Mike DePaulo's IT Blog

Red Flag Linux on an American Nettop

2010-03-08T13:25:00.001-05:00

Maybe this is a mistake, or maybe this was intended for the Chinese market, but I find it funny that an American nettop by Asus is being sold with Red Flag Linux (the Chinese government's official Linux distro.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220028

HP's "Ultra-Portable"

2010-03-03T13:18:00.005-05:00

I came across this.

Hey HP, a 5.3 lb (2.4 kg) 14.1" laptop is hardly what I call an "Ultra-Portable."

To be fair, it does look like a pretty good laptop. It has good user reviews on their site and it always comes with 802.11n wi-fi, hdmi/vga output, and a USB/eSATA port. Still, get your labels right HP.

Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) Alpha 3 Reactions

2010-02-27T23:47:00.005-05:00

I've been trying out (Gnome) Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) Alpha 3. Here are some notable changes:

-It boots up extremely fast in VirtualBox 3.1.4.

-The highly technical Xsane image scanner has been replaced with "Simple Scan," developed by Canonical. I say this is definitely a good idea.

-There are now only 6 games included by default. I read one user story where a grandma was amazed to see all the awesome Gnome games included by default.

-You can update the installer (during the installer wizard.) If this can increase the changes that ubuntu will install, it sounds awesome.

-No more installer option to participate in the package popularity survey. You can enable it under the synaptic options.

-Virtualbox guest editions, both Lucid's 3.1.2 OSE ones and the official 3.1.4 proprietary ones, cause the mouse cursor to not be shown.

-Browsing my (always difficult to browse) network is either not working or extremely slow.

-The new Palimpsest Disk Utility 2.29 version seems nice, but it doesn't work with an 800x600 screen.

-I'll have to try out the included pitivi video editor. I like the idea of including a simple video editor by default. I wish I didn't have to install the whole windows live package to install windows movie maker on Windows 7.

-Although tsclient is still the default RDP front-end/client, I am glad that Remmina is in the repos. It is a great gnome RDP (and other remote desktop implementations) client. However, it should not default to 256 colors (8-bit color.)

-System Testing didn't work. I contributed to a bug report.

If you want to try this ALPHA on something non-critical (like a VirtualBox test machine,) you can download it here:

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/lucid/alpha3

Remember that we are past the feature freeze, so it will only get more stable from here until its release on April 29th.

MSDOS

2009-11-09T07:02:00.001-05:00

I just thought of something funny.

If I ever create an operating system and have a big enough ego, it will be named "Michael Swinick DePaulo Operating System." MSDOS

Connecting to Penn State on Linux

2009-10-29T22:59:00.003-04:00

I have mostly completed a guide to connecting to penn state, both for wi-fi and network resources. Screenshots included.
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcznzv55_29f6mf8rdq

My Recommended Ubuntu Packages

2009-10-29T22:56:00.005-04:00

I'm preparing a list of Ubuntu Packages that I recommend. These are the specific package names, but they should generally translate to the names in add/remove or in the software center.
I have them listed by category too.
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcznzv55_19g2t9k5xb

Good Options and Categories for Netbooks

2009-05-28T19:24:00.004-04:00

There is no shortage of netbook models now. NewEgg alone has 65 choices. But which ones to buy? I have some suggestions.

1. Value Model on Sale

Price: $200 to $260
Availability: Now when on sale
A 9" or 10" model (if 10", it will have a 10" keyboard but most likely a 9" screen) with the Intel Atom N270 CPU. Most likely 1GB, but if it has 512MB, you typically can easily upgrade. May come with XP or With Linux. Either a Solid State Drive (usually very fast like Dell's are, but avoid the acer SSDs) at 8 GB or 16GB, or an 80GB to 160GB HDD. 3 or 4 cell battery.
Good Examples:
1. This rebranded Dell Mini 9 http://www.dealigg.com/story-Dell-Vostro-A90-8-9-Laptop-Atom-1-6GHz-512MB-RAM-8GB-SSD-Linux
2. This acer http://www.dealigg.com/story-Dell-Vostro-A90-8-9-Laptop-Atom-1-6GHz-512MB-RAM-8GB-SSD-Linux
How to find: Follow dealigg, show all deals

