Teknodikshən

2015-09-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

201509112330

Just started with the Android SDK, and after having decided to start (again to the nth power) with attempting to learn the system, got stuck up to the third step on this page. So I decided to try the built-in emulators,and recieved the following:

"emulator: ERROR: X86 emulation currently requires hardware acceleration!
Please ensure Intel HAXM is properly installed and usable.
CPU acceleration status: HAX kernel module is not installed!"

.....I have an AMD CPU.

...solutions vary on a case by case basis, and I just started googling and am presently going through Stackexchange, so, in my case, once discovered, will be published below....

Smart Bro Gadget Plus Plans Netbooks

2015-05-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

201505202258

If you're looking for a netbook or a laptop with basic features, and you do not seem to have the cash on hand, you may be able to get one through Smart's Gadget Plus Plans. Looking through the options, the lowest Smart Bro Plan which includes a laptop is Plan 699, which offers the 11" HP Stream netbook.

At a glance, in combination with various other items such as printers, tablets, pocket wifi devices, and smartphones, Smart offers the following netbooks (though on the site, they are all categorized under Laptop rather than Netbook, the largest so far have screens which are approximately only 11" diagonally):

Acer Aspire V11
Asus X200MA
HP Stream
Acer C720 Chromebook
Asus Transformer
Acer Aspire Switch 10

The lowest, of course, is Plan 699 with HP Stream netbook featuring the following:

11.6" HD Display with SIM slot
2GB RAM
1TB Microsoft OneDrive and Office 365 Personal subscription good for one year
HP TrueVision HD Webcam 3
Dual core Intel Celeron CPU
750MB+ All Month Surf; or 2.25GB Pure Volume+Bill Protect
It also says it has an OTF of 11,000pesos (what is an OTF?)

201505202318

Country List for Databases and other Apps

2015-02-08T17:16:00.001-08:00

201502090912

I was looking for a list of countries for a database project, and this blog page by Pierre-luc Sousy (http://blog.plsoucy.com/2012/04/iso-3166-country-code-list-csv-sql) has it all, and is what I decided to use. Thank you very much, Mr. Sousy!

Windows 7 Security Object (Folder & File) Ownership Problems

2014-10-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

There are many reasons why permissions could go awry. A few examples are:

You may have inherited an old drive and installed it in a new system with a new operating system.
A program may have changed the security permissions.
You may have messed around with the Security tab of an object's Properties.

If you have ever been unable to access files in a drive, partition, or folder in Windows 7, then this may just be the answer to your problem. The following information was obtained from Microsoft Technet.

Open a command line, preferably with administrator privileges:

Tap Windows Key.
Type cmd - an icon with a command prompt image named cmd.exe will appear.
Right-Click the cmd.exe icon.
Click Run as Administrator.

The command we will be using is takeown (specifically takeown.exe).

Type takeown /? in order to see the usage of takeown.exe and examples of its use.
In my case, takeown /f h: /r /a, which means to change ownership (takeown) of all the files in drive h (/f h:) and its subdirectories (/r), and provide administrator accounts owner access (/a).

This will allow all accounts with Administrator privileges full Owner access to access the files in the drive or folder and its subfolders.

Cheapest Desktop PC Builds in the Philippines as of August 14, 2014

2014-08-14T06:45:00.004-07:00

In the Philippnies, computers have become more affordable these days as compared to the 90s and early 2000s. You can save a lot more if you take the time to source the individual components yourself rather than buying, for example, a branded PC such as one from Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, etc., or even a pre-assembled whitebox personal computer (or generic PC, since most PCs these days are no longer white or even the more common beige chasses of the 90s).

There are several computer stores - both brick-and-mortar and online which sell computer hardware, and at present, for those of you looking to build your own desktops, the most affordable choices are from AMD, but if you can spare the cash, Intel products seem to have better than average performance. It comes at quite a cost, though.

However, my focus here is on affordability, and for most computer users, particularly non-gamers and light and casual gamers, I hope the following will suffice...

