Epic Citadel
September 14th, 2010
Embedded Programming and ze Cannon
January 11th, 2010
Well I’ve been brushing back up on my embedded chops in anticipation of my Sparkfun Free Day order, which arrives here on Wednesday. And what am I doing with the parts that I ordered? Why, building a mount for a potato cannon, obviously! Yeah, it’s likely the most complex project I’ve undertaken, but I have a bit of help from my stepdad and Andrew. Let’s see how this goes.
Also, added some code, and a new section for embedded code/diagrams/etc. Have fun.
Motorola Droid Review
November 22nd, 2009
The Android Saga: or how I hate T-Mobile
November 22nd, 2009
So after over a year of owning an HTC G1, I decided it was time to do a factory reset on the beast. OS rot seemed to be affecting it in a bad way, and I wanted to get a bit of its speed back, especially after its horrible showing in my Droid vs G1 comparison test. So I went about trying a factory reset of the device, which I hoped would wipe everything out.
Well, there seems to be something to that old adage, that you should look before you leap. I found myself going through the setup procedure of the G1, skipping the tutorial, but being stuck on setting up a Google account to attach to the G1. In their infinite wisdom, they created an un-skippable step in the setup process. You absolutely HAVE to set up a google account in order to get to the home screen of the G1. Yet, my G1 had been disconnected from T-Mobile for over a month. Another harsh reality is that they have no way to get to the wireless setup screen from phone setup. So I was sitting here with a G1 that I could not use, because in order to set up wireless, I needed to get to the home screen, but the only way to get to the home screen was if I had internet capability setup.
The Call
Oh T-Mobile, how I hate you with a passion. I tried T-Mobile’s tech support, but they told me there was absolutely no way that I could get this working without a data plan. Oh thanks, T-Mobile, but you’re not getting any more of my money! Plus, I have a bit of a moral dilemma, in that I paid full price for the G1 (it was not purchased as part of a contract), so I don’t exactly think it would be right for me to have to PAY them to give me a solution.
The only thing that I could think of is that they could give me an unlock code, and I could bum a friend’s SIM card from another network (I know absolutely no one on T-Mobile). So, to be fair, they did actually put in a request to get an unlock code, so hopefully I’ll have an unlocked G1 soon. So maybe I don’t hate you quite as much as I put on, T-Mobile, but you still lied (or didn’t want to spend the time).
The Search
So I checked online to see how I could get around this problem. There are many guides online for this, but not all of them are very thorough. I found myself taking pieces from several different tutorials, all presenting separate issues that had to be dealt with in turn.
For starters, the most straight forward way to get past the setup screen is to use a little bug/feature in Android 1.0 RC29. In this version of Android, every key you pressed was actually entered in a terminal session behind the scenes. You could actually type “reboot+Enter” and the device would reboot. This can be used to your advantage. However, I had Android version 1.6 on the phone, which did not have this bug. So, I had to find out how to flash Android RC29 on my phone. Luckily, this guide got me through that (you can follow the guide all the way through if you want, but you don’t absolutely have to root the phone for this to work).
Once I installed rc29, I had to enable adb on the phone, so that I could run commands on the phone from my computer using adb. This post by JesusFreke has an excellent guide to getting that to work (scroll down to “A few tips and tricks”). However, I had a problem. ADB always had trouble connecting to my G1. It worked fine on a machine that I had never mounted my G1 on, which happened to be my old laptop running WinXP, but on my main machine running Vista 64, it would never sync correctly.
After a few hours of googling, and a few Aspirins, I found that the driver just wasn’t installed correctly. But Vista was being an asshole, because every time I un-installed the drivers, it would re-install them back. I tried disabling uPnP, I tried disabling auto-install, I tried setting group policy, I tried just about everything, but Vista still kept auto-installing the wrong drivers and not allowing me to use the drivers I needed. Finally, I found this bit of advice on Google Groups, which had me delete certain registry keys (after following advice here on how to delete registry keys that were giving me access denied errors), and then re-attach the G1. Hey, that worked! The phone finally, finally showed up in adb.
After getting ADB to sync correctly, I went back to the post by JesusFreke to enable wireless so that I could connect to my Access Point, and continue setting up the device. WHOOO, that was fun. So now I was sitting with a freshly installed version of Android 1.0, but I wanted to get to 1.5 or 1.6. To do that, I just followed this guide to installing/updating Android from the SD card, using the files found here or here.
Fin.
Of Myths and Macs
April 16th, 2009
So Microsoft has released a few new commercials centered around “ordinary” people hunting for a laptop. I think that it’s about time Microsoft went on the offensive, as they have been getting beaten to death over the years, especially recently with the PC/Mac guy ads. This has started a firestorm in the Mac blogs, with people attempting to counter points left and right in the commercials. You know you’re doing your job right as an advertising exec when the competition and their afficianados feel like they have to go on the defensive.
So this is the topic of my post today. Are Macs really more expensive than PCs? From a cursory glance of the apple store, I would have to say yes. I am intimately familiar with the pricing of computer components, spending a good deal of my time following the hardware world, as well as speccing out computers (read: dreaming). From looking around at Apple’s store, and checking out online and brick-and-mortar stores, everything from base pricing to upgrades are more expensive from Apple. Let’s break that down, shall we? Obviously, a few claims from a person who is obviously a PC user wouldn’t be expected to be taken out-of-hand.
