Category

PC

Pretty much anything computer related except for Apple Computers, which has its own category. I run a custom desktop computer with Windows XP for video gaming and anything requiring a lot of power, and an Acer Aspire One netbook that I take with me for work. I also sometimes talk about PC news.

Friday, August 29, 2003

Best Buy is noob!

Returned my old LCD today to Best Buy. It had a bright green dead pixel in the lower left section of the screen. Most LCD manufactorers don't accept returns unless it has 3 or more dead pixels, but Best Buy will...

Good thing too, because the green was really annoying.

Sunday, June 08, 2003

It is a mystery

Why Computer Crash?

So at the codex lan my computer would crash non-stop in any game. Its been like this for a while now, off and on. It crashes in every game, and every once and a while in Windows it just reboots. At tim's lan I took out a stick of 256mb ddr RAM from my computer and it was instantly fixed for about a week. I traded my Radeon 8500 for codex's Geforce4 MX 440. These cards are about the same, though i got better frames in Q3 with the Radeon, and better frames in RtCW:ET with the Geforce. So I went home after the LAN and tore my computer completely apart. Every thing I could take apart was taken apart. I even ripped the CPU Heatsink apart and I cleaned it all. I also used a lot of tape and creativity to hide some of the extra wires to improve airflow, though i dont think heat was a problem. This took most of the day, and it was a little boring, but I haven't built a computer in so long it was a little fun. Also, I put my Sound Blaster Audigy back in, no use in having it sitting on the desk anymore. So far, its been much better, all the unusual sounds are gone and its been perfectly stable. If it messes up again, you can bet you'll hear from me again.

I'll leave you off with the specs of my computer then:

Tuesday, June 03, 2003

Whempy’s Wireless Project

    The problem:  To fit 4 people and 8 computers (including 3 laptops  ) into 2 cars and arrive at the Whempy's LAN Party in Columbus, OH.
    The solution: Establish a wireless ethernet connection between the two cars and Microsoft NetMeeting for voice communication.

    Situation: Two cars, My (Eclipse's) Car took the point because I had driven there before, although it was last year, so we weren't too sure where we were going.

    Equipment List:
        Eclipse's Car:
            Passengers: Eclipse, Codex
            Computers: Eclipse's Desktop, Eclipse's Laptop, Codex's Desktop, Codex's Laptop, Codex's Server
            Wireless Solution: Codex's Laptop with external antenna placed on top of car for extended range.
        Swiftwulf's Car:
            Passengers: Swiftwulf, Krhainos
            Computers: Swiftwulf's Desktop, Krhaino's MiniDesktop, Krhaino's Laptop, AC Power inverter, Access Point
            Wireless Solution: Krhaino's Laptop next to access point, powered by AC Power inverter.

Figure 1: Access Point.  Obviously the backbone to a wireless network.  We chose to power an access point rather than connect the two wireless cards directly so we could get a larger wireless range.  Even with Swiftwulf's car directly behind, 802.11b doesnt have a whole lot of range.  Because Krhaino's laptop doesn't have a long lasting battery, the power inverter was used in Swiftwulf's car so he could use it to power the access point and laptop.  The access point was placed on the passenger sun visor for optimum range and we didnt trust it to be taped to the outside of the car.

Figure 2: Performance. Performance over the mobile wireless network was marginal.  This picture shows Krhaino's laptop which was right next to the access point.  The strange thing was he got pings of around 45-50 to codex's laptop, while codex got pings of around 2000 to krhainos.  Voice over the network worked after a brief setup period, however.  File transfer between the two cars also worked, as tested by copying the directions back and forth.

Figure 3: Netmeeting. Because there was no DHCP on this relatively simple network, static IPs were used.  The lead car was assigned 10.10.0.1, and the the other was 10.10.0.2.  Netmeeting was chosen as the communication software due to its simplicity, smallest setup time, and the fact that we didn't have much choice.  The problem we ran into was that Codex's laptop runs linux, and doesn't have netmeeting.  To solve this, we downloaded Gnome Meeting for him.  This connected with the windows laptop, but the two could not text chat to each other.  Voice chat worked though, and we ended up using that instead.

