Archive for IT

Windows 8

chrisandthetopher / July 23, 2012 / No comments

(Note: my experience is based on the current release preview which may or may not change before the actual release).

It’s that time again…a new version of Microsoft’s operating system is just months away…but this version is very different from any before it.

Windows 8 has been redesigned for use not only on high powered machines, but low end netbooks and tablets with an emphasis on touch control and apps…and it will also run on ARM processors (used in some phones and tablets).

When you first start Windows 8 you are greeted with a screen similar to that of Windows Phone OS, with application icons instead of desktop shortcuts…this is the new start menu (called Metro UI), it is the biggest change from the previous versions of Windows. From the menu you can open almost any application on your PC or go back to the typical windows desktop…I say typical but there is one feature missing, the start button is no where to be seen. The start menu is now accessed by left-clicking the bottom-left corner of the screen or right clicking to get quick access to a few basic settings (control panel, disk management etc.). The new interface takes some getting used to but after a bit of practice, it starts to make sense and you find you can get wherever you want to quite quickly. If you have trouble there is a 3rd party program called Start8 that will install a more recognizable start button and arrange the menu in a familiar way.

This is a few of my likes and dislikes from my own personal testing of the new OS.

Likes – Overall the system seems more responsive, The new copy/paste and task manager systems are very well designed, the ability to sign in using Windows Live ID means you can sync settings to multiple PC’sand I like the way the Metro UI is handled.

Dislikes – The minimum screen resolution for running apps at the moment is 1024×768 (or 1366×768 to run more than one at a time) which means many netbooks will not display apps, there will be a small but annoying learning curve with the new OS and once you open a full screen app, it is a bit difficult to work out how to close it.

Although this is just an operating system, I believe this will greatly alter the tablet/smartphone scene over the next few years…I expect to see a huge flood of phones, tablets and cheap laptops sporting the new operating system, filling the gap for people that do not want iOS or Android devices, but have not been able to find a Microsoft alternative.

There are still a fair few bugs in the release preview (most notably for me was the system crashing after installing Symantec endpoint as well as some strange graphical glitches/software behavior) so I would not suggest installing it on a work PC or your main PC…although a guide to dual-booting Windows 8 with Windows 7 can be found here (source: howtogeek.com).

Windows 8 is set for launch in October this year in 4 flavours (so far): Windows 8 (standard), Windows 8 Pro, Windows RT (an OEM version for ARM devices) and Windows Enterprise (only available via volume licensing).

More info on Windows 8 can be found at Microsoft or Wikipedia

*Images from Wikipedia

Chris Thursfield

Category: IT / Tags: , ,

WordPress

chrisandthetopher / June 24, 2011 / No comments

Over the last few weeks WordPress has become my favorite peice of web technology, and it seems I am not the only one with
this opinion. Unless you are a web geek like me, you may not realize just how many websites on the internet are built using this program.

WordPress is an open source (free) blog tool that allows you to quickly and easily construct a basic blog page that can be expanded
on with plugins and themes to create a powerful and very nice looking website.

I personally am a self tought web designer….and am by no means a master coder, but after the initial setup, wordpress allows you to create a website using a simple
backend and start posting articles with very little web coding knowledge.

The process of installing wordpress is as follows:

1. Buy a domain name and some web hosting (needed to host a website) and make sure the host runs at least mysql so you can create
a database (eg: http://www.website.com.au).

2. Through your web providers interface, create a mysql database, and a user for that database.

3. Download WordPress from here, unzip and FTP the contents
onto your webserver, under a subfolder if you wish (eg: “http://www.website.com.au/wordpress/”)

4. There is a file inside the wordpress folder called ‘wp-config-sample.php’…this is where you enter the database details you have create in mysql…
you also put the authentication keys and salts here (an extra layer of security)…once done, rename the file ‘wp-config.php’.

5. Install WordPress by going to http://www.website.com.au/wp-admin/install.php or http://www.website.com.au/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php if
you have used a subdirectory (changing the name according to the subdirectory name you have used of course)…the install screen will ask you to
create a site title and user to log in as.

6. That is pretty much it for a basic set up, you can log into wordpress using the user you created and start posting articles straight away
using the very user friendly interface.

This is only a basic install, not including adding themes or plugins that can be used to further customize a website,
but it is pretty much as easy as it comes for someone who doesn’t know much about web design.

I would say the only difficult part of wordpress is designing a template…especially if you are intergrating it into a current website that is a
few years old…but the wordpress website has a very extensive document section, so you can start with the basic stuff and work your way
up from there.

Unbelievable WordPress is free and available here

Chris Thursfield

Category: IT, JPP Articles, Technology, Web / Tags: ,

Windows 7

chrisandthetopher / November 1, 2009 / No comments

Windows 7 launched on October 22nd and is set to fix all the problems caused by Windows Vista, and it looks as though it is doing a fairly good job of it. I have been trialling Windows 7 on my PC since it’s first beta stage and I must say that I really like it.

The fact that Windows 7 came out so fast after Vista should be a good indicator of how broken Vista is…this is a chart of Windows release dates:






This shows that while the length of time between Windows XP and Windows Vista was 5 years, the length of time between Windows Vista and Windows 7 is only 2 years. Windows Vista had problems from the start (I know because like an idiot, I bought it for over $700 on the day of it’s launch), The current hardware in most computers did not have compatible drivers for Windows Vista, meaning all of your peripherals would not work until a new driver had been made as well as a lot of software no longer worked (including iTunes which crashed instantly) also it had file copy and memory bloating problems. While a lot of this has been fixed now, it was the first couple of months that destroyed Vista as many businesses would not upgrade after the horror stories got out.

