Technically minded Weblog

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)

I was experimenting with apache server, url rewriting and php scripts. Made a little script which works with url redirecting and allows to download a file from my hdd. (that worked remotely too :), but ofcourse under username and password and ssl for security)
I am willing to continue to explore php.
Will update (maybe) tomorrow.

Bought a book to help me learn to code in PHP because I need to build a real website. I like this blog, but I think I should create a more real website on the main page instead of this blog. I will probably keep this blog, but I want to move it away from the main page (maybe ddscentral.110mb.com/weblog or like that) and create a real website.
I’ve got a lot of templates available, just need to decide which one to use.
P.S. Maybe I should just use Dreamweawer and html… but I will need to learn php anyway…

Decided to waste some time for some new computer games and shooting virtual monsters. I like shooting virtual monsters from time to time. (or trying to destroy a few virtual ships while playing Empire at war)
Also did a simple PC fix and got some money for that. Well I love getting some money just for resetting bios settings 🙂

Tested my new Infrared Control device connected to com port. This device allows to control your pc like a TV (you can even use your TVs remote control). The Infrared receiver is kinda easy to make (although, I didn’t make it myself, I asked a friend to do it). And it works. All you need is a piece of software called Girder and a plugin for it to work with IR receiver (called IgorPlug).
The infrared control thingy works, but the software is unstable (crashes frequently with no reason). I think, our old windows install probably needs to be re-installed 🙂 .
P.S. There’s also an usb version, but it’s harder to make, and there is no free software for it.
Will post more details after OS re-install.