Category Archives: Reviews

Equipment and Gadget Reviews from Sysguy

Intel Core 2 Duo Quick Review

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One of the really cool things about doing what I do is that I get to play with new technologies before or just after they are released. Usually it may be something that I get for my self but in regards to processors and computers it usually someone elses that I am configuring.

I have just had the opportunity to work on my first Intel Core 2 Duo system. I attended an Intel product briefing session this past week and got some of the scoop on their new processors. Firstly the Pentium name is gone. In the new Core 2 Duos the entire internal architecture has changed and so that have removed the Pentium Brand name…

The first time I worked with a Duo Core (Pentium D) system I was lessed than impressed. In fact for gamers it was probably slower than the Pentium Ds or AMD single cores that they were using. Multiple Core systems excel at multi tasking and multi threaded applications.

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Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005?

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You may have seen in the various ads for computers now a days, that a lot of laptops and desktops are advertised as being installed with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. I get a few questions from clients on what Media Center Edition is.

Windows SP Media Center Edition 2005 is a version of Windows XP that Microsoft released in October 2004. Media Center was available previously, but only form Tier 1 system builders (HP, Dell, Compaq). In Oct 2004 the new version was released and it was made available via the standard OEM channels (yes you can get it with new hardware from most software vendors). We built our first MCE test PC within a few days of the release.

So what is Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE)? It is an operating system built on Windows XP Professional , with some features disabled, that is designed to be an all in one entertainment center for your home. Depending on how the system is built it can, record and playback TV shows, be connected to a wide screen or standard tv, playback photos as slide shows, listen to radio, surf the web or watch DVDs and Videos! MCE is the base operating system on the Intel VIIV software platform. The Media Center application looks great on a PC and on a TV and can be operated using a MCE remote control unit.

I built my Media Center PC when the disk showed up in my October 2004 Microsoft Action Pack update. I had a brand new motherboard and processor from Intel (3 GHZ 775 processor and an Intel Micro ATX motherboard) so I used these for the PC. I added some memory (1 GB), a Hard Drive (200 GB SATA), a video card (Powercolor ATI X300 PCI-E with TV Out), and a Microsoft Approved TV Tuner (Avermedia 1500 MCE). I also picked up an OEM MS remote control set.

Putting the PC together and installing the software was the same as building any other PC. There is one extra CD to run (you get prompted) for it. A word of note if you plan on building your own, save the hassle and used MCE approved hardware only.

Once the PC is built I decided that I was going to hook it up to the gaming TV, a 32″ JVC that was moved when we got our Sony Wide Screen HD, to our living room and had the spare Shaw Digital box (DCT) and the three video game systems that we own. I hooked it up to the S-Video connector from the Video card out to the S-video in on the TV, hooked up a crt for set up to the dual display and started up the PC. I configured the video card to display to the TV and went through the MCE application set up. In a nutshell you set up the screen and the speakers you have, run through a set up of your video input source, set up the channel guide based on your source, test the IR blaster, arrange for storage and space and then away you go. The OEM MS remote comes with 2 IP Blaster cables that attach to the devices remoter IR ports and change channels just like the remote control.

I rebooted the PC and went tried to watch a TV program… Error No video, hmmm what did I do wrong? Restart, run set up again, still no video from the TV. Check the net.. Found out that I needed a DVD codec! The Cyberlink player software version that I had installed was not an MCE supported one. I purchased Nvidia’s decoder from their web site, installed the software, re ran the MCE setup, perfect I could watch live TV! I ran through the whole thing and was able to view a slide show of the sample pictures that came with the OS. Next it was testing the FM tuner built into the Capture board.. Yup it worked. Play a CD and a DVD yes!I checked out the TV guide and the recording function next. The guide is powered by Zap2it.com and I find is more accurate than Shaw’s own guide on their DCT boxes. To record a tv program I highlighted a program in the guide, pressed the red record button on the remote and that was it. It recorded the program successfully.

Over the last two years this machine has become the workouse PC in our home… It is on 7/24/365, and has gotten a few upgrades over the year…

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Promising new product! Belkin Flip Wireless Laptop KVM

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I am anxiously awaiting the UPS driver to show up today with a new product I am testing. Belkin has just released a new product in their Flip KVM product line. For those who don’t know a KVM is a keyboard, Video and Mouse switch, which allows you to share one keyboard, one Monitor and one Mouse between several systems.

From what I can see the unit comes with the KVM, The cables and there is optional software you can download from Belkin’s website. The receiver sits on your desktop and controls which screen you are controlling with a push of a button. You need a USB keyboard and Mouse combo, a VGA connector (NO DVI) and audio can be switched optionally. The software allows you to flip back and forth from your keyboard.

The unit will retail for about 89.99. I plan on using it with my Monitor (or my secondary monitor) and my laptop.

When it arrives later today I will have a look and hopefully will get to test it. Keep an eye here for more information on this product!

