04 July 2009
Finally we got our new computer yesterday after waiting two weeks for the graphics card. In fact I gave up on the shop to get hold of the card and ordered it separately over the web.
While installing Windows XP and then Service Pack 2, the computer just rebooted on us for no good reason, and then wouldn't boot at all.
After a few tries I gave up and had a look inside. The reason was probably a loose SATA cable. After fastening it properly we started again.
Formatting the 1 TB drive took close to 3 hours. A quick format would probably have done the job just as well (without looking for surface problems) but I thought I might as well do it properly.
After installing Windows again, getting everything set up the way you want it takes ages. Service packs, drivers and a million different programs. File endings: visible, system files: visible, start-menu: classic, annoying shortcuts on the desktop: GO AWAY! Disable ten or so unnecessary Windows services. Etc.
Now the computer is beginning to become usable. Our old Firefox profiles in place. Internet access working.
The graphics card, an XFX HD 4890 Black Edition, is a bit on the loud side while gaming, but in Windows it is a lot quieter. Before we got the driver installed for it the fan was spinning away at 100%, which was a bit trying during the three hours it took to format the hard drive.
At the moment my lovely wife is playing Sims 3 at maximum graphics settings with no visible lag at all. Will be interesting to try some of my games later.
03 July 2009
I was one of many who was fooled into installing some version of Microsoft's .NET runtime which installed an annoying extension into Firefox. It was annoying because it couldn't be uninstalled. What's wrong with you people at Microsoft?
After searching around I found a way of getting rid of the extension. But yesterday I realized that the extension had added a bit about .NET to Firefox's user agent string.
So, how to get rid of it? Quite easily it turns out:
- Exit Firefox. (Open this page in your backup browser.)
- Find your Firefox profile.
- Open the file prefs.js in notepad.
- Search for microsoftdotnet.
- When you find it, delete the whole line where you found it, save and close. Done!
Labels: firefox, tips
30 June 2009
Firefox 3.5 has been released today. Many improvements over 3.0. Faster, better privacy options, better standards support. Get it now.
Labels: browsers, firefox, mozilla
22 June 2009
With the new computer on its way, I also ordered a few games to play during the summer.
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X (annoying name to write) is bundled with the graphics card. Not sure if it's any good.
It'll be interesting to see how far I can push the graphics settings in GTA IV. BTW, I just saw a great video review of GTA IV here.
Labels: games, new computer
20 June 2009
On Wednesday we ordered a new computer. Not that there's really anything wrong with the current one (AMD something 3200+), but we both had an urge to play some newer games. Such as The Sims 3 and GTA IV.
We've ordered it from a local shop, Proxdata. They seem to know what they're doing. Here's what we decided to throw into the mix:
That should be plenty of gaming power for the time being I think, but if we need more in the future we can add another identical video card and have them run in parallel (Crossfire).
All in all, we're getting much more punch for the money than the big electronics chains in Sweden are offering right now.
We'll keep using XP, since we see no real point in upgrading to Vista. Not even Direct X 10 has convinced me. All games seem to support version 9 still, and the visual difference, when there is one, is negligible.
There may be a day when we want more than 4GB of RAM. Then we'll have to get 64 bit Windows 7, since 32 bit XP can't use more than 4GB. (I'll gladly skip Vista, for various reasons.) Until then though, I think we'll be sticking with XP.
Hopefully we'll be getting the computer on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then we can get started on the wonderful process of installing all the many different programs that we have on the current computer.
Labels: amd, ati, black edition, hd 4890, new computer, radeon, xfx
11 June 2009
This is unbelievable stuff: Koenigsegg buys Saab.
The car-making world is upside down. Lets just hope Koenigsegg haven't bitten off more than they can swallow.
Here's a translation of the short news article:
Rapport has learned that Koenigsegg and Norwegian investors will get to buy Saab Automobil.
The buyers have signed a letter of intent to buy Saab. Final negotiations around details of the deal will be held the coming months.
Koenigsegg is a small manufacturer of exclusive sports cars in Ängelholm (Sweden) and has according to Rapport's sources been given support by Norwegian investors to be able to buy Saab.
Labels: cars, koenigsegg, saab
10 June 2009
Well, I let Jenny decide which of the panoramas we would frame first, so it was the Visby one.
For the print I cloned out the slight shadow along the flag pole to the right.
Now we just need to get a second frame so we can hang this one too:
Labels: Autostitch, panorama, photography
I read here about an interesting technique which I hereby rename as the Bokeh Panorama Technique.
It entails shooting several photos at a longer focal length and stitching them together to give the effect of a shorter focal length with very large aperture.
Here's my first, rather useless attempt. (Don't look to closely.) I just went out into the garden to shoot this, couldn't be bothered to find anything more interesting.
Here's one of the better shots I've seen made this way. Here's another one.
To stitch the photos together I use Autostitch which is about as good as it gets, for free or for money.
Since you're not really doing this for the resolution, it's a good idea to choose a smaller JPEG size in your camera. That way you save quite a bit of time in the stitching and get a more manageable file size at the end.
Also, you'll want to do this in manual mode and with manual focus for consistency between the shots.
Labels: Autostitch, bokeh panorama, photography
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