My New PC

Video sound out of sync

2009-01-27T05:35:00.000-08:00

A while back I ripped some art instruction videos and found that they had the sound badly out of sync with the video. Ripping a new copy got the same results (old one was ripped in Linux, new one in Windows).

I did some Googling and found this solution:

Download a free program called VirtualDub. No need to install it. The program runs without an installer by double-clicking VirtualDub.exe.

Click FILE>Open Video File... then choose your video.

Now to fix the audio, click the AUDIO>Interleaving. Under Audio Skew Correction, select the number of milliseconds of your audio delay. This is the difficult part, as it's hard to know exactly how many seconds of delay you have. My art videos were off by as much as 12.5 seconds (12500ms). Make your best guess and click OK.

Now to preview, play the video with the controls at the bottom of the window. Go back and adjust the delay, as above, until the video is in sync. When you're happy with the results, click FILE>Save As AVI, and choose a name and path to save. I don't recommend over-writing your original. The save process takes as little as a half a minute, or as long as an hour or more. Not sure why.

One more thing. You may want to check the compression settings before saving. Go to VIDEO>Compression, and make sure it is not set to save videos uncompressed. A single uncompressed video can take up hundreds of gigabytes of hard drive space, where it only takes about 600 megabytes when compressed. To compress, choose a codec from the list. It will only list codecs you already have installed, so Google "Free Windows Codecs" to get a full array.

While saving, a box will display, and indicate an approximate final file size. If that number starts to get too big, cancel the process and choose a different codec.

Hope this helps.

Download from Usenet

2009-01-24T06:31:00.000-08:00

If you like downloading your favorite movies and TV shows, you've probably worried about getting in trouble for doing it. I have received the dreaded ISP emails alerting me to my alleged violations on more than one occasion. Showtime is especially diligent, and have nailed me twice.

Most forms of filesharing require you to upload as you download. That's where you run into trouble. It's usually the uploader who is considered the perpetrator of copyright violations. What you need is a way to download without uploading.

Enter Usenet. If you've never heard of Usenet, you're not alone (I recently called my ISP's tech support line, and their "expert" had no idea what it was). It's a dinosaur from the early days of the internet that is enjoying new popularity. It is a collection of discussion groups -- known as newsgroups. Or at least, that's what it was set up to be. But it didn't take long before people figured out how to use it for filesharing. People upload files to Usenet, where it is held on servers, and you can download at will. Ironically, the server often belongs to your ISP, who have chastised you for sharing material. We'll just turn the tables and let them be the perps now.

Enough chatter. Now for the HOW-TO:

1. Download and install NNTPGrab. This is software made just for Usenet downloading

2. Run the program, and click the Configuration tab, then click SERVERS on the left pane, then ADD on the right (look for a big plus sign).

3. Add a server. This is the only tricky part, since you have to have access to a server. Chances are, your ISP has one. Go to their website and look through their support pages. You want to find their instructions for setting up Newsgroups. Also look for the word Usenet, as the two terms are used interchangeably.

Here's a tip: See if your ISP has multiple servers. The more servers you add to NNTPGrab, the faster you'll download. I'm a Cox customer. They have three servers. (news.cox.net, news.east.cox.net, and news.west.cox.net). They tell you that your area is served by only one of them, but that's not true. You can use all three at once. For Cox, no password is needed, so I don't click the "Server requires authentication" box. Check with your ISP to see if you need to use a password.

Add as many servers as you can. Here's a list of free servers, but don't count on them working very well...

http://www.disenter.com/

There are also pay servers, that claim very high speeds. I haven't tried them.

4. Now you need to find content. Click the "NZB Creator" tab in NNTPGrab. Search for the title you want. Wait for the list to load, then click the checkbox next to the files you want, and click "Import Selected File(s)". I recommend importing one at a time, since multiple selections will be downloaded as one large file that you have to wait a long time for.

That's it. If you have multiple servers working you'll be shocked at some of the download speeds you'll get. Sadly, those speeds often drop down to Torrent speed over time, but for a while I get consistent speeds of over 1MB per second, compared to 85k per second with Bittorrent.