2. Basic Model

Price: ~$300
Availability: Now
A 9" or 10" model (if 10" phsyically/keyboard-wise, it will have either a 10" or 9" screen) with the Intel Atom N270 CPU. 1 GB RAM. Comes with XP. Has a hard drive, 120 to 160 GB. 3 to 6 cell battery.
Good Examples.
1. This Asus 9" model with a 4-cell battery. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220441
2. This MSI 10" model with a 3-cell battery http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152093
3. This Asus 9"-screen/10"-keyboard with a 6-cell battery http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220442
How to find: Any Online Store (especially newegg) May be able to find a deal on dealigg.com

3. Slightly-Upscale Well Rounded

Price: ~$350 (on sale), $390 (regularly)
Availability: now
There really is only one model for this category due to it's amazing battery life, faster Intel Atom N280 CPU, and all around quality. This is the Asus 1000HE. It is a 10" model. 1 GB RAM. XP. 160GB. 6-cell battery. Upgraded 802.11n wi-fi
Everyday Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220504
Sale Link: http://www.dealigg.com/story-ASUS-Eee-PC-10-Laptop
How to find: any online store, or find it on sale on dealigg.com (search for 1000HE)

4. Larger and/or Thinner Model

Price: $500 to $700
Availability: Coming out now
These tend to vary more. They can have other processors, such as a faster Intel core solo or the Via Nano. 10" to 12" screen. Often very thin and light, such as the macbook air. Assume XP, 1 GB RAM or 2, 160GB, and who knows what for the battery. Likely to have upgraded 802.11n wi-fi.
Example Link:
1. Samsung VIA 12" model: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131031
2. Asus Super-Thin and a little-bit light: 10" model: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220530
How to find: Many online stores

5. Nvidia Ion Netbooks with great graphics.

Price: $500 to $550
Availability: June
The highlight of these models is the Nvidia Ion graphics processor. It does not use up much more power, yet it enables 1080P video playback (when run properly) and far better 3d game performance. Games will be far more likely to not run because of the CPU rather (roughly a 2.0 ghz pentium-4 equivalent) than the GPU (graphics). Intel Atom CPU, prefer the Atom N280. 1 GB of RAM or 2. 10" to 12" size. 160GB HD, or larger if not using XP (getting XP at all and for cheap means max 160GB.) Likely a 6-cell battery. Likely to have upgraded 802.11n wi-fi.
How to find: follow http://www.ionbased.com and http://netbookupdates.com/

Preview Link: http://www.ionbased.com/2009/05/lenovo-ideapad-s12-hands-on-video-and-details/

6. ARM Netbook

Price: $250 to $200

Availability: June at the earliest

These are models based around ARM Processors/Systems-On-A-Chip. This ARM architecture enables them to be very low-power, thin, light, and even fanless. However, ARM can only run Linux (and android before too long) and not Windows. They will have a less powerful CPU and probably less RAM, but make up for it by being able to decode 720P video. Expect 7" to 10" screen sizes and flash memory.

Preview Link: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39617753,00.htm

How to find: follow http://www.ionbased.com and http://netbookupdates.com/

Personally, I'm looking for a 10" Ion netbook for gaming. That 12" Lenovo is too large and heavy.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of good options right now.

How to not review the Nvidia Ion

2009-05-16T18:42:00.004-04:00

There's been a lot of buzz lately surround the Nvidia Ion Platform.

For those of you who don't know, the Nvidia Ion platform is an Intel Atom CPU combined with the Nvidia Geforce 9400 core logic chipset. The Intel Atom is a regular, but very low-power, CPU. The Geforce 9400 core logic chipset is everything that a northbridge and a southbridge typically do, a memory controller, audio, LAN, storage (Serial SATA) controller, and of course, the best integrated graphics every made. The point of putting such a nice GPU with such as weak CPU is to run 3d simulations (games) better, offload (upto 1080p) video processing to the GPU, or offload general purpose calculations to the GPU (CUDA, openCL.)