The components you require to assemble a basic system consists of:

Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Power Supply with all the necessary cords, wires, and cables
Chassis - ATX, micro-ATX - whichever you prefer - also depends on your motherboard

But these combined are still useless, and will only cause an increase in your electricity bill, so in order to justify our consumption of electricity, and for the system to actually be usable as per the expectations of most ordinary people, you will also need:

Hard Disk Drive
DVD-RW Drive
Mouse
Keyboard

To decrease the possibility of the early demise of your system, it would also be ideal to have the following:

Uninterruptible Power Supply
Power Surge Protector with Multiple Sockets

On to main subject of this post: (One of) [T]he cheapest builds you can get in the Philippines as of August 14, 2014:

The CPU and Motherboard are expected to match each other - one will not function if the other is not designed to be compatible with it. CPU/Motherboard formats recommended as of August 14, 2014:

For AMD AM3/AM3+:

CPU: AMD Sempron 145 2.80GHz > P1,650
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2 > P2,050

Subtotal for AMD AM3/AM3+ CPU and Motherboard: P3,700

For AMD FM2/FM2+:

CPU: AMD Richland A4 4020 3.20-3.40GHz, HD7480d Dual Core > 1850
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A58M-HD+ OR Gigabyte GA-F2A58M-DS2 > both retailing for P2,300

Subtotal for AMD FM2/FM2+ CPU and Motherboard: P4,150

For Intel: LGA1150 - look for the word Haswell, which succeeds the previous generation's LGA1155 format (LGA2011 is simply too expensive compared to AMD FM2/FM2+):

CPU: Intel Celeron G1840 2.80GHz (Dual Core) Haswell Refresh Processor > P1,970
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-DS2 > P2,695

Subtotal for Intel LGA1150 CPU and Motherboard: P4,665

Now for the rest of the components which will make your PC usable:

RAM: Team Elite 4GB DDR3 1333 LODIMM RAM > P1800

Any brand will do - as long as it'sat least 4GB. Anything less, and your system will eventually crawl - even 4GB is sometimes not enough, particularly when the applications you install have automatically boot with Windows and even Linux, and they not only just start up along with Windows - they even reside in RAM - usually for the whole time your systems is on... So, the more RAM, the better - you can never have enough.

PSU: Fortress 700W PSU > P590 (I recommended the cheapest, but usually it would be better if you get a better-known brand - usually, the heavier the PSU, the better. The HEC Cougar SL400 400W PSU sells here for 1,570 - that's the lowest-priced of all the reliable PSU brands in the Philippines)
Chassis: Coolermaster LAN Case 240 > P1050
Hard Disk Drive: Samsung ST500DM005 500GB 16MB SATA > P2160
DVD-RW Drive: HP 1265i 24X Multiformat DVD Writer > P850
Mouse: A4Tech OP-720 Optical Mouse > P180
Keyboard: A4Tech KBS-720A PS/2 keyboard > P300
Uninterruptible Power Supply: Intex IT-600V 600VA > P1,450
Power Surge Protector with Multiple Sockets: Huntkey SZM304 4 Surge Protector 3 socket 1.5meters > P295
Monitor: AOC E1670SWU 15.6" WLED Monitor > P2,750
Speakers: Intex IT-301 2.0 > P190 (as with the PSU, the speakers would be better if from a well-known brand - in this case, the Logitech S150 2.0 Digital USB Speaker System sells for P340)
Headset (highly recommended, especially if there are others with you where you will be using the computer in order to avoid disturbing them): Generic Headsets sell for around P150. A reliable brand would be the A4Tech HS-5P Internet Headset, but for P320, you can get the A4Tech HS-7P, which has good surround sound and base, and if you prefer a lighter one, the Sennheiser MX 80 Earphone will be your best bet for P380.

The subtotal: P13,065

Add to this the CPU/Board combos, and you get the following prices for each complete system, 'complete' being relative depending on what you expect from a complete system, but this is as basic as it gets except for the speakers and PSU, which are a little more expensive than their generic counterparts, but still worth it since this should be considered a relatively long term investment:

AM3/AM3+: P16,765 - this is probably going to be eventually replaced by the FM2s, depending on demand, but they're still a bit cheaper.
FM2/FM2+: P17,215 - has the best integrated graphics options - good for the casual gamers and movie buffs.
LGA1150: P17,730 - good upgrade path to Core i Series CPUs

Hmmm...... OK, so they're more expensive than most netbooks with pre-installed original operating systems, and almost the same price as a few Core i3 notebooks with original operating systems , but desktops are upgradable, and in case you eventually decide to become a hardcore gamer, you have less expensive upgrade options.

