Back to Root

Well, I have been trying to figure out just how to start this, but I am back to my old root. Okay, I had to get a geek joke in at least once. I have gone back to Linux. Yes, you read that right. At first, it started off rather simple. I had taken my Lenovo G500s and figured as I haven't been using it much lately as Windows seemed to run pretty slow on it, after a reinstall even.

So I downloaded Zorin to try. This ran well but offered far to little customization for me. That is one thing that I love doing, so it was a big deal for me. The thing for me is that I am a big fan of Gnome 2, as I cannot stand Gnome 3, KDE 4, or Unity. I had two options here, the first of which was to install a different desktop. I tried installing Mate but it was glitching out far too much to even be usable. So I went with option 2 and downloaded Ubuntu Mate 15.10 and installed that.

So now I have what I had been after in the first place! So I started installing all the things I needed, including a dock. I wanted to install Avant Window Navigator but I couldn't find a version for this as it hasn't been maintained in some time, so I tried Cairo Dock, which was nice but too glitchy for me so I settled on Docky. So now everything is running great on the G500s. I have everything tweaked as I like it, and unlike setting up Windows, most of the stuff I need is actually preinstalled.

So the next morning, I decide that I am going to install it on the ThinkPad X140e as well. So, back up the files, and one installation later, I find out the WiFi needs a propitiatory driver since even in 2015, BroadCom still hasn't released an open source driver, but they do provide a driver at least so after telling it to use the driver, it seems a little slower than Windows, it works good enough for me to use it. Now I have two laptops that are setup the same, one a 15.6 inch and the other a 11.6 inch.

Random Thoughts: Thinkpads, Netbooks, and Linux, Part 1

Well it's time for another Random Thoughts post I think. I fixed the Asus Eee PC 1005PE, as well as mostly fixing the ThinkPad T41. I didn't document the process as it didn't go as smooth and I would have preferred it to go, so I figured I would regretfully skip doing it this time. But, the key thing is I have 2 more usable laptops to play with!

For the Eee PC, I needed to replace the LCD cable and my neighbor just so happened to have a broken screen for a similar 1001 model. So I took the cable and put it into mine, so now everything on it works again. I also put the 500GB hard drive back in, and installed Windows 7. I did notice the fan now makes some noise but it works well otherwise so I am not going to mess around with that one again!

The next laptop I repaired is the one that UPS broke. My friend ordered the new hinges and the bottom panel for me. I replaced the hinges, so it can be used as a laptop now and I plan to do the base sooner or later but that will take some time. I figure that with at the least the hinges in, I can move it around with me without any worries, and then replace the bottom when I have some extra time one day.

In this, I installed a 60GB hard drive, since it is IDE that is the largest my neighbor had, and I don't have anything larger either. I have the 512MB DDR SODIMM it came with still under the keyboard, and added a 256MB chip to the slot on the bottom. I have no idea why they decided to have one of the slots under the keyboard since they had plenty of room otherwise.

So what I am doing with this system? I figured that Windows XP is getting to be too old, and too slow, so I went with Linux. I was going to use straight Ubuntu and then install LXDE, but it proved to be slow as well so I downloaded Lubuntu, and it runs a good bit better now. Granted it can still use some tweaking, but it seems that everything is working so far. This includes the Wifi and sound, as well as suspend, though I did not test hibernation yet. The one thing I did notice that doesn't work are shortcut keys for volume, but that isn't a major issue right now.

I will be posting more as I use it more, as it been quite a good while since I used Linux much. I have Dropbox installed, as well as Libre Office, so I think I am good on the software side as it came with Firefox and Pidgin already.

Singularity 2014 Part 5

The hack became intense as the rain became harder too.
Tsubasa and Mikey thought the same thing. "It must be a weather weapon". Weather weapons changed the weather and made weathers crazy for certain affected places. Russia had been doing that for decades.

Simply put, Tsubasa and Mikey were safe for now, but the HQ was in very dangerous situation. Classified documents relating to Aegis weapons and submarines were leaking by TB/s. Somebody had to stop this or all the edge against Chinese and North Koreans would be lost.

