Vanvalkinburgh.org

Might end up getting a new mac mini, and upgrading the ram myself. I upgraded my old one without a putty knife, though I damaged the case by doing it the way I did it. So maybe I’ll have to buy a putty knife if I do it myself.

Update
Maybe I won’t get a new mac, as my current mac mini just froze again. Seems to freeze to often, more then I remember my PC with ubuntu crashing. I might decide to try ubuntu on the aspire one I ordered before sending it back, maybe I’ll keep it, if it doesn’t freeze as much as mac.

Looks like I killed ubuntu while trying to upgrade it using alternative CD method. Now going to put the iso on a thumb drive, and try booting from it. The upgrade thing looked like it crashed or something, so I tried killing it, and ended up trying to reboot. It didn’t look like it did anything, I guess it did. Ahh well, maybe don’t tell it to include internet updates. Was going to do the online update, but it seems as their servers are slow right now, a lot of people must be trying to upgrade all at the same time. Using parallels to put ubuntu on thumb drive, no mac program that I’m aware of that does it, suppose I could try dd, but that doesn’t usually work for me.

Update
Just reinstalled ubuntu, its working now. Takes longer then normal to download packages though.

From Inside Acer Aspire One

Upgraded the ram in my Acer Aspire One to 1 GB, voided the warranty doing so too. Used an old stick of ram from mac mini, upgraded that a long time ago. Just finally decided to upgrade Acer Aspire One. Touchpad no longer works, because I’m not skilled enough to connect it. Don’t care, can use external mouse. Need to replace SSD with a real hd or better SSD though. The SSD in it really sucks ass and slows it down, at least with OS X. Probably be fine in linux, but ideneb is more fun, I hear it’s against apple’s EULA, but I never read that, just clicked “accept”.

Update
Thought I got the touchpad hooked up right, might of killed the touchpad some how. Might have to buy a upper case/touchpad for aspire one on ebay. I’ll probably end up selling it after I fix it, will put default distro on it though. Might want to replace internal drive too before selling. Or maybe then I’ll keep it.

Update
Just going to sale each part by its self and as is. Changed my mind, going to sale the whole thing together as is.

iMac is a better system then the mini, and well worth the extra amount. I’ll need a new desk if I want to use my other monitor though. Probably get the cheapest 24″ one, not sure though. Won’t be getting 8 GB of ram, that’s over $1,000 for just the ram… iMac’s are probably even harder then the mini to upgrade, I think I saw a guide on ifixit.com or something like that. But I won’t be opening it, maybe I’ll pay somebody in the future to upgrade it for me. Damn if you want faster processor you have to get more expensive one, wouldn’t mind a 3 GHz processor, don’t care about HD size. Maybe the $1,799 one then, almost 3 GHz, better video then the cheaper ones. Wait you can get $1,799 one with 3 GHz processor…

Update
Will probably order the $1,499 one from frys.com in May or June. I won’t be charged tax if I order from them…

Update
If you look at the design page for the iMac, you’ll notice it says “With iMac, details make all the difference. For example, because it’s made from a single sheet of aluminum, you won’t see any seams or screws except for a single compartment on the bottom that provides easy access to the memory slots.” Sweet so I can upgrade the ram in the future, when the price of 8 GB goes way down. Looked on ifixit.com, and you’ll see the memory compartment in step 4, the only step that matters to me.

Was just looking at DDR3 prices, and its cheaper then I thought, $150 from apple is way to much, you can get it cheaper from just about anywhere else. After looking at the article on macminicolo.net, it looks like I might not break it this time, maybe I should buy a putty knife too. Oh yeah if I upgrade it myself, I’ll put my faster/bigger drive in it too. I’ll just wait a while, and get it with a little faster processor, and maybe get ripped off and have them upgrade ram. Don’t like opening mini’s, pain in the ass, well unless you break it, then it doesn’t matter. My case is broken on old one too, so maybe not faster processor, just more ram.

Finally! Apple released a new mac mini. There was a rumor a long time ago saying there would be a new one in March, looks like that one was right. Can’t wait to go to the bank later today, thinking I’ll get $599 one, and maybe add the max ram. Maybe not DDR3 is expensive… Looks like this baby could easily drive two monitors, it has mini display port, and mini DVI… But I’m probably going to give my old 19″ monitor to sister, she’s still using a giant CRT.

Mac Mini on apple.com

Update
Not buying till May or June. Don’t want to upgrade it myself, so will buy it with max ram, maybe the little better processor. Hard drive size isn’t really an issue, have 1 tb external drive and a 1 tb linkstation, though I might get a little bigger one, probably should get at least 160 GB. Hmm 160 isn’t an option, current mini has 160 GB drive, I upgraded it myself though. Damn looks like the only drives they’ll put in it are 5400 rpm, the drive I upgrade my mini to is 7200 rpm. I’ll just get the default 120 GB drive then.

