Wednesday, 13 April 2011
New Humble Bundle (Frozenbyte) Update #2
The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle has now made over $389K in sales with over 75K copies of the bundles sold. The information on there web site still shows that right now the most downloads are still with Windows user but still Linux users are spending the most money on average. There are still over 13 days left to get your copy of buy (gift) a copy for someone else. I bought my copy last night but I have not had a chance to go through the games yet.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
New Humble Bundle (Frozenbyte) Update
We'll the humble bundle has been up and running for a little over two hours and it has raised over $44K of sales between Windows, Linux and Mac users. With almost 8300 copies sold it looks like windows has the most copies sold but with Linux buyers spending more money. The bundle has 14 days left so you have sometime to buy a copy or you can buy (gift) a copy for someone else.
New Humble Bundle (Frozenbyte)
We'll there is a new Humble Bundle coming out at www.humblebundle.com with five games from the Frozenbyte game developer. This would be the third humble bundle brought to us from Wolfire Games. The new bundle should be up and running in the next couple of hours. The five games in this bundle are Trine, Shadowgrounds Survivor, Shadowgrounds, Jack Claw and Splot. Trine will be making its Linux debut with this bundle. Four games are available on Windows, Linux and Mac. Jack Claw is the only one that is on Windows but it does come with the source code. When you make a payment some of the money does go towards The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child's Play Charity. When I pick up the bundle I will go over the games in more detail.
Monday, 11 April 2011
Your Second Option Operating System
With all the new Asus motherboards and Asus computers out right now. There is another option out there for your operating system. This operating system is called Express Gate and is built right into the Asus BIOS.
To get into the OS you will have to do a few things first. After you start the computer you will have to press the F8 button to get into the BIOS. You will then need to go into the Tools option and make sure that the Express Gate option is enabled. You will then need to back out and save your settings. When your system reboots it will bring you into a screen for the Express Gate operating system. You will have a 10 second timer countdown by default so if you do not do anything it will try to boot to your other operating system installed.
So you maybe asking what does Express Gate give you out of the box? It comes with Skype client, a chat client, on-line games client and a web browser client. It also lets you set up your network and other settings related to your network. An important note when it comes to downloading anything via the web browser or chat you will not be able to. This only relates to things that you would want to keep on your computer. This does not relate to watching videos on-line. The reason for this is because there is no space on your BIOS to save anything. If you know that you will be downloading anything on your computer then you will need a operating system like Ubuntu on a hard drive.
Now you maybe asking yourself if I can not download anything why would I want to use it. We'll the biggest reason I would think of is time. If you needed to check your e-mail or quickly surf the internet it would only take a few seconds to get on-line. Or if you are a new/novice user and you just want to do some basic things.
You also maybe asking why I would be bringing this up when I have been talking about Ubuntu on your computer. Express Gate is based on the Linux kernel as with Ubuntu is based on Linux kernel as well. It shows how easy a operating system that is based on Linux can be. Express Gate is not a 100% replacement for a operating system on your hard drive. In fact I would say it would be a really good idea to have both Express Gate and Ubuntu installed.
To get into the OS you will have to do a few things first. After you start the computer you will have to press the F8 button to get into the BIOS. You will then need to go into the Tools option and make sure that the Express Gate option is enabled. You will then need to back out and save your settings. When your system reboots it will bring you into a screen for the Express Gate operating system. You will have a 10 second timer countdown by default so if you do not do anything it will try to boot to your other operating system installed.
So you maybe asking what does Express Gate give you out of the box? It comes with Skype client, a chat client, on-line games client and a web browser client. It also lets you set up your network and other settings related to your network. An important note when it comes to downloading anything via the web browser or chat you will not be able to. This only relates to things that you would want to keep on your computer. This does not relate to watching videos on-line. The reason for this is because there is no space on your BIOS to save anything. If you know that you will be downloading anything on your computer then you will need a operating system like Ubuntu on a hard drive.
