Big spendings

Few days ago suddenly I had the urge to spend my dad's hard earn cash (I'm such a 败家仔). Spent RM304 on a Edifier M3400 2.1 speaker and Steelseries Qck Limited Edition Starcraft 2 Kerrigan vs Zeratul mouse pad.

Look at the epic artwork. So nicely done

Licensed Blizzard Product

My OCZ Behemoth on the pad

Messy arrangement, because my desk is too small..

The audio system costs RM205. I'm quite satisfied with the sound quality, it was better than my broken Sonic Gear EVO 3, mainly due to the big difference in price lol. I've never thought of buying such an expensive audio system, and well, we tend to think that more expensive items are always better, don't you agree?

But for that RM99 mouse pad, I'm quite disappointed. It didn't actually work well with my OCZ Behemoth as my double laser mouse is quite accurate in tracking already. After using the pad my pointer on the screen actually keeps on skidding for some odd reasons, but I observe no problems with my other cheap optical mouse, and its tracking has dramatically improved. Perhaps it's just my OCZ mouse doesn't need anymore aid to improve its tracking.

Okay, now I couldn't use it to make my wrist feel more comfortable. Now I can only put it aside as a very nice decoration until I'm going to downgrade my OCZ Behemoth to other gaming laser mouse (not double laser anymore lol), which is stupid anyway.

Cleaning (again!)

Alright, I think I'm going to end threads about cleaning once and for all. Today (I mean yesterday), out of boredom, I decided to clean up my most "beloved" one: my computer. That's right, I've cleaned everything from the monitor to the CPU, but not that thoroughly until cleaning every piece of hardware inside, which I will only do to dead machines. The thing I've gotten rid of is, of course, dusts that accumulated since the last time I've posted about cleaning my computer.

Except for this time, I've put the keyboard as the hardware that required thorough cleaning. Well, I think I've not cleaned it for more than a year already. Why would I want to clean it anyway? Keyboards just look perfectly normal on the outside, but let's not look at it that superficially. If you'd paid attention to the spaces between the keys and the "bank" of the keyboard, you can see that there are so many small debris apart from dusts, from hairs, to food and even dead bugs.

Because of the dirtiness of my keyboard I had wasted more than an hour to remove most of the debris and hell I didn't even completely clean it due to apparatus limitation. Anyway I'm going to cover the basic steps of cleaning your keyboard in this post in case you don't know how to do it.

First things first, you have to pick each and every keys out, using your own hand (if the keys are easy enough to be removed), or the better choice, a flat-head screwdriver. As you can see, if you positioned your screwdriver like this your keys will be easily picked without using much force. If you have to pick them forcefully, that means something is wrong, but it depends on your keyboard. Keyboards having different kinds of key contacts might need a different way to pick the keys, so you have to know your keyboard well. I'll not be liable for any damages done to your keyboard ==

After picking your keys, you, of course, start cleaning up the inside of your keyboard.

Partially cleaned...

It should be an easy job if you had a dedicated keyboard vacuum, but if you already have it this post is meaningless to you anyway. By the way, if you don't have a keyboard vacuum, I assume that you are rational enough to not use a conventional vacuum cleaner that you use on the floor to clean your keyboard, right? You can use a wet cloth, or like me, use a combination of wet cloth and this "bug" here to maximize the cleaning effect.

Talking of this bug, it operates with 2 AA size cells and is very useful to suck up dust and small debris on hard surfaces such as tables and in this case, the keyboard. Of course it didn't manage to suck up everything so I have to use the screwdriver to move the dirt a bit before sucking them up. With these removed it will be a lot easier for you to wipe the internals with a wet cloth (actually, not that easy too due to the "porous" surface).
Cleaning the bug is pretty easy, just open the cover below and wipe off all the dusts and debris trapped on the filter with a cloth or just your finger. Done.

Finally, when you're satisfied, just simply reinstall the keys according to their arrangement and there you go, a cleaner keyboard that looks more refreshing, without any strategic improvements. Well actually, it might keep pests or insects away from your keyboard lol if you always eat in front of your computer. Who knows if they do make their nest inside it? Especially if you have those high quality gaming keyboard that easily cost a few hundred bucks, you won't be that generous to share your keyboard with them, will you? ;)

Godspeed.

