Technology Thoughts

my wall

2010-08-01T09:45:00.001-07:00

trying out shozu for iphone

HP DV2000 with Mac OSX Leopard

2008-12-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

My first post on PICOThoughts has been about my experience with my first hackintosh machine. Well, now it's time for my second hackintosh, my HP Pavillion DV2275. Firstly, lets list the hardware:

Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz

3GB DDR II Ram

Connexant High Definition Audio (Working with AppleAzalia Patch)

Intel GMA950 Graphic(Works OOB)

Built in Bluetooh(Works somewhat after editing IOBluetoothFamily.kext)

Built in Wifi - Intel 3945ABG (Doesn't Work)

DVD-RW

Card Reader

This time round, i'm using iDeneb instead of Kalyway to get straight to 10.5.5 without the hassle of updating. After 7 failed install, manage to boot into Leopard after choosing the ACPI fix in iDeneb custom installation option.

After first successful boot i found that the wireless, LAN, DVD-RW and sound is not working. To get the sound working, i have to install appleazalia patch then repair permission and reboot. As for the wifi, Intel 3945 is not yet supported by the hackintosh community, so i decided to get a Dell 1490 with Broadcom 4311 Chipset on ebay for less than a tenner. To be able to use the DVD, i follow this tutorial to install driver for jmicron Drive.

After a while using the laptop i realize that my battery icon is not there and i can't use internet sharing (HTC Tytn II) though bluetooth with my laptop. I can't remember where the tutorial for fixing the battery status but it's just replacing ApplePowerManagement kext with a correct one.

As for bluetooth, i use this tutorial to edit IOBluetoothFamily.kext. After reboot, i can successfully share my HSDPA connection with my HackBook. The only problem is after each reboot, the bluetooth is automatically turn off. I have to go to Prefecences-->Mouse and Keyboard-->Bluetooth-->Set New Device. Then select turn on Bluetooth Connectivity and close the dialog box. A bit annoying but i don't use bluetooth that often so, it's alright for me. Don't do the hack if you want to use bluetooth keyboard or mouse. HID device works fine without the hack, i only did it for internet sharing.

Now i have dual boot HackBook / Vista using both Vista and Darwin BootLoader. Need to figure out how to fix that next. Here i'm listing essential software i use on my HackBook.

Logmein - Remote Desktop

Dropbox - Sync Backup

Mail Sync with Gmail

Ecto - Blogging

VLC - Media Player

Adium - Instant Messaging

Firefox - Browser

Address Book Sync with Google through GSync Address Book

ICal Sync with Google through CalDAV.

Cyberduck - FTP Client

CSSEdit - CSS Editor

GarageSale - Ebay

IPhoto - Photo Manager - Until google to release Picasa for Mac

Transmission - Torrent Client

ZImbra - Yahoo Email Client

Tired of waiting for my CarPC... Just buy this one...

2008-11-18T15:10:00.001-08:00

Stealth Computer has announced a new mini-PC designed for in-vehicle, mobile and embedded applications

[From Stealth Announces In-Vehicle MiniPC]

Video Conversation from within Gmail

2008-11-11T13:05:00.001-08:00

From viewing videos on YouTube to screening family events, people love being able to watch something exactly as it happened. And as webcams have become popular, more and more of us are realizing that video is the next best thing to an in-person conversation. Today we're introducing Gmail voice and video chat, which lets you have free voice and video conversations right from within Gmail.

Video chatting from Gmail is as easy as sending an instant message. With our team spread out across Google offices in Sweden and the U.S., it's been really handy in helping us work together. Just click on the new "Video & more" menu in a Gmail chat window and select "Start video chat" or "Start voice chat." You can switch to a full screen view or pop out the chat window and change the size and positioning as you wish. Of course, not everyone has a webcam, but even if you don't, you can still have voice conversations alongside your email and regular chat. Take a look at this short video to see more:

Gmail voice and video chat will be rolled out globally over the next day or so for Macs and PCs. The first time you use this feature, you'll be prompted to download and install a small plugin. To get started, visit http://www.gmail.com/videochat or click on the "Options" menu in a Gmail chat window and choose "Add voice/video chat." Find out more on our Gmail Blog.