Now you maybe asking yourself if I can not download anything why would I want to use it. We'll the biggest reason I would think of is time. If you needed to check your e-mail or quickly surf the internet it would only take a few seconds to get on-line. Or if you are a new/novice user and you just want to do some basic things.
You also maybe asking why I would be bringing this up when I have been talking about Ubuntu on your computer. Express Gate is based on the Linux kernel as with Ubuntu is based on Linux kernel as well. It shows how easy a operating system that is based on Linux can be. Express Gate is not a 100% replacement for a operating system on your hard drive. In fact I would say it would be a really good idea to have both Express Gate and Ubuntu installed.
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Why Good Cooling Is Important For Your Computer Part 1
Today I will be talking about the importance of proper cooling for your computer components. If you have read our past post you will have read that our test computer CPU is over-clocked. With this over-clock our CPU will create a lot of heat that will have to be dealt with.
CPU cooling has been a issue since the first processor came out to the market. Through out the years CPU coolers have changed quite a bit from just a heat sink with no fan to the extreme dry ice cooling (VERY DANGEROUS). Now you maybe asking why has it gone from just a heat sink to the extreme of dry ice. The reason for this is because how fast the CPU is and how many resistors are in it. When you buy a CPU today you can either buy them as a retail box or OEM. If you buy with a retail box you will get a CPU cooler and OEM's do not come with any. Now stock CPU coolers do a really good job of cooling CPU's they do fall short when you want to push your CPU farther. I would recommend a really good after market CPU cooler. You should be expected to pay from $60.00 and up for a good one. Also be aware that most after market coolers will need you to buy thermal paste. Thermal paste is the material between the CPU and the cooler to move the heat from the CPU. You could go more extreme with water cool or more but you will be spending more money for this set-up. New types of air CPU coolers will let you added a second fan to the cooler. The benefit to this is what is called a push pull system. With this set-up you will be able move more air in your cooler to help regulate the temperature.
Now I know I have talked a lot about air cooling for your CPU and you maybe asking about the other types. We'll there are three other types of cooling only two that are realistic. The first one would be water cooled and as the name states it is cooled by water not air. There are different companies out there that make water cooling components. The biggest benefit is that you can add the water cooling to other components for added cooling. You will also notice a larger drop of temperature then you would with air cooling. The biggest issue is if you have even a small leak it can destroy your computer components. The next one is called Phase Change cooling OCZ made one called Cryo-Z. The major benefit to this idea is that you can get a much larger temperature drop for your CPU. Also there would be less chance of leaking in your computer. But the major draw backs out way the positives. First the amount of power the machine takes to work also you would need room for it right beside your computer. Also the fact that you can not use it with any other device on your computer as you could with water cooled. The last way to cool a CPU that we will cover is dry ice cooling and as we stated at the start it is VERY DANGEROUS. The major benefit would be that you would be able to push your over-clocked CPU more without heat issues. With dry ice you can get your temperature to under 0 degrees Celsius. Now for the bad news first it is really hard to get a hold of. Dry Ice is something you can not just get anywhere and you may have to order in. The set up is not meant for daily use you can not use this while in a computer case and running daily. Also why it is dangerous is because it can burn you. If you do not take extreme care you can cause a 2nd degree burn so this is something we would not recommend.
