Night Dreaming (by Sudar)

I brought a new computer as planned after my recent computer crash.

Thanks guys for the recommendation and here is the configuration of my new computer. (If you are weak hearted then stop reading. Yuvi is already envious )

Ok so here it goes

Processor

Intel core 2 quad Q6600 2.4 Ghz, 8 MB L2 Cache, 1066 Mhz FSB. This is the latest one which is available in Chennai.

Motherboard

I wanted one with support for DDR3 RAM so that I can upgrade my RAM to DDR3 once it is available in Chennai. In P35 chipset only P5KC supports it. After much search I got hold of one. But later I found it to be faulty and so finally I settled for P5k-VM with only DDR2 support.

RAM

Since DDR3 RAM is not available in Chennai, I didn’t have any other option apart from DDR2. I had 4 slots in my motherboard, so went in for 4 GB of DDR2 RAM (800 MHz)

Graphics Card

Since I am not an avid gamer I settled in for a cheap GeForce graphics card. Model number is GF 8500GT PCI with 512 MB RAM. The only criteria which I looked for was DirectX10 support.

Monitor

I went in for a ViewSonic 19 inch wide screen monitor. The wide screen allows me to view 2 windows simultaneously without shrinking them.

DVD writer

I didn’t have much option for DVD writer and I went in for the standard 20X Liteon DVD writer.

Hard Disk - HDD

Here comes the big one. Can you guess what is the storage capacity of my computer? I have crossed the GB limit. It is 1.11 TB. Yes Terra Bytes.

I bought one 500 GB Hitachi HDD and two Western Digital 320 GB HDD’s. I am going to use one 320 GB HDD as a dedicated backup drive. More details later.

So far it’s been a thrilling experience and even Vista seems to be running fast. Below is my Windows Experience Index (Max 5.9).

• Processor: 5.9
• Memory (RAM): 5.6
• Graphics: 4.6
• Gaming Graphics: 5.1
• Primary Hard disk: 5.7

I am yet to get used to Vista’s interface and I am busy installing/customizing software’s for my computer. I am yet to get the data from my old computer and so things are little haphazard now. I will share with you my experience with my computer once things have settled a bit.

PS: Do you know the name of the cabinet? It is called Sivaji. I couldn’t control laughing after hearing the name. (You need to be in Chennai to understand this)

Tags: Chennai, Computer, Quad

Since my current computer has burned due to lightning I have decided to build a new one. I am interested in building a new one rather than buy a branded one and I need thy help. So guys give me your recommendations and let me know which one I should buy or stay away from. I will also appreciate if you could share me your experience with your PC.

Before we proceed, let me state my needs. I need a PC which I can use as my main development box. I will be running resource hungry programs like Zend, Eclipse, Visual Studio.NET, Photoshop etc. So I want it to be pretty powerful. It will be dual boot and I may also run VMware and set up parallel visual machines. I am not going to watch movies or play games and cost is not going to be much constraint.

Sorry MAC fans. It is very difficult to get a MAC here in India and is much more difficult to find service centers if I am into some trouble.

These are some of the options which I am considering now.

Processor

I am considering Intel core 2 quad or Intel core 2 quad extreme, which is by the way the most powerful processor available here. I don’t have much idea about AMD and if you have using or know about it then let me know. In particular, I have to choose from any of the following 3 processors.

• Intel core 2 quad Q6600 2.4 Ghz, 8 MB L2 Cache, 1066 Mhz FSB
• Intel core 2 quad Q6700 2.66 Ghz, 8 MB L2 Cache, 1066 Mhz FSB
• Intel core 2 quad Qx6700 2.66 Ghz, 8 MB L2 Cache, 1066 Mhz FSB

Motherboard

Since the processor is Intel core 2 quad I have to choose the motherboard beloing to the P35 chipset family. In particular I am planning to choose any one from the following. I may go in for overclocking too. So suggest me which one I have to choose.

• P5K3 Premium/WiFi-AP
• P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP
• P5K64 Ws

RAM

For RAM I have to choose between DDR3 1333, DDR2 1033 or DDR2 800. I am going to buy the maximum amount of RAM that is supported by the motherboard. Let me know if there is any brand or make which I should buy or avoid.

Harddisk

Tentatively it is either Segate or Western Digital 350 GB or 750 GB HDD STA. But I am also considering STD or RAID

Monitor

It is going to be 19 inch LCD Monitor, either from Samsung or LG. Let me know if any other brand is recommened.

DVD ROM(S)

Blue Ray seems to be costly. So I am planning to get a DVD Writer combo. But let me know if there are other options.

Mouse and Keyboard

Suggest me some good ergonomics keyboards and mouse. I have already started developing numbs in my wrist

Others

This includes Cabinet, speakers, network cards etc. Let me know if you have any good suggestion for these.

My current PC

I bought the current one which I am using in the late part of 2001 and it has served me very well. I have had quite a few thrilling movements and surprises with it. But overall it has served me well and I am still waiting for the service guys to tell me what are the parts that were burned due to the lightning.

