Here’s the first tip: Good motherboards will always be hard to find. No matter how much publicity you see for a motherboard it is always best to check the net for forums that have user opinions on the boards. Be careful though some companies use SEO tactics and do shameless self promotion with their products. A good tip would be to check the forum poster’s number of posts, the higher the posts the better.

Second Tip: If you are a computer enthusiast, a good motherboard for you would be one that is fully customizable. I can’t give out any suggestions on what motherboard brands to purchase but look for one that has good warranty coverage. This is so that you can relax easy while overclocking or concocting a new super computer that can rival Google’s servers.

Third Tip: If you are not a computer enthusiast and want a motherboard that is budget wise and will last for a long time, go for Intel motherboards, not motherboards with Intel chip sets but motherboards that are manufactured by Intel. I can assure you Intel boards, with regular maintenance (anti-virus, defragmenter) can last to more than 6 years based on personal experience. This is backed up by the fact that Intel has been producing server motherboards for IBM mainframes for a long, long, long time already.

Lastly: Picking the motherboard should be the task that will take you the most time when building a system. Keep in mind that the motherboard is the glue that will bind every component of the PC and so it is very important to choose carefully. I have always noticed since computers were sold as packages at stores here in Davao, store owners will not put the motherboard brand on the package list. They usually think that the system is good to sell as long as the CPU is fast, the hard drive is spacious, the monitor has a large and clear screen, the memory is high and the video card. I always end up asking “What’s the motherboard of this package?”

* I have owned this computer since May 2005, even though I have been quite abusive to the computer such as turning off the CPU by holding the power button and even pulling the plug immediately, I still have the original installation of Windows XP running on the machine from the day I purchased the system. (”Original Install Date: 5/7/2005, 11:24:05 PM” - You can check for your installation date by executing the “systeminfo” program in the command line of Windows XP.)

PS: Lastly, the motherboard that I would not recommend you purchasing would be ASUS motherboards. Even though ASUS has good marketing, IMHO, I don’t think they produce high quality motherboards. I am saying this because I have a lot of friends who own ASUS motherboards and they always keep asking me for help on something such as unexpected restarts and BSOD which I will not be able to fix because I have traced the problem as part of the hardware. As a systems administrator, web developer and programmer I have used and fixed a lot of comptuers that run on ASUS motherboards one such example that would be easy enough is when I am updating the BIOS, I distinctly remember two units with ASUS motherboards failing the update and rebooting to the old BIOS. Another problem I have with ASUS motherboards is that when you try to check their website for drivers, most of the drivers are dated back when the motherboard was released. I would not even bother installing the auto updater that comes with the CD for the motherboard in the office because it would only be a waste of memory.

And if any ASUS motherboard fans are reading this here are two things to think about. ASUS produces about 15 to 30 new motherboards per year (this is due to the fact that they also produce motherboards for AMD) while on the other end, Intel produces about 5 to 9 new motherboards per year. Another thing, with that much marketing and publicity how much do you think they will have left for funding research and development?

Magic Jack is very easy to install in the first place. Just plug it in and then plug your phone to it. The executable should run automatically, if not open the flash drive, find it and then run it. The next part will deal with firewalls and port settings.

I used Active Ports to find out what ports MagicJack was using and it turns out that it uses a lot of UDP ports and two TCP ports. Their website specifically states that the device only uses UDP ports 5060-5070 (reference: LINK) which I found out was clearly not true. I found this out by performing calls to a random list of phone numbers (except 911 numbers ^_^). I dialed at least 40 phone numbers repeatedly. After this, I was able to conclude that MagicJack uses random UDP ports in the high range. UDP ports might seem a bit less important than TCP ports but as a Systems Administrator this will create a highly unsecured and exposed network. I was only able to achieve 100% connectivity with the 40 phone numbers after opening a range of UDP ports.

I also stumbled upon a lot of sites and forum posts that tell magic jack users to setup port forwarding, this is NOT true!

Below is the exact list of the TCP and UDP Ports that I had to open in my firewall and router (NOT port forward) to achieve 100% connectivity:

TCP Ports List: 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS)

UDP Ports List: 5060, 5070, 10000-65535

It is really strange why the device was designed like this. My guess is that the device is intended solely for home use and not commercial use.

Link to my post in RB: http://ragnaboards.levelupgames.ph/index.php?showtopic=123027&view=findpost&p=2984158

you will need to register before you can view the post.
 

