Hot Snorgtees Model

The only hot Snorgtees model is some model named Ashley. I don't know what else to say. Here's a picture:

All About the JooJoo

I have, honestly, become slightly obsessed with the JooJoo lately. It seems like an extremely nice media-oriented tablet. In my previous post, I talked about alternatives for the iPad. Well, there aren't many, but the JooJoo seems to be something all it's own!

JooJoo Tech Specs:

Processor: 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom CPU
RAM: 1 GB
Storage: 4 GB SSD (Solid-State Drive)
GPU: nVidia Ion
Display: 12.1 Inches
Resolution: 1366 x 768
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g
OS: Linux-based
Price: $499

Pros:

• Fast: Supposedly, this is the fastest of its kind. It boots fast, surfs fast, and plays video fa-... um... at regular speed (but with no stutter).
• Huge display: Great for viewing video and pictures.
• Capable: It has it all! It has flash, PDF and DOC readability, pretty much anything needed for the web and email.
• Webcam: 1.3 Megapixel. Nice touch.

Cons:

• Huge Overall: And in this corner, weighing in at a whopping 2.4 pounds, the JooJoo! Yes, it's heavy. It's pretty large too, but it is the product which is more web-based. You really need some size when surfing and watching.
• Touch Screen: Based on what I have seen, (only pre-market versions), it appears a bit unresponsive and awkward to use. I think they need to up the touch screen a little bit.
• Awkward OS: Also, if these guys want to fight a winning fight against Apple, they need to work a bit on their OS. It is a bit awkward when doing things like changing the orientation. It sort of flashes off and gets all pixelated before doing it. This doesn't really matter, but it looks terrible in the demo videos! They will likely (hopefully) fix this flaw.

I like it a lot for whatever reason. They just need to add some 3G and it will truly be the web, uncompromised, and anywhere!

Alternatives to the Apple iPad

There are a number of alternatives emerging at the much-anticipated release of the iPad. After searching some of these, I have come to realize that the (minimum) $500 to be paid for the iPad is not so bad. It is overpriced for the hardware you are receiving, but with the cheap 3G and the possible upgrades, I have seen the light. I also said that I did not see the point in a camera. Well, I stand by that, a webcam on the other hand could be nifty. I also said that it should be able to play HD video. Well, it does! So, that's pretty cool. So, while the price is not "unbelievable" in most cases, it is for Apple. They are, especially for the 3G, actually not grossly overpricing their product. A webcam would be nice, but I don't expect them to underprice it! After all, it's still Apple we're talking about.
So, I have decided to compare all of the alternatives to the iPad. Of course, starting with the iPad.

iPad:

Processor: 1 Ghz
RAM: ???
Screen Size: 9.7 inch diagonal
Resolution: 1024 x 768
Capacity: 16-64 GB Flash storage
GPU: ???
Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n
OS: (iPad OS?) (UNIX?)
Price: $500-$830
3G Price: $30 per month for unlimited data

Pros: Tons of apps!, 3G at a great price, acclaimed OS, responsive touch screen (great for games/apps!)
Cons: Inability to multi-task, Lack of webcam, No Flash capability, No Skype yet
Overall: Best for app-use and games, great App Store. 4:3 Screen ratio.

JooJoo:

Processor: 1.6 Ghz
RAM: ???
Screen Size: 12.1 inch diagonal
Resolution: 1336 x 768
Capacity: 4 GB SSD (Solid-state drive)
GPU ??? (nVidia Ion?)
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g
OS: ??? (Flash?)
Price:$500
3G Price: N/A

Pros: Fast! (supposedly), High resolution, Flash supported (HULU!)
Cons: No 3G (Yet), Very limited apps due to lack of storage and lack of store (for now), Poor multi-touch screen responsiveness
Overall: Best for media viewing and relaxed use. Plays Hulu well, even on 1080p! Cutbacks in touch-screen interface keep it from being the best all-around tablet.

