tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56072325430144450812024-03-08T23:16:17.749+00:00apemax's blogWelcome to my main blog. A place I'll post Linux, PC hardware/software related stuff and How To's from time to time too. Maybe other random stuff too.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-64607809450958555162014-12-31T15:24:00.000+00:002014-12-31T15:24:34.855+00:00The plan for 2015.With it being the end of 2014 and tomorrow being 2015 I thought I'd talk about what I plan on doing next year so you all have an idea of what to expect on both of my blogs. This post is mainly going to be about this blog and I will do another post on my LEGO blog talking about what I'm going to be doing over on that one as well.<br />
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As you may have noticed there hasn't been that much activity on this blog for a while mainly because I've been struggling to think of content for it to be honest however this will hopefully change next year. The one thing I do know is I'm hopefully going to be posting up more tutorials about various things. I'm not sure about anything else yet but hopefully I can be a bit more active next year.</div>
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Fairly short one but I think that's everything I wanted to talk about so thanks for reading and have a happy New Year. :)</div>
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apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-85307633248164499282014-05-16T18:25:00.000+01:002014-05-25T14:09:19.830+01:00How To: Install and update packages in Ubuntu 14.04In this guide i will show you how to install, uninstall and update packages on your Linux Ubuntu system. There are several different ways of installing and upgrading packages.(programs, applications) They are: The Synaptic Package Manager, The Update manager, The apt-get command and downloading and installing them manually. You may need to use the “sudo” command with the commands that are in this guide if you keep getting permission denied errors. To use it just type it like this:<br />
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sudo apt-get <i>options</i><br />
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Then when prompted put in your password and hit enter. Where <i>options</i> is the different options that you put after the apt-get command.<br />
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First we’ll have a look at installing packages using the apt-get command. First you will need to update the package list. This is basically a list of all the packages that you can install and the reason you need to update the package list is so you can get the latest versions of the packages. You can do this by typing this into the terminal and hitting enter:<br />
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apt-get update<br />
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To upgrade any packages that have newer versions available type this:<br />
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apt-get upgrade<br />
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To download and install a package from the Ubuntu online repository all you need to do is open a terminal and type in this:<br />
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apt-get install <i>packagename</i><br />
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Where <i>packagename</i> is the name of the package you want to install. To remove a package type:<br />
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apt-get remove <i>packagename</i><br />
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The Synaptic Package Manager is like a graphical apt-get command. With it you can install, upgrade and uninstall thousands of packages. This is the easiest way to install, upgrade and uninstall packages if you are new to Linux.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zkOD7SamQMo/U3XrSfIKu1I/AAAAAAAABic/JgZfZpkixMM/s1600/SPM1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zkOD7SamQMo/U3XrSfIKu1I/AAAAAAAABic/JgZfZpkixMM/s1600/SPM1.png" height="504" width="640" /></a></div>
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On the left are filters which you can use to filter the packages into category's. On the upper right section is the package list which lists all the packages that's in the selected category. The bottom right section is where a description is of the package that is selected.<br />
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To install a package all you need to do is select the package you what to install by clicking in the small check box to the left of the package name and then selecting “mark for installation” from the drop down menu. To remove a package click on the small check box to the left of the package name and select “Mark for removal”. Then when your done click the “Apply” button and in the window that comes up simply click “Apply”.<br />
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The Software Updater just handles updates. This is the easiest way to keep your system up to date.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JfXProq_Has/U3Y6uGFgY8I/AAAAAAAABjE/MCF5KqYSVd4/s1600/SU1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JfXProq_Has/U3Y6uGFgY8I/AAAAAAAABjE/MCF5KqYSVd4/s1600/SU1.png" /></a></div>
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The Software updater will automatically check for any updates and if there are any updates for your system they will be listed in the box in the middle of the window. Then all you do is click the “Install Now” button to install the updates.<br />
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Last we’ll have a look at manually downloading and installing packages. Ubuntu is based on Debian GNU/Linux so the package format that it uses is .deb. To install .deb packages you will either need Gdebi (A graphical tool to install .deb packages. The easy way.) or you will need to use the dpkg command.( The harder way.)<br />
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The Gdebi tool normally come with the standard Ubuntu install so you should already have it installed on your system. If not then just install it like so:<br />
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sudo apt-get install gdebi<br />
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And that should install the Gdebi tool.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3pNN0rmTEKI/U3XrR8HA2yI/AAAAAAAABiU/t5c2OSIBQtc/s1600/Gdebi1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3pNN0rmTEKI/U3XrR8HA2yI/AAAAAAAABiU/t5c2OSIBQtc/s1600/Gdebi1.png" /></a></div>
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To use the Gdebi tool to install a .deb package all you need to do is download the .deb package you want to install and then double click on the .deb package in the file browser window. Then just click the “install package” button. As you can see there is three tabs. Description, Details and Included files. All fairly self explanatory.<br />
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To install .deb packages with the dpkg command all you need to do is open a terminal window and type in this:<br />
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dpkg -i filename.deb<br />
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Where filename is the name of the package you want to install. To remove a package with dpkg type this:<br />
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dpkg -r packagename<br />
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Where packagename is the name of the package that you want to remove.<br />
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That’s all. now you should be able to keep your system up to date and be able to install and remove packages on your system.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-88907243891527332122014-05-16T12:05:00.001+01:002014-05-25T14:10:06.832+01:00How To: Checking Your Temperatures In LinuxIn this How To i will show you how to check your temperatures in Linux. This works on all Debian based Linux distros. You will need to install two packages to read your temps. These are: lm-sensors and hddtemp. To install them type this into a terminal:<br />
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sudo apt-get install lm-sensors hddtemp<br />
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And type in your password when prompted. Once they've installed run this command:<br />
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sudo sensors-detect<br />