There is already an official fix released for this, so just update your OpenKore to the latest version in this site:

http://openkore.collectskin.com/

All you have to do is download this file: http://openkore.collectskin.com/openkore_ready.zip and then if you’re in a hurry copy over your old configuration files to the new control folder or you could do a line by line copy, this is because the new version has some new configuration settings that might not be present in your old configuration file.

To make sure the above link is an official website and not some scam site just view this thread in the OpenKore’s official forum for their users in the Philippines:

http://darkmoon.ath.cx/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1726&start=0#p16101

A. Before setting up, try to read a little about these topics:

1. RCA Cables
2. HDTV
3. Component Cables
4. Digital Theater System
5. Surround Sound
6. TOS-LINK Cables
7. TRS Connector

A. Understanding the common setup for Home Theater Systems

Before starting the setup you need to understand that in a home theater there are only two things you can experience, the audio experience and the video experience each of which gets data from a source, and so by putting this in mind it will be easier for you to understand how to create basic setups and troubleshoot problems:
 

* Image of a Samsung HDTV connected to a personal computer running Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Video Experience Devices:
- Television / HD Televisions
- Projectors
- Computer Monitors
 

* Image of a Kenwood Amplifier

Audio Experience Devices:
- Amplifiers
- Speakers
- Subwoofers
 

* Image of a Xbox 360 and a Pioneer DVD Player

Possible Sources:
- DVD Players / Blu-ray Players / VCD Players
- Xbox 360
- PSP / PS3 / PS2
- Digital Camcorders
- Digital Cameras
- Personal Computers
- Cable TV
 

* Image of jacks behind an HDTV. I have highlighted the jacks on this picture as you can see in a an Experience device there will be usually more IN jacks.

How do these devices work together/communicate?
After knowing these, the next thing to understand would be to learn how these devices communicate with each other. These devices communicate using IN/OUT jacks. No matter how complex the jack may look like (RCA,TOSLINK,DVI,HDMI) or how many there are (RED,WHITE) they only can only do one action. IN jacks receive data/video/audio signals from other devices while OUT jacks send data/video/audio signals to another device. Like the principle of north and south poles of a magnet they need to bind together.
 
 
Now that you have read about the basics on the next page I will be showing some examples and jack scenarios on basic Audio and Video Experience connections for home theaters. Don’t like HTPC? I will also include a scenario wherein your PC will be used as a source. ^_^
 
On to Page 2!

 
The Beer Festival event will be held on from August 1 to August 28 2008. There will be different booths and different stores out there and just like any other San Miguel event it will be loads of fun and entertainment during the Kadayawan festivities
 
Visit us there and you’ll be sure to have a taste of Davao at that event!!
 
 
 

 

 
————————————-
Yes, I do believe but regarding religion:

 
“I have nothing against any form of religion, all I see in this world are two types of people, the good and the bad.” - M o u s h i g o
————————————-

 
It’s a cruel fact that religion can cause drastic changes to a person’s view in life. It is also too common to see people looking and finding religion in good and sometimes weird ways. I say pick one and be good! ^_^

As I found out I was exerting force towards the center of the cap while trying to twist it around. For bigger hands this is a problem because you will be exerting more force in compressing the cap rather than twisting it >_<. It seems I have found the answer why smaller hands do better in opening bottles, such as soda and ketchup.

I sat down and looked at the bottle for a few minutes. Can this be solved without googling it? Woooot! I was able to solve it, take a look at the image below, hehe. To be able to open the bottle it would be better to apply two twists on it, one at the cap and a counter-acting one at its body. What this does is you will be able to multiply the effort in trying to open the bottle. I also thought that it kind of heats up the inside of the bottle which should expand it a little bit. Also shaking the bottle might do so but I do not think that it helps out a lot c(”,)

+1 Post! lol

I’m posting a funny video from YouTube uploaded by machinima.com. It is all about the topic. It is been quite a while since I won my Xbox 360 in a Microsoft event. I have not been playing many games on it but rather using it as a Media Center playing DivX movies, FLAC format Audio Files and Photos directly streamed from my PC using Tversity and has proven to be quite too useful almost as if it were a personal computer. I have always been an avid fan of Sony’s Playstation console but somehow I just think they overdid it with the (PS3) Playstation 3. c(”,)

One thing bothers me with the PS3, the Blue Ray Disc. If you ask me, 40 gigabytes of disc space, especially in games, will always amount to lag. Unlike hard disk drives, removable discs are not mounted well enough to achieve high speeds and as it turns out I was right. The video posted below shows why this is so. It would have been better if they separated the Blue Ray Drive just like the Xbox 360 to reduce the cost of the console. A blank Blue Ray Disc would cost 1,000 Php ($25.00) here, how much more the games? They should have just placed the games in the DVD9 format. It looks as though they were trying to market it as a media console and not as a gaming console. Hopefully the price will go down throughout the year. You could save up to buy the console and you will save again for the games. In my humble opinion, if you would really really want to buy one, it would be better to get one that is second hand.