Archos 7:

Processor: 600 Mhz, Additional: 430 Mhz
RAM: 128 MB
Screen Size: 7 inch diagonal
Resolution: 800 x 480
Capacity: 160-320 GB
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g
OS: Linux (Android?)
Price: $350-$400
3G Price: N/A

Pros: Cheap, Common OS, Can hold and attain many apps
Cons: Slow, (I imagine due to HDD and lack of processor speed), Low resolution
Overall: A bare minimum device. 3G?

Archos 9:

Processor: 1.1 Ghz
RAM: 1 GB (expandable!)
Screen Size: 8.9 inch diagonal
Resolution: 1024 x 600
Capacity: 60 GB (Capacity for speed?)
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g
OS: Windows 7(!) Starter Edition
Price: $550
3G Price: N/A

Pros: Great OS, Good amount of apps
Cons: Resolution just a little too small (for my taste, anyway)
Overall: A good replacement for the iPad for just a little more money. (?)

OpenTablet 7:

Processor: ??? Ghz (Intel Moorestown)
RAM: ???
Screen Size: 7 inch diagonal
Resolution: ???
Capacity:???
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
OS: Proprietary
Price: ???
3G Price: ???

Pros: Dual cameras, good connectivity, Flash capable and nice apps
Cons: No information I've received leads to any.
Overall: Depending on what unfolds, this could be the best alternative for the iPad. I don't expect the resolution to be impressive, but the hardware and the OS looks very promising.

Honestly, the iPad is very nice depending on what you'd like to do. As I said, more intensive and interactive browsing and apps are perfect. If the OpenTablet 7 turns out as nice as it seems, then it may be quite the contender, especially with those two cameras! If you want the cheap choice, go for the Archos 7, or even its predecessor, the Archos 5. The Archos 9 is practically an entire computer that boasts quite some portability. And even though the price is $550, the comparable iPad is, like, $700, so you are actually saving quite some money. Frankly, though, I like the JooJoo. Even though I do like games and my internet browsing usually is interactive, (such as writing this blog), I love the resolution, the Flash capability that the iPad lacks, and the look of it. It is a nice, substantial piece of technology and all they need to do is refine the touch screen and add some 3G, and its not like I use a ton of apps, so I would just go for this media machine. The best current match for the iPad for a better price, (depending on what iPad you choose, but the comparable one is more expensive), is the OpenTablet 9, which I would choose due to the ability to use Skype and similar apps. Plus there is some better hardware and good software. It seems like a better office or all-around device, whereas the iPad is more fun. I have a lot of faith in the OpenTablet 7, though.

If you have any more suggestions for devices or more specifications, leave a comment.

My choice: JooJoo
Likely most popular: iPad (of course)

iPad Boycott

No, I do not want this blog to cause some sort of uproar, and I do realize that I sound kind of Apple-opposing considering I have made a "hackintosh" blog in the past. Well, I assure you, I am not anti-Apple. In fact, I love Apple. I think they do the best job of combining form and function in the computer world, and lately, I have noticed something. They grossly overprice their products; especially their new one's. Well, this is just a suggestion, unless some activist would like to make it an entire movement. With the disgusting overpricing of their newer items, it would be smart to steer clear of Apple's newest gadget: the iPad, which is essentially a larger iPod Touch. It is a very nice idea and seems ideal to some people, (people like me), at least until we look at the pricetag, (which Apple has called "unbelievable". Yeah, right!)