Now, the intel Atom isn't brand new. Models came out with it last year roughly around August. Combined with the old Intel GMA 945 GSE chipset, it was not a stellar performer. It had a FSB of only 533 mhz, and the memory controller on the intel chipset would only provide 533 mhz memory.

But performance was not the point of the Atom, as the intel atom was low power (a maximum 2.5 watts for the netbook model @ 1.6 ghz) and low price ($43 for that model.) Performance showed that the atom was roughly as fast as 2.0 ghz pentium 4 CPU. That fact is important. In the days of CPU's with model numbers like T7100 and E2220, it is hard to have any clue how a processor compares to another processor. However, considering that LegitReviews found the Atom 230 (1.6 ghz, 533 mhz FSB, just like the netbook N270) to get 477 CPU Marks in 3DMark06, and a sample score from the Online Result Database shows a 2.0 ghz Pentium-4 to get 524 CPU Marks, it's obvious that they are pretty similar.

So from now on when deciding what games to test a single-core atom CPU with, we should look for games that require nothing more than a 2.0 Ghz Pentium 4. Since cranking up the graphics detail puts more stress on the CPU, and the minimum requirements are for minimal graphics settings, logic would dictate that we would run the games at minimum detail if they require a 1.6 ghz to 2.0 ghz pentium-4. If a game requires something greather than a 2.0 ghz pentium-4, we shouldn't waste our time testing it. If a game requires something between 2.0 ghz and 4.0 ghz in processor speed, it is worth testing it with the dual-core atom N330, and the results will likely depend heavily on how well multi-threaded the game is.

Guess what professional reviewers did? First XbitLabs tested the Atom N230 (1.6 ghz) with three games; Quake 4 (minimum CPU: 2.0 ghz P4), Trackmania: Nations Forever (minimum CPU: 1.6 ghz P4), and World of Warcraft (minimum CPU: 1.3 ghz P4 or Athlon XP 1500+).

Considering these requirements, it would make since definitely to run Quake 4 on low detail. Trackmania and WoW should be tested out definitely on low, and probably on medium detail.

What did they do? They tested out all the games on medium! The results were pathetic, but they hardly gave it a chance. Remember that 30 FPS or so is necessary for a game to be playable.

In fact, the supposedly 5 to 10x faster Geforce 9400 wasn't much faster in trackmania than the Intel chipset. This highly suggests that the game was CPU limited at that detail level.

Next I came across Hot Hardware's Nvidia Ion review. Much like XbitLabs, they prepared a very professional review, with meticulous detail as to how they tested the system. I am glad they tested out the Atom 330, which proved to be far superior to the 230 at certain games. However, they tortured the poor Atom CPU even worse. They ran Left 4 Dead, which has a minimum CPU of a 3.0 ghz Pentium 4, and Quake Wars, which has a 2.8 ghz Pentium 4 requirement! Again, the Atom 1.6 ghz Pentium-4 CPU is only equivalent to roughly a 2.0 ghz Pentium 4. Only the Atom 330 deserved to run these games. However, they then did something even worse. They tested them "with gaming quality settings set to medium or high, depending on the feature!"

Here are the lackluster results:

I'm honestly impressed with the Intel Atom's ability to run games that greatly outclass it, but the average reader has no clue how fast the atom is supposed to be relative to the games requirements.

I believe testing these games was unfair to the Atom N270 and the Atom N230 CPUs, as well as the Ion platform in general. It made them look like they were incapable of gaming, when at the appropriate detail level on the appropriate games, it could have performed well.

I'm guessing the reason this mistake was made was that reviewers aren't used to testing integrated graphics chipsets like this. Typically, they test them with the fastest possible CPUs, where the minimum CPU requirements of a game are never an issue. When testing the Ion Platform, they are testing the Geforce 9400 with either a very weak CPU (the Atom N230 or N270) or a very specialized CPU (the Atom N330.)

What games could Hot Hardware have tested the atom with? Let's look at the top sellers on steam. Civ4 complete edition is up there, and Civ4 itself only requires a 1.2 ghz P4, Athlon, or equivalent.

So please, next time you test out either a low-end CPU or a low-end GPU, make sure you test it under conditions it is made for. By default, test it out under games with low or minimum detail, and include games that it matches the minimum requirements for.

