bOtak wOrld

Macbook Air alternative creating Windows 7 USB Bootable Drive

2010-12-05T10:48:00.011+08:00

Traditional bOOtcamp with usb ODD

After partitioning the HDD and machine restart, "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key" Normally this is the part where I start preparing my coffee where it should be "Press anykey to boot from CD or DVD..."

Some may try change installer disc, change ODD drive, update apple software or even redo partition, well....

Following are what I have tried on a new macbook air (mid 2010). Lets just put a side EFI issue/update or Software Update as Apple would recommend to do so before we start. (Also many thanks to posted sites for knowledge and skill sharing)

Amazing google search result for "macbook windows 7 installer" or "macbook installing windows 7" will list you many results and numbers of ways to do this but what if it won't work as it should, error message everywhere or simply we can't understand what it says...

USB installer - Creating

You are going to need this rEFIt tool kit for the boot menu beside holding the "option (alt)" key all the time for boot disc including the usb pen drive selection. (download here)

Diskpart method

Using some simple DOS command and things to have for start are Pen Drive (4GB); Windows 7 Installer DVD and here's the guides link.

My result was it couldn't mount the pen drive and have 3 different pen drive same result. So.. next!

Windows 7 USB DVD tool

A windows base interface tool kit. (download here) You will also need a 4GB pen drive, windows 7 ISO file.

Unfortunately I was stuck at the ISO loading step. I have these 3 ISO files 1 was downloaded from web, 2 were created from DVD installer, all no luck... Next!

WinToFlash tool

Also a windows base tool kit. (download here) And finally I get it done here :P

It will cover the manual DOS command making the pen drive bootable, all it takes is to select which OS, destination pen drive drive letter and OS source drive letter (no iso file required). Good luck to you!

USB Wireless for Mac

2010-08-11T13:03:00.009+08:00

An alternate way to setup wireless ready for an old mac machine where it originally didn't not came with an Airport card. In this post, would like to share this D-Link DWA125 USB device that work with iMac G5 running OSx 10.5.8

Initially I was looking for DWA110 where you can also find in many post sharing it works but the goodies are newer model faster speed replacement with DWA125. It equip with Ralink RT3070 chipset. download here and thanks to this post for the update.

After unmount the image file, follow the instructions given for each version of OSx. When done, look for this Ralink Wireless Utility folder in Applications. Fireup the Ralink Wireless Utility for searching (Site Survey) for your signal. Select the right signal name, Connect and Add Profile. Done!

The only small issue was it doesn't show the wireless signal icon on top of the finder, where I think is still ok. Good luck to you.

Mac Mail Signature with Facebook & Blogger Link

2010-07-21T23:06:00.008+08:00

To share with a friends, few simple steps to add facebook, blogger or any other sharing site quick link in text and graphical (icon style) to your mac mail signature without any html or programming high skill.

Before begin, these few things are needed.
1. Text editor;
2. Site icons, I used fb & blogger in size 32x32 and looks just nice;
3. Site address, eg: www.facebook/yourUserName (click here more info);
4. Simple signature that still in use. (Will be replace after this) Click here if haven't got any.

Next, we shall begin typing your desire information using text editor including to drag in those sharing site icons you have prepare earlier.

Next inserting those link info (sharing site web address) to those icons individually by doing so, highlight the icon then go to Format from menu bar, select Text then Link then paste the web address.

Once done, hightlight the entire info that just created, copy them to clipboard then goes to Mac Mail, open up Preferences goes to Signature and paste it here or overwrite the current one)

Done, hope it helps you.

App Delete for Mac

2010-07-19T09:40:00.006+08:00

Sharing this with new switched from Ms Windows user if you have doubt how to remove unwanted app. It is like the Add/Remove Program in Control Panel. I've been using the free edition Version 1.1.1 and it fit with 10.5.8 but for 10.6 Snow Leopard best to download the latest Version 3.12 which has the 64-bit performance.

AppDelete is an uninstaller for Macs that will remove not only Applications but also Widgets, Preference Panes, Plugins and Screensavers along with their associated files. Without AppDelete these associated items will be left behind to take up space and potentially cause issues. more about...

Windows 7 slow boot on Macbook 2006/07

2010-01-21T18:04:00.005+08:00

Earlier installed 2 units of macbook 06 with dual boot Windows 7, OSx and dicover that W7 was booting extremely slow with the cursor blinking on top left of the screen. (It takes about 30 to 40 seconds). Many has the same issue and reasons given as well. Anyway, thanks to these download AI7E_1 & Ai7E_2 and found a fantastic & helpfull cmd patch.

These are the steps thats i used & running fine. When load the AI7 and from main menu:

Step1 select 2, SLIC2.1 Bios Install
Step2 select 1, SLIC2.1 Default
Step3 select 3, SLIC2.1 Hidden 2
Step4 select 1, SLIC2.1 Hidden 2

Wait for a while you should see a pop up saying successful message, follow on screen to restart your notebook. That's it. The home page is in korean, I can't read, good luck to you :)

After above all, you may notice that there's no windows bootcamp boot drive in OSx Startup for selection, same with me here. Still pending for solutions but I think it is the old bootcamp version issue. Meanwhile you can use windows base bootcamp to overcome this, do download and install the version3 (for 32bit OS).

welcOme 2010

2009-12-31T15:00:00.003+08:00

I know you like these pictures too

you know how to reach me

welcome 2010

Happy New Year!!

