The Omni Tech's Blog

Dual Monitors

2008-08-30T13:19:00.000-04:00

Woot. I wish I had dual monitors. That would just be really cool. But no, instead, I set up my Friend with Dual monitors. Why he needs them, I don't know, all he uses his computer for is music. Oh well, I was called in for Tech Support, and off I went!

Basically, it was a straightforwads process. His computer had Intel intergrated graphics, which supported one monitor, so I had to install another graphics card which had another VGA output. That went well. However, once I accomplished that, the computer didn't recognize the Intel graphics, only the newly installed one. So, I had to go and find a new Driver for the Graphics card, which wasn't that difficult, install, restart, and hoped it worked.

It did! It was awesome. Going to Control Panel -> Display, (Alternate "Right click" on desktop, -> Properties, (or personalize in Vista) then go to Settings, (or Display in Vista), allowed me to set it up so the Mouse could move between monitors. I got a program which extended the start menu across to the other monitor. The entire thing was pretty awesome. Very pleased without it all came out.

First Day of School

2008-08-28T17:07:00.000-04:00

Ahhh, my friend and I were talking about the first day of school. I was doing some of the complaining, but then he reminded me that it wasn't so much the "first day of school," more like the "first day of penetration testing on the school network." That brightened me up considerably. And oh, what fun we did have.

Although no penetration testing.

Not yet.

During my free block, I showed off Leopard and Parallels running, with the cube effects, very cute. But then, I installed a new version of Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne, and using the newest patch, got it running without needing the CD. I then proceeded to set up an ad-hoc network and play my friend in a game of Warcarft. Unfortunetely, the school's network wouldn't allow us to play, we think they blocked the port.

Fedora 9 is History - Moving to OpenSuse

2008-07-31T14:26:00.000-04:00

Relevant XKCD.

Anyways, I decided that I am done with Fedora, at least for the time being. I have never really warmed up to it, for a number of reasons. The most annoying being, wireless is extremely obnoxious. It used to connect to networks, but recently, it just has refused to connect to my network. It fails to remember the Network password properly, and it fails at life. I have to resort to ethernet to hook up to the internet; I already do that in OS X, I don't need two OS's which fail at wireless.

The other reason that Fedora 9 annoys me, is the fact that it uses some very wierrd file system (ext4 maybe) instead of the usual ext3 for Linux. And do you know what that means? It means, that windows XP CDs won't boot anymore. I don't get it, but I want to reinstall XP, and Fedora 9 doesn't let the CD boot. Very, very wierd.

The solution? Lots of troubleshooting. The other option, which I am taking, is to try another Distrobution. I'm moving to OpenSuse, and am going to see how it works. Eventually I will make my own OS which works perfectly. That will be the day.

Update

2008-07-29T23:23:00.000-04:00

Things move in a forwards direction. This is good, because if everything moved backwards, our bodies would be different. And that would suck. Point is moot though.

The computers are all plugged in and opperational. They all work, I just need to get the wires involved to hook them all up to the Network. And then we have extreme LAN games. It will be intense. As well as a lot of learning, because with this many computers on the network, it would be good to have them all update at once. There is much to be done here.

Cluster!

2008-07-28T15:34:00.000-04:00

Congratulations, now I can have Cluster fail. With my three new computers and a whole lot of organizing and working, friends and I managed to get the computers set up. It isn't completely done, but it really is amazing what we have managed to accomplish. Once we can get them all up and running at the same time, then we can really work on networking and LAN gaming.

So, this is the rearranging of the basement. Once I got the all clear from the Parental Units, it was all in our own hands. We moved the TV and Xbox out from the corner you see (where the two walls of windows meet) to the other side of the basement. We then condensed all the crap in the basement over into the space you see. See the wagon? All those boxes on it are Magic cards. A lot of Magic cards.

This is our cluster. Three computers, with room for a Laptop (which is what Sam is doing right now). Unfortunetly, I don't have a switch yet to give them all Ethernet, that will come soon. (Along with more RAM). Very happy with how the cluster turned out. I also need a powergrid to get them all working at the same time. At the moment, only one computer can be on. Two max, but the other outlets are being used my less important things. Like Sam's laptop.

That is our big ass-tv. And the Xbox, with Halo. The person you see working on the Mac is my Linux Guru of a friend, Henry. Working on getting Wordpress to work on our server, which isn't going well. Anyways, we got the area cleared out so that could work as well. Very pleased by this turnout, although without Sam, Henry, and Brian (my bro), it would have been a lot harder to do. Now.... to networking!

Enjoy these other pictures!

New Computers

2008-07-27T23:25:00.001-04:00

So, with the help of a friend, and some fast action, I managed to grab 3 computers. Now, keep in mind, they aren't new, but they are computers. The story goes, a school decided that they needed to upgarde their technology. So, IT calls out that they are selling off these computers. I don't know this is happening, I am hanging out with my Girlfriend at a lake house. Good fun that was. However, my friend does, and he knows how into technology I am. He IM's me and tells me about this deal. He had already told the school that he wanted too. When he contacted me with this information, this is all I got:

School is getting rid of computers.
$20 each, comes with Monitors, keyboard, and a mouse.
Pentium 4 Intel Processor at 2Ghz.
256mb of Ram.

That is all I know. But for $20, how can you go wrong? I tell them to grab those two he ordered, and if he can, pick up a third. And you know what? It all worked out. I have (In fact, I'm typing this on a new computer) three computers sitting in front of me. The RAM sucks, but I am ordering more. Hopefully by the end of this week each computer will be fitted with 1GB of ram. They only have 20GB HDD, but I don't really need more storage. So, the next step? Extreme networking and extreme LAN partying. Fun stuff.

If you have ideas on what I should do with them, post it!

Epic New Website

2008-07-23T09:30:00.000-04:00

Wow, I have been so busy actually making the website, I forgot to tell the world about it. Of course, it isn't done yet, the hardest part is still to come. Basically, I (with graphic help from x986123) made a website to host stories for my friends and myself. It is farely basic, but looks really good. I am happy to see it is almost complete. The entire thing came together with the visuals, so I am very happy to have that done!

Now, with the adding of content, things will get a move on it. I am working on the best way to make that happen. Ideas, ideas...

Here is the URL: http://epicstory.freehostia.com/

New Site Idea

2008-07-11T16:59:00.000-04:00

This idea has probably been done a thousand times. But you know what? I don't care. I was outside thinking of the many stories I am currently writing, and thought how terrrible it is that most of the never reach an audience besides the person I write them for. Most are short stories that get read once, never again. But I still have a lot of fun writing them. So, I thought, why don't I make a website where the stories would stay, and people could come and read them? And at that point I got excited and started thinking of ways I could have other people upload their own stories, so everyone could read lots of stories. Kinda like Deviant. However, as I thought more, and the project grew, I decided that I just don't have the time to do all of it. So I will lug it away in the back of my mind (or this blog) and come back to the idea when I have more time. Who knew summer vacation would be such a busy time?!

iPod Touch - Jailbroken!

2008-07-09T10:42:00.000-04:00

So, my friend came over with his touch. We played around some, played some Age of Empires, played some magic. The server parts still haven't all arrived, but whatever. Anyways, he took out his iTouch and asked me again, (he has asked me many times before), "can you really put Pokemon on this?"

"Yes. Yes I can."

And so he gave it to me. And you know what? I did. I jailbroke it using Ziphone method, and now I am busy stuffing it full of fun applications. Oh boy, it really is exciting. More to come later when I get everything working.

Server - Being Processed, literally

2008-07-08T12:57:00.001-04:00

So, my friend and I gave it. We have to do it. We bought a server. Well... the parts to it at least. We are going to put it together ourselves. And you know what? I am extremely excited. This is going to make all sorts of testing easy, and create an amazing adventure.

So, here are the specs for the machine:

Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

GIGABYTE GA-945GCM-S2C LGA 775 Intel 945GC Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Linkworld PRESCOTT 437-01-C2222 Black SECC/SGCC MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case 430W Power Supply

EXCELSTOR Jupiter Series ESJ8160S 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Total - $369.24

However, that is being split between a friend and myself, so I didn't pay for the entire thing. This is going to be epic!

Website

2008-07-04T13:30:00.000-04:00

I am hunting for people who know how to code PHP/ROR/Javascript or any other web scipting langauge. I need you for a website I am working on. I have the ideas, but I can't make the entire site on my own, so I am going to delegate. If you know someone or can help, post a comment and I will get to you.

Getting Closer to Perfectionism

2008-06-29T10:49:00.000-04:00

So, I used TinyXP to get XP installed on my system. This is because when I finally got my hands on an external Floppy Drive, XP told me that my drivers were corrupted. The ones that HP gave me. Screw that.

Interesting factoid - XP won't boot up off the CD if Fedora 9 is installed. I thought that very odd.

Anyways, I did a complete reformat, and starting putting on OS's. I put XP on first, (hd0,4) and then Vista (hd1,0) and then Leopard (hd1,1) and finally Fedora9 (hd0,5/6). And now I am in the process of bringing my system up to speed. Vista is fully updated, as is Leopard. However, XP is having driver problems, which is surprsing. Something about my NVidia card, it doesn't recognize it, and that doesn't make running XP that much fun. Something which I will definetely have to fix. Soon.

But there I have it. 4 OS's, one computer. All of which work. My dream is complete. Next step? Make my own OS.

One Final Reformat?

