Month: May 2010

Since the first three parts of this series came out, (One, Two and Three) the beginning of May has seen the launch of the new EeePC 900 series; it’s slightly larger and heavier, with a nine-inch screen and higher resolution. The Xandros OS is the same and therefore the tips and tricks in this last part should apply equally well. Yes, the E900 series has a larger screen but you make as well make the most of every available seven or nine inches. Other tips and tricks aimed at boosting performance should also apply.

Tips:a Small Collection Of Bios Entry Key Combos

Battery life

Battery life, and ways to preserve/extend it, are a hardy perennial of the laptop user’s agenda. The EeePC is no different. You might expect that a machine with such a relatively low specification would be parsimonious in respect of power consumption, but the battery default is four cells (with an option to upgrade to a longer-life six-cell version) and the average charge gives approximately between three and three and a half hours. Your mileage will vary considerably depending on various setting and the power-draining external devices you have plugged in.

Tips:a Small Collection Of Bios Entry Key Combos

thankfully the designers have shipped this machine with easy configuration options right from the keyboard

The EeePC is best described as a miniature road warrior, the sort of device you take with you to catch up on e-mail, browse the web or perhaps do a bit of coding or word processing. For all of these things the default settings may be excessive and a drain on valuable battery life when you are out and about and far away from a power point. Thankfully, the designers have shipped this machine with easy configuration options right from the keyboard. Let’s take a quick run through them.

Tips:a Small Collection Of Bios Entry Key Combos

The default screen is bright and you will soon discover you that can in fact manage with much lower backlight levels—ambient daylight conditions notwithstanding. Reducing the brightness levels down to conserve battery life is simplicity itself: press the Fn+F and the Fn+F key combination to increase or decrease the level respectively. You can, depending on the application you are running, find a level that is consistent with ease of viewing and power saving. The same method can be used for other settings too. If you want to automate brightness control (based on detecting battery/AC status) without manual intervention, fire up your chosen text editor and copy and paste the following scripts—courtesy of the good folk at the eeepc users’ wiki.

Probably the most important saving you can make is to temporarily disable the Atheros built-in wireless card. This is one of the largest system power drains, so unless you need to be on the internet, disable it. Again, toggling Fn+F will do the trick. (If you forget the status of the card, the blue LED at the bottom right of the EeePC will indicate that it is on). The final feature that can be controlled easily and directly from the keyboard is muting the speakers. Fn+F does the trick. With all those features enabled easily from the keyboard you should be able to get the most out of your battery—and if you upgrade to the six-cell version (about £50) you should see some impressive road life in your EeePC before it starts gasping for an electrical outlet.

These keyboard-adjustable features discussed above are the Xandros default and the insanely massive popularity of this machine have ensured a rush of customised GNU/Linux distros which, inevitably, have endeavoured to mimic those features. For a list of feature/distro compatibility for them see Part Three of this series.

Webcam

The arrival of the E900 Series EeePC notwithstanding I would gladly have forgone not only the speakers but the webcam too, in order to free up some valuable screen space. However, the webcam also uses up valuable battery life, so it’s well worthwhile configuring it too.

To enable/disable it on an ad hoc basis open a console on the Desktop and type the following:

echo 1 > /proc/acpi/asus/camera

To disable it change the 1 to a 0:

echo 0 > /proc/acpi/asus/camera

To hackers, overclocking the EeePC is irresistible

The EeePC is not exactly superfast as the spec. has been designed to keep costs down. The processor is rated at 900MHZ but actually runs at 630MHZ as the FSB (Front Side Bus) has been set at 70MHZ. Overclocking the FSB to 100MHZ will run the processor at the advertised 900MHZ. To hackers, overclocking is irresistible and if you are one them and want to extract the last piece of juice from the processor you can overclock it. Warning: that may consume more power (affecting battery life), produce more heat, may cause the fan to kick (thus consuming even more battery power) and may cause system instability/crashes.

Software Development is a conversion in which the user’s requirement or the market demand is processed into a software product. This comprises the procedures of software engineering associated with investigation and attaining objectives. It is arduous to segregate whether marketing or engineering is accountable for the accomplishment or catastrophe of a software product. Software developments are based on the demands of the customer and are done to the utmost satisfaction of the customer or market. They are codes written in various computer languages.

Customer Software Development is an engineering process and marketing it is another process. But only when these two processes join forces the outcome will be balanced. Software development assignments are not always allied with engineering such as risk or crisis management, human resources, budgeting, market research, etc. Software development is a complicated process and requires the blend of knowledge in various disciplines. Beginning from designing to generation of codes, project management, analysis, deployment, management changes and projecting the required software has become an indispensable part of any organization.

