Conclusion and Thoughts

If the Tour of the German Speaking Alps last year was an example of everything going wrong, this year nearly everything went right.

• We started a week later, and thus only had a couple of days of poor weather at the start.
  
• We booked a hotel nearly next to the airport avoiding the possibility of losing luggage right from the beginning.
  
• We scheduled the hiking at the start of the self-supported touring part of the trip, enabling us to ship our hiking stuff back to our airport, which enabled us to travel lighter and faster once we started riding.
  

Other notes:

• Im getting older. We only had a couple of days exceeding 100km and 2000m of climb. As I get older and slower my days of doing those 100km/2000m days back to back seem to be gone. Part of it is that Sleep Apnea forces me to carry more weight up and down the hills, but the other part of is that my recovery isnt what it used to be. Last year I could pretend that it was the tandems fault. Not this year.
  
• We actually did more cycling once we lost use of the car. The car enabled us to skip to "the good parts." The reality is, though, that cycle touring is about all the parts, not just the good parts.
  
• This is my first year where I could do both the French side and the Italian side back-to-back. The result: no contest, the Italian/Swiss/Austrian Alps are way prettier than the French alps. People who only ride in France because thats where the Tour de France is dont know what theyre missing.
  
• If youre going to have rain for a week on the trip, having it at the end is much better than at the beginning. At the beginning you just lose shape and motivation. At the end, youre ready for a rest!
  
• When coordinating with a car, make sure that you pick good locations to meet up. In particular, meeting in the center of strange towns is going to make your driver very antsy, as towns are harder to navigate than country side. Its far easier to arrange to meet at an intersection or a very small town.
  
• Having a car was very nice: Phil said, "The car was totally worth the money!" We definitely had to thank XiaoQin for driving. A lot of the days would have been unmanageable or we would have had to take a less than optimal route when cycling. That said, I loved the unsupported part of the trip every bit as much, so I wouldnt go out of the way to get a car in Europe if everyone was up for riding every day (as was the case in the past).
  
• Remove the plastic dust caps from valve stems before mounting bikes on cars!
  
• We did our hiking in the St. Moritz Area instead of the Bernese Oberland this time. Compared to the Bernese Oberland, St. Moritz is less pretty, and not as interesting. It was worth doing once, but I dont think Ill revisit. Having now stayed at Wengen, Grindelwald,Lauterbrunnen, Rosenlaui, and Murren, I would recommend Murren for first time visitors and Rosenlaui for people who would like to get away from the Rick Steves/Lonely Planet crowd. Wengen is nice, but not as nice as Murren, and definitely not as nice as Rosenlaui.
  

Previous

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Review Prador Moon

Prador Moon is set in Neal Ashers polity universe. If youre familiar with Iain Banks Culture, you can view the polity universe as the culture at age 5. The AIs have taken over control and command of that universe, but humans still get to do things, like pretend to be ambassadors or fight.

Prador Moon is set before the sequence of other Polity novels. Those novels refer to a war with the Prador, crab-like creatures who happened to find humans tasty. This novel describes how the war started, and describes the Polity in its state of frantically trying to get up to speed on fighting the Prador. As you might expect, theres lots of violence, loud explosions, and a couple of plots that while interesting, really are side-shows to the main storyline.

There are two main characters in the novel, and the threads that weave them together are tenuous and separated by quite a bit of time. As a result, the novel feels a bit like a skeletal outline in some spots, as the author desperately jumps large time sequences to sync up the two plot-lines. The technical gobbledy-gook is well down, but again nothing like Aliaster Reynolds here. The author knows what youre here for, and its big loud explosions and space battles with bad guys.

Barely recommended for a brainless read while youre recovering from flu and cant handle anything heavier.

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Blog AD on LCD

These days i am fighting with LCDs, both graphical and character. I did some test c code and tadaa its there in the Graphical LCD. Looks so cute. :P

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basic1 choosing openwrt version

 there are two kind  of  openwrt version :   the latest stable (Backfire) or the latest nightly build (Attitude Adjustment) .


these two provides different kind of condition. while in nightly build all the newest functionality will work, but sometimes have bug. because it was being tested and the bug havent been solved yet.  its good to test all your script in nightly build. basicly on other tp link like mr-3420 and mr-3220 already support the backfire version. But for the mr-3020 we can only use that attitude adjustment. at least for now....


currently it shown on http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-mr3020?s[]=mr3020 that we can see that our device already supported. mine hardware version was version 1.6.


oyeah, before that

if you click that link you will be download the

http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3020-v1-jffs2-factory.bin


see this first before proceed....

http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=33429&p=6    on post #134

if we install the above version looks like it doesnt provide us with failsafe recover. that means if you brick your access point router because miss configuration, you must open the case and hard reset  manually by connecting into a cable.


so i advice using this under link to flash the firmware. As i already tested, and can failsafe recovery (reset the configuration to the default) later.

nb** :  Be careful to choose firmware version. Its recommended to read all the wiki and the forum first.


http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-mr3020-v1-squashfs-factory.bin




to flash the firmware go to your access point setting menu via browser (default is 192.168.0.254)
system tools > firmware upgrade > then choose the file that we already downloaded. i forgot to screenshot when i flash the firmware to openwrt but the step as just like the picture below.... (with different file ofcourse :D :D :D )

at first it doesnt provide any web interface and the default ip will change to 192.168.1.1 thats why sometimes people say "why i cant access my mr3020 box" or  " why i cant access the mr3020 after flashing openwrt firmware". because we need to set ip of our pc to range 192.168.1.2-254 to access the mr3020 ip which was 192.168.1.1 after being flashed to open wrt.


**nb:  our openwrt  doesnt support web interface yet... because it doesnt have enough memory to save and running it. but there is a way to "hack" the ap so that it can install the web interface (we called this luci) on other storage like usb / hardisk


after we change the ip. open start > command promt > telnet 192.168.1.1.


by doing this we get ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT (Bleeding Edge, r33181) version :) :) :)

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Charts and Tables from Independent Cycle Touring

One of the things I wanted to do but kept forgetting to was to extract all the charts and tables from Independent Cycle Touring and put it in one document so readers could easily print out copies and use them for packing or planning trips. I finally got around to doing so and you can now download all checklists and tables.

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Find Missing Manuals for PCs Printers and More

Cant find the manual for your printer? Need instructions for the Dell laptop you picked up off Craigslist? Forget combing manufacturers labyrinthine support pages--just head to Retrevo.

The site offers downloadable manuals for all kinds of electronics, from calculators and cell phones to TVs and remote controls. The only trick? Finding them.

When you first get to the site, youll see its positioned as an "electronics marketplace," offering a wealth of product prices and reviews.

Scroll down to the bottom, however, and youll see a small section called Manual by Brands. Click the brand youre after, or, better yet, click All. You can also search for a particular product (say, an iPhone). And once you get anywhere past that home page, youll see a big Manuals button in the toolbar near the top.

Better yet, just bookmark this link: http://www.retrevo.com/samples/index-category.html

When you find the manual you want, you can download it as a PDF. According to a Retrevo PR rep, the site is home to over 100,000 manuals. I have no way of verifying that sky-high claim, but I will say this: if youre looking for a manual, Retrevo is a great place to start.