2008-06-28T08:16:00.000-04:00

I don't know if I let the world know this, but I reformat my computer a lot. And I don't mean too. I just get angry at it, and reformat it, so I can start from scratch. There is nothing on it that I can't put back on, and anything I want to save, well, I have a 500 GB external HD for that. So, when I found out that my XP cd won't even boot anymore, I'm going to reformat my computer and see if that helps. Because, honestly, it did boot at one time. I don't know why it won't anymore, my only thought is that it could be Feroda 9, but that doesn't make any sense. I dunno. But I am going to find out, and I will tell you when I return. I have my external floppy drive, and many different hacked versions of XP laying around. With all this, one of them is bound to work. Let's hope.

Wine 1.0

2008-06-18T10:36:00.003-04:00

Well, yesterday was an amazing day. Not only did Firefox 3 come out, (and the Firefox servers crashed under the amount of people trying to download it) but Wine 1.0 came out after 15 years of development. For anyone who does not know, Wine is a program which allows users to run Windows "exe" files in Linux. Absolutely amazing. Some great games are available because of Wine.

I am compiling Wine as I write, because otherwise it will take me a few days before I can get it through Yum. I'm psyched. Of course, this generally takes a half hour, but I can wait.

On the flip side, I am trying to install Rainlendar in Fedora 9, and don't quite remember how I did it in Ubuntu. And the Nvidea drivers are not supported with the lastest kernel. And I need to crack some wireless. Oh boy, so much to do, so much time spent blogging.

And now, back to work.

Fedora 9

2008-06-17T12:12:00.002-04:00

So, I got bored with my computer, and decided to try out a new Linux distro. Talking with my friend, I finally decided to Download Ferdora 9 and gave it a spin. Fedora uses Gnome as default, or at least mine done, so it looks a lot like Ubuntu. This is nice as most everything works in Gnome. Happiness. Everything works in it, sound, wireless, and graphics. I got my drivers all up and running, which means Compiz is going to town.

All in all, I am very happy with Fedora. I am also assured that the developers and community care about the Upstream. This means that if they catch a bug, they don't just fix it for Fedora, they fix it for the entire Linux community. Pretty awesome. Now I just need something to do with Linux. Like crack networks. Fun!

Opening Issues

2008-06-17T11:01:00.001-04:00

So, I was snooping around my Age of Empires program folder, and managed to find the place where all the taunts are stored. I was actually looking for the folder which held campaign noises, but - whatever, this will work too. (Found the other one a few seconds later). I tossed in a new sound, and tested it out. Worked fine. I was like - cool! The things I could do with hacking my own programs. I need to try this out more.

I jump to Starcraft. Look around some - interesting stuff, but nothing too cool to muck with. Maybe I will mess with some maps and make them godly. Not important though.

I jump to Guild Wars. Surprising that, Guild Wars' program file only holds 3 files. A temporary file, the .exe, and the .dat file. And you know, that makes messing around with Guild Wars really hard. I do a quick Google search, looks like Notepad will let me into the .dat file. Of course, this is where everything is stored, it is over 2 GB. I open it.

"The File cannot be opened because it is too big."

WTF! I didn't know that was an error. Okay, if it is just text, then Word should be able to open it. I try word.

Son of a bitch. Totally didn't know that there was a LIMIT on how big a file could be for Word to load it. This changes everything. I think it is time to let Linux eat face.

Mac Book Air

2008-06-09T15:57:00.002-04:00

So, I was thinking. I was thinking, "Wow, wouldn't it be a lot of fun to get a Mac book air." It would be thinner, lighter, and look cooler than my current Laptop. I would use this one for all the "Hard" work, and save the Air for all the "Light" work and transportation. But I also thought of how quickly I would fill up the Hard Drive. 80 GB is not that big....

But then I thought again... wait, couldn't I use web services more? Instead of installing all the complicated software to do anything, use as many services provided online. That is what the air is built for, isn't it? Google documents for everything you would need - they would also be available everywhere.

....

Now I want to compile a list of good Online Services. I will report back whenever I find something cool.

A Work In Progress

2008-05-22T19:41:00.006-04:00

Okay, so as a testimony to how nerdy I am, I am creating a equation for finding out how many kisses equal a hug. Because, well, I have a girlfriend and no life. So, let's get to the action.

The equation looks like this: kiss=hug Very simple. However, those could be anything, so I have started looking up what the constants mean in the real world. For example, "i" is the letter which stands for imaginary, or the square root of -1. "s," for lack of a better constant is going to be seconds, in this case, seconds squared. And "k" is going to be the constant from the Boltzmann equation, which measure physical constant at a certain level. k=[8.314 472 m³·Pa·K⁻¹·mol⁻¹] * [6.0221*10²³).

On the other side of the equation, "h" is going to be the Planck constant, u could be "mu" or the coefficient of friction; I am not sure what it should really be. G will probably be the gravitational constant, or 6.67*10^-11. So, that is how I will relate the two.... I think.

New iPod

2008-04-30T16:30:00.001-04:00

Well, when I say new, it is relative. It is new relative to me. I got it from a friend, because it isn't working anymore. A 5th generation 30GB iPod which is off the warenty. It broke on him, and I figured I might as well take it. He gave it to me.

I double checked the warranty. No luck, I can't simply replace it. However, it is not completely dead, and it kinda boots up. I am going to hit it a lot and see if I can get it too work. I mean, come on, what is the worse that could happen?

EDIT: I got it to work. This is the second iPod I have managed to get working by hitting it. Hard.

Edit Edit: I gave it back to my friend. Before I had learned that he had gotten a new iPod. I feel jipped. Even though i did the right thing, I feel like I shouldn't have. I feel like he should give it to me. Grrr.... see what happens when you do the right thing?

Installation Issues

2008-04-29T21:30:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I tell you. Installation issues. And not the normal program kind. I'm talking about the OS kind. I just installed 3 different OS's so many times, I don't want to see another Boot screen again. Why was it so hard? Because Vista is an Ass. That is why.

I tried install Leopard. Worked fine. Then I would install Vista, and it would boot into Vista. And Leopard wouldn't boot, and so I would stop Vista's bootloader, and that would end up with the computer not booting at all. Then Darwin wouldn't boot into Vista, because Vista is fucked up.

Short story of it all is this. Kubuntu and Grub had to go on the Primary Hard Drive. Vista and Leopard went on the secondary one, and so Grub would boot first. Vista went on, then leopard, then Vista, then Kubuntu, and it is all good. Finally, everything works again. That took way, way to long.

Guild Wars on Mac

2008-04-28T21:15:00.003-04:00

Well, I guess I should get back to posting, or else I will drive myself crazy. Besides of course being extremely busy with studying and other work, I have been messing with my computer. Of course, this means that I made it completely unbootable.

I will go over that another time, but let's just leave it at this:
1: Ubuntu Hardy Heron didn't recognize monitor size and graphic cards.
2: Leopard (Hacked) got angry when I tested 4965 wireless card drivers, many kernel panics, didn't respond to me removing the driver.
3: Windows Vista gave me the BSOD.

All that just made me want to reformat my computer. So I did. And now, I am down to only Leopard working, It is temporary, I will get everything back up and running, with many tutorials on how I did so, but in the meantime, hang tight, it will be a bumpy ride.

In the mean time, I wondered if I could get Guild Wars working. Downloaded Crossover Games (not the application version) and tested it out. It is working as I type. Absolutely amazing. I ran the application, and it asked if there were any games I wanted to download. It had Guild Wars available right there. Absolutely wonderful. Guild Wars running on Leopard, this will be a lot of fun!

Typos

2008-04-05T14:19:00.004-04:00

Well, I found a typo. And it got me thinking, wow, this is a terrible place to have a typo. I mean, the only place worse than this could be the Constitution of the United States. Or the Declaration of Independence. Both of those would be pretty bad too. However, this is kinda funny:

"[School Name] recognizes the importance of and the significant educational benefits that are derived from providing students and staff member’s access to information technology and the Internet. The Internet is an important educational and communications resource whish provides our students and staff members access to a limitless level of resources and information."

That is a school's Privacy Policy on the internet. Ummm... pretty sure "whish" is not word. Although, it is rather funny. Got some other good typo's? Tell them in the comments section!

Blog Work

2008-03-26T18:52:00.003-04:00

Haha, I find it funny that I am writing about a blog while writing in this blog. But, basically, some friends are trying to start up a new blog and they are going to need some tech support, which is what I am going to do for them. I don't really know what they need, and neither do they, but I have been looking at Blogger and Wordpress as options for them. We shall see.

**Edit**

The Blog is up and running. Check it out!

Ruby (on Rails)

2008-03-15T19:52:00.002-04:00

So, I popped onto IM one day, and I was looking for a person. This person knows a lot about computers, and I know he could help me out to get started. Started on what? On a website. But not just any "Look at my rabbit Bill! He eats lettuce!" website, no, this will be a fully interactive powerful website which has a purpose, and it isn't to show the world my rabbit. I won't go into details now, but it will involve a logging in system, with different levels of access, and it will involve a "Digg" like system. After talking with my friend for a while, he told me the only way I will be able to get this to work is if I used Ruby on Rails. Ruby is a programming language, and a very good one at that. The "on Rails" part is there because Ruby on Rails is a web development language, and a powerful one at that. But it also isn't that hard to learn, so i won't be working my arse off just to type a few lines of code. Check it out, you might learn something. I already have.