2009-12-23T22:40:00.002+08:00

It has been another great year with you around.

joy, surprise, trust, patience, caring, respect, appreciation

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

pictures taken from fasticons.com

IT Support

2009-10-25T15:18:00.006+08:00

There's an old joke in this town. "Try not to trust two profession, a used car dealer and a computer guy" *_* No offend if you are in used car business ya, just an old saying but I in a way sometimes I can't disagree with the second quo even I'm an IT support personnel. Why?

Here's come the drew (Commonly, there are still many good guys around ^_^)

When you happily purchased your very first new PC from used up all your daily saving *_* then by not knowing the different between Free DOS and the term of only Vista Pre-load, you'll find there's no MS Office, Word processing, Spreadsheet, Anti Virus or even freeware like Adobe Reader. You'll be receiving a bill for additional software purchase and installed.

Later you find you need a printer for school project and he will charge you for not knowing how to install the driver even it was purchased from him. Later when paper jam, don't call. DIY, saved a bill.

Internet was funs to explore, after a while of usage then hit by viruses. The first service you "might" have a free voucher but he'll give you a bill even your machine was just virus wash up from first service but now still with trOjan around your machine by didn't know beside viruses there are also spyware, ad-aware, malware, grayware, hijack... and treats from pen drive.

Your brother at home who share the wifi also making some noises about internet so damn slow, perhaps the IT guys didn't advise a proper modem. After phone here and there and charging you for the on-site trouble shooting, who knows later found out was the ISP line issue.

Great, you already know all these treats, no internet no life man. Well...

Anyway, now comes another fun part, he will also bill you even not doing anything when he brought along a power supply attending your on call request when you said "my machine won't on" but turn out you actually meant "my system can't boot up and reach desktop and having this blue screen"

Assuming you already get the pictures but later end of the year you can't enjoy the newly launch games just like your friends. I know, I know your mom will say "This is going to be your next year christmas gift!! "

Finally you gave up studying or using computers and look forward in Manufacturing perhaps, a better chance to make a fortune. After years of hard work, you now runs your very own company and signing your own cheques prepared by your secretary.

DEJAVU!

Some of those cheque you sign are for several invoices for setting up your company email and file sharing usage itemize in such: Installation Windows Server $xxx, Setup FTP $xxx, Configure Web Server $xxx, MS Exchange $xxx, SQL $xxx plus xx Hours Workmanship $xxx... LOL

The very first moment knowing the spirit of typing "dir" and press enter using an AT keyboard from an 8088 machine with an old mono monitor make me fall in love with computers. (Today we can just double click LOL). I'm IT addicted since then and I do get most of the blems... ha! Happiness, sadness, stress... all because of passionate.

Lately, my senior technician has left. All the best to him, believing in your heart, passion we must have.

PS: My Bill and Invoice are in orange color, shining color, you won't miss it.

NB200 Chameleon dualbOOT

2009-09-20T10:19:00.005+08:00

After manage installing iDeneb 10.5.5 on NB200, although the wireless doesn't work but this NB200 looks pretty cool after I have hands on with MSI, HP, Dell, Asus and Sony. The brownish version just look great! So, I decided to get one for my kids along I can used it with OSx. But after a while of usage, discover numbers of times applications just close unexpectedly and gaving error message.

After few times of try fixing those kext files, I give up... so decided to try out the new iATKOS v7 where integrated with 10.5.7. It is much more easier to install and less error (so far lol). Let's just put a side of the atheros wireless, it runs quite smooth and so far applications has not giving problems even in multitasking.

I'm guessing I might have installed unnecessary drivers while installing iDeneb, thinking of like windows to integrate as many drivers to the installer, less disc usage as possible. Anyway, got some good advise out here, so this time I choose drivers carefully with these few important hardware that NB200 equip. You may also find iATKOS came with showing hardware informations features while preparing to install, you can find it from the menu bar "Utilities" and customize what to installation later.

Chipset, not much to worry with intel chipset.

Wireless, already test by numbers which doesn't work with the new AR9x series

Audio, intel and realtek codec, leave to default. Earlier I added in azalia

LAN, realtek. pick all realtek will do.

Video, intel. It only gave 800x600 resolution even selected 950 or 31x but you can update the kext to Quartz Extreme from the same Essential Pack using same steps as earlier post. (but I discover it won't work with 1200 resolution when finished install and after restart but it will when after installing the bluetooth)

Bluetooth, toshiba stack. Same steps of installation as earlier post.

The most I like is that it also came with chameleon boot loader. Graphical boot menu to select booting from OSx or Windows. Don't have to edit boot.ini from windows. If you have your ideneb and windows installed along with created 3rd partition as Data drive, don't worry. It won't crash both the Windows and Data partitions. Recommended to format the Mac partition when installing as not to used up spaces. I had this mistake by didn't format the Mac partition as I only partition it around 30GB and another 30GB for windows and balance for Data Drive.

I also used this command line to change the default boot OS back to windows (by default is OSx selected). Edit /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist and add the Default Partition key with string hd(0,2) where the 0 is hard drive number and 2 is the second partition that belong to windows. (if your partition sequence is Mac, Windows and Data)

**this project is for study purpose only, try at own risk**

Others guides

Toshiba NB200/NB205 installing iDeneb 10.5.5

2009-09-06T01:50:00.014+08:00

Earlier this morning I help a friend to try out installing OSx (iDeneb 10.5.5) on his newly Toshiba NB200. So far didn't find much references for NB200 but I used NB205 to begin with and beside the in built Atheros chipset wireless doesn't work which so far still no solutions unless replace with realtek or broadcom cards.