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and type in you password when prompted. This command scans your computer for any sensors it can find. It will ask you whether you want to scan for different types of sensors. Say yes to all these questions. When it's done it will show a list of drivers that are needed for the sensors that it finds. It will ask if you want to add these drivers to your "/etc/modules" file. Say yes here. Now when you type in this command:<br />
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sudo sensors<br />
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And type in your password when prompted. It should display the temperatures of all the sensors it found as well as any fan speed sensors.<br />
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To use hddtemp just simply run this command (and type in your password when prompted.) and it should display the temperature of your hard disk:<br />
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sudo hddtemp /dev/sda<br />
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Note: This part "/dev/sda" might be different on your computer. If "sda" doesn't work try "hda". Also if you have multiple hard drives then to check you second one replace "sda" with "sdb". Linux orders hard drives alphabetically so your first hard drive would be "sda" your second would be "sdb" your third "sdc" and so on.<br />
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And thats all there is to it.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-78497041854394579762014-02-25T13:53:00.000+00:002014-05-25T14:13:57.241+01:00My Personal PC Build, Part 4Well it's been a while but I've finally got a new case and bigger hard drive for my main PC. Hard drive wise I got a 1TB 3.5" Seagate 7200rpm SATA hard drive so I finally don't have to worry about hard drive usage any more. As for the case I got a CoolerMaster silencio 352. A very nice Micro ATX case that fits all the hardware in it that I want and has a bit of room for upgrades. Here it is:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fAqAS2Kd6mY/UuZbl_8mKuI/AAAAAAAABcw/ofVZN9laVug/s1600/MCPC20.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fAqAS2Kd6mY/UuZbl_8mKuI/AAAAAAAABcw/ofVZN9laVug/s1600/MCPC20.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks good doesn't it?</td></tr>
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And some pictures of the interior.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yGnXCe5DIs8/UuZbnODzoyI/AAAAAAAABdA/dYE7lP6mzv8/s1600/MCPC24.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yGnXCe5DIs8/UuZbnODzoyI/AAAAAAAABdA/dYE7lP6mzv8/s1600/MCPC24.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Excuse the cables as this case doesn't have much in the way of cable management on the other side as you will see in the next picture.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHqlHyqAQhI/UuZbl7wh9bI/AAAAAAAABcs/mcoRGwv1eGo/s1600/MCPC21.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHqlHyqAQhI/UuZbl7wh9bI/AAAAAAAABcs/mcoRGwv1eGo/s1600/MCPC21.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As you can see you can get away with thin cables but anything thicker than the 4 pin CPU power cable won't fit as there is a lip at the bottom of the motherboard tray.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JegcpmIBMqU/UuZbnCLbV-I/AAAAAAAABdI/62TKHmHW4N8/s1600/MCPC25.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JegcpmIBMqU/UuZbnCLbV-I/AAAAAAAABdI/62TKHmHW4N8/s1600/MCPC25.JPG" height="400" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rear of it. All fairly standard.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eExI42ROmLU/UuZbnTa2DbI/AAAAAAAABdQ/KRi5o_RzdkI/s1600/MCPC26.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eExI42ROmLU/UuZbnTa2DbI/AAAAAAAABdQ/KRi5o_RzdkI/s1600/MCPC26.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally an overall shot.</td></tr>
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So now that I've finally got a decent case and a bigger hard drive the next things I want to upgrade are the motherboard and CPU as I could do with a bit more CPU performance and the best way for me to do that is to move up to a newer generation Intel socket and processor. I could also do with a bit more RAM as I only have 4GB but it's gotten ridiculously expensive (8GB for around £60 to £70 quid. I got my 4GB for around £15 quid.) so yeah I'm going to wait and see if it does come down to a reasonable price.<br />
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The other major upgrade I want to do is the graphics card. I've been thinking about the most cost effective way of upgrading to a better graphics card however as I only have a 400W PSU it does limit what you can use a bit. As anything higher than my GTX 650 would really require a better PSU which would cost around the £40 to £50 quid mark for a decent one which is a lot when you add that on top of a new graphics card so I was a bit stumped until I heard that the new Nvidia GTX 750 TI would only use about the same amount of power as my GTX 650 but have quite a bit more performance compared to my GTX 650 so currently that is the graphics card I'm aiming for.<br />
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And that wraps up this post. Hopefully I can post a bit more regularly instead of every 3 or 4 months. You never know I guess...apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-62675023839859857542013-08-03T14:36:00.002+01:002014-05-25T14:14:22.103+01:00Quick Tech Tip #3: how to replace case fan connectors. In this Quick Tech Tip I will show you how to replace a case fan connector. Its a fairly simple thing to do and useful if the case fan you have has either a broken connector or if you just don't like the colour. you will only need one tool for this and as long as it is able to fit in the slots on the connector it should do fine, I used a metal nail file for this but again as long as it's hard and thin enough to fit in it should work.<br />
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Before we start it's a good idea to make a note of the order that the wires go into the connector as you don't want to put them in the wrong way round do you? If your looking at the side of the connector with the slots in and with the wires coming from the bottom then the colours go from left to right:<br />
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black - red - yellow - orange.<br />
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Note if you have a 3 pin fan connector you won't have the orange wire, Thats for 4 pin fan connectors.<br />
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In this example I'm replace the white connector of a 3 pin fan extension cable with a black Phobya 3 pin connector.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qOLPsJ4o1hg/UcwU0pu7K2I/AAAAAAAABQY/jUuS31sRcNo/s1600/MCPC15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qOLPsJ4o1hg/UcwU0pu7K2I/AAAAAAAABQY/jUuS31sRcNo/s320/MCPC15.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The extension cable before.</td></tr>
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So first up you need to hold the wire you are going to take out first, Then take your tool (what ever you decided on) and push it down into the slot at the bottom if the wires are coming from the bottom. Gently pull the wire while doing this and it should come out fairly easily. Don't pull to hard or you might break the pin. Once you have the first one out do the same for the other and you should have something like this:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nrPatR9OCRk/UcwU05SQYfI/AAAAAAAABPQ/7e2z_yTPYEM/s1600/MCPC16.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nrPatR9OCRk/UcwU05SQYfI/AAAAAAAABPQ/7e2z_yTPYEM/s320/MCPC16.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Connector removed.</td></tr>
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Now it's just a simple matter of getting you replacement connector and pushing the pins one by one into the connector. remember to get the wires in the right order. You will here a faint click once there all the way in. Once you have all of them in it should look something like this:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YcM4hfgdzY4/UcwU0-40INI/AAAAAAAABPU/BVFnV0Y9M50/s1600/MCPC17.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YcM4hfgdzY4/UcwU0-40INI/AAAAAAAABPU/BVFnV0Y9M50/s320/MCPC17.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New connector put on.</td></tr>
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And your all done. That wasn't that hard now was it? This should work for pretty much all fan connectors however some fans have different coloured wires so make sure you make a note of which order they go in.<br />