Hamachi

2008-03-15T19:49:00.002-04:00

Well, I am at it again. I am working with Hamachi, which creates Virtual Private Networks between computers. Basically, what I hope to do with this is create a network with all my friends which we can share information, music, videos, and the such. Basically, it will just be a test of my techiness, how far can I go with getting information to my friends. I am really enjoying myself.

Guide: Installing Rainlendar

2008-03-05T14:58:00.003-05:00

Rainlendar is a fabulous calendar program which sits on your desktop. It allows you to place events and create "To Do" lists. Rainlendar is now available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. The OS X version is in beta, but so far nothing wrong has been found in it. The installation of Rainlendar on OS X and Windows is incredibly easy. For Windows, just download the correct installation file, and run it. For OS X 10.5 (Tiger 10.4 hasn't been extensively tested) you have to go to the beta page and click on the newest build thread, and download the .dmg file. After the download is complete, open the .dmg and drag the program to your Application folder. You will also probably want to add the icon to your dock, as it will appear there whenever you run the program.

Linux, on the other hand, is a different story.

Linux needs a little more work allow Rainlendar to do whatever it wants. This guide will install Linux on Ubuntu 7.10.

1: Download the DEB Linux file, either Lite or Pro and save it.
2: Open it up using the GDebi Package Installer.
3: Install Rainlendar. You will now find an icon for it in the Menu (Applications -> Office -> Rainlendar2)
4: To get Rainlendar to start when you log in, do the following:
4a: Go to the Sessions option. (System -> Preferences -> Sessions)
4b: Click "Add".
4c: Add a name for the new start up program ("Rainlendar" works well here.)
4d: Click "Browse" and go to /usr/share/rainlendar2/rainlendar2 Click it, and then click "open".
4e: If you want, you can add a description.
4f: Hit "OK".

There, now Rainlendar will start once you log in.

If you want to synchronize calendars between OS's on the same computer, change the Path for the default Calendar in the "Calendar" tab of the options. The first time you move the file you may actually have to create the new Default calendar file. In this case, when you are the folder you want the new Default calendar to be, just type "Default.ics" and click open.

Aliases

2008-03-05T13:55:00.001-05:00

Have you ever had to write a long string of characters in the terminal, and let out a huge sigh of relief once you have finished, thinking "Wow, I am so glad I never have to do that again." Well, if you ever do, thank god for Aliases. An aliases, in Linux, is a shortcut for a longer string of commands. For example, you can make an alias for "sudo apt-get install" and just have to type "install" in the terminal to get the same effect. Very useful if you ever have to type in anything more than once.

So how do you add or change aliases? Open up a terminal.

Type: $ nano ~./bash_aliases

And then you are in. There should already be one there, and you can follow the same format to make and edit your own aliases. If you ever want to see what aliases you have just type in:

$ alias

Guide: OS X86 Installation - Getting Passed Welcome Screen

2008-03-05T07:03:00.004-05:00

It happens sometimes. You are installing Leopard on your PC because you love the OS so much, but don't have enough money to buy a mac. Installation went fine, you are excited. You boot into your Hackintosh for the first time and get the lovely welcome video. You are breathless. You go through keyboard configuration, and then you tell Leopard that you don't have another account to import anything from.

....

Then, you go back to the welcome video. And again, and again, and again. A never ending loop.

How to break it? You have to trick OS X into thinking that it has already booted up successfully, and already created an account that you can log into. This is an easy fix, and there are a few ways to do it.

1: Reboot, and upon startup hit "f8" to give you startup options. The easiest method to try is to type in the following:
$ "Graphics Mode"="640x480x32"

This sets the screen resolution so small that OS X won't play the start up video, and you should be able to get into creating your account. After creating your account, you can reboot and use your normal screen resolution (don't type anything during start up). If that doesn't work, you can do the next method...

2: This method worked for me, and I think it is the safer of the two methods.
2a: Reboot and hit "f8" during start up to give you start up options.
2b: Type: $ -s Then hit enter.
2c: You should be at a command line. Type the following, hitting enter after each command.
$ /sbin/fsck -fy
$ /sbin/mount -uw /
$ touch /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
$ passwd root
$ reboot

[Note the space in the second command, before the last "/". Don't forget it. If you are confused if there is a space between two characters, place you cursor there and figure it out.]

2d: Upon entering the "passwd" command enter the root password, and then confirm it.

2e: After that you can reboot your computer and load OS X normally, you should be able to login to the root account. However, is is always dangerous to mess around with the root account, so make an administrator account asap and use that. Using root could mess up your install, and you don't want to go through all that again.

Fixing Sound in Ubuntu 7.10

2008-03-03T23:25:00.003-05:00

This is just how I did it. A friend guided me though the entire process. If it doesn't work for you, no worries, just remove what we have done here.

Open a Terminal.

$sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

Go to the bottom of the file using arrow keys. Add this line to the very bottom:

options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m42

Make sure there is a line after the added one (Hit enter after pasting).

Restart your computer. If it doesn't work, and something is messed up, go back to the file and remove the line. If it works, then there you go!

Install Pidgin on OS X Leopard

2008-02-29T14:57:00.005-05:00

Turns out, it was a lot easier than I had thought. Or at least, how I had been doing it. You see, I was trying to install Pidgin from source, and that means finding all the dependencies. And, you know, that is a lot harder when some of them aren't made for OS X. So, after much work, I finally did something stupid, and Leopard died on my computer. After putting it back on, I set things up again, but I was too lame to go back and keep working on that path. Turns out, there is another way.

1: Download Xcode from the apple developer site. You will have to sign up and login to access Xcode. Under the "Downloads" section it is in Developer Tools. Since I am using Leopard, I used version 3.0.

2: Run the Xcode installer, and the other 2 installers which will be in the same window. Also, open the packages folder and install X11SKD.pkg.

3: Download the Newest Version (or make sure you have the newest version) of Macports. (If it is already installed, run "$ sudo port selfupdate". (If you just installed it, run the same command to make sure it works, and you have the newest version).

4: To install pidgin, run the following command: "$ sudo port install pidgin". (Optional: "$ sudo port install pidgin +quartz +no_x11"

5: Sit back and wait. That should do it. If you have any errors, you can try the other option in step 4, but before you do that make sure you clean up your mess. ("$ sudo port clean pidgin").

To run Pidgin search, "Pidgin unix" and it should be the only executable file there. With that, double click it, and you should be in business. A terminal will open as well, just minimize that.

No sound in Kubuntu

2008-02-25T19:39:00.002-05:00

You know, for everything Linux does for me, this is not fun. I don't have sound in Kubuntu. Hell, I got sound to work easier in Mac OS X then I have in Kubuntu. I'm not even sure what is wrong. Makes me really sad, because I want sound on all my OS's. Won't stop until I have sound, but until then.... grr...

Victory

2008-02-25T18:07:00.002-05:00

Amazing! See what a little dedication and some slave labor can do. I know have OS X Leopard installed on my HP dv9700 Laptop. And, it is fast.

Basically, I used the Kalyway DVD and the Vanilla kernel to boot up. I didn't choose any drivers, and choose to install it using MBR, not GUID. Installation then went, and back, I was in. Nothing stupid happened when I set up my account and so I got it. What works: Now, everything works but wireless internet. However, some people are working on drivers for my sound card, so if they get them to work, I should be in luck, Otherwise, I'll have to live with my hardwire. But I got sound to work, and I am very happy. I also got my native resolution to work (1440 X 900) and my touch bad, well, touches.

I had to use two patches. I patched by audio with this and I got the driver for my Graphics card
here.

Laptop Work

2008-02-24T17:38:00.003-05:00

So, I have finally gotten the time to work on my laptop. The first thing I did? I reformatted it. Not the lame way either. I recreated the 2 160 GB hard drives into the correct partitions for me to conquer the world. Basically, I now have a partition for each of my 4 OS's. I tried putting XP onto the computer, but it doesn't recognize my hard drives, so I am going to have to get drivers for them for XP before I can get that to work, which is stupid. Also.... Kubuntu installed, and ran just fine, but when I tired booting up into it today, I had all sorts of problems. I think I fixed most of them, and it should run smoothly now. I hope. Umm... yeah, I have been skiing a lot, this isn't really a vacation for me. Which makes me sad. But, when I am going to do next is get Mac Leopard into the laptop, and see how operational I can make it. Woohoo! Then it will be off to getting XP to work.

Laptop

2008-02-18T20:41:00.003-05:00

So really, nothing new had been happening. I went through my life, doing lots of homework, trying to catch up, and making excuses for why I hadn't done the homework. It was a lot of work. I went on a camping trip this weekend, and that was fun. However, my Birthday was February 16. I am now 17!! Woot. And guess what I got for my Birthday: A laptop. Fuck ya. It is an HP laptop, with a 2.0 GHz processor and 3 GB of ram. Plenty for what I'm going to do with it. It came with Vista, and I am already angry at it, so soon I will do a complete reformat and put XP/Vista/Ubuntu/Leopard on it, and we will go from there. Kapiche?

"Life Owner" Will Doom Us All!!!

2008-02-07T16:57:00.001-05:00

"Life Owner" will take over all of our lives and get all of our information off of our PC's!