**this project is for study purpose only, try at own risk**

The last notebook used was iBook G4 but of cause netbook is so much cheaper and with all the help around, HackintOsh is no longer just a dream ^_^ .The first prefer running OS was only Mac but since the wireless won't work so I went trying second option dual boot XP and Mac before going back with the original preloaded XP Home if fail.

So, got some very important guides and help out here, millions thanks to iDeneb, wingzero619, calibre97 and Jesse. You'll find very useful steps and tips for your projects, to summaries before you begin, these are the keys:

Things to begin with,

*iDeneb v1.3 10.5.5 DVD

*XP Home or Pro CD and chain0 file, saved it to pen drive for dual boot

*ToshibaNB205EssentialPackage2.zip

*ToshibaBluetoothKext.zip

*ToshibaNB205EthernetFix.zip

*Apple 10.5.7ComboUpdate

Steps I used,

*Created the NB200 recovery disc from its preloaded toshiba software for future use if plan to move back to the preloaded XP Home. The unit doesn't came with any recovery CD/DVD, later during the Mac process will have to delete the partition, best to make a copy before continue, 2 DVDs required.

*Preparing partitions, 3 partitions I created booting from iDeneb DVD, first partition for Mac, second for XP and last for Data with your own choice of size. It is always a good option to partitions the HDD to 3 when preparing a dual boot system, don't have to worries about data. Here's the guide and best to format the Data drive partition to FAT so both Mac and Windows can access it.

*Restart from Disk Utilities after created those partitions, boot from XP disc and install, when finished modify the boot.ini file by adding c:\chain0=”Mac OS X” at the end of the .ini file (also refer to Jesse's Weblog for doing this). Restart and begin with iDeneb OSx installation.

*Installing iDeneb, a guide from calibre97 or download this text file and print out for references.

*Installing Drivers. When both done, left drivers to finish up. Should not be any problems for XP drivers, you can find them here (Toshiba Asia Download Site). For Mac, use steps given above and those zip files downloaded earlier.

Optimus Prime and PETER CULLEN

2009-06-28T22:20:00.005+08:00

A voice that grew with many and included me. Watched the Revenge of the Fallen yesterday with family, of cause my kids were more interested with the autorobots, my wife were interested the tickets price ^_^ and I'm more interested with the sound when they transform and voices.

There's has been many website or blog review the show, many positive sharing and also some wrote the bad. I say, same old story board, great effect and visualize but most importantly is the voice that bring up many many memories of childhood, Optimus Prime voice by Peter Cullen. I don't know about others, In my childhood, I don't really watch those cartoon or show, I listen. I left the TV on and was busy with my toys.

Beside parents and teachers, this is the voice I hear most. A leadership voice. Childhood memories always are incredible! Don't you think?

Found these, more to share about Peter Cullen. (Was born in Montreal. He was part of the first class to graduate from the National Theatre School of Canada)

Flimography

An Interview

from BOTCON

kalway 10.5.2 and usb

2009-06-26T13:03:00.009+08:00

Today IT, the best things we enjoy most if I may say so are Internet and lovely USB. Traditionally from usb mouse, printer, webcam, pen drive until today usb bootable drive! Informative, enjoyment and fantastic tips from internet when google around, more knowledge gain.

It is not a secret more and more user manage to install and runs mac OSx from ordinary pc with latest Core2Duo system. Initially many setup was fail due to drivers or hardware incompatible issue but thanks to those OSx team out there (life is meaningless without you guys, ya!), improvement & improvement cheers up many user like us from guides, tips and sharing until today there are many version can be found.

In today sharing, I manage to setup OSx for a friend running Kalway 10.5.2 build. (friends, please understand this is illegal and for trail and studies purpose only ^_^ ) Hardware used are C2D 2.4GHz, Gigabyte G31M-ES2L, 4GB DDR2 with nVidia 8400GS. Everything works fine in my place but we get this loading error screen when it was in my friend place. His respond was surprise for first time seeing this display and mine was disappointed as this could be hardware or drivers incompatible problems and we might have to check piece by piece or redo the software again.

Final result, we managed to solve this by just unplug his usb universal memory card reader (there's a 2GB memory attached also). As I mention earlier, we can boot up a system by just using a bootable usb pen drive or external hard drive (for some bios, it recognize the 2GB memory card as a pen drive). Simple as that...

This may also happens to windows base system, where another symptom is that the OS will load extra longer if there's a usb memory card, pen drive or external hdd attached to it. Anyway, hope this sharing help. Long live hackintosh :p Others informations on Kalway 10.5.2 (don't ask me where to download this torrent, you might know better than me *_* )

Upgrade from 10.5.2 to 10.5.4

kalyway 10.5.2 is good than iatkos 10.5.4

kalway on Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P/DS3R/DS4

What is TRA?

2009-06-18T20:58:00.005+08:00

What is TRA? The latest, hottest & happening topic in town. It helps people lose fat and gain muscle through a unique way by educating, training and coaching to create healthy eating habits for life. Losing weight does not means healthy? Many quick ways for results changing your JJ Armani from 39 to 33 may just in losing your muscle but not extra oil in your body.

Always a simple concept but may not be easy for everyone. Combining right nutrition and right exercise, a fantastic 3 months experiences with the right coaching and it will be the last program you ever need on losing weight, correcting blood pressure and a healthy life. Much more to come, testimonials...