Tsubasa calculated the ETA for returning to Atsugi base, and Mikey was radioing with a short wave radio to prepare for the stealth helicopter they were on to safely land on the base.

Anonymous white-hat hackers began to assemble physically in a classified bunker in Atsugi base, and one of them was of a Vietnamese - Japanese decent. He was indeed the cousin of Tsubasa, called David.

David was in the Marines, but he did more than that. He was engineer by day and hacker by night. His favorite superhero was batman.

David joined the Marines several years ago, but Tsubasa and David hadn't seen each other for ages. The white-hat anonymous hackers were preventing the core system of the Atsugi base to be attacked, so they built cyber-trenches and cyber-traps (honeypots) so the state backed APT hackers would not get in to the core of cores.

To be continued...

New intelligence page made.

https://sites.google.com/site/intelligencehqmohawk/home

I'm going to cooperate with Mikey to make it more deep.

Singularity 2014 part 3

Tsubasa's watch made a faint vibration indicating that they were ordered for going to the extraction zone.

"C'mon Mikey we gotta rush!" said Tsubasa. Mikey, being a heavy gunner too, had loads of equipment.

Then a stealth copter unmarked but black, came without turning on the red lights or any other lights.

Tsubasa an Mikey each got their rope and the rope winched up.

Extraction complete... Or so they thought...

"RPG-7!!!!" yelled the pilot, and the pilot swerved the stealth helicopter to avoid it. Mikey gunned the heavy machine gun while Tsubasa frantically communicated for reinforcements.

Strange........ There were more than 30 soldiers that appeared from nowhere.

To be continued.

Singularity 2014

The time is 2014. Yes. A.D. 2014. Signs of Armageddon are everywhere, and Tsubasa Kato and Mikey Pizano are always ready for the worst of things to happen. They have been deployed to Japan after intense training in cyber warfare, and looking out for Chinese and North Korean spies.

U.S. Special Forces and DHS have been cooperating with Tsubasa Kato and Mikey Pizano for a long time, and suspect was known to be hiding in a "safe-house" near the beach of Hiratsuka.

Mikey was armed with modified AK-47, and Tsubasa with sniper rifle which he purchased from a nearby gunsmith.

They were on a night mission to raid the "safe-house".

Human Traffickers and narcotic dealers were there, and they were heavily armed with AK-47s and even M4 which they purchased with bitcoin in the black market of internet.

Slow and steady they approached the "safe-house".... Tsubasa leaned towards Mikey and signaled to fire his AK-47 with silencer and Tsubasa used the scope with Infrared to calculate distance from him to the enemy.

Time to stealthily rescue sex-slaves... Mikey used his 4G LTE + satellite specialized PDA to communicate back to HQ. Transmission was somehow jammed! "Shit!" sweared Tsubasa as he switched his sniper rifle to special digital zoom mode. To be continued....

Engadget's Bias...

Ok, so this is sort of a rebuttable to Engadget, which I know probably won't be seen by them, but that is not the point. I have an opinion, and this is a blog, so I figured I would write this post. I commented on there but I feel like being a little more elaborate. The post on ENagdget can be found at:

http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/26/microsoft-discontinues-surface-wireless-keyboard-adapter

As some people  know I picked up a Surface Pro, which I have to admit I really love. I use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse from Logitech, since I had the keyboard before I got the Surface, I didn't buy one of the covers. I personally think that $130 for a TypeCover 2 is a little expensive, since it only works on the Surface. They released a$60 adapter that would clip onto the covers the same way as they would onto the Surface, and makes them into a Bluetooth keyboard. This means that you can use it without it being connected to the tablet.

Now, this is also kind of overpriced, since you can get a separate keyboard for less if you know where to look and are not picky. In fact I got my K810 on sale for 50 bucks! The K810 is the one that lights up, pairs to 3 devices and is easy to switch between them, and also is rechargeable off micro USB. This isn't about the K810 though, what I want to talk about is how SMUG the post on Engadget is. I needed to give some background information first though.