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ZTE Racer review

ZTE is actually one of the worlds largest providers of telecommunications equipment, but it has only recently started selling handsets in Europe.

ZTE Racer

Like the HTC Tattoo and Vodafone 845, the Racer has a small 2.8in display with a resistive touchscreen interface, rather than the capacitative screens seen on more expensive models. Image quality isnt great – with a low resolution of 320x240. The larger pixels are obvious in places, especially in the rounded edges and shading effects used by Androids interface.

The screens not too small to do basic web browsing and write emails; however it lacks support for multi-touch gestures, so you have to use the browsers built-in zooming controls or double-tap to zoom all the way in or out. Browsing mobile sites was comfortable, but larger sites such as the BBCs news site were rather unwieldy.

Unlike those other budget phones, the Racers screen has extremely fussy viewing angles; viewed at a slight (2-3 degree) angle in portrait mode, the image is relatively good; viewed square on, contrast is lost. This is most evident when you flip the phone to landscape mode, where an iridescent effect is notable across the whole screen. The glossy finish doesnt help matters, either.

Touch control is responsive, however, and the phones processor seems capable, managing to run several applications at once while still scrolling through the application tray smoothly. Despite its budget price and design, no smartphone features have been skimped: theres GPS and WiFi, as well as an FM radio and Bluetooth. The 3.2-megapixel camera lacks a flash however, and its pictures are fuzzy and noisy. They do reproduce colours fairly accurately, though.

The Racer lasted for over 22 hours in our light-usage test, which is great for an Android handset. With careful use of power-hungry components such as WiFi and GPS, you could potentially go a couple of days without having to charge.

Design-wise, its more the size of the phone than its materials that signals its budget status. A rubberised black plastic case sandwiches an aluminium central block, into which are built a 3.5mm headphone jack, lanyard hook, power button, microUSB port and volume rocker. Theres quite a bit of flex in the back casing, which is a little worrying.

Touch-sensitive buttons under the screen cater to Home, Menu and Back functions, and theres a slim silver rocker for phone dial and hang-up. Thankfully these last two can be used to wake the phone up, as the power button is frustratingly small and set flush with the top of the case.

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HP ENVY 17 3270NR Laptop review

The HP Envy 17 model we reviewed has an Intel Core i7 processor with a core speed of 2.3GHz. Speed boosts can ramp it up to 3.3GHz. This makes for quick load times for programs, especially graphic-heavy games and photo editing software. Plus you can set the computer to continually give you these boosts of speed. This is a third-generation processor, so it has lower power requirements and better cooling than previous generations.

One of the best things about this laptop is its video card. The Radeon HD 7850M comes standard, which is good enough for running games like Diablo 3 on medium-high settings. But best part is this: the graphics card is switchable. This means the graphics card isnt integrated into the processor but runs as its own GPU. This option is hard to find since most laptops come with integrated graphics cards. The Envy lets you pop out the current card and make any necessary upgrades you want.

All HP Envy models come with Beats Audio built in. This bass-heavy technology makes it easy to hear all tones of audio, even on laptop speakers. Beats Audio gives you full control over every portion of the audio levels with easy-to-use settings. The six speakers and the dual-bass speaker setup in this laptop sound good, but Beats Audio is at its best with high-quality headphones plugged into the auxiliary jack.

The HP Envy 17 provides an ample amount of memory for all of your needs. The laptop we reviewed offers 8GB of RAM. It also provides a large amount of hard drive space. The 750GB of hard drive space included on the laptop provide plenty of storage for all kinds of files. However, there are several options for adding additional RAM and hard drive space to your laptop if youd like; the choice is up to you.

This laptop computer has a decent battery life with an eight-hour charge with minimal use. You can expect to get up to seven hours of power on a single battery charge with continual use, giving you the power you need for work, entertainment and additional computing needs throughout the day.

Design:

One of the first things you will notice about the HP Envy 17 is its attractive design. This laptop features an aluminum chassis, which gives it an appealing look and provides it with the durability and protection it needs to last a long time.

We are impressed with the keyboard on this laptop computer. The Envy 17 features a full-size radiant backlit keyboard. Controls on the keyboard allow you to make the keys as bright or as dim as you would like. It even features proximity sensors that will sense your presence, so when you have stepped away from your computer, the lights will dim to save the battery life.

The Envy 17 features a large 17.3-inch display screen with a 1920 x 1080 HD screen resolution. The large display screen is excellent for enjoying multimedia entertainment, and the sharp, crisp display makes working with images and videos a breeze.

However, the design of the HP Envy 17 did not meet our full expectations, simply because this laptop computer is very large and heavy. It weighs a little over seven pounds, and its large size makes it difficult to carry compared to smaller laptops. If you are looking for a laptop to take on the road, the size of the Envy 17 may be prohibitive.

Feature Set:

The Envy 17 laptop provides a wide assortment of features and tools, ranging from entertainment and multimedia tools to security features and more. This computing device features an HP TrueVision HD webcam and a built-in microphone, which makes video chats possible. This laptop also comes with both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Elements.

This laptop comes with all the basic networking tools such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. A standard DVD optical drive is available on the device, with the option to upgrade to a Blu-ray player. There is also a wide assortment of connectivity options on the Envy 17, such as four USB ports, three of which are USB 3.0 ports. An HDMI port is also available, which allows you to connect the laptop to an HD monitor or an HDTV for an enhanced viewing experience.

This HP laptop features HP ProtectSmart, which is designed to keep your data safe from any bumps your laptop may experience. ProtectSmart senses when the laptop is in motion or is on an unstable surface such as you lap. It then turns on certain safety precautions to protect your hard drive.

Support & Warranty:

One of the advantages to using an HP computer is the companys excellent customer support. By accessing the HP customer service webpage, you can view manuals, warranty information and variety of online help topics. There is also a FAQs section on the HP website that provides additional assistance. You can also communicate directly with a technical support representative through live chat, email and telephone support.

Summary:

The HP Envy 17 is an outstanding and powerful laptop computer. This computing device offers a large feature set and powerful performance tools that can handle all of the extras this computer provides. The hefty size is a bit of a drawback with this computer, but its only because of the superior performance packed into the design. The display screen on this laptop is stunning, and there is plenty of RAM, hard drive space and battery life to handle all of your computing needs. With so much included on this computing device, it is no wonder that it is one of the best laptop computers available.

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First Impressions Dell Venue 8 Pro

I gave my wife a Dell Venue 8 Pro for her birthday. Last year, she got a Nexus 10, but she found that the 10" form factor led to it not getting used much, and Bowen ended up being the primary user of the device instead. As a result, she asked for a smaller device. While Ive been pleased with the Nexus 7, all the indications are that the latest Intel Bay Trail processors run circles around their ARM equivalents, so I took a leap of faith and bought the Dell when it became available for $230. If you shop around on Black Friday Im sure you can find similar deals for this device.