Uhhh, no? I received an email today from a friend which warned me of the hacker "Lifeowner" and how he will take over my PC if I open a power point presentation in an email. This is what the email said:

Anyone-using Internet mail such as Yahoo , Hotmail, AOL and so on.
This information arrived this morning, Direct from both Microsoft and Norton.
Please send it to everybody you know who has access to the Internet.
You may receive an apparently harmless e-mail with a Power Point presentation " Life is Beautiful"
If you receive it DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, and delete it immediately. If you open this file, a message will appear on your screen saying:

"It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful."

Subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC, And the person who sent it to you will gain access to your name, e-mail and password. This is a new virus which started to circulate on Saturday afternoon. AOL has already confirmed the severity, and the anti virus software's are not capable of destroying it. The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself "lifeowner".
PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS E-MAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS , And ask them to
PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY!
THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY SNOPES

Okay, so the first thing I think about when I see things like this is; "Uhhh, I'm on Linux. That makes me protected, and you stupid." Second, with a quick Google search, I verified that my instinct was correct. This is a large, funny, hoax. Nothing more. It seems that it has been in circulation for quite a while, (2002(1)) and if you think about it, it should never have gotten so far. For the "attachment" to do what it claims it does, it would have to be a program, a *.exe file, not a powerpoint presentation. It just can't be done. So, for all those people out there, this email is a Hoax, there is no danger, and you can stop forwarding that stupid message. QED.

Further Reading.

Color Inversion

2008-02-05T16:39:00.000-05:00

So, after an "accidental" accident with my computer, I am stuck using Linux for now. Windows won't boot. To tell you all the truth though, I think it is rather a bonus. Windows being in an inoperable state made the computer better. Anyways, I was busying working on homework and I hit something, and for some reason, that flipped all the colors on my screen. All of them. Every color became its inverse. To tell you the truth, it looked f***ing awesome. Here are some pictures:
The desktop image actually didn't change, but the other windows did. Pretty cool eh?

Leopard Installation: So close I can taste it!

2008-02-03T21:03:00.000-05:00

It hurts, it really does. How close I am to having OS X Leopard on my computer. I am using Kalyway's installation DVD, which my friend, who owns a Mac, burned for me. I got the DVD off a torrent site, but after some reading I found out that it could only be unzipped on a Mac. Which sucks, because at the moment, I don't have one. However, I handed it over to my friend via Flash Drive, and had him burn it to a DVD for me. The results? Beautiful.

I had used iAtkos's DVD installation for Leopard and a JAS' Tiger installation DVD and both got me to the same place. After starting to load the DVD it gave me the loving error: "Still waiting for root device." The dreaded one which no one can seem to get passed. Oh it is terrible. However, I popped the Kalyway DVD in and put it in verbose mode, and watched as it loaded HFS+ (Macs file system) files, and Drivers again and again. It loaded many of them, maybe even a hundred. They just kept coming and it made me happy. The other DVD's only loaded about 4 of them before booting. However, Kalyway came to the same place as the other DVD's had come to and paused. And then gave some weird messages. And paused again. And then gave some more messages. And then kept going. It loaded all the way. Right into the installation. I had already picked out a partition for it to be on, and without much trouble, formated it and went ahead. First time through I forgot to pick custom installation. Second time through I forgot to choose Vanilla Kernel. Third time through, it all went smoothly. Leopard installed on my computer.

....

So why am I only "So close"? Because I can't get passed the welcome screen. OS X leopard doesn't recognize my keyboard, duh, it isn't a mac one. It gets angry at me, but finally gets over it. Then, right before booting up the desktop, it asks if I want to import anything. Uhhh.... no? I don't have another mac. But when I skip that part, it pauses, and the loops back to the beginning. I can't get passed it. An endless loop. I am so close.... so close.... one more step.... and I just can't do it! If you have any insight on how to get by this, let me know!

Oh, I forgot to mention that in the process of getting Leopard to work, I left Windows in an nonoperational state. A change for the better methinks...

Comparison: Macs and PC's ~ Prices

2008-02-03T17:46:00.000-05:00

So are Macs really more expensive than PC's? Come on, you can just say that.

Uh, actually, I can. I went to an Apple store and looked around. I am interested in buying a laptop to continue my enterprises afar, and so I have been contemplating a Mac. So what did I learn? Macs are a lot more expensive. You can't push it any other way. You can talk about a whole bunch of stuff, but when you look at it, Macs are more expensive. For example, I was looking at some laptops, and the one I would like to buy cost about $2,600-$2,800 not counting tax at all. What would I get?

2.2 - 2.4 GHz Processor
2-4 GB of Ram
250 GB Hard Drive

And that was really it. For a larger Mac laptop I could get a better graphics card, but that was it. I then headed over to Cosco, and looked at the laptops there. The conclusion? For about half as much money as the Macs, I could get a PC with equal, it not better specs. You can argue a whole bunch of stuff, like OS's, and productivity software, but really, half? That is a lot less money to spend. So it really comes down to what I want. And I don't know if having a Mac would justify the money it would cost. I could get a ton more power out of a laptop for the same money from a Mac. So what do I want? What do I need the laptop for... that is the question...

PhP Page Forwarding and Frames

2008-02-03T17:35:00.001-05:00

In my web page, which you can sign on, there are frames. Not a problem. However, I added a page forwarding once a user has logged on, and in doing so, messed up the frames. Once a user logged on, it ended up looking like this:
Not so hot for a user. However, a user on the Devshed forums (kane007) was able to give me this snippet of code: (which for some reason won't show up....)
Which I put in the correct page, and now it works! Success, logging in now gives you nice new frames. Basically, what the code above you says is: If the frames on the page would be greater than 100%, then fix it.

Vista Hearts doesn't support Shooting the Sun

2008-02-01T18:15:00.001-05:00

The version of hearts on Windows Vista does not support Shooting the Sun. Which pisses me off because I just did it. I had a gorgeous hand with many spades, and with high cards of the other suits, I manged to take every trick. Every single one. However, at the end, it only saw it as shooting the moon. Shooting the Sun is a recognized move (1,2,3) and it gives all your opponents 52 points (or you can lose 52). While it is a variant of the game, it should still be supported as the Linux version of hearts does (1). So, what is my point? Fix it. Go bug Microsoft. Because if you have enough talent to take every trick, you should be rewarded.

Safari

2008-02-01T16:31:00.000-05:00

Well, here I am again, downloading Safari. I tried it out a while ago, and while it wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as Firefox. So why am I downloading it again? To see it try out the Acid2 web standard test.
For those who are not familiar, the Acid2 test was created to test html and CSS standards for web browsers. Basically you go the site and click take the test. What you are supposed to see is a picture of a smiley face. What you actually may see looks more like this:

Firefox:Internet Explorer 7: (Is that a text box?)

Or Safari:

From looking at those pictures, Safari is the only one which correctly renders the test. Which actually makes me very sad as I am a huge Firefox fan. However, I will make the point that Firefox does do a much better job than Internet Explorer in this test. However, I will mention for all those happy Safari people out there. Once Safari has correctly rendered the image, refresh the page and scroll a bit. You will see quickly that won't do it again. Interesting....

Having Trouble with your iPod?

2008-01-31T16:18:00.001-05:00

Well, techinically, it wasn't my iPod. My dad recently got a third generation nano (which is sexy), and gave his old 4th generation iPod to my sister. Now, my sister is not the most technilogically literate person out there, and within a few weeks had managed to break her iPod. Great. So, after a little fiddling around with it, I realized what was probably the problem. Whenever I turned the iPod on, I could hear the hard drive inside wurr up, and then die. It continued this cycle as it spouted out the error message: www.apple.com/support/ipod. So, after listening to this for a bit, I decided to try and fix it.

I hit it. I hit it firmly on the sides, and then on the front. And, lo and behold, after a few firm hits, the iPod worked again. Perfectly. So, if you feel as though hardware is an issue, and not software, then try firmly (but not insanely hard) hitting the iPod. Perhaps that will gar the Hard drive back into a workable state. If you break your iPod, not my fault.

Kalyway

2008-01-30T18:12:00.001-05:00

I just recently obtained a version of OS X86 made from Kalyway, however, what I did not realize is that in order to unzip the package I have to have OS X already. I own a legal copy of OS X, but that doesn't count, I don't have it up and running. Which means I have a very worthless copy of OS X86 with me. However, not all is lost. I'm meeting up with a friend who should be able to unzip the file for me, and allow me to burn the ISO inside. With tons of luck, this version will be the one to get me past the dreaded "still waiting for root device" error.

Epic Fail

2008-01-29T21:39:00.000-05:00

I have updated this in ages. Mainly because I have been bogged down by school work. However, I have done quite a bit of work with computers, and quiet a bit more to come I am sure. Christmas was an exciting time for me, I got many items which will be very useful, and I have even done some other wild stuff. Like install Kubuntu on my new 4 GB flash drive. That was fun. So, I will start updating this as I continue my quest through the computer world, burning and pillaging until I conquer it all. Which will require a laptop. My birthday is coming up....

Windows Vista Service Pack One

2007-12-12T22:55:00.000-05:00

And I am downloading it. I will tell you how it goes. At 193.9 it is a whopping download. You too can get it here. Have fun. Now remember, this is only a release candidate, but it should still be fun to play around with.

PhP Login Script

2007-12-08T19:06:00.001-05:00

Yep, read the title. That is what I'm working on right now, for my website. Hopefully, once I get all the glitches out of it, people will be able to sign up, and then login to access data. Can you say.... game? It will be amazing. Right now, I am debugging the login script. I'm so close!

