Lots of fun and expenses have struck again: I had to buy a new car battery and the cheapest was only 395 Rand. Together with other expenses this month that comes down to the point that I will have to yet again use my emergency funds until end of month and I only managed to put 200 Rand towards PC upgrades, which by now have been delayed by yet another month.
At this rate the upgrades will only be next year since I also have to finance another bus trip and another car service.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
TV Tuner and modem issues
Last night was another round of pain when installing hardware and software.
The Linux isntallation went smooth, except for the expected non-booting of Windows, which was easily rectify in /etc/lilo.conf by changing /dev/hdb1 to /dev/hda1.
Multiple different applications could immediately use my TV tuner card without problems. The modem drivers need some files for compiling which I haven't got yet.
Installing the TV tuner in Windows was a major hassle, especially when that stupid annoying baloon help pops up every few seconds "New Hardware Found". ):-(
The modem installation worked at least smoothly. Afterwards I found that the ancient TV tuner viewer which responds to the remote actually works better and starts a _lot_ faster than the totally buggy PowerVCR2 Version 3.
The Linux isntallation went smooth, except for the expected non-booting of Windows, which was easily rectify in /etc/lilo.conf by changing /dev/hdb1 to /dev/hda1.
Multiple different applications could immediately use my TV tuner card without problems. The modem drivers need some files for compiling which I haven't got yet.
Installing the TV tuner in Windows was a major hassle, especially when that stupid annoying baloon help pops up every few seconds "New Hardware Found". ):-(
The modem installation worked at least smoothly. Afterwards I found that the ancient TV tuner viewer which responds to the remote actually works better and starts a _lot_ faster than the totally buggy PowerVCR2 Version 3.
Monday, July 19, 2004
Rental enquiry
On Friday I added two costumes to my list of frequently requested costumes (for which I had to wait six months). And today (Monday) I already got a request for those. Hopefully my small costume renting business gets mre customers now.
http://costumerental.bkernst.net/
http://costumerental.bkernst.net/
Weekend laning issues
This previous weekend was another bad disaster, first on my PC the profiles were gone, after a few moemory dumps, one minute reboots (lsass related) and other issues.
I checked for virues, found none, no spyware, and no other weird stuff sitting on my PC. Currently I am suspecting hardware. I even checked for a lot of common viruses which the virus scanners don't pick up. At 2AM, I decided to reinstall Windows and fell asleep, so I continued that in the morning. At around 12 I had all the basic stuff installed, so I started getting ready to visit my possinle future brother in-law for a LAN party/session. Many hours of UT2004 later, I got my PC into my car and tried to start the car: nothing. The lights still worked, so I thought it could be the starter. Since there was a downhill, I could easily get the car started in the second gear, and drove home. At home, the car did start since there was still a charge in the battery. The next day it wouldn't start again, so I checked the battery water which was quite empty. After filling that I hooked up the battery charger and continued with the hardware installation of my PC while waiting. At least now the car starts fine. In the afternoon I drove to a friend to continue on Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction on Hell difficulty. Then I discovered that my most recent saved characters are gone, so I had to replay a short piece, due to my frequent backups. This evening I still have to install the modem, tv tuner card and Linux.
I checked for virues, found none, no spyware, and no other weird stuff sitting on my PC. Currently I am suspecting hardware. I even checked for a lot of common viruses which the virus scanners don't pick up. At 2AM, I decided to reinstall Windows and fell asleep, so I continued that in the morning. At around 12 I had all the basic stuff installed, so I started getting ready to visit my possinle future brother in-law for a LAN party/session. Many hours of UT2004 later, I got my PC into my car and tried to start the car: nothing. The lights still worked, so I thought it could be the starter. Since there was a downhill, I could easily get the car started in the second gear, and drove home. At home, the car did start since there was still a charge in the battery. The next day it wouldn't start again, so I checked the battery water which was quite empty. After filling that I hooked up the battery charger and continued with the hardware installation of my PC while waiting. At least now the car starts fine. In the afternoon I drove to a friend to continue on Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction on Hell difficulty. Then I discovered that my most recent saved characters are gone, so I had to replay a short piece, due to my frequent backups. This evening I still have to install the modem, tv tuner card and Linux.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
The under construction darkness tunnel
The fun continues at the new chemical engineering building at the UCT since the building still needs to be completed. I got there early for the usual CLUG meeting and somebody tried to set the light so that they don't blind everybody. After pressing a few non-functioning and non-descripted buttons, there was a delay, and then the room was suddenly pitch black.
Later once the talk about tunneling with Linux started, the lights wouldn't respond at all, so we all ended up being blinded rather nicely.
I head something very interesting about the major overhead of Microsoft's PPTP, which explains why my already slow dial-up internet connection is so slow, due to the huge amount of wasted bandwidth.
Another thing to note is that after two years I finally got some piece of clothing that I ordered a while ago. Good quality always takes times.
B. K. E.
Later once the talk about tunneling with Linux started, the lights wouldn't respond at all, so we all ended up being blinded rather nicely.
I head something very interesting about the major overhead of Microsoft's PPTP, which explains why my already slow dial-up internet connection is so slow, due to the huge amount of wasted bandwidth.
Another thing to note is that after two years I finally got some piece of clothing that I ordered a while ago. Good quality always takes times.
B. K. E.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Memory dumps
Yesterday, luck struck again with a new set of weird things happening on my PC.
First the sound acceleration were modified, then a memory dump happened, then Windows got stuck for a long time on startup. Before the login screen a message about a memory dump appeared followed by me having to set a long scandisk event.
Maybe a full format is requried, but the timing is bad due to the upcoming weekend.
B. K. E.
First the sound acceleration were modified, then a memory dump happened, then Windows got stuck for a long time on startup. Before the login screen a message about a memory dump appeared followed by me having to set a long scandisk event.
Maybe a full format is requried, but the timing is bad due to the upcoming weekend.
B. K. E.
Monday, July 05, 2004
ISP dial-up connection issues related to Windows XP
Last week my trusty PC (running Linux) with my modem died. Until that PC is rebuilt, I attempted to move the modem to another PC (running Windows XP Professional). Windows XP had a hard time detecing an installing my old modem, and he modem had problems in any case, so I bought a new one.
With both modems I tried to connect to the internet (two different ISPs). In both cases the exact same error code. One modem was internal, one modem was external on USB.
My ISP made an effort to help, but still no luck.
I woldn't be surprised if I have to enable some redundent service to get my internet connection to work. This problem has never occured in Linux, but the 'user-f(r)iendly' Windows gives these issues.
B. K. E.
With both modems I tried to connect to the internet (two different ISPs). In both cases the exact same error code. One modem was internal, one modem was external on USB.
My ISP made an effort to help, but still no luck.
I woldn't be surprised if I have to enable some redundent service to get my internet connection to work. This problem has never occured in Linux, but the 'user-f(r)iendly' Windows gives these issues.
B. K. E.
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