The best thing about the Dell is that its a Windows box.  That means, for instance, that I can back it up using the Windows Home Server that I use for backing up other PCs. This is a great feature, since the default Nexus/Google tablet backup doesnt seem to back up as much as it ought to. (Switching devices, for instance, usually means a massive reinstall of Amazon stuff)

Unlike Google, Dell doesnt suffer from as much Apple envy. As a result we get a microSD card slot. What this means is that even though I bought a 32GB device, an additional 32GB costs only $18, with the prospect of very cheap upgrades to 64GB and 128GB storage options in the future. This type of future proofing means that the additional $5 premium over the latest generation Nexus 7 is well worth it.

On top of that, the Dell device comes with a full license of Microsoft Office, and can run any of the applications that a regular Windows machine can. That means the contortions I used to get the Nexus 7 into a partially decent photo-editing tool are obsolete: I can just run Lightroom! Or Picasa. None of those have Android equivalents, and it truly is amazing to have them available in this form factor.

The device is fast! After using it as a web-browser during Black Friday to do some online shopping, the Nexus 7 feels slow. What this means is that while buying from Amazon is straightforward on the Nexus 7, any other site (such as Newegg) is agonizing. The Dell, however, feels just like my desktop. Everything behaves like it should, and pages load fast and snappily.

Whats more, Windows 8.1 really does make use of all the power of the device. For instance, I wife discovered she could run two "metro" apps side by side. Thats a power-user feature, but she found out about it quite naturally by simply playing with the device. And of course, Windows has had multi-user support for ages, so everything works like you expect. For instance, installing Chrome for one user automatically installs it for all  users as long as you use administrator privileges to do so.

There are cons to the device: Windows 8.1 is not quite fully adapted to the world of touch devices. So for instance, at times, the on-screen keyboard will block the input field that youre entering into. Thats annoying. Unlocking requires typing in a password instead of using gestures or a pin. Thats potentially a security hole if you use it on a plane and share the same password as on your regular desktop, which Microsoft encourages because youre supposed to login using your hotmail account.

At 1280x800, the Venue 8 Pro has pretty much the same resolution as last years Nexus 7, instead of the new 1920x1200 that the Nexus 7 spots. The reality though is that if you need to pop to the desktop for any amount of time, the lower resolution means your fingers arent as fat. So thats not as big an issue as you might imagine.

And of course, theres not the rich ecosystem of "apps" on the Windows 8 store. But who cares? Since youre running full Windows with a real web-browser, applications like Amazon Instant Video which arent available on the Google Play store can simply be run on the device like a native PC. Anybody who faults this device for the lack of apps simply doesnt understand that its a real PC, not a tablet.

All in all, this device is the tablet that Microsoft should have launched last year, instead of foisting Surface RT on us. Its as cheap as an Android tablet, but has much much more functionality. Highly recommended.

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How to Cancel Stalled Print Jobs

You know the drill: You send a document to the printer but nothing happens, so you open the Print Queue. Theres the print job, all right, along with some kind of cryptic error message. So you try to cancel or delete the job--and, again, nothing happens. Even after you reboot the PC, the failed print jobs sit there in the queue, taunting you.

This head-scratcher dates back as far as I can remember, and even Windows 7 hasnt fully resolved the issue. Its usually the result of a communication problem between the computer and the printer, and the culprit could be anything from a corrupted driver to a faulty USB cable to a wonky network setting (if youre using a network-connected printer).

Fortunately, you can send stuck print jobs packing. Download and run the Stalled Printer Repair app, which serves the singular (and singularly awesome) function of purging stuck print jobs from the queue. Purging them means those documents will never reach your printer--but after you resolve the issue, you can just send them again.

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Book Publishing Experiments

One of the fun things about running an independent book publishing business is that unlike a traditional business I get to make experiments! Ive been e-mailing books to buyers of the digital edition of An Engineers Guide to Silicon Valley Startups directly, and more than one person suggested e-junkie.com, which performs digital fulfillment. At $5/month, this is very cheap and would enable me to keep digital sales going while I was on vacation, for instance. (In practice, I find a friend to do fulfillment and pay them in chocolate from Europe)

I experimented with e-junkie for a week. All I can say is that for a low volume seller with unpredictable sales, e-junkies one week trial period is too short. For instance, there was something wrong with the Google checkout integration, and I actually had a buyer call me up and ask me how to download the book. I ended up having to send her the book manually anyway, which defeated the purpose of e-junkie. I didnt get a chance to debug the problem and had no way to figure out what I did wrong, so at the end of the week I just turned off e-junkie and went back to regular fulfillment the old-fashioned mom-and-pop way.

My second experiment was with the Kindle store. For as long as the books been launched, Ive had people ask me why the book was so expensive, with a few folks asking brazenly for discounts. My response has always been that the books targeted to a very niche audience, and if youre outside the niche you will have no interest in the book! In other words, Im not writing entertainment and Im not competing with Stephen King. Goodness knows why anyone would consider a book with a voluminous chapter on taxes and another one on financial planning to be entertainment. Nevertheless, one the second edition was up, I put up the first edition on the Kindle store. Over the last month, the second edition digital sales (at the full price of $24.95) has far outsold the first edition (at $9.99), demonstrating that indeed, I was reaching the audience I wrote the book for: high income professionals for whom the biggest cost of the book is the time spent reading it, not the paltry $24.95 that I ask for my time spent writing it!

Just for grins, I typed "An Engineers Guide to" into the Amazon Kindle stores search box and the first entry is $99.99. I charge $360/hour to help engineers negotiate compensation, and so far, every client has been very satisfied with my services. The books your way to get all that experience at $24.95, which if you think about it is a bargain.

My third experiment has been to do away with the Kindle version of the second edition. There were two reasons for this. One was that I wrote the book using OpenOffice, and had to export to Word before converting to Kindle format. The automated tools arent perfect. so I end up having to fix them up manually in Emacs. Then I got a Kindle 3 as a gift and noticed that it rendered PDF just fine. The trick is to rotate the screen 90 degrees and read books in "wide format." This doesnt quite work for the two-column layout that I use is Independent Cycle Touring, but works fine for the Engineers Guide. I waited to see if I got howls of protests, but nobody complained, which meant that my assessment of the situation was correct --- the audience for the book who cared about the Kindle knew what to do with the PDF, even without instructions.

I will keep experimenting with the business. Unlike a traditional publisher, I can move quickly and am not tied to existing processes at all. And unlike a traditional publisher, I dont care whether my book sales are mostly digital or mostly paper.

