Up is up, right?

I've been looking into computer parts to upgrade my computer for a few weeks now.

Right now my computer is running:

AMD Athlon 64 x2 3.2 GHz Dual core processor
4 GB DDR2 800 Dual Channel RAM (2x 2 GB sticks)
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit GDDR2 Video card
160 GB Seagate hard drive (OS and system files)
750 GB Seagate hard drive (Programs and storage)
250 GB Seagate hard drive (Like.. Nothing)
Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX Motherboard (Can support AM3)
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Power Supply
Cool Master Elite 335 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower computer case
1 120mm fan, stock CPU heatsink/fan
Along with the 3 hard drives in the computer, I also have a 1 TB external USB hard drive.

A good build for when I built it, a year ago. Even then, it wasn't state of the art. I had build it with the intention of upgrading it sooner than later, so I didn't get a lot of high end parts.

Now I want to upgrade the motherboard, RAM, and CPU. Here is what I've picked out:

AMD Phenom II x4 3.2 GHz Quad core processor
8 GB DDR3 1600 Dual Channel RAM (2x 4 GB sticks)
ASRock 870 Extreme3 AM3 AMD 870 ATX Motherboard*

*This may change.

This will end up costing about $260. I've already bought the RAM, mostly because it was on sale (was originally $90 before tax, got it for $60 after tax and free shipping).

Now I'm having an issue deciding on whether or not to actually upgrade the system. Right now I'm using it as a Linux server, running on it a Minecraft server, ventrilo server, and occasionally TF2 and Left 4 Dead 2 servers. Not much else is done on it.

I do have Windows 7 64-bit dual booted on it and I've been playing games on it, but my laptop seems to out-perform it graphic-wise.

So I'm not sure whether or not to go through with the upgrade. I already purchased the RAM, so I think I'll probably go through with it. If I do this, then my next upgrade will probably have nothing to do with the CPU or Motherboard. Most likely a future upgrade will be to add 4-8 more GBs of RAM, upgrade the graphics card, get a nicer case, maybe more fans/better heatsink, and then something like nice speakers or a headset.

Anyway, that's my dilemma. Like I said, I'll probably go through with it.

Another reason I'm hesitant to go through with this is I originally wanted this upgrade to separate the server and desktop computer parts of this one computer. In other words, I want to be able to build a server after upgrading this computer. With the way this upgrade is set up, I won't be able to do that for awhile. Parts I'm missing to do that include a power supply, a case, fans, graphics card, and more hard drives.

Any input would help, whether in the form of a comment on Google Buzz, on Blogspot, or even a facebook wall post or message. I'll keep you updated on what I decide on.

Also, I'm currently putting together a story, of sorts. When I have more details and I'm closer to finishing it, I'll post some of it here. It's going to be a lot like a comic books story, in that it includes "super" heroes, but right now it's leaning towards a Watchmen feel. Dark and more realistic than most comic books.. I mean, as realistic as it can get.

Anyway, that's all for now.

~Rob

The War of Operation

Operating System Wars

I'm sure everyone in the field has heard and has their own arguments for why the operating system they prefer is obviously the best one out there and why one of the others or both of the others are the worse. These arguments are pointless.

Sure, different operating systems have different uses and some are definitely better than others when used for certain things, like for servers or networking. All operating systems have their ups and downs, but arguing that one is better, overall, than others is pointless and, to put it bluntly, stupid.

So today, I'm going to discuss my opinion on the 3 major operating systems being used: Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. For Linux, I'll be discuss the Ubuntu distribution. I'm going to try not to be version specific, but for the most part when it comes to it I'll be talking about the latest version.

So, let's start with windows.

Windows has a pretty good user interface. It can handle everyday use fine. There isn't much speed difference between the other two systems when it comes to playing video games, surfing the web, editing important documents, etc. Windows is definitely annoying as hell when it comes to troubleshooting a problem, and most of the problems can be persistent and hard to find help for. So as long as you don't run into any horrible issues, Windows is perfectly fine.

Troubleshooting errors on Windows can be a pain in the ass. The GUI system is great and all when you don't have to do anything administrative to the computer, like fix problems, then it's really difficult to find anything. Half of the times I've attempted to Google a problem, I found only half of the results were my problem and most of the solutions were different than the others and didn't work for me. Blue Screens of Death are particularly annoying to troubleshoot since any one blue screen can have a lot of different causes. Some don't even say why they occurred without you having to download a developer tool from Windows website (which takes forever). I know when my parents attempt to fix a computer problem, if there isn't an immediate solution or at least one on the first page of Google search results, they just reformat the computer.