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And thats the end of this Quick Tech Tip, Thanks for reading and I hope you've learnt something.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-32737235468050074822013-06-27T20:03:00.001+01:002014-05-25T14:15:00.620+01:00My Personal PC build, part 3.Hello again. Since the last part I have changed a few things in my main PC so this post will update you all on what I've done. First up a picture of the inside as of now.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mWI1lAOLQ2E/UcwU1S1Qm4I/AAAAAAAABPk/oUNe1fdCCLA/s800/MCPC19.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mWI1lAOLQ2E/UcwU1S1Qm4I/AAAAAAAABPk/oUNe1fdCCLA/s400/MCPC19.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bit of a mess still I know but to be fair this case doesn't really have any cable management holes at all, Need to get a better case...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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So the first thing I did was add a 120GB 2.5" hard drive that I upgraded my old PS3 with but then the PS3 died so I pulled it out of there and stuck it in my PC as I needed more room for the VirtualBox VMs I have. It's mainly been used as a storage drive at the moment but I still need to upgrade my main hard drive as it's only 80GB And I only have about 15GB free on it. The 2.5" drive currently sat in a Akasa 3.5" to 2.5" HDD/SSD adapter.<br />
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As you may know I was using a Intel Pentium 4 630 overclocked to 3.6GHz however I finally upgraded to a Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 which I currently have overclocked to 3GHz. As you can imagine the performance has improved quite a bit and it runs a lot cooler as well. At the same time I also replaced the 80mm Arctic F fan with a 92mm Zaward Golf Blue LED Fan so now the back of my PC glows blue.<br />
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After those upgrades the component that was slowing me down the most in terms of gaming was the graphics card (A Nvidia GeForce GT 610) so I decided that was the next upgrade I should do when I could afford it. I managed to get a Gigabyte GTX 650 1GB card that is factory overclocked and that increased performance in games a lot. It also runs cooler than my old GT 610 too. Here are the results from the <a href="http://unigine.com/products/valley/" target="_blank">Unigine Valley Benchmark</a> using this graphics card:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hv8VyuwQFs0/UYtzC2h9vGI/AAAAAAAABNg/pkWQrVLr0Qs/s657/UVBM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hv8VyuwQFs0/UYtzC2h9vGI/AAAAAAAABNg/pkWQrVLr0Qs/s400/UVBM.png" height="400" width="344" /></a></div>
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I also have removed a couple of fans (The 120mm blue LED fan on the side panel and the 120mm Arctic F fan) as I'm trying to figure out where most of the noise is coming from and I've narrowed it down to either the front 120mm CoolerMaster SickleFlow fan or the fan on the Arctic cooling freezer 7 pro CPU heatsink. The fans will probably get moved around a bit more yet. Oh and I did actually win a 140mm Noctua NF-A15 PWM fan with 120mm mounting holes which is still in it's box as I'm not sure what to do with it yet.<br />
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The final thing I've done is add a 3 pin fan extension cable so the front 120mm CoolerMaster SickleFlow fan can be plugged into the motherboard as the 120mm Arctic F fan was connected there before I took it out. I also changed the female connector of the extension cable from a white one to a black Phobya one as it will blend in a bit better with the rest of my hardware. I will probably do a Quick Tech Tip on how to replace fan connectors so look out for that soon.<br />
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And that wraps up part 3. The next upgrades I would like to do are the case, hard drive and RAM so hopefully it won't be too long until I get some of those done and I can post part 4.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-75815548653700385612013-06-22T17:02:00.000+01:002014-05-25T14:16:18.611+01:00Review: Novatech Vulcan V2 ATX PC caseToday I will be reviewing the Novatech Vulcan V2 Midi ATX PC case which is the case I'm currently using for my main PC. First I'll give you some of the specifications and them we'll get on with the review.<br />
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<h3>
Specifications:</h3>
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Dimensions: 43.8cm (H) x 47cm (D) x 18.5cm (W)<br />
Weight: 6.2kg<br />
5.25" Drive Bays: 3<br />
3.5" Drive Bays: 5<br />
Expansion Slots: 7<br />
Top mounted PSU<br />
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Cooling Options<br />
Front: 1 x 120mm Blue LED fan (Installed).<br />
Rear: 1 x 80mm fan (Installed) or 1 x 92mm fan (Optional).<br />
Side: 1 x 120mm fan or 1 x 140mm fan (optional).<br />
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Front Panel Ports<br />
USB3.0 x 1 (Has a internal USB 3.0 motherboard header connector)<br />
USB2.0 x 2<br />
1 x Headphone<br />
1 x Mic<br />
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Motherboard Support<br />
Standard ATX<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Micro ATX<br />
Mini ITX<br />
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Link to product: <a href="http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/cases/cases/nov-vulca2.html">http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/cases/cases/nov-vulca2.html</a><br />
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<h3>
Main review:</h3>
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As you can see it's a fairly standard ATX case which you can get for £18.98 from <a href="http://novatech.co.uk/">Novatech.co.uk</a> and as this is a own brand case you can't get it anywhere else. Considering it's only £19 you get a 80mm fan, A 120mm blue LED fan, The usual motherboard standoffs and motherboard screws, optical and HDD drive screws and the PCI screws and a small motherboard speaker. However you don't get any proper PCI slot covers, The ones it has once you take them off you can't put them back on again.<br />
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The build quality is good considering the price however the side panels do bend a bit diagonally so that makes it a little harder when trying to put them back on. Both side panels use two thumb screws each at the back to fasten on to the case however they will stay on fairly well without them.<br />
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The one thing I don't get about the left side panel is there is mounting holes for one fan at the top and the mesh continues further down but there isn't another set of fan mounting holes yet there is enough room for another 120mm or 140mm fan. I thought it would make more sense to put either two sets of fan mounting holes on the side panel or at least put one set at the bottom to help cool your graphics card.<br />
<br />
The front panel is fairly sturdy and provides good airflow as most of it is mesh with a thin layer of spongy like material that acts as a decent filter that does catch quite a bit of dust. The 5.25" bay covers and the 3.5" bay cover is also made of the same mesh and spongy stuff.<br />
<br />
Moving on to the front I/O panel the power switch has a blue LED and feels quite nice to press. The two USB 2.0 ports feel a little bit loose when plugging in USB devices however I haven't had any issues with them yet. I haven't used the mic port that much yet however the headphone port has gotten a little dodgy so when I wiggle it a bit the sound can go crackly and can cut out. Clearly not a great quality port.<br />
<br />
Also on my case the top right bit of silver trim can come away from the front panel. One last thing about the front panel is that it's a bit of a pain to pull off and the 5.25" and 3.5" bay covers are also quite difficult to get off as well although it is a bit easier to get them off when you have the front panel off.<br />
<br />
Moving to the inside it's mostly straight forward. When putting in the PSU I did notice it is quite difficult to get the PSU lined up with the back so you can get all the screws in. Something clearly isn't quite lined up properly somewhere. Also there isn't much space around the motherboard area and while this didn't affect me as I have a Micro ATX board it may get a bit cramped in there if you was to use a full size ATX motherboard.<br />
<br />
One thing this case is missing is a hole in the motherboard tray for getting to CPU cooler backplates. One thing I would have liked to have seen is a 120mm fan mount on the back as 92mm fans are harder to get and with all these new AIO CPU water coolers having 120mm radiators and fans there really isn't an option for using them with this case.<br />
<br />