What a useless false article, surprised google news links to it. I didn’t pay over $1,000 for my mac, I payed about $599. Pathetic article, don’t listen to morons, that don’t know shit. Mac’s may be expensive, but I’m glad that I won’t need to purchase another computer for sometime. The new windows vista OS, makes older computers useless, you will either have to stay with xp, or use linux, I’d personally be using linux on a normal pc. My mom’ s laptop can’t run windows vista, glad it can’t, that means I don’t have to be the one fixing it, though even if it could she probably wouldn’t upgrade it. She isn’t even done paying it off, and it can’t run the latest winblows OS.

Older ppc mac’s can run leopard, my uncles old iBook could run leopard, if I didn’t sell it. The person that bought it, might of put leopard on it. If the next version of OS X, still supports ppc macs, then that tells you something about apple. Apple likes to support their systems for a long time, non like microshit. Don’t forgot, microsoft has to lie to get people to like vista, they tell them that the OS their showing them is new, when its the crappy vista, they should mention how much the PC was, that is capable of running such a bloated OS. Well the price for new systems might of went down.

Just think about all the people who bought a windows computer a year before vista came out, and it can’t run vista. So their year old PC, can’t run the latest pathetic OS by microshit. Now do the world a favor, and stop buying windows PCS, buy a linux PC, or a mac. Or don’t buy a computer at all.

Oh yeah my uncle is still using a first generation macbook, and it runs leopard fine. Not having to buy a new computer as often, results in you saving money in the long run, and therefore you can buy a quality product, rather then a piece of shit. Ahh my uncle got his macbook in 2006. Now lets see how long he waits, until he buys a new one.

I got my mac mini almost a year ago, the anniversary is coming up in September.

Macs Averaging Twice the Price of PCs || The Mac Observer

I got my ram for my mac mini today. I didn’t have any problems putting the ram in, though putting it back together was a pain. First I couldn’t plug the fan in, next there was no sound. Kept trying to get sound, and then the ribbon for the audio ports, that’s connected to a sound card broke. I was going to call around, and see how much it would be to fix it. But decided the audio on it isn’t very good anyways, so I bought a USB audio adapter from amazon. One of the reviews says the microphone input sucks, I don’t use a microphone so I don’t care. Damn now I can hear fan in the mac mini. The bad thing about no sound. Or is the fan my external drive? I don’t know.

Looks like wordpress 2.5 will be released soon. That means I’ll have to upgrade my site, at least it’s been a while since the last update. The new interface looks nice though.

Its only $48 from crucial for 2 GB of memory, the max my mini can have.

How to open the mac mini

They say you need two putty knifes, but probably possible with only one.
Don’t think we have any putty knives, my grandma might. Don’t have $48 either. The shipping is free, but after tax its $52.12. Still pretty cheap, cheaper then the memory in my other computer, and its not DDR2.
Just looked on apple’s site, if you configure the mac mini, they charge $150 if you want 2 GB of ram. I wouldn’t pay $150 for 2 GB of ram, that’s a rip off.

Update
Got it open without a putty knife, I did do a little damage to the bottom of the case. Don’t care though. It still works, and I don’t look at the bottom either, as it isn’t upside down all the time. The damage I caused to the case, actually made it so it will be easier to open in the future. Oh yeah and it still works, as I’m typing this from my mac.

The cheapest ASUS Eee PC is out, and it comes with 512 MB of ram instead of 256 MB. Which is pretty nice, now you don’t need to worry about not being able to upgrade it. You can buy it at newegg, and amazon.

Settings from DD-WRT v23 SP2 aren’t compatible with v24 RC5, good thing I backed up my settings. Don’t think I’ll upgrade to v24 when its stable, as I don’t want to re enter all my settings. If you upgrade make sure you tell the firmware upgrade thing to reset to the default settings. Then you will have to re enter your settings, I tried restoring the settings on v24, but that didn’t work, I had to reset the router, and then downgrade to v23 SP2.

Now I want the Asus Eee PC, the cheapest one, that won’t be released until the end of November is fine, will be $299. Probably to much, so I should stop looking at it, because I know, I won’t get it. Ahh well. Don’t want the Nokia N800 anymore, after comparing the specs and the price. It isn’t worth it. So I still only have one thing on my list, the JBL speakers. I don’t want to put it on my list or ask for it, because $299 is to much. I could sell my other computer, but I doubt I’d get very much, and if I sold it, I would want at least $399, so I can get the better model, with more ram. But I would really rather have the one that you can upgrade the ram on, ok I guess you could attempt at unsoldering, the soldered on ram, if you so desire, but I would destroy it. Thinking the Nokia N800 is $399, because of the link above, is completely false, because you can get it for less then $300 at buy.com and amazon. Unless you want to buy it through nokia, and get totally ripped off.

Hmm I think I rather have a wii though, I want to play the new super mario galaxy game. I don’t think its a good idea to ask for something or to buy something when its first released, as my uncle bought the iPhone to early, though he did wait. So I’ll wait till next year or the year after. By then I might have a job, and some money. If you can’t find a wii, you must not go to the store very often. I remember seeing it in stock at walmart, and my mom’s boyfriend say he saw it in stock somewhere too. Guess some people only order online. I don’t think I want to play manhunt, due to psychotic reasons. I might go even more crazy if I play it. Well they do blur the executions out, but there’s probably sound. Unless they beep the sound out.

