Monday, February 04, 2008
Virtualization Apps for the Mac
Vmware Fusion is program that I find invaluable. If you are like me and you have created a Bootcamp partition for use with Windows, you will love this program. Instead of rebooting into windows every time I have to use a windows specific app, I fire up Fusion and it runs my bootcamp partition while in the Mac OS. I still have the option to boot windows natively but it isn't necessary. Another feature of Fusion is Unity mode, which allows you to run both OS's at once. It appears as though you are in OS X but you can run windows apps and have them minimize to the dock, pretty fun. Parallels desktop is another application that does most of the same things as Fusion. I have tried both products but I like Fusion for the fact that you can assign multiple processors and you can address more Memory to your VM's. One other thing to mention about these technologies is that you can download pre-built virtual appliances (Disk Images) for testing... for instance you could get the latest beta of windows server 2008 or run the latest distro of Suse linux, already configured and ready to boot.
Wii can play backups
After cracking one of the DVD's for the Nintendo Wii, I wanted to find a way to create and play backups as to not damage other disks (uh yeah).
I did some research and picked up a Wiikey modchip.
I am not going to go into detailed steps but I will link to some resources in the event you want do mod your own wii. A quick overview just to describe the pictures. First you crack open the case, a special tri-wing screwdriver is needed. Once you have the wii dissected, identify the solder points on the underside of the DVD drive and solder in your wires.
Once you have the wires soldered to the DVD drive you slide in the chip, bend and cut the wires to length, then solder those snipped ends to the wiikey.
It really isn't that hard to do but let me emphasize how small the solder points are. I had to look through a magnifying glass just to make sure things were attached. There isn't alot of room for error. The key is to tin your wires and only apply the iron for a split second, if you do not you will damage your wii.
All the info you need can be found here
enjoy!
I did some research and picked up a Wiikey modchip.
I am not going to go into detailed steps but I will link to some resources in the event you want do mod your own wii. A quick overview just to describe the pictures. First you crack open the case, a special tri-wing screwdriver is needed. Once you have the wii dissected, identify the solder points on the underside of the DVD drive and solder in your wires.
Once you have the wires soldered to the DVD drive you slide in the chip, bend and cut the wires to length, then solder those snipped ends to the wiikey.
It really isn't that hard to do but let me emphasize how small the solder points are. I had to look through a magnifying glass just to make sure things were attached. There isn't alot of room for error. The key is to tin your wires and only apply the iron for a split second, if you do not you will damage your wii.
All the info you need can be found here
enjoy!
Friday, February 01, 2008
New Notebook - Enter the MacBook Pro
I changed jobs a few months back and I had to return my laptop, so It was a perfect opportunity for me to buy a new piece of equipment (the 13 other laptops I own weren't good enough). With the adoption of the Intel chipset for the Apple platform the Apples had been looking more and more appealing. Let me state that I am no stranger to the mac. I have 2 older G4's and iMac G5 and a PowerBook, but I was never ready to make the switch while living and working in a windows world.
So once Apple moved to Intel and once I was able to run Windows natively, I knew I had to have one. I bought the laptop and voided the warranty the same week. I cracked it open and loaded it with 4GB of DDR2 PC 5400 RAM and threw in a Seagate Momentus 200GB 7200 rpm SATA Drive......It's blazing! BTW, I bought the 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo in a 15" wide with the back-lit LED display. The Display is gorgeous, HD movies look unreal!
So once Apple moved to Intel and once I was able to run Windows natively, I knew I had to have one. I bought the laptop and voided the warranty the same week. I cracked it open and loaded it with 4GB of DDR2 PC 5400 RAM and threw in a Seagate Momentus 200GB 7200 rpm SATA Drive......It's blazing! BTW, I bought the 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo in a 15" wide with the back-lit LED display. The Display is gorgeous, HD movies look unreal!
New hobbies - Sony Alpha Digital SLR
OK, The hobbies have changed, I still like the R/C stuff but I have shifted focus for the time being Hopfully I will keep up with my posts and update more frequently.
It's been about a year now since I got this "Bad Boy", I was taking photos of my Orchids (another hobby) with my Olympus c40-40 and I was not able to get the effect I was looking for with the old point and shoot. I convinced my wife the I "had" to have this Sony so we bought it. Not knowing much about photography in general, I surely didn't know what I was getting into. Anyway this camera is probably why I don't do much R?C anymore.. Too much time spent learning Photography. I have since purchased a bunch of lenses and tripods, a flash, bags and backpacks, a light tent, a bounce reflector, and the list goes on.
It's been about a year now since I got this "Bad Boy", I was taking photos of my Orchids (another hobby) with my Olympus c40-40 and I was not able to get the effect I was looking for with the old point and shoot. I convinced my wife the I "had" to have this Sony so we bought it. Not knowing much about photography in general, I surely didn't know what I was getting into. Anyway this camera is probably why I don't do much R?C anymore.. Too much time spent learning Photography. I have since purchased a bunch of lenses and tripods, a flash, bags and backpacks, a light tent, a bounce reflector, and the list goes on.
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