Summarizing this, To Sony, the Playstation consoles should always purely be for gaming! Put funds into the games you offer not into the console! This is the basic reason why the Playstation 2 and Playstation 1 were such great consoles. Have fun watching the video! c(”,)

a solo picture of solo

He might be small but he will grow bigger! His father Tasso can stand up and reach your shoulders with his paws!

Solo was born an only pup, and during his birth his mom had a difficult time, so in order to speed up the process she tagged on his tail and pulled. A portion (at least 1/5 of the total length) of his tail got cut off due to this. It looked bad from the start but in any other case it might be a sign that this dog is something else! c(”,) Hopefully it will grow back since he is still a puppy. I only have experienced taking care of one GSD (German Shepherd Dog) and I really don’t know that much about caring for for them but…

our other two dogs, goku (black daschund) and lara (GSD), seems to me they were talking about who gets to poop where

Here are some of my self learned GSD caring tips:

1.) German Shepherds can have layers and layers of dead or dull hair as I found out one day when it clogged the drain >_<. So whhen giving your GSD a bath make sure to scrub the fur with your fingers and not with your palm or a plastic bristle brush, this removes a lot of shedding hair plus you will know if your GSD has ticks. Scrub his fur also when rinsing it. Doing this will give your dog a very shiny coat after the bath. I have learned this through weeks and weeks of giving our GSD a bath.

2.) Thoroughly dry out the fur after the bath and do not let the wind dry it out, doing this slows down the time it takes for him to take another bath. Dogs have a lot of body heat and I think this dries up any moisture in their skin, since they do not have sweat glands a lot of stuff stays there, and that I think this causes stink that is really bad sometimes.

3.) Be comfortable and do not be afraid with your dog biting your hands or fingers, I think it is how they play. But before you do this, make sure your hands are clean so that it will not have the smell of food on. I have played with our GSD using my my index and middle finger, pulling back the upper and lower fangs. German Shepherd dogs are extremely smart, they know when to stop. c(”,)

4.) When there is a stray cat around your home, let your GSD go and let him have some fun! lol c(”,)

Teamspeak Installation:

1.) Download the file named TeamSpeak 2 Client here. The file is about 5mb in size.

2.) Install the program, it is very easy, just click next until the program is installed.

3.) Done!

Teamspeak Test:

1.) Make sure your headset and microphone are properly connected to the rear of you computer, the green jack(speakers/headphones) should be plugged in the green socket and the pink jack(microphone) should be plugged in the pink socket.

2.) Open Teamspeak and click "Settings" and then click "Sound Input/Output Settings". You should see this window below:

There are two settings here:

a.) The first one is just a Volume slider that increases or decreases the speaker volume, I did not highlight this in the image.

b.) The second one, Voice Send Method has two options, "Push to Talk" and "Voice Activation". Push to talk means that to be able to send your voice message you need to press a key in the keyboard, this key can be assigned using the Set button and reset by the Clear button. Voice Activation on the other hand does not need a keypress but rather the sound and volume of your voice, there is a slider below this that sets how easily the system will detect the volume of your voice. Whisper detects the faintest of sounds, this is not recommended when you are using a speaker because it will cause a lot of feedback. Move the slider to the right until you get the mix just right. Don’t put it in Shout though because you will really need to yell just for the system to detect your voice.

3.) The last thing to do would be to will be to test the setup, in the Local Test section, click "Activate local test mode". This will allow you to test your microphone. Try speaking into the microphone, if the setup was a success you should hear your voice from the speakers. The Test Codec option specifies the sound quality, the higher the Kbit the better the sound will be.

Troubleshooting:

I have not encountered a lot of problems with installing or using Teamspeak so far but these by far are the most common:

1.) Cannot use the microphone will using the front panel jacks of the computer. The best solution I have for this would be to disable the front panel detection. This commonly applies to Realtek sound boards. To do this:

a.) Open the control panel for the Realtek sound card and look for the Audio IO window. Click the Connector Settings button:

b.) In the Connector Settings window make sure "Disable front panel jack detection" is checked.