Stephen

Internet Explorer 7 RC 1 Error

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I have the latest RC of Internet Explorer 7 loaded on my laptop… With Beta 3 ( I skipped 2 because I was having problems), everything worked fine. After I installed RC1, I started gettting errors everytime I closed the browser, and if there are multiple tabs open I would get the error after every tab closed. Digging a little into it I discovered the problem is related to the Stumbleupon toolbar (mentioned in another post of mine). Turning off the toolbar makes the problem go away. I hope the folks at stumbleupon.com know of the issue as I enjoy “stumbling” once in a while!

I like the new release of IE, especially the tabbed browsing and the RSS feeds. Altough I use a dedicated RSS reader I may one day switch to this as well. You can download and try it out here.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx

One thing that I have heard is that IE7 when it is released will be installed automatically as a critical update to your Operating system. Microsoft has made a blocking tool available for system administrators to stop the automatic upgrade until the browser is fully tested.

Stephen

I almost forgot about these guys – mail2web.com

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It has been a while since I last used the services of mail2web.com, but I was recently reminded about how good of a service it is. And once again the price is right!

I recently forgot all about one of my spam accounts on my other domain and after about 2 months of not checking there was a ton of emails there (over 2000). I tried downloading everthing off of the server but Outlook Express would hit about message 600 and fail. I left it for a while to see if it would work and it ended up trying and failing several times. The problem with Outlook Express is that if it doesn’t get all the messages and fails the next time it starts, it tries to download all of the messages again. After a few hours I can back to my system to see about 12000 new emails there and it was still trying. No big deal I will log in to webmail and delete them that way.

So I logged into the webmail cient (Uebimiau) which is a great php based webmail program i offer my hosting clients. Unfortnately it would continually time out and fail as well. Even when it is working it’s best it is a touch slow.

Next step was to try Thunderbird. Set up the account and it would fail as the others but at least it deletes messages as soon as it pulls them down (unless you have the flag set). In the meantime I had contacted my server support to see about getting the whole email box deleted and they suggested trying to mail2web.com.  

I used to use this great free service all the time before I had a webmail client on my servers, and had forgotten about them. I went to the site, put in my email address and the account password and boom I got in. I was then able with 1 click to delete all the emails that were sitting there!

While there I looked around at some of the services that they offer for free and was impressed. While they offer the Pop to Web email interface, they also offer the same service to make your email available on your mobile phone or pda. Now they have added a personalized home page so you can see all your email addresses from the same spot (including your own media blog) and have also added a free email services based on MIcrosoft Exchange 2003 and Outlook Web Access! With OWA you can keep your contacts in one spot as well as your email and acces it from there. The only word of warning is that your email address will be at mail2web.com

Like I said I forgot all about this service and it was great to go back and see what was there again. I would highly recommend that if you wish to check your email from a PC you can use this easy system if you don’t have or don’t like your web based client

 

Stephen

Want to Watch TV while away from home – The Slingbox

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Ever want to watch the big game but are caught away from hme and away from your TV? Well worry no more with the new SlingBox from Slingmedia http://www.slingmedia.com The Slingbox usually sells for about 249 CAN but I have seen it on sale (and picked my own up for 199.00).

How dows it work? You hook up your Slingbox to the device you wish (Cable, Satellite Dish Receiver, PVR or DVD player). In the box you will find a couple of the cables you need as well as the IR blaster that you attach over the IR port on the device to control it. For now I just have my box connected to a standard cable feed. You plug the device into your home network, load the software on a PC or laptop. Run the initial configuration and set up a free finder service account (necessary for Internet Connectivity) and away you go.

When you want to watch TV all you have to do is find an internet connection. Start the Slingplayer software select the device you want to watch, change the channel and soon you will have your TV streaming to you. Using their proprietary software and streaming codec, the Slingbox and player constantly adjust the quality to give you the best quaity streaming you can get based on your high speed connection.

There are two disadvantages that I have seen so far, only one person can connect to the Slingbox at a time, and if someone is watching the device they will have to watch what you watch (the exception being a basic cable feed as the Slingbox has it’s own built in tuner).

What can you do with the Slingbox? So far I have used mine around the house on my wireless laptop to watch TV in other locations in the house. I have connected from hotels in various cities and watched shows. Another cool little trick is that I have copied the Slingplayer software to an USB Key and have used that. Simply plug the key into an Internet connected pc, start the softwre connect and away you go. I recently did this at my parents place to watch a football game while there house is under renovations and they didn’t have a TV set up.

I recently saw someone using the new slingplayer for mobile devices watching a golf tournament from a club while his kids were doing their activities!

Sony offers their own package called location free TV but it is also 150.00 more but does allow multiple users to connect at the same time.

The Slingplayer is ideal for travellers and sports fan you want to watch local TV while they are away from home. I give it a big thumbs up!

Great tool logmein.com

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Another great free tool that I have found and use on a regular basis is found at http://www.logmein.com

They offer a free service that allows you to remotely access your PC securely from anywhere on the internet. While Windows XP Pro has remote desktop, one of the really great things about this tool is it allows you to set up multiple pcs behind a router without having to open a port on your firewall for everyone. It works on XP Pro, as well as home and windows 2000. I also use it to access pcs that are on networks for monitoring the network itself. The best thing about it is that it is a free product. No gimmicks.

If you need to access your pc or multiple pcs on your network I would suggest downloading this product and give it a try.

Stephen