This trend is not new. It happened with the iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, and even with the Mac Mini, iMac, and the MacBook and MacBook Pro. With Apple, there is only one smart thing to do: wait. Wait until they make an improvement along with lowering the price. Then wait some more! (Remember the iPhone 3G? Of course you don't! There is the 3GS now!) All I am saying is that you should wait until it has everything that you want it to before you buy. This iPad may seem awesome as it is, but according to wired.com, its parts are worth around $220, and are being sold, currently, for $500. And the one that is most expensive ($830) is worth around $335! It may seem like a rip-off, (which it is), but of course they have to make a profit. (People have been asking for a camera. Um... Why?! I really don't see the point. It's essentially a portable, touch-screen web browser. A camera would be nice, but I would prefer viewing items with the iPad rather than creating them.) This is what I think would be awesome: Blu-Ray and HD capabilities! The screen might have to get a little bigger, but wouldn't that be sick! As of now, it can only do standard resolution. I think that they should just make the screen's resolution 1280 by 720 and make any HD video full-screen. Even if they didn't have Blu-Ray, 720p HD video would be a very nice touch.

Yeah, its pretty perfect as-is. That whole HD thing would be cool, but for what it does, I think it's just about perfect. It's good for decent web browsing anyway, which is what I do all of the time when I'm bored and have nothing to do, but on my phone's small screen, it's just a pain. Anyway, I think the lowest price should be about $350 and the full-on, maxed-out, tripping balls iPad should be $600 at most! I would pay between $400 and $450 just to make sure I got a good one. Just to clarify, $450 should get me at least a 16GB, 3G and HD, iPad. Bye, and thanks for reading.

Custom Hackintosh - Post #2: My Plan

     Out of boredom and the inability to sleep (all fucking night), I have decided to blog yet again. (It's addictive.)
     I want to tell you my plan for this Custom PC Hackintosh I want to build. Starting with the motherboard, well, its form factor doesn't match up with that of my case. The thing is, it's SSI EEB and my case goes up to EATX so, being that they are the same size, I will just drill some new holes in the case. From there, going down my list of components, I see the graphics card. Well, it does not come out until December and I am sort of hopeful that they will make one for Mac's, because I heard that the three most important components in terms of compatability for making a Hackintosh are the motherboard, processor(s), and graphics card. My motherboard and processor seem okay but I need to be sure about my graphics card. There are also a few components on this list that have a PCIE x1 interface even though the motherboard has no PCIE x1 ports. Well, I have heard that you can put x1 items into x4, x8, or x16 ports, or at least I hope. Lastly, but certainly not least are the solid-state drives and the hard-disk drive. This is what I am most excited about. One of my nerdy friends introduced me to this new component called the solid-state drive. They are much faster than hard-disk drives and I think the data is safer too or something like that. Also, SSD's can brunt tougher conditions, (if that is even necessary). Either way, they are just better. So, why not get three? Yes, I am getting three SSD's and one HDD. The thing is, with new technology comes new prices and these SSD's are expensive. So, I am going to get three small and relatively inexpensive ones. I am going to RAID them together via my RAID card, effectively combining the speed and storage space. From this RAID-ed drive I will quad-boot Windows 7, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Ubuntu 9.10 and OpenSolaris 2009.06. Why all of these operating systems. Well, thay all serve a distinct purpose. Windows 7 is going to be for gaming and other general applications. Mac OS X Snow Leopard shall be for video editing and other visual arts. Ubuntu 9.10 will serve as an open-source application operating system. And OpenSolaris is just so that if I decide to do programming, I can make software for that OS too. The three SSD's I have are 32 GBs each so that totals out to 96 GB. Divide that by four and you get 24 GB per OS and for applications. That doesn't really sound like enough, so I shall partition the drive unevenly. I will give the Windows partition 40 GB seeing as that will likely be largest. Snow Leopard is much smaller than Leopard, so I have decided that that partition only needs about 24 GB. The Ubuntu partition comes next with something like 20 GB and the OpenSolaris partition will have 12. Now, why even bother getting an HDD? Well, video editing, what I truly enjoy doing, takes up a lot of space, so I am getting a 300 GB internal HDD for capture and video that I am working on, along with other active files and I shall have an external HDD running and only the standard 7200 RPMs for my completed works. And that's the plan. Uh... bye.