Now that we have covered some basics for cooling your CPU let's take a look at what we will cover in part 2. We will be talking about your computer case and why it is a good idea to have good cooling for your case. Cont 2
CPU cooling has been a issue since the first processor came out to the market. Through out the years CPU coolers have changed quite a bit from just a heat sink with no fan to the extreme dry ice cooling (VERY DANGEROUS). Now you maybe asking why has it gone from just a heat sink to the extreme of dry ice. The reason for this is because how fast the CPU is and how many resistors are in it. When you buy a CPU today you can either buy them as a retail box or OEM. If you buy with a retail box you will get a CPU cooler and OEM's do not come with any. Now stock CPU coolers do a really good job of cooling CPU's they do fall short when you want to push your CPU farther. I would recommend a really good after market CPU cooler. You should be expected to pay from $60.00 and up for a good one. Also be aware that most after market coolers will need you to buy thermal paste. Thermal paste is the material between the CPU and the cooler to move the heat from the CPU. You could go more extreme with water cool or more but you will be spending more money for this set-up. New types of air CPU coolers will let you added a second fan to the cooler. The benefit to this is what is called a push pull system. With this set-up you will be able move more air in your cooler to help regulate the temperature.
Now I know I have talked a lot about air cooling for your CPU and you maybe asking about the other types. We'll there are three other types of cooling only two that are realistic. The first one would be water cooled and as the name states it is cooled by water not air. There are different companies out there that make water cooling components. The biggest benefit is that you can add the water cooling to other components for added cooling. You will also notice a larger drop of temperature then you would with air cooling. The biggest issue is if you have even a small leak it can destroy your computer components. The next one is called Phase Change cooling OCZ made one called Cryo-Z. The major benefit to this idea is that you can get a much larger temperature drop for your CPU. Also there would be less chance of leaking in your computer. But the major draw backs out way the positives. First the amount of power the machine takes to work also you would need room for it right beside your computer. Also the fact that you can not use it with any other device on your computer as you could with water cooled. The last way to cool a CPU that we will cover is dry ice cooling and as we stated at the start it is VERY DANGEROUS. The major benefit would be that you would be able to push your over-clocked CPU more without heat issues. With dry ice you can get your temperature to under 0 degrees Celsius. Now for the bad news first it is really hard to get a hold of. Dry Ice is something you can not just get anywhere and you may have to order in. The set up is not meant for daily use you can not use this while in a computer case and running daily. Also why it is dangerous is because it can burn you. If you do not take extreme care you can cause a 2nd degree burn so this is something we would not recommend.
Now that we have covered some basics for cooling your CPU let's take a look at what we will cover in part 2. We will be talking about your computer case and why it is a good idea to have good cooling for your case. Cont 2
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Ubuntu (Linux) Versus Computer Viruses
Hi there today I am going to talk about computer viruses on Ubuntu machines or lack of. I will also be covering basic things you can do to prevent a viruses on your computer no matter the operating system. Viruses are a major problem today in the computer world with every operating system being affected today. The most affected operating system today is the Microsoft Windows family. There are many different reasons for this, the lack of quick updates from Microsoft. The fact that right now Windows is the most popular operating system. The biggest reason and this would go for any operating system would be lack of user education. Now Apple and Linux has had viruses made for there operating systems in the past. The biggest reason for the lack of so many viruses is that you can not run Microsoft programs by default. What I mean by this is that files that end in .exe, .bat, .cab or .scr can not be opened by Apple or Ubuntu. These files could be opened if you used another program to install them like a program called Wine. But even installing these files with Wine will only limit the virus to Wine and not your Apple or Ubuntu machine. These four ways are the most popular ways to spread viruses. Also with Ubuntu programs need to ask you to put a password in (by default) to be installed.
Now if you are worried about your Ubuntu machine getting viruses you can download a free anti virus program called Clamtk. This program is free and is updated often. If you want to use it you can download it at http://clamtk.sourceforge.net/ or through the Ubuntu Software Centre. This program does not run in the background but only takes up 18% of your cpu when it runs. This program is not just for Ubuntu it should be able to run on any Linux distro. You should also download clamav-unofficial-sigs from the Synaptic Package Manager. This will help with "phishing, spear phishing, fake lottery, ecard malware, casino, fake jobs, fake loans, 419s, fake diplomas, porn, emailed malware and other general spam." There are other programs out there that will help you with viruses on your computer but this is the easiest one I could find.