Any developing Software Development Company executes their methodologies. The ISO 12207 software is essential for selecting, implementing as well as monitoring the life cycle. Software ISO 9000 represents the standards for organizing procedures with documentation. ISO 15504 known as SPICE assists in managing, providing guidelines, controlling and in software development. This is implemented to acquire knowledge about the project on which a team is doing software development. Six Sigma is a method to analyze the statistics of a company and enhance its performance.

Generally, while attempting any new Software Development or free software, new application or absolute new system, it is referred as “Domain Analysis”. This is an essential phase to haul out and gather the requisites of the Customer. The next step is creating the Customer Software Development project by understanding the client’s requirement and demonstrating to them the live codes. This demonstration will lessen the risk of being incorrect. Specifications are essential for all the external interfaces that are expected to remain constant. The Software Development Company takes the responsibility of linking the hardware perfectly under the supervision of IT Consulting Companies. Implementation should be done by coding which is a vital activity for the Software Development engineers and the Software Development Company. This is followed by testing the software. Documentation is essential for maintenance and future development and is taken care by the IT Consulting Companies or by the Software Development Company.

Many IT Consulting Companies supports other Software Development Companies to take optimum utilization of the hardware as well as the software tools to produce best results. Software Development fails as the developers lack in planning an appropriate team and the time required in completing a project. It is expected of the Software Development Companies to have curiosity and adequate queries as well as problems. This will lead to inquisitiveness and more of adept learning. Maintaining and developing software to any new problem or additional requirement consumes more time than initial software development. Any custom software development demands lots of patience, calculation, speculation, variation and presentation. It should be developed keeping into mind various problems that may arise in future and should be open enough to make alterations.

When considering buying a used or even a new laptop, the first thing you need to do is to determine your computing needs.

word processing

e-mail

browsing web pages

moving the laptop from home to work (weight)

gaming

on-line shopping

a database application

personal finance

is battery power important

Check out the Minimum Systems Requirements needed to do all of the your applications. They will not come with the laptop, as refurbished laptops often only include the Operating System (OS). If they don’t include an installed OS, then be prepared to install it yourself. This is not for those that don’t know what they are doing, so research what is involved before buying one without an OS.

Once you understand what you really need, you need to determine your budget.

Most old laptops do not have working batteries. If you need a battery, shop around to figure out how much they cost. You should know that on older laptops, batteries don’t last more than an hour or two, so purchasing a new battery for the purpose of longer battery life may not be worth the expense. And by all means, stick with a name brand… IBM, Dell, Toshiba, Compaq-HP.

If you are new to computers and you want to browse the World Wide Web, you will need to obtain the services of an ISP (Internet Service Provider). There are basically two types of Internet access options: broadband (cable modem, DSL, satellite) and lowband (dial-up). Broadband is the preferred type since download speeds can range from 128kbs to 6000kbs. The faster the better, of course. But, if your budget is tight, dial-up works just fine for typical browsing and e-mail usage.

Your choice of ISP’s will be dependent upon two things: budget and location. If the budget allows and you don’t mind paying upwards of $35-50+ per month, you can purchase a broadband connection. However, even if money were no object, your physical location will determine what types of services are available to you. Broadband is not available everywhere (with the exception of satellite). If you have a telephone line, you can always choose dial-up. AOL’s bread and butter is dial-up users. Do your research to determine what is available in your area and compare costs.

And for you gamers out there, you definitely need a reliable broadband connection. Gaming over a lowband connection can be a frustrating experience and sometimes even impossible. You will need to check out the minimum systems requirement for the games you are interested in using to make sure the CPU speed and the RAM and graphic chip requirements will support the games you wish to play.

Once you have figured out your budget and your needs and the requirements of your laptop it is time to search for the laptop of your desires.

Some people choose to search at www.ebay.com. If you do be sure to check out the seller to be sure you will have a smooth transaction.

Many people don’t want the hassle of bidding, so use your favorite search engine: Google or Yahoo or MSN for the terms “used laptops” or “refurbished laptop”.

An important thing to keep in mind is how will the vendor treat you should there be a problem. If you don’t like their attitude or they don’t pick up the phone shop elsewhere. Price is important, but if you have a problem and spent the least amount of money possible the vendor may not have any resources available to help you after you have purchased and spent your money.