Because this is a fairly thin case at 18.5cm you don't have much room for CPU coolers. I currently have a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 cooler and it is 12.6cm tall so you would only be able to fit a cooler up to about 14cm tall which pretty much rules out all the CPU coolers that use 120mm fans and above.<br />
<br />
Cable management wise there really isn't any however for wires with small connectors (aka fan wires and front I/O panel wires.) you can fit through the small holes that are there however pretty much all the cables from your PSU will have to stay on the motherboard side which makes it quite difficult to make it look tidy.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Modding it:</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The first obvious mod that you could do to this case is a window in the left side panel as adding fans to the side panel isn't going to help much in terms of cooling and having holes in your side panel isn't going to help with dust either and well it just looks cool.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As there is actually a fourth 5.25" bay behind the front panel I/O ports you could cut that out and add either a blank 5.25" bay cover and replace the ports with some better quality ones or just have it as another 5.25" bay.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It is possible to fit a 240mm rad in the front with a bit of modding although you would lose two 5.25" bays and all the 3.5" HDD bays. There is enough room to fit a 120mm rad where the front 120mm fan mount is however you would need to remove the 3.5" HDD bays as only one 120mm fan will fit with them there.<br />
<br />
It is also possible to put a 240mm rad on the floor if you cut out a couple of holes for the fans and again remove the 3.5" HDD bays although you will not be able to use the bottom 3 PCI/PCIe slots on your motherboard if you use a thin radiator and one set of fans on the top or bottom of the rad.<br />
<br />
Something else you might want to do is cut out a hole in the motherboard tray so you can get to the back of the motherboard to install/remove the CPU cooler backplate if you have one. Might make replacing you CPU cooler a bit easier.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>Conclusion:</b></h3>
</div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Overall this is a fairly decent case considering the price however there are a few quality issues that could do with being sorted out. There is a few features it's lacking but nothing that important. While this is a great case for people on a small budget if you can go higher then go higher as you will get more features and a bit better quality as well.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Final score: 7/10</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
If you have any questions please leave a comment below and I will do my best to answer. Thanks for reading my first review and hopefully I will get another one out soon.</div>
apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-45908370388142178512013-06-06T11:14:00.002+01:002014-05-25T14:19:04.832+01:00News: Going to be doing some reviews plus other stuff you can expect.Hello all. Just a short bit for news for today, I am going to start to do a few reviews and post them on this blog. There won't be that many for a start as well I don't have that much to review. They will mostly be computer related although there might be a few other random things dotted about as well.<br />
<br />
I will also try to post a few more Quick Tech Tips as the last one was posted pretty much a year ago so yeah... I will be writing the third part to the "My first PC build" series of posts as I've changed quite a few things on my main PC since the last post and finally I've started to work on CMDQuest again. For anyone that doesn't know CMDQuest is a command line RPG/open world game I'm making and I will be posting updates on how thats coming along too.<br />
<br />
Right I think thats everything, Oh and one last thing I'm interested to know how many people actually read this so if you have come here before or even if this is your first time on my blog please leave a comment below. This would be much appreciated so thanks. :)apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-81464864276921896252013-04-20T11:32:00.000+01:002014-05-25T14:19:52.885+01:00How To: Gather information about your pc using the Linux command line.Today I will show you how to use the Linux command line to find out all sorts of stuff about your PC hardware and software. There is also a bash script at the bottom of this post that will run all of these commands and save the information into a folder in your home directory and then create a archive of all the files.<br />
<br />
Most of these commands should already be installed on your system however lm-sensors and hddtemp you probably need to install. I'll tell you how to install them when we get to them.<br />
<br />
Right then on to the list.<br />
<br />
<b>sudo dmidecode</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The command dmidecode gives you a lot of information about your PCs hardware which is read from the PC's BIOS. While not 100% reliable it's a good way to find out the more obscure stuff about your PC hardware. More information on dmidecode can be found here: <a href="http://www.nongnu.org/dmidecode/">http://www.nongnu.org/dmidecode/</a><br />
<br />
<b>sudo lspci</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The lspci command lists all the PCI buses and devices connected to your PC, This can include USB controllers, The IDE controller, The SATA controller, As well as all the PCI/PCIe cards you have installed.<br />
<br />
<b>sudo lsusb</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Similar to the lspci command the lsusb command lists all USB devices connected to the computer.<br />
<br />
<b>uname -a</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This command displays the name of the PC, the kernel version, the date and time and architecture of your PC.<br />
<br />
<b>sudo lsmod</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The command lsmod displays all the kernel modules that are currently loaded on your computer.<br />
<br />
<b>sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This command displays information about your hard drive like size, partitions and the file systems on the partitions as well as a few other details. Note that you may need to change the sda part depending on what type of hard drives you have as well as how many hard drives you have. Use the next command to find out the names of your hard drives.<br />
<br />
<b>df -hT</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Similar the previous command this one lists all the filesystems mounted on the computer. This command is a good way to find out what your hard drives are called on Linux.<br />
<br />
<b>ifconfig -a</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This command displays information about all the network interfaces active on your PC. Handy if you are setting up a network connection.<br />
<br />
<b>uptime</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The command uptime displays the current time, how long the computer has been running, how many users are logged on and the load average for the past 1, 5 and 15 minutes.<br />
<br />
<b>echo $PATH</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This command displays the contents of your $PATH variable. This is basically a list that the system uses to find executables when you call a command (like echo for example) so you don't have to go to the directory where the executables are before executing them.<br />
<br />
To install the last two commands simply type this into a terminal:<br />
<br />
<b>sudo apt-get install lm-sensors hddtemp</b><br />
<br />
And type in your password when prompted. Now you can use the "sensors" command and the "hddtemp" command. before you can use the "sensors" command you need to run:<br />
<br />
<b>sudo sensors-detect</b><br />
<br />
This command scans your computer for any sensors it can find. It will ask you whether you want to scan for different types of sensors. Say yes to all these questions. When it's done it will show a list of drivers that are needed for the sensors that it finds. It will ask if you want to add these drivers to your "/etc/modules" file. Say yes here. Now you can run the sensors command:<br />
<br />
<b>sudo sensors</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The sensors command displays the temperatures of all the temperature sensors as well as the RPM speed of any fan speed sensors.<br />
<br />
<b>sudo hddtemp /dev/sda</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