Then add the operating system of your choice. Linux is free, though Windows is mainstream when it comes to the sheer number of dependents.

Port 443 in use... Apache WILL NOT START...

2014-06-21T06:07:00.001-07:00

If you've ever encountered this error while using XAMPP, it usually means that port 443, which is the default port Apache uses, has been reserved for use by other applications. Typical applications include Skype and VMWare. To get around this issue, change the port apache listens to - for example, instead of 443 make it 4433:

Click the Config button on the XAMPP Control Panel
Click Apache (httpd-ssl.conf)
By default, in Windows systems, httpd-ssl.conf will open in Notepad. Search for 443 and change it ta a value of your choice.

Android Applications Development... Failed to execute tools\android.bat: Access is denied

2014-04-15T08:52:00.001-07:00

201404152345

Been recently inspired to once more (after countless postponements) try my hand at Android development. Installed the Eclipse IDE (the Galileo version as recommended by the guide [Sam's Teach Yourself Android Application Development in 24 Hours] I am presently referring to). After having installed the SDK and trying to go through with the installation, I get the following error:

Failed to execute tools\android.bat: Access is denied

Been going at it for hours. I've attempted to run the android.bat file as Administrator, and I've tried changing folder permissions to "Everyone". Then finally decided to check the web, and apparently it's a Java version issue. Gonna try installing one of the JDK7 versions I have first, then JDKs...

2349

Mobile Internet Technologies - GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, HSPA+, 4G LTE

2014-02-13T05:39:00.002-08:00

Maximum Theoretical Speeds of Mobile Internet Technologies:

GPRS (2G - 2nd Generation) - General Packet Radio Service - 114Kbps
EDGE (2G - 2nd Generation) - Enhanced Data GSM Evolution - 384Kbps
3G (3rd Generation) - 3.1Mbps
HSDPA (3.5G) - High-Speed Downlink Packet Access - 14Mbps
HSPA+ (Evolved High-Speed Packet Access) - 168Mbps
4G LTE (4th Generation Long Term Evolution) - 299.6Mbps

201402132139

References:

http://www.clove.co.uk/viewtechnicalinformation.aspx?content=3B2BD491-6465-4C70-ABDB-5A12A06C3D8D

http://www.nairaland.com/1096698/differences-between-gprs-edge-3g

2013-11-10T03:49:00.000-08:00

201311101948

Been looking for a way to download APKs straight from Google Play because I've been having issues with my Android phone... found one method... going to try it out:

http://forums.crackberry.com/bb10-android-app-sideloading-f279/tutorial-how-download-apk-file-google-play-store-820107/

Other T

2013-07-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

201307151128

Piperazine - sold in San Joaquin under the brand name Pidro.
Levamisole - sold in San Joaquin under the brand name Latigo.

Reset Windows 7 Security Permissions using Acces Control Lists

2013-05-01T03:23:00.001-07:00

201305011821

Messed up my security permissions on my C: drive... found this:
http://lallousx86.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/resetting-ntfs-files-security-and-permission-in-windows-7/

Doesn't work as expected, perhaps because I reset the system drive after having been carried away trying to secure my files from deletion, afterwhich they were unviewable, AFTERWHICH I tried to reset the permissions, which is why I end up where I am now... more to come...

New Worm on the Loose in Iloilo... 2013

2013-04-01T23:17:00.001-07:00

201304021414

There's a new Windows malware spreading around in computers in Iloilo. I don't know the extent, but here in San Joaquin, it's becoming more prevalent, which is another reason to use genuine operating systems and software, AND to have a non-administrative account - or better yet - a guest account, which is the lowest level and most secure Windows account, as the default account - for any Windows installation.