2009-06-06T14:28:00.004+08:00

Couples of days back shared this freebies with some mac user about exporting their address book to gmail. As most of the web mail uses csv format and when a mac mail address is being export it doesn't being recognize.

Here's an easy and use tool A to G to convert it to csv format and can be import by webmail and it is free :)

Why I like Mac

2009-05-28T12:24:00.003+08:00

found this picture while google around, 200 applications open and running...Well, I haven't reach that stage yet as my screen only 13" :P

This might be one of the reasons people crazy about mac.

Toshiba G910 WM6 Sync with Mac

2009-04-18T22:05:00.006+08:00

Just replace my new phone few days ago with Toshiba G910 SmartPhone as mine iPhone got stolen by my wife...(don't tell her I said so).

It equipped with Windows Mobile 6 and the part I like most is the horizontal 3" screen. Click here for more technical informations.

Anyway, today topic to share is this "Syncmate" software that can synchronies Windows Mobile devices with Mac. Of cause there are many many type and version around that works too but sometimes we just can't afford to take the risk of sync wrongly and data lost. So I'll be the "Tester" Yet it free ^_^

bOOt.exe remOval

2009-04-05T22:51:00.007+08:00

BOOT.EXE This is a high risk trojan and should be removed from your system. Basically it will disable the Windows Task Manager, Registry Edit and worse it won't allow to reinstall (mostly your Anti Virus will crash at this time) or install any new Anti Viruses.

Some Tips to share today and it apply to Windows XP and remember to backup your stuff. Hope it works for you before you get the Blue Screen. Your system must still able to connect to internet, there are some updates need to be download before scanning and fixing these problems.

Step 1, Turning off the system restore. You can find this in Control Panel and look for System. You can temporary skip this part if you get an error message saying Administrator has disable it.

Step 2, Cleaning Junks. Uninstall all those free games which downloaded from internet, also uninstall any Anti-Spyware Anti-Malware. Only left those which you really need. ie: MS Office, Nero, WinZip etc. Then run a system clean up using a utility program to clear the junk stuff. If you don't have any, try this freeware Glary Utilities. Simply run the 1-Click Maintenance.

Step 3, Free up resources being used. This is to temporary remove/disable some auto load items during the windows startup to free some resources being used and this will speed up the process you are going do later. They are two way of doing this, traditionally using the windows in built MSCONFIG. Click Start and select Run, type MSCONFIG and click ok. Click on the Startup column and you'll get a picture something like this.

To remove items, just un-check the box on the left of each. Indeed you'll confuse what to be remove and what not to. Look at the Command column, I shall propose you just leave those are drivers related such as ATI or nVidia (Graphics Card), CMI, Creative, Sis, Realtek or Sigmatel (Sound Card), HP, Epson (Printer) and also Avast, AVG (Anti-Virus). Those must be remove are Websearch, anything related to Toolbar or those with funny name such as EJHLKD.EXE

If your MSCONFIG any how won't work and you are getting an error message says it has been disable by the windows administrator then you have to use the second method by running the Startup Manager from a utilities program like above mention Glary Utilities, also un-check the box on the left. Here you may notice it gives more details for each item in the Name column. Restart your system when you are done.

Step 4, Install, Update, Scan & Kill with some useful Anti Spyware AND Anti-Malware tools. Try these freebies, Malwarebyte and Spyware Doctor Starter. Best results are to update the latest database after install and run scan one by one.

Step 5, Viruses Scan and Kill. In many cases viruses are tight to trojan; adware or spyware to "re-produce" new threat, the best to do this if you are done with step 4. When done, restart your system.

By now you should be able turn off the system restore if you unable to do so earlier. Repeat step 4 and 5 then restart system again. By no luck if you a are still unable to get into system properties, try this tools PRT and RPT, follow the on screen instructions. Good Luck!

CompaQ Presario CQ40-401AU Running XP

2009-03-22T12:49:00.010+08:00

No longer is a new topic for many user to switch from Vista to XP. Initially when Vista launch, many user were scratching their head on the Drivers to support the hardware such as printers and scanner. Worries that wrong pieces bought that doesn't work. Down the road, many have switched back to XP because of many reasons..... but here comes the new questions, most of the PC and Notebook in market are release with preloaded Vista. Immediately, can it support XP?

Some manufactures are kind enough to provide duo OS when purchasing their products such as Sony VAIO or Dell. At lease others will still provide drivers to be download from their website but not HP CompaQ. They no longer provide drivers supports in XP for their PCs products. There's no XP drivers for display, sound, wireless lan and etc to download. If you google around and you'll find 9 out of 10 are searching and asking guides for drivers to their hardware and the balance 1 will share the links and guides.

It is difficult for user to verified what and which drivers to install. Not to mention numbers of manufacture branding and the models will drive you crazy. You may ask, can't we just install and try? Well, this is the beauty of it, wrong drivers or software installed will give you BLUE SCREEN. Anyway, to conclude. You either need someone having the same model or questions you are looking for to post on the net or some IT people to share these informations. Here's are some link and guides to share with my readers and friends like you out there who like to DIY. Otherwise, you might want to consider switching to Apple ^_^

Windows XP Drivers Part 1 - There are still some bugs I couldn't finished but basically you'll get the Display, Audio, Wireless and Memory card up and running.