This is a simplified version of the process, but it's all you need to get started. Google "NZB" to learn more about where to find content and how to download it.

Good luck.

I've given up on Linux

2009-01-21T14:04:00.000-08:00

I won't go into great detail about giving up Linux, since this post is mostly about Windows. But suffice it to say that there's just more software available for Windows, and the software is also easier to install and has more features. Linux may be a better OS, but systems exist to run applications, and it's the applications I want, regardless of OS.

But Windows has given me fits in the past, The system gets corrupted by installing and uninstalling software (which I do almost daily). Also, spyware seems to be invincible sometimes, no matter how many removal programs you use. After years of dealing with this, I decided to come up with a plan for a bulletproof install of Windows.

I'm inspired by the IT guys at my office, who do not bother to solve Windows problems anymore (for the most part). We all have the same applications installed on our machines, so if anyone has a problem, the IT guys just ghost a new image onto our hard drive.

"To Ghost" is a term that comes from Norton Ghost, a program that copies the entire hard drive, including boot sectors and formatting, and creates a copy that can be restored on any PC with similar hardware. Unlike a new install of Windows, the newly ghosted computer has Windows plus all of the software installed, and configuration just the way you want it. Restoring the ghosted image is also easier and faster than re-installing the operating system. Plus, you can have disk images of other versions of Windows, so you can try Windows 7 as a full install, and then go back to your old Windows XP environment, just the way you left it. This frees me to install anything I want -- even risky applications -- and still return to my pristine system.

I'm not using Norton Ghost, though. I don't even know if they offer a free version. I'm using Macrium Reflect. Their free version creates a full-disk image. Their non-free version allows backups of individual folders, but I don't need that.

At this point, my entire system can be backed up to a single DVD. I can hang on to my older backup discs, and restore the PC to earlier states if, for instance, I need a clean install of XP without my applications for whatever reason.

To some this may seem like an unnecessary hassle, but I've been using Windows for only about two weeks, and have already restored my system several times. Not that I've had crashes, but it's so easy to restore everything, that I don't bother uninstalling software anymore. I install anything and everything, and see which applications are worth having. Then, rather than allowing them to potentially contaminate my system with leftover Registry clutter, I simply wipe out the hard drive and go back to my ideal system again.

This, of course, erases all the stuff you might want to keep, so it's important to do like they tell us at the office, and never save files to the system drive. Windows is installed on the C: drive, but I save all my files to the D: drive, which is unaffected by the above-described process, and can be backed up separately (use a separate physical drive, not a partition -- just to be safe). I also set the "My Documents" folder to point to the other drive, so now most applications will save there by default.

What I have now is a bulletproof Windows install. There will be further tweaking, to be sure, but I know that every time I make the system a bit more perfect I can create a new ghost image of it so I can preserve what I have, and I can also return to the previous state, should I find that it's not as perfect as I thought.

If you have an older Windows install, and like your apps, you can still use Macrium to back up your old buggy system and then install Windows afresh. If you miss what you had before, go back to it using the Macrium rescue disc.

Ordered a second hard drive

2008-02-17T16:24:00.000-08:00

As I think I said before I am constantly installing and re-installing operating systems. In the last week and a half I've re-installed Windows and Linux at least three times. Every time I end up losing data on my hard drive.

So I just bought a second drive -- a small one of just 80 GB, just for operating systems. So from now on I can keep my files safe on their 750GB drive and play musical chairs with operating systems on the 80 GB drive.

I should have done this from the start.

Everything works!

2008-02-12T13:59:00.000-08:00

I'm posting this long after the fact.

The stuff arrived last Wednesday, but I had obligations that kept me from working on it. Thursday it all came together and booted up on the first try!

I booted to a Linux pen drive before I installed the hard drive. Worked fine, so I finished the build.

The next day I bought the monitor -- a ViewSonic 22" LCD flat screen. How did I live without it for so long?

