init6 Technology

Found an interesting device online today called Peek. I’m not quite sure what I think about this e-mail and texting platform. Peek is a mobile e-mail and text messaging platform that currently costs $49.95 for the device and $19.95/mo for the service. It allows for unlimited e-mail and text messaging nationwide. It’s meant to be a simple, cheap, and easy to use device for non-techies. Although, my first thought was it’s a smartphone who cares, I got to thinking about it and realized that someone like my parents could use this which is most definitely not the case with a complicated smartphone. I consider myself a techie, and I’ve had both a Blackberry, a Windows Mobile HTC slider, and now an iPhone, and none of the above is truly EASY to setup. Not to mention the idea that the Peek doesn’t require a contract is also VERY appealing.

Here are a few details for you to look at:

Here is a quick video from the company:

Here is a great article on 9 Windows 7 hacks that might be of interest.

Short list:
1. Enable New Windows Taskbar in Build 6801
2. Enable Windows Aero in Windows 7
3. Remove Watermark from Windows 7 beta 1 Desktop
4. Remove Send Feedback link
5. Install TimerNuke (Remove Time based Windows 7 Expiration)
6. Enable Quick Launch Bar
7. Make Windows 7 Trial Last 120 Days
8. Uninstall Internet Explorer for Good
9. Windows 7 Installed on a Apple MacBook Pro with 17″ Display

Tux Radar put up a great article about the Linux kernel explaining what exactly it does. Head over there to take a look.

Here is an excerpt:

The kernel is a piece of software that, roughly speaking, provides a layer between the hardware and the application programs running on a computer. In a strict, computer-science sense, the term ‘Linux’ refers only to the kernel – the bit that Linus Torvalds wrote in the early 90s.

All the other pieces you find in a Linux distribution – the Bash shell, the KDE window manager, web browsers, the X server, Tux Racer and everything else – are just applications that happen to run on Linux and are emphatically not part of the operating system itself. To give some sense of scale, a fresh installation of RHEL5 occupies about 2.5GB of disk space (depending, obviously, on what you choose to include). Of this, the kernel, including all of its modules, occupies 47MB, or about 2%.

Quite a while back I bought a LaCie D2 Quadra (500GB model) for my iMac. It has a lot of very nice features and in my opinion is worth every dime I paid for it. For anyone not familiar with the LaCie brand, they have been around since 1992 and they typically produce very high performance and high “design” related storage solutions. Of course they also tend to be associated with Apple/Mac. On the D2 Quadra model in particular LaCie outfitted it with a very nice set of connection options. It can be connected to a Mac or PC via USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, and eSATA. That combination of connection options makes it a great choice for PC or Mac users alike. It of course also raised the price a bit.

Shortly after receiving the D2 Quadra, I decided to upgrade the drive in the external enclosure to a 750GB Samsung. That drive recently gave out on me and I needed a replacement. I decided to go with a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB 3.5″ SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (bare drive) from NewEgg despite the negative press recently I figured I was safe because any firmware issues are most likely resolved and already in the drive. Regardless, I thought it might be handy to document the procedure for upgrading the drive in the LaCie unit.

Keep in mind that as far as I know, this does void your LaCie warranty. However, if your looking to upgrade the drive inside D2 Quadra you’ve already run out of space and are looking for a cheaper alternative to buying a new external drive.

Drive Replacement Procedure:

1. Obviously we need to shutdown the drive and remove all the connections before starting. If you look at the back of the drive you’ll need to remove two screws. One is beneath the “warranty voiding” silver sticker at the bottom back of the drive. In the pictures below it’s on the right. You can see a slight amount of the sticker that stayed adhered to the surface of the drive. So “they” will know if you remove it!

2. Once the back panel is removed you’ll be able to pull on the front panel of the drive and slide the internal chassis out of case.

3. If you turn the internal drive chassis upside down at this point you’ll see the SATA connections to the current drive. You’ll need to remove both the power and the SATA connection from the drive. You should be able to fold back the SATA cable however if yours is in the way you can also remove it from the board. Keep in mind that you may need to keep track of the orientation of the cable since it has a fold in it that seems to allow a good fit when sliding the chassis back into the outer cover.

4. After disconnecting the SATA and power connections turn the whole internal chassis over and you’ll see the mounting screws for the harddrive. Remove these with a screw driver while holding the harddrive on the other side.

5. Place the new drive in place of the old one and use the chassis screws removed in the last step to re-mount the new drive. Make sure you mount the new drive with the SATA and power connectors facing the right way.

6. Hook up all the connections and gently slide the internal chassis back into the outer cover.

7. Replace the back panel with the two screws removed at the beginning and you should have a newly “resized” D2 Quadra.

NOTE: I used a 1.5TB Seagate drive for my upgrade and it seemed to work great. I can access the full size of the drive. I am not aware of what the max harddrive size is (if any) for the bridge circuitry within the LaCie drive. Keep that in mind as drive sizes grow.

Today the people at Ubuntu unveiled the new Alpha 6 release of Ubuntu 9.04. With a final release date of April 23rd, this release is getting quite close to a Beta and even final state. This release of Ubuntu is titled Jaunty Jackalope. I’ve already played with a previous Alpha release and was very pleased. I’ll be trying this new one out shortly, if I can get it downloaded quick enough.

