I had to wait a week before writing about the latest addition in my network — the ASUS Eee Box. If I may, I would say that the Eee Box is ASUS’ answer to Apple’s Mini PC; only smaller. The unit weighs 3lbs and is 1-inch thick (8.8×7x1) only. It comes with two mounts — one is for desktop mount and the other is a wall mount or like what ASUS advertises, the unit is mounted behind an LCD monitor to get the effect of “no box PC”. The box comes with wired keyboard and mouse. Of course if you chose the wireless route, you can do so because the machine already comes with wireless adapter (and antenna for range maximization). Knowing me, this featureis of course disabled. The machine is also very quiet and does not take up so much power consumption. The Box is also DVI ready so if your monitor has DVI, that would be great. For an average user, it won’t be a difficult computing because the Box is pre-installed with Windows XP Home Edition.
The Box!!!
Why did I have to purchase this gadget? For one, I wanted to test it and it’s cheap enough to experiment with. I plan to install other *NIX flavored OS in it instead of Windows. I also needed a PC that can serve MySQL database and it shouldn’t take space in my workspace and won’t consume so much power. Eee Box is the perfect specimen. The Box has been running since I bought it an a few restarts were executed because of Windows’ unfailing releases of bug fixes (don’t they get tired of this why not release a less buggy software instead).
I only recommend the Box to an average user. Average I mean a user who only does: web browsing, chat, email, music, photos, occasional videos, word processing. I don’t prefer this to a hardcore user who may wish to do audio-visual editing and multi-tasking applications although it’s hyper-threading. However, it’s enough for daily computing.
November 3rd, 2008
I will not be preaching or discussing the current state of world economy. It’s still happening and I’m not an expert in it. The point I will be relaying in today’s entry is the sense of being economical in projects.
I am currently developing an application in a few spared hours of my dull life. I’m a few months delayed because of improper planning. The application I am developing requires massive information storage. Information that is improperly organized is simply garbage in a storage bin. Therefore, I will be using a database to organize the information. According to my projection, I can’t afford to use flatfile or filebased database system. I need an engine to run and manage the database system. There only a few RDBMS out there that’re stable enough to handle megabytes of information daily.
If you are talking about software, which company would first pop-up in your head? Microsoft. Since we are all used to Microsoft’s softwares, a programmer would easily decide to use MSSQL Server. In my case, I’m very picky when it comes to database management. I am not loyal to anyone because I choose according to my needs. However, I would avoid MSSQL.
The few reasons I have for ignoring MSSQL Server are (1) there’s a cheaper solution that can offer the same or superior quality, (2) difficult to use [not intuitive]. I can’t say never, but I don’t overestimate my needs because they cost a lot. I’m a Filipino and Filipinos always (not often) believe that the more expensive the product, the more superior it is. I don’t value something because it costs a lot. In database management system industry, it surely is not true. I always use MySQL for my large scale database needs. It’s free, easy to use, portable, and you have unlimited support from the community. And if you are upgrading to enterprise-scale data, then you can purchase an enterprise version for a handsome cost.
I honestly believe that’s economical. At work, I have MySQL deployed so that I can store needed information anytime I want without asking for a budget. The reason why I wrote this is that I’m running source install on my Western Digital MyBook and it’s been hours since I sent a Make command. It’s my way of killing time I guess.
October 12th, 2008
I borrowed my father’s notebook computer so that I can watch high quality video while I’m lying down on my bed. It’s running on Vista that I stripped off of every silly things Microsoft added. Anyway, I installed an MSNM and during the installation I was asked if I wanted to install the Writer which can be used to jot down offline entries for a blog. I wanted to try, so I installed the software. Here I am on my first entry using Windows Live Writer.
For a Windows user, it’s a great piece of software. Especially for me; I sometimes write my entries while on the ferry. I don’t have Windows in my Eee PC so I had to install an offline instance of Wordpress in it. With Windows Live Writer, it’s pretty straightforward. No web server or database engine to run, just let MS do the work for you. I must admit, it may be one of a few software that I like from MS.
