I have been reading about netbooks as of late. For me, the thought of an ultra portable laptop that will allow me to access the internet and use tools like ssh to manage linux systems sounds like a great idea. If you add Bluetooth support, I will be able to tether my AT&T Tilt to the netbook and use my netbook anywhere I have cell coverage!
Over the last 2 months I have researched many netbooks and with my brother in-laws input, I decided on and MSI WIND u100. Ultimately I went with the WIND over the HP mini because of disk size and price. For $439, I purchased the MSI WIND u100 (black) with 1GB of memory, 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth, Windows XP, and an upgraded 6 cell battery. The HP maxes out at 60GB hard drive and they only offer a 3 cell battery.
I plan on testing the usibilty, battery life, video playback, etc. I will post a 2-3 part review in the coming weeks. If you have someting specific you want me to review on the device, please let me know.
Excuse me while I get my inner geek on.
I had Red Hat system that needed to be upgrade from running Ruby 1.8.5 to Ruby 1.8.6. Unfortunately, Red Hat really lags in releasing RPM’s for many packages, and Ruby is one of the packages.
Now I have drunk the Red Hat RPM Kool-aid. IMHO using RPM’s on your system is the only sane way to manage a Red Hat based system. Compiling from source is ugly and hard to manage in the long run.
I called tech support (google.com) and found an RPM based solution to upgrade, but I ran into a few problems that I could find no solution for through “tech support” I am going to walk you through installing ruby 1.8.6 on a Red Hat system using RPM’s and solving a little issue after you have installed it.
Read more…
Since my last post about Cyberpower, I have continued to experience issues with my system. First, something was seriously wrong with my video system. After a lot of diagnoses and downloading EVGA Precision, I determined that one of my two 9800GX2 cards was running hot (WAY HOT). At idle, this card was running @ 70(c) and at load it hit 112(c)! I pulled one card and then the other to determine which one was bad. Now comes the moment of truth, a call to CyberpowerPC tech support (dum dum duuuuuum!).
At first, I sent Cyberpower an email explaining the issue and asking for help. I received no response. Once I became convinced the issue was a bad card, called and left a message, again, no call back, however the next day I received and email (addressed to Dear Mr./Mrs.). I played phone/email tag with them for almost a week(In fairness, I was out of town for two days). Finally Zakary called me and it was a simple process. They needed a credit card number for a cross-ship (They send me a new part and I return the old one in the box I received the new one in). They ship the part ground, which would really suck if it was a part I needed to get my PC running!
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Oh, joy is upon us, dear readers! I FINALLY received my PC from CyberpowerPC. Read Part 1 HERE
I received the PC on the revised date that Cyberpower had promised (10/15/08). I arrived home to find a single HUGE white box, which looked quite beat-up. In case anyone was unsure of the contents of the box, the big “PERSONAL COMPUTER” stamped on the side was sure to clear up any confusion!
Beat-up big white box
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I have read MANY advertisements for Cyberpowerpc.com, though I have never paid much attention to them. I generally buy high-end Dell PC’s, or I build my own. I read MaximumPC magazine religously and I was surprised to see the high marks they gave the CyberPower Gamer Ultimate SLI QUAD. I currently have an aging home built dual core E6700 oc’d to 3.06Ghz with an NVidia 8800Ultra. One of the biggest issues I run into is drive performance, since I am running dual 400GB drives in a RAID-1 configuration. My ASUS mobo basically sucks and the RAID performance really sucks. I am going to turn this box into my new sever at home.
Back to my CyberpowerPC.com story. I spent the last few weeks pricing out rigs and looking at many PC manufactures, I also looked at parts to build my own. I came to the conclusion that I could buy a system from CyberpowerPC.com cheaper than I could build one, plus I get VIsta (I already have XP for a new PC if I need it) and some nice freebies. Read more…