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PCI Local Bus

The PCI Local Bus (usually shortened to PCI), or Conventional PCI, is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer. These devices can take either the form of an integrated circuit fitted onto the motherboard itself, called a planar device in the PCI specification or an expansion card that fits into a socket. The name PCI is an initialism formed from Peripheral Component Interconnect. The PCI bus is common in modern PCs, where it has displaced ISA and VESA Local Bus as the standard expansion bus, and it also appears in many other computer types. Despite the availability of faster interfaces such as PCI-X and PCI Express, conventional PCI remains a very common interface.
The PCI specification covers the physical size of the bus (including wire spacing), electrical characteristics, bus timing, and protocols. The specification can be purchased from the PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG).
Typical PCI cards used in PCs include: network cards, sound cards, modems, extra ports such as USB or serial, TV tuner cards and disk controllers. Historically video cards were typically PCI devices, but growing bandwidth requirements soon outgrew the capabilities of PCI. PCI video cards remain available for supporting extra monitors and upgrading PCs that do not have any AGP or PCI express slots.
Many devices traditionally provided on expansion cards are now commonly integrated onto the motherboard itself, meaning that modern PCs often have no cards fitted. However, PCI is still used for certain specialized cards; although many tasks traditionally performed by expansion cards may now be performed equally well by USB devices.
Auto Configuration
PCI provides two separate 32-bit or 64-bit address spaces corresponding to the memory and I/O port address spaces of the x86 processor family. Addresses in these address spaces are assigned by software. A third address space, called the PCI Configuration Space, which uses a fixed addressing scheme, allows software to determine the amount of memory and I/O address space needed by each device. Each device can request up to six areas of memory space or I/O port space via its configuration space registers.
In a typical system, the firmware (or operating system) queries all PCI buses at startup time (via PCI Configuration Space) to find out what devices are present and what system resources (memory space, I/O space, interrupt lines, etc.) each needs. It then allocates the resources and tells each device what its allocation is.
The PCI configuration space also contains a small amount of device type information, which helps an operating system choose device drivers for it, or at least to have a dialogue with a user about the system configuration.
Devices may have an on-board ROM containing executable code for x86 or PA-RISC processors, an Open Firmware driver, or an EFI driver. These are typically necessary for devices used during system startup, before device drivers are loaded by the operating system.
In addition there are PCI Latency Timers that are a mechanism for PCI Bus-Mastering devices to share the PCI bus fairly. "Fair" in this case means that devices wont use such a large portion of the available PCI bus bandwidth that other devices arent able to get needed work done. Note, this does not apply to PCI Express.
"How this works is that each PCI device that can operate in bus-master mode is required to implement a timer, called the Latency Timer, that limits the time that device can hold the PCI bus. The timer starts when the device gains bus ownership, and counts down at the rate of the PCI clock. When the counter reaches zero, the device is required to release the bus. If no other devices are waiting for bus ownership, it may simply grab the bus again and transfer more data." Interrupts
Devices are required to follow a protocol so that the interrupt lines can be shared. The PCI bus includes four interrupt lines, all of which are available to each device. However, they are not wired in parallel as are the other traces. The positions of the interrupt lines rotate between slots, so what appears to one device as the INTA# line is INTB# to the next and INTC# to the next. Single-function devices use their INTA# for interrupt signaling, so the device load is spread fairly evenly across the four available interrupt lines. This alleviates a common problem with sharing interrupts.
PCI bridges (between two PCI buses) map the four interrupt traces on each of their sides in varying ways. Some bridges use a fixed mapping, and in others it is configurable. In the general case, software cannot determine which interrupt line a devices INTA# pin is connected to across a bridge. The mapping of PCI interrupt lines onto system interrupt lines, through the PCI host bridge, is similarly implementation-dependent. The result is that it can be impossible to determine how a PCI devices interrupts will appear to software. Platform-specific BIOS code is meant to know this, and set a field in each devices configuration space indicating which IRQ it is connected to, but this process is not reliable.
PCI interrupt lines are level-triggered. This was chosen over edge-triggering in order to gain an advantage when servicing a shared interrupt line, and for robustness: edge triggered interrupts are easy to miss.
Later revisions of the PCI specification add support for message-signalled interrupts. In this system a device signals its need for service by performing a memory write, rather than by asserting a dedicated line. This alleviates the problem of scarcity of interrupt lines. Even if interrupt vectors are still shared, it does not suffer the sharing problems of level-triggered interrupts. It also resolves the routing problem, because the memory write is not unpredictably modified between device and host. Finally, because the message signaling is in-band, it resolves some synchronization problems that can occur with posted writes and out-of-band interrupt lines.
PCI Express does not have physical interrupt lines at all. It uses message-signalled interrupts exclusively.
Conventional hardware specifications

A typical 32-bit PCI card, in this case a SCSI adapter from Adaptec
A PCI-X Gigabit Ethernet expansion card
These specifications represent the most common version of PCI used in normal PCs.
*33.33 MHz clock with synchronous transfers
*peak transfer rate of 133 MB/s (133 million bytes per second) for 32-bit bus width (33.33 MHz 32 bits ÷ 8 bits/byte = 133 MB/s)
*peak transfer rate of 266 MB/s for 64-bit bus width
*32-bit or 64-bit bus width
*32-bit address space (4 gigabytes)
*32-bit I/O port space
*256-byte configuration space
*5-volt signaling
*reflected-wave switching
The PCI bus arbiter performs bus arbitration among multiple masters on the PCI bus. Any number of bus masters can reside on the PCI bus, as well as requests for the bus. One pair of request and grant signals is dedicated to each bus master.
Mini PCI

Mini PCI Wi-Fi card Type IIIB
Mini PCI was added to PCI version 2.2 for use in laptops, it uses a 32-bit, 33-MHz bus with powered connections (3.3 V only; 5V is limited to 100mA) and support for bus mastering and DMA. The standard size for Mini PCI cards is approximately 1/4 of their full-sized counterparts. As there is limited external access to the card compared to desktop PCI cards, there are limitations on the functions they may perform.

MiniPCI-to-PCI converter Type III
Many Mini PCI devices were developed such as Wi-Fi, Fast Ethernet, Bluetooth, modems (often Win modems), sound cards, cryptographic accelerators, SCSI, IDE/ATA, SATA controllers and combination cards. Regular PCI cards can be used with Mini PCI-equipped hardware and vice-versa, using Mini PCI-to-PCI and PCI-to-Mini PCI converters. Mini PCI has been superseded by PCI Express Mini Card.
Technical details of Mini PCI
Mini PCI cards have a 2 W maximum power consumption, which also limits the functionality that can be implemented in this form factor. They also are required to support the CLKRUN# PCI signal used to start and stop the PCI clock for power management purposes.
There are three card form factors: Type I, Type II, and Type III cards. The card connector used for each type include: Type I and II use a 100-pin stacking connector, while Type III uses a 124-pin edge connector, i.e. the connector for Types I and II differs from that for Type III, where the connector is on the edge of a card, like with a SO-DIMM. The additional 24 pins provide the extra signals required to route I/O back through the system connector (audio, AC-Link, LAN, phone-line interface). Type II cards have RJ11 and RJ45 mounted connectors. These cards must be located at the edge of the computer or docking station so that the RJ11 and RJ45 ports can be mounted for external access.

Other physical variations
Typically consumers systems specify "N x PCI slots" without specifying actual dimensions of the space available. In some small form-factor systems, this may not be sufficient to allow even "half-length" PCI cards to fit. Despite this limitation, these systems are still useful because many modern PCI cards are considerably smaller than half-length.
Card keying

Diagram showing the different key positions for 32-bit and 64-bit PCI cards

Typical PCI cards present either one or two key notches, depending on their signaling voltage. Cards requiring 3.3 volts have a notch 56.21mm from the front of the card (where the external connectors are) while those requiring 5 volts have a notch 104.47mm from the front of the card. So called "Universal cards" have both key notches and can accept both types of signal.

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MOAR Skyrim Mods!

