Technically minded Weblog

A not so small update:
We have a new address: http://www.ddscentral.net.tc and my contact email is dds[alpha]ddscentral.net.tc.
Some other news:
Our virtual PC keeps crashing due to recent VMWare update (bugs, bugs, bugs…) always due to problem in usb driver. Waiting for the fix, but VPC is still usable, it crashes rarely, but these crashes are annoying as I have to reboot it (I could just let it restart instead of showing a BSOD, but it hangs on boot then)
Second: remote access to ddscentral.ath.cx has died due to lack of bandwidth. Please do not visit this site. Also, do not hotlink files through our new domain, this doesn’t work due to our host restrictons.
P.S.: I guess you know what [alpha] means, as I do not want spam to my website mail.

Well, LAN gaming idea didn’t work for 3D games. 3D games don’t work on both real and virtual pcs ant the same time (second pc displays nothing, just sound can be heard).
2D games seem to work, if both guest and host resolution is the same, but Red alert 2 doesn’t like my XP 64 IPX config so LAN does not work.
I found a software called PVPGN, it works by emulating WOL and Battlenet servers so supports most WOL and battlenet games. Unfortunately, the version I need, v1.99 is a dev. release and no binaries. And I can’t get to compile the sources. Posted a thread in their forum, maybe someone can help me there. Tried getting precompiled, but the build was crap and doesn’t work.
Still waiting… If I can get it working, it would be a good alternative to unstable Red Alert 2 LAN play using VPN software (LAN doesn’t work at all on xp64 or vista due to IPX crap).
I will try to use PVPGN for gaming virtual vs real in 2D, see if it works and is playable.
A bit off topic: waiting for the real Red Alert 3. Beta is crap, you have to pay for it and you get only online play, no skirmish, no LAN. But I hate the thing that ra3 again could be WAYY too similar to CC Generals. Where are the days of old CC ? CC3 was just like generals using tiberian sun storyline, will ra3 be the same ?

Just finished setting up virtual pc 2 days ago. Used the usb instead of wireless although when I wanted to buy it, I was warned that usb might not work well over 5m (I knew that already). Yes, it did not like a hub connected to other hub on my monitor, but a hub connected to a pc with 5m+2m (or maybe 3+2m cable, because my 5m audio cable was wayyy longer) cable worked. However, it only worked as usb 1.1 (notice on traybar about 2.0 device connected to 1.1 hub), not a big problem here, mouse and keyboard does not use high speeds and mouse has no wires at all, just the receiver, and it all works fine, both mouse and keyboard.
Now looking for high-powered usb charger for my batteries (not those just connected to +5v on usb, the real high power ones with usb electronics inside). Found one, Energizer Duo. As always (well, almost) it’s cheap in USA, and overpriced here. Why do all pc parts are so overpriced here ? a 700$ vidcard costs like 900-1000$ here.
Well, a bit off topic, but no mater.
Will update later.

Updated my VM a bit, now games can be run on virtual pc. Still searching the best place to buy keyboard and mouse for vpc. I thought I would need wireless, but I think it should work wired using a hub and 5m cable (at least I hope so, wireless things are expensive and require batteries, work not as good as wired ones)
Will update when I will finish VM.
Btw, a nice idea: LAN gaming on same pc (host pc vs. virtual pc). I will try it, hope it will work.

Vmware is a great thing !
Just made 2 oses to run at the same time on different monitors.
The best thing that VMware allows me to connect usb hardware to the VM, while hiding that hardware in host os. This enables, for example, to connect a usb mouse to a vm, and it will NOT be seen by host os as a mouse, so it will only control the cursor in a VM and not the host os.
So the idea is to connect a wireless keyboard and mouse to the VM and have a second PC from the same box.
This idea came to my mind after thinking about using my 4-5GB of unused ram (I’ve tried the ramdrive thing, but it doesn’t seem to work well on XP 64bit). So I now have a second virtual pc with:
1. It’s own REAL monitor (I also use a 10m long dvi cable, so the monitor is far from my pc)
2. It’s own LAN IP in my lan (seen by other PCs ! Too bad it’s just 10mbps)
3. A dual core cpu (uses 2 of 4 cores in my cpu)
4. 2GB RAM (I have a total of 6GB ram, so no problem)
5. A 128MB videocard with some accelerated 3d support (haven’t tried to run any more demanding games yet, but MAME emulator (which uses D3D) works)
6. XP PRO 32bit (SP1 for now, because just installed XP)
7. A 15GB hdd (Smallish, but vpc shares network resources, so should be enough)

EDIT: And will have it’s own separate sound device when I finish preparing it. Will be a nice use for my unused sb audigy soundcard which is just collecting dust now.

I use another small utility to jump a fullscreen VM display to the second monitor.

Also, fixed a 19″ monitor I’ve received for free but that’s a different story, will post about it on next update.

Finally back home after a 10 day holliday.
And found out why my system does not want to turn on sometimes.
I didn’t plug in the sata cable of one of my hdds properly. I wonder how the hell it would sometimes work with badly connected cable.
I fixed the cable problem by plugging it in properly, now the disk works.
Bye for now.

Got my hardware yesterday. Installed, all works ok, but had a little trouble installing xp64 (had to leave only 1 hdd connected or it won’t install). Now I must have messed up something with those connectors and that hdd sometimes does not appear or takes too long to init. (it worked ok previously).
But I have know a working dualboot with Vista64/XP64. Had to reinstall bootloader because xp64 setup uninstalled it.
Installed antivirus on XP64 install. What I don’t like abuot it is that it scans every new program run. This is kinda slow, it could be faster.
Now I’ve got 1 GB DDR2 800 CL5 ram kit (2x512MB) unused. Will sell it maybe.
Ok, that’s all.

Just wanted to update.
I mentioned two posts earlier about our hardware update. I was thinking I would get the parts on tuesday, but I didn’t. I didn’t get them today either. I think I will start complaining if they will not send me my parts tomorrow.
I need to have these parts by friday. I’m not waiting another weekend !
The time here is 1.00AM so going to bed now.
Will update maybe tomorrow if I get the parts.

Updated this website a little bit. Restored our old logo. Got rid of that “powered by blogger” button and replaced it with a ticker from a giveaway website offering paid software for free for a limited time (not pirated, all legal just it’s for personal use only). Had to reposition some things on the blog site because the ticker was too large. Had to experiment with css to make the site look the way I want (I’m far away from being a css master but the site looks ok, at least for me).
That’s all, will update shortly.

Ordered some more ram for my system and some older type ram for my ancient DDS Star PC. Ordered Kaspersky AV because some friends bring their flash keys infected with various viruses (my XP install was ruined by a single virus inside a flash drive), so I decided to rather invest in some AV than keep reinstalling xp every time it is infected.
Also got a free usb charger for my Sansa player as a gift (for bonus points).
OK, that’s all for know.
Will update when I will not forget to update :).
P.S. Our specs now: 1.3TB diskspace (820GB inside+500GB outside), a Quadcore CPU (Intel q6600 B3 @ 2.6Ghz), a oc’ed 8800GTX and 6GB kingston ram (+3GB, not yet installed, so for now just 3GB)