I also bought some Altec Lansing surround sound speakers. You don't just hear them. You feel them! I've only connected the subwoofer and the front speakers, since the PC is in a temporary location for now.

I'm using a wireless keyboard and mouse, to keep wire clutter down.

I installed Win XP first, because I wanted a native install, just in case I ever need it. I put it on a 25 GB partition, so it is pretty limited. I booted to it only once. Then came Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon. It works very well indeed! Then I installed VirtualBox and a new Win XP install in a virtual machine. I use it quite a bit. Sometimes you just need Windows (sorry Linus T.)

My original plan was for 4 GB of RAM, but I started out with only two because of a rebate I wanted to take advantage of. So far the PC runs so fast that I can't imagine more memory making a difference.

I can run two operating systems at once, watch a video, while ripping a DVD, all at impressive speeds. Ripping DVDs took hours on my old 1.2 GHz machine. It takes minutes now!

With the great sound, great graphics, and awesome speed, I'm totally set!

Still needed:

TV tuner card
Internal card reader
Maybe a second DVD burner to speed up the burn/rip process
Maybe headphones

I haven't installed MythTV yet, because (obviously) I don't have the TV tuner. MythTV with a remote will make it a true media PC.

Just bought everything (almost)

2008-01-30T15:58:00.000-08:00

My patience with my old PC reached the breaking point today, so I ordered all the stuff I listed in my first post. It's on its way!!!!

Still lacking important stuff like the monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. But the basic machine has been ordered. No more click and wait!!!

Can you feel my frustration?

Another purchase

2008-01-18T09:22:00.000-08:00

TigerDirect had a good rebate deal on 2GB of DDR2 800 MHz memory, so I couldn't pass it up. Not the memory I had originally chosen, but equivalent, and half the price (after rebate).

Ordered yesterday. Already mailed the cooling fan rebate.

Learned today that the president is planning a tax rebate to stimulate the economy. That'll be plenty enough for the whole PC and perifs.

Ordered MythTV book from Amazon

2008-01-14T05:33:00.000-08:00

I've decided that my DVR interface will be MythTV, which is an open source media center suite that seems to be able to handle everything having to do with media. I had thought about using Linux MCE, but it appears to have far more features than I'll ever need, and for my purposes, it's too bloated (It can control your security system, appliances, etc... don't need all that).

So I found a book on the subject and ordered it this weekend. It will hopefully help assure that I get all Linux-compatible hardware.

P.S. My new CPU fan arrived last week. Good god it's huge. I'm still running an old machine with one of those matchbox-sized CPU fans.

Great How-To website

2008-01-08T15:43:00.000-08:00

I just stumbled onto this site that explains how to build a computer. Seems to be kept up to date, and there are current hardware recommendations, with current prices.

They even have a support forum.

First money spent

2008-01-05T04:52:00.000-08:00

I was going to buy everything at once, because of the 30-day return policy, but the CPU cooler had a $20 mail-in rebate (for a $25 item), so I figured I'd take a chance. The rebate was about to expire yesterday, so I had to act fast.

The ball is rolling now!

Should I run a tiny OS?

2008-01-02T15:56:00.000-08:00

I know I'm building a semi-beefy machine, but I'm thinking I might run a tiny Linux distro on it, then use the Virtual Machine idea (see previous post) to choose a larger OS when needed.

Puppy Linux is so compact and fun, and can meet my web surfing needs. If I can use it as a home base for VMs of Ubuntu and Windows, then those operating systems should run like native installs, since the real native OS will be so minuscule.

Here's a thread I found. These guys actually made it work.

Edit: Here's a different distro bundled with VirtualBox AND Compiz Fusion!

My operating system plan

2008-01-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

My current PC is a dual-boot system. Despite what Linux cheerleaders tell you, you still need Windows sometimes. Some websites, like NetFlix's streaming movie page, won't work without it.

But I hope to have a single-boot system nonetheless.

