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PC Recommendations
Kind of a fun month for PC recommendations because for once the underlying hardware is quiet. No big announcements of processors, video cards or motherboards, so instead of high, medium and low, let’s focus on some “odd” machines that might be fun to have. Think of them as alternative PCs. Sort of like taking a…
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Benq DW-1620
X-bit labs – Articles – BenQ DW1620A DVD±RW/R Drive Review: Joker in the Pack or a New Winner?. I just happen to have one of these drives. It does pretty well, but you have to get the B7T9 firmware update to solve lots of the bad DVD burning problems. Naturally, you can’t just go to…
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Samsung 193P
For some reason, it was just about impossible to find the manuals and drivers for the Samsung 193P in their “download”:http://www.samsung.com/download/Model_Select.aspx?type=Monitor&typecode=2&subtype=LCD&subtypecode=202&model=193P&filetype=UM&language= area. Here is their manual and also their Magictune software. You need this since the machine has no hardware controls at all. Everything is done in software. Their “Magictune”:http://www.samsung.com/Products/Monitors/magictune/ is on a throwaway CD…
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Mini ITX performance
I’m just about to buy a mini ITX machine to do DVD playback and other small games and things for Grace. An interesting test to see how a small form factor machine does. mini-itx.com – nehemiah m10000 review. The benchmark shows that with 256MB of PC2100 RAM and Windows XP, it does DVD playback just…
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Simulations
All this playing of Combat Flight Simulator reminded me how much I loved Harpoon and F-15 Strike Eagle before the kids arrived. Here’s an update to what’s going on. The short news is that there isn’t as much action now, but there are still some interesting new titles that are “modern jet”:http://www.gamespot.com/finder/findgames.html?catid=130, “helicopter”:http://www.gamespot.com/finder/findgames.html?catid=127 and “submarine”:http://www.gamespot.com/finder/findgames.html?catid=125…
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Kid Games
Connie asked, where are all the educational games. Seems like there aren’t anymore to buy. So, off to look at PC Gamer to find some. Here are some others have ben playing based on their ESRB rating at “gamespot”:http://www.gamespot.com/reviews.html?type=byesrb&platform=pc&order=asc&time=oneyear as well as their top 100 “kids games”:http://www.gamespot.com/misc/top100_kids.html?tag=gs_lnav_topkids: * “Simcity 4”:http://www.gamingexcellence.com/pc/games/132/review.shtml. This is the simulation that…
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Minh Thai Solution
Solving the Rubik’s Cube These instructions can be used to solve a 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube and also a 2x2x2 Rubik’s mini cube starting from any combination of colors on a mixed up cube. They are from Minh Thai who held the record in late 1981 of 26 second. The method is # 1. Solve the…
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Alex’s latest obsession is the Rubik’s Cube. Here are some hints for you, Alex: Rubik’s Cube – how to solve the Cube or cheat. There are many sites around the Web that can give you detailed steps for solving Rubik’s cube, and many are very good. However, if you want a quick run down of…
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Notebook instead
After looking at a Mac Mini, these mini ITX systems, I wonder a little bit why folks don’t just get a notebook instead. Essentially most of the technology limits get solved by low power notebook technology anyway and you get a free screen you can use on the road too. Dell has the Inspiron 1150…
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VIA Motherboards explained
“VIA Epic Motherboards”:http://www.mini-itx.com/store/default.asp?c=2. A good explanation of the many VIA motherboards that folks use for PC-based versions. A little complicated but essentially, * PD boards are older in either 600MHz or 1GHz both fanless for embedded applications * Older M boards that are 600MHz fanless or 1GHz with a fan but are optimized for multimedia…