Ghost Squad on the wii looks like a cool game too, oh yeah and the wii zapper is coming out 11/19/07. Ghost Squad is coming out 11/20/07.

Listen carefully. They’re my computers. They’re not your computers. I choose to put Windows on some of them. I choose what applications go on them. I choose when, and how, to upgrade them. Is that clear? Well, none of that is clear to Microsoft. We now know— we don’t suspect— we know that Microsoft automatically updates Windows XP SP 2 systems without your knowledge or permission.

Well they aren’t doing anything to either of my computers, neither are running windows. You could block all microsoft ip addresses, so then it won’t be able to update. But the real solution would be to buy a mac, or install linux.

Read

I’m in the process of uploading tremulous maps, will take a while, only uploading the maps I have. The biggest map I have is around 20 MB, and my upload speed sucks, thanks to comcast. Could upload it faster on dsl, when we had dsl, the upload speed was 90+ KB, while its around 50 KB with comcast. But the download speed is better with comcast. You can get a better upload speed with comcast, if you upgrade to the business plan. Oh yeah I get around 200+ KB for the first 5 MB I upload, then it slows down to around 50 KB or less. So the speed is fine for files that aren’t bigger then 5 MB. If you just finished uploading a file through ftp, then you should reconnect to the ftp server, so disconnect then connect, so the next upload will have the fast speed for the first 5 MB. Well you can probably upload 5 1 MB files, at the better speed, but eventually it’ll be slow, if you’re uploading a lot of files. So I’m only uploading one file at a time, then disconnecting, depending on the size of the file.

You might have to disconnect, and then wait, to reconnect. Since comcast is an ass.

New version of wordpress, once again. Going to upgrade my site. Not sure what will happen, might totally break the site.

Update
Site still works. I haven’t added support for tags to my theme yet, probably won’t, don’t really care about tags. Screw editing the theme, you can add a widget, which my theme supports. Hmm shows all tags on my site.

Update
Just upgraded DS: Warranty Voided, which wasn’t as easy. The table post2cat, no longer exists, so I had to fix the download system. Which was a pain.

Now its $20 for one year! Damn they must really want me to sign up. You can also pay by google checkout, which is pretty cool. Didn’t take long for the price to be $20 a year, which was their goal. Looks like they succeeded very fast, thank you to all those who signed up at the beginning, and helped make it $20 a year, for cheap bastards like me.

Schedules Direct

Update
Upgraded mythtv, downloaded the source from mythtv.org, easier then trying to figure out emerge. Emerge just compiles it anyways, but usually it gets errors.

Even know I’m not using freespire anymore, I though I would post this anyways.

1. Don’t run apt-get dist-upgrade
2. Don’t follow ubuntu how tos, could mess up your system. That’s why I ran apt-get dist-upgrade.
3. Reiserfs file system might not be safe, so when installing use the partition editor, and choose ext2 or ext3.
4. If you have a Belkin Wireless G Cardbus PCI F5D7010 ver.7, don’t use the included ndiswrapper. Uninstall it and use version 1.48rc1 or newer. (I would use version 1.48rc1 or newer with all distros.)

Can’t think of anything else, since it didn’t take long for it to crash.

Freespire tries to boot, after a while it says it can’t find the hard drive. If you plan on using freespire, don’t run apt-get dist-upgrade, if you do, then it probably won’t boot. I found this post, on dream linux’s forum. That’s why I’m going to try it, if it works for them, on lower specs then my laptop, then it should work on mine. Didn’t think it would work, because the screenshots look good, didn’t think any good looking distros could run on my laptop. I was going to try elive, but you can only download the unstable version for free, you have to make a donation to download the stable version. I got a blank dvd from my mom, we don’t have any blank cd.

Good thing I checked the md5sum before burning it. They match for me. Read this post, if you’re having problems installing. I shouldn’t have any problems, since the iso isn’t corrupted.

Dreamlinux

Update
Now I know why its called dreamlinux. Beryl works, tapping was easy to disable, wireless works. I compiled the latest ndiswrapper, unstable version seems more stable, then stable version. Wireless works on boot too.

I think I’ll wait until I get more ram to use beryl, if I ever get more ram.

Was released two days ago. To bad wordpress isn’t immune to security problems. Then I wouldn’t have to upgrade it. Since I don’t have a dedicated server, I can just do wget, and then untar it over the existing one. I hacve to upload it, with my crappy upload speed, thanks comcast. I have to upgrade three sites, that’s why its a pain. I don’t have to upgrade the ds, but I doubt my uncle will. Since it fixes security holes, a script kiddie, would be able to “hack” it or script kiddie it I should say. Make that four sites, I forgot one.

Wordpress 2.2.2 and 2.0.11