My plan is to always boot to Linux, then run Windows (when needed) in a virtual machine. VirtualBox.org provides the software for this, and it's free. You need to have a system capable of running two operating systems at once, which is why I haven't tried it yet (well, I tried and failed, with my current 256MB RAM).

Here are some of the advantages that I anticipate (which may not be realistic, since I have no experience with virtual machines)...

No need to have separate drives, or separate partitions.
No need to reboot to change operating systems.
In fact, you don't "change" OS's at all. You run both at once
If I understand correctly, I can do a clean install of Windows, then make as many copies of it as I want. Windows can get as cluttered or corrupted as it wants, and all I have to do is have a second copy I can use. I can keep a backup of a clean install, another of an install with lots of software, and others for other purposes. I can ditch one install and try a different one, all without re-booting. Maybe I'm being too optimistic.

Unfortunately, Virtualbox does not support 64 bit operating systems. That's a shame, since the new PC does, and I'll have to run a 32 bit version of Linux, and miss out on some of my processor's potential.

Since I plan to use the PC as a media center, I'll install MythTV, which should do everything I need -- media wise. There's a flavor of Linux made especially for MythTV, but I'm not planning to use it, as this machine will be a general-purpose PC, as well as a media PC. I really like the standard Ubuntu releases, and plan to stick with them.

Proposed hardware

2008-01-02T06:31:00.000-08:00

Motherboard:

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

Original Price: $134.99

You Save: $10.00

$124.99

Chosen for combination of features, price, and large number of positive customer reviews. (prefer customer reviews to those done by publishers. These guys aren't trying to sell advertising).

Here's the Asus page for the mobo.

CPU:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor

Chosen because it's fast and won't be obsolete in a while.

Memory:

Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory

2@ $22.99 each

This specific memory, along with others, was mentioned in the motherboard owner's manual. I suppose any DDR2 memory would work, but if it's recommended by the manufacturer, it's probably optimized for the hardware.

For now I only have 2GB of memory in my shopping cart. Most 32 bit operating systems don't utilize more than 3GB, so I chose not to buy 4GB. I'm still not completely decided about it, as I plan to run multiple OS's, and may be able to make use of more memory than one OS at a time can use.

Hard Drive:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

$159.99

This is way more space than on my current PC. It's way more than I currently need. But the new PC will be used as a DVR, so it will consume up to 2GB of space per hour, so I really need the space.

1TB drives are now available, but a little too costly for me right now. My new system will be able to support six hard drives, so future upgrades are almost certain.

Video Card:

ASUS EN7600GS SILENT/HTD/512M GeForce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

$89.99

My motherboard doesn't have onboard graphics, which is good, because they'd go to waste, since I would want to upgrade from the start. This looks like a great card. It's fanless, has 512MB memory, and is made by the same company that makes the motherboard, so compatibility should not be an issue (I still need to consult with NewEgg about this).

I'm hoping for serious graphic quality on this system.

Case:

APEVIA X-CRUISER-YL Yellow Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

$69.00

I'll miss out on the mail-in rebate on this, since I'm not ready to buy just yet.

This case was chosen for its great looks, price, and customer reviews.

Customers made many comments about the color, which looks different in various images online. In this image it looks like a mustard color. In others, it looks like neon yellow. Judging by their comments, I'd say this picture is more accurate, which is more to my liking. I'm taking a chance on the color, but the quality does not seem to be an issue with customers who posted reviews.

I could save a little money by buying a plain vanilla box, but this is a custom system, and I want it to look that way!

Power supply:

APEVIA ATX-CW500WP4 ATX 500W Power Supply 115/ 230 V UL, CSA, TUV, CE

$34.99

Nothing sexy about a power supply. I'll make sure the 500W is adequate before buying.

It's made by the same company that makes the case.

Monitor:

No monitor chosen yet, but I want a 22" LCD flat screen, which will be wall mounted.

Keyboard/mouse:

I don't get excited about keyboards or mice. I'll probably go cordless on both to eliminate clutter. Cord clutter has been a major annoyance on my old system, and I have run out of tolerance for it. For this reason, I'm also hoping to find a discreet surge protector.