Musings for the future

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Was chatting to a friend earlier this evening and realised that I have a bunch of private “projects” I want to do. This website was certainly one of them, so I figured I’d add another page to the site with a list of “current projects” and update them periodically. I think making a list of them will also be helpful to me. Firstly so that I don’t forget about them and secondly so I can cross them off a list and feel like I’ve accomplished something :D

Well, as far as today is concerned, got myself another early Christmas present, a Logitech X-230 2.1 channel sound system I picked up second hand. Very nice, and a huge upgrade on my Genius stereo speakers which are probably close to 10 years old, they’ve done me well though. My other present was a Samsung 2333SW 23″ wide HD monitor. Again, a huge upgrade on my previous 17″ CRT, I am however holding onto my CRT and using them in a Dual Screen setup, I used to use the 17″ with another 15″ CRT. If the speakers have taught me anything though, it’s that bass accentuates music so nicely, and car crashes in Burnout Paradise too. I really feel like I’m in that car when it does it’s 5th barrel roll before it slams into another oncoming vehicle.

The new speakers reminded me just how much I hate 2 prong plugs. I always have, and imagine always will, hate these things with a passion. The only good thing about them, in my opinion, is that they take up less space, but I couldn’t give a damn. 90% of the time they end up being plugged into multiplugs where they live their life in a dangerous balance between making contact and annoying the hell out of me. I’ll probably chop the plug off and replace it with a more sensible, stable 3 prong plug when I get round to buying one.

On the topic of new things, I’ve also finally ditched my favourite 9 year old OS for the new, shiny Windows 7. Impart because my PC needed a restart, in part because I found a fully functional 250GB HDD lying around and impart because I needed an excuse to do some reading for a change. So I’ve started reading a book by local satirist Ben Trovato, have always enjoyed his work, and still do. But to Windows 7. It’s new, it’s shiny, it’s Windows XP. There are new features, new pretty buttons, and they’ve tried to make things easier I guess. I started off hating it as much as Vista, but have started to make peace with it, I figured I might as well. If I can learn to live with Office ’07, I can put up with it’s friend.

I think I’ve just about got rid of all the built in security features that shout at me when I try and open Notepad, but we’ll see how I get on with it. Microsoft, being the people that despise me, have in their all knowing wisdom, once again given us an “upgraded” Start menu. Another start menu that I hate! So I figured, hey, they were clever enough in XP and Vista to offer us the option to use the Classic Menu, which I love, so right-click properties, nothing… A quick Google search returned the truth of the matter that Ms have decided that we need to grow up, so I have. I did find these two nifty apps that allows one to hide the normal Start Menu and run a copy of the Classic Menu. It was also comforting to know that other people hate the new one so much that htey would go and write on forums about it. But after some contemplation I decided my PC didn’t need the extra strain caused by these apps, and have decided to vasbyt.

So for the moment it’s back to my list of projects, flying up to Durban on Saturday with my parents where they’re going to attend a wedding, before we go on with my gran to my uncle’s farm for christmas, back home for new years, although plans still need to be made for that.

Install Flash Drive in A110

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The standard 8GB SSD that comes standard in the Acer Aspire is a bit crappy. It’s rather slow, and obviously 8GB isn’t particularly much space. I knew of others who had installed Flash Drives in their netbooks and figured I’d do the same. I couldn’t find any posts about people who had done it, but I did find Tnkgrl who had added a USB bluetooth device to hers and a guy over at WRP & CW – Radio Shack who added a USB fingerprint scanner to his.

They both used different places on the motherboard to access extra USB ports. Both of them work without disabling any of the other USB ports. Tnkrgrl made use of some pins under where the Wi-Fi card is situated, and the Radio Shack hack some points near the CPU. I wasn’t too keen to fiddle with a soldering iron near the CPU, so instead chose to use Tnkgrl’s post for reference. I managed to solder the power wires in quite easily but really battled to get the data wires in place. My soldering iron is unfortunately not built for finicky work like this, so I eventually gave up and decided to use the data points that Radio Shack used.

I purchased a 16GB Kingston Data Traveller G2, stripped it of it’s casing and soldered the appropriate wires to it. Putting everything back together and booting up in Linux revealed the drive to be in working order.