Well, after my last post Ive spent a lot of time both searching out mods, and trolling the Bethesda mods forums - not to mention trying my hand at a little modding myself. 

Ive found a few more mods, or slightly different versions of ones listed that I think are probably a little better. Either way, check these out too and if you like them, try them!

Auditorium

I havent been able to play through this one, but this mod simply adds a whole new area and quest line to the Bards College. It is pretty awesome, and if you want a little more unique Skyrim content, definitely get it.

School of Knowledge and Youth

This mod is great. It adds a school to Whiterun and Solitude (more coming), and 5 days a week, all the little brats go off to school so they arent pestering about how theyll fight you, even if you are their elder...

Respectful Lydia

"Im sworn to carry your burdens..."

Not anymore! Now shes more than happy to exchange inventory.

PISE (Plutos Improved Skyrim Experience)

I know what I said in my last post. I retract my statement. PISE is brilliant, and so is the mods author, Pluto. This mod adds

-More spawns

-Harder enemies (deleveled dragons, mages use healing speels, enemies use healing potions...)

-Better AI (more blocking, power attacks, aim, and reaction times)

-Harder battles (easier to be detected, mages heal allies)

-Less leveled loot

I know it might sound daunting, but I swear it will make the game so much more fun to play. Combat is just much more fun and challenging, but balanced too. Pluto also has a beta version of a patcher that will smartly add spells to enemies if youre using mods like Midas Magic, another one that will create even more enemies for crazy dungeons, and hes the one who made Realistic Lighting that I listed last time.

Deadly Combat

This is another combat mod, and the one Ive been using for a while now. I think its better than the Duel one I listed last time. The most important features IMO are changes to how blocking and stagger works. Check this out.

Duke Patricks Heavy Weapons Combat

Another combat mod, this one aims to be as realistic as possible. I have not used it yet, but it looks very promising. I suggest checking both these out and using one or the other in conjunction with PISE.

Sounds of Skyrim - The Wilds

I listed this one last time, but it was only Dungeons. The Wilds is now released, huge immersion increase I think. Get it for sure!

Static Mesh Improvement Mod

This mod is a must for everybody. It fixes so many glaring issues with bad meshes, from fixing ugly wooden beams to making food look oh so much more delicious! Oh and not to mention the chains... I know, youre probably thinking, "what??" but seriously check it out. So much win.

Better Rain

More Rain

These two mods go together very, very well. It makes rain in Skyrim seem like real rain! Combined with the thunder effects I listed last time, after this youll be eagerly anticipating the next big thunderstorm in Skyrim!

Real Wildlife

Essentially this mod adds to the creatures of Skyrim. One of my favorite additions is scaled down, non threatening Skeevers as rats in cities.

Fixed Followers Lite

Pretty basic mod, just fixes some issues with followers.

Crafting 300

Im now using this instead of the crafting mods I listed last time. It revamps the Smithing perk tree and adds a lot to the basic crafting. I use it in conjunction with Vals Crafting Metldown and the Weapons and Armor fixes I listed last time.

Hi-Res DLC Optimization

This one is a must have for most people. It will reduce your VRAM usage while maintaining the high quality of the official HD textures DLC. This is particularily important if you want to use other HD mods, like Flora Overhaul and HD Furniture and Barrels (my favorites), not to mention weapon and armor retextures. 1gb of VRAM isnt that much anymore.

HD Textures Redux

If you really need to save VRAM, heres a mod that greatly reduces the texture sizes (mostly from increased compression) while maintaining much higher than vanilla graphics.

Well, thats it for today! Hopefully theres more fun stuff to write about in the near future.

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Introducing the Chrome OS and app store

The Chrome OS is a web-based operating system created by Google, who pioneered the popular search engine and also created the Android operating system.

You log on to Chrome devices via an internet browser screen rather than the conventional desktop. Chrome offers fast startup and internet browsing, simple navigation and organisational features, and advanced internet security.

Chrome runs off a “cloud”, a safe online space that stores your apps, documents and settings for remote access from any compatible devices. It automatically updates your software and apps when you access them, saving you time and hassle. When you connect to the internet after working in offline mode, your work will automatically be saved to the Cloud.

On the Chrome Web Store you can download thousands of apps, extensions and themes, enabling you to personalise your device with content that matters to you.

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Troubleshooting TCP IP

Troubleshooting TCP/IP

Troubleshooting TCP/IP - Detailed Steps

This article shows how to troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity between computers on a Windows network. If you haven’t already done so, disable XP’s Internet Connection Firewall on all local area network connections, and remove all firewall programs on the network. Improperly configured firewalls are the most common cause of TCP/IP problems.

Open a Command Prompt Window

For many of these steps, you’ll be typing at the command prompt. To open a command prompt window in Windows 2000 or XP, click Start Run, type cmd in the box, and click OK. To open a command prompt window in Windows 95, 98, or Me, click Start Run, type command in the box, and click OK. Type one command per line, and press Enter after each one to execute it. To close the command prompt window, use the exit command.

Determine the TCP/IP Settings

Determine the TCP/IP settings of each computer on the local area network. In XP, open the Network Connections folder, right click the LAN connection, and click Status Support Details. For example, here are the Status and Details views for the LAN connection on an Internet Connection Sharing host.

In Windows 95/98/Me, click Start Run, type winipcfg in the box, and click OK. Select the LAN adapter from the menu, and click More Info.

You can also see the TCP/IP settings from the command prompt. This is especially convenient if a computer has more than one network adapter. Use the ipconfig /all command, which is available in all versions except Windows 95. The output from this command can be long, so it’s best to write it to a file. Specify the file name in the command this way:

ipconfig /all >ipconfig.txt

Description of TCP/IP Settings

Here are the TCP/IP settings that are used in network troubleshooting:

IP Address – Unique address assigned to a network adapter. A computer with multiple network adapters has an IP address for each one, and each one must be in a different subnet.

Subnet Mask – Used in conjunction with the IP address to determine which subnet an adapter belongs to. At the simplest level, communication is only possible between two network adapters when they’re in the same subnet.

Default Gateway - IP address of a computer or router, on one of this computer’s local area networks, that knows how to communicate with subnets not present on this computer. For an Internet connection, the default gateway is a router belonging to your Internet service provider, and all access to sites on the Internet goes through it. For an ICS client, the default gateway is the ICS host. If you use a hardware router, it serves as the default gateway.

DHCP Server – If an adapter is configured to obtain an IP address automatically, this is the address of the server that provides it. It could be your ISP, an ICS host, or a hardware router.

DNS Servers – IP address of one or more Domain Name Server computers. DNS servers translate Internet names (like http://www.practicallynetworked.com/) to their IP addresses (like 63.146.109.227).

Subnets

See our article on subnets for a brief description of how they work. For more details, see this Microsoft Knowledge Base article.

If two computers are supposed to be on the same subnet, but aren’t, something is wrong with the network hardware or software configuration. This is most likely to happen when one of them receives an IP address of 169.254.x.x, which indicates that:

It’s configured to obtain an IP address automatically.

It couldn’t find a DHPC server on the network to make the assignment.

Windows assigned it an Automatic Private IP Address.

