Word Processor online

I love writing, and I love seeing my writing wherever web can access. That's why I am keeping this online word Processor list:

- AJaxWrite
- WriteBroad
- Writely

List of freeware with no installation required

Here's a list of freeware with no installation required. Sweet.

Of there's other similar Green/Portable software list like that:
.... (well see here)

Sound for NitroTracker

I love the NitroTracker interface, but since it didn't really comes with any sound, and I was too busy on my stuff and don't have time to find a good sound pack. Then today I went to the gbadev forum and someone suggested a metal sound pack. I tried worked pretty nice. And with 0.1.4 of NitroTracker I can do some real time recording.

Life is getting better and better :-D .

XBox 360 - Ultra pretty the user interface

I saw the XBox 360 menu in action, and I have to say that was the slackest menu system I've ever since. The interface was so crazy too darn pretty.

But then I cannot buy a machine just because of the awesome pretting interface, but damn it was good looking. :-D .

Homebrew application turns portable gaming device into PDA

With so many new portbable gaming device supporting homebrew application development, you may see your Nintendo DS or Portable Playstation turned into a PDA or a music machine. Here's are link that gives you some latest news about the portable gaming device homebrew scene.

SuperCard 1.61 Firmware upgrade problem resolved ... in a strange way

I finally got the firmware of my SuperCard upgraded to 1.61. I used the exact binary as I used this morning in the office. The things that I did differently was:

- I used a Transcend 256Mb CF card to hold the firmware file instead of the Kingston 50x 2Gb CF card.
- I used my home machine.
- I transfer the files using another CF card reader.

Oh well, as long as it works.

Another Golden Shopping Center price report

This time I was trying to figure out price related to SuperCard MiniSD edition. The best part of SuperCArd MiniSD is that the whole card is the size of a GBA Cartiridge. That's means no more sticking out a ugly CF or SD card. Think about having SuperCard MiniSD edition with Nintendo DS Lite .... Sweet.

So, price check:

SuperCard MiniSD edition - HK$330.
Nintendo DS Lite - HK$1350.
1 GB MiniSD Card - (HK$280 - HK$350, depends on brand)
SuperPass 2 - (??, guess HK$130)

The biggest size of MiniSD card is 2Gb, cost Hk$580 if from Kingston.

Still a great price of total fun solution.

SuperCard CF 1.61 Firmware upgrade not working on my gear

The lastest SuperCard CF 1.61 firmware upgrade was failed to proceed on my card. It failed at the checksum part. I wonder why. Perhaps I need to upgrade to the recent version of flashme? Still, all the software that I care are stilling working, so I guess I'll ignore for problem for now until I have time to deal with it.

By Design? Cannot View or Change the Read-Only or System Attribute of Folders

I didn't realized that the situation which I Cannot View or Change the Read-Only or System Attribute of Folders under Windows XP was BY DESIGN. What in the world ....

Horrible RDRAM Price

I was in the process of fixing my teacher's computer, and found one more reason to NOT buying IBM product: they frequently use technologies that are propritory and horrible expansive. In fact, my trip to my teacher's place was solely for finding information, and planning to upgrade her computer with more memory. The conclusion, however, was that it's not worth the price.

Her computer is a IBM NetVista 6832 series. By checking a memory manufactor web site, I found out that her machine, which is in A60 series, is using PC800 RDRAM. There are ECC and non-ECC memory for RDRAM, and unfortunately I don't have much idea about which one is better. But I found out from this page that I can mix memory without serious problem. So with all the information on hand and a gaint bitmap to bring with me with I shop, I headed to the Hong Kong hardware web site, only to found out that the price for a 256Mb RDRAM is HK$645. When I buy in pair, we are talking about HK$1290 for one pair of memory worth of 512Mb in size. Consider that 512Mb PC400 DDR Ram only cost HK$330, the HK$1290 price is simply unacceptable. So as the conclusion we decided not to upgrade the machine.

I also found out that the stupid machine has 4 slots, with one pair of 64Mb memory and one pair of slot holder. The stupid thing is that you CANNOT remove the slot holder without putting back a pair of memory to occupy that space. How dumb the idea is!

Price at Golden

I went to Golden Shopping Center (the shopping plaza for computer gear in Hong Kong), and here's my observation:

- Toshiba 1Gb Thumb Drive is selling at HK$250. (USB 2.0 speed with 1.1 compatability)
-Toshiba 2Gb SD card is selling at HK$485 (Slow speed one of course, still that's a lot of storage space for MP3 and stuff.)
- Kingston DDR400 1Gb memory is selling at HK$610.
- Nintendo DS Lite is selling at HK$1380.