Now I'm not saying the other two OSes don't have this problem. I know Linux does, and probably Macs too. But not as bad as Windows.

For gaming, Windows is almost unavoidable. Most games for the PC are for Windows. Steam has added Mac support to a lot of their games, but that doesn't go for PC games in stores. I will say, the market for Mac games is increasing, steadily, but it's still not where the Windows market is. If you're trying to hardcore game on Linux... Ha. There really isn't much of a way save for Wine (Emulates Windows for Windows-only applications) unless we're talking about game servers, then Linux is all over that.

Seems like a good time to start talking about the next OS: Linux.

Linux is great when it comes to speed and control. Everything that can happen on Linux can be done by typing a few commands into the shell. It can be easily automated with the use of Shell, Bash, and Python scripts. Remoting into a Linux computer is a lot easier and faster than remoting into a Windows computer. If you're looking to make a server of any kind, Linux is the OS for you. The control it gives and the compatibility it has with the other OSes when it comes to server operations is the best out there. It does have its faults though.

For the most part, doing something on Linux isn't plain and simple without some kind of help. If you know how to properly use "man -k" or Google, you can easily become a Linux master in weeks, however without these tools Linux becomes very hard and seems like only a computer expert could properly use it. So for most people who are beginners at all things computer related, Windows or Mac is probably a better choice, although Linux can be easy to use, especially a distribution like Ubuntu or Mint, where there is a GUI available.

Linux is open source, and free. Which is a plus. A Windows Key and CD can cost a lot of money. It isn't covered by any warranties though. Windows users may argue that there isn't any help number you can call when you have an issue, but there is still the Internet, and the ubuntu forums can be incredibly helpful when you run into problems.

Another con is that not everything is made with Linux in mind. So be careful.

I'm going to end this topic here. I'd discuss Macs, but I've never used one so I don't feel right talking about it.

I will say one more thing about this: Don't argue the OS you use is the best when you haven't had as much experience with the others as you've had with the one you use. I'm serious. If you're arguing Windows is better than Linux, you better have used Linux as long as you've used Windows. Otherwise your argument can boil down to preference, which isn't an argument for which is better.

That's all for now.

Rob

Lies & Goals

Yeah, I know. I said in my last post I'd post again that night about something I forgot about. I lied. I got lazy and sat around doing nothing. Oh well, onto today's post.

I wanted to share a few summer goals with whoever reads this. Why? Who knows. Maybe so if I don't complete them I can look at the post at the end of the summer in shame (read: apathy). So what are my goals for the summer?

Goal: Re-learn PHP
Why: Two reasons. One, I plan on taking a web programming course at some point in my remaining college career, so I figure I'd have an edge if I already knew the language taught. Two, I'm the webmaster (read: Spiderman) of the Sketch Comedy group I'm in, and I want to convert the entire site to PHP because, frankly, it's a lot cleaner/easier/not shitty.

Goal: Learn Actionscript 3 & Flash
Why: I'm on a programming team for a video game my friend game up with. The game is done in Flash. So in order to program the game, I need to know the language and platform.

Goal: Learn some German
Why: I've been meaning to do this since last summer. I have Rosetta Stone and three levels of German sitting on my hard drive not doing anything. So I figure I learn some. I'm not going attempt to learn German fluently, since I have a lot to do this summer anyway.

Goal: Build a server
Why: To be more specific, a server for the campus television station (read: SITTV) that I'm currently System Administrator for. As soon as the parts come in I'm building it.

Goal: Upgrade my desktop computer
Why: I usually have some money from my internships set aside for something nice. I figure I upgrade my computer. Currently it has: 4 GB DDR2 RAM, AMD Athlon x64 II Dual Core 3.0 GHz processor, GeoForce 9500 GT nvidia card, and some gigabyte mobo (read: motherboard) that matches. I plan on upgrading to: 8GB DDR3 RAM, Phenom II Black edition Six core 3.2 GHz processor, new vid card with better specs, mobo to match. Hopefully it'll improve my computer greatly.

That's it for the summer. I have a few other goals that should be a given, so I'm not going to describe them (e.g. surviving my summer internship).

Possible future topics:
E3 Review
Computer Science Jobs

When will I post about them? In 2 seconds (read: maybe sometime that isn't now).

~Rob

One Year Later

Whoa, it's been a whole year since anyone has posted anything on this blog? Not to mention it's been over a year since I've posted. Sheesh. Oh well, not a big deal.

So topic of this post: Roommate tips.

I've compiled a list of tops for being a good roommate. They're useful, use them.