The first two lines read "Remember the day Microsoft announced its new Surface tablets? Sure you do: there was all the usual pomp and circumstance, and even that keyboard cover that turned the Surface 2 into a portable DJ booth." Now, this is coming from a blog that is GLUED to any event Apple puts on. This is completely biased in my opinion.

The next part is what really annoyed me most of all, when they said "One thing that may have flown under your radar, though, was the wireless keyboard adapter, a $60 cylinder-shaped thing that allowed users to control their Surface tablets from up to 30 feet away over Bluetooth (like you do with a 10.6-inch device?)." Now, the Surface has video out, and in case of the Pro models, it is a full computer! What if I wanted to hook up my Surface Pro to an external display and use it as a desktop replacement?

If I already had a TypeCover and that adapter was priced better, I would buy one! If not just for using with an external display but sometimes I like the Surface Pro back farther to have a better view, or if I am working on something and need some space on my desk I can move the keyboard out of the way.

Maybe the adapter wasn't perfect, since reviews complained about the battery life and it keeping a charge, but the point is Microsoft can release a NEW version. Typical biased Engadget…

More Random Thoughts!

My last post, which as supposed to be about my new IS01, ended up getting more towards rambling, so I got some inspiration for another post. The main topic for this will be use of old technology, but since it is random thoughts, you can expect it to be more than just that! I haven't done one of these in a long time so here goes!

The whole point of this blog was actually for old computers, which is why it is called classical computing, versus modern computing. I have a passion for older stuff because I enjoy using it to its limit. I enjoy getting use out of the old stuff that other people just toss in a drawer to slowly rot away. So I guess you could say I rescue the unwanted and unloved electronics.

So the question a lot of people ask me is what I use the stuff for and my response is if it can save and edit a text file, and I can get the file onto a more modern device, then I will find a use for it. Pretty much I will use it as a digital memo pad at the very least. Sometimes that is the only use, but I try and find any use I possibly can.

Depending on the age of the device, as well as what it is, I enjoy using it to simply type up stuff such as recipes. That is one thing that started off as wanting to type up a few recipes from a cookie book a friend of mine had. That was when I noticed that I had an excuse to use my new toy, which at the time was a touch screen netbook. The netbook in particular is an Asus T91, which I admit was a mistake now that I look back.

It uses a 16GB SSD, but the issue with it is the speed. they used a slower, and therefore cheaper drive. That means when it is accessed, the netbook gets very leggy. It is a pain to change it, which is one of the reasons I have yet to change it. The other is that getting to it is a pain.

In fact, you cannot even get to he battery on it either. This was my fault however because I chose to ignore the reviews saying that it was slow. I had assumed that people said that it was slow because it was a netbook and they were simply tying to do too much with it. I have another netbook, one that uses a real hard drive, as well as a different Atom processor, that was far more usable. I had also upgraded it to 2GB of RAM though.

That was a lesson I learned. When someone says that it is slow, and you are ordering online, you should listen to it. I didn't want to return it since I liked the hardware, and thought that maybe using something other than Windows would help. I personally used my other netbook as a main computer for awhile after all. I was able to run a few programs at a time like Firefox and iTunes with no issues.

I still use the T91 for some stuff actually. Using old Palm handhelds, that netbook comes in handy for when I need to sync it since Palm doesn't have a proper USB driver for dual core or multi threaded processors. That was the first time I had a blue screen on Windows 7 actually.

I would use the other, and much better netbook if it didn't need a new screen cable. At certain points in the hinge, the screen will cut out or at the least flicker rather badly with lines in image. That is something I could probably fix but don't feel like spending more money. That netbook is also an Asus, in this case the 1005pe model in blue.

When I first got it, it was quite nice. I had upgraded the hard drive to a whopping 500GB even though a friend of mine told me that it was a waste for a netbook. It was also supposed to get an impressive 14 hour battery life but that was something I never truly tested. It had lasted me long enough that I had never needed to test it fully.