Posted by Serge Lachapelle, Product Manager, Stockholm

[From Talk face-to-face right from within Gmail]

The Twitter Twit

2008-11-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

I'm trying out twitter again after i saw Adam being the top 5 in Coventry. I don't quite understand what's the buzz is all about with twitter. I don't think it's famous among malaysian. I know that because i try to search for twiiter user within my emails but the only one that came up is Adam. No wonder he's top five twitter user in Coventry. I've sign up for twitter a few weeks ago but doesn't quite understand what it's all about until i watch the video tutorial on their website.

Basically it's a site where you update your current status, in the form of answering a question, "What are you doing?". SImilar to how you update your custom status on Yahoo messenger, Adium or MSN Messenger. Some might ask, why should i use twitter if i already have yahoo messenger for that. Well, twitter is all over the web now. You can sync your twitter message in Facebok or even yahoo messgener and adium. This make is easier for us. I can just update my status on twitter and it will show up on Adium, Yahoo Messenger and my Facebook. You can even send your blog to twitter using their add-on plugin.

For those interested in syncing their twitter with yahoo messenger, you can use twitter sync messegger. I personally haven't try this but i would say it's very straight forward. I have tried twitteradium to sync with Adium and it's working quite well.

For those interested to know more about twitter, head to their website and watch the video tutorial.

The Onion Takes a At Crack Comparing OS X Snow Leopard and Windows 7 [Humor]

2008-11-09T15:11:00.001-08:00

Will [From The Onion Takes a At Crack Comparing OS X Snow Leopard and Windows 7 [Humor]]

Media Player Portable Hard Disk Drive

2008-11-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

Just got this for a friend of mine. It's a 2.5" Portable Hard Disk Drive Media Player. It's essentially a 2.5" portable HDD casing with built in capability to play videos, picture and music on your TV or monitor. It even comes with a remote control.

This casing bought from Hong Kong through Ebay comes with a video cable, usb cable, power supply, manual, small scredriver, 4 screws and a remote control. The hard disk has to be bought separately but i'm sure there are some other people selling this on ebay complete with the harddisk.

Basically, with this portable player you don't need to burn your media on a CD to be able to play it on your TV screen or monitor. You can copy your media straight onto the disk (just like a normal removable drive) using the USB cable and play it directly on your tv screen using the RCA(yellow, red, white) cable. It supports many media format such as MPG, MPEG, MP4, AVI, MP3, and JPG. Being a media player, it doesn't mean you can only put media files on here, you can backup all your files on this portable hard disk just like you would on a normal portable HDD.

Here's the inside of the casing. As you can see it has a mini usb connector, 5V connector, VGA connector and two green connector which is the RCA and Audio connector. It also have a SD card slot if you want to play media straight from your SD card. If you want to play your movie using a monitor, it can be connected directly to a monitor without the tower. This is useful if you have LCD TV with VGA connector. As for audio, the audio connector can be use to connect to any standard speaker.

The only problem i have with the casing is pre-formatting the harddisk for use. When i first plug this harddisk, my PC doesn't even recognize it as a removable drive. I have to format the harddisk using another USB to IDE converter to be able to use it. It has to be formatted as FAT32 otherwise it won't be recognize by the software. Just in case somebody is wondering, yes there is a SATA version available.

I've tested it on both TV screen and Monitor and it works wonderfully well. Easy to navigate and very quick. Anybody interested can search for them on ebay.

Car Project : Part 2, Hardware

2008-10-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

I've manage to get all the hardware for my car PC. Here are the hardware spec for my car pc:

MAINBOARD - Intel D201GLY2

For this project, i use Intel Mini-ITX D201GLY2 measuring just 6.75"x 6.75". It has built in graphic, sound and network which makes it suitable for this purpose. It also has 1 pci slot for expansion but i'm not planning to use it since i'm trying to make this pc as small as possible. This motherboards comes with an Intel Celeron 1.2Ghz Processor which is not that bad. But the heatsink could have been a bit better though. The temperature idles between 55 C to 60 C. I'm now looking for a 40mm CPU fan to cool it down a little. This mainboard has 2 back USB with 4 optional connection. I'm using 2 on the internal usb connection for my bluetooth and wifi adaptor.