Some features of this release:

X.Org server 1.6
The latest X.Org server, version 1.6, is available in Jaunty.

Font size optimization
Font dot-per-inch settings are now optimized based on your monitor’s capabilities, rather than defaulting to 96 dpi. You can further customize your dpi settings via System → Preferences → Appearance → Fonts → Details…

New style for notifications and notification preferences
Included in Jaunty is a simple menu which can be used to set preferences for notification icons, such as where they pop up on the taskbar. There is a possibility that Ubuntu 9.04 will get a whole new notification system, as shown in the Flash movie below:

http://www.markshuttleworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/jaunty904_notifications_example1_web_092.swf

Ext4 filesystem support
Alpha 6 supports the option of installing the new ext4 file system. ext3 is still the default filesystem for Jaunty. However the Ubuntu team is considering ext4 as the default filesystem for the next release based on user feedback.

Linux kernel 2.6.28
Alpha 6 includes the 2.6.28-8.26 kernel based on 2.6.28.7.

For downloading see below links or hit a local mirror:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (Ubuntu Desktop, Server, Netbook Remix, and MID)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (Ubuntu Education Edition)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (Kubuntu) Kubuntu release notes
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (Xubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (UbuntuStudio)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (Mythbuntu)

Beware this is an Alpha release so don’t go installing this on a main system and complaining about instability. However with that said, in the past I’ve found past Ubuntu Alpha releases this far along to be fairly stable. Happy Ubuntu’in?! Is that a term?

According to Engadget the iPhone OS 3.0 will be available for developers via a new sneak peek and a brand new SDK. Engadget will be there live and blogging about it at 1PM EST. Let the rumors start! Will there copy and paste or maybe push notifications? Let’s just hope the users can get their hands on the actual release not too long after that date.

According to this blogger, IE8 is now able to be removed from the latest leaked build of Win7.

It can be done from the control panel utilizing the “Turn Windows Features On or Off” option. See the above link for more details.

I’ve had a question or two from friends about what init6 means or stands for. I thought I’d take a few seconds to explain.

“init 6” performs reboot in a clean and orderly manner,informing the svc.startd daemon of the change in runlevel,which subsequently achieves the appropriate milestone and ultimately executes the rc0 kill scripts.

“reboot” performs an immediate system reboot,does not execute the rc0 kill scripts,simply unmounts file systems and reboots the System. It is not recommended,especially when you are rebooting after a live-upgrade of OS & any patch-updates ,etc.

In other words “init 6″ tells the UNIX/Linux system to reboot gracefully.

For more details on the whole “init” command structure and options look here.

Xandros, the linux version of choice on the Asus Eee PC, has taken what they have learned from that market and applied it to a new mini OS called Presto. Presto is designed to be a fully functional linux desktop that you can boot into within seconds and use the most common applications. It’s designed to be installed on a laptop or other hardware on the move where booting into a full version of WIndows can be trying and definitely annoying. The best part of Presto linux is that it doesn’t replace Windows it just installs on top of it. When you turn on your laptop you have a choice of quickly booting Presto linux or instead waiting for your full version of WIndows to load.

Here is a list what’s provided by default:

• Browse the web securely using Firefox™
• Chat using instant messaging (IM)
• Make free Skype™ calls
• Listen to music and watch videos
• View and edit documents created in Microsoft Office™
• Download games, music, videos and more through the Presto online store

The last one on the list is very interesting because Xandros is following the “App Store” idea and working on providing applications for download directly from them. Presto also connects to networks over WiFi, 3G, xDSL, LAN and cable. Additionally, Presto includes a 14-day free trial of Real Player SuperPass to watch TV online and listen to thousands of radio stations worldwide.

Here are few screenshots just for completeness:

The OEM version is available immediately. A consumer download for $19.95 and a free trial version will be made available to the public on April 13, 2009 at www.prestomypc.com (a beta version will be available on March 16).

VMware Workstation v.6.0 Linux CD Type: Emulation Version: Standard Operating Systems Supported: Linux System Requirements: Optical Drive: CD-ROM Packaging: Retail Features: Discover the true power and flexibility of your desktop or laptop computer with VMware Workstation. Reduce hardware costs by 50% or more by running multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single PC. Automate and streamline tasks to save time and improve productivity. Join the millions worldwide who use Workstation to: Host

BFG Tech has started to offer a new gaming system setup called the Phobos. I don’t know about you but I’ve bought quite a bit of BFG Tech gear in the past and coupled with it’s great quality and awesome warranty I am very excited, not that I can afford one right now, but nonetheless.

Top Configuration:

Processor
* Intel Core i7-965 – 3.2GHz EE PHOBOS OC

Motherboard:
* BFG Approved Intel X58-Based – Supports NVIDIA SLI (3-Way/Quad)

Graphic Cards:
* Two BFG GeForce GTX 295 1.79GB PHOBOS OC (Quad SLI)

Memory:
* 12GB PC3-10666 DDR3 – 1333MHz

Operating System:
* Microsoft Vista Ultimate 64-bit

Add a Graphics Card for Dedicated PhysX Processing:
* Add BFG GeForce GTX 285 1GB PHOBOS OC for PhysX

All for a low low price of $9720