Well, these are the items I care :-D .

Windows Genuine Advantage Validation problem - With a happy ending

I didn't understand why the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool (KB892130) failed to run on my friend's machin, which runs Windows XP Home edition Chinese language. Without it the system couldn't install any Windows Update in the future.

I already removed all the tools that doesn't do good job on protecting the system, like Microsoft AntiSpyware, Spyware Doctor and Symmetec SystemWork, and the WGA Still doesn't install.

I tried to find the solution from Google. Not much help except this one, but I tried download the WGA manually from that site, and still not much help. And some one said his problem machine was working after Automatic update. So I thought of just wait for a day before the automatic update kicks in.

And then came cross this page: Dignostic from Microsoft.com . Well, this one is also useless, for this is just a page to urge you to report to Microsoft if the WGA failed. Yeah right, as if it helps my current situation.

Finally I came across two pages that really saved me. First I saw this page that gives me some hints about finding some info form the log file. And sure enough I found a file in C:\WINDOWS\WindowsUpdate.log that gives me some info about waht may go wrong. Later I found this article that really helped me to solve the puzzle. I following the link provided by the article, rename it to as WindowsXP-KB892130-ENU-x86.exe as stated in the article. Then I ran it. And then ran Windows update again. This time I got another error message saying that the download was completed but installation failed. However, when I tried to restart the machine, I got the message saying that an update is in progress, and the machine will shutdown after the installation was completed. Yep, that's the WGA installation, alright.

And after I rebooted, the WGA was installed. All is well.

Finally cured the lousy Look2Me spyware

After trying a lot of different methods, I finally got the Look2Me removed from my firend's machine. No spyware removal app (Ad-Aware SE, Spybot...) removes the spyware, but at least they consistantly tells me that the Look2Me is still in the machine. Also running spyware removal app while booting up a WinPE CDROM based OS doesn't work either. To erase Look2Me. I did the following.

- Use HiJackThis 0.99 to scan the machine under regular mode. I found out that two WinLogin entries in the list. That's the common way how Look2Me roload itself.
- Use WinPE disc to boot up your machine.
- Open Command Prompt.
- Use "DIR /A:RS:" to see all the hidden file in C:\Windows\SYSTEM32. For each on of them, use "ATTRIB -R -S [FileName]" to change the status of the file. Use "DEL [filename]" to delete the damn file. You may say that it's a bit risky on erasing all these /A:RS (read only and system file) items. But I checked other clean systems. None of them have any /A:RS items. And worst come to worst, I rather reinstall apps later than let any single one of potential spyware stays in my machine.
- Restart your machine in regular mode. Use hiJackThis to check and clean up any missing WinLogin junk.
- Run Spybot and AdAware to do a final clean up. Now you should have a clean machine.


Info
- Learn How to use ATTRIB the DOS command (Another example)
- Learn How to use DEL the DOS command
- This article is where I got a lot of inspiration on how to fix the Look2Me spyware.

P.S.
- I cannot use ATTRIB on the WinME bootup CDROM disc that I made (with Partition Magic 8 in it).

Spyware Doctor and PestPatrol 2005 cannot be run in portable mode.

Enough said.

Mission: To cure a Windows XP machine from spyware without reformatting+reinstall

Whenever I have to machine to fix due to spyware and virus, I always try to cure it WITHOUT the common "Reformat and Reinstall" routine. I took it as a challenge, and I want to figure out a workflow so that I can tell others who are not as technically savvy to perform the repair themselves. I believe in power-to-the-people and don't want those scumbag spyware writer to have all their glory.

Plus I want my friends to fix the machine themselves without bugging me. (Yeah, that's the real reason.)

Here the workflow I used:
- Boot machine in safe mode. Install AVG Antivirus. Scan the machine and cure.
- Boot up the target machine using WinPE CDR disc (a WinXP OS installed on a CDR disc)
- Copy AdAware 1.6 SE Green version and Spybot Serach and destory green version to the machine to the target machine.
- Run AdAware 1.6 SE Green version. I need to set some optional configuration to make sure that it scanned thru the client's harddisks.
- Run Spybot Serach and destory green version.
- Boot machine in safe mode. Run AdAware 1.6 SE Green version and Spybot Serach and destory green version. You will find that there are some tough spyware that cannot be cured. Don't painc. Write the spyware names down.
- Run HijackThis to figure out what app keeps coming back.
- Run Silent Runners to figure out what app keeps running in the back.
- If still no help, serach google and find the standalone apps correpodningly. And use them to cure the target machine.

