Category: Computers

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Update: Thecus N5200 – RAID Repair

Well, I have to admit: I am one lucky guy. I have been running a truly degraded RAID array since day one of my experience with the N5200. To get up to speed you may want to read my other post about the device: Thecus N5200 Review

So, today my replacement hard drive arrived for a failure I noticed recently. I took a look at the RAID and double checked the reason for the replacement. My #2 drive was showing some bad sectors and was listed as a ‘warning’. Not a failed drive but a drive on the way. Better safe then sorry I thought.… Click here to read more!

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Review: Jinzora Media Jukebox

I’m always looking for better ways to access my media when I am away from the house. For a while I was using Microsoft’s streaming server because I had free access to it through a company I was working for but it was very limited. To access the music you had to be using a current version of Windows Media player which was a hassle. For the music to stream you had to actually copy the music files to the server and create a station. You basically had to create static playlists, when you wanted to add or remove a song you had log into the server to make the changes and copy the files.… Click here to read more!

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Apple’s Support is Still Top Notch

This morning, while eating a spot of breakfast, I noticed a crack in my Macbook. I was not completely surprised by this. I had noticed some weakness a few weeks ago during one of my laptop cleanings and I recall some mention of this issue on the Apple support forum shortly after the Macbook’s release.

(As an aside, I do not recommend you browse those forums for any reason. They are filled with 90% Whiners and haters. Nothing good will come of it. It’s like looking for political information on a conspiracy theory site, everyone is skewing something to further their motives.)… Click here to read more!

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iPod Touch, I yearn for you!

Ok, in case you live under a rock take a look at the new stuff out friends at Apple have released. Apple has released a device that I have hoped for since they announced the iPhone itself back in January. They are calling it the iPod Touch, picture and iPhone sans the phone. It’s all the goodness without any of the superfluous AT&T crap. This I will own, for two reasons.

Reason one: It’s awesome looking and I have to have it. Like a raccoon I am drawn to the shiny device and must have it in my grubby hands.… Click here to read more!

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Review: 5th Generation iMac 20″

Yeah, I bought one. No story for why, no long explanation about it. I bought it because I needed a new desktop and I don’t regret it. With the addition of this iMac I am 100% Mac now, my Macbook for portability, the Mac Pro for the recording studio and now the iMac for my general desktop use.

I will admit that adapting to using a Mac desktop has been somewhat rough. I learned to use the Macbook with no trouble at all. Using the laptop with the massive touch pad and it’s attached 13.3″ screen fit me like a glove.… Click here to read more!

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Review: Apple’s New .Mac Service

As far as I can tell .Mac (Apple’s Website describing the complete service) has been overhauled in a very big way and for the better. For a while now I’ve been aware of the .Mac service which was basically a somewhat expensive way to keep all of your macs up to date with each other. It offered a simple way to sync bookmarks, address books ect as well as offering 1GB of online storage to use between your iDisk and the IMAP email they offered.

The iDisk itself was and is a very cool system. Basically it’s a place that you can keep your files so that they are available to all of your macs.… Click here to read more!

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The Wheels of Progress

Well, It’s been a while hasn’t it? Let me wipe the cob webs of the site (and the servers, but thats another post) and mention a couple of things I have in the works. First off, my Thecus N5200 has been having some trouble lately and I think it’s something that needs to be posted about. As it turns out the web interface for the product is severely lacking and does not in any way provide adequate data about the array’s health. Look for a scathing post about that coming up…

In other (better) news Apple has released some new software (iLife 08,iWork 08) and updated both the Mac Mini and the iMac.… Click here to read more!

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Followup: Thecus N5200

Well, I have my first real drive failure on my hands. The array has been running for a few months now (though not without issue), and when I logged into it the other day I noticed I have a drive on the fritz. The array did not send me an email telling me about the issue but that could be understandable as the array is not currently degraded, I just have a drive with a few errors. I will place an order for a new disk and go through the process of replacing it. The manual says all I need to do is pull the bad drive and pop in a new good one.… Click here to read more!

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Treo as a Modem: The Windows (Part 2)

Ok, Well, I took a minute to try out pairing my Treo to my Windows XP laptop to see what I could do. The short answer is that the process works and I can get online using the phone as a modem.

The long answer is that it happens in typical windows fashion. I paired the phone using the XP bluetooth tools. During that process it asks which services you would like to use with the phone, one of them is to use the phone as a modem. So far so good. As soon as I clicked on the check box though I swear to you 4, yes FOUR wizards opened on my screen.… Click here to read more!

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Cingular Treo 750 as a Modem

Ok, using my Macbook and my Treo 750 it was pretty simple to get online. I’ll outline my process here for anyone else who might be curious to try. I will also post about getting it to work with my HP nc6400, assuming I’m able to make it happen…

Step 1:

Install the Treo Cingular modem scripts. All you need to do is download this file and copy the contained files into the /Library/Modem Scripts folder starting from the root of your system drive. You will not find this folder in your users Library folder.

Step 2:

Pair your mac and your phone.… Click here to read more!