Slow Vista

2007-12-04T21:01:00.000-05:00

For some reason, on my computer, Windows Vista is being very, very slow. Sooooo slow.... in fact, stupidly slow. I go to install a program, and the User Protection Thingy comes up. It turns my entire screen black. Doesn't give me the "Continue" or "Cancel" box. I wait. Nothing. Five minutes later. Nothing. Control-Alt-Delete gets me out of it, thank God. But Vista should never be THIS SLOW. Something is wrong.

So, I go to Control Panel.
-- "System and Maintenance"
-- "Problem Reports and Solutions"

There, it tells me that Halo is messing up my computer. Halo. I put Halo on a long time ago. Long time ago. How could it just now be messing up my computer????? I don't understand. I haven't even played it recently. It hasn't RUN recently. This is terrible. And stupid. I am really quiet distressed at how badly Vista is behaving. XP never has had any issues like this. I am desperately trying to make the computer go back to normal without reformatting the Harddrive, but ooooo, and I ever close. Just wait.... one day.....

Vista Start Menu

2007-12-03T07:52:00.000-05:00

Omfg, this is amazing. So, I have been a long since standing hater of the Vista start menu. Sure, it looks pretty, but it is just hopeless. The Shut down button has been moved. The Log off button has been moved. The buttons I use the most are hidden away. I can't do anything with it. Well, in my travels online, I found the most amazing program ever.

Dennis Nazarenko has created an alternate to the Vista start up menu. You can download it here:
http://www.vistastartmenu.com/index.html

It is amazing. Just having it pop up the first time made me gasp with joy. This is what it looks like on my computer:

Issues

2007-12-02T19:06:00.000-05:00

Well, what else is new. My computer, is having issues. And I have actually been up to some fun stuff. For my own convience, I will write it down here. Plus, actually tell the world what I have been doing. I have no idea how many people read this, probably none, but still I write. One day, things will change. A day when I have time to rule the world. Come on, it won't take more than, 3 hours?

1: Python: My friend and I decided that we should learn a programming language. We would talk with each other, research, learn, and teach each other to further ourselves. It sounded exciting, and it is, in a way. We looked into many different languages (and by looked into, I mean Wikipedia) and finally came to choose, Python. However, as I learn more and more about it, I'm not sure how much you can do with just Python. It seems that many programs use Python inside itself, like Civilization IV using Python in its AI script; rather than using Python for the entire program. Of course, this isn't true for all programs, the original Bittorrent client was written in Python. So it can be done. I use IDLE on Ubuntu for my programming needs, and it works fine. It is actually rather fun. Now I just need to get back together with my friend and start planning fun programs to make.

2: Mac vs. PC: This is hilarious. So, our of all my friends, only one has a Mac. And he vehemently defends it from our criticism. This, of course, gets him into many large fights over what is better, Macs, or PC's. The best thing is, 90% of the people who get into these arguments don't know what they are arguing! You see, there are many components to the Mac vs. PC debate. You have the actually hardware, such as Mac's Intel processors, or other choices. Then you have the Operating System, OS X (Leopard now) and Windows Vista. And of course, you can't forget all the software for the different computers either. Thinking about those three categories, you can start to see it isn't Mac vs. PC. It is a debate between Apple and Microsoft. Where the Hell is Linux! In the operating systems category you only hear about those two, OS X and Windows. Yeah, well Linux runs on Both Mac hardware and PC hardware, so suck it all. Linux software is all free, and on top of that, there is no Hardware crap. So really, at the heart of all this, you have random people, randomly arguing over what is better, and NONE of them have any proof to back it up. I find it fucking hilarious. Imo, they all have their perks. I won't go into that all now, I still have other things to rant about.

3: Vista is being slow: Hense, why I am writing this on Ubuntu. For some reason, Vista got really, really slow. I don't know what caused it, and I don't know how to fix it. Booting up is fine, logging in takes about the same amount of time (first log in). But switching users, and loading some programs, takes upwards of 5 minutes! That isn't supposed to happen! Also, the internet is slower than usual. Again, I have no idea why. I removed all the probably software issues, and did a virus scan. Nothing. Ugh, it makes me angry, and my family. STUPID VISTA. Learn to love Linux, you can do anything. So, for all those Vista people out there, and Vista randomly decides to be slow. Go to Ubuntu, it will love you.

4: PhP + Database + Forums + Game = Issues (more): Yeah, that says it all. I'm trying to get a database up for a website so I can have forums and an Online game using PhP. Doesn't work nicely. Can't get it to work. Wish I could, because than I would be HAPPY.

5: Compiz Fusion: As I lamentably learned after install 7.10, my Cube was gone. Well today, I fixed that. The Desktop cube returned! I followed this guide and it worked perfectly. Cube, is now back in action.

I think that is it for now. I may come back, I may not. School is a lot of work, but with any luck, we WILL have a school day tomorrow. Woot!

Lag

2007-11-09T21:13:00.001-05:00

Not much happening in the computer world. School takes up so much time. Although, I am trying to get a database going for a website. That will be fun. I'll tell you if I get it to work.

...

Or if I don't. ;)

iTunes UEA defends against everything.

2007-10-30T19:41:00.001-04:00

And I mean everything. I had heard a few rumors, but I had to go out and find it myself. So can you, by going here. Open it up and you too can find this. I was amazed, and I thought it was hilarious. The iTunes User End Agreement says that you cannot use iTunes to make nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. It is true. PROOF:

**Edit**

Just remembered something else pretty funny that is iTunes related, and UEA related. So, my dad got a new iPod Nano. Pretty sick little bugger. Anyways, he decided he wanted some new music. After routing through the families CD collection he decides that he should have an iTunes account. He goes and starts setting it up. Now, my Dad is good enough with computers to get through this stuff. He gets to the User End Agreement for the account (or whatever agreement is there, I'm not sure, I don't have an iTunes account) and reads it. He actually reads it. He told me that he doesn't often do this, so I'm not calling him a total freak yet, but he did read it.

You know all those things that always say "Read this before accepting and continuing on?" Yeah, he read it. But, that isn't the point. The point is he read through the entire thing (pretty quickly he said) and then hit accept to go out.

"Error, your session has timed out."

That is what he got. iTunes wants everyone to read the UEA, but when someone does read it, they say the person has taken too long, and time the session out. I just laughed. Way to go iTunes. Dad, welcome to the software world. The one where no one reads the agreements. Hell, one of them probably took my soul already.

An Interesting Error.

2007-10-29T22:29:00.000-04:00

So, my sister is on Vista, and then she has to go. I make myself a milkshake, and then come back and sit down at the computer. Of course, she didn't log off. Oh well. I go to log off. And I miss. Instead of hitting the button to give me more option in the start menu, I hit the "Lock" button, which effectively switches user. Ugh. Whatever. I don't even bother logging back on to fix it. I log on to my own name and open up task manager. I go over to the users tab, and manually log off my sister.

"Error"

I forget what error exactly, but Vista wouldn't let me. I was like, "What the F**K??? I'm an Admin on this computer. I, I... I gave you life! And you don't obey me!?" Needless to say, I was very angry. So I switch users myself. I go to log into my sister's account. She has a password. What the hell, why does SHE need a password?!??!

My solution? Restart the computer and boot into Ubuntu. Ubuntu likes me.... Ubuntu is my friend. Happiness.

Houston, we have Internet

2007-10-25T23:08:00.000-04:00

Today I got two of my wisdom teeth out. They decided to leave the other two in, which doesn't really matter to me, but is cool anyways. So, before the appointment, my Mother is kind enough bring me out the Best Buy, and we look for a wireless adapter. They have a few, they even have the one that I was looking at online, but it was much to expensive there. We are talking about $100, instead of the $50 it is on Newegg. But, we find a $40 one, which seems to me fine. Hell, why not try it? I can return it if it sucks. So, after the appointment, and after I de-drug myself, I start playing with it. The upstairs computer (the one on my room) has XP on it, so everything works on it (except Halo 2). Install the Driver, plug in the USB Adapter, and voila! Internet! Soooo happy. I got the D-Link Rangebooster G USB 2.0 Adapter.

Issues: First off, I found out today that my computer has 1.1 USB ports. Oh. Damn. That sucks. OH well, nothing much I can do about that except get a new computer, which isn't a bad idea, but not one that will happen until I get a steady income.

Second issue. It died on me. Normally, I wouldn't care, but with Wireless Adapters "dieing" seems to be common, and that isn't saying anything good about the product. After further investigation I found that it might not have been the adapter, but rather the network connection. A simply reboot fixed the issue. But, if it persists, I will be most displeased. RETURN. We shall see. I am typing this on my upstairs computer, which makes me very, very happy. Now all I need is a new monitor. And speakers! And surround Sound! Oh, the joys.

Firefox, Gobuntu, and still no Internet.

2007-10-23T20:52:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been a few days since I have last posted. Basically, there was nothing to post about. No computer crashed on me, nothing screwed up, and I still haven't gotten internet in my room. Which sucks. Plus, I'm getting two of my wisdom teeth removed... so.... ouch. But, that is not it.

I am always surfing the web looking up new software and computer such. I like to see what is new and coming up. Think of it as something I do in my spare time. So, today when I went surfing the web, I found some new fun pieces of information. First one:

Firefox gets new, different, GUI's.