See our article on Specific Networking Problems and Their Solutions for more information.

Pinging

The ping command is the basic tool for testing TCP/IP connectivity. It sends a special packet (called ICMP Echo) to a particular IP address and looks for a reply. If everything is working right, the reply comes back. If not, the ping times out in a few seconds. By default, the ping command repeats the process four times. Here’s an example of an ICS client computer pinging a Windows XP Home Edition ICS host, using the host’s IP address and its computer name.

When ping fails, you’ll see one of these error messages:

Request timed out - The IP address is valid, but there’s no reply from it. If the IP address is on a local area network, the most likely cause is a firewall program blocking the ping.

Unknown host or Ping request could not find host - The computer name doesn’t exist on the local area network. Make sure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled.

Destination host unreachable – The IP address isn’t on a local area network, and the default gateway can’t access it. Either there’s no default gateway, its address is wrong, or it isn’t functioning.

Pinging the Local Area Network

Here is a series of ping commands to use in finding where a problem occurs on a local area network. Run them in the order shown, and don’t go on to the next command until all of the previous commands work properly. In this example:

The computer being tested is named Winxp, with IP address 192.168.1.101.

There’s another computer on the network, named Win98, with IP address 192.168.1.123

Substitute the appropriate IP addresses and computer names for your network.

Command Target What Ping Failure Indicates

ping 127.0.0.1 Loopback address Corrupted TCP/IP installation

ping localhost Loopback name Corrupted TCP/IP installation

ping 192.168.1.101 This computer’s IP address Corrupted TCP/IP installation

ping winxp This computer’s name Corrupted TCP/IP installation

ping 192.168.1.123 Another computer’s IP address Bad hardware or NIC driver

ping win98 Another computer’s name NetBIOS name resolution failure

To fix a corrupted TCP/IP Installation on Windows XP, follow the steps in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article. For Windows 95/98/Me, un-install the TCP/IP protocol in Control Panel Network, reboot, and re-install it. If that doesn’t fix it, use this procedure on Windows 95 or 98.

Pinging the Internet

You can also use ping to find a problem with Internet access. Run these commands in the order shown, and don’t go on to the next command until all of the previous commands work properly. Use the Default Gateway and DNS Server addresses that you got from the winipcfg or ipconfig /all command.

Command Target What Ping Failure Indicates

ping w.x.y.z Default Gateway Default Gateway down

ping w.x.y.z DNS Server DNS Server down

ping w.x.y.z Web site IP address Internet service provider or web site down

ping www.something.com Web site name DNS Server down or web site down

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Computer Worms

Computer Worms

A sub-class of a virus, a computer worm is a self replicating computer program that uses a network connection to spread from computer to computer extremely quickly, without the help of any executable host file or any person.

A computer worm therefore:

• Runs Independently
• Travels across network connections
• Has the capability to reproduce itself on your system

What worms can do?

With its ability to replicate itself rapidly, a computer worm overloads the system memory, causing slowdowns in data transmission due to massive bandwidth consumption.

If designed to do so worms can also carry a payload which can create a backdoor on your computer thereby allowing evil minded users to control your computers remotely.

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CPU Guides Incoming

Im in the process of writing a lengthy guide on overclocking. It will be followed by some benchmarks showing how CPU and RAM affects speeds. I will also have another post on PCIe overclocking and how that can affect GPU performance. And finally I will have a post on GPU overclocking and some results on that.

Another thing I plan to post is a review of scaling on my 5850s in crossfire. Ive done this before but I want to update it with some more current benchmarks. I might also try to incorporate this into the PCIe review but well see about that.

Anyway, these are in no particular order except for the OC guide, which is probably 50% done.

Stay tuned!

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The Desktop Computer Comeback

Its senseless to do real computing on a laptop or iPad. For that, you need a big honkin desktop.

Although people spend all day with their iPhones, iPads or whatever else theyre using to casually search the web while watching TV or sitting at a cafe, most of them still have some sort of real computer on a desk somewhere. Some of these poor people (too many in fact) have been suckered into using a laptop as a desktop replacement. Theres really no such thing as a desktop replacement.

That said, the honkin desktop computer with the multi-core CPU isnt in vogue, plain and simple. The productivity benefits have been forgotten.

First of all, lets get real about computing in the modern world. Its not about looking things up on the Web; its about getting more work done in a shorter period of time than ever before. This is largely because of the processing power of desktop computers. And, yes, a powerful laptop can be a workhorse, but get real. If given a choice between using a laptop – no matter how powerful – with a 15-inch screen and using a multi-core tower machine with two or three or four 20-inch to 30-inch monitors, why would I choose the laptop?

Yes, the big rig will cost more, but with just one or two monitors, it wont cost that much more.

The drawback to the desktop rig, of course, is lack of portability. I dont know about you but I dont have this overwhelming desire to have a computer with me 24/7. Others do.

Ive noticed a few interesting phenomenon that bring us back to the olden days of the secretarial pool. Someone in your group will have an iPad or iPhone with an efficient Web browsing system. And the person will be adept at using these devices. Moreover, theyre more than willing to be your secretary to show off their skills on these devices.

"I think were lost, the restaurant isnt here."

"Let me pull out the iPad and figure out where we are."

"You do that while I go shopping."

Ive noticed myself barking commands to these people. "See what the capacity of that hall is. Ill bet its over 500." "Can you bring up a map of the area?" "See if there are any nearby ATM machines."

Never once does someone say, "Get an iPad and look it up yourself, you skinflint! Of course not, because they love using these machines and need a rationale for owning the things. Meanwhile, the machine that pays the bills is the desktop machine, and many of these same people use underpowered laptops for this function.

Im not sure why the buzz about desktops has waned to the point where nobody wants to talk about them. Theyre not totally uninteresting. Many use fiber connectors and have unusual architectures that are worth discussing. Maybe its too complicated for todays audience. After all, they think Facebook is high tech.

Well you can do what you want, but it just wont be as good or as fast unless its done on a big honkin machine. Get one today!

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The Endorsement Im Proudest Of

I wasnt allowed to blog about this or write about this until today for the obvious reasons. But the best endorsement Id ever heard from was from the CTO of the Obama for America campaign, Harper Reed. Reed bought a copy of Startup Engineering Management, and wrote back to me after reading it:

I have suggested to all of the tech leadership on the Obama campaign (and the DNC too) to read your book. I hope they take the advice and check it out. It was very good and worthwhile to read. We are not failing.

Needless to say, neither I nor the book can take any credit for the success of the Obama campaign. They did an amazing job and would have done so with or without the book. I can say that from outside the campaign, there were many days when I had my doubt about whether Obama would win, but like any good startup, the campaign labored on regardless of what everyone else said or thought. It is nice to hear that they thought highly of the book, and Im glad to have done even a tiny bit for the campaign. For an indepth-look at what the Obama campaign built and how it built it, please see this Ars Technica article. Im obviously very pleased with the results of yesterdays election, and hope to see the promise of Obamacare fulfilled.