DIY transplant surgery

Ok lads, do you want to become a surgeon? Err, I mean a "computer surgeon". All you need is just some basic computer knowledge, so you can do it even if you're a layman! Sounds easy right? Great, let's move on.

I went to Low Yat Plaza today to buy a new DVD-RW drive to replace my LG GSA-H55N which died few weeks ago. I was unlucky perhaps, the H55N just lasted for 1 year+, just exceeding the 1 year warranty. Zzz.

Today, I was unlucky again. I was opting for the Pioneer S16FXB, but none of the shops I visited has the stock. Dumbstruck. Out of no choice I had to buy the inferior Pioneer DVR-217BK. (Well, my mom was with me, which made me felt lazy to survey any longer). Anyway here's the picture:

There's nothing special about the package, but it's bundled with a decent burning ROM software, Nero 8 Essentials. (Well again, I didn't bother to try it, so I didn't know how essential it is, obviously)

The "surgery" started as soon as I get home. Before I start, allow me to explain my title.
DIY (Do-It-Yourself): I don't think you need a group of "surgeons" to replace a broken DVD drive?
Transplant: An action of replacing a broken part with a functional one. In this case, the broken H55N is replaced by the new 217BK.
Surgery: Err, what's the reason? Transplant is a kind of surgery?
So, current or future doctors & surgeons (pro pro), please don't despise me and thinks that I'm trying to act pro with my title. ;p

I tend to talk too much cr@p, now back to the topic. I start by cleaning dusts stuck at the mesh material at the front of the casing to ensure optimum airflow. This action is irrevelant, but I know it will be left uncleaned for another half year if I don't clean it now, which might cause any of the hardwares to go haywire again.

Then, both side panels were removed. The device was disconnected from the motherboard, along with the IDE cable. I found a new SATA cable, and was made to spiral helix shape using a pencil, because it will be the same with IDE cables in terms of space occupation and appearance (BEING FLAT! LOL).

The final product

Next I installed the new 217BK on the 5.25" bay where the H55N used to be. Finally, SATA cable and power connector were connected. Side panels were then installed again. Surgery has finished, in less than 5 minutes!

Ignoring those wires, the SATA cable is still looking good IMO

I can finally do everything related with discs again. Hooray!

By the way, now I know why it's a surgery, because it's so identical to surgeries done by real professional surgeons!
1)Cleaning mesh material --> Surgeons disinfecting patients before beginning
2)Removing side panels --> Opening up the patients body with surgeon knife
3)Removing broken hardware --> Removing broken organs (example: kidney)
4)Installing functional hardware --> "Planting" in functional organs
5)Installing side panels --> Closing/sewing up the wound
Well, the CPU's a system after all, I bet there's nothing wrong with it ;)

It's boring, isn't it?

Trying to find something related to computers to pass my time today, and I ended up disecting my computer which is already older than 10 years. I had been together with this computer since I was Standard One until 2004 when my dad bought a new one(this computer).

This old chap can be counted as a durable computer for working that long until recently, perhaps the VGA or motherboard failed. Upon opening the side cover:

Well yeah it's messy, considering that the casing is smaller than normal ATX factor(size), and dusty too since no one has ever cleaned the internal of the CPU.

Here's a gallery of very old computer hardwares that you might not have seen before if you didn't take ICT subject (The computer lab has some ancient hardware too).

These 2 sticks of SDRAM that adds up to provide a total of 160MB RAM for the computer, had a hard time by just running Windows XP..

The core of this computer, Intel Celeron (Socket 370) processor, codenamed Mendocino, which runs at 366MHz if my memory didn't fail me. I tried to remove the heatsink away from the processor but it's sticked so tightly, I suppose it's due to the thermal grease that had dried up for a long time. This processor was fit onto a processor card (or whatever it's called) first before the card is inserted into the slot at the motherboard itself.

This is the graphics card, RivaTNT 16MB AGP. Nothing much to say, but you definitely can't play any games, except Starcraft, with this.

This is the sound card in ISA.

No no, not that ISA. I mean the slot named ISA, which stands for Industry Standard Architecture. None of us will be able to see this slot in present motherboards anymore...

Don't look down on these ancient hardwares, I had spent my earlier gaming days with them. Starcraft, Worms, Red Alert, Half Life(laggy..) were the few games I had fun using this computer before I got a better computer. Now it brings back my memories, felt sad that it's broken now..haizz

Until then, ciaoz.