Memory - 1GB DDR2 RAM

Nothing much to say about this one. Just a standard 1GB DDR2 RAM. The motherboard only have one RAM slot so if i want to upgrade, i have to replace the ram with a bigger one.

Power Supply - Pico PSU 60W supply by 12V 5A Adaptor

Since i'm trying to make his as small as possile, i've chosen the smallest PSU i've ever seen. It doesn't get any smaller than this. Got this off ebay for less than a standard PSU. It can only supply 60W at 12V (5A) though but that should be enough for my use. It has a standard 20pin power socket with 4 pin 12V power supply. Comes with one 4 pin harddisk power supply. The only problem i had was the weird 2.1mm DC power connector doesn't seem to fit any of the power supply i had. I had to buy a replacement 2.1mm DC Socket to replace this connector.The original 2.1mm DC Socket on the left. Looks the same but just doesn't fit.

Harddisk- 80GB IDE Laptop Harddisk with IDE Converter

To make this pc even smaller, i've opted for a laptop 2.5" harddisk instead of standard 3.5" harddisk. I have two main reason why i wanted a laptop harddisk. Firstly, it's lighter and smaller which helps me in achieving my purpose, a small car pc. Secondly, it has lower power consumption which is very important because i only had 60W to play with. I use a 3.5" to 2.5" IDE converter to be able to use this harddisk.

Display - 7" Tevion DVD Player Monitor with Built in Speaker

Some might wonder why i'm using a DVD player as my monitor. Well, firstly, this is already available in my tool box, which means i don't have to spend an extra £50 just for a monitor. Secondly, the dvd part of this player is broken. Doesn't play DVD anymore. So, might as well use this as a monitor instead. It has a built in speaker which translate to less component in the system. It accept standard RCA connection(Yellow connector) for the video which means i need to have RCA output from the motherboard. The only problem is , in the motherboard manual, it says, S-Video is optional. That means i have to find the connection and make it usable and then convert that to a RCA video output. I'll get more into this in my next post.

Communication- Wifi, Bluetooth, 3G

For wifi, i use a BT Voyager 1055 usb dongle connected to an on board 9 pin USB connection. The semicircle looking dongle in the picture is the USB Bluetooth dongle. It is very small and it works with microsoft built in driver. Will be using bluetooth for my wireless mouse and possibly internet sharing through my Tytn II. Another option for 3G connection is using USB connection to my Tytn II.

Keyboard and Mouse - USB Mini Keyboard with Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse

Last but not least, i use Microsoft bluetooth mouse and a mini keyboard as an input method. If everything goes well, i might consider placing a touch screen over the DVD player monitor. See how well this project goes.

Well, that's it for the hardware. My next post about this project would be the s-video connections. How to make it usable on the motherboard and converting it to RCA output. Stay tune.

Pocket PC Mag Software Award 2008 Results

2008-10-04T13:07:00.001-07:00

For all pocket pc fan, the annual Pocketpcmag.com Software award results for 2008 is out. It's amazing the number of nominated categories compared to last year. It's also nice to see some software develop by www.xda-developer.com here. I've just finish browsing through all the categories. Definitely more software choices for us Pocket PC fan, and i believe much more to come next year. It would be interesting to see how long it will take for the Android community to overcome Microsoft Windows Mobile.

Car PC Project : Introduction

2008-10-03T17:36:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to make my own car PC for years. I've stumbled upon pico itx motherboard the other day when surfing the net. That is what triggered this project. I've look on ebay for pico itx motherboard but they are way too expensive for me. I've settled with an Intel mini itx motherboard. I'll be sharing my experience making the car PC over the next few days, or weeks.

When i started this project, my wife didn't really approved of it. She said what is so good about having a PC in a car? This really make me thinks, really hard. I mean, really, what is so good about having a PC in a car. What would i use it for? For GPS, nah , I've got my HTC Tytn II for that. For internet and email, nah, i've got my HTC Tytn II for that. To watch movie in the car, nah, i still got my HTC Tytn II for that. Wait, why would i want to watch tv or movie in the car, I'm suppose to be driving. Come to think of it, i can do all the things i want with my 'small pc', the Tytn II. It just seems like a great idea a few years ago, when 3G Smartphone are not so popular.