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Review The Story of the Giro DItalia Volume 2

Theres no doubt in anyones mind that in recent years, the Giro has been the race to watch, rather than the Tour de France, which has tended to be boring, defensive racing. Im not a big fan of watching bike racing, and from the start, where races were sponsored by newspapers trying to boost circulation, bike racing has always belonged to the written medium. Bill McGanns series, The Story of the Tour De France (Vol 1, Vol 2), and Volume 1 of the Story of the Giro DItalia proudly belong in this category.

In addition to being an account of the races, its also an account of the history of doping and drug controls in the sport of cycling:

I spoke to a mechanic who traveled with a top-flight Spanish pro team in the mid-1990s. What he saw frightened him. The racers slept with heart-rate monitors hooked up to alarms. If a sleeping rider’s pulse fell below a certain rate, the alarm went off, the rider was awakened, given aspirin and a saline injection to thin the blood and put on a trainer to get his heart rate up and blood flowing. This was clearly dangerous stuff at the doses racers were using and everyone knew it, but it had a gigantic payoff to the talented and lucky user. As La Gazzetta put it, there was a change in the hierarchy of some teams: the doctor was now more important than the director. (Loc. 1846-50 )

The author does not refrain from speculation about who might have doped and when, and it adds to the entertainment.

Recommended for cycling fans, but read Volume 1 first.

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PORTABLE COMPUTER

Defining the Portable Computer
Portables, like their desktop counterparts, have evolved a great deal since the days when the word portable could refer to a desktop-sized system with a handle on it. Today, much smaller portable systems can rival the performance of their desktop counterparts in nearly every way. Many portables are now being marketed as "desktop replacements," which are portable systems powerful enough to serve as a primary system. This chapter examines the phenomenon of portable computing, showing how it has evolved and why it is so popular.
Portables started out as suitcase-sized systems that differed from desktops mainly in that all the components, including a CRT-style monitor, were installed into a single case. In the early 1980s, a small Houston-based startup company named Compaq was among the first to market portable PCs such as these. Although their size, weight, and appearance are almost laughable when compared to todays laptop or notebook systems, they were cutting-edge technology for the time. In fact, unlike modern laptops, the components used by these bulky first generation portables were virtually identical to those used in the most powerful desktops of the day.
Most current portable systems are now approximately the size of the paper-based notebook they are often named for and are built using the clamshell design that has become an industry standard. Inside these systems, nearly every component has been developed specifically for use in mobile systems.
Portable PCs, however, are not the same as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), such as the Palm series, Handspring, and PocketPC. Portable computers differ from PDAs in that they use the same operating systems and application software as desktop computers and use memory, CPU, and drive technologies that are similar to desktop PCs as well. PDAs, on the other hand, use different operating systems, applications, and hardware compared to either desktop or portable PCs and thus fall outside the scope of this book. Instead, this book focuses primarily on laptops or notebook-style portable PCs. That said, in terms of technology, much of this book will also be applicable to a relatively new category of portables: Tablet PCs. Actually Tablet PCs have been around since the early 90s, but a lack of standardized software, combined with relatively low power and functionality, limited them to special applications rather than mainstream use. In many respects, modern Tablet PCs are identical to laptop/notebook computers except that they are equipped with a touch-sensitive display, lack the integrated removable storage (such as a CD/DVD-ROM drive), and include a special tablet-oriented version of Windows. While most include a keyboard and basically look like a standard notebook computer, a few Tablet PCs do not come with a keyboard at all. Those that dont include a keyboard generally offer one as an accessory or can use any standard external keyboard if desired.
Many people use portable systems as an adjunct or accessory to a primary desktop system in their principal working location. In those cases, the portable system may not need to have all the power of a desktop, since it will only be used when away from the main office. In my situation, the roles are reversed. All my professional life I have been teaching PC hardware and software, usually on the road. As such I have always needed a powerful computer I can take with me, and because the amount of time spent traveling is equal to or more than the amount of time spent at a home office, I have had to rely on portable PCs of one type or another as my primary system.
All my books on upgrading and repairing PCs, starting with my first self-published seminar workbooks in 1985, have been written on a portable system of one type or another. With the processing power of modern laptop/notebook systems evolving to the point where they are nearly equal to all but the most powerful desktop systems, I look forward to carrying even smaller, lighter, and more powerful laptops in the future.
Portable computers have settled into a number of distinct roles that now determine the size and capabilities of the systems available. Traveling users have specific requirements of portable computers, and the added weight and expense incurred by additional features make it less likely for a user to carry a system more powerful than is necessary. Others may not do much traveling, but simply like the flexibility and small footprint that a laptop provides.

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Home Designer Suite 2012

If our rankings were based on eye candy alone, Home Designer Suite would outrank its competitors by a long shot. All of the objects and images are in such exquisite detail that it enables you to get a very realistic view of your designs. It has multiple easy-to-use features that make this product ideal for novice home designers who need a simple way to design a home, or get an estimate on how their remodeling desires could come into play, making it our hands-down TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award winner. However, this home design software will also help the seasoned professional home designer as well.

Home Designer Suite was created by Chief Architect. This version of the software is an all-in-one product that is perfect for those who want to design homes, decks and landscapes. Your designs will be validated against standard building principles. It will help you to create a new home, remodel and existing home or add exquisite landscaping. This application also includes sections on interior design and a section on kitchens and baths that will help make your dream house become a reality.

Aesthetic Appeal

Prepare to be dazzled by Home Designer Suite as you navigate through the interface to create your projects. The graphics are so detailed that you feel as if you have entered another world when you access the 3D and doll house views. The interface is simple and easy with all of the most common tools right at your fingertips. The editable home plans are beautiful, as well as the furniture, appliances, and fixtures in the object library. The library contains over 6,000 items for you to use. However, if you do not find the objects that appeal to you, you may download new object libraries from the web, from game room set-ups to the finest kitchen furnishings, Home Designer Suite won’t let you down.

Features & Tools

Home Designer Suite has many helpful tools that get the job done just the way you want. They range from curved wall tools to vaulted ceilings as well as viewing your project in 2D or 3D. One of the more helpful features that we enjoyed was the view options. You can view your home with a framing, glass, or dollhouse view, while simultaneously looking at your floor plan. The detail in these views is excellent and allows you to get an almost hands-on experience merely from looking at it.

Most home design software has walkthrough and aerial views, but Home Designer Suite provides the ability to record both views onto a video file (AVI format), which will spice up any possible demonstrations.

As you begin your project, a screen pops up allowing you to choose from a list of home design wizard styles. This allows you to design your home in a pre-defined décor style. If you find yourself struggling to come up with an overall theme for your room designs, you may attain inspiration from their Design Planning Center that has numerous articles and hundreds of pictures of professionally designed and decorated rooms, kitchens and house styles.

Some new features that caught our eye include tools to make ADA compliant ramps, pass-thru tools that allow for the creation of an opening in a wall between rooms and deck and framing buy lists that are great for creating a shopping list and lumber budget. There are several new productivity tools, including options for creating a variety of different doors, gable and hip roof toggle tool, tape measure and 3D centering.

We also appreciate the remodeling section of Home Designer Suite, as it will allow you to move a wall in order to add some additional space to an existing room. It will also allow you to change a color in just a click of a button. For even more details of the project you are doing, they have included cross-sections, which we found to be very helpful.

