Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Windows Vista Service Pack One

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.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

PhP Login Script

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!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Slow Vista

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.....

Monday, December 3, 2007

Vista Start Menu

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:


Sunday, December 2, 2007

Issues

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!

Friday, November 9, 2007

Lag

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. ;)

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

iTunes UEA defends against everything.

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.

Monday, October 29, 2007

An Interesting Error.

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.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Houston, we have Internet

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.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Firefox, Gobuntu, and still no Internet.

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.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Mother F****ER

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.....

Saturday, October 20, 2007

It Came

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!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Upgrade and Update

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!!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Power of Wireless

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.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Fixed

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

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....

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Issue #1

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.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

OS X: Virtually Installed

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. ..

Saturday, October 6, 2007

U.S. Gets Angry.

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.

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!

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

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.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Why Me?

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."

Monday, October 1, 2007

N

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."

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Good Job Blocking Ads


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.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Hooked

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!

Saturday, September 22, 2007

A New Toy

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....

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Fixed Sound

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.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Dial-Up

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!!!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Vista, And Why I Hate It.

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...

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Sound

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 ------.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Internet. Freaking Internet

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.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

My Computer

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.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Drunk Driving

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

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?

Sunday, September 9, 2007

The First Post

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.