Hendy's Blog
Back to business
Al last I get my new PC. The model is Compaq Presario SR1960AP. I'm disappointed by the lack of front ports. So all the USB, audio out, etc are at the back. So much for modern age PC. Yo, this is year 2007, or at least the PC is made in 2006. Front ports are just so common and useful. Yet this is what I'm getting. I guess cheap is really cheap. Sigh, at least it's Windows Vista capable, with RAM upgrades, though.
And btw, the monitor, which is Compaq FP 1707, has some lousy speakers. Almost laptop quality. This is also the first time for me using 1280 x 1024 screen resolution. I'm impressed by the screen real estate. In fact I felt that the monitor is larger than 17". It's like being sucked in into the monitor. Really.
Well, looks like there are some game reviews to post too: Disgaea 2 - Cursed Memories, Fahrenheit, Prince of Persia - The Two Thrones, Tomb Raider Legend. I finished quite some games during my laptop's death and I'm pleased to announce that all these games are playable on my dying PS2.
Labels: game, personal, tech
Subversion on Ubuntu, all working
Yes, all working now.
I didn't put "SVNListParentPath on" at the config. Ouch.
Labels: subversion, tech
mod_authz_svn works now
Wow, I don't know what's going on. mod_authz_svn works now. I just changed the path and created the authz file again. Maybe the path was not correct before.
Labels: subversion, tech
Subversion on Ubuntu
I set up subversion in Ubuntu. First, need to get Apache and Subversion using apt-get. Need to get the mod_dav_svn too. Then create the repository and set up the config files and authentication, restart apache, and all done.
Sounds simple? Not. There were many problems I encountered. First, I couldn't commit because of permission denied. Turned out I have set the permission to allow www-data to write to the repo. Second, I can't get the svn_authz_module to work. And lastly, I can't browse the repository at the parent path.
And during the process, I found out that Ubuntu is quite tough. sudo this, sudo that and a lot of command lines.
Sadly, the subversion package available is still version 1.3.
Compiling the source seems tough, there some dependencies to install first.
Labels: subversion, tech, ubuntu
Hello from Ubuntu via VMWare
Just want to say hello from my ubuntu running at vmware. it's slow, but still usable. now doing ubuntu updates.
Labels: tech, ubuntu
Firefox , IE, Ubuntu
Can't wait for Firefox 2.0. i know i can get it from mozilla ftp. it's already there since yesterday. but i prefer to wait for the glorious official release. i guess i have to wait until tomorrow.
in my boredom, i got the new ie7. oh, it sucks big big time.
first, it takes quite some time to install with no movement on the progress bar, which made me worried if something is wrong (ie is tightly integrated to windows, so i'm worried). plus a system restart after that.
second is the gui. the interface is not even following windows design guidelines. the buttons are everywhere. the navigation buttons (back, forward, stop, refresh, home) are at 3 different places. refresh, stop, and home buttons are so small, it's hard to reach and click. bookmarks need many clicks to access. i'm thankful that the menubar can be enabled. but it showed up between the address bar and tabs, so it looks stupid, and i said no no, i'd rather not use ie7.
there is also an option to "Always use ClearType for HTML". it should be called BlurType because the fonts become blurry. it comes enabled when installed, which made me think that the new microsoft direction for rendering web pages is to be blur. luckily i maanage to find this option and disable it.
one more thing: the auto scroll. what's wrong with the icon? so rough. and clicking back and forward is still the same old slow reloading.
and finally, my adwatch blocks ie7 from starting. it's like warning that ie is so unsecure it should be killed on the spot :)
now the good things: tab, search bar, pretty colors. nothing special. all can be found at firefox.
looking at this plus the fact that ie7 is only for winxp sp2 and above, firefox will keep growing, maybe even faster as win2k ie users are finding that ie6 is outdated but they can't update and xp users who can update will find that ie7 is so awkward. let's hope firefox can tap into this opportunity.
on to ubuntu.
i tried this linux distribution on live cd. quite sweet. wanda the gnome fish made me feel nostalgic :). in fact, the whole thing made me nostalgic. ahh, i just want to have my linux box again. but this distribution doesn't come with multimedia codecs, so none of my files can run. not a big problem. just have to find it and install... after reading some manuals.