Windows 7 is much better looking than Windows XP and is packed with many more feature, such as widgets which sit on your desktop and display information such as weather & RSS feeds, sticky notes which are like virtual post it notes, inbuilt touch support, wallpaper collection display (display a folder of pictures on your desktop and have them rotate at a set time) and an entirely new start and task bar system.

That is not to say that Windows 7 is without problems, I have found that some software still has trouble working correctly and if you open a folder with lots of files, the computer slows down as it tries to scan each one, but these are minor problems and will probably be fixed in a future update…so I would still suggest the upgrade from Windows XP and definitely if you have Windows Vista (especially because you only have to buy an upgrade to go from Windows Vista to Windows 7, which is about half the price)

Windows 7 is now available from all major software retailers (for about half the price of Vista at launch).

*Images from Wikipedia

Chris Thursfield

Category: IT, JPP Articles / Tags: ,

UMPC’S

chrisandthetopher / June 1, 2009 / No comments

This month I will be examining two of the new UMPC’s to hit the market: The UMID M1 and The Viliv S5.

First the specs:

UMID M1

  • Processor – Intel Atom 1.1ghzUMID M1 | copyright - www.pmptoday.com
  • RAM – 512MB (up to 1GB)
  • HDD – 16GB SSD (up to 32GB)
  • Graphics – Intel GMA 500
  • Wireless – 802.11 b/g
  • Keyboard – Foldout
  • Screen – Touchscreen
  • OS – Various (Linux & Windows)
  • Display Size – 4.8″ (1024*600)
  • Unit Size (W*H*D) -158*94*19 mm
  • Additional and optional – 3G modem, Webcam (1.3 MP), Bluetooth 2.0, and Digital TV receiver (only works in some countries)
  • Price – EBay – $900 – $1100
  • Website – ?

Viliv S5

  • Processor – Intel Atom 1.3ghzViliv S5 | copyright - www.pmptoday.com
  • RAM – 1GB
  • HDD – 30GB (up to 60GB)
  • Graphics – Intel GMA 500
  • Wireless – 802.11 b/g
  • Keyboard – Virtual
  • Screen – Touchscreen
  • OS – Various (Linux & Windows)
  • Display Size – 4.8″ (1024*600)
  • Unit Size (W*H*D) -154*84*24 mm
  • Additional and optional – 3G modem, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS
  • Price – EBay – $1000 – $1200
  • Website – Viliv

Obviously the recession isn’t hitting the UMPC market with the flood of new units that appear every week, it seems as though the bigger company’s have stepped aside and the smaller ones have come out fighting. As you can see these are both quite powerful machines in a very small form factor and are not overly expensive for what they offer, they are both fairly similar in specs, but very different in looks. One of the biggest things these UMPC’s are doing differently is that battery life has tripled thanks to the new Intel Atom CPU giving these units up to 6 hours of use between charges (that’s actual use time….not sleep time).

The UMID M1 is a clamshell PC with a foldout keyboard (which may be easier for some to use) but the keyboard and screen sit at awkward angles to each other, making it difficult to type and see the screen at the same time…and after hearing the clicking noise it makes after opening the unit, I am not sure how long until the keyboard breaks off altogether. The unit stay fairly cool, produces little noise and will awake from sleep mode within a few seconds.

The Viliv S5 is more of a tablet PC, with only a virtual keyboard, meaning it might be a lot more difficult to type on, but with inbuilt GPS and the bigger Hard drive as well as the faster processor, I would definitely recommend this over the UMID M1, the main reason actually being the build quality, with the M1 feeling a little like a plastic toy, whereas the Viliv feels solid and sturdy. The Viliv also has the same noise levels and wakeup times as the UMID.

All in all, these are both great units and I would recommend both of them, but if I had to pick one, I would definitely go with the Viliv S5…It may lack a keyboard, but that isn’t the end of the world as you can pick up a mini keyboard on eBay for $10.

Reviews and videos can be found on a site called JKKMOBILE as well as reviews for other UMPC’s.

And Dynamism is now shipping the Viliv and taking pre-orders for the UMID.

Chris Thursfield

Category: IT, JPP Articles, Technology / Tags: ,

Sony Vaio P

chrisandthetopher / April 1, 2009 / No comments

The Sony Vaio P is a new approach to Netbooks (even though Sony don’t like to call it a Netbook), It it a fairly powerful system put into a 8″ clamshell, widescreen case and marketed as a PC that will fit in your pocket.

The unit itself weights under 700 grams, is under 2 cm thick and supports a 2.08:1 aspect ratio (1600×768).

This is not a cheap unit though, with prices as high as $3000 for a top of the range model, and $2300 for the standard Sony Australia model, I doubt anyone would carry it in their pocket. The Netbook runs on Windows Vista with a custom instant on Linux based OS, so you can access photos, movies and the internet within 10-15 seconds of turning the device on.

The Australian model only comes with the 1.60 GHz processor and a 64 GB hard drive, but after a bit of searching on the internet, I stumbled upon this site: Conics ,this is a Japanese site that lets you customize a Vaio P to your liking and has options for English keyboards and Australian power plugs as well as the 1.86 GHz processor and a 128 GB solid state drive.

Sony have not had the greatest record with laptops as of late, as they try to fit too much into such a small design which causes overheating problems and eventual breakdown of the unit itself. Hopefully Sony have learnt their lesson and haven’t put out a unit that will not only overheat, but as they want you to carry it in your pocket, will set your pants alight.

Chris Thursfield

Category: IT, JPP Articles, Technology / Tags: , ,
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