I’m already praising the software even before saving and publishing this entry. So here we go…
October 10th, 2008
I’ve been following the Wordpress 2.6 pre-release builds and when I woke this morning, the admin panel was urging me to upgrade. I didn’t have time to do it this morning, but I checked out the video that the people from Automattic made. I didn’t notice any changes that could affect the site, so I upgraded my two sites a few minutes ago. I find that there are outstanding upgrades in the admin panel especially the plugins section. It makes sense to separate the active and inactive plugins because sometimes I’m confused if I’m upgrading (I also like a flag telling me I have a number of plugin updates) an active plugin. Selective activation/deactivation is also an awesome addition. There is revision trail, so that’s exciting. Wordpress is becoming a more sophisticated word processing software it seems.
Anyway, for those who are afraid to upgrade, I’m telling you it’s safe. You gotta love the word count also. Another awesome feature.
July 15th, 2008
I couldn’t deliver a promise to myself that I would write each day of the weekdays. I was too busy at work that I lost so many blogging hours. I am writing this entry aboard a Continental Airline flight. So what thoughts have accumulated this past week?
Firstly, my attempt to move my router failed. I’ll figure it out when I return.
The first Gala Night of Pinoy Idol was held this weekend and I was fortunate to watch the performances. The show has put a limit on the number of text votes per SIM; the maximum is 200 text votes per SIM. My guess was correct because I guessed an average of 100 per SIM.
Eat Bulaga’s first E-Banda Eskuwelahan came into existence this weekend also. Out of four bands, I enjoyed two. It was a good contest.
At work, I ordered tons of computers. I realized that I’m too slow setting them up. When I say setup, it means uninstalling pre-installed software and installing my own software. One PC per hour is quite slow. Alongside that, I was also multi-tasking — programming and other operational work. Joking around has to be there also to take away all the pressure.
June 22nd, 2008
I had a short term absence online, if anyone noticed. I did it intentionally because nothing was coming out of my head, except the back entries that I will be posting tonight.They were posted offline in my i-touch-nothing-happens. I installed an offline WP there so that I can write directly through there and I don’t have to re-format my entries when I’m publishing online. Before my word processing software was formatting the entries when I copy & paste.
I vowed to halt my presence in the world wide web for a week. I didn’t even check if I had comments for moderation. I was going to reinstate my presence on Monday, but a slew of ideas came into my head and I didn’t want to lose them, so I’m writing this now while I’m on the ferry.
For some reason, I feel relieved from anger and all the negative thoughts that’s why I’m able to write again. I was reading so much of Ayn Rand that I realized I was bashing society so much. It is as if I’m emphasizing society, thus giving it more importance. Well, I’ll lay low on that topic for now. I was thinking of writing about emotions, especially pain. I heard a Dolores O’riordan song and it inspired me to personify pain and destruction. I don’t think I can, but I’ll think something along the way that’ll satisfy my urge to write about it.
May 15th, 2008
I haven’t even got my feet wet with Windows Vista and now the fuss about the next year release of Windows 7 is getting hot. Technology is either too fast or I’m too primitive. Working as a technical support in the office and our agents outside, I firmly stayed away from upgrading to Vista. The first time I saw Vista, I automatically pushed it away. I don’t want to learn any more tricks to troubleshoot a misused functionality, slow processing or a blue screen. Our software will definitely have problems with Vista and I either have no time or energy to find solutions to install the software in the platform.
I wonder what the point of this entry?
Well, we have one Vista machine at home and I had the time to strip it down to minimum and I must say, I’m liking it. I won’t swap XP with it, but it’s not bad. It can do pretty cool stuff, that Vista. As expected, software installation problem is prevalent in Vista and it’s really the main reason why I won’t be using it as my production platform in the future. I will only use Vista if it’s totally stripped out to a bare minimum for basic processing such as word processing, presentation, video, and audio.
April 6th, 2008
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