A Windows Moment and the Bigger Picture

2009-04-06T13:42:00.004-04:00

Many people criticize Windows for its bugs. But sometimes there are deeper issues; design flaws. Follow along with this story and try to identify them.

I have windows XP also on my server (hegemon) as it is sometimes used for gaming.

I haven't booted it in a while. I plug in my wireless keyboard/mouse which I don't think I ever used on it.

So sure enough when I boot it up and it automatically logs in, it detects the new hardware and begins the long process of installing it. Were it to simply go to the login screen, it would have installed the wireless keyboard/mouse drivers automatically at that point. But because I automatically log in (like most home users do, although I have a password that will come up with the screensaver,) it wants to install all the hardware. It wants to install the PSC (printer) driver before the keyboard/mouse driver. However, the printer driver installation requires you to use a menu! It will not install the keyboard/mouse driver until you use the menu, but you need the keyboard/mouse driver to use the menu. I decide to go into safe mode as that will properly install the USB keyboard/mouse drivers if they are plugged in beforehand.
So I press the power button. It won't power off because Windows is waiting for an HP printer application to respond. So I do a hard reset. GRUB loads up fine and I can control it using my wireless keyboard. I choose windows and repeatedly hit F8, in order to bring it into safe mode. Doing that doesn't work. I then come up with another idea, use remote desktop.
That doesn't work. I believe it is becauase of a bug in the older nvidia drivers.
Finally I try one last thing. I plug in my old USB keyboard. It doesn't work. I tried the other unused USB port, and it finally works. I can control my computer with this keyboard only, which is enough to manipulate menus (alt + tab and tab are your friends) and cancel out of the printer installs. The wireless keyboard and mouse are then install.

So these are the design flaws I was able to identify:
1. A keyboard and mouse should not require a complex install. And if they do for some reason, it plugging them into a different USB port should not require a reinstall. On linux, installation of keyboards and mice are seemless and near instantaneous.
2. Windows should either install the essential hardware (keyboard/mouse drivers) before it gets to the graphical prompt or before the less essential hardware (printers). Linux does the former and probably the latter.
3. An application should not be able to prevent a power button from doing it's job. Or at least pressing it twice should override that app. You often need to power off your computer quickly if you hear a fan hitting something or if theres a thunderstorm. In Ubuntu 9.04, pressing the power button opens up the power off menu, which defaults to shutting off after 60 seconds.

The only thing I can say in Windows' defense is that XP originally came out in 2001 and design, and USB only started to become common around then. Design needs time to evolve. It's too bad Vista took design in a worse direction.

$200 and $100 Netbooks

2009-02-18T22:11:00.004-05:00

I previously covered the decreasing cost of netbooks.

Recently, they have gone down even more.
Dell has offered their inspiron mini 9 netbook with Ubuntu for a starting price of $200 recently.
The SSD upgrades may be expensive, but this a real netbook with an intel atom @1.6 ghz, a 9" 1024x600 LED screen, a 4 cell battery, and other usual specs for $200.

Unfortunately this was just a temporary promotion to get rid of the old stock in preparation for their newer model coming out. It is now currently $250.

Recently there was also a model with 1 GB of ram and a (presumably slow) 16GB SSD by acer for $240.

Now on the ARM processor (power efficient but can't run desktop Windows) front there's even more progress. Freescale expects to be able to make a model for $100.

"Freescale believes netbooks built around its technology will be able to be made at a cost of about $100."

These $100 models may very well run Ubuntu and Google's Android. At least higher end models with a Freescale ARM processor will.

You can read the original announcement here on the Freescale based netbooks here.

They cite the possibility of these netbooks being used for Indian schoolchildren once they are at $100. The OLPC could face some competition unless they move from the soon-to-be-abandoned AMD x86 Geode to an ARM processor to match the price. At least the OLPC still has other factors going for it still like the sunlight-readable screen and its rugged design.