Personally, the way I look at it, is more about how you use what you have. I used to go after all of the newest stuff, which is nice to have, but sometimes the old stuff does something better, or something the newer stuff doesn't do at all. I still love new stuff, and I do buy new stuff like my Nexus 7, but I am not using that to type this up. For that I am using a combination of devices like the IS01 that I just last week.

The thing is, there are things that older stuff I have does that my newer stuff doesn't do. For example, my old NEC MobilePro 780 can work with multiple open files like two files in Word. That was good for school since I could work on different things.

The NEC was one of my favorite things to use in school actually, even though it was of limited use because the few applications that I could find for Windows CE often didn't work with the MIPS processor or the older version of Windows CE that it ran. In this case, it was 2.11, which was not upgradable like it is today.

My Evo runs Android 4.0.4, which is also known as Ice Cream Sandwich, but officially, it could only be upgraded to 2.3 or Ginger Bread. That is the reason why I love Android so much. Most devices have custom ROMs, like Cyanogenmod.

I think it is best that I end this here as it is already quite long. I will probably post more stuff later on.

I am NOT dead YET!

Well look at that, it turns out that I am still alive! I have been pretty busy with work lately but here is a new toy I got from Tsubasa Kato and I will review soon.

Inter-Continental Skype Chat with Mikey Pizano

Inter-Continental Skype Chat with Mikey Pizano!!!! :D

Haven't chatted with him for a while.

Lenovo ThinkPad X200s Review

Well, it is finally 2013, and here I sit writing this post on my new, at least to me, laptop. I got this a little while ago, but I think it deserved a post. I picked up a used Lenovo ThinkPad X200s from a friend, for 300 bucks, which is a great deal, especially for the one I got. I paid 100 bucks and got 2 batteries. They are not official Lenovo batteries, but from a company called Laptop Battery One, and they appear to be very well made and supposedly contain Sanyo cells. I opted for 9 cell batteries, which are 6600 MAH, which are actually 1200MAH less than Lenovo's own battery, but I only paid 50 each instead of 180 a piece, so I can let it slide.

Overall, this is a very nice laptop and I decided that it needs a review! If I bought one used, maybe someone else might, so I say it shouldn't be left in the dust, review wise. Just remember when looking at the pictures that it is used, and thus it does show some wear, but it isn't anything too major. Let's get started with the walk around first.

Closed, it looks like a nice little ultraportable laptop. You have some LED indicators in the top between the two hinges, which are for battery, power, and sleep. There are also the two logos, Lenovo, and ThinkPad at the bottom. You can see my 9 cell battery sticking out, as well as the size compared to my Asus 1005PE netbook. You might also notice that the finish is a rubberized coating as well.

 Flipping the X200s over, we have some different things. The battery takes up the most space, but there is also the door for the RAM, as well as the mono speaker, yes, even though it was made in 2008, it only has a mono speaker, a docking connector, as well as a bunch of vent holes to let in air to keep it cool. Also, if you look closely, you can see the screw for accessing the hard drive, but more on this later.

The front is pretty basic. There is the latch to open the laptop, and a SD card slot. There is a small LED near the card slot as well to let you know when it the card is being read or written to.

On the right side, we have a USB 2.0 port, which has my Logitech Anywhere MX receiver in it, but I since took that out as I find a mouse is not needed with a ThinkPad so I rather keep it open. Next, we have a headphone jack, and a microphone jack, as well as the door for accessing the hard drive. One screw allows the cage to be taken out, which has 2 pressed on rubber rails. Take out 4 more screws, and you can now put a different drive in the cage. Lastly, there is Kensington lock slot. Between the microphone and hard drive, we have a special thing we rarely see anymore, a 56K modem. Remember those days? TORTURE!

On the back, all we have is the gigantic battery!

Moving to the left, there is a lot more going on. We start out with the power adapter, the fan output vent, a USB port, a monitor port (VGA), a LAN port, another USB port, a wireless switch, and a Express Card 54 slot.