For those who don't know, Firefox 3 is coming. Firefox 2 is beautiful, but 3 is going to be gorgeous. For Firefox 3 the developers took a step back. They looked at their beautiful program and said, "Hey. These all look the same. On OS X, on Windows XP, and Vista, and Linux. They all look the same!" Well, not anymore. In Firefox 3 there will be a different theme for Firefox for each OS. Windows Vista, XP, OS X, and Linux (but not each individual Distro, as of this writing) will all have a different theme. The theme will mesh with the OS. It is going to be hawt. And very cool. I'm psyched. Pretty Firefox!

Check out the entire story from Alex Faaborg's Blog!

So, with that out of the way, I found something else interesting.

Gobuntu
What the heck? Yeah. I thought so too. Apparently, Ubuntu wasn't free enough, so Gobuntu is going to be like Ubuntu, but with everything free. And you can't get anything that isn't free. Completely free. Like, look, I give it up for the greater Linux Being's Free. I find it interesting. You can check out its home page.
It also looks to be a base that other Linux distro's can start from, because it is entirely free. Pretty cool, but not something I'm going to download.

Mother F****ER

2007-10-21T17:44:00.000-04:00

I am sooooo pissed at myself. So, I sign off this computer, go upstairs, and get ready to use my new USB wireless adapter. I tell my girlfriend that I will be talking to her shortly from upstairs. Long story short, I haven't talked to her yet. God damn it. Soo pissed. So I go upstairs and try to get it to work on Ubuntu. No luck. I say "screw it, I'm too tired for this," and put XP on the computer. Well, after that is all done (at 11 at night) I hook up the adapter. And after testing a few things... I read the "fine print." My only response:

"FUCK!"

Yeah, it isn't a wireless adapter. Don't ask me how I screwed that up. Just, don't ask. It is an "Ethernet to 2.0 USB adapter." Pretty much, in short, it doesn't get me internet access. The box is already open, and everything. Parents weren't that happy either. Although, to save my honor a bit, the information on it wasn't that helpful. Pretty worthless really, it didn't tell me what it did exactly. My lord though.... I'm a retard. So stupid. So now, I'm going to get a new one. The RIGHT one. A right one. My god. So angry. I need to burn something.... grr.....

It Came

2007-10-20T22:49:00.000-04:00

Woohoo! It came today! It is only punishment that I can't get it to work with Ubuntu. And since I am so desperate for internet in my room, and putting XP back onto the computer. Which makes me sad, but I will see if I can get my friend to help me out. Anyways, hopefully I will be blogging from my crappy old computer, but the one in my room. It's going to be awesome. I will give you the adapters specs later. For now, Party!

Upgrade and Update

2007-10-18T10:40:00.000-04:00

As you can tell by the wonderful countdown counter to the right, Ubuntu 7.10 has come out. Named Gutsy Gibbon, Ubuntu 7.10 is effectively saying "GG" to Microsoft. I'm going to upgrade right now. Then, I'll have fun telling you all about the new features, and what is awesome, and what I don't even realize. Psyched for the desktop effects, I could only get them working for a moment in 7.04. This will be awesome!

On the other hand, I'm having some issues with OS X. It still asks for the root device, and turning off my hard drives doesn't work. Nor does booting from the CD in safe mode, or booting ignoring the configuration file, which I tried. After researching some more, I may have to turn one of my hard drives from SATA mode to AHCI mode, which I don't really want to do, because that would mean turning on Raid again, which I like off. And, the probability of fucking over my computer is really, really good. Soooo.... perhaps I'll just wait on that one.... for now... and see if I can get something else to work.

GG, here I come!!

The Power of Wireless

2007-10-16T20:37:00.000-04:00

Alright, so I was talking to friends over IM (using Pidgin, of course) and I was complaining to probably my best friend about how I just ran out of things to blog. Then, on a complete tangent to that I talked about how my parents just let me buy a wireless adapter, so I could get internet up in my room (ancient desktop, I needed to buy a USB Adapter, which should work fine). My friend pretty much slapped me and said "Talk about that!"

Oh yeah.

I'm not that stupid, really. So, I have 3 computers. All three work. One is a laptop, which is up in my room. It is about.... 8 years old? 9? Some OBSCENE number like that. It is so old, I didn't think it had a USB port. I found one though, don't worry. That doesn't really count as a laptop, or in all honestly, as a computer either. It is just stupid. So, the other computer up in my room is a desktop, which was the family computer until I got this behemoth. I love this one. The one in my room, meh, it's alright, but it is old too. A 20 GB hard drive, a 1 GHz processor. It's fun, but it has its limits. And by that, I mean a LOT of limits. So that is what I'm getting the USB adapter for. The poor computer doesn't have an ethernet port, so when I had it downstairs I had to hook it up to the internet via USB. Of course, I'm doing the same thing, but it will be wireless, so I am probably not getting or losing anything out of the deal. All in all, its going to be awesome. This is the little baby I'm getting:

It is a Linksys Compact USB Network Adapter. And it should hook me up to my wireless network. Then.... with the power of both computers.... the world will be mine.

Fixed

2007-10-13T20:35:00.000-04:00

Okay, so it didn't take 30 seconds. It took about 5 minutes, but oh well. I thought that just unplugging the printer USB cable and then plugging it back in would fix it. Maybe if I had turned the printer off, now that I think about it, it would have. This time though, it didn't. I unplugged it and plugged it back in, and nothing happened. Well fine, be that way. So I found the old file that I originally used to install it, and reinstalled the drivers. Now it works. Woot. All for my little brother. Seriously, I should get paid at my house for doing this stuff.

Vista Won't Print

2007-10-13T19:35:00.002-04:00

You know, it is probably something that can be fix in about 30 seconds, but I haven't so far. And actually, it isn't Vista, it's just my account. You see, I have been having this problem for a while. I don't actually know what is wrong. I have an HP Photosmart C6180 "All-in-One" Printer. It is a beast. Literally, it can do almost anything. It Prints (duh), copies, scans, faxes. It can print photos on special paper, it can scan in a book and give it to you as a word document with its special "text recognition." Really though, it is pretty sweet. Except that my Vista account can't print to it. I dunno why. One day I could, the next day I couldn't. So, I'm going to fiddle around with it (finally) and see if I can make it work.

Still haven't got OS X to work, haven't had time. Just finished an A.P. Biology assignment. Now I just have to study for the test....

Issue #1

2007-10-10T22:01:00.000-04:00

I'm having an issue getting OS X onto my computer. I begged a few of my friends to let me borrow a DVD to burn the OS X image to, and one of them came through giving me three blank DVD's. Very kind of him. So, I burned the ISO to the DVD using Alcohol 120%. Seemed to work fine. I boot the DVD in and restart the computer. It boots up just fine on the CD, and then comes to a slight lag. After a minute it displayers "Still waiting for root device." And then again after another minute. And a third time. The same thing happened when I virtually installed OS X, but it only happened once before actually booting. I assumed all would be good. But I guess not. Something isn't right, obviously. I did some research and it seems that some hardware isn't compatible with OS X, it may be my Hard Drives. OS X doesn't seem to like SATA Hard Drives, which may be what I have. If so, I'm going to need my external Hard Drive sooner than anticipated... That is all I have tried to do so far. I'm going to do some more twiddling to see if I can get OS X to boot up its GUI at least, and see how far I can get then. Annoying, but I should be able to get it done.

OS X: Virtually Installed

2007-10-09T20:34:00.002-04:00

Read the Title. Read it and weep. You have no more life. You have nothing. You cannot beat what I have done. Of course, others have done it too, but I just did it. OS X is installed on this computer... virtually. I used this guide to install it. What can I say? It worked perfectly. Nothing went wrong. The next step? To install it so I can boot into it. Although, this really is amazing. I cannot believe how much one can do with their computer. Check out some of these pictures!! I would tell you the entire story, really, but it's all in the guide. Not much to tell. >.<

Pictures!

My only complaints? No Internet, and no Music. All my music is on my real Hard Drive.
Of course this is all for development testing. ..

U.S. Gets Angry.

2007-10-06T22:13:00.000-04:00

I thought this was interesting, and it only happened two days ago. Be careful out there. Stop all illegal actions.

*Snort*

Who would actually listen to me?

Check it out.

Kubuntu, Check.

2007-10-06T13:53:00.000-04:00

There, that wasn't so hard. I have just installed Kubuntu onto my computer. Virtually. I can now boot into Vista and run Kubuntu. It is amazing. At the current moment I have downloading all the updates for KDE. I don't know if I am going to keep this virtual computer, but at least for a while to impress my friends. I really wish I could have gotten some screenshots while KDE was loading, but I'll just have to take some now, and show them to the world. Once I figure out what is wrong with my ability to capture the screen. Makes me angry!

**EDIT**
Fixed the pictures, here are two of them when I was loading Kubuntu:

Virtual Computers for the Win!!!

Virtualization FTW!

2007-10-06T12:29:00.000-04:00

Wow. Vmplayer didn't work the way I wanted it to. So, I got a new piece of virtualization software. Virtual Box. It made my day. After downloading and installing it I made a new Virtual Computer to play around with Kubuntu. And it worked. I popped in the Kubuntu Live CD, and Bang! It worked! So now, I am really curious as to how it would install. I have made a dynamic virtual hard drive (A hard drive that will change size depending on how big it needs to be) and it is in Vista's file system. So does that mean everything will just go there? I don't think I need a new partition to install a virtual Operating System, but really, I have no idea. This is an entire new world to me, but a very, very cool one.