However, my friend's machine was deeply troubled by the spyware Look2Me, and I cannot find any standalone tool to fix it.

Useful Sites

- DriverGuide - If you have problem finding those anicient driver. This is the place to go.
- BugMeNot - There are free info site that ask for registration. This is how you can defeat those site.

Shop for a MP4 player

My friend wanted a portable video player, so we shopping around for a while. We found the following items that are worth taking notes:

- JNC M-636
Price: HK$980
Shop: Golden Shopping Center (A Grade something)
Review: [here]

- Speed MP4 player
HK$1280
- 3.5 inch screen, but seems slugglish video playback
Shop: Golden Shopping Center (A Grade something)

AMG Mp4 player
HK$680
- 2.5 inch screen
- No camera (camera version: HK$880)

IView mp4 player
HK$690

Finally I found a solution that is great for gamers: Nintendo DS or PSP. I put some dance practice video on Nintendo DS and while the result was not anything spectecular, at least I can use it to review some steps before dance practice.

Oh so much fun for Nintendo DS (Updated: 2006-04-03)

Everyday I find more reasons to love my Nintendo DS. :-D


* Cooking Mama

First, I was hooked in a Japanese game called Cooking Mama . The purpose of this game is to cook meal using your stylus and even the microphone. I was a bit confused about the game play until I found this FAQ which leaded me to the right direction. Thanks, Titney!


* NitroTracker - Step Music Sequencer

And then there is this homebrew sequencer application called NitroTracker, and it was so awesome. Granted it's far from those real portable sequencers like Yamaha QY-100 but it is great enough to have a sequencer always in my bag. I mean, I cannot even find a Pocket PC app that does something similar!

[Old message: 2006-04-01]
However, the current version still have some problem with my SuperCard CF. Particually, the Save and Load function doesn't work. Every time I click the Save/Load tab, the system just freezed. But other than that, the app does basically what a step sequencer should be. Great work, and look forward to try another version that has better support on SuperCard CF!

[Updated: 2006-04-03]
Holy cow. The author was so cool that he solved the SuperCard save/load problem and posted version 0.1.3 on the official web site. I tried and indeed I can load the demo song without problem. I'll play a bit more tonight after band practice. Man, this app made me so hyped up . If I am so much into learning 3D modeling, practice for dance performance on May, routine band pratice, lyrics writing and day time job, I may jump into this NDS development thing. :-I (Gotta cut back more hobbies...)




* SuperCard update
The lastest Supercard update has been released. This version support ROM all the way to ROM No.380. That means those of you who have problem running Tertris DS can now convert the clean ROM using the new conversion software version 2.52, and start enjoying the Tetris fun. I haven't tried the 1.61 Firmware update though based on the "if it ain't break, don't fix" policy. But at least English training and Tetris DS is working now (No orginal card required).


* Moonshell 1.1
Another great news: the best mediaplayer for NDS, Moonshell, is getting better. 1.1 is released, and it solved the ultimate problem that I had with it: the L and R trigger won't stop the audio playback unless you press both trigger! This is totally awesome because previous I always had my mp3 playback paused because the NDS in backpack always accidentally got the L/R trigger pressed. Also, the JPEG zoom is better than before. Ultra cool.

The installation application is kind of funky, but basically you expand the moonshell11.zip file, ran the Setup.exe, and then point the install destination to your CF or SD card. By default it will install all versions (SC and ....???). I only need the SC version, but I take the default installation anyway (remove extra files later). And that's it.

The encode video, you need the Moonshell DPG Tool. The resulting video is actually pretty small, and while it's not like PSP quality, it's decent enough for you to enjoy on the road. However I experienced some audio out of sync problem, and it seems like the problem was not only caused by some of the video drop of my original MPEG file, but also by the conversion application. Until I totally resolved then problem, I still cannot recommand my friends to use NDS as their major portable video player. But then I have hope that some day these problems will be resolved.

The Moonshell DPG Tool cannot, though, handle quite some of the video formats that I have on my machine. And since NDS cannot play non-converted video, the ability of the video convertion application dictates the usability of the video player. And for now, the NDS fits your need if you only care about converting VCD to play on NDS.

Oh, and forget about using Moonshell 0.9 to play DPG Tool 1.0 converted video. It won't work and will hang your machine.

Also forget about using G6 Movie Converter-en.rar to convert video for NDS with Moonshell. It won't work.

In case you are still crazy about converting NDS video, here's some tidbits (but they are all written in Simplified Chinese).


* mp3play0.7
I was told that there's a MP3 player called mp3play for NDS. However, since Moonshell works for me, I am not too concern about getting another MP3 player.