Haz's BlogMore then just an average WordPress blog!

Did some more updating on the site…
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Just thought I’d test out the spoiler tags.

Also, I started getting annoyed with the amount of spam I was getting… so got something in place to stop that now [ thanks Phil ]. Nothing more interesting as of yet… just have a week and a half left at college, and then have exams after that… so its all stressful at the moment!

I’ve added a new page for common error messages and annoyance in computers (and how to fix them). Please feel free to add your own in the comments, and I will add them to the list.

Just stumbled upon these: http://us.fixstars.com/products/gigaaccel/

How cool do those babies look? Somehow I don’t see them working properly on a Windows machine (like ever!) but who knows. Yellow Dog Linux, seems to be the only one so far that supports them. Which makes sense, since both are made (or endorsed) by the same company.

After seeing those, I came up with a wacky idea. Why no one has thought of it yet is beyond me (although they might have, but haven’t implemented or don’t ever plan to implement it). Why don’t they make dedicated cards like this, solely for use by an operating system??

Like I said, it’s a wacky idea – but just imagine how fast our computer would seem! What we need are dedicated cards we can slot in that has some form of fast built-in storage for installing an operating system (O/S) onto it (or for anything really!). If you think about it, and a wise tutor (who may be reading) taught me this, the only bottle-neck in a system is the connection between HDD/RAM/CPU. HDD (Hard Disk Drive) being the slowest of them all. A CPU will sit waiting to do more instructions while the HDD and RAM try to catch up.

If we could install the O/S and its applications onto a dedicated card, everything would be super fast. I’m not saying get rid of HDD’s altogether, but they should be used for the purpose they were intended for – storing data. In a Linux system for example, you could have the whole “/” or “root directory” onto the dedicated card, and then have your “/home” directory assigned to a partition on your HDD. So when you store your documents, downloads or music into your “/home” directory it will take the same amount of time to read and write the data as now. But when you turn on your system, it’ll boot in seconds and the applications load times will be cut in half!

If any companies or developers are reading this, don’t forget where you read the idea. I would like to be appraised for it at least, even if it is just my name written in the paper’s for creating the idea and/or £1 per card sold.

P.S. I’m bored of commenting java code, and doing testing >_< (cousework for uni).

Wonderful quote from Linus Torvalds himself recently (found here):

How is life at the moment? Are you enjoying work at the Linux Foundation in Portland, Ore.?

I’m all happy with my life. The reason I come to Linux.conf.au is it is summer here and freezing in Portland. My job is the same, and I do the kernel and nobody tells me what to do and they pay me for it, which is just the way I like it.

Just goes to show you that despite everyone who tells you that Linux or Open-Source developers don’t get paid for their work – their wrong. You just have to have an interesting project that shows some future value, and you will get paid for your work. Just thought I’d get the myth clarified.

Here’s a quick tip for Windows XP users, mainly because I’ve noticed a few posts on random forums about “Explorer.exe” crashing whilst working with several windows/applications/etc… well here’s how you can stop all of them closing on you in the event of a crash. By making windows open the desktop and taskbar in a seperate process to your folders. Please note: If you don’t feel comfortable using RegEdit, manually adding entries, or worried it might not work for you – then I sugguest you don’t continue.

1. Click Start -> Run, and then type in “regedit” (without quotes). Alternatatively you can hold the winkey and tap r (winkey+r).
2. In the tree to the left, browse to: “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer”. Then create a new DWORD value (by right clicking in a blank area to the right and picking DWORD), call it “DesktopProcess” (without quotes) with a value of 1.
3. Again in the left tree go to: “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced”. Then make a DWORD value with “SeparateProcess” and a value of 1.
4. Either log-out or restart, and the effects should take place.

I remember back in my Windows days when I was working with multiple folders, and suddenly one crashes because of tying to create too many thumbnails, or too many files in the folder and it gets too overloaded… and in the end the whole thing crashes, and you think to yourself “Damn! Which folders did I have open again? Where’d that icon go in the taskbar? Doh! I’m going to have to restart now! Stupid thing!” My fix should hopefully reduce those moments.

Alternatively, if you don’t feel you can trust yourself with the registry editor. You can download this .reg file I made, which is basically a txt file which automatically adds those entries for you. All you have to do is double click. If you don’t trust me, open the .reg in notepad and you’ll see for yourself. Also if you google “DesktopProcess” or “SeperateProcess”, you’ll see thousands of websites with the same thing – its a handy feature in windows, which should be easier to add then using the regedit, but thats Microsoft for ya.