As the name might suggest this command displays the temperature of all the hard drives connected to your computer. As with the fdisk -l command you may need to change the sda part depending on what type of hard drives you have as well as how many hard drives you have. Use the df -hT command to find the names of your hard drives.<br />
<br />
Finally here is that bash script that will run all of these commands and put the output of each of the commands into a file and put all of those files into a directory called PCinfo in your home folder. It will also create a .tar archive in the directory that the script is with all the files in.<br />
<br />
I've also added a few commands that copy the syslog, apport.log and kern.log files as well as the fstab file into the PCinfo folder as well as these can also be useful for finding information about the Linux system.<br />
<br />
Again where hard drive names are just simply replace them with your own. I may improve this at some point so if I do I'll try and remember to edit this post to update it as well as post it separately.<br />
<br />
To use this bash script simply copy the following code and paste it into a empty text file and save it. Then you just need to allow it to be executed, To do this go to the directory the script file is in in a terminal and type this in:<br />
<br />
<b>chmod 755 PCinfo</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Hit enter and it should now be able to be executed. What follows is the bash script:<br />
<br />
#!/bin/bash<br />
<br />
mkdir ~/PCinfo<br />
<br />
sudo dmidecode > ~/PCinfo/dmidecode<br />
<br />
sudo lspci > ~/PCinfo/pci_devices<br />
<br />
sudo lsusb > ~/PCinfo/usb_devices<br />
<br />
cp /var/log/syslog ~/PCinfo/<br />
<br />
cp /var/log/apport.log ~/PCinfo/<br />
<br />
cp /var/log/kern.log ~/PCinfo/<br />
<br />
sensors > ~/PCinfo/sensors<br />
<br />
uname -a > ~/PCinfo/uname<br />
<br />
sudo lsmod > ~/PCinfo/lsmod<br />
<br />
sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda > ~/PCinfo/disks<br />
<br />
sudo hddtemp /dev/sda > ~/PCinfo/hddtemp<br />
<br />
cp /etc/fstab ~/PCinfo/<br />
<br />
df -hT > ~/PCinfo/disk_info<br />
<br />
ifconfig -a > ~/PCinfo/network_info<br />
<br />
uptime > ~/PCinfo/uptime<br />
<br />
echo $PATH > ~/PCinfo/PATH<br />
<br />
tar -cvf PCinfo.tar ~/PCinfo<br />
<br />apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-38721963787711063062013-02-03T12:05:00.003+00:002014-05-25T14:22:31.989+01:00My Personal PC build, Part 2.Hello again. This is the second part of the detailed list of components that make up my first PC build. Right now where did i get to... ah yes next up is the motherboard which is a M-ATX MSI G41M-P28 socket LGA775 motherboard. Some specs:<br />
<br />
<br />
Intel G41 chipset<br />
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (Intel® GMA X4500)<br />
Supports two unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 800/1066/1333* (OC) DRAM, 8GB Max<br />
One PCI Express x16 slot (PCI Express Bus SPEC V1.0 compliant).<br />
Two 32-bit v2.3 master PCI bus slots.<br />
Four 3Gb/s SATA ports<br />
One Ultra DMA 66/100 IDE controller<br />
Audio chipset integrated by VIA® VT1708S<br />
<br />
Next up is the processor, This used to be in my IBM M52:<br />
<br />
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 HT<br />
3.00GHz clcock speed.<br />
2MB L2 cache<br />
64-bit<br />
<br />
Yeah i know it's a fairly old CPU but hey when you can't afford anything better you have to use what you got right? This is one of the areas i plan on upgrading. The CPU cooler i'm using is a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 which is fairly cheap but well built and it does the job.<br />
<br />
Next up is the RAM. I have one stick of Crucial 4GB 240 pin DDR3 PC3-10600 RAM. I can go up to 8GB which is the plan. Last up is the graphics card which is a Asus GeForce GT 610, Yeah not that great but for most of the games i play it works very well and it works with Linux which is always good as I am now Using Linux and my main OS. A few specs:<br />
<br />
1GB DDR3 RAM<br />
PCI Express 2.0<br />
Low Profile<br />
HDMI, DVI-I, VGA<br />
DirectX 11.0<br />
OpenGL 4.2<br />
<br />
And I think thats it. Overall not a bad PC if I do say so myself. There are some things that could do with upgrading but it's still pretty quick compared to my last PC anyway. Anyway Cya next time.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-35112843193913809002013-01-24T14:10:00.001+00:002014-05-25T14:23:33.736+01:00My Personal PC build, Part 1.Hey all. First post of 2013! hopefully i will post more on this blog this year. Well it's finally happened, I've finally built my first PC. Been wanting to do this since before I got my IBM M52 but couldn't quite afford it then. First I'll give you a detailed list of all the components. So first here it is in all it's glory, Awesome isn't it?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LsXz3JhT6FU/UOgEshnyg-I/AAAAAAAABFQ/nWBgBfwusOg/s1600/MCPC01.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LsXz3JhT6FU/UOgEshnyg-I/AAAAAAAABFQ/nWBgBfwusOg/s400/MCPC01.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The case is a Novatech Vulcan V2 ATX midi tower case. It has:<br />
<br />
Three usable 5.25 inch bay (It does have four but the top one is unusable because thats where the front panel ports/switchs are.)<br />
5 3.5 inch bays<br />
Seven expansion slots<br />
A 80mm/92mm fan mounting point at the rear<br />
A 120mm fan mount at the front<br />
Two 120mm/140mm fan mounting points on the side panel<br />
Two USB 2.0 ports<br />
One USB 3.0 port (Connects using a motherboard header connector)<br />
Headphone/mic ports<br />
Top mounted PSU<br />
<br />
It also came with two fans, one 120mm blue LED fan and one 80mm red fan. I'm still using the 120mm fan but the 80mm fan is else where.<br />
<br />
The power supply is a Novatech PowerStation Gaming 400W Silent ATX2 Modular Power Supply. It's specs look like:<br />
<br />
AC Input<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>200-260V ~ 3A 50/60Hz<br />
DC Output<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>+3.3V +5V +12V1 +12V2 -12V +5Vsb<br />
Max Load<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>24A 20A 18A 18A 0.3A 2.5A<br />
Max Combined Wattage<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 120W 300W 3.6W 12.5W<br />
Total Power<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>400W<br />
<br />
Next up is all the fans:<br />
<br />
Arctic F High Performance Case Fan - 80mm<br />
Arctic F High Performance Case Fan - 120mm<br />
Coolermaster SickleFlow Blue Case Fan - 120mm<br />
Novatech 120mm blue LED Case Fan - Came with the case.<br />
<br />
The optical drive is a LiteOn SATA CD/DVD writer and the hard drive is a Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 series 80GB SATA 3.5 inch HDD.<br />
<br />
I'm going to stop here as if i put all of it in this post it will end up to long. I'll leave you with a picture of my desk now, See you all next time.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zl7mz3WBIh4/UOgEvjy9qQI/AAAAAAAABGM/n7lSWXBkbpA/s1600/MCPC11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zl7mz3WBIh4/UOgEvjy9qQI/AAAAAAAABGM/n7lSWXBkbpA/s400/MCPC11.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-12931039546886355352012-11-01T11:19:00.000+00:002014-05-25T14:24:50.346+01:00Quick update on my IBM M52Hello all. Some of you may have seen my post on Twitter that i have removed the connectors from two 4 pin 60mm PWM case fans for a plan i had. Well now i shall tell you what said plan was. Lets start from the beginning. I replaced the two 4 pin 60mm PWM case fans in my IBM M52 with two 3 pin 60mm case fans however they wouldn't plug into the 4 pin headers on the motherboard so i had to use a couple of 3 pin fan connector to 4 pin molex connector adapters that came with the 3 pin 60mm fans.<br />
<br />
Yesterday i had this idea where if i took the connectors off the 4 pin fans and put them on the 3 pin fans then i would be able to plug them into the motherboard headers. This would free up the adapters for other things (More on that soon.) and i would be able to read the RPM of the fans. So i set about finding out how to remove the connectors of a case fan.<br />
<br />
I found a great guide on how to do this on YouTube here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUUxt6GBV6A">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUUxt6GBV6A</a><br />
<br />
I don't have one of those tools used in the video so i just used the end of a small metal file. I removed the connectors of the 4 pin fans first then i removed the connectors of the 3 pin fans and put the 4 pin connectors on the 3 pin fans. Plugged them into the motherboard headers and all is still working. Fairly easy to do really.<br />
<br />