The Absolute Baseline
For most people looking to buy a computer, the first thing they look for is the price. I worked in retail, and in specific computer sales, for almost two years, and I can tell you first hand that users gravitate towards the least expensive items. It’s no secret why; why spend more for something you don’t really need? Many users looking to buy a PC want a word processor, internet functionality and decent portability in a laptop. In a desktop, take the previous qualifications and subtract from that the portability. When you look at the baseline price for a laptop from Apple, you will not find one for under $1000. The base price for an apple “desktop” computer is $600 for the Mac Mini, which does not come with any type of display or keyboard/mouse. Even this most basic of necessities is extra (and not cheap, either).
In the PC world, you can find sales all the time, with normal (IE non holiday) baseline prices around the $500 mark. This price includes an LCD screen, keyboard, mouse, and more often than not a printer. Laptops, including “Netbooks” and other light-duty notebooks can be obtained for around the same price range. And I hear the Mac kiddies screaming already. “But the basic macs are better machines. Macs aren’t cheaper, they’re just better!” Let’s get something straight: I would never say that something… a Kia for instance… is better than a Mercades or Cadillac in quality. Not that I’m exactly comparing PCs to Kias and Macs to Cadillacs or Mercades. The fact remains, however, that just because the two are not equivalent doesn’t mean that one is not cheaper than the other. Yes, these basic laptops and desktops aren’t as powerful as the baseline Macs, but they are cheaper, making them much more accessible to the vast majority of people who don’t want to spend $1000 on a word processor or an internet browser. It’s really just that simple.
- In the PC world you can find excellent deals for the thrifty consumer.
Lower End Laptops
Let’s take a look at a few equivalent machines, then. First up to bat, we have the Apple MacBook. The basic model has a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 120GB hard drive and an nVidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor that is used to power a 13″ screen. All this for the low low price of… $1000. That sound you hear is the sound of PC users choking on whatever they were drinking, as they try to stop the fits of laughter.
Let’s find a comparable PC, then. In fact, let’s find several. First up for the PCs is this stylish Asus laptiop. It sports an Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 2.13GHz, an (admittedly) larger screen at 14.1″, 4GB of DDR2 memory, a 320GB 7200RPM hard drive (the Mac’s basic hard drive was 5400RPM) and an nVidia GeForce 9600M GS graphics card with 1GB dedicated video RAM. The price? $800. That’s a price difference of 20%, for all you lazy types. The ASUS is about 5.7 lbs, so a bit over a pound heavier, and a good bit bigger in each dimension than the MacBook. Besides the dimensions, the difference in price (what some call the “mac tax”) buys you a slower and smaller hard drive, a slower and lower capacity graphics processor, and half the RAM (which, by the way, is also slower). But folks, it’s shiny!
The ASUS not your style? Ok, let’s walk across the isle and snuggle up to this petite Dell Studio XPS laptop. This little buddy comes packed with a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 320GB 7200RPM hard drive and an nVidia GeForce 9400M graphics processor running a 13.3″ screen. Again, twice the memory, a larger, faster hard drive, and in this case a faster processor. This laptop is also closer in size to the MacBook. You get all this for $900, still $100 (10%) less than the baseline Mac. At 5lbs, this is just a half a pound heavier than the basic MacBook, and is a bit narrower, but deeper and thicker than the Mac. Hate Dell? Well that’s okay, we have other options…
Here is a sleek HP Pavilion laptop with a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB DDR2 memory, and a 5400RPM 250GB drive. The graphics processor is an integrated Intel GMA 4600MHD which is not as good as the graphics processor on the MacBook. The laptop itself is 5.1lbs, and the dimensions are just slightly bigger than the Dell Studio above, making it just larger than the MacBook. This laptop weighs in at $800.
Sarcasm aside, there are other differences that one might point out, such as the battery life. Perhaps the Mac’s battery lasts longer, for that tests would be required that means you would actually have to buy the machine. It’s up to you, though, what would be more desireable, an hour or less of battery life, or $200 and faster hardware.
Component Pricing
We can see that baseline prices are much more expensive on the Apple side of things. Am I going to stop there? Oh hell no. Let’s look at component pricing. Note that these prices are current as of the writing of this article, which at this time is April 16, 2009.
It’s hard to judge the base prices for Mac components, simply because there is no price that is listed for what Apple charges for basic components. What we can check is price differences. Note that RAM prices assume that all RAM slots are filled, so 2GB is 2×1GB sticks, 4GB is 2×2GB sticks and 8GB is 2×4GB sticks.
Hard to argue with raw component prices.
Prices of upgrades on Mac laptops are from 30% – 100% more expensive than actual prices on newegg. Note, the apple price is just upgrade prices, so the base price of the component is not added in. They must use gold plated component versions in Macs. Also note that the price listed under Newegg is the most expensive price listed for that component under newegg, just in case I hear cries of “better quality components” from anyone.
TF2 Stats
April 15th, 2009
Created a little web app that creates a TF2 banner for forum sigs since the service I used stopped that particular service just recently. Check it out, if you’re interested.
Enter Sidellis
March 9th, 2009
Get Expelled
April 15th, 2008
Wandering around in the Bitverse
April 14th, 2008
I’ve actually been working on quite a few things, even though I’ve been rather quiet.
First off, I am working on a Javascript/DOM version of Tetris. Isn’t that cool!? Don’t we all need another version of Tetris floating around? Although, in order to avoid copyright issues it will be called something besides Tetris. Haven’t the faintest idea what yet, though.
On a completely different subject, I am also finally getting to my symmetric cypher. I have been feeling the itch to develop an encryption system for quite some time, but I’ve just never gotten anything to work properly. Looking at code for AES and relatives really opens your mind to how you go about making encryption work (cascade well, etc).
I don’t want to release any details yet, but it’ll be a symmetric block cypher that will allow any multiple of 128-bit key lengths, so much higher than 256 if you want.