What I plan to do now is to install Windows XP onto the SSD and Linux onto the Flash Drive. Although I am getting very used to Linux, I still have several Apps that I just can’t get to work in Linux, and can find no alternatives.

Below I show how to take apart the Acer. When I did it I followed this guide by Tony Smith.

First remove the battery and unscrew the 6 screws on the underside of the netbook. I have circled them in the following picture. You also need to remove the two rubber feet near where the battery goes, and remove two screws from underneath them.img_4192Turn over the netbook and lift open the screen. The keyboard is held in place by 3 spring loaded clips along the top of the keyboard. I have circled them in the next picture. Using a flat head screw driver or credit card push these in one by one. As each one is pushed in, the top of the keyboard should lift slightly. Once all three of the clips have been pushed in, raise the top of the keyboard slightly and pull it towards the screen. This should allow the hooks at the bottom of the keyboard to come loose. Underneath, the keyboards wires go to the motherboard. It is fairly simple to release the catch on the cables clip on the motherboard, and free it form the netbook.img_4196Next you have to remove 6 screws that hold the casing together, they have been circled in the following picture. You also need to unclip and release the cable that goes from the touchpad to the motherboard.

Next part isn’t that nice. The top part of the casing clips into the bottom half with a series of clips around the edge. You need to stick your screwdriver or credit card in on one end and slowly work your way around the edge of the netbook unclipping it. Once they’re all unclipped you unhook the top parts from just below the screen hinges. You should now have the motherboard in full view.img_4200If you wish to remove the motherboard you must undo the two screws in the lower part of the image above. This will allow you to first remove the wifi card. You must also undo the clip that holds the SSD’s cable in place on the motherboard, and also unplug the pug that carries the wires to the screen in the top right of the screen. To make life easier you should also undo the two screws that keep a hook in place in the top left. This acts as part of the hinge mechanism and to hold the motherboard in place. Underneath the motherboard is another wire harness which carries wires to the board on the right of the laptop.

If you wish to install more/new RAM, this is quite easy, you need simply plug it in to the open slot on the underside of the motherboard.img_4201In this image you can just see where my two data wires solder onto the motherboard by the CPU. At the place there are two columns of solder points. The left column has 4 pins and the right column 5. On the left column the first point (ie the top point) is the Ground, the second point Data+, third point Data-, and fourth (bottom) point 5V+. In my picture I only used the data points.This image from the aforementioned Radio Shack shows the points better. This image from Tnkgrl shows the two power points I used for my Flash Drive, and also the other two Data points that can be used.

For the four points on the Flash Drive itself. Lying the flash drive down with the contacts on top, and to the right. In order from top to bottom, the contacts are: 5V+, Data-, Data+, Ground. I just stashed the flash drive to the right there,forwards of the SSD where there was some space. Because these are just standard USB ports they can be used to install any standard USB device. The guy at Radio Shack actually installed a tiny USB Hub into it, allow new additions to be installed relatively easily.

Scammers =/

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Recently I was lucky enough to win a really nice Canon Powershot SX110IS. I already owned a Canon 350D though, so decided to sell the PowerShot. I placed ads on both CapeAds and the local Gumtree. I’ve previously used both services successfully without any hassles, so wasn’t expecting any trouble.

Anyway, after a few days I got a reply from the Cape Ads; a lady in America wanted to buy the camera for a foster child of hers in Nigeria. Now as soon as I saw Nigeria, I became sceptical, no offense to Nigerians, but they are world renowned for scams but I thought hey, this might be legit. So anyway I replied and asked for some more details, went and got some quotes from DHL for shipping to Nigeria (R1000) and sent it back. A couple days later I got an email from the “Bank of America”, it had one or two legitimate things, the logo etc. But the email originated from some random address, and the reply email address was at the same domain. The link they had to the Bank of America was also stuffed up and didn’t work. The e-mail stated that this lady had made the transfer, but that the bank was holding the money until they had proof that I had posted the item, that is they wanted me to send them the tracking code of the item, and then they’d deposit the money into my account.

So, to me it looked pretty evident that this is a scam. And there was no way I was going to send off the package till the money was in my account. Since this incident, I have received 4 or 5 separate e-mails, all from people with western rather “posh” name. When I received the first e-mail I Googled the e-mail adders. It came up with a result of a guy who was also trying to sell something, he had received an email from “Paypal”, similar kind of setup to mine. Money’s been payed, send tracking code, money will be deposited, he was asking whether the e-mail looked legit or not, no certain replies, but I imagine it was a similar scam.