A New Challenge: Installing OS X on my Dell PC

2007-10-06T10:56:00.000-04:00

You read it. It has been done. And now I want it. I figure that I have the resources power and ability to get it done, all it will take is a lot of new information, a few deaths to my computer, and a lot of luck.

OS X is Apple's operating system. It is meant to run on Apple's Macs. However, recently, Mac stopped making all their own CPU's and choose to use Intel CPU's. This means that the hardware is very similar. So similar in fact, that OS X can be run on PC's, with a little modification. I don't know everything yet, and I am still experimenting, but this is where I will keep you updated on what is going on. It will be hawt when I'm done. At the moment, I am experimenting with Virtualization software, making a virtual computer inside my computer.

And I would upload the pictures to show you, but my computer is acting retarded lately, and won't save the damn pictures, or AVI files. I have no idea why, this is getting ridiculous.

Meh, I'll keep you all updated.

Why Me?

2007-10-02T20:47:00.000-04:00

Seriously, what did I do to deserve this. What. The. Fuck. Two things happened to me today that I just can't believe. The first was during French class. We went down to the computer lab to do some work. Our school has Word 2007 so we are able to have some fun with writing in French. Our teacher decides that it would be cool to say sentences and for us to write what she said. Seriously, who ever thought of that? It requires work, something that I can't do while playing N game. Off topic though. We were on sentence eight of thirteen when I get the killer blue screen of death. I don't even know what I did wrong. It may have been opening the second word document, *Gasp!* Retarded Computer. I restart it, and wait for it to boot back up. I log in and open my document again. Of course, by this time the teacher has moved on. Thank God that she didn't call on me to answer number eight. That would have been bad. Really, really bad.

The second impossible thing relates directly to this blog. Look at the previous post. There is supposed to be a picture there. Why isn't there one? Because Vista refused to upload any picture to the internet. Speaking of which, Vista won't upload anything to the Internet. Come on. It has nothing to do with my internet, or else Ubuntu would be messed up as well, but it isn't. Come on Vista, for all your hype, you really don't cut it. I can't believe I'm typing this blog post on you. Just because you have programs.... grrr, I can't wait until Ubuntu 7.10 comes out. October 18th! It will be awesome!

For all who care, say "I."

N

2007-10-01T18:08:00.000-04:00

I'm not much of a gamer. I love playing Halo (with numbers after it) but really, I don't play that many video games. I'm much more excited to make programs that make it seem like I can really program. It is much more exciting for me. However, a few days ago, my friend showed me a game. The thing that really captured my attention was not the game though, but how it got around my school's blocking system.

You see, my school doesn't allow executive files from running. I've downloaded Firefox more than once onto a school computer trying to get it to work. Doesn't work, I don't have administrator rights. Not yet. So that pretty much rules out most fun things. But, my friend signs onto a computer, and opens up his directory. He finds the file in his maze of folders and then opens up Internet Explorer. I'm watching this with much enthusiasm. So far, he knows what he is doing. And then, tabbing back to the folder, he resizes the window so half of the internet explorer is showing. Like this:

And then he drags the game file from the folder into Internet Explorer, and the game starts up. Utterly amazing. And then he starts playing. The game is called "N." You are a ninja and you jump around beating levels. The cool thing is the game has a complex and realistic physics engine, which adds a touch of reality. And so, for the past few days (and of course, at school) I've been playing this game. It is awesome. Completely awesome. Just another fun point. The good guys will always be one step behind the "bad guys."

Good Job Blocking Ads

2007-09-27T21:04:00.000-04:00

You see that? You see that???? I am using Mozilla Firefox. Check the upper right hand corner. Adblock Plus. Amazing add on. I love it. It blocks all ads. Ads by Google, picture ads, pretty much anything. And, if it fails to block something, you can right click your target, and tell it to block it. It really is amazing.

So you can anticipate my surprise when I searched up some synonyms to love for English and there are some ads! You might be able to tell that on the side of the page is a section for more advertisements. Adblock Plus got those. But I have never seen these ads before! They are infiltrating!! I wish I could zap them! It makes me angry. I hate seeing ads. I can't stand people who use Internet Explorer because when I surf the web on their computers I have to deal with freaking ads on every page. Especially when I am not used to them.

Hooked

2007-09-24T21:37:00.000-04:00

Dang it, I knew this would happen. I don't know how. I don't even know why I started to search for it. But once again, I am drawn towards programming. This time though, my "C++ For Dummies" book can stay on the shelf. I have advanced. I am now moving towards C#! C# seems to be Microsoft's new money making scheme. All I have done is read up on it and downloaded C# 2008 Beta Express Version. I am looking for a way to get a better version without paying money, but so far no luck.

Visual Studio C# is an interesting program. Most people, when they think of programming, think of endless lines of code. Well, that can be one way. When programming a program that has no GUI (Graphical User Interface) it pretty much is all code. Then again, it is really straight fowards. The user can't click on anything to change anything. They have to input everything on the keyboard, which really makes the program run in one direction.

However, when you have buttons, and scroll downs, and things to click on, the user can do those, most of the time, in any order they want. And so, the Graphical User Interface comes to life. And that, is what I am experimenting with. I made a program that is nothing but a button. However, the button is picture that I have, which I thought was cool. Even more, it said "Click Me!" And when you did, the program closed.

Pretty Stupid, eh? But it worked. That is the idea. It works. And now, I just need to learn more. Get a few books, figure out what else the program can do for me. And then...then I start to demolish the world!

A New Toy

2007-09-22T22:14:00.000-04:00

I love finding new things to do on my computer. It is what I do. For example, today in Ubuntu, I got a new game going (compiled it from source, with a help of a friend) and I also had a train going across my terminal. It was very exciting. However, this new toy is the best of all. I recently got the idea... actually, I don't know why I decided to search for this. But I wanted to find a way to video tape something happening on my screen. I wanted to capture video of my own computer. So I went and looked. What did I find?

Camstudio.

A freeware software that can record what is happening on the screen. It is simply amazing. I've been messing around with it for about 5 minutes and I already like it. I can video tape my games, I can do anything. ANYTHING. It really is amazing. I recently recorded my friends chat as he typed to me. That was fun. So now, I will be able to make videos and post them here. If, I had anything interesting to Video tape. I wonder how much it can capture....

Fixed Sound

2007-09-20T21:41:00.001-04:00

Blogging while extremely tired never came to anything good. Just some hallucinations But, as the title suggests, I did manage to fix my sound on Vista. Amazingly enough, it was quite simple. Someone has muted it. Muted it. Well, that is interesting, I don't know where they did that. Because long ago I got rid of that sound icon in the task tray. I don't like it clogging up space, and besides, I never use it. All I do is adjust my speak volume. So who the hell went into the computer and muted the sound???? The only thing I can think of is that a program did it, which could be possible, but otherwise... oh well. I'll get back to that later.

I recently got 3 Kubuntu CD's, that makes me happy. I brought one into school and booted up one of the laptops with it. That made me really happy. The school laptops are running Windows XP, so Kubuntu was kinda fun to see running on it. I don't think they liked it though. Oh well... I won't tell.

Dial-Up

2007-09-16T20:26:00.000-04:00

I have DSL. Verizon DSL. It works. I don't really care about my ISP as long as it doesn't fart out on me. So far, Verizon never has, so I haven't really had any complaints. For all I know, all the the technical problems could just be with my computer, or some hardware issue. Not necessarily Verizon's fault.

So, Saturday I went over to a friend's house. Oh, my, god. They don't have DSL. They have Dial-up. I could have cried. What was possibly worse than that was that they were using Internet Explorer. They didn't have Firefox. Mozilla Firefox (I feel like I am promoting businesses here. Don't worry, it is not intentional.) So when I tried to load some web pages, I suddenly not only had to deal with Dial-up being a pain in the ass and slow. But I also had to deal with Dial-Up spending painful minutes loading ads instead of content. That pissed me off. Do you know what else made me sad? He wouldn't let me fix that. Nobody ever seems to let me touch their computers. Damn't. I'm not that mean!!!

Vista, And Why I Hate It.

2007-09-14T17:01:00.000-04:00

My dad insisted on getting Vista. It was the newest Operating System on the market. It would be awesome for our new computer to have Vista. I didn't know much about it. I had done my research, but of course, no one knew much about it. Everyone thought it would be awesome. And so my new computer shipped with Windows Vista Home Premium.

*Deep Breath*

Damn.

Yeah, that was a mistake. Although, I never would have been able to form this opinion if I didn't have Vista. I have so many qualms with Vista. It is disgusting. Now, the important point is that I won't say Vista sucks. No, that is not me. No, I hate Vista. I don't care what your opinion is, but I hate Vista. Hate it. A great reason is the previous post. My sound if f***ed up. I don't even know why. I still haven't bothered to fix it.

So, some points on why I dislike Vista so much compared to Windows XP and Ubuntu. First off, Vista feels like it has to ask my permission for everything. Anything that could possibly affect my computer, it asks my permission for. And the worst part is, when you try to disable, Everyone is like, "Oh no! Don't do that! That you could seriously ***** over your computer!" Stupid permissions. Another thing that ticked me off, is when dual booting my computer with Ubuntu, (that is another story) vista would not load if it recognized another operation system on the computer. It just refused. It was like, "Gasp! Ubuntu! You traitor to Microsoft! I'm not loading! *Pout*" That pissed me off so much. In fact, when I told my friend that Vista refused to load, he said "Fuck this Vista Shit." My new favorite quote.