i also mounted ntfs harddisk. but i can't access it because the drive permission is only for root. ohh.. dunno. maybe i shouldn't mount to /mnt?
there are some interesting things like sudo. something to do with root privilege. i still don't understand the whole thing though. just need to find out more. i like the add/remove application. looks like they have a server with the packages ready, so i just choose what i want to install. it's similar to windows add remove components with the components from their server. even eclipse and other IDE are there. this is sweetness. it's one of the reason why i like linux distro. it comes with dev tools. perl, python, ruby, mono, c, java, whatever. and the command line/terminal is great. with colors and all. windows is wayyy behind.
but overall, i find ubuntu is very desktop-ish, not server-ish or developer-ish. yeah, that's because i use the desktop version. it comes bare minimum compared to the mandrake or red hat i used before. of course i can add on whatever i want later.
actually i also want to pay my tribute to Michael Schumacher. but maybe later. i've written too much.
ps: the find dialog at ie7 is still the same. i thought they're going to follow firefox style. still no search highlight, btw. which is bad.
Labels: firefox, tech, ubuntu
WTF? Google under attack?
Can't query on google now.
google asked me to key in a text in a convoluted image to prove that i'm humant. but the great WTF here is: NO HUMAN CAN READ IT! of course i keyed it wrongly. too bad i didn't manage to save the image.
now i signed in to gmail and do a web search from there hoping that it will get through. and what do i get here? HENTAI???
Labels: tech
killed the live messenger
i rolled back to 7.5.
can't stand the sluggish crap.
not to mention my display pics can't be random anymore except if i don't tick remember me. which will make me have to enter my e-mail everytime i sign in.
sigh..
7.5 is definitely faster. althuogh the contact list scrolling is lousy. you'll see the scroll bar size can change as you scroll. getting bigger as you scroll down. happens when you set it to show large display picture of your contacts.
Labels: tech
Window Live Messenger BETA = slowpoke
i tried WLM BETA and it's obviously slower compared to MSN Messenger 7.5.
i'm using centrino 1.3 with 512 ram. my available physical memory is still around 100 MB.
first time sign in, everything freeze for a few secs, maybe 20?
first time showing the contact list take like 10 seconds? chat window 3 seconds?
but after that, it's faster. but still, u get the feeling that this thing is a mammoth.
the useful new features for me are: offline message, file sharing, and contact search. yup, that's pretty much everything for me. and now the contact list can't show display pictures anymore. kind of shame, because i like that.
of course there are other features, like showing your hotmail contacts in the contact list. but it's totally useless for me. and i disable it straight away.
others are pretty much the same. can't say this is a major update in term of functionality. it's more of a major update on skin and resource usage, haha..
stupid thing..
Labels: tech
Finally, a way to upgrade hotmail to 250mb instantly!
Divxstation - Hotmail upgrade to 250 mb
just visit the link to read the detailed instruction.
basically, you have to change your location to US. as for me, i put california for the state and 90210 (remember beverly hills?) for the zip.
then, close your passport account by going to
http://memberservices.passport.net/memberservice.srf?lc%2043
choose "Close my .NET Passport account". don't worry, the e-mails are not deleted immediately.
follow through, and after that, go to hotmail and sign in again.
voila, 25mb mailbox is ready to use. 250mb mailbox is coming in a month. that's what they said.
by the way, during my search, i also found this blog
http://geekswithblogs.net/tpatel/archive/2004/10/18/12765.aspx
read it, very
f***ing funny and the microsoft guys wouldn't like to read it.
Labels: tech
MSN Hotmail Upgrade
MSN Hotmail Upgrade
MSN Personal Address is now even better
All current MSN Personal Address customers will be automatically upgraded by the end of September to an improved MSN Personal Address subscription which includes:
- 250MB of Storage Space -- This is over 200 times the storage in your existing Personal Address account.
- Send/Receive Attachments up to 10MB -- This is 10 times the storage in your existing Personal Address account.
- Added anti-virus protection -- Your incoming and outgoing e-mail is now scanned and cleaned for viruses and worms before they can enter your inbox and risk infecting your PC.
i received the announcement just now. ok, that's good. but when? when? when...??? by the end of september? this is early december now. my hotmail is still 2mb. is my hotmail CURSED?Labels: tech
