HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
October 31, 2006
October 26, 2006
Welcome the Edgy Eft!
Kubuntu 6.10 has been released and, unlike Dapper Drake, is not “LTS” at time of release. Also– Apparently (K)Ubuntu has become so popular, that it is no longer feesible to ship brand new cds at the time of release, though you can buy them. I don’t think this conflicts with the Ubuntu philosophy, and it should have been expected eventually from the leading free distribution of Linux.
Online documentation claims that the upgrade from the previous release should be relatively smooth this time around. I’m looking forward to testing that very soon. There are “alternate” iso images available, as well, for those with special upgrade options in mind. I’ll be posting soon on my upgrade review. I have both 32-bit and 64-bit versions to upgrade.
October 24, 2006
New Hardware Fever
OK– I spend way too much time drooling at newegg.com, but I’m a hardware junkie, and newegg.com is a hardware junkie’s online mecca (kinda like Fry’s is the hardware junkie’s retail outlet mecca).
Recently, I found the new NEC AD-7170A at newegg for $32 (free shipping). I love NEC burners, anyway, and have had excellent experience with them. I thought I had a fast one at 16x DVD+/-R, but this new one burns at 18x (only slightly faster) and burns DVD-RAM at 12x (about twice the current industry standard). I’m interested in DVD-RAM because of it’s cool RW features. It lasts much much longer than a standard DVD-RW, and most of the DVD players manufactured in the last couple years play them. If you’re interested in finding out if your DVD player will play DVD-RAM, check here (another of my favorite sites). They’re perfect for recording games, news, tv shows, lame movies you had to see but don’t care to keep, etc.
I’m also interested in lowering the temps of my machine (ALWAYS interested in lowering temps). I recently installed this Zalman cooler for a friend. His cpu temp stays right around 30C and is REMARKABLY quiet, not to mention cool looks from the blue LED fan and aesthetic design. Now I have to have one for myself. My temps average around 49C idle. Another advantage of this cooler is its weight. I don’t like putting a cooler in a tower configuration that’s heavier than 500 grams. Well that counts out almost all larger hs/fan combos. This big silent flower of aluminum and copper, however, is just over 400 grams. I compared that to the all-copper version, as well as Thermaltake’s “Orb” series of coolers, and it comes in around 200 grams lighter than its lightest competitor, yet still hits the cooling mark with minimum noise. Now who wouldn’t like that? Newegg has it today for less than $40.