I’ve listed a bunch of e-mail addresses and names below here which I believe to be those belonging to scammers, if you happen to come here while searching for one of these addresses, well then maybe I’ve saved someone form being scammed.

Bottom line, if it has Nigeria being mentioned anywhere, it’s probable not safe.

So that was the first story. Got another reply, from Gumtree this time, a chap in Jo’burg was interested in buying the camera, he said he’d pay money in during the week, so later that week I checked my bank account, and there was a nice deposit to the total of R13,500. He was only supposed to deposit R2,600. He phoned me a couple times over the next few days pressing me to send the package, this I didn’t do, because the money still hadn’t cleared in my account. 5 days later The cheque bounced Along with this a nice R55 bank charge. I received the cheque, apparently the cheque book had been stolen, and the company canceled it.

I eventually got the camera sold with a nice in person encounter with a cold hard cash transfer :)

List of scam attemptees:

davidsnosh@gmail.com

Thanks a lot,i am presently on a business trip, and i am really and wanting to purchase this for my son in Nigeria as a chrismas gift, so i will offer you R3300 , including shipping and get back to me with your bank account details or pay fast, So that i can transfer the money to account.
thanks.

ponenbrian007@yahoo.com (Ponen Brian)

hi is deon do u stil have the canon pls cal me on 0795559760.thanks

anneahres@hotmail.com (Anne Ahres)

thank you for your mail.please I will like to tell you that am that am buying the item for my son in Africa as his birthday which is coming up soon,I would love to have to come to your home and to collect and pay cash, but the nature of my work will not permit me, so I need your help by sending it to him,am willing to pay R4000, including postage to (Nigeria), I need your bank details so that I can make payment by bank transfer immediately.

lindwat_12@yahoo.com (Linda Watson Abrahams) Telephone number: +447024036645

Hello seller,
Thank you for the mail,i will like this lovely item to my friend in west africa who work with the british reffineries company over and i want this lovely item to him as a birthday gift aslo i will like to offer you R4000for the item and the postage cost tosend it to him and i hope the item is in Good Working Condition and i want it to him well wrapped because i want ti to serve as gift for him ok….
Furthermore i will await your response with your full name and bank details so that i can pay for the item as soon as possible…
Thank….

rosesmithpowell@gmail.com (Lamp Ken)

Hi
i am interested in buying your item i just want to know if this item is still for sell,i want to present my pastor child who is currently studying in west Africa as a congratulatory gift,if you can mail to explain the actual condition presently and the actual price including shipping and insurance via USPS Global e-mail registration to west africa, as soon as possible,Your urgent response will be highly appreciated.Thanks and God bless

This was the e-mail I received from the “Bank of America”

Bank of America

Dear Gareth Cawood,

This is an automated generated email from Bank Of America to inform you that you have just received payment from our customer Rose Powell for an Junk mail item 110403144356 (Canon PowerShot SX110IS, 9MP ). This payment has just been sent, so you are to allow 24 hours after shipment details have been provided by you and verified before payment is transferred to your account.

Please view the transfer details below if accurate.

Below Are The Payment Details For This Transfer………………….. ..

Seller’s Junk id:***************

Name On Account: *****************

Bank Name: *****************
Account Number: *****************
Branch code:************
Bank Type: ****************
Bank Location:****************

Transfer moneyR4057.00.

Creditor’s Banking Information.

Buyer’s Junk Mail ID : rosesmithpowell@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Name On Account:Rose Powell

Account Number: 01783145
Creditor’s Bank Name: Bank Of America
Bank Branch: Georgia District: Bank Of America

Postage Information:

Name:Adeshina Olaitan
Address: 15,Ogunsami Street,
City: Itire/Surulere
State: Lagos
Postal Code: 23401
Country: Nigeria

Transfer Description

ABOUT THIS MESSAGE:

This payment has been approved and it is pending shipment details for the transfer. You are to send out the item that has been paid for by our client and send the shipment details to us in other for negotiations to be commenced with your bank and finally transfer the money to your account. If the shipment details is not received, payment will not be credited into your account.

