Hardware & Software updates…

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Mark Urbin

Haven’t posted in a while, so going to touch a few different topics.

First off, an Apple Watch update. I ran my series 1 for four years. Upgraded to a Series 5 mainly for battery life. I was going on vacation, and didn’t want to worry about it running out of power while I was out and about for the day. I was happy with the 5. That was the last one that didn’t support blood oxygen monitoring. Didn’t worry too much about that since I already a fingertip blood oxygen and pulse reader. I ran that for four years also. I did not get the Series 9. Went for the Ultra 2. The Ultra 2 is a beast. It’s big but I really do appreciate the larger battery. I can run it all day, collect sleep data, and then just pop it on a charger for 10-15 minutes in the morning to get back to an 80% charge. I also like the larger display, especially with simple analog watch faces. Fully expect to run this for at least four years.

I got a M1 MacBook. My last one was coming up on a decade of use. It still runs, and is a viable laptop. I still use it, but the M1 is a whole new experience. I got it with extra RAM and large SSD, since I plan on using that as long as I ran the Intel based one. One of the reasons I like the MacBooks is that they are bloody tanks. The hardware is rock solid, and the OS is stable. The M1 runs Baldur’s Gate 3 just as well as my Windows 10 tower with an i9 CPU. There are times I’m tempted to make the M1 MacBook my primary system instead of my Windows tower system.

I’ve got a pair of 27″ 4K monitors, which the MacBook drives nicely. One is a direct USB C connection (which also supplies power), and the other is connected to a USB C dongle via HDMI. The dongle also where the Ethernet cable is connected. Also picked up a Mac centric keyboard and mouse. Both are Logi products. The keyboard is a MX Mechanical, with the number pad and the extra loud clicky goodness. The mouse is the MX Master S3 for the Mac. Really please with both. The mouse tracks reliably on the black surface of my desk more reliably than the Apple Magic Mouse. YMMV, but it works for me.

Yes, I’m still running Windows 10. Thankfully the system I built a few years ago doesn’t have a TPM. So I rarely get the annoying ‘you need to upgrade your hardware to install the OS I don’t want’ messages from Microsoft. I had to use a Windows 11 system for a few weeks and I did not enjoy the experience. I’ve collected a lot of data over the years, and it’s stored on my homebuilt tower system. When I do a search, that is where I want to focus, not the Interwebs. I certainly don’t want search results for products someone is paying Microsoft put at the top of the list. I figured out quickly how to remove the new search button that is located where the Start button used to be. That improved my experience right away. Another ‘feature’ I didn’t like was that I couldn’t remote desktop to the Windows 11 system using the Microsoft remote desktop app on my Mac. I had to remote desktop to my Windows 10 system, and then remote desktop from there to the Windows 11 system. Probably some sort of ‘security’ setting that Microsoft has buried somewhere. I didn’t take the time to figure it out. Just stopped using the Windows 11 system. The only actually useful feature I found was tabs in File Explorer. Something MacOS has for years.

My opinion on Windows 11 is that Microsoft is trying to take us back to the days of the Mainframe and terminals. They want all your data in their cloud, where they can generate a continuing revenue stream. Personally, I’m not fond of this concept. There are multiple good reasons for the distributed data and processor concept, not all of which are technical. I’m old enough to remember when desktop personal computers on a LAN killed the microcomputer industry, and why.

Filed under: Apple, Gadget, Microsoft, Operating Systems, Windows 10 | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

LINUX skills

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Mark Urbin

I started interacting with UNIX systems before Linux came out. I have never been a LINUX developer though. I’ve had at least LINUX box up and operating for a couple decades. They are handy to have around and useful for odd tasks. The GUI’s have come a long way, but as a UNIX admin told me mumble years ago, “If you aren’t using the command line, you’re doing it wrong.”

If you want to improve your LINUX skills, here is a good, and relatively cheap method. Pick up a Raspberry Pi, load Raspbian LINUX (or Ubuntu is another option), and work your way through “The LINUX Command Line by William Shotts.

I’m going with Raspbian. This way you can learn to fill in the gaps (example: no ‘cal’ command, so it’s ‘sudo apt install ncal’ for you).

Filed under: Geek Skills, LINUX, Operating Systems | Tagged: | Leave a comment »

How to enable the start menu in Windows 8

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Mark Urbin

As a follow up to my earlier post on Windows 8.

This requires the use of regedit. Pretty straightforward though.

Filed under: Microsoft, Operating Systems | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

Why Windows 8 will fail

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Mark Urbin

Oh, and fail it will. Big time.  The single driving issue behind its approaching and certain failure is the Metro Desktop.

Metro clearly defined as a touch screen interface and it is just bloody awful to use with a mouse and keyboard.  Really, it’s truly horrible.

To make it worse, you can’t launch your apps from the desktop, unless you pin them to the taskbar or use a third party app launcher.

Yes, that’s right.  You will have to use a third party app launcher because the idiots at Microsoft have been drinking their own marketing Kool-Aid ™ and have removed the start menu from the desktop.

Now if you are one of those people who think Facebook (where you are the product) is the entirety of the Internet, then you will probably be cool with Metro.

Here is a video that makes it pretty clear that Microsoft expects Windows 8 users to buy new hardware.  Expensive hardware with hardware graphics accelerators and touch screen monitors.