Now I'm not saying I strictly follow all of these. I don't. I occasionally forget to do some of this. Sometimes 'occasionally' turns into 'always.' Forgive me, it happens. I still think these are great "Rules of thumb" to follow when being a roommate.

1. Do not use something that belongs to your roommate(s) without asking


2. If you all put money in for food, don't randomly go out and buy food without telling them


3. Don't ask your roommate(s) to buy something that they don't or won't use


4. Label or list the things your bringing to the room/apartment


5. Ask your roommate(s) if a friend can stay over being asking the friend


6. Inform your roommate(s) of "Special visits."


7. Follow the golden rule, be nice

"But Rob, could you explain these rules for us?" Sure.

1. Even if you have agreed to share everything, ask first. Your roommate(s) may have forgotten about something they don't want to share. always do this unless they get annoyed and ask you to stop asking for permission.

2. This is a big "No." It may not seem like a big deal, but you do not know your roommate(s) financial situation. Don't assume they can just chip in $40 and go buy a ton of groceries without consulting them. Even if it's decided before hand that you will go shopping once a week and never spend above a certain amount, always alert your roommate(s) of shopping trips. That week might be the one week your roommate(s) is short on cash and can't afford a crap load of food.

3. I'm going to use myself as an example here. My roommates ask me to buy milk occasionally, we go through it fast (Or used to, the semester is over). Normally, I don't mind. However I don't always have the funds to make random runs to the store for milk, so I'll say "Sorry, I can't." Now, don't get me wrong, milk is great. But two semesters ago, when most of my paychecks were going to my school and I almost always ate breakfast at work, I rarely ever used the milk in our room. Occasionally I'd have a glass of milk or bowl of cereal, but that's it. Not a daily thing for me. If you don't use something your roommate wants you to buy, say something.

4. This is important. You don't want one of your roommates leaving with your TV, dishes, food, or cooking ware because they mistook it for one of theirs.

5. This especially applies for friends/girlfriends/boyfriends that plan on staying longer than one night. Ask. Always. Even if you set it up before that it's okay, at least let your roommate(s) know before you actually set the plans in stone.

"Hey Roommate, can my girlfriend stay the night?"
"No, dude, I have to study for a test tomorrow and I don't want the distractions."
"Oh, well she's kinda already on the way sooo sorry..."

This is bad. Don't do this. I personally hate studying anywhere but my room. I like my room. Plus your roommate(s) may not like the person staying over. Be respectful and ask. Also as a general rule of thumb, don't let whoever it is stay longer than 3 days or at least make sure to ask.
"Hey Roomy, can my girlfriend stay the night?"
"Sure dude, whatever."
FOUR DAYS LATER
"Dude, what the **** she's been here for four days!"
"Oh, I just assumed since you were okay with it the first night it'd be fine every night."
"Um, no. I failed a test this morning because you and bimbo wouldn't stop whispering and giggling and I couldn't focus!"
"Oh lol sry bro."

You know those huge trucks Ford makes? Kinda picture my arm, except it's a huge Ford truck. Now picture the imprint that would leave on your face. Also, picture being dead. That's what will happen if you ever do something like this. Ever. As another, more serious general rule, don't invite people to stay over during finals. This is aggravating. Really aggravating. Don't do it. let us move on.

6. You know what I'm talking about. When you have that special 'lady/gentlemen' over and you've already performed your ritualistic dance of feathers, and now it's time to smash fresh? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Let you roommate(s) know. You know what sucks? Assuming your roommate is gone for a certain amount of time and it turns out, yep they're back early. And you've already put on then took off your tribal clothing. No one wants to see you naked except that person you're with that wants to see you naked.

7. Be nice. Be respectful. Just in general.

That's all for now. I'll probably rant about something later today. I was angry about something last night, then I lost my steam. Once I'm in my room and I can actually look my steam (and find it), I'll post about it.

Later.

~Rob

A Invertiable Tablet, plz.

I'm really wanted a tablet for school next semester.  I have taken notes via typing and, of course, via writing, but I really would like a tablet.  My sister has one, though we got it about 4, 5 years ago; it weighs a ton, and the battery life has gone down the hole.  With new touch screen technologies and such, as well as just new technology in general, there have been a couple of tablets showing up that my Google Reader feed has decided to show to me, via Gizmodo or Engadget.