If all the above seems like too much of a hassle, then buy a new computer. It will cost around $700 + but will come with a new battery and a one year warranty, although some new ones seem to have only 90 day warranties. It will also have the latest Windows XP system and an 800 number to call the vendor, should their be a problem. I’d call the 800# first before buying to get an idea what kind of support they will provide.

People play Games For Nintendo Wii for amusement or perhaps to unwind from their stressful daily work routine. For that purpose, they don’t come any better than Nintendo Wii video gaming. Not only is it a revolutionary game console, there are game titles to cater to any individual needs and taste of every Wii gamer. The best thing is to perform Wii Games Downloads on the internet.

Although the Games For Nintendo Wii console was a winner right from the start, it has been upgraded continuously to ascend to yet greater and greater heights. Today, games for Wii are starting to live up to their Nintendo pedigree, finally holding its own against the more illustrious console. What used to be a weak link has turned around into a star feature as is evident in the way the games are flying off the shelves nowadays.

To load up your gaming console so you can have endless fun, the most convenient way to obtain games for Wii is online. Just about any of your favorite games can be found on the list of Download games For Wii. The Nintendo Virtual Console is the original source but there are several online sites offering free Wii Games Download also. The way to acquire these games is very easy. If you have internet connection on you PC, you can download games for Wii with just a few clicks of the mouse.

The games for Wii that can be downloaded for free include the following; Mario Kart Wii, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Super Mario Galaxy, Lego Star Wars, the Legend of Zelda and many others. There are thousands more and counting; hundreds and hundreds of new titles are added on to the list every week. By joining one of those P2P download services, all you have to do is make a few mouse-clicks on your computer to retrieve the games of your choice.

The problem on limited system storage is now in the past. Now, the issue has been resolved by enabling the existent SD port for system direct play from SD cards. This amounts to limitless extra-storage for games. In this way, your PC can also be freed of hogging by Wii games. And the best thing is the SD’s are low-cost relative to proprietary or built-in hard drives by Wii’s rivals; pay $10 for a 2-GB (Wii-supported) SD and you’re being ripped off.

When you download Nintendo Wii Video Games online, you must make sure that the sites are reliable. There are all too many unscrupulous sites which are known to plant spyware, adware and other malware under the guise of free games. A good yardstick of credibility is their ratings by independent review sites. Another good indicator is if they are certified by recognized inspection laboratories.

It is common knowledge that men can find clothes that suit their tastes a lot faster than women. If you are working in an office, find a nice suit with a shirt and a tie, matching shoes and belt, and you are all set. Boys also have an edge over girls, from the same point of view.

Girls clothing tends to be a little more complicated when it comes to match some items. I do not know the exact reason for this, but it may be because of the way they feel about each other. When two boys or men look at each other, the first thing they observe is the clothing items, obviously. But if one is supposedly underdressed, the other one couldn’t care less.

On the other hand, when two girls or women meet, all the items that cover their bodies are intensely studied by the other. I know this sounds a little misogynistic, but it is true in a lot of cases. And that is one of the reasons why girls clothing items are a lot harder to pick out than the ones for men.

Now do not get me wrong. I am not saying that clothing items for boys are easy to choose, but the accessibility and taste of these garments are far closer than in girls clothing items. Men’s tastes can be satisfied a lot easier than the ones of women.

In order to overcome the difficulties in finding the right clothes to wear casually or for specific occasions, both men and women seek clothing tips in outside sources. These sources include magazines, fashion shows, internet and others. Sure you can buy a magazine or watch a TV show that can provide a certain tips, but the internet provides a more reliable source for an unlimited amount of information.

When you are trying to find some reliable clothing tips, you should be aware of some things. First of all, all opinions are subjective, and therefore it should be best to form your own. Do not rely on what other people think so that you can choose the way you look. You are more than capable of creating a unique combination of clothes that can make a real statement about who you are.

On the other hand, criticism should always be welcome. Again, everybody has their own tastes, but when you are trying to match a few items in order to create a look for yourself, you may overlook some faulty details that may become annoying after a while.

Girls clothing items can be matched over the internet before they are purchased. This creates an advantage so when they go shopping, they know exactly what to look for without too much trouble. And they can also receive some second opinions about what they would like to buy.

These second opinions can easily transform into clothing tips. When you are trying to find out whether the style you follow is in fashion, some people may be helpful in posting their opinions about similar items that can go along better. After you view their opinions, your matchings can be improved.

Such a website can be found at fashmatch.com. Here you can interact with people all over the world and view their clothing tips. You can also join some contests and try to create an eye catching new style. The only limit is your imagination.