My annoyances with Vista go on and on. It makes me sad, which is why I'm on Ubuntu right now. Hmmm, I am very interested in OS X though... I think I should tri-boot my computer...

Sound

2007-09-13T17:53:00.000-04:00

You know, I had a great post lined up talking about Vista and how I hate it. But, that is just going to have to wait. Because I have another, more dire, problem. So, I restart Firefox after fixing some Add-ons. iTunes is up. Oh yeah, I opened it. Well, I might as well listen to some music.

Right?

No. I guess not. I click on the first song and wait a moment. No sound. I go to the next song. No sound. I click on a random song. No sound. I close iTunes, go to My Computer, and open a movie. No sound either.

Well that's retarded. What the hell happened to my sound?! I check the wires. Everything appears to be plugged in and have power. This is getting stupider by the moment. (All the while, I am getting more and more angry at Vista). I go and check my hardware (in control Panel). Well Vista claims that my sound is "Working as Intended."

My Response?

Fuck you Vista. I do some more work with Firefox, and restart my computer. I'm getting to the root of all this. I boot into Ubuntu Linux. Log in and open Banshee (Music Player.) I click on the first song. And it plays. It is playing now. Ahhh, sweet sweet music.

Sooo.... what the hell is wrong with Vista? I'll find out. After I play and do homework. Vista, suck my ------.

Internet. Freaking Internet

2007-09-12T17:47:00.000-04:00

Alright, this should be an amusing tale. So, I get a ride home from school. Very nice. I walk into my house, and sit down at my computer. Ahh... good ol' computer. We go way back. Back to... February.

My brother had called from college. He had a task for me to do. Simple, and one that I do quite often. However, it involves me having access to the Internet. And lo and behold, as I log into Ubuntu, my internet doesn't work.

Great. At first I thought it could have been a problem with Ubuntu. Linux, come on, it's not perfect. However, at many times Ubuntu has fared better than Vista has, and I like it much more. But, it will sometimes have its own problems. I restart my computer, and boot into Vista. Internet? No, nothing. Well fuck. Internet is everything. Internet is where I spend my life! I need it!! Hell, I can't update this blog, which allows me to vent my anger without internet. So I dive right in. Fix fix fix. Damn Internet, why won't you work!

And then I had haircuts. Well, I thought, this isn't so bad. My Internet has died before, it's kinda temperamental. So I shut off my modem (DSL, don't worry) and head off to my haircut. I come back an hour later to find my computer mysteriously on. And logged in to my name. Well damn, I should never told my Sister my password. Or how to turn the computer on for that matter.

With vexation I vindicated my vile computer. (I just saw V for Vendetta). I turn the modem on and off. I do all the Vista automatic fixing crap. It didn't do shit. I keep at it for 20 minutes. Nothing. Fine! Be that way. I restart my computer and load into Ubuntu. I try fixing it from there. Nothing. I switch back to Vista, and pick up my phone.

....

I call Verizon.

Okay, "call" is not the correct term. Willfully diving into their nexus of automatic computer systems is more accurate. After an agonizing five minutes, I grab some information that may help. My phone tells me that I should restart my computer with no network hardware plugged in, and then put it back in when the computer is running. I jot down the number of who I could call (at Verizon) and unplug everything.

Restart my computer.

Log into Vista.

Plug everything back in.

It works.

What. The. Fuck. Like, it kinda makes sense, but not really. My computer is always plugged into the internet. Why would it all of a sudden decide not to like it? I don't understand. I don't get it at all. Although, now next time my Internet decides to be constipated, I will be able to fix it much quicker. Either that, or get a new modem.

My Computer

2007-09-11T15:05:00.000-04:00

I like my computer. You will often hear me complaining about it, but in all reality, it is a very nice computer. I like it a lot. I got it this February, after my birthday. I had been begging my dad for a new computer for about a year, and he kept putting it off. "For a Christmas present, after Vista comes out, for your Birthday." Finally he ran out of excuses. I eagerly went online and continued by research into a new computer with a renewed fervor.

My friend had been helping me out a lot before now. He and I would go onto a computer website, customize a computer, and see what it looked like. The only problem with this is that my friend felt that he was vastly superior to me, and he always knew what was best. It went from us picking out a neat computer, to him telling me I don't need that kind of power.

Bull Shit.

You always need more power. More Power! And so I got more power. I will update these specs when I am actually home to check them out (I'm at school posting this) but I believe it went something like this...

2.66 Dual Core Intel Processor
2 GB of DDR2 Ram
7900 Nvidia GeForce Graphics Card
---Sound---
Sony DVD +-RW
500 GB Hard Drive (2 X 250)

I didn't build it. No, instead I customized it off the Dell website. I was kinda vouching for an Alien ware computer, but my dad didn't like the 16,000 dollar price tag. Oh well. It's an XPS Dell, and is very nice.... I got an new sound system, 2.1, which was much better than my old crappy one.

So my Qualms?

Well, I want 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 surround sound for my computer. That would make my iTunes library sound sooooo much better. All those songs would now have a real kick to them. Something that I would really like.

My Monitor sucks. Okay, fine, it doesn't "suck." It does what I need it to. But it is only 17 or so inches. I really need (for optimal gaming experience) a.... let's go with 36" monitor. Yeah, now we are talking. Big. I like big.

Modem. Thank god it is no longer a dial up. That would have caused some Cosmo to explode. Dial up is the equivalent to a anarchist in heaven. It just never should happen. Anyways, my modem will occasionally, and sporadically, over heat itself, and then refuse to connect to the Internet for a period of time. That really sucks when you have things going on base on real time. And if you aren't online, then you should crawl into your corner now.

And yeah, after that, it is just me wishing for a slightly better keyboard, a nicer mouse. All those things will come. They will come.

Drunk Driving

2007-09-10T21:13:00.001-04:00

I'm not literally drunk, just the equivalent. I'm dead tired. And I wasn't driving a car. Just my computer. By the way, never do those two things together. It will most likely get the mouse thrown across the room (funny stories about that!)

So, I was typing away on Word 2007, when I alt-tab to my browser and look at the question again. When I tab back to Word, I found that the entire setup of the page had been changed. What the fuck. I didn't even touch anything. Or, I don't think I did. Word just decided it didn't like my setup and changed it. Something that I wouldn't put past Gates. Of course, it was only a few minutes later that I found out how to switch it back. But still, the point stands, that Word 2007 is unnecessarily hard to use, especially for a non tech person.

And what the hell is up with the new file types on Office 2007 stuff? Xlsx, and Docx? They aren't backwards compatible at all. What the heck was wrong with .Doc? I switched mine so fast it made Microsoft's head spin. Utterly ridiculous.

F***ing School Computers

2007-09-10T16:16:00.000-04:00

I go to CVUHS. Champlain Valley Union High School. It's a good place. I like it there. One of the cool things is that we have a lot of computer power. We have over 4 different computer labs, and over 50 public laptops that you can use for a time. It really makes me happy. Of course, with 1300 kids at one school, you do need a lot of computer power.... that isn't the point.

Back to the amusing anecdote. I was working in one of the computer laps with a friend next to me. He was showing off his shiny 4 GB flash drive as I was diligently typing my French homework on Word 2007. It was going well. Out of habit, (and lucky for it) I saved the document every other line. A paranoia that developed into a incredibly useful habit.

So I was mildly ignoring my friend when he decided to leave. I was almost done my French Homework. He logs off the computer next to me, pulls out his flash drive, and gets up. I save my document.

As I am pressing ctrl+s the screen blacks out. I look at the screen in mild shock. Before my mind figures out what the hell happened to my computer, the screen comes back to life. It is not of Word 2007 and my document. It is of the "Windows XP is shutting down." Faster than I have ever seen a school computer restart, the computer shuts itself down, and then reboots itself.

WTF? I just wanted to save my Document!! What?? How the hell do things like this happen??? I quickly hopped onto my friends now vacant computer, logged in, and checked the document. *Phew.* Mostly saved. I only missed a few sentences.

Why do computers do that to me? I don't even know what the hell happened. It just... died. Kinda like it was tired of me typing French on it. Is French really that bad?

The First Post

2007-09-09T14:48:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess I should really start out somewhere. The first post is definitely the most stupid, and probably the least read post in all of blog-dom. Speaking of which, why the hell did I start a blog. This means I will actually have to update something. Which means *gasp* more work! I don't know why I do this to myself, I already have enough going on.

Anyways, for those of you who will actually read this, I am going to be focusing on computers, and when they fail. In all actuality, this will probably be on long freaking tangent. So if you found this by mistake. It will probably be in your best interest to stop reading. Right now.

Ahhh, the wonderful computer. I love this, I just get to rant. I don't have to have anything planned. If something stupid happens, then I can post it. Ironic though that I am doing this on a computer, while yelling about the computer. My computer is very good. I will post the full specs later, but I am very proud about my computer. It is a dell.... which reminds me... I had some fun with a Dell employee a few days ago. That was hilarious. Ah, the things I can talk about. I will do all of that later though. Because now, I have other stuff to do. More efficient ways to waste my life. Hmm , that would be a good quote...

"The Invention of the PC allowed thousands of people around the world waste more of their life more efficiently."

That should be a Farside. Or a Virtruvia Comic.