What the heck.... i've got all the parts and now am ready to built one. Lets just built one for the fun of it. No other reason. The only good thing i can think of is that i'll have a bigger screen than my HTC Tytn II.

Stay tune for Part II. To be continued............

Yahoo Messenger 9 (Windows Only)

2008-09-24T01:17:00.001-07:00

Yahoo Messenger 9.0 is already out for windows. Mac user still stuck with YM 3.0 Beta. I guess i'll be using Adium for now. You can read more about it here. It does look bettter than version 8.0.

(Credit to CNET Networks)

Firefox 3.02 is out!!!

2008-09-24T01:08:00.001-07:00

Updates for firefox 3.02 is ready for download.

Firefox 3.0.2 contains the following updates:

* Fixed several security issues. * Fixed several stability issues. * Official releases for Sinhala and Slovene are now available. * Beta releases for Bengali, Galician, Hindi, Icelandic, Kannada, Marathi, Telegu, and Thai are available for testing. * Fixed a number of minor issues with the layout of certain web pages. * Fixed several theme issues that affected right-to-left locales. * Fixed issue that caused some users with customized toolbars to have their Back and Forward buttons go missing(bug 426026) * Add new Extended Validation (EV) roots to Firefox 3.0.2. * On certain IDN sites, the password manager would not fill in username and password details properly. * Fixed several hangs and crashes that occurred when using screen readers. * Fixed Mac-specific issues: o Keyboard shortcuts would stop working in some cases. o Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Indic characters can not be entered (using IME) into text fields in Flash objects (bug 357670) o Firefox 3.0.1 could not be used when the user profile is stored on an AFP directory (bug 417037) o See the Firefox 3.0.1 release notes for previous changes.

Google Android G1 Video

2008-09-23T22:44:00.001-07:00

A little Video Ad for Google Android T-Mobile G1.

Android Push Gmail, is it worth it?

2008-09-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

Android is out. The rumors about the google powered device that circulate the web months before it's release are mostly true. It's a T-Mobile branded device by HTC named T-Mobile G1. Specs include Qualcomm 528Mhz which is not the fastest processor around. Screen size also moderate at HVGA 320 x 480. A VGA would make it so much better. Memory is on the low side at 64 MB RAM / 128 MB ROM. Communication protocol includes WIfi and Bluetooth. It looks like the G1 specs is more or less the same as currently available mobile on the market. Nothing special here.

However the fact that google is integrating it's google apps into Android is quite interesting. What does this mean? Well, Gmail now is real push instead of Imap. Android also provide almost realtime sync for Google Calendar. If you're really into Google Apps, then i would say this phone is for you. In fact, anyone who buy this phone must be a google fan. You need a google account to activate the phone and no native sync with outlook or exchange. In my opinion, if push mail is the only concern when getting a new phone, the android is not your only choice. Many companies are offering sync solution with google for S60 or WIndows Mobile. I personally use GooSync and have a lifetime subscription. There's also OggSync which i never tested because i'm happy with the way GooSync handle my contact and calendar. I've also tested the mobile me 60 day trial but cancel it shortly afterwards since i don't see any reason to pay $99 a year for a syncing solution knowing that there are many other free offering available.

As of now, i don't see any reason to like the android. It seems like i can do everything it can and more with my HTC Tytn II. When a better spec android device is here, i might take another look, but for now i'll stick to my Tytn II.

My Hackintosh Experience

2008-09-21T16:23:00.001-07:00

I have been a windows user for as long as I can remember, occasionally testing various flavor of linux (ubuntu, redhat, suse, fedora, knoppix) over the years but never really sticks with it. Although linux distros are getting more mature with more company willing to supply their hardware with a distribution of linux, I think it's still not ready for the mass market. I found that whenever I use ubuntu, I still need to boot onto my windows system just to use some software. I'm not saying that the software is not available in linux, but it is just easier to things in windows. But then I heard about hackintosh. The idea of installing Mac OS X on PC hardware just thrilled me.

