000 (~CDN$200). I think it's a good start. (Source : Info World)

As some of you may not know, dumping electronics into landfills is causing serious environmental problems due to the material used inside the electronics is toxic (same goes for batteries... try not to dump them in garbage can). Canada is really efficient with paper product and some plastic/metal container recycling, but however, there are still a lot of recyclable product being dump as garbage. The reason so is because of the lack of centralized one-stop recycling depot for collecting all recyclable products. The worst thing is that some recycling depot charges you for dumping recyclable products... then what's the point of driving your car to dump it properly if you can simply dump it in garbage can for free?

Here's a program from Toshiba (Source: Toshiba TERRE Program)for recollecting old non-functional laptops, LCD and Pocket PCs (I repeat, non-functional). If you have a functional one, you can donate it to salvation army or other charity organization for better use. If you really don't want to donate it, i guess you can just break ur thingy first (still better than dumping into a garbage can).

The program ensure that the process of recycling and pickup (UPS) is at no cost to you (Canada Only). The only thing you have to do is read the procedure, fill in a form, and pack it in a box. To give you more incentive, they are going to give you a free 128MB USB flash drive.

Computer Donation and Recycling for Vancouver:

Functional Computers for Schools
Accept Pentium 3 or higher computers (with all parts), monitors and laser printers (donated to schools)

Address: Back of building is 2200 Douglas Rd., Burnaby
Phone: 604-250-9936
Website: www.cfsbc.ca

For the nearest computer equipment recycling depot call the Recycling Council of British Columbia hotline at: 604-RECYCLE or 604-732-9253

For more info or disposal location for other types recyclable products : http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca

For more information : Google up "(type) + recycling + (location)" fill in the type of thing you want to dispose and your location.

April 14, 2006

GTM -8:00

Beta

1:07 PM

What is the true meaning of beta nowadays? It seems like everything is labelled Beta and yet, this label will never be taken off. Take gmail for instance (actually, g-everything are tagged with beta), the beta tag is attached to it since its first launch which is ummmm how long ago? I can't remember.

Beta means a program which is under development, where the functions of the software have a high probability of causing glitches or malfunctionable which may affect the normal use of the software. HOWEVER, this does not mean a fully working program can be called beta just because they are developing new functions on top of a perfectly working program. In this case, should call it a beta for the next release or version or upgrade of the program.

In my opinion, people are tagging their software as beta to avoid the blame of having glitches in their software. In a sense, I'm quite admire M$'s courage to called their software a version (something 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, ...infinity, xp). Although their software is "buggy" in a sense, at least they call it a stable release and not to dodge away from blames.

O, btw, a word about virus and worm issues on M$ product... I admit it's a common problem. But think about what if Mac or Linux becomes the biggest in market share, will they be bold enough to say they can do better than M$ in terms of OS security and functionality?

*putting both of my hands up* hey hey, i'm just trying to be fair. I'm not a M$ slave or spy or anything. I use whatever that has the greatest range of support in terms of software variety.

City-wide WiFi Network

12:33 AM

How nice!! The City of Portland going to have a city-wide free public wireless network which provides a speed of up to 1Mbps.

Source : Computer Business Review Online

When will Vancouver have one? It's lame that vancouver doesn't even have a perfect cell phone signal coverage for the 3 major phone service providers within the greater vancouver area.

April 5, 2006

GTM -8:00

Daylight Time

5:25 PM

I can't stand it when outside is still bright as day after 8pm...
I'm a night person working at maximum efficiency at night (typical CS ppl)...
now i can't get myself working at my peak until 9-10.... blah...
now i feel like an hour of my day suddenly gets trimmed off...
ai, i have to adjust back to summer mode again to get myself working under the sunlight... this gonna take awhile.

ps: blah, final exam is coming next week...

Windows on Mac

1:36 PM

Nice, my last excuse for not using a Mac is gone.

Now with Intel processors inside the new generation of Mac + the dual boot program called Boot Camp, you can install windows directly onto ur Mac instead of using windows via a virtual machine on top of ur Mac OS. I'm sure the sells of Mac will increase significantly as a result of his :D

But hold on..... something is still holding me back... why the hack i want to use a Mac if i only want to use windows? Just because all the stuff inside are made for Mac? Or is it because of their flashy look? But but but there are fake Mac-like PC cases on the market at a cheaper price O_O... na, I guess i'll stick with my PC for now.

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