Recent Posts

6251

General Software Discussion / Re: Vista SP1 Hot new feature - Hotpatching

« Last post by f0dder on December 11, 2007, 07:39 AM »

humm, hotpatching has been available for windows for quite a while, although I guess it's only been used for the server versions. Try taking a look at recent-ish visual studio compiler command line options (can't remember when it was added, this is vs2008)

C:\dev>cl /? | grep -i patch
Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 15.00.21022.08 for 80x86
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

/hotpatch ensure function padding for hotpatchable images

6252

Living Room / Re: A question for the linux guys (slocate/updatedb related)

« Last post by f0dder on December 11, 2007, 06:59 AM »

It is updatedb causing it, since I've manually run updatedb wihch also triggers the spin-up.

Cable path is irrelevant, SATA drives have one drive per cable. But even for IDE, the drive should only wake up if it's the one receiving a command, not if another drive on the same cable receives.

The fun thing is that I added /mnt/raid to the PRUNEPATHS config line for updatedb, but it still spins up the drives. Helluva annoying. But that's linux for you

6253

General Software Discussion / Re: Shut Up About Vista, Already

« Last post by f0dder on December 11, 2007, 06:53 AM »

It was available even on win2k, just had to download a biggish file and install.

6254

Living Room / A question for the linux guys (slocate/updatedb related)

« Last post by f0dder on December 10, 2007, 09:01 AM »

I've recently gotten interested in power consumption, and thus I spin down the RAID array in my fileserver when it's not needed for an extended period of time.

However, slocate (updatedb), which is scheduled nightly, spins up the disks, which is pretty counter-productive. I've added the mount point to PRUNEPATHS of /etc/updatedb.conf, which does seem to partially help: I can no longer locate files in /mnt/raid , and the updatedb process seems to be significantly faster.

But updatedb still spins the drives up. Any ideas?

6255

General Software Discussion / Re: Realtime Disk Access monitoring?

« Last post by f0dder on December 10, 2007, 08:07 AM »

Process Monitor is nice, yes, but the way filters are added is a bit tedious; they need to update the dialog+controls a bit to make it friendlier

6256

General Software Discussion / Re: Is it time to move beyond Cygwin/X?

« Last post by f0dder on December 10, 2007, 04:55 AM »

I've used starnet X-Win32 in the past, which worked pretty great... but anyway, does cygwin/X suit your need? If so, no need to stop using it just because of versionitis

6257

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Publishes Detailed Vista SP1 Changelog

« Last post by f0dder on December 09, 2007, 05:33 PM »

I'll report my experiences here if people are interested, f0dder in your case though I think XP x64 is built on the Server 2003 codebase so the switch probably wouldn't be necessary. But that's worth looking into.

-Eóin (December 09, 2007, 05:22 PM)

Exactly

But even with 32bit XP, I do wonder why people are doing this... sure, the win2k3 codebase is better (looks like they use a more recent optimizing compiler, and have a couple of assembly-optimized routines), and iirc there's some additional security features - but still, why? I'd really love to hear something tangible from somebody

6258

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Publishes Detailed Vista SP1 Changelog

« Last post by f0dder on December 09, 2007, 01:01 PM »

I for one am wondering if Server 2008 will be viable as a workstation.

-Eóin (December 09, 2007, 08:23 AM)

I know at least one developer who uses Server2003 as his primary workstation.  Aside from some games not working (or installing) he's quite happy with it.

-Ralf Maximus (December 09, 2007, 01:00 PM)

Can you make him comment on any advantages over using regular XP?

6259

Living Room / Re: 48 Proof Beer: On Sale Soon!

« Last post by f0dder on December 09, 2007, 11:47 AM »

Some 8% (vol) beers are fine, but above that (with the beers I've tried) you either enter the stout realm (struggle to get it down, struggle to keep it down) or beers that's more like wine.... I prefer my beers around 5%, with the occasional enjoy-a-single-or-two 8%.

6260

General Software Discussion / Re: Free Software brings affordability, transparency to mathematics

« Last post by f0dder on December 09, 2007, 10:33 AM »

I just think it's lame++ that it runs inside a browser >_<

6261

General Software Discussion / Re: Best password manager?

« Last post by f0dder on December 09, 2007, 07:53 AM »

And what exactly are the negative concerns with .NET framework in use?  Seems many useful programs have gone this path... (I am seriously asking as I am just an end-user)

-vegas (December 09, 2007, 07:43 AM)

Higher memory usage, somewhat longer application load time (and a serious hit for the first-time load of the dotNET framework after a system reboot). For the most part, performance while running isn't too bad, and not something you will notice at all for normal apps.

6262

Living Room / Re: 48 Proof Beer: On Sale Soon!

« Last post by f0dder on December 09, 2007, 06:03 AM »

Disclaimer: I'm a very mean and evil person. Not only do I get my kiddo brother drunk in Whiskey & Coke, I make fun of him in forums. Sorry

6263

Living Room / Re: Tell me why I have to be a PowerSlave?

« Last post by f0dder on December 09, 2007, 06:01 AM »

justice: wear and tear on the components as a whole, probably, I doubt turning your box on/off a few times a day will make anything fry before you'd normally replace it anyway. But I'm still weary of the wear&tear by parking drive heads, the force of spinning up the platters, etc... all other components can be replaced, just some stupid $$$ you have to spend, but harddrives contain valuable data that can't be replaced.

6264

Living Room / Re: If you build a new PC, make sure you get 2 HDs: One fast and one big

« Last post by f0dder on December 09, 2007, 05:51 AM »

Best external HD enclosure I've seen in ages...sexy and smart!

It might not have an e-sata port, but more than makes up for that in style, features, and overall possible storage capacity. Vantec makes a very solid product. I have 2 EZ-Swap cages and bays and the build quality is outstanding. I'll be grabbing one of these for only 70 bucks.

-Nighted (December 08, 2007, 08:26 PM)

They look good, but I'd be going for FireWire over USB2 - even though FireWire is only 400mbit/s where USB2 is 480mbit/s, firewire is better at dedicating the speed to a single device than USB is.

And if the goal was having the storage external, rather than being able to carry the drive over to all your friends, I'd definitely go for eSATA for speed.

6265

Living Room / Re: How often do you reboot your primary workstation?

« Last post by f0dder on December 09, 2007, 05:48 AM »

Doesn't unplugging PC every day shorten your Power Supply unit life?

-CleverCat (December 09, 2007, 03:48 AM)

Good question, dunno about that really... but can't see why it would induce more stress on the components than booting your computer, which gives power spikes...

6266

Living Room / Re: Tell me why I have to be a PowerSlave?

« Last post by f0dder on December 08, 2007, 06:14 PM »

Btw: for my fileserver, I go from 77W to 63W on idle if I power down the two 400gig sata drives when not needed (keeping just the system disk spinning). That's around 7W per disk... Yeah, I know, spin-up and spin-down is a lot of wear and tear, so it's not something you should do several times per day.

6267

Living Room / Re: How often do you reboot your primary workstation?

« Last post by f0dder on December 08, 2007, 06:02 PM »

Crazy indeed, I just wrote a post about it. TVs also draw power like mad, just like CRT monitors. Funny thing is that both TFTs and CRTs seem to draw power depending on the kind of image (ie, brightness and probably speed of change) - I expected that for CRTs, but not (as much) for TFTs. "Ant wars" (ie., static/snow) on a tube TV draws power like mad

6268

Living Room / Microsoft Publishes Detailed Vista SP1 Changelog

« Last post by f0dder on December 08, 2007, 05:57 PM »

Just saw this over at OSNews, thought it might interest you guys... I'll take a look at it a bit later, and decide whether Vista might deserve a go.

"Leading up to next week's public beta-test release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate, Microsoft today has published a 17-page document outlining in fine detail exactly what difference SP1 makes to Vista. Some of the contents has been shared in bits in the past, but this is so far the most comprehensive 'changelog' we've ever seen and probably will see as the final version is not expected to differ much from the RC, with the exception of WGA modifications."

-OSNews

6269

Living Room / Tell me why I have to be a PowerSlave?

« Last post by f0dder on December 08, 2007, 05:53 PM »

Okay, so I just went out and bought a power meter thingy today. You know, one of those things that plugs into a wall socket, and lets you plug other things into them. It can display current Watt consumption, as well as measure Watt consumption over time, keeping track of min/max/average...

So, here's a few stats for your amusement.

Computer specs:

[Select]

ASUS A8N SLI Premium
Antec Neo HE550EC PSU
4x512meg Corsair TWIN2X1024A-6400 memory (PC800 DDR2 RAM)
Socket 939 AMD64x2 4400+ (2.2GHz, rated 110W max)
GigaByte GV-NX76T256D-RH (passively cooled GF7600GT/256meg GDDR3)
Western Digital Raptor, 74gig, 10.000rpm SATA drive
LiteOn LH-20A1S-10C, 20x SATA DVD-RW burner
2x120mm casefans

Computer, turned off: ~6W (need to flip PSU switch to get 0W!)
Computer, standby: ~9W
Computer, on & idle: ~153W
Computer, 1 core maxed out: ~187W
Computer, 2 cores maxed out: ~203W
Locate32 indexing, ~3-7% CPU usage: ~160W

Furthermore, my WAG300N-EU combined ADSL2+ modem+router / 4 port 100mbit switch / wireless access point draws ~6.8W, and my 5-port NetGear GS105 gigabit switch draws around 6W.

I'll return later with stats on my TFT monitors

6270

SMF Forum Mods / Re: I WANT THEM!

« Last post by f0dder on December 08, 2007, 05:36 PM »

I just noticed one small bug with the My Personal Area: even though I only have two posts there, SMF thinks I have 5 pages of posts (probably means one could watch other people's MPA threads if one could guess their ID numbers?)

6271

Living Room / Re: 48 Proof Beer: On Sale Soon!

« Last post by f0dder on December 08, 2007, 05:33 PM »

Ralf apparently. In my honest opinion I couldnt care less about how high the percentage of alcohol is for its the taste that matters

-p3lb0x (December 08, 2007, 02:09 PM)

* f0dder coughs

"I can see the future! I am Muad'Dib! ...muttering lottery numbers...". Sorry

6272

Living Room / Re: World's Fastest Vista Notebook: The Apple MacBook Pro

« Last post by f0dder on December 08, 2007, 05:32 PM »

141fps in crysis? Sounds like the GPU lacks support for some of the fancier things, and a less eye-candyish shader path is chosen? Same reason some of the linux guys get insane fps, simply because the DirectX clone only has basic features

6273

Living Room / Re: How often do you reboot your primary workstation?

« Last post by f0dder on December 08, 2007, 05:27 PM »

Btw., remember to either unplug your PC, hit the wall switch, or flip the power switch on the PSU. I've just purchased a power measuring meter thing, my box draws ~6 Watts even when turned off (yes, *off*, not standby. Standby is ~9 Watts).

6274

General Software Discussion / Re: Are you testing XP SP3 RC ??

« Last post by f0dder on December 08, 2007, 05:25 PM »

Awwww, I love that movie (only #1 though, the sequels sucked).

6275

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 1 Terrabyte Western Digital Drive for $264 USD

« Last post by f0dder on December 08, 2007, 05:25 PM »

Since I only need 250GB, I was thinking about buying one of these and partitioning it into quarters, then using RAID 5.

What could possibly go wrong?

-Ralf Maximus (December 08, 2007, 11:42 AM)

Bwaha