Archive for the ‘Computing’ Category
Running Windows 7 on the Fujitsu P1620
I have been running Windows Vista on my laptop computer since I bought it two years ago,but I did try out the Windows 7 release candidates. Well, the time came to run Windows 7 on it full time, especially since Microsoft reduced the price of a student upgrade at “It’s Not Cheating” from $119 to [...]
In: Computing · Tagged with: Howto
Why I bought an HTC Desire smartphone
I thought that it might be of interest to others out there (but might be boring too – tweet your comments please) to go through some of the pluses and minuses of an Android phone, and why I selected this one. The phone choices I came down to were: HTC Desire Apple iPhone 3GS Google [...]
In: Computing · Tagged with: Comment
Review: PodPuppy Beta
I’ve been trying out quite a few free podcast clients (also called ‘podcatchers’) to see which would work best. In the past I used iTunes, but I’ve wiped that from my PC now that I use an for music, podcasts and videos. I’ve tried Doppler, Juice (iPodder), jPodder, and a few others. PodPuppy (currently in [...]
In: Computing · Tagged with: Review
EndNote X3 and OpenOffice Write Errors – Invalid Class String
I’ve just done battle with EndNote and OpenOffice trying to get Cite-While-You-Write and bibliography formatting working. Each time I tried to do something in Write I would get a pop-up saying ‘Invalid Class String’. Complete reinstalls of OpenOffice and EndNote X3.0.1 didn’t help. To really frustrate things, the same install worked just fine on my [...]
Review: PhotoFast G Monster 1.8″ V4 SSD
Here are some preliminary benchmark results, using CrystalDiskMark 3, for my new 1.8″ SSD. I have also performed tests using a 1.8″ HDD. The SDD is a PhotoFast G Monster V4, in the 1.8″ ZIF form-facto and the HDD is a Toshiba MK1011GAH. 5x 100MB + 5x 1000MB with HDD 5x 100MB + 5x 1000MB [...]
In: Computing, Toys · Tagged with: rev, Review
Review: Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
My Unicomp keyboard (see ) has been banned at every place that I’ve worked due to the noise. This is a shame because it is a nice keyboard, but it did prompt me to go on the hunt for a ‘workplace compatible’ keyboard. I’ve used an Apple keyboard on a PC before (the Bluetooth Apple [...]
In: Computing · Tagged with: Review
Review: Vantec NexStar LX Ultra NAS (Network Attached Storage)
My home ‘server’ has been playing up and dropping off the network a bit lately, so I thought it was time for a change. I didn’t want a real server, taking up lots of room and using plenty of power, and so the old ‘server’ was SME Server running inside a virtual machine on my [...]
In: Computing · Tagged with: Review
People reading printouts while walking back to their desk are dangerous
I’m getting sick of people burying their noses in their freshly printed papers while meandering back to their desks. To combat this menace I have created a sign, to be afixed near a photocopier or printer. PDF Sign Here’s the artwork for the symbol if you want to make your own sign. SVG Artwork The [...]
Firefox addons for small widescreen computers
The screen resolution on my Fujitsu P1620 is 1280×800, which is pretty generous if you’re back in 1999. Webpages tend to be designed for 1280×1024 or higher now, and there is a lot of a scrolling with the smaller screen. Two addons for Firefox that I discovered today take advantage of the wide aspect of [...]
Improving Vista performance – reduce visual ‘bling’
I was looking over a brand new Dell Studio laptop at work today and the owner was complaining bitterly about the performance of Vista on this 6 week old machine. The specs were good (4GB RAM and plenty of processor power). He was surprised how my ‘under powered’ Fujistu performed with only 2GB of RAM [...]