Support & Documentation

Home Designer Suite is all about support. Through the help option, you can access many online training videos that will help you tackle your project. Their collection of videos seems to grow exponentially with each new version of their software. There is also contact information on the site if you need more help. Printed manuals are also available and can be quite helpful for beginners or experienced designers to refer to.

Ease of Use

Ease of Use is Home Designer Suite’s middle name. The buttons and layout of the software is so efficient, that you can have a home designed in minutes. A unique feature that we noticed is in the 3D view; you can choose an object and move it without having to go to the 2D floor plan. We also like that you can use the 2D and 3D views simultaneously through out the project.

Summary

Home Designer Suite is an excellent choice for anyone needing to design or remodel a home. The interface takes a little getting used to, but when you get the hang of it, you will feel like a professional. Some of the design tools and view options can be a little tricky to work with, however, this is an exceptional choice when it comes to home design software. If youre patient with this software, its going to pay off for you in a big way in the long run. This is an excellent choice for anyone who is looking to redesign or remodel their home.

Download 3D Home Architect Design Suite Deluxe v8.0 Full CD

Part1
Part2

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ADATAXPG GAMING V2 0 SERIES DDR3 2000G

We like our RAM like we like our women - fast and cheap

Right now is a slightly confusing time to buy RAM. Those upgrading from a dusty old system with DDR2 support to a current platform such as Intels Z68 or AMDs 990FX. will need to invest in some DDR3 memory to play nicely with your new chipset.

If youre on a triple channel chipset such as Intels X58, youll need three DDR3 modules instead of two. Why? Because there are three slots and you need to fill them. Just keep looking at the slots, manufacturers keep saying.

Sadly for most of us the practical benefits of tri-channel memory are next to none, and the additional financial outlay for triple-module kits makes that stingall the more. Best stick to dual channel, then.

Thats only the beginning of your long road of decisions as a potential RAM buyer, though. What capacity should I go for? we hear you say. Whats more important, low latency or high frequency? Good question. Lets... How much difference does RAM make anyway and how much should I pay for it? Am I ugly? Why did Dad leave?

Multi-tasking

Calm down! Wipe your worried brow and consider this - if you multi-task a lot, working on a desktop full of minimised applications, multi-tabbed browsers full of flash-heavy sites, then 8GB of RAM is a good idea. More, if you can afford it. For the gamer, those priorities shift towards low latency and high frequency, at the expense of capacity, if need be.

Enter (deep breath) ADATAs XPG Gaming v2.0 Series DDR3 2000G2x 2GB kit. Aimed squarely at gamers with more sense than money, it hits the ground runningat 2.000 MHz, which spells good news for memory throughput and CPU-heavy tasks.

Speed trap

Is 4GB enough for a gaming rig? Absolutely. RAM has precious little effect on frame rates at any capacity, and while doubling up to 8GB will make heavy desktop use run smoother, 4GB isnt going to hobble your favourite games.

In that regard, ADATAs Gaming series has all the bases covered. Another impressive feather in its cap is an operating frequency of 2,000MHz. 1,600MHz is the standard at this price, although overclocking headroom varies wildly between sets. Slightly surprisingly, this set wont budge up to 2,133MHz; its apparently operatingpretty damn near maximum frequency.

There is some room for manoeuvre in latency timings, though. Stock settings are an underwhelming 9-11-9-27; a rather lethargic set of figures. The first figure: CAS latency, controls CPU communication speed and has a noticeable effect on performance. We managed to clock CAS latency down to a much more acceptable seven in the BIOS menu.

Despite our own tweaking though. ADATAs XPG Gaming v2.0 Series DDR3 2000G just doesnt have the raw speed we would expect. Corsairs Dominator GT 4 GB kit is a tenner more expensive and despite runningat 1.866MHz. its lower latencies and robust, overclockable build make it more attractive.

By Phil Iwaniuk

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An Engineers Guide to Silicon Valley Startups now on the NOOK

Note that as with the Kindle version, this is the first edition. I have no expectation of significant revenue, but the BN store front was easy to use, so it didnt cost very much time.

Im not expecting a Mac version. The iBookstore requires owning a Mac, which I havent done since 2009 (and even that Mac ran Windows since I found myself repeatedly booting into it in order to run Quicken, etc).

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Rayman Legends release date announced

Publisher Ubisoft has confirmed if Rayman Legends will be launched on August 30 in Europe, not on September just like it previously announced.

Unfortunately, the release date for North America was not provided yet, but Rayman Legends  is likely will arrive on August 27.

Rayman Legends was first released for Wii U exclusively, but later Ubisoft revealed if the game would come to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

"We heard from many Xbox and PlayStation owners and Rayman fans who told us they really wanted to play Rayman Legends on their current system," Ubisoft said at the time.

As a big fan of Rayman, Rayman Legends is a game you shouldnt miss this year.

source: gamespot.com

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2011 Anti Spyware Software Review

Are You Infected?

If your computer has been accessing the internet unprotected, it is infected. Spyware has surpassed viruses as the #1 threat to identity theft and without protection, your internet activities are never private.

Is Your Personal Information at Risk?

To put it simply, yes. Every time you go online unprotected, cookies and tracking devices are installed on your computer. Spyware and malware can be used to track your internet behavior or can be employed for more threatening activities like recording your keystrokes to obtain passwords or pulling information from your personal files. So what can you do to help avoid spyware?

Install a powerful Anti-Spyware program that works well with your Windows XP, Vista or 7 security.

Avoid downloading free software, movies, games or music without investigating the site’s privacy policy first.

Don’t open emails or chats/IMs from unknown sources.

Here youll find unbiased reviews plus great articles like "How Did Spyware End Up on My Computer?" and other spyware removal related articles. And of course, our industry-recognized side-by-side comparison to help you make an informed decision about which software is best for your security needs.

What Makes a Great Antispyware Solution?

Below, weve highlighted the primary factors you should consider when selecting among the many best spyware blockers available to protect your system and personal information from spyware, adware and malware.

Ease of Setup/Use

Can you get it up and running without consulting a book or a tech support person? How easy is the product to use? Can you quickly find the features you are looking for? Are the descriptions easily understood or do they assume you know all the jargon and terminology?

Detection Effectiveness

How well does the product detect spyware, keyloggers, malware or anything bad-ware? Does the product provide real-time protection from spyware —preventing its installation—not just removing it afterward? Is the product effective at finding and removing the many different types of spyware and adware?

Removal Effectiveness

This gauges the spyware removal products ability to actually remove spyware that it finds, and whether or not the harmful parts are removed.

System Performance

After installation, does the anti spyware slow the system to a crawl? If so, the product receives a lower rating here.

Scan Performance

How long do full or "quick" scans take? Is the computer still usable during the scan?

Help / Support

Is there a help section installed with the product? Is it easy to find answers to your questions? Is there someone you can call for support? How quickly does the support staff respond to your email questions? With the right solution for removing and detecting spyware in place, you can keep your privacy protected and your PC running smoothly.

2011 Anti-Spyware Software Review Product Comparisons

1. Spy Sweeper Review and Download

2. CounterSpy 4.0.3904 - Review and Download 2011

3. STOPzilla 5.x Review and Download

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