The infected host PC copies the malware into a removable drive and moves folders and files in the root of a removable into a folder with a drive icon and hides the folder. It also creates a shortcut to the new folder on the root of the folder, and adds a file named ~WYDCNU.FAT32 to the root of the drive. I don't know the exact order and the other things the worm does, but like many other worm varieties which hide folders and files, once the removable drive is inserted into a clean Windows PC using an administrative account, the program is copied into at least one folder which is in the %SYSTEM% path, or some similar folder so that subsequent uninfected portable drives plugged into the new system will catch the worm and go on to infect some other poor hapless chap's clean PC... and it goes on and on.

It's been identified by Avira as 'WORM/Gamarue.nouem'... my apologies it's not cropped. I'm lazy right now....

It's been identified by Avira as 'WORM/Gamarue.nouem'... my apologies it's not cropped. I'm lazy right now....

Recommendations to remove this virus from your computer would be a clean installation.

After a clean installation, or if it is certain that the computer is not infected, in order to prevent the likelihood of an infection, or at least minimize the chances:

Create a guest account

Press Windows orb
Type cmd
Type control userpasswords 2
Check Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
Click Add...
Click Next...
Type a password
Select Other option button
Click Guest
Click Finish

If there are several users sharing the use of the computer, make this new guest account default

Return to the command line
Type control userpasswords2
Check Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer if it is not checked
Click on the designated Guest account under Users for this computer
Uncheck Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer
Click OK or Apply
Type the password you assigned to the Guest user
Click OK
Whenever the computer boots, it will automatically log in to this account.

Here are more details about the virus at PCThreat (http://www.pcthreat.com/parasitebyid-20702en.html), including how to remove it if you don't wish to perform a clean install

\

201304021419

Use Non-Samsung-Branded USB WiFi Dongle on Samsung LA32D550 LED TV

2013-03-17T09:14:00.002-07:00

201303180010

I've been looking for a way to use my 'generic' CD-R King-branded WiFi dongle as a substitute for an official Samsung USB WiFi dongle. Just discovered that there's the possibility that it just might work. Instructions are on this link: http://www.arjunprabhu.com/blog/archives/2011/10/19/non-samsung-usb-wlan-wireless-adapters-on-samsung-tv-how-to/

I checked using the AIDA64 program, and it's confirmed that the CD-R King dongle uses a Ralink chipset. Now the only problem I'd have to contend with is whether or not the chipset in my WiFi dongle has an RT2870 chipset in it - which is the chipset that is used on my Samsung LA32D550 TV.

0014

Smart Philippines 5 Pesos SMS credit

2013-03-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

201303122251

Borrow 5 SMSs from Smart - Dial *7572 and it will be sent to you. 5 pesos will be deducted from your next top-up.

201303122251

Enable Mouse to work as Lightgun in MAME

2013-02-27T07:07:00.000-08:00

201302271249

If you're a big video game fan, chances are, you've tried MAME (unless you haven't heard of it...). MAME is an acronym for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. I've been trying to set up my installation to work with a mouse - worked a few years ago, but I've been on a lull, and have only recently started trying out some of the thousands of classic games available out there.

Anyway, if you haven't installed MAME yet, grab a copy from http://www.mamedev.org. Once you've extracted the file to a folder of your choice, right-click somewhere in the folder window (except for the folders and files being displayed) to open a context menu, mouse over to New, then click on Text Document. Type a name, such as StartMAME.txt, then open this file. After opening it, type cmd into the document, then save and close or close and click Yes when you are prompted to save the document.

After this, in Windows Explorer in the same folder, rename the file StartMAME.txt to a file with a .bat extension (right-click StartMAME.txt, press End key, press the period key (.), type bat. If the file's icon is still a notepad icon, click Tools on the top Menu (press Alt if there is no menu) > Folder Options > View > scroll to and uncheck Hide extensions for known file types.

Next, double-click StartMAME.txt.bat, then type mame --cc to create a configuration file, which is mame.ini. Now open mame.ini, and press Ctrl+F, then type mouse. This will be under the #CORE INPUT OPTIONS heading. Change the value from 0 to 1, and voila! Your PC mouse can now be used to move the cursor in lightgun-type games such as Terminator II: The Arcade Game, and Alien III: The Gun, and a host of others!