First step, the biggest question. XP installer CD even SP3 version doesn't support AMD SATA AHCI driver. (Download here) After download, two ways of doing this, first save the drivers to floppy and during XP setup you'll be ask to "press F6 if you need to install additional SCSI adapters or other mass-storage devices" later you'll reach a stage to browse the floppy and load for the drivers.

Second, integrates those drivers into the XP installer CD. By doing this, you need nLite. Here's the steps. For DIY user, assuming you know the steps to install XP. If you are fresh, click here to show you more.

Now drivers. It equipped with:-

ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics; link and you also need Netframe 2.0

LAN; RTL8102E Family PCI-E

Broadcom 802.11bg Wireless; Link or Acer 4720z Compatible

JMicron JMB38X Card Reader; You can use the same Vista driver provided from HP

Audio; IDT HD Drivers from Mediafire

You also need to install HDMI Audio; download from here

HD SmartCP 56k Modem; link and manually install guide (after installed audio)

1.Right click on "Modem device on High Definition Audio Bus" and click Update driver.

2. Select "Install from a list or specific location"

3. Click Next. Then select "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install"

4. Click Next and then select "Modem" from the list.

5. Click Next and then click Have Disk.

6. Click Browse C:\swsetup\sp33890 folder and select the .inf (wis30b2b) file and click open

and Ignore if complaints

After above items finished install, you'll notice there are still 7 unknown devices, I haven't finalize what are those but one of it is the scroll function from the TouchPad. But the TouchPad went crazy after I update them using this link drivers.

Lastly, Million thanks to all out there who provide links, guides and sharing.

Safari 4... WOW!!

2009-02-26T23:02:00.004+08:00

First impression it looks like iPhoto or iTunes... Bet we didn't think of browsing in such a platform.

Preview of your favorite websites without lifting your finger. It tracks the sites we browse and ranks them.

Wonder which sites have changed since last visit? No worries, with up to 24 thumbnails on a single page will solve it.

Whenever you want to return to the Top Sites page, just click the new Top Sites button at the left of the bookmarks bar.

Free download

KAV2009 Installations errOr with AVG8

2009-02-01T00:51:00.008+08:00

Learn a new technic this morning while helping a friend to resolve his anti virus problem. The problem begin when he removed his first installed anti virus - AVG8 and upgrade from installed KAV 7.0 to KAV 2009.

During the progress, it show an alert saying AVG8 wasn't uninstall completely even he did. No surprise, this is the beauty of software if I may say. Especially anti virus or securities program.

Did a simple registry scan and clean up with CCleaner and Glary Utilities but still no luck.

Then we started to googled around and found some very useful links and help. Thanks to you guys out there... :)

A conclude, option 1 the simple way is to use these remove tools provided by KAV avg8.zip and AVG avg-remover32bit for 32bit OS or avg-remover64bit for 64bit OS. Simple and easy, no registry edit.

Option 2 is to edit the registry manually, click Start, select Run and type "regedit" then hit ok. Look for these few items,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AVG7Uninstall

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AVG6INSTALL
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AVG8Uninstall
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AVG\Avg8

Locate each of them, right click them respectively and select Delete. Extra tip is you might want to export your registry in case wrongly remove. Just click File from the menu bar and chose Export (Save) to a locations.

More details from KAV and AVG why these problem occurred.

kOng xi fa chai

2009-01-06T22:14:00.000+08:00

40 minutes walk up for a 2 minutes job

2009-01-04T22:26:00.008+08:00

I have this customer staying near paya terubong up hill and hardly can find someone to service them. So far there's one guy from telekom and I who are a bit "siao siao" to go up. (And my staff too but they dont want to go any more...)

This is the house, 1st time visit was by car, because the road is small and narrow, my wagon hardly can drive up... :(

Why walk? Has been years works, works and works.

Why not? take a break, off my phone, walk!

Here's the view and fresh air too ^_^

What can I say more? Felt great!

Boot Camp Beta 1.4 Expires on OSx Tiger

2008-12-24T18:26:00.009+08:00

Yes, it is an old articles that bOOtcamp no longer support OSx Tiger started this year. The best options and solutions from apple is to upgrade it to Leopard which came along bOOtcamp 2.0

Earlier this year, I had this problems when I sold my previous macbOOk. Was thinking to format the hard drive and restore back software before the hand over.

“Boot Camp Assistant Beta has expired.”

This was the result shown when attempt to partition the hard drive and install XP. Numbers of service case being done this year, and today to share how I manage to do so with the error msg.

Basically quite simple, old days there's an old trick to update some expired anti virus program is to back date the system clock. So does the bOOtcamp ^_^

Mac OS X on Netbooks: What Works, What Doesn’t

2008-12-20T22:15:00.005+08:00

iBackup for my new macbOOK

2008-12-09T23:36:00.011+08:00

Finally. Finally got my new macbOOk on saturday. I guess i can just skip those good saying of this product as it has been mention so much out there ^_^

Well, with new improved hardware and its OSx 10.5.5 that came along, so far so smooth. The most I like is its incredible Glass Trackpad functions. 1,2,3 & 4 fingers all counts!

Most concern me was the data, as many of us do when getting new machine, don't we? Beside using the Time Machine came along, here I'd like to share something that can also does the same thing when migrating. iBackup

Has been sharing this software with some clients and friends a year ago with the older version. It does pretty good job. I can choose what to backup start from installed applications, mail, desktop items, keychains, safari bookmarks and cache, customize folder, printers drivers and of cause importantly iTunes and iPhoto.

It can scheduled backups daily or weekly of the selected (created) profiles.

