Computer Knowledge. Gadget. Anime. Design. Dance. Hong Kong Life. Stuff like that.

2.26.2009

Tried both XBMC and MediaPortal on Windows 7

Tried both XBMC and MediaPortal on Windows 7, and they both failed. Lame.

2.25.2009

VM ran very slow after crash

VM ran very slow after crash, and the problem solved after I defragment the VM within the VM OS, so the moral is: make sure you defragment your VM OS ever once in a while.

Oh BTW, the Vista/Windows 7 VMWare 1.0.8 problem still has NOT BEEN solved at least on my desktop. Sigh. I guess the ONLY way out is to go up to VMWare Server 2.0, but I so DO NOT LIKE that UI and environment.

Found a way to speed up VMWare startup on Windows 7

I finally found a very simply way of speeing up VMWare startup time: simply setting the VMWare Workstation short cut to "Run as Administrator". That's all. Now instead of loading for 10 minutes, the VM starts instantly.

I also learn the I need to be very careful about cloning VM AFTER joining a Windows domain, because if I move instead of copy a VM, the Windows domain control will treat the two VM machines (the original and the clone) as the same. And problem comes after I change the name of one machine, the another VM will have problem getting in and out the VM because the domain will be confused.

2.22.2009

Pinging DVD burner?

I decided to turn OFF the external DVD Burner in order to prolong it's lifespan. The reason is did that is because once in a while I heard the DVD Burner spinning up and then down again, as if something tries to ping it. I am a bit worry that such a ping once in a while may hurt the DVD Burner in long run. I hope I am not just being too paranoid.

2.21.2009

Strange Windows 7 problem starts showing up on my laptop

When I woke up my Windows 7 on my Tablet PC from sleep, and backlight was not on. Not big deal as the problem seems to be resolved after reboot, but just a sigh to show that the Windows 7 is not perfected yet.

On a completely different issue, my VM in VMware still takes forever to start up the FIRST TIME.

2.16.2009

16x aok

I usually being very reluctant buring any disc with speed higher than 12x, but a while ago I burned a disc of movies with 16x and had it verified on my desktop. Then I moved the disc to the external DVD Burner and read it from the Eee PC. Everything worked fine. So I guess from now on I can start saving some time by burning at 16x speed.

Asus EeePC 900, what a piece of junk

I found out that the Asus EeePC 900 is such a single track piece of device. Every time when I try to do more than one thing on the 900, like doing Windows update, virus definition update, the video playing in the front will start stutter.

Once again, if I didn't get this thing for free, I will be totally killing myself.

I guess this gadget is good for nothing except being used as a web browser and a media player.

2.12.2009

Dying Pioneer DVR-111SV

AFter using for 3 years, the Pioneer DVR-111SV was finally dying, which I was not surprising. I constantly use it anyway. So yesterday when I tried to use to install OSX 10.5.6 and found it keep failing to bootup, I knew something was seriously wrong. So today I brought a new Pioneer DVR-216D as the new internal DVD Burner, while the original DVD Burner on my DELL Dimension 9200 was moved out and become an external DVD recorder for my laptops.

The arrangement was working well so far.

2.08.2009

Coding and Tablet PC

From my experience of coding on Tablet PC, use mouse still beats to hack of using the tablet and the red track pointer like hands down.

2.07.2009

Shortcut and Alias in Windows 7

After finding that Launchy doesn't work too work on Windows 7, I looked into Window's native shortcut management, and found this info that allows me to add shortcut that can be serached by the Windows search box. So I put my stuff under "C:\Users\{My account}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\My Apps" and found that everything can be serached by the Windows serach box. However I have to physically put the shortcut in the folder. Shortcut of shortcut does not work.

Something that sucks on Vista still suck on Windows 7

I found that it takes forever to start up a VMWare 1.0.8 under Windows 7, just like what it did on Windows Vista. Of course the VMWare Workstation 6.5 ot maybe VMWare Server 2.0.x will give me much better experience but I don't have to license to do that.

But at least that when it runs it runs pretty well.

Windows 7 on DELL Precision M90: Pretty sweet so far

After tasting the honey of using Windows 7 on my personal Tablet PC, I gave my office laptop DELL Precision M90 a try. The result was pretty nice so far.