In the past, I've always heard about windows power user switching over to Mac OS X for various reason but I never had a chance to play with one. So I stick with windows, until NOW. It's been a while now since the hackintosh communities start installing OS X on PC hardware but I never really had the time to look into it. But then a friend gave me some computer parts that is a surplus to him. That's what started this project. After extensive research on the hackintosh(my biggest resource is of course insanelymac.com), I've decided on hardware that will give less problem during installation. Choosing the right motherboard is really important if you don't want to run into a lot of hiccups. Of course, going down the Intel Core Duo route is always better than AMD since real MAC uses Intel. Here are the lists of my hardware.

-Gigabyte GA-945GCM-S2L
-Intel E6600 Core2 Duo 2.4GHz
-2GB (2x 1GB) DDR2 RAM
-250GB 7200rpm SATA hard drives
-256mb 6800GT video card
-20x DVD burner with Lightscribe
-Bluetooth Microsoft USB
-PCI Network Card(I install this after 10.5.4 upgrade which render my internal NIC unusable)

I manage to squeezed (need to break some plastic holder of the CPU fan to fit it in) everything on an Antec Aria Micro ATX Cube PC Casing. Now the fun parts begin, installation. I've read a lot about the advantages of installing retail Leopard using PC EFI but since I'm new at this, I chose to go down the easier road, Kalyway DVD Leopard 10.5.2. Burned the dvd, put it in my USB DVD-RW and after setting up the BIOS(I think this part is mostly to fix the boot/reboot problem), then start the installation. After formatting my harddisk to MAC OS Extended (Journaled) with Disk Utility, i started with installation. Before installation, there is an option to chose which kernel and driver to install, but I forgot to press the customized button, so I missed that. I should have select NVInject during the customization but since I didn't do that, I have to install the graphic driver, NVInject manually which isn't too hard. Luckily for me, the installation went on without any problem. After restarting the PC, it boots straight into Leopard and start asking me to fill in some details. I've heard many people complain about problems during installation but my installation went as smooth as a baby's bottom. The only driver I need to install was the NVInject driver in which after installation, I manage to set the resolution up to 1280 x 1024 pixels. Everything else was working fine except for Time Machine. After some research I found out that I need a different kext for the networking in order to make it work. After replacing the original AppleIONetworking.kext with Netkas version and giving it permission, Time Machine works wonderfully well.

The best thing about a Vanilla install (retail Leopard DVD) is the ability to update straight from Apple Software Update. But since I use a patch version of Leopard, I need to do all the updates to 10.5.4 the hard way. I manage to destroy my first ever installation of Leopard on Hackintosh by using Apple Software Update to upgrade to 10.5.4. Then again, completely destroy the second attempt when I try to upgrade to 10.5.3 using Kalyway Combo Update Package. Then after installing it back all over again, I try with JAS 10.5.3 Combo Update which works really well. After the update, I then use Apple software update to update to 10.5.4. Luckily this time it works since 10.5.4 is not a major update with less than 100MB update files. I have yet to take the plunge to upgrade to 10.5.5. Like everybody else, I'm waiting for a sure works method of doing this before giving it a go.

Now I am a proud owner of a Hackintosh. After using it for a few weeks, I have to say, sorry all windows fan, 'I'm not a PC anymore'. 'I'M A MAC'. All I can say is that 'it just works', with MAC. Program installation was a breeze, a simple drag and drop and you're done. With MAC, 'drag and drop' is your friend, you can do everything by dragging and dropping, even uninstalling program. There are a few things that make me likes Leopard so much, but most of the credit goes to expose and spaces (combine with my Microsoft bluetooh mouse). It makes it so much easier to use the desktop, middle click to expose all windows, 4^th button to minimize to desktop, 5^th button to turn on spaces. I'd like to share more of my experience with Leopard , especially essential program that I absolutely love using, but that's gonna be another day I'm afraid. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go hunt for a Mac Book Pro on ebay.

Introduction

2008-09-21T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, this is my first post on this blog, firstly i like to thank Allah s.w.t for making this possible. I've been trying to start a blog for years now and only now i have the urge to make this first post. I'll be sharing my experience dealing with different kind of technology in this blog, computer, mobile phone, software, gadget and anything that has to do with technology. I love computer, projects, and tinkering in general and i'll post my thoughts on this blog for everyone to read and comment on their own experience. Hope this will be a successfull project. Thanks to all.