201302272306

Verbatim HD DVR

2012-11-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

201211160003

I formatted my 2TB drive on my Verbatime HD DVR a few weeks ago, and earlier - late last night, since it's November 16, 2012, 00:03 GMT +8 right now, I formatted my old 1TB Samsung drive in the DVR. It's been getting S.M.A.R.T. Errors, so I decided to replace it with my newer 2TB drive, and relegate the 1TB drive to the DVR. So the 2TB drive is now in the computer and the 1TB will be for my DVR for storing movies and music and for recording TV programs.

The Verbatim HD DVR formats the drive like this, though I don't know in which order it does it:

The first partition ("partition1"), takes up most of the drive space, and the size depends on the size of the hard disk drive.
The second partition is 157MB.
The third partition is 16.03GB - this might be for the time buffer - you can set it from 1 hour to 4 hours.
The fourth is 315MB of unallocated space.

Hope for more tests in the coming months and updates in the coming months.

SpeedTest.Net Results - After Fresh Install of Windows XP Pro (32-bit)

2012-07-23T08:07:00.001-07:00

201207232302 My SpeedTest.Net result after a fresh install of Windows XP Pro: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2079511875.png ...and after a second test: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2079514780.png I think it's good enough for very basic, albeit stuttery streaming on http://www.livestream.com Will try i later. Have to install Windows 7 64-bit now... 201207232306

Broadband Dilemma

2012-06-11T05:05:00.002-07:00

Bought a Globe Tattoo 4G device today - a Huawei e357... Here's the first speedtest.net result - a LOT faster than my Motorola Canopy-powered SmartBro Postpaid subscription, which maxes out at around 1Mbps:
It's still a far cry from the claimed maximum 7.2Mbps, but then again, according to scans I took using my SmartBro prepaid software and SmartBro USB dongle (a Huawei e156c), only 3G is available here in San Joaquin, Iloilo. And only Globe has that - Smart and Sun haven't upgraded theirs in our area. Oh, well, at least we're no longer truly underserved when it comes to broadband. I lent my SmartBro device to Jocedel and Claudine, Neneng Aileen's cousins. So I had to buy this one because on Friday, June 8, 2012, one of Smart's Customer service reps told me that Ssmart's technicians' schedule for our area here in San Joaquin is Saturday, and there I was hoping that they'll be sending their technical team on Saturday - the day after I called - June 9 2012, but unfortunately, according to the CSR, there was no available timeslot for me, so the nearest would be Saturday, June 16, 2012. WTF??? Are they so pre-occupied that they can't even reduce my internet downtime?that And does that mean that I'll be getting a discount for each day I don't have my SmartBro connection? There are 30 days in June, so 999 divide by 30 would result in 33.30 pesos per day, which would mean that including Friday, June 8, 2012 until Saturday, June 16, 2012, I should have 9 days' discount - which would amount to 299.70 pesos... hmm... I've lost thousands of pesos in the past because I didn't even bother to attempt demanding a discount for every day that my SmartBro postpaid was out of service. Time to take a stand... I'm calling *1888... I just wish the CSRs would take these kinds of problems up with management. Having been in the call centre industry for a while, I know a little about how things work there - too much partitioning of information. This is the speed with my torrent client running.

Diablo III Open Beta

2012-04-20T08:25:00.001-07:00

201204202318

Well, I finally get a shot at the Diablo III Beta as Blizzard has opened it up.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/4963739/Diablo%C2%AE_III_Open_Beta_Weekend-4_19_2012#blog

Thanks Blizzard... now if only Blizzard will allow manual changing of regions, everything's going to be all set... because as things stand at the moment, it's 90 Singaporean Dollars!!! And when that's compared to the US version at 59.99 US Dollars, that would make it around 500 Philippine Pesos - which is about 3-4 Kg worth of fresh Tuna...

Problem is, the Diablo III Open Beta is only good for this weekend from April 20 to April 23 - and I'm still up to about 80% downloading the Client Downloader... and after that, I still have several (3-6 maybe???) gigabytes worth of the Client to download.... -_-

Default Windows 7 Permissions for a Newly-Formatted Drive

2012-03-12T22:07:00.003-07:00

201203131148

Windows

How to delete the Windows.old and Other Generally Non-deletable Folders in Windows 7

2012-02-29T19:30:00.000-08:00

2012/03/01.11:26
March 1, 2012, 11:26

In order to delete folders from Windows 7, particularly old/archived system folders, the following instructions might work. once the first command is completed (takeown /f), first check the folders for files you may need.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930527/en-us

To delete the Windows.old folder from an earlier installation of Windows, follow these steps:

Click Start, type disk cleanup in the Start Search text box, and then click Disk Cleanup.
In the Disk Cleanup Options dialog box, click Files from all users on this computer.
In the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
Click to select the Previous Windows installation(s) check box, and then click OK.