So far, only there are only two that I would even want:

HP TouchSmart Notebook PC

OR

Acer Aspire Timeline 1825PT netvertible

I'm leaning on the HP computer because I've used a lot... My first laptop of my own was an HP-Pavillion, and it held up pretty well for 4, 5 years.  The battery even now still lasts a good hour or two.  I have given it to my brother to use since I got laptop from Stevens, HP-Compaq 8510w.  It's alright, not as stylish as the Pavillion, but it was made to work well with the programs that came on the image.  Of course, I didn't use much of it, and have installed Windows 7 64-bit on it.  

I also want the HP because it doesn't say "netvertible."  Netbooks are mainly just for web browsing and word processing (for the most part, anyway).  HP labels this TouchSmart as a Notebook PC.  I want to be able to do other things on it as well, though anything heavy I would probably use this laptop for (the Stevens HP-Compaq).  Also, it's stylish.  I'm one for aesthetics.

The Acer seems nice and small, though.  Looks nice, and it is a Netbook.  I haven't read as much on it yet, I will when I actually get enough money to buy either.  Speaking of which, the HP, with the specs I wanted (from building it on their website) is about $1200.  The Acer is around $900.

I want a tablet to take notes on because I like writing notes rather than typing them.  It helps me remember things better.  As of lately paper has been cumbersome to manage... Well, not cumbersome; more of annoying.  Of course, I will have those classes that require I hand notes or homework in on paper, but I carrying around one binder with enough looseleaf for those classes that require it, instead of a notebook or two different binders because of the massive amounts of notes I take, would be a lot easier to carry around.

I'm going to do s'more looking around, but I don't have money yet.  I'll get some when I start working this summer.  Yeay!

...I wonder if either of these are pressure sensitive... I could also use it as a sort of sketchbook, too.

Coding Frustrations

I hate not being able to know where to begin with a coding project, especially one where the requirements are made for me, such as in a homework assignment. Especially coming out of Boken week, I still have no will to work, even after 12 hours of sleep.

The start of the day was spent doing class things, but even then I was barely in academic mode. I then ran some post-Boken errands, and then finished other Boken house-keeping things and goofed around for most of the afternoon until dinner with DJ, which ended up in a bit more Boken things and procrastination.

For the past hour I've been looking at the assignment, and the work I did for the assignment before it (since the one continues from the other/we could use stuff from the last assignment), and I have no idea where to begin. It also doesn't help that I have some Maya renderings to complete as well as a final for the class this assignment is for on the same day... With a presentation. Whoop-de-do.

I feel like the assignment will require me to redo a lot of things I did, which will make me very angry. I'm very big on code reuse, and I really don't want to have to rebuild something. It's hard to find a way to use certain things if your past homework was about a month ago with other things distracting you. Buh.

I wanted to make a short post, sharing my coding frustrations. Nothing too specific, and I'm also using this as a procrastination outlet. I already blogged on my tumblr today; crazy, I'm blogging more than once a day! AHH!

A Major Change?

Sorry Rob! Haven't had any good topics to switch to as of late.

But, now I have one.

I've been thinking about it since I realized I'm not very good at or really enjoy computer science theory and such. After reading some things and looking at the Study Plans at Stevens, I am slowly getting convinced that Information Systems might have been a better choice for me.

Yes, I know it's probably not too late - they share a lot of the same courses, and anything I have extra can count as electives. The switch is easy. I'm just somewhat unsure. I enjoy programming and such, but I enjoy web design and web programming a lot more. I was reading what the IS majors at Stevens do, and I've been considering it.

Before I continue, I must apologize in advance for just using Stevens as my reference point as to what these majors do; it's where I'm attending now, and I do not plan on switching schools; just maybe majors. (Well, I'd be keeping the Art & Technology part and math minor, but anyway!)

Computer Science:

Our Computer Science degree is the degree path followed by most of our undergraduate students. The degree emphasizes the principles of Computer Science, and prepares students for careers in industry and/or graduate school. Course materials focus on how to design, implement, deploy, and manage sophisticated software systems.

-- Stevens CS Dept. Undergraduate Website

Information Systems:

Our Information Systems program is for students interested in the areas of system development and design and user interaction and interface. Starting in the second year, the students begin to interleave with the core computer science courses other courses geared toward managing computerized systems in a business setting including attention to customer-client interaction.

-- Stevens CS Dept. Undergraduate Website

I plan on sending an e-mail to my advisor soon, but I'm not sure if I were to switch if it would put me back a year. That can't happen ('cause my parents want me out in 4 years). It might only because of Art&Tech, but I'm almost done with that, to be honest.

I can always go back to school and get a masters in IS. That might be a good route to take as well. I don't have anything profound to say about what's going on in my mind about this right now, only because Boken is attached to my hip right now. I just wanted to put that out there; vent, somewhat.

Signing off for now,

Caroline