The installation process doesn't involve much of my intervention at all. The Windows update even found the proper video driver thru online Windows update, and have everything set up properly. I also see no missing hardware shown on the device manager list. I am happy so far :-D.

2.06.2009

Hotkeys for DELL Precision M90

Just a reminder for myself when operating my Hotkeys for DELL Precision M90

F12 - Choose boot media
F2 - BIOS setup

slower in VMPlayer 2.0

For some very odd reason, I found the same work VM running MUCH SLOWER on VMWare Player 2.0 than in VMWare Server 1.0.8. But then maybe it's because I never really upgraded that VM to 2.0 format.

VMWare shit hell

Defragment within my work environment VM doesn't seem to resolve the problem of my work VM being too painfully slow. So now I have to get back to my restoring partition appoarch.

2.03.2009

Watching video on PSP seems a bad idea ... to me ...

Just found out that I have a bunch of Microsoft PDC video, converted, but didn't watch it on PSP. I do, though, believe that I watched the videos in other places. So it simply shows how unlikely I enjoy watching video on my PSP.

I watch video using my iPod Touch, because it's always around. I watch video on Eee PC, because I can grab the video directly from my home network without convertion. I watch video on my Tablet PC because it has a big screen (while I am on bed). I mostly watch video on my desktop because I enjoy using my nice 24 inch monitor. But PSP .... tried ... not enjoy the clumsy video playback interface.

Well, everything has it's place.

2.02.2009

Booting Lenovo X60T using SD Card

I found out the HP Flashcard format utility works very well with my SD cards and the cheap SD Card enclosure I brought, and I used it to create a bootup thumbdrive to boot my Lenovo X60T to either TrueImage and Disk Director. Here's my steps:

  • Used the utilityto format a 1Gb SD card
  • add Acronis files in it using the bootable media builder from Acronis Disk Director 10
  • put the SD card in the SD card thumb driver enclosure
  • Bootup x60T and hold F1 to get to the BIOS
  • set the bootup from USB drive as top pirority.
  • Reboot.
  • Choose either Full veresion of Disk director or True Image.
  • After done with your work, shut down, unplug the USB Thumb Drive, and start up again
  • Back to Windows 7.
However, the SD card slot build in X60T CANNOT be use as a bootup device. That's why I ahve to use the SD card thumb drive enclosure.

Other than that, this rescure appoarch works very well. Best of all, the BIOS actually remember my setting. So when there's no Thumbdrive around, it will continue boot the Windows 7.

2.01.2009

Windows 7 on Lenovo X60T: First impression

After Vista, I was pretty much gave up on any Windows OS update. After hearing so many good stuff about Windows 7, though, I decided to give Windows 7 Beta 7 a try. After all, worst come to worst, I can restore my stable and reliable XP OS from the TrueImage 10 image I made.

My first hiccup was on the installation disc. The original installation disc I made was not readable by my external USB harddisk. However, buring a new disc using DVDRW solved the problem.

Then installation went OK smooth. Once done, I followed the instruction listed here to download all the essential files from Lenovo, did Windows update, and at the end got all the driver installed.

A few things I experienced:
  • AVG Free Antivirus works a-ok
  • The SD card reader seem to have some problem. It always have problem reading and writing stuff to and from the card properly.
  • Both DAEMON Tools and Virtual Clone Drive failed on Windows 7. I have to extrack files directly from the ISO using Daemon Tools on another machine instead.
  • Setup with Launcher have problem. I have to explictly run it.
  • Found out that in order to add Japanese and Chinese handwriting recognition, I have to go thru these funky steps. Really don't understand why can't they put them in MSDN Library download, but the hack at least there is a way. They seem to work great.
  • Chinese and Japanese fonts look very good of Windows 7.

Acronis Disk Director 10 Safe works better than Full on my desktop machine

I did it again, trying to install OSX on my desktop and failed. So once again I need to get back to my faithful Windows XP. I always use a bootable CDR with Acronis Disk Director 10 on it. It works great but only if I use the Safe mode. The full mode will give you a completely different picture of disk drive structure that doesn't work for me.

Hey at least I find a pattern that works.

Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 on my Ausus Eee PC 900

Both Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 emulator work very well on my Asus Eee PC 900 with my Logitech wireless joypad. It feels extremely awesome to have a mobile gaming device like this :>