Tags: Computer, Intel, Processor

I just brought a new Sony Ericsson K700i mobile, since I lost my old one.

This one has all the features that I had in my old one (Sony Ericsson T630) plus lot of other ones too for the same price. The new features being Video recording, FM Radio and bigger storage space (41 MB) compared to just 2 MB which I had in my old one.

Lot of people suggested me to buy a Nokia mobile, but I became a Sony Ericsson fan after using one for about a year now.

I wanted to buy K750i but that was too costly. Hmm may be I will get it once I loose this one

I have to buy a Bluetooth adapter so that I can connect my mobile with my PC and after that have to look for some software to backup up my contacts and also the pictures that I take using my mobile.

Can anyone suggest some good softwares which I can use to connect my mobile with PC.

Tags: k700, k750, Mobile

I am still not able to believe this. I am going to be interviewed by Kamla for a podcast to be featured in the techtalk section of her podcast/blog. If you are wondering who is Kamla, she is the first Indian podcaster. She maintains two podcast sites at www.newsaboutindia.blogspot.com and www.talknewsindia.libsyn.com

I just had a chat with her over phone and she seems to be a very knowledgeable person. We had a quick discussion about KingPing and GoogleMyWay (my two pets). We also chatted about life in India and particularly in Chennai, about work, about the outsource world and also about the collaboration between India and US in the IT field.

Hear about all these in the podcast which is scheduled to be recorded this afternoon and also I have a surprise for you in that podcast

As you know I start my day by reading Jeremy and Robert Scoble. May be from tomorrow I have to add Kamla to the list.

Tags: GoogleMyWay, India, KingPing, Podcast

Recently I have had some very bad experience in buying peripherals for my computer.

First it was my USB-IR port (BAFO 120b), which I brought to connect my mobile (Sony Ericsson T630) to my computer using IR. I bought it from a local shop for Rs 550 and when I connected it to my computer it was not recognized by my Window XP operating system. I tried all I could do but it didn’t work. I searched about it in Google and posted about it in various forums but no luck. Finally I gave up and packed it and placed it in my shelf.

Next, I decided to take up broad band connection (Believe me till now I was using only Dial-up Connection). And I selected BSNL Dataone 500, as the plan suited my needs. And regarding the modem, BSNL gave me two options either I can opt for their modem (Huawei SmartAX MT880) or I can buy my own modem. I gave a thought for some time and then decide to get my own modem and I bought a DLink DSL - 502T router / modem for RS 2450.

I was waiting with excitement to use my broadband connection. After about two weeks BSNL approved my request and enabled ADSL for my telephone line. Then came the real problem, I was trying to connect using my modem and it was not able to do that and was getting an error. I called up BSNL and they said that the problem is with my modem and not with their connection and went to the shop (yes still I am buying from a brick-mortar shop and not an e-Shop) from where I brought the modem and asked them to replace it, since I had warranty. They accepted it and gave me a new modem and even that one was giving the same problem for me.

I searched about it in Google and posted about it in various forums and almost every one gave me the same answer, connect the modem, run the wizard and you are through. I have changed almost all the configuration parameters and even then I just couldn’t do it. People from BSNL started saying that I shouldn’t have opted for my own modem and virtually all people with whom I discussed about it started pointing their fingers on me saying that it was my fault (expect my parents). I was in real frustration for about a month and finally decide to get the modem from BSNL itself and I listed my modem in ebay for Rs 2000, but I got a response from only one person who wanted it for just s 1500.

I was at my peak in frustration and something inside me asked me to give just one more try. So I just connected it (thinking that it would be my last time doing this) and the LED’s started to blink and I was staring at the screen and my hand was trying to point my mouse pointer to the shortcut (for my connection) which I have placed in the desktop.

Suddenly my yahoo messenger popped up and was trying to connect and I was trying to close it and to my surprise it got connected, I was not able to believe this because I haven’t clicked on the connection which I have created in my network connection yet. Then I opened firefox and typed Google and WOW! Google’s home page flashed.

Finally I realized that my modem has an in-built PPPoE dialer and there is no need for me to create a connection in network connection. And all these days whenever I switched on my modem it was connected to internet but I didn’t realize it. (How bad!)

My sprits went high after finding out that I have actually made a right decision while buying my modem and now I can prove to all those people who pointed their fingers at me that I did took the right decision.

And after making sure that I am connected the first website which I opened was www.Vinuthomas.com , the forum in which I was posting my query and I found that a person named Ashok who was helping me all these days and suggesting me all the possible combinations for configuring my modem has posted a reply to my post saying that my modem doesn’t need a connection to be created in Control Panel. Thanks Ashok.

And then I cancelled my ebay listing for my modem and told my parents about it. Even they shared my excitement and finally even I got on the Broad BANDWagon!

This has some how given me the confidence and energy to start fiddling with my USB-IR port and I will post my experience if I succeed in that too..

Tags: Bafo, Broadband, BSNL, Dataone, Dlink, USB-IR