Another great advantage with Ubuntu is that it "can" help to cure a virus on a Windows machine. For this you will need to know the name of the virus so you can look it up online. When you look up the name of the virus they may tell you the directory that it should be in. If it does then all you have to do is start Ubuntu in a live cd mode on the computer that is infected. When the cd boots up you can go into the infected hard drive and look for that folder. When you delete the folder the virus should be gone and your computer should be virus free.
Remember the biggest way to prevent viruses on your computer is user prevention. If you do not know about were a file you are downloading comes from or about were a e-mail comes from you should not open it. Also remember to make sure whatever anti virus program you are using to make sure it is up to date.
Now if you are worried about your Ubuntu machine getting viruses you can download a free anti virus program called Clamtk. This program is free and is updated often. If you want to use it you can download it at http://clamtk.sourceforge.net/ or through the Ubuntu Software Centre. This program does not run in the background but only takes up 18% of your cpu when it runs. This program is not just for Ubuntu it should be able to run on any Linux distro. You should also download clamav-unofficial-sigs from the Synaptic Package Manager. This will help with "phishing, spear phishing, fake lottery, ecard malware, casino, fake jobs, fake loans, 419s, fake diplomas, porn, emailed malware and other general spam." There are other programs out there that will help you with viruses on your computer but this is the easiest one I could find.
Another great advantage with Ubuntu is that it "can" help to cure a virus on a Windows machine. For this you will need to know the name of the virus so you can look it up online. When you look up the name of the virus they may tell you the directory that it should be in. If it does then all you have to do is start Ubuntu in a live cd mode on the computer that is infected. When the cd boots up you can go into the infected hard drive and look for that folder. When you delete the folder the virus should be gone and your computer should be virus free.
Remember the biggest way to prevent viruses on your computer is user prevention. If you do not know about were a file you are downloading comes from or about were a e-mail comes from you should not open it. Also remember to make sure whatever anti virus program you are using to make sure it is up to date.
Friday, 1 April 2011
Test System Full Specs
We would like to show you the full technical specifications of the testing system we will be using in these blogs.
Cpu: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHZ (stock)
Motherboard: Asus M3N-HT BIOS revision 3202
Cpu Cooler: Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 (2 Fans)
Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 5
Ram: 8 GB OCZ 1066 Mhz
Hard Drives: 2X 500 GB Western Digital Green Hard Drives
64 GB Kingston Solid State Drive
Video Card: Nvidia Geforce GTS 450
Sound Card: Auzen X-Plosion 7.1 Cinema
Computer Case: Fractal Design R3
Case Fans: Six
Power Supply: Thermaltake TRX-1000M 1000W
Misc: Rocketfish Multi Card Reader
Four Fan Controller
Operating System: Ubuntu 11.04
Wireless Card: D-Link DWA-556 Xtreme N
When we do upgrades to the test machine we will do a update on here about the upgrade. We will also go over what this upgrade will do for our test system. Remember for the time and budget these parts were the best for our needs.
Cpu: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHZ (stock)
Motherboard: Asus M3N-HT BIOS revision 3202
Cpu Cooler: Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 (2 Fans)
Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 5
Ram: 8 GB OCZ 1066 Mhz
Hard Drives: 2X 500 GB Western Digital Green Hard Drives
64 GB Kingston Solid State Drive
Video Card: Nvidia Geforce GTS 450
Sound Card: Auzen X-Plosion 7.1 Cinema
Computer Case: Fractal Design R3
Case Fans: Six
Power Supply: Thermaltake TRX-1000M 1000W
Misc: Rocketfish Multi Card Reader
Four Fan Controller
Operating System: Ubuntu 11.04
Wireless Card: D-Link DWA-556 Xtreme N
When we do upgrades to the test machine we will do a update on here about the upgrade. We will also go over what this upgrade will do for our test system. Remember for the time and budget these parts were the best for our needs.
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