Opening the ThinkPad, we can see it is truly a work of art inside. Ok, maybe I am embellishing a little bit, but I always found a ThinkPad to be a LOT nicer looking than anything else, especially a Mac. At least ThinkPads have kept the same design since the beginning, instead of being changed every year for stuff that wasn't needed, but I am starting to veer off and ramble. MUST FOCUS ON THINKPAD! In the center, we have the amazing keyboard that the ThinkPad line is famous for. The best part is what is missing as well. There is no touchpad!  Instead, we have a TrackPoint, and it's 3 buttons. What is the thing next to the buttons? A fingerprint reader! I love being able to login with that!

On the screen half, we have a 12.1" matte finished 1440x900 LED backlit screen. That is a mouthful, but the best word to describe it is simply epic. I am in love, I don't care if Macs have that silly retina display, this one isn't pixel doubled!  On the bottom, we have the indicator LEDs for WiFi, Bluetooth, Num Lock, Caps Lock, HDD, Powered on,  Battery, Charger, and sleep. On the top of the screen, It looks boring, but this is where the antennas are located, as well as a little LED that comes on with FN + PgUp. The purpose to shine a light on the keyboard so you can see the keys in the dark. VERY USEFUL! Maybe it isn't a fancy backlit keyboard, but the way these keys are, you can forgive that. Typing this all on the X200s is a pleasure.

Now, specification wise, it is pretty good for its age. It features a Core 2 Duo SL9400 running at 1.86GHZ. It features the Intel GMA4500 graphics card, which isn't going to play much games, but it is a ThinkPad after all. Mine came with 4GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive which I upgraded to 500GB. All of the specs can be found on ThinkWiki, and there will be a link placed at the end if you wish to see what configurations are available.

Now, one thing to talk about is the wireless options. Mine contains WiFi and Bluetooth, but there is a 3G model available as there is a SIM slot under the battery. My friend has upgraded the WiFi card on this so I won't go into too much detail as I never had the original model card.

Something else that mine doesn't have is a web cam, something I can care less about honestly. I do have a neat little thing on this one that not all models have. There is a finger print reader on the palm rest, so I use that to log into Windows, and I must say I really do love that little feature. That is one thing I am surely spoiled with having now should I need to replace it.

Links:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X200s
https://picasaweb.google.com/106288499795676572485/ThinkPadX200s

HTC TyTN II Review

Ah HTC, a company that most of us know at least 1 product from. Now, they are known for phones like the One X that runs Android, but years ago they made stuff that ran on Windows Mobile, which should not be confused with the Windows Phone we have today. Back then, Windows Mobile was actually good software, as I don't really like the new interface Microsoft is pushing on us, but that is a different story. Let's start the review, since that is what you are here to read, not my ramblings.

The HTC TyTN II, or as this specific device is branded, EMOBILE EMONSTER S11HT, went under a few different names, such as the AT&T Tilt , and its own internal code name, the Kaiser. These are all pretty much the same unit, with some minor details really, but it still worth mentioning for anyone who just put TyTN II, or Kaiser, or Tilt into Google and found this page. For simplicity, I will refer to it as the TyTN II, as I believe that was the most common of the different names.

 Looking at the phone, it looks like a standard smartphone did before the iPhone changed it all. Buttons and a screen on the front was a standard thing for a while. Now we just have a huge screen and no buttons. The first thing to do would be take a walk around the phone I guess.

From TyTN II

On the front, which is a logical place to start as any, contains a 2.8" screen, with a resolution of 240x320, or QVGA. Compared with phones of today, that is pretty low resolution, especially when you see rumors of an upcoming 4.7" screen that does full 1920x1080! But that is a different section. Above the screen is the speaker grill, which also contains the LEDs such as battery and notifications, as well as wireless. There is also a small VGA front facing camera. Under the screen, you have a once standard directional pad, with center select, call and end keys, as well as 2 soft keys and 2 application keys, and 2 system keys. That is a lot of buttons!