The most I like from it was the one click restoring. Not much to worry, it put back everything to the original folder where was created.

Here's the Download and Help & FAQ. Enjoy!

RESET PROM

2008-11-08T00:53:00.009+08:00

Today I had an interesting service case to share, Intel Duo Core MacbookPro. The problem was the display and it looks like the picture shown. The screen display looks like photonegative. The same result even the moment it was power on while showing the apple logo. At first I thought it was the driver issue, as this unit originally came with Tiger OS and the lady owner upgraded it to Leopard and also install XP to boot dual OS.

When first time this problem came, she said it was diagnose by local apple reseller technician and they claim there were no problem and just restore it to original OS. What grabbed my attention was she claims that whenever she make it into dual OS (OSx10 and XP) it became like this.

Well, standard procedure to diagnose from zero is always majority the best place to start with. The moment when booting up from the DVD already gave the same error display. At this point I strongly believe high possibilities is a hardware issue. I just carry on the installation till end to monitor, same result.

After googlering around hopefully to find any update drivers for the display, none found. Since there are no bios (like any others IBM compatible base pc) for apple machine, here I got a big help from local apple centre tech.

First to cross check the display setting from System Preferences/Universal Access/Display. Check the display is it set to Black on White (This is the correct seeting) and it was. So we process to the next step, RESET PROM.

Here’s the step. Restart (Reboot) the machine, immediately press and hold these 4 keys together when hear the boot tone.

Alt+Command+R+P

After a sec or two it will reboot again by itself and do not let go your finger yet! You can only release those keys when come to the 4^th reboot and each reboot you’ll notice the booting tone is louder then the previous one. Wah lah!

But I was too happy so soon, after finished install dual OS and software, the same problem came again. So I repeat the RESET PROM and surprisingly it was recover! Then after couple of hours of using, I have to reset it again. Total of four times this afternoon.

A conclusion here, I’ll have to go back the original OS that came along to monitor. Will update this paragraph soon.

docx files for Office 2004

2008-11-03T22:00:00.007+08:00

Problems with opening or accessing office 2007 or 2008 files, beside iWorks 08' that support, these are the links recommended to download and install if you wish to stick with Ms Office.

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.0 Update

Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.0

Security or Convenience?

2008-10-27T20:09:00.005+08:00

Today I replace a Hard Drive for NEC Versa series model E600 notebook. It took me half an hour to replace it because it was design beneath the touch pad (mouse). I had to remove the up cover to do it.

There are 3 replacement or upgrade items very often for notebook. Battery, RAM (Memory) and HDD (Hard Drive). Usually there’s no issue for battery because the break down rates are quite high after a year or two of usage (or even less) and it can be easily replaced by user.

Ram and HDD would not be that user friendly, best to handle by a technician not only because of the skill for time saving or not to “short circuit” to our self but sometimes incompatible pieces may damage the notebook.

Useful Widgets

2008-10-12T10:30:00.008+08:00

Useful Language Translator Widget for poor gramma and spelling like me @_@

About Language Translator Translates

any text between different 22 different languages using Googles language translation service. It can even detect the source language. What’s New in this Version - added support for Korean more...

and also About iStat pro

A highly configurable widget that lets you monitor every aspect of your system. It features 9 sections that monitor everything from cpu, memory and disk usage to which processes are using the most cpu. You have complete control over which sections you want to monitor and even the detail level in some cases.

Sections:CPU, Memory, Disks, Network, Battery, Load & Uptime, Temperatures, Fans, Processes…. iStat pro can do it all. Don’t want to monitor them all? Simply disable the sections you don’t want from the back of the widget. more...

Fantastic Battery Performance

2008-10-03T23:32:00.003+08:00

Super busy September, A to Z busy…

Here’s my new SE k550i phone but this time in white color after the Laksa Black… ^_^

Few reasons drive me back to this model, 2.0 MP Cyber Shot, 85gram weight, 14mm thick and it’s 6 to 7 hours talk time battery with just standard 950mAh battery!

In my work, I talk a lot on phone. Sales, Complains, Boy friend Girls friend calls, Customer support, guiding them how to “right click”…… *_*

It came with a standard total of 30 received, dialed and missed calls records. This is very useful. Every morning or the night before, one of my habits is to trace back these records for any miss out so that I can prepare my daily jobs schedule.

Averagely the first number shown was between 3 to 4pm. This means there’s an average of 60 to 70 incoming and outgoing per day and also says averagely I’m taking a call in 10 minutes.

If I spend about 5 minutes for each calls, every alternate minutes I’m on the phone! Not to mention plus the usage of Bluetooth.

Good job SE!

Laksa Sony Ericsson K550i

2008-08-31T23:00:00.007+08:00

About a week ago, I drop my 2 months old Sony Ericsson k550i phone into my lunch "Penang Assam Laksa" :(

One hand with phone another with chop stick, mouth busy eating and talking. The moment just to hang up, the phone..... aiyo.....

After a quick wash, I put it on top of a monitor, using the heat to try it out. Well, the phone still works but the bluetooth seems to be out of order. A bit trouble in transferring files now.

Anyway, today point is not about the laksa. When received the phone, I'v problem synchronizes it with isync, there's no plug-in to support nor from apple download website.

After searching around, found these wsonic and Howard Forums link with edited files ready for download. Millions thanks to above mention link for sharing.

After download, unzip the files and put the "Sony Ericsson-k550" under this root.

Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/PhonePlugins

You may find there's no "PhonePlugins" folder, create one and put it in.

Respect human intellectual but help those who couldn't afford :)

Migrating Ms Outlook mail or contacts to Mac

2008-07-24T00:34:00.006+08:00

Days earlier a friend asked about this questions just after he got his new Mac machine. Once I did this when I started using Mac years ago, I wanted all my contact in Ms Outlook transferred to Mac mail. It really digs out memories pieces by pieces. :O Some mistake steps and experience to share today.

At first I export Ms Outlook “contact” to CSV (Comma Separated Value) file then import them into Mac mail as text file. All contacts were imported but later I found those email addresses were not at default address in “work” field. Which this also causes new issue if some contacts have more than one email addresses.

Second try out, I export them to CSV as well but this time I transferred (import) it to Yahoo mail. Later then export to Netscape “ldif” format. This is on of the format Mac mail can accept beside vCards or CSV text file.

Works!

Today, I learn new technic from a business partner, he did it using Thunderbird mail and this time more it can transferred including calendar and note too.

Thanks to this link, to share with you his steps. First install Thunderbird in to your PC then import from Outlook. Later copy the Thunderbird profile folder to Mac platform Thunderbird. Lastly import them in to Mac mail.

But if you Thunderbird layout, just stick to it :)

PC Base Leopard and Drivers

2008-07-15T18:21:00.004+08:00

Finally!

Finally I get my 1st assembly PC base system to run OSx 10.5

Here I must thanks to INSANELYMAC.COM providing the sound driver to complete job.

Have been trying to do this long long time, machine in and out so fast and hardly get a touch to install the OSx.

Wish to share this today, these are the specification I used to install and up running OSx 10.5.2

Intel C2D 2.4GHz E4600 Processor

Gigabyte 945GCM-S2L Mainboard

Display Intel GMA950, Realtek 8111C LAN and Realtek ALC662 Codec

2GB PC 667 DDR2 Ram

Standard 160GB SATA HDD / IDE DVDRom / P4 ATX 450W Switching Power Supply

Macbook Battery Charge only 97% and Calibrating

2008-07-13T18:57:00.005+08:00

This morning when I power up my macbook the system just shut down when it reaches the user log in screen. I tough my wife was using it with just battery last night. So I plug in the charger and start up the system again.

Weird thing, the battery life shown 97% when reached desktop. Then I said 'shXt!' Is the battery dead or what?

I restart it and went in to Windows (Dual OS Im running) to check whether it give the same result. Surprisingly it show the same 97% but works differently and I manage to finish a level of my favorite game C&C General. An old game for old man like me :O

Then I decided to continue use, browsing the web for some experiences since it has about 10 minutes left.

Some useful link and appreciate you guys out there for sharing ^_^

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=212291

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490

http://splashofstyle.com/archives/2007/07/03/macbook-pro-battery-calibration/

http://www.mactricksandtips.com/2008/03/calibrating-your-macbook-battery.html

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/9036.html

A conclude, these are what I did. I continue to use it until it went to sleep mode then charge it without turning it on for about 2 1/2 hours. Usually this is the charging time for battery without the system power on.

Unplug the charger then power on and this time it show 99%. I repeatedly doing this used till battery low in to sleep mode and charge it for about 2 hours plus.

And now it shown 100% :)

Birthday

2008-04-08T12:52:00.005+08:00

Chinese count the age starting from the birth is because Chinese lunar year. A baby born on 8th April 2008 for example, will be 2 years old on 8th April, 2009.

Sun Yat Fai Lok!

Vsechno nejlepsi k Tvym narozeninam!!

Tillykke med fodselsdagen!

Happy Birthday!

Joyeux Anniversaire!

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

Eytyxismena Genethlia! or Chronia Pola!

Janam Din ki badhai! or Janam Din ki shubkamnaayein!

Selamat Ulang Tahun!

Buon Compleanno!

Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu!

Saeng il chuk ha ham ni da!

Feliz Aniversario! or Parabens!

La Multi Ani!

Feliz Cumplea–os!

Piranda naal vaazhthukkal!

生日快乐 to me Sam. age of 35 lol

My New iMac!

2008-04-06T10:52:00.006+08:00

Days back, a good friend came in my shop and asked me what to do with this 16kg piece of machine. When I look at it, WOW! It was one of my dream machine and it is still. iMac 2000 summer model!

No question ask, quickly stop all my jobs and phone call. Power it up...well, my wife nearly going to use her "rotan" on me :p

500MHz processor, 578mb SDRam, 30GB Hard Drive, OS9 and front loading DVDRom Drive. Top of the spec at that time I said.

Spending the whole afternoon, beside the front loading ODD having problem with ejecting disc, the rest works fine. Then I found myself had difficulty in using OS9 since OSx. ^_^ so much to learn since Tiger. Anyway, I decided to upgrade it to OSx since it can support up to 10.39

While ejecting disc, it can only reach behind the front panel, so I had to remove the cover to do OS upgrade. And I had some big help from people who share their experiences from the web, especially thanks to r3uk.com with very complete guide how to do this.

An unexpected error occurred while opening office 2004

2008-03-30T11:01:00.005+08:00

When starting Microsoft Word X for Mac, Microsoft Excel X for Mac, or Microsoft PowerPoint X for Mac, we may receive the following error message:

An unexpected error occurred while trying to load the Microsoft Framework X library.

All because of this folder :( "Office X Identities"

We may move the folder call "Microsoft User Data" (just drag it out to your desktop) to desktop to resolve this issue.