Still, even if you aren't a schoolchild and you will merely be using a netbook indoors without roughing it up, the social implications of a $100 computer are enormous. At that price there will be no reason (in the 1st world) not to own a computer if you want one and have internet access. More less-committed people and impoverished people will be able to own one. People will also be able to buy their small children real computers. Linux will gain an advantage as Microsoft will not be able to port Windows XP Starter Edition or Windows 7 Starter Edition so easily, and even then they would need companies to port their proprietary software, including drivers. Open-Source software is more readily ported to these platforms, and that's why Ubuntu is nearly complete at being ported.

Yes the future looks bright for affordable computing.

Microsoft Releases 4380 MB Patch

2009-02-11T15:01:00.005-05:00

So I went to run Microsoft Update (including Windows Update) today. Look what I found.

Full-Size Screenshot

Let's take a closer look

WOW! 248 MB patch download, and it requires 4380 MB of space? What could possibly in this?

Microsoft Description of this .net framework 3.5 SP1

Hopefully this is just the SP1 installer that is being downloaded, and then that will only download and update only the components installed. Perhaps those components installed could include a large API.

Nvidia Makes Notebook GPU Drivers Available

2008-12-20T00:56:00.002-05:00

Today is a day that I thought I'd never see come.

For the last several years, I have had to help countless people with their graphics drivers on their notebooks. There are enough problems with desktop graphics drivers as it is, but on notebooks, you have to either pray that your laptop manufacturer will make a fairly recent version available to you, or download a modified version that will actually install on your laptops.

Of course, this hasn't been a problem for Linux users, but I am referring to Windows drivers.

A few years ago nvidia made drivers directly available for the Geforce 7800/7900 series, but few people have those and they didn't keep up and offer it for any more models.

Well today is different. You can now download graphics drivers for any discrete (non-integrated) Geforce 8 or Geforce 9 series GPU. This includes the 9500m GS on my 14.1" Asus notebook.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_drivers.html

This reinforces my moderate preference for Nvidia. Now please make Geforce 9400 powered netbooks, and the (less power-hungry) Geforce GTX 260 55nm available.

The Unimportance of Graphics Card Memory

2008-12-19T18:11:00.003-05:00

Often I see/hear people saying "I have a 256MB graphics card, I should be able to run Crysis."

The fact that you may have 256MB of video ram on your graphics card is largely irrelevant. You may have 1GB of memory on your computer, but if it merely has a pentium-3 1.0 ghz, it still isn't going to run it at all. The video memory is a very poor indicator of performance, especially because graphics card companies like to pad the memory on lower end cards. They do that because low-end memory is cheap and makes it look faster than it really is.

In order to show how much 256MB cards can differ, I decided to collect benchmarks around the web. They will all have a fairly high end Core 2 Duo or so, an nvidia graphics card and they will demonstrate 3DMark06. This won't be an exact science, but it'll be good enough.

Here's hardwarezone's review of the 8800GT 256MB. I have this card in my desktop. They are using an Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.66GHz.)

Resolutions: Score (with an 8800GT 256MB) : Score with an 8800GT 512MB
1280x1024: 10752 : 10968
1600x1200: 9541 : 9783

Next we have hardwaresecret's review of the Geforce 8500GT, but also showing off a few other cards. They used a Core 2 Extreme X6800 (dual-core, 2.93 GHz.)

Score with an 8600GT 256MB:
1024x768: 5743
1600x1200: 3797

Score with an 8500GT:
1024x768: 2927
1600x1200: 1784

Score with a 7300GT:
1024x768: 2046
1600x1200: 1281

So the 8800GT is 634 % faster than the 7300GT.

Finally, we have the 7300GS 256MB. This reviewer used a slower athlon 64 x2 3800+, but that can't make too much of a difference.
(Unspecified Resolution, probably 1024x768 or 1280x1024):
693

But now, how about the ultimate question! Can your 256MB card run crysis at high detail? This was done using a an exact scientific comparison by Tom's Hardware.

ATI Radeon 3850 256MB: 25.50 FPS
ATI Radeon x1300 256MB: 1.90 FPS

The 3850 is 1242% faster than the x1300!

So simply put, a fast GPU with 256MB can barely run crysis at high detail, a slow GPU with 256MB can't make it playable at all.

So please, don't ever say "I have a xxxMB Graphics card."