From TyTN II

Moving down to the bottom, we see a micro SD slot, covered by a flap, which does support micro SDHC cards as well as normal micro SD cards. Remember when that was called Transflash? Not many people do, or what a TF card was but I do! Useless trivia is always fun! Next, we have a lanyard attachment, and a weird looking, but still standard-ish USB port. Ok, technically speaking, it is an 11 pin variant, but accepts a standard mini B USB cable. This is also your audio jack, which works with the adapter I got from Brando. You also have a reset button and a microphone. Ah the days of the reset button!

From TyTN II

Moving to our right, we can see the STYLUS! Yep, resistive touchscreen! No fancy capacitive screens back then! We also have, much like a real camera, a 2 step camera button. Hold it down halfway, and the autofocus works, then click it in all the way to take a picture. This is also where the power button is found.

From TyTN II

There is nothing on the top, pretty boring!

From TyTN II

The left side has a lot of things on it. Starting with the first button, which is mapped to the Comm Manager on mine. This is full reprogrammable on mine. I have heard some like the AT&T Tilt model, this is mapped to Push to Talk, and is unchangeable. We have a nice little scroll wheel, which can be pressed in to select, and an OK button.

From TyTN II

On the back, we have a 3MP AutoFocusing camera, a speaker grill, and a GPS antenna port, but I should not there is an antenna for the GPS inside the phone, this is only to connect an external one.

From TyTN II

Opening up the phone, we have a QWERTY keyboard, that is backlit, and we can now TILT the screen up! Yes, that is where the AT&T model got the clever little tilt name.  The keyboard is pretty nice, and works well once you get used to it. In a world where the onscreen keyboard is now the standard, it is pretty nice to have a keyboard you know. There isn't a whole lot I can say since it is a subjective matter in my opinion. You can love it or hate it, so it is best to try it for  yourself.

Software wise, there is not a lot I wish to say. If you have used a Pocket PC or Windows Mobile, you know what to expect already. It has the standard stuff like a to do list, date book, contacts, and stuff like Word and Excel. I have a custom ROM on mine, so I can't comment on anything that HTC preloads on it.

So, before I end this little review with the specifications list, I want to add some final thoughts on the TyTN II. For one, the camera, while it isn't the absolute worst camera there is, it isn't that great either. It works, but don't expect a lot of great pictures form it. The fact that there is no 3.5MM headphone jack means that you need the adapter which takes up the USB port, meaning without a different adapter that has another USB port and headphone jack, you can't do audio while charging, which also goes for calls unless you have a Bluetooth headset.

Speaking of Bluetooth, there are the standard WiFi and Bluetooth radios along  with the 3G radios, and since I don't use this as a phone, I have no comments on that matter. The only thing I will say about it phone wise is that the SIM card slot if on the back half of the screen, and is only accessible with the slider opened. Opening the SIM slot will also power down the phone.

I have taken these from Wikipedia, but here are the specifications.

Manufacturer    HTC Corporation

Series    HTC TyTN

Compatible networks    Quad band GSM 850/900/1800/1900, GPRS, EDGE

Tri band UMTS 850/1900/2100, HSDPA, HSUPA

aGPS

Availability by country    September 2007; 5 years ago

Discontinued     September 3, 2009

Predecessor       HTC TyTN

Successor            HTC Touch Pro

Form factor        Slider

Dimensions        112 mm (4.4 in) H

59 mm (2.3 in) W

19 mm (0.75 in) D

Weight                 190 g (6.7 oz)

Operating system            Windows Mobile 6.1, unofficial Android port

CPU       Qualcomm 7200 ARM 400 MHz

GPU: Qualcomm Q3Dimension

Memory              128 MB RAM

256 MB ROM

Removable storage         microSDHC, up to 32 GB

Battery                 1300 or 1350 mAH Lithium-ion polymer battery, user accessible

Data inputs         QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen

Display 240x320 px, 2.8 in (71 mm), 65536 color LCD, 3:4 aspect ratio

Rear camera       3.1 megapixel

Front camera     0.3 megapixel

Connectivity       USB Mini-B

Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)

Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR