Background: This is my wife's laptop, which she loves, and the LCD was cracked after my 2yo son hit the back of the screen with his foot as he was rolling around on the couch (where my wife was working on it) :(
How we fixed a broken LCD on a macbook: Needless to say, when this happened both of us were very disappointed! Our first thoughts were, "How much will this cost?" and "Is it better to just buy a new laptop?" and my wife even thought, "Maybe I spend too much time with it and should not even get another one or fix it." After spending a few days using my laptop as a bandaid, she quickly decided she wanted her mac back!
Choice #1: Fix or buy new?
Choice #2: Send in to Apple, 3rd vendor, or fix ourselves?
Choice #3: Whose advice to follow?
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Coby 1gb clip mp3 player
I just saw this for sale. It costs $25 and seems to be a good deal. My problem...I don't know if it plays ogg files as most of my cd collection is in ogg/vorbis format.
Does anyone know if it will play ogg files? Here is the link to its Coby product website.
I may end up buying one and testing it, then give it either a good (plays free codecs) or bad review.
Does anyone know if it will play ogg files? Here is the link to its Coby product website.
I may end up buying one and testing it, then give it either a good (plays free codecs) or bad review.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Gentoo on an Everex Cloudbook
The title says what I want to do when I get mine. Until then, I will attempt to determine the ideal use flags and will begin to compile a system on my desktop.
Why Gentoo when the gOS is so good? Because I think I can and it sounds like fun :)
I plan to compile everything just for my machine (all cloudbooks) and hopefully will be fast. I will use either fluxbox or E17 for the windowmanager (though XFCE/Compiz should work fine with 512mb ram).
I want to set up a fine graphical setup, but capitalize on the "geeky" side of Linux and make use of commandline programs. That will be fun in coffee shops when people look over my shoulder! Programs I have in mind are: MOC (music on console), aria2 download utility, calcurse (console calendar/todo list), Finch (the text based version of pidgin), and mplayer with aalib for videos in ascii (also fun at coffee shops :) ), and of course several custom bash scripts to print out certain data.
Maybe someone has suggestions for what else would be fun/geeky to do with this umpc (another good reason to be using Gentoo). Also, I will be needing help for the use flags, and other compiling issues. All suggestions are welcome.
Why Gentoo when the gOS is so good? Because I think I can and it sounds like fun :)
I plan to compile everything just for my machine (all cloudbooks) and hopefully will be fast. I will use either fluxbox or E17 for the windowmanager (though XFCE/Compiz should work fine with 512mb ram).
I want to set up a fine graphical setup, but capitalize on the "geeky" side of Linux and make use of commandline programs. That will be fun in coffee shops when people look over my shoulder! Programs I have in mind are: MOC (music on console), aria2 download utility, calcurse (console calendar/todo list), Finch (the text based version of pidgin), and mplayer with aalib for videos in ascii (also fun at coffee shops :) ), and of course several custom bash scripts to print out certain data.
Maybe someone has suggestions for what else would be fun/geeky to do with this umpc (another good reason to be using Gentoo). Also, I will be needing help for the use flags, and other compiling issues. All suggestions are welcome.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Macbook Powercord meltdown
Just wanted to put in a good word about Apple. Not too long ago, my wife's macbook powercord melted about 1cm from where it plugs into the laptop.
She was quite distressed by this and I was surprised by the prevalence of this after a quick search on the topic. It seems that various people have had all sorts of experiences regarding how they were treated by Apple.
I did not have high hopes, but then my wife called Apple, talked to a representative, explained what happened and what the cord looked like. A manager reassured her and then sent us a new powercord that arrived in 2 days!
We sent the old one in, and are now even more pleased to be part of the "Mac Culture."
She was quite distressed by this and I was surprised by the prevalence of this after a quick search on the topic. It seems that various people have had all sorts of experiences regarding how they were treated by Apple.
I did not have high hopes, but then my wife called Apple, talked to a representative, explained what happened and what the cord looked like. A manager reassured her and then sent us a new powercord that arrived in 2 days!
We sent the old one in, and are now even more pleased to be part of the "Mac Culture."
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Anyone else excited about the Cloudbook???
I have been wanting an ASUS EEE for quite some time now but even with its low price of ~$400, I have not been able to afford it. I had been saving and hoped to have $400 for it soon...but now a new cloud has arisen :) (and for the same price)
Have you seen the Everex Cloudbook? This is another 7in screen, 2 lbs, ultra mobile laptop to be hitting the market soon (as in 25 Jan 2008 soon)!!! I still won't be able to buy one yet, but I already have ideas as to what to do with it.
First, let me state I like the hardware specs better such as 30gb hard-drive vs 4gb flash. Second, while I like ASUS as a company, Everex has seemed to recently be much more supportive of opensource personalities who might want to open up their hardware and "tinker" with it - ASUS placed a "void warranty" sticker on their boxes.
I am hoping that sites will pop up like eeeuser.com for the cloudbook. I am hoping to make this my #2 computer (a high priority for me) and so have some other operating system ideas in mind. Of course people will be putting Ubuntu on it - but I am wanting to take advantage of consistent hardware and develop a Gentoo base that can be "ghosted" onto it, from which individual software can be compiled. Maybe several images - one with Enlightenment (like the gOS has), fluxbox, commandline only, xfce with compiz, or ever the mezzo desktop. What kind of interest is there? I see no Google results for this kind of stuff yet.
Like I said, I can't wait to have one. I have more ideas, but no forum or wiki to share them. Anyone else have ideas or even want one?
--MR
See: http://www.everex.com/
Have you seen the Everex Cloudbook? This is another 7in screen, 2 lbs, ultra mobile laptop to be hitting the market soon (as in 25 Jan 2008 soon)!!! I still won't be able to buy one yet, but I already have ideas as to what to do with it.
First, let me state I like the hardware specs better such as 30gb hard-drive vs 4gb flash. Second, while I like ASUS as a company, Everex has seemed to recently be much more supportive of opensource personalities who might want to open up their hardware and "tinker" with it - ASUS placed a "void warranty" sticker on their boxes.
I am hoping that sites will pop up like eeeuser.com for the cloudbook. I am hoping to make this my #2 computer (a high priority for me) and so have some other operating system ideas in mind. Of course people will be putting Ubuntu on it - but I am wanting to take advantage of consistent hardware and develop a Gentoo base that can be "ghosted" onto it, from which individual software can be compiled. Maybe several images - one with Enlightenment (like the gOS has), fluxbox, commandline only, xfce with compiz, or ever the mezzo desktop. What kind of interest is there? I see no Google results for this kind of stuff yet.
Like I said, I can't wait to have one. I have more ideas, but no forum or wiki to share them. Anyone else have ideas or even want one?
--MR
See: http://www.everex.com/
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