And thats the end of this post. Cya next time.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-27642350824887562642012-10-05T18:42:00.002+01:002014-05-25T14:26:29.323+01:00Project Dell Dimension XPS H266 part 3.Hello all. This is part 3 of my story of getting a Dell Dimension XPS H266 up and running again. I've actually taken the two 60mm fans out as i needed to put them in my main computer and i don't really think they where doing that much good seeing as the case has fairly small holes in the front. Unfortunately this older hardware doesn't have readable temperature sensors so i don't know what sort of temp it's running at. It doesn't seem to get that hot anyway.<br />
<br />
Next thing i decided to do was put the original CD-ROM drive that came with it back in along side the CD/DVD drive i'd put in there before so it could have two optical drives. This tower PC has two 5.25-inch bays so this was fairly simple. now it have the two optical drives on the secondary IDE channel and the hard drive and zip drive on the primary IDE channel.<br />
<br />
This PC also has three 3.5-inch bays that holds the floppy drive and the zip drive leaving one empty. Now i had a spare floppy drive from another PC that didn't work (A Dell Dimension 486/33) so i thought to my self perhaps i could add another floppy drive to the XPS H266. so i took the drive bay cage out and took the front cover of the empty 3.5-inch bay only to discover there was a metal plate behind it. It was connected at three points so i just bent it backwards and forwards and it came off. I then slid the floppy drive into the empty 3.5-inch bay, put the screws in and put the drive bay cage back into the PC.<br />
<br />
At this point i realised the power supply only had one floppy drive power connector so a quick search on Google later and decided i needed a 4 pin molex to 4 pin floppy power connector. Managed to find a cheap one on eBay. got it a few days ago, hooked it up and now i have no spare molex connectors in this PC.<br />
<br />
The floppy cable i'm using is from the same computer as the second floppy drive however i did run into a bit of a problem when it came to hooking the cable up to the two floppy drives. On the two floppy connectors on the cable there was a small bit of plastic on one side probably to stop you from putting the cable in the wrong way round. However with these particular floppy drives and this cable i needed to put the connector in the opposite way round. on the older drive it wasn't a problem but on the drive that came with this PC it was a bit trickier. You see it had a plastic shroud around the connector pins so the cable connector wouldn't go in. After a few minutes i decided to get rid of the little bit of plastic on the cable connector. Out came a metal file and a few minutes later i had the little plastic bit low enough to fit.<br />
<br />
With all the cables hooked up i fired it up and made sure everything worked. All drives recognised in BIOS and in Windows 95. Haven't check Debian yet but all the drives should work with it.<br />
<br />
And that's the end of this part. Cya next time.<br />
<br />
Oh and i'll probably post some updated pictures at some point. May be a while though...apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-3593092970307205852012-07-26T11:50:00.002+01:002014-05-25T14:26:53.395+01:00Project Dell Dimension XPS H266 part 2.Hello all. This is part 2 of my story of getting a Dell Dimension XPS H266 up and running again. With this computer i also got another old computer, A Dell Dimension 486/33 desktop PC which also didn't work when i got it and still doesn't. I think it has some sort of BIOS problem but that another story. I stripped it of most of the non-important hardware and that left me with a ISA sound card, an ISA scanner controller card, another CD-ROM drive and a IDE cable.<br />
<br />
Now seeing as the XPS H266 only had a onboard sound card intergrated on the motherboard i thought seeing as it has three ISA slots why not see if it works in there. So i took the side panel off the XPS, stuck the ISA sound card in a free ISA slot, put the side panel back on and proceeded to install the software drivers. As this is a old sound card that only has DOS/Win 3.1 drivers i had to install it through DOS on Win95 and once i got it all installed it worked.<br />
<br />
Next thing i did was replace the CD-ROM drive with a CD/DVD-ROM drive that was actually in my current computer seeing as it is a ATA drive. That went well too. I decided that it would be interesting to try and install Linux on this PC as Linux runs very well on old hardware and it would be a up to date operating system so if i could figure out how to connect it to the internet i could. It took me a while to decide which distro to install but i decided on <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> in the end as it has really good hardware detection and fairly good minimum requirements too. Getting it install however wasn't easy. Because this computer didn't have any form of Ethernet (only dial-up) it was going to be interesting. After trying to install from both the first installation disc and the netinst disc which didn't work i ended up booting from <a href="http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/index.html">PLOP boot manager</a> on a floppy and then booting to the first installation disc on a USB stick which was installed to the USB stick using <a href="http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/">UNetbootin</a>.<br />
<br />
After getting Debian installed i set about trying to connect to the internet and the only way i could think of was by using a spare USB wireless dongle i have. After a while i got that working and i could connect to my wireless router and update it. I've also made it so i can SSH into it as i only have one monitor and having to switch the VGA cable around is a bit of a pain.<br />
<br />
And thats caught you all up to where i am now. If you want to know if i do anything else with this computer then follow me on twitter as i post on there when i do these things(If i remember that is). Now on to the specs of this beast:<br />
<br />
Dell Dimension XPS H266<br />
<div>
<br />
CPU: Intel Pentium II with MMX running at 266MHz with a 32KB internal cache<br />
<br />
Motherboard: Intel 440FX PCIset<br />
<br />
Memory: 4 SIMM sockets, 2 used, 2 available. 2 32MB EDO RAM modules installed.<br />
<br />
Expansion slots: 7, 3 PCI slots, 4 ISA slots.<br />
<br />
Graphics card: Matrox Millennium MGA-MIL/4 PCI 4MB<br />
<br />
sound cards: Yamaha OPL3-SA2 and SC400 Rev. 4G Sound FX Gold-16<br />
<br />
TV card: Win/TV-PCI PAL-BG/I 60134 rev C2V<br />
<br />
Modem: Sportster Voice 28.8 Faxmodem<br />
<br />
Hard drive: Western Digital 8.4GB ATA<br />
<br />
Optical drive: TSST TS492C CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive<br />
<br />
Zip drive: Iomega zip 100 internal ATA drive<br />
<br />
Floppy drive: NEC floppy disk drive<br />
<br />
Fans: 1 rear 9.2cm, 2 front 6cm.<br />
<br />
PSU: 200W</div>
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<br />
OSs: Windows 95 OSR 2.1 and Debian squeeze 6.0<br />
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And finally a few pictures of this computer:<br />
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apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-85881612828902296372012-07-20T11:33:00.003+01:002014-05-25T14:27:10.707+01:00Project Dell Dimension XPS H266 has started!Hello all. A few weeks ago i got a old Dell Dimension XPS H266 tower PC that had the RAM go bad in it and it had no hard drive and i thought to myself this would make a great PC for old PC games that only run on DOS/Win95 so i set about first finding some RAM for it which was easier said than done and then set about finding a hard drive, not that easy either.<br />
<br />
As this is a fairly old computer it uses 72 pin SIMM EDO modules either 16MB or 32MB in size and can take up to a maximum of 128MB of RAM. Doesn't sound like much does it? It's surprising how quick it actually is. More on that later though. So i searched the internet for days trying to find the right type of RAM and finally i found some. As usual eBay came to the rescue. I found a couple of sticks each 32MB in size. That would give me 64MB of RAM to play with. not bad.<br />
<br />
So i got them, took the old out and put in the new and they worked! One down one to go. Next up was the hard drive and it was a bit easier to find the right one. Again as this PC is fairly old it uses the ATA IDE interface for hard drives and optical drives. eBay came good again and i found a 8.4GB Western Digital hard drive that looked like it should work so i got that, whacked it in, turned the computer on and it was being recognised by the BIOS. Two out of two and everything was going well.<br />
<br />