Didn’t these clowns learn anything from Vista?

If the new OS requires expensive new hardware, corporate customers are not going to want to adopt.  Why should they? Windows 7 (or XP for those who are still using it) runs their applications, the employees know how to use it, and they don’t have to spend money on new hardware.

In case the Microsoft execs haven’t noticed, the economy is still bad, and companies are looking for ways to cut costs.  IT is not going to sign off on new hardware just so the rank & file employees can directly access Twitter and Angry Birds from the Metro Desktop.

Windows 7 was a nice apology for Vista, but it looks like Windows 8 will be the reincarnation of Vista.

Good luck with that.

Filed under: Microsoft, Operating Systems | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Lowest cost Android tablet on the market

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Mark Urbin

Currently I would have to say that title belongs to the Nook.  Ya, ya…Barnes & Noble tells you it that it just an ebook reader, but it’s running a crippled version of Android that you can root pretty easily.

It’s pretty straightforward, and you can find just about everything you need at nookDevs. Once you are done, you can load multiple ebook readers, including B&N’s android app!

Downside, no camera and no Bluetooth.

Upside, no monthly service fees!

Disclaimer: In case this wasn’t obviously clear, rooting your Nook is not warranty friendly.

Filed under: Android, Gadget, Google, Open Source, Operating Systems, tablet | Tagged: , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Mucking with Android

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Mark Urbin

I’ve started to muck with Android. Details to follow.

Filed under: Android, Gadget, Google, Operating Systems | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

I’ve taken the Windows 7 plunge

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Mark Urbin

I’ve got Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on my desktop and copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit on my laptop.  I’m pretty happy so far, the plug and play works quite well, with a couple of noticable exceptions.

First off is my Wireless Laser Desktop 3000 keyboard, which I’m not using to type this because the damn thing is missing keystrokes, which it never did when I was running XP.  Top that off with none of the fancy extra keys work running under Windows 7.  Yes, I did to Microsoft and downloaded the latest drivers, which are listed as Windows 7 compatible.  Annoyance factor is high here, even more so because it is bloody Microsoft hardware.

The second is my Microtek scanner.  It’s a few years old and is still in great shape.  Microtek support claims it will work if you jump though the right hoops in the right order during install.  I haven’ t tried their latest series of hoops yet.

Third is my Bose Companion 5 speakers.  I love these things.  Great sound, but every time Windows 7 finds something it doesn’t like and asks me if it’s OK to run, not only does the screen dim, but it kills the sound! I have to power cycle the Bose system to get my sound back. My work around has to been to hook my iPhone up to the speakers and play the music loaded on that.  A bit of bummer since it is a subset of the music loaded on my desktop.

I’ve got a few old games that won’t run under Window 7 (64 bit) either, but I don’t play them that often anyway.   I’ve got an old desktop that was running a RC version of Win7 that I should scrub and load XP on to deal with stray stuff like that.

Filed under: Microsoft, Operating Systems, Windows7 | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

The Droid

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Mark Urbin

Verizon has finally gotten what could a be a viable iPhone replacement.  A phone running the latest version of Google’s Andorid OS and a growing supply of applitions.

I haven’t got my hands on one yet, but I’ve read a few reviews that state it stands up quite well in head to head comparisons with the iPhone.  The biggest complaint I’ve heard is that the iPhone has a much deeper pool of applications available.  Not suprising, but I expect the number of Android apps to grow quickly.

Verizon is also pushing its much wider 3G coverage heavily, but it’s still not a GSM network.  That topic has been discussed here, and I’m sure it will again, but I’m still a fan of GSM networks.  It is my opinion that Verizon is going to have to bite that bullet sooner or later.

The Droid phone and its OS have another advantage, open source.  The iPhone is locked down tight by Apple.  It controls your apps, what they can do, and how much data you can transfer over the cell phone network.  An Android based phone, with a SIM slot, is much more flexible.

Filed under: Android, Apple, cell phone tech, Gadget, Google, iPhone, Operating Systems, Smart Phone | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

New toys

Posted on September 6, 2009 by Mark Urbin

I recently got my nerdy paws a pair of Asus Eee PC netbooks. (Thanks John!)  These are the ones running LINUX off solid state drives.

I’ve got one updating, but the 4 Gig system drive on the other is full, and I’m going to have to find a way to clean that up.

Filed under: Gadget, LINUX, netbook, Operating Systems | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

I called the Chrome OS back in October

Posted on July 8, 2009 by Mark Urbin

Google announced an OS based on Chrome, this is supposed be a seperate OS than Android, which is already shipping on smartphones and has been ported to netbooks.

The Chrome OS is based on open source LINUX code, and Google plans on freely distributing the OS. This can’t make Microsoft very happy.

Back in October 2008, I noticed that Chrome had the potential to be a thin layer OS.

One of the exisiting theories is that Chrome is the first componet of a Google OS.  Chrome is supposed to be the interface to the applications.  If you look under the hood of Chrome, it is built more like an OS than a browser.

All it will need is a thin layer to access the hardware (boot, and then interface with video/storage/audio/periferal I/O(USB for a start)/network interfaces)  and it’s pretty much good to go.

This would a thin client model with most of the applications out in the cloud, and as much of the data. as well.

Filed under: Google, Open Source, Operating Systems | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

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