Power Mac G4 Robot

     Same situation as last night; last blog. It's late, I'm bored. Anyway, I was thinking of old projects related to technology like my Hackintosh and Custom PC project, entitled "Custom Hackintosh". I was also thinking of what to blog about. So, I decided to blog about my old idea of actually turning my Power Mac G4 into a robot.
     The whole inspiration for it was this obsession I had with robots mixed with my obsession with my Power Mac G4 and again mixed with a little obsession with sumo's. Okay, a big obsession with sumo's, one that lives on today. I could marry my Power Mac G4. I would sit around and stare at it, dream about it, love it. I apologize. I'm listening to mushy techno music right now, but not just any, the kind that is played at Blip Fest. (Check that out, by the way.) So, my idea was, combine my three main obsessions and make my wife. I would make this robot and marry it. It was a beautiful thing.
     I'd had it all planned out. In fact, I made the first part of a documentary film I would make about this robot. I have decided though, that my first priority is this Hackintosh. I may post this video about it, but I have been procrastinating more than usual so I don't know when. Either way, I will keep it prioritized. Anyway, I shall describe it top to bottom. It's head would be composed of six webcams synchronized into one image by software that I would write. The operating system for this robot would be Mac OS X Tiger on the Power Mac G4 itself. Below that would be a small monitor for reviewing the video along with some consoles for recording it to tapes as well as playing back those tapes which would (obviously) display on the monitor. Below that would be the chassis of the robot: the Power Mac G4 and on either side would be two boxing gloves attached to two hydraulic arms that would be controlled, along with the video and the legs, by remote control. They would move forward and backward, and they would punch. Why boxing gloves? They look cool and this robot is resembling of the ultimate destroyer. It is an art piece really, kind of an important tidbit of information. It is a robotic art piece. Then there would be the legs. They would be in a perpetually squatting position because he is a sumo and while common men walk, he shall stomp. I was also thinking of putting boxing gloves on his feet too, but I am not sure at this point. I was also thinking of having him kick, but that may be too hard.
     That is the gist of this whole robot Idea. I'll try getting around to posting that video on my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/SUM0Prod and I'll post some pictures in my next blog about this robot, such as pictures of my Power Mac G4 and the "blueprint" (doodle) for this whole robot idea. I may even add pictures to this one. (You can do that!)

Custom Hackintosh

     Here it is: my first blog. My name is Richard and I was thinking of where to start and I thought, Why not just document my most recent project? Coming up with no reason why not, that is what I decided to do.

     First, let's discuss Hackintoshes. I love the idea of a Hackintosh. It is admittedly the best Operating System out there in terms of ease of use and attractiveness and you can put it on any computer you want. In the case that you don't know, there is a group out there called OSx86 at http://www.osx86project.org/. They have a Wiki under that name and a Forum under the name InsanelyMac. There they discuss everything about Hackintoshes from the legalities regarding one down to how to make one yourself. These two topics go hand-in-hand. Depending on how you make your Hackintosh, it can be completely illegal or questionably illegal. There are basically two ways to create a Hackintosh, adjust the OS to run on the PC, or adjust the PC to run the OS. According to my knowledge, it is in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to adjust (hack) the OS. So a better way would be to adjust your hardware to fit the software's needs. The only thing this violates is the Apple End-User Lisence Agreement for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. (You can find that here: http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/) And the reason that that is questionably illegal instead of completely illegal is because Apple and Psystar are actually battling it out to find how that EULA is protected by the law. I know that Psystar had to pay $5000 to Apple, but I am pretty sure that they haven't lost yet, so it's still on the fence.
     My preferred method of Hackintosh-making of all that I have researched (and still don't at all understand) is the Boot-132 method. As far as I know, it is magic. I have yet to learn how it works. Another way is to hack the Mac kernel, (which is the basis for the Operating System), which is actually many methods under one overall action, but for now, we shall call it the "kernel hack method". The final way is to simulate the EFI for a Mac to be able to run on, (which falls under the more legal way of making a Hackintosh along with the Boot-132 method by adjusting your hardware to run Mac OS X on it.) I am pretty sure that simulating the EFI (by using software like Chameleon or hardware like EFI-X), is how Boot-132 works, but again, I have about half of a clue, so I wouldn't know. This is just Hackintoshes in a nutshell and my (future) attempt at building one.
     Of course, I am going to choose the Boot-132 method for my Hackintosh. It is the easiest, (magic, remember?) and it has the least legal issues because actually hacking the Mac kernel would require decrypting some files and that violates the DMCA. And simulating the EFI can get pretty complicated, (visit the InsanelyMac forums for more information: http://www.insanelymac.com/ or the OSx86 wiki for more information: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page). So this magic method is clearly the best choice. Now, what you've been waiting for, how it is done:

1. You insert a disk with the Boot-132 image on it
2. You continue somehow, (by pressing Enter or Escape or whatever corresponding Mac keyboard keys correspond, if you're a bit overzealous,(you know, because you already have a mac keyboard)).
3. You eject the disc
4. You insert the Snow Leopard RETAIL (LEGALLY OBTAINED) disc
5. Boot that shit

     I know, it's magic, right? It just does something simple to make OS X bootable. I don't know.
Either way, here is my configuration:

Barebones System

Component - Name (Amount) - Notable Specifications - Price

• Motherboard - Asus Z8PE-D12X (x1) - Dual Processor, Intel x58 Chipset, 1 PCIe 2.0 x16 - $400
• Processor - Intel Xeon E5520 (x2) - 2.26 Ghz per Core, Quad-Core, 8MB L3 Cache, 1066 Mhz FSB - $750
• Graphics Card - nVidia GeForce GTX 380 (x1) - CUDA Capable, PhysX Capable, 2560 x 1600 Maximum Digital Resolution, 1536-3072 MB GDDR5 SDRAM - $200 
• DIMM - OCZ OCZ3P1333LV6GK (x1) - 2GB RAM per DIMM, 3 DIMM’s, 1333 Mhz RAM Speed, 7-7-7-20 Latency - $100
• Sound Card - Asus Xonar Essence STX (x1) - 124 dB SNR, 24-Bit, 192 kHz Blu-Ray Quality Audio - $200
• Optical Drive - Pioneer BDR-205 (x1) - Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Burner/Player, BD-RE Burn at x8 Speed - $250 
• Solid-State Drive - PQI DK9320GD3R000A03 (x3) - 32 GB Drive, Read at 154 MB/s, Write at 91 MB/s - $250
• Hard-Disk Drive - Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS (x1) - 300 GB Drive, 10000 RPM, 16 MB Cache - $225
• RAID Card - Syba SY-PEX40008 (x1) - 4 SATA II Ports, Up to 3 Gb/s - $75
• Power Supply - Thermaltake Toughpower W0133RU (x1) - 1200 Watts, 8 SATA II connectors, 20+4 Pin Main Connector - $350
• Case - Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000BWS (x1) - Front I/O Ports: 1 FireWire 400, 4 USB 2.0, 1 Audio Line-in, 1 Audio Line-out - $200

Total: $3000

Other Components

Component - Name (Amount) - Notable Specifications - Price

• Monitor - Samsung SyncMaster T240 - DVI, VGA, HDMI, 24” Screen Size, 1920x1200 Screen Resolution - $300 
• Speakers - Onkyo SKS-HT750 - 7.1 Surround Sound - $300
• External Hard-Disk Drive - LaCie D2 Quadra 301109U 1TB, 7200 RPM - $125 
• Keyboard - Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad - Wired, USB Interface - $50
• Mouse - Logitech V220 - Wireless, USB Interface - $25
• Fan Controller - NZXT Sentry LX - Controls up to Five Fans - $50