With this computer i also got Windows 95 OSR 2.1 (I think) so as Win95 can run both DOS and Windows programs i set about installing win95 on this computer. Installing Win95 was a fairly painless process and soon i was booted into Win95. I then started to update it. First i installed the latest version of DirectX that is compatible with Win95 which is DirectX 8, Then i installed the latest version of Internet Explorer that is compatible with Win95 which is IE6, I got the two USB ports working and installed the drivers for all the hardware. So i now have relatively up to date installation of Win95.<br />
<br />
And thats the end of this blog post, Next time the story continues as i install more hardware and see what this thing is really capable of. I'll also post detailed information about the hardware and a few pictures of it.<br />
<br />
Se you next time.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-9084878479480573012012-06-16T14:19:00.000+01:002014-05-25T14:53:13.942+01:00My current PC, A IBM M52 part 2Hello again. today i'm going to talk about the insides of this computer. First a picture of it with just the top cover open:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mzBBoPmpOOo/T8tDj2DAHJI/AAAAAAAAAs8/keQ78i0ab9A/s1600/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mzBBoPmpOOo/T8tDj2DAHJI/AAAAAAAAAs8/keQ78i0ab9A/s400/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_03.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It with the cover open, in this picture you can see the PSU, DVD drive, PCI fan and a bit of the motherboard.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
to get access to the CPU, RAM, hard drive, floppy drive and front fans you need to tilt the whole front section up like this:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pLEsjJZxscQ/T8tDkmL9VTI/AAAAAAAAAtE/O3BZjCVyNO0/s1600/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pLEsjJZxscQ/T8tDkmL9VTI/AAAAAAAAAtE/O3BZjCVyNO0/s400/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_04.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front drive bay tilted all the way up.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the drive bay we have the CD/DVD drive on top of the hard drive and next to them is the floppy drive.<br />
<br />
The PSU is in the top left corner in the above picture with the motherboard being across the bottom. Starting from the left we have the PCI riser card with one PCI port and one ADD 2-R port that can also work as a PCI-E 1x port.<br />
<br />
As you can see i have a PCI slot fan in the top PCI slot which is held up by a piece of metal from a video tape. This case doesn't come with any screws to hold PCI cards/fans in place so hence i used that.<br />
<br />
Then we have the two RAM slots to the right of the PCI riser card slot. It can take a maximum of 2GB of RAM in each slot making a total of 4GB. I currently have 3GB of RAM in it which makes it a fairly quick machine.<br />
<br />
Above the RAM we have two heatsinks, one smaller one on the left and a bigger one on the right. The smaler one on the left is over the north bridge chipset and the bigger one is for the Pentium 4 CPU. We then have the two case/CPU fans on the drive bay to the right of the CPU heatsink. These are right in front of the front grill. A bit of info about these fans:<br />
<br />
Make: SUPERRED<br />
Model: CHD6012ES-AH(E)<br />
Power info: DC12V 0.30A<br />
Connector type: 4 pin<br />
Dimensions: 6cm - width, 2cm - depth<br />
<br />
A close up of the two fans:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-76T_frZ02Rk/T8tDlFjqhBI/AAAAAAAAAtM/Vo7jFS0h-X8/s1600/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-76T_frZ02Rk/T8tDlFjqhBI/AAAAAAAAAtM/Vo7jFS0h-X8/s400/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_05.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The two case/CPU fans.</td></tr>
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I plan on replacing these two front fans with more efficient/quieter ones soon. See if i can get it to run a bit cooler and quieter. I'll finally leave you with another couple of pictures of inside it:<br />
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If you have any questions or comments about anything on my blog feel free to <a href="mailto:apemax18@gmail.com" target="_blank">email me</a>.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-63853627136890402262012-06-09T11:18:00.001+01:002014-05-25T14:53:24.381+01:00My current PC, A IBM M52 part 1Hello all. Today i'm going to talk about my current PC which is a IBM M52 8215-CTO. There will be several parts to this as i keep upgrading it and i will write about my experiences with it. First a overall picture of my PC:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3gTAC84XOKM/T8tDnCvpc4I/AAAAAAAAAts/fg6n56pO8Tk/s1600/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3gTAC84XOKM/T8tDnCvpc4I/AAAAAAAAAts/fg6n56pO8Tk/s400/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_09.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Desktop and monitor on my computer desk. Yeah it's a mess.</td></tr>
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As you can see i have a HP 1740 17" LCD monitor connected to my M52. I have a Logitech K120 keyboard which is pretty good seeing as it's a fairly cheapish one and a GAME brand mouse, again fairly basic but does the job. You can also just about see on the left a BT Voyager 1500 wireless router that i mainly use for experiments.<br />
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Next i'll show you a close up of the front:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_IKmOKpXczU/T8tDi2A8wxI/AAAAAAAAAss/txUw-pqmMBY/s1600/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_IKmOKpXczU/T8tDi2A8wxI/AAAAAAAAAss/txUw-pqmMBY/s400/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_01.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the bottom left is the grill for the two CPU fans, Top left is the floppy drive,<br />
At the top right is the CD-RW/DVD Drive, At the bottom we have the headphone and microphone jacks,<br />
To the left of those is the two front USB 2.0 ports, the power button and the power and HDD indicator lights.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next a picture of the back:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yVCV-tysdmc/T8tDjdIN8OI/AAAAAAAAAs0/h0fHxlXkyiE/s1600/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yVCV-tysdmc/T8tDjdIN8OI/AAAAAAAAAs0/h0fHxlXkyiE/s400/IBM_M52_8215-CTO_02.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the back starting from the left is the PSU fan grill, power socket, under that is the voltage switch,<br />
Then we have the old keyboard and mouse ports, next to them is four USB 2.0 ports, A parallel port, Line in and line out audio ports, A VGA video port, two more USB 2.0 ports , a ethernet port and two serial ports.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There is also two PCI slots at the top right. As you can see the bottom one is not in use and the top one has a PCI slot fan mounted in it. Some of you may have noticed that there is small piece of metal on the right side of the PCI fan grate. I'm using that to keep the PCI fan in place. Without it the front would fall down as it doesn't fit overly well. More on the insides later though.<br />
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Finally i shall leave you with the specs of this PC as it is:<br />
<br />
IBM M52 8215-CTO<br />
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz HT SL7Z9<br />
Motherboard: Custom BTX motherboard with the Intel 945G chipset<br />
RAM: 1x Crucial 2GB DDR2-SDRAM PC2-5300 and 1x Kingston 1GB DDR2-SDRAM PC2-5300<br />
Hard Drive: Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 series 80GB (HDS728080PLA380 40Y9028LEN)<br />
Optical Drive: TSSTcorp CDW/DVD TS-H492C<br />
Graphics Card: Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset Family 212MB<br />
Sound Card: SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio<br />
PSU: Delta Electronics DPS-225HB A 225W<br />
Monitor: HP L1740 LCD Monitor<br />
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Pro (2600) SP3apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-54224088552477503462012-05-02T11:06:00.003+01:002014-05-25T14:53:36.580+01:00Quick Tech Tip #2: Clean your fans.Hello all. Today i'm going to talk about cleaning your fans. No matter what type of computer you have keeping it cool will help prolong the life of your computer and make it a bit quieter too. One way of doing this is to clean out your fans and heatsink.<br />
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All computers will be different but they all should have at least one fan (Mainly laptops) and one heatsink (some, mostly desktops have 2 or 3 fans, maybe more). both of these can get quite dusty and when they get dusty it makes them less efficient which in turn makes your computer hotter.<br />