Advanced users can also use a command prompt to delete files and folders from an earlier installation of Windows Vista. To do this, follow these steps:

Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
In the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
At the command prompt, type takeown /F <DriveLetter>:\<FolderName>\* /R /A, and then press ENTER.

Note When you run this command, you are granted ownership of the administrator group for the folder, of all the subdirectories in the folder, and of all the files in the folder.
At the command prompt, type cacls <DriveLetter>:\<FolderName>\*.* /T /grant administrators:F, and then press ENTER.

Note When you run this command, administrators are granted full rights to all files and to all folders.
At the command prompt, type rmdir /S /Q <DriveLetter>:\<FolderName>\, and then press ENTER.

Note When you run this command, all subfolders and all files in the specified folder are deleted. Additionally, the specified folder itself is deleted.

Textwise User Guide

2011-04-21T00:24:00.000-07:00

21 April, 2011 15:05

Textwise no longer supplies reading material for their cards. For those who are unaware, Textwise allows people WITHIN the Philippines to send text messages to others OUTSIDE the Philippines for 5 pesos, in addition to the 2.50 charge by the various Philippine carriers (it's 2.50 for Smart - I forgot how much Globe charges, and I don't know about Sun either). Smart's standard charge for an international outbound SMS is 15 pesos, so it's obvious that you'll save quite a lot in the long run.

Anyway, first thing you do would be to buy a Textwise card - usually available in retail outlets. Here in Iloilo, though, I've only been able to find it at SM Delgado and SM City Mandurriao. They may be available at other malls and mobile-phone-accessories-and-stuff-selling stores.

After buying the card, follow the instructions at the back. The instructions include registering a phone number - you're allowed a maximum of 5. This is in order for you to key in the registered name of the recipient when sending a message rather than keying in the international phone number.

The examples below are for users of Smart's network. The methods are the same, and only difference is the Textwise Administration Number the message is sent to (in this case, for Smart users, the number is 378)

To register a recipient's number:

Key in REG [NAME] [InternationalPhoneNumber] and send to 378 > For example: REG TalRasha +18283726402

To send a message:

Key in [RegisteredName] [Message], and send to 378
OR Key in [InternationalPhoneNumber] [Message], and send to 378

To check your registered recipients:

Send LIST to 378

To change your registered recipients or their numbers:

Send REPLACE ExistingName NewInternationalNumber to 378

To delete a registered name:

Send ERASE Name to 378

This will be updated later... have things to do...

15:24

Time...

2011-01-17T07:24:00.000-08:00

201101172322

The way time is written in the Philippines should be changed from MM/DD/YY to YYYY/MM/DD - order-of-magnitude. Going from month down to date and back up to year is just illogical. Hence this blogger's method of writing it....

201101172323

SmartBro Motorola Canopy Vs. Globe Huawei WiMax

2010-11-23T15:20:00.000-08:00

201011240715

I tested the bandwidths for my SmartBro Motorola Canopy and Globe Huawei WiMax connections this morning, and here the the results:

MIDI

2010-10-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

201010142242

I tried to open/play a MIDI file on Firefox using VLC today. I got the following message:

MIDI synthesis not set up:
A sound font file (.SF2) is required for MIDI synthesis.
Please install a sound font and configure it from the VLC preferences (Codecs / Audio / FluidSynth).

No suitable decoder module:
VLC does not support the audio or video format "MIDI". Unfortunately there is no way for you to fix this.

...I Googled VLC Soundfont, and clicked on this link, which led me to the VideoLAN Wiki, which led me to the 30MB FluidSynth here and to S. Christian Collins' site here.

...all that so I could listen to Almaz... and I just remembered to try using Windows Media Player 9, which, naturally, played the file without any glitches... well duh!! (o_O)

201010142313