techTuesday, July 20, 2004
Ok, I'm going to randomly add posts about cool software that I've known about for a while, but maybe don't use regularly or plan to use anytime soon.
This one I do plan to use someday, but just not until after I've built my new computer and maybe a few more after that.
Synergy is basically a software KMV switch, but without the V part. KMV = Keyboard Mouse Video and one of these switches lets you hook one keyboard, mouse, and monitor up to two or more computers and then switch control and display between them while they are both running... it's a cheap and easy way to use two computers at once.
This software lets you do the same thing, over a network. There's no hardware switch involved, the keyboard and mouse are just hooked into one of the computers and the computers are networked somehow, then you just install the software on both computers, set the server up on the one with the keyboard and mouse and set the client up on the other one so that it connects to the server. It works between operating systems (linux on one and windows on the other). It works pretty well - You don't notice any lag or anything. It can be setup to control any number of computers with a single keyboard/mouse. Currently it only works in gui mode (requires an X server in linux), and doesn't work in plain text mode.
There are plans to make it work in text mode and to add video switching as well.
This one I do plan to use someday, but just not until after I've built my new computer and maybe a few more after that.
Synergy is basically a software KMV switch, but without the V part. KMV = Keyboard Mouse Video and one of these switches lets you hook one keyboard, mouse, and monitor up to two or more computers and then switch control and display between them while they are both running... it's a cheap and easy way to use two computers at once.
This software lets you do the same thing, over a network. There's no hardware switch involved, the keyboard and mouse are just hooked into one of the computers and the computers are networked somehow, then you just install the software on both computers, set the server up on the one with the keyboard and mouse and set the client up on the other one so that it connects to the server. It works between operating systems (linux on one and windows on the other). It works pretty well - You don't notice any lag or anything. It can be setup to control any number of computers with a single keyboard/mouse. Currently it only works in gui mode (requires an X server in linux), and doesn't work in plain text mode.
There are plans to make it work in text mode and to add video switching as well.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Microchannels and Electrokinetic water pumps are the future of Microprocessor cooling.
If you ever get sick of Internet Explorer crashing all the time or not displaying pages properly or the crappy interface, try Mozilla Firefox. It's an open source browser that's more W3C compliant than Internet Explorer - Microsoft pretty much just ignores the standards and does it however they want.
Give it a try. It's free.
Give it a try. It's free.
The GIMP is an open source image manipulation program - something like Photoshop, but free. It's every bit as powerful as Photoshop and free to use. You should try it. Take the link above for the windows version. I assume that anyone using Linux already knows about the GIMP and where to get the latest version.
I want a small footprint computer. I'm more concerned with portability than performance, but I don't need a laptop. I want a full sized keyboard and monitor, and I don't plan to be taking it everywhere with me.
Antec has a new microATX cube case. It's similar to the XPC's from Shuttle, but I don't know if you can buy an XPC case without the motherboard (proprietary form factor), so you're stuck with the options that Shuttle offers. It looks like they have some pretty good ones though. Antec uses the microATX form factor and their cube case can take 4 full height expansion cards. The XPC that I'm looking at only has 1 pci and 1 agp.
Antec Aria review from The Tech Report
Aria review from Maximum PC (PDF)
Aria review from PimpRig.com
Antec has a new microATX cube case. It's similar to the XPC's from Shuttle, but I don't know if you can buy an XPC case without the motherboard (proprietary form factor), so you're stuck with the options that Shuttle offers. It looks like they have some pretty good ones though. Antec uses the microATX form factor and their cube case can take 4 full height expansion cards. The XPC that I'm looking at only has 1 pci and 1 agp.
Antec Aria review from The Tech Report
Aria review from Maximum PC (PDF)
Aria review from PimpRig.com
Uhm, I don't own a computer
I sold my PC a few months ago. So I don't have my own computer anymore. I just use other people's computer do do my email and blogs.
This means that I'm not going to be doing much tinkering with PC hardware (which is really what this blog is about). So don't expect many new posts here until I start building a new computer. I'm thinking of a small-footprint, semi-portable Desktop. And of course an LCD monitor - Did you ever try lugging a 17" crt monitor all across the country. I have, and that's one of the reasons I sold the thing. Plus I've decided to give up video games completely, so why do I need a computer.
I'll add posts as I occasionally browse the internet for ideas on building my new computer. But I can tell you now that it's not going to be built any time soon, so the posts will probably be few and far between.
This means that I'm not going to be doing much tinkering with PC hardware (which is really what this blog is about). So don't expect many new posts here until I start building a new computer. I'm thinking of a small-footprint, semi-portable Desktop. And of course an LCD monitor - Did you ever try lugging a 17" crt monitor all across the country. I have, and that's one of the reasons I sold the thing. Plus I've decided to give up video games completely, so why do I need a computer.
I'll add posts as I occasionally browse the internet for ideas on building my new computer. But I can tell you now that it's not going to be built any time soon, so the posts will probably be few and far between.