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I had one laptop where the fan grate on the heatsink half blocked up with dust raised the temperature about 20C so maintaining clean fans and a clean heatsink will reduce the temperature and prolong the life of your computer. The way i do this is to just take a cotton bud/swab and wipe the fan blades as well as the grates on the heatsink. make sure you can see straight through the heatsink grates and that there is nothing blocking any of them. Also make sure that the air intakes on you computer are clean as well.<br />
<br />
And thats it for this quick tech tip. I hope this post has helped you and i'll see you next time. Till then.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-88259778472650011622012-04-13T18:18:00.000+01:002014-05-25T14:53:47.111+01:00Quick Tech Tip #1: Defragmenting your hard drive.Hello all. Today i'm going to talk about defragmenting your hard drive. If your using Windows it's a smart plan to defragment your hard drive. Basically a fragmented hard drive is where a file is in multiple places on the hard drive. This can happen to many files. defragmenting your hard drive is a process that puts all of one file together on the hard drive thus making it easier and quicker for Windows to find said file.<br />
<br />
There are many programs out there that can defrag your hard drive. There is also a built in defragger in Windows. to use the one build into Windows just do this:<br />
<br />
1: Right click on My Computer.<br />
<br />
2: Click on Manage.<br />
<br />
3: Then in the left hand side pane of the window that just popped up click on Disk Defragmenter.<br />
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4: Then either click on the Analyze button to analyze your hard drive to see if it needs defragmenting or click on the Defragment button to defragment your hard drive.<br />
<br />
I use <a href="http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/" target="_blank">Auslogics Disk defrag</a> at the moment and it seem very good however there are other ones out there too.<br />
<br />
you should defragment your hard drive every month at least. I'd recommend every two weeks just to make sure it doesn't get that bad. Some programs offer a quick defrag option that takes a lot less time that you can do every week or two.<br />
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Remember: never pay for this sort of software as most of the time it really isn't any better than the free ones.
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And thats the end of this Quick Tech Tip. I hope this post helped you and i'll see you next time. Till then.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-45746959516888592852012-04-12T14:47:00.000+01:002014-05-25T14:54:12.583+01:00Introducing Quick Tech Tips.Hello all. Today i'm posting about a new series of posts called Quick Tech Tips. Every so often i will post a short "tech tip" that i've learnt through my years of trying to fix computers. These will be anything related to computers really.<br />
<br />
also a quick bit of news i've just released V0.1.5 of my Simple Text Editor. (STE) You can download it from the SourceForge page here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpletxteditor/" target="_blank">http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpletxteditor/</a>apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-6524727758685183592011-10-31T18:23:00.000+00:002014-05-25T14:54:22.021+01:00RMQG V0.5.3 and CMDQuest released, apesstuff updated.Hello all. I haven't posted in a while (3 months in fact) but i've finally found the time to do another post. This one is mainly news. I've released RMQG V0.5.3 (Released it a while ago actually) so you can download that at the SourceForge page here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/rmqg/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/rmqg/</a><br />
<br />
I've also released a game called CMDQuest. It's a command line RPG. Yes thats right i finally got round to making a game. It's only the second version so it's not really playable as a actual game yet but if i can get stuck in with it hopefully it should get developed fairly quicky. Thats the theory anyway. You can find out about it and download it at the SourceForge page here:<br />
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<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/cmdquest/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/cmdquest/</a><br />
<br />
Finally I've update apesstuff again. I've added some pictures that i've taken in GT5 using the photo mode. You can find them here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://sites.google.com/site/apesstuff/gaming-zone/gt5-pictures">http://sites.google.com/site/apesstuff/gaming-zone/gt5-pictures</a><br />
<br />
And that all the news for now. As always if you need any PC help please visit <a href="http://pchelpforum.com/">PCHelpForum.com</a>. A great forum for computer help. Till next time.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-24627576416073029122011-07-12T18:04:00.000+01:002014-05-25T14:54:32.957+01:00STE V0.1.4 released, RMQG V0.5.2 released.Hello all. Just a quick post to say that i've released V0.1.4 of STE and V0.5.2 of RMQG. You can download RMQG here: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/rmqg/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/rmqg/</a> and you can download STE here: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpletxteditor/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpletxteditor/</a>.<br />
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Also great news! STE is now listed on Softpedia and has the 100% free award.<br />
<a href="http://www.softpedia.com/progClean/Simple-Text-Editor-Clean-191730.html"><img src="http://www.softpedia.com/base_img/softpedia_free_award_f.gif" /></a>apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-57847910075505462142011-07-08T18:07:00.000+01:002014-05-25T14:55:03.179+01:00How To: Get the disc out of a YLOD'ed PS3Hello all. Well my PS3 YLOD'ed again for the second time today so i thought it would be fitting to post this today. As some of you may know when a PS3 does get the YLOD (Yellow Light Of Death) if you have a game disc in at the time it won't eject because the PS3 isn't on long enough for you to get it out. I found out how to get the disc out when i phoned Sony. So i thought i'd post this up here for people who didn't know how.<br />
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To get the disc out make sure the PS3 is off at the back. Then hold the eject button down and flick the power switch on the back on. The fan should come on very fast and the disc should pop out. Be sure to grab it quickly or it will go back in.<br />
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And thats it. now you know. If you have any questions please fell free to either comment on this post or <a href="mailto:apemax18@gmail.com">email me.</a>apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-21905322406286521722011-07-08T14:34:00.000+01:002014-05-25T14:55:14.250+01:00STE V0.1.3 released. apestuff updated.Hello all. I've finally released STE V0.1.3. STE or Simple Text Editor is a text editor that can open, edit and create text files. You can download it at the SourceForge project here: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpletxteditor/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/simpletxteditor/</a><br />
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I've also update my website with a STE page under the My programming projects section. And thats it. till next time.apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5607232543014445081.post-43466739761925375442011-07-04T14:45:00.001+01:002014-05-25T14:55:29.119+01:00RMQG V0.5.1 released, Programming projects section on my website updated.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">Hello all. It's been a while since the last news post but this is a big one. I have finally released the Random Maths Question Generator or RMQG. You can find the download link at the SourceForge project here: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/rmqg/" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://sourceforge.net/projects/rmqg/</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;">. I've also updated the programming section on my website now that i've released RMQG. You can find that page here: <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/apesstuff/my-programming-projects">https://sites.google.com/site/apesstuff/my-programming-projects</a> And thats it. Till next time.</span>apemaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07847736015703820473noreply@blogger.com0