Failure to send out the item and provide the bank with the shipment details will result to a complain file to Junk Mail against you as a suspected fraud. We have come to notice that some sellers after receiving payment, they do not send out the item or items that where paid for, and when this happens, customers come to hold the bank responsible and not the seller.

When the shipment details are received from you, we will start the verification process. Contacts will be made to the agency that shipment was done with. Some sellers provide fake shipment details. If it turns out that the shipment details are false, this automatically means the you are a scam and will be reported to the Authorities for an immediate arrest.

Send money to other Bank of America customers About Bank of America

Sending payment from a Bank Of America account to another Bank Of America account is easy and does not take any extra charges. For further information’s about local transfer between two accounts from our bank, you can visit the bank website at www.bankofamerica.com.

Bank of America Online Banking customer

Our customer service consultants are online 24 hours a day to reply to any question that you may have. For further enquires or any question regarding your payment or regarding where you are to send the shipment details to, you can contact our consultant at onlinedelivery@in.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Thanks for using Bank Of America Online Payment.

We are looking forward to serving your online payment better in the future.

Sincerely,

Deb Walden
Executive Vice President
Bank Of America

—————————— —————————— —————————— —————————— ————-

Bank of America Investment Services, Inc is a registered
broker-dealer, member NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc.) and SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation), and a nonbank subsidiary
of Bank of America, N.A.

Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender
© 2009 Bank of America Corporation.. All rights reserved.Equal Housing Lender

http://www.cardtrak..com/media/images/200710/17a.jpg

About Bank of America

Details of possible scammers (from other people)

anitabaker.baker1@gmail.com
Buyer’s ID : nelly.brown29@yahoo.com
Name On Account: Nelly Brown
Account Number: 65357695884

Thanks for mail me back. Am Giggi by Name I’m Doctor here in south Africa But now i have already move down to California, I want you to know that am buying this item for my fiance who went to Africa to visit Resort. Because is going be are birthday Gift so I want it packed properly,So i will like you to know Am Offering you R7,200.00 for the item and R250 for the shipment Through FedEx Or Ups,and also I will like you to take Off the ad from the website you Post it so that Another People won’t take this item from my fiance so kindly Get Back to me with your Full Name and your PayPal Email or your Bank Details so that i can Commence on the Payment..

Regard.

Thanks for mail me back. Am Giggi by Name I’m Doctor here in south Africa But now i have already move down to California, I want you to know that am buying this item for my fiance who went to Africa to visit Resort. Because is going be are birthday Gift so I want it packed properly,So i will like you to know Am Offering you R7,200.00 for the item and R250 for the shipment Through FedEx Or Ups,and also I will like you to take Off the ad from the website you Post it so that Another People won’t take this item from my fiance so kindly Get Back to me with your Full Name and your PayPal Email or your Bank Details so that i can Commence on the Payment..

Regard.

Name On Account:Mr Daniel Mark

Account Number: 01783145

Creditor’s Bank Name: Bank Of America

Bank Branch: Georgia District: Bank Of America

Name:Barry Jame

Address:12,Ramoni Oke street ,

City: Itire surulere

State: Lagos

Postal Code: 23401

Country: Nigeria

So I was bored

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So I was bored this evening, and decided to rearrange all the keys on my keyboard so that it spells out a sentence. The first one that came to mind was “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. It was only after I had popped all the keys off my keyboard and started putting them back in order that I noticed several letters were repeated in that sentence :(

Anyway, so I got my roommate to google sentences which use all the letters in the English alphabet only once. He eventually found some, unfortunately none of them are very coherent, and are more just a selection of words, that, if used with the correct punctuation, could form an acceptable phrase or two.

What I was left with was “Blowzy night frumps vexd jack q”.

It’s fine to type this all without looking at the keyboard, but as soon as you start looking at the keyboard while you type, it starts to screw with your mind. It’s like that picture with different colours written out, but the colour’s of the words aren’t the same as the colour that the words say. For example the RED might be written in yellow. You are then required to read the colours of the word, and not the word itself, it stuffs you up.

Will post a pic later, when you see it some of the keys may look a bit funky ’cause they’re upside down, but that’s because the F and J keys have a groove in a different place to the rest of the keys, so that they are always in the right place. Being the keys that you generally base touch typing around.

Interestingly, with this setup, Y is the only letter that hasn’t moved.

Later:

I’ve also now noticed that ‘I’ is still in the same place.

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