Backside Bus

While I am generally a Windows user, I have always been interested in Linux. I made an attempt to install Red Hat on my PC in the late 90s (but had too many driver issues and couldn't get x-windows to work properly so I decided to wait a while). In early 2010 I looked into it again and discovered Ubuntu . After playing with 10.04 and subsequent versions in VirtualBox for a while, I restored an old laptop using 11.04. After that, I was hooked, and I have had some version of Ubuntu running on a PC ever since. Once I was sure everything was stable on my new machine (I really have to give it a name...), I grabbed the latest version (12.10) and set up a dual-boot machine. It actually wasn't that quick. I definitely wanted to run Ubuntu on the system, but I also didn't necessarily want to extend the boot time - I was too used to the  the 20-seconds to working in a desktop program from totally off   performance I was getting, and I didn't want to slow it down, even if it

In the short time since I finished building my custom PC , I have done a couple of upgrades to the components and played around with overclocking in order to improve overall system performance. In this post, I will cover the new components I have added, and I will have a separate post on overclocking in the near future. New Components Since the build, I have added an aftermarket cooling system to improve cooling when overclocking (see Overclocking Without Permission for details on why it was necessary), added a blu-ray RW drive, and increased cooling capacity even more by putting another fan in the case. The end result is that I can now play and backup blu-ray movies, and I can burn my HD home movies in actual High Definition without worrying that my computer will overheat when encoding the videos (that wasn't an issue when the system was running at stock speeds). Blu-Ray Drive   The Blu-Ray drive I added is an LG WH14NS40 , a SATA 14x Blu-Ray burner that supports BDXL,

I've been using an iPad since late 2010. In that time, I have come across several apps that I really enjoy using, or find very useful. Here is a list of my 10 favorite iPad apps. The Simpson's Tapped Out. I've been a Simpson's fan since they were a short on the Tracy Ullman show, so this one feels like it was written for me. The premise of the game is that Homer is playing a similar game on his myPad while at work, and, by ignoring his duties, accidentally destroys Springfield. You have to put it back together, adding buildings and characters by earning money and doughnuts (mmmmm, premium currency) by assigning the characters tasks. The game also has quests that allow you to add new characters and buildings. While it is a simple gameplay - give characters tasks and build things - the content is amusing and brings in several themes from the show. They have also had several events where you can get special items for a limited time. These include Halloween, Thanksgivi

With the replacement of my once-great Samsung Stratosphere* with an HTC Windows Phone X, my business computing is now entirely under the Microsoft umbrella. Windows 7 at the office, Windows 8 at home (desktop and laptop), Surface RT for the tablet/netbook. Now if Redmond would only send me the shill checks they promised... But seriously, this is the first time that I have had all my eggs in one basket - I would generally have one "odd man out" device, if not more. In fact, until recently, my standard trio for business trips was my iPad, my Windows 7/Ubuntu dual-boot netbook, and my Stratosphere. I'll be doing some posts on living in the MS world (like I haven't already...) and how it affects my work, leisure**, and other computing activities. *more to come on this story - quick version is that Verizon took a great phone and completely ruined it with an OS update. ** My iPad needn't worry... there are enough iPad-only apps that I got used to using on that pl

Sorry for the long delay between posts this month. I really want to try to get to posting a couple of posts a week, but Real Life keeps popping up and using up my time. In any event, I am going to try to get back to that frequency starting now. I have a lot of ideas for posts, and am going to start actually typing them up. I'll start off with something I promised a while ago. As I mentioned in the post about my custom PC build , I had an issue with the system crashing randomly. It only crashed twice - once when I was running the Windows Experience Index, and once overnight. This worried me because it was a brand new system, and everything should have been in tip-top shape - unless I screwed something up (or received a faulty piece of equipment). I was really hoping I wouldn't have to redo all or part of the build. Luckily, I enjoy troubleshooting almost as much as I like building PCs, so I put on my thinking cap (do they still make those) and started working. When I checke