Figure 4: Execution Both cars did an excellent job of staying close enough for the LAN to work.  Codex had some problems connecting to the access point at the beginning, but it worked and the two computers could talk.  We found out that sony microphones must suck because we were having some problems hearing krhainos, but overall it was cool.  Even had a radio station going for a few minutes :D.  Next time, some improvements can be made and we hope to have wireless gaming during the 2 hour trip back and forth from Whempy's

Figure 5: Success! We arrived at the LAN Party just in time for Codex to get a winning ticket.  He won two Cold Cathode Lights.  Congrats, Codex.   View the short movie! Click here!

Read Full Entry

Thursday, April 17, 2003

New Laptop w00000t!

Heh, its been a while since I said anything worth saying.  Well, I got my new laptop on Monday.  It’s pretty much the same thing as my old one. It’s model number is L400, and here are the specs:

Intel Pentium III 700MHz with SpeedStep (down to 500mhz)
128 MB PC100 SODIMM (plan to up to 196 or 320mb)
4mb ATi Mobility Rage M1 Video Card
Crystal Soundfusion CS4281 Sound card
20 GB 4200rpm Fujitsu Hard Drive
12.1” XGA TFT screen 1024x768
24x External CD-ROM
USB External Floppy Drive

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Boring Weekends

Hey, I think this picture is cool, so it's going to be on the left side of the webpage until I think of something else to put here.  I had to write something or all my loyal fans would think that I have died or something.  I can't really think of anything, so I'll just write about what's up.  Last weekend I did nothing.  It was great.  I didn't have to go to a LAN Party or do massive essays or clean a lot of crap up.  I could sleep in.  I could play Quake 3 Arena all day if I wanted too. I was free.  Friday night was the anime club I always go to, because I have nothing better to do on Friday nights...nice to know a lot of other people don't as well.  Dan and Mike didn't show up, but it was still fun.  Went to dinner at subway with most of the club, and then Mark's dorm room afterwards.  Joe Yash and him played yugioh while I looked through his anime music videos.  We decided to make our own...yeah, I'll let you know how that turns out.  We were out really late, like 2am.  I went to breakfast with my dad at the Stow Cafe Saturday morning.  So much for sleeping in.  They make the best breakfast sandwich there.  It's scrambled eggs, cheese, and bacon all in a croissant bun that is awesome, and I hadn't had it in forever.  I really enjoyed it.  After breakfast, I played some games and played online, waiting for people to wake up.  Doing nothing sucks!  I was awake for like 6 hours before anyone else.  Finally, Jo came online and a little later we went to best buy.  Best Buy sucks.  We always go for some reason, but you always get there and it's the same old stuff at the same high prices.  The good thing was that we ran into Dan and Tim there and ended up at a makeshift LAN Party at my house.  When we walked into the house, though, my mom said "hey! you guys can move my couches into the basement."  Oh great, sorry guys.  We moved the couches out the front door and all around the ice patches to the back door, it sucked.  My mom's getting new couches on Tuesday...ok so that's yesterday, and the big couch went into my room.  Looked kinda crappy at the LAN, but I fixed it up after everyone left and it looks cool now.  I'll get pictures up at the end of the week.  I didn't have my camera there.  Codex and Trewr seemed kinda mad they weren't invited...but this wasn't your normal LAN Party.  It kinda ended as soon as it began, but we all had fun, I think.  Woke up Sunday morning to go to the computer show in Akron.  By myself.  It was ok, a lot easier to get around by yourself, so it didn't take me long.  RAM is really cheap right now.  Unlike gas.  Damn war.  This had better not affect Quakecon, is all I have to say.  Wait, wasn't I supposed to sleep in this weekend.  Oh well, I haven't slept in late for like a month, so I don't miss it anymore.  I upped my RAM to 512MB as well, a necessity these days.  Or I couldn't let Yash have more RAM than me. haha.  Spent the rest of the day getting a bigass cake from Yash and working.  Then it's back to school.  So hard doing nothing these days.  Oh, and I guess if you guys want, we could watch some anime movies at my house on Friday, since anime club is cancelled.  Tell me if you're interested.