Asus Eee 700-Series Netbook for $232 total

2008-12-17T17:47:00.003-05:00

Let me just say, that as a proud owner of an asus Eee 901 20G netbook, netbooks are awesome. They are great for taking to class, or coffee shops, or wherever. I am so much more productive on mine than on my iPod Touch.

Well, NewEgg is now offering the first generation Asus Eee 700-Series model for $232 (with the cheapest shipping.)

While you can often find more luxurious models for $250, such as this acer with a much better processor and a better screen (for $300 now,) this is still a huge step forward in making new computers affordable.

Saving and Reloading Your Debian/Ubuntu Package Llist

2008-12-16T18:58:00.002-05:00

You can backup a list of all your installed packages on Ubuntu or Debian like this:

dpkg −−get−selections > list_of_installed_files

and then restore them like this:

cat list_of_installed_files > dpkg --set-selections && sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade

Note that this may require some work afterwards or during if you are going between different versions of the distro.

Potential Social Exploit

2008-12-15T11:57:00.000-05:00

So I was looking at my own private forum, when I ran across this:

"A username and password are being requested by http://www.usersigs.com. The site says: "www.radavatars.com."

Obviously radavatars/usersigs don't care for me linking my avatar pics to their site. I linked to it before there was a password, but now there is one. I can't blame them, I'm sure they use up a lot of bandwidth this way while receiving little recognition. With PHPBB v3 at least, you can simply create a new post containing an externally hosted picture with a login.

Cracked recently had fun with direct linking plagiarists, but that's a side note.

However, what struck me was that inexperienced users are likely to have no clue what's going on. They just go to their favorite forum about cars or whatever and hopefully hit cancel. But some may be deceived into entering a sensitive password, especially for the site they are on, if the prompt looked more like this.

"A username and password are being requested by http://automotiveforums.securesite.cn:8080. The site says "Enter your Automotive Forums Login"

(This is not a real pic per se. I used my hosts file to make automotiveforums.securesite.cn point to my own web server. That is not a real URL and I don't know what securesite.cn is.)

The most secure way to verify a website is by an examining the SSL certificate. Most people don't do that, and in this case it doesn't apply. The 2nd best way is to analyze the URL. Based on the URL, you can determine that this is a Chinese site (not Canadian), belonging to whoever registered securesite.cn (could easily be a scammer), and the automotiveforums.* portion would be completely designated at will be the securesite.cn owner.

Of course, most people don't even now how to analyze a URL. When my aunt Bella wanted to register SingledOut.com for her book, it was already taken. Someone in my family asked me if she could register book.SingledOut.com. The short answer was, she couldn't.

So I can completely imagine somebody entering the automotive forums login, and the scammer website (providing the prompt) collecting the username/password once it is submitted.
I can also imagine somebody launching a massive denial of service attack on a forum by putting up countless images like this, that make the site unviewable.

So what are the solutions to this problem? The best solution would be to train users to analyze URLs. Sadly, all they often know is that they shouldn't trust emails, which often contain phony links.
Firefox makes it quite clear which site is telling you to enter the password, and that they are merely claiming you should.
Perhaps the best solution is for forums to not allow image links to require authentication, but that would require the forum software to connect to the site, and it may need to do that frequently. They already disallow hotlinking images frequently, but that is not perfect because they don't connect to the site.

I'm going to have to say that we need to train users. I wish the best of luck to those who have no real knowledge of internet security, as they will need it.

-Mike

Hello World!

2008-12-15T11:50:00.000-05:00

Over the last few weeks I've been thinking of creating a blog. There's a lot of tech advice that I would like to put into words for others, or at least for myself. However, I wanted something more than a newbie service, and the ability to transfer my blog to perhaps my own server in the future. Then Linus Torvalds setup his blog, and then Bart Purcel at PSU told my class about the ability to transfer RSS feeds between blog hosts. So now I have decided to use blogspot.

I intend to basically only blog about technology. There are plenty of political blogs out there and my friend Kevin Guckin hated personal blogs (where people whine a lot) so much that he ran theantiblog.org for a while.

So without futher ado, enjoy!