Hard disk:Users:User_Name:Documents:Microsoft User Data

ASUS EEE-PC Linux XP

2008-03-06T22:33:00.006+08:00

Welcome EEE-PC!

What I like most is the weight at around 900g even

with a built in webcam and about the speed I may say Linux did a wonderful job with just 512MB while it need 2GB for XP to run the show.

Two small problems that bother me are the 7" screen size (can't be help where the bigger screen the heavy we get) and secondly is the internal 4GB storage.

After installed XP and some software mention above, it only left us about 500MB of storage. The best to insert (install) a memory card for more software to be installed.

Concluded; it is not a good desktop replacement where the maximum storage are limited to 20GB and the 7" screen may make "4 eyes" people like us becoming "8 eyes" :P But, it is a very good mobile device for presentations and PDA replacement for more features.

iPod as external HDD with Windows & Mac

2008-02-27T01:39:00.008+08:00

Time past so fast and yet still in CNY holiday mood :P even now almost reach month end of February.

Just before the holiday, some friends came and asked wonder their iPod can be an external Hard Drive for storage beside in use with just iTunes for music and video and I told them YES, in fact it was design to do so.

But a good question follow, whereby how I configure my iPod (iPod Classic 160GB) to sync with iTunes from Mac and also work as an external Hard Drive in both PC and Mac environments. (where I though not many end user would want it to be this way beside some technical person like us)

From the manual, most of us plug in the iPod for the very first time either in PC or Mac then configure it using iTunes, name the drive and also click on the box next to "enable disk use" to make the iPod as an external Hard Drive. But this only allowed the iPod to work with one environment.

Here are some experiences and steps I would like to share how I did it. Firstly by knowing there are deference formats for a drive between Apple in Mac OS extended where PC (XP/Vista) are either FAT or NTFS is very important because is the format that reason our iPod can only work under one environment but not two.

Mac OS can read and write in all Mac OS extended, FAT but only read NTFS format where-else XP or even newly Vista can't recognize Mac OS extended. A little bit of computer terms here where NTFS recognize FAT but not another round for FAT to read NTFS system.

It looks like this: Mac > NTFS > FAT

I exit iTunes then I runs Disk Utility where you can find it under Application\Utilities and erase (you may want to know in PC base we call it FORMAT) the iPod I name by choosing "MS-DOS File System" in the Volume Format selection and also give a name to it.

BUT unfortunately I found my iPod did not work out correctly after working within XP and Mac for a week later. So I follow the formula above, I configure it another way round.

I reset (you can download this tools here) my iPod using iTunes in XP and re-do the step by step as same as iTunes under Mac. When finished I exit iTunes then look into My Computer and right click on my iPod drive then chose "format" by choosing FAT but not NTFS. Then only I went back to Mac iTunes to sync my musics and video.

In Mac iTunes, it gave a warning saying that my iPod was sync with another iTunes, do I want to erase those previous sync and switch to it, I choose yes.

I believe it is confusing and weird but don't ask me why ya, it just work and I've been using my iPod between two environment and sync it with iTunes from Mac for the past 4 months now :o

iLife'08

2008-01-24T22:50:00.000+08:00

Today I upgraded iLife’06 to iLife’08 hoping to find new themes and feature. Well, 1^st thing 1^st. It took few more seconds (compare with the 06 version) for loading up, but I don’t think this is a problem for Intel Duo Core or Core 2 Duo system with 1GB of memory and better view with bigger screen using iMac not MacBook :o

For iDVD so far only discover new themes, about the building time (creating my DVD movie), I felt almost the same which I believe this has to depends on my source clips (MPG, AVI etc.) format.

A big change was the layout of iMovie, I’m lost! Nearly don’t know where to start clicking. Ha !! But did some try on error, manage to get a few things done and try out the result. It was good! Rendering time speed up, quick time export quality was sharp. Anyway, still need more time to explore. iLife'08

Top Ten Antivirus

2008-01-23T11:15:00.000+08:00

source...

Rat Year

2008-01-22T23:35:00.000+08:00

After the turbulent Fire Pig 2007, the Earth Rat year starts on the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar, which falls on February 7 this year.

The Rat is number one in the ranking of the twelve animals and considered the leader in the Chinese Zodiac.

The magical or power name of Earth Rat Year 2008 is Mou Tzu that means the start of the new twelve years reign beginning from the Rat down to the Pig year. The Chinese word Tzu also means infant and signifies the New Era. It is also used for the midnight hours from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. announcing the birth of a new day. more...

iPod Classic 80GB or 160GB

2008-01-21T00:14:00.000+08:00

Decisions, decisions. Who needs ’em? Why should you have to choose what to put on your iPod? With up to 160GB of storage, iPod classic lets you carry everything in your collection — up to 40,000 songs and up to 200 hours of video — everywhere you go. In a completely new, even thinner all-metal design starting at RM1,099, this iPod is a modern classic.

^_^ I'm already iPod classic 160GB, Which iPod Are You?

MacBook Air

2008-01-21T00:02:00.001+08:00

MacBook Air is ultrathin, ultraportable and ultra unlike anything else. But you don’t lose cms and kilos overnight. It’s the result of rethinking conventions. Of multiple wireless innovations. And of breakthrough design. With MacBook Air, mobile computing suddenly has a new standard.
Just one small problem, only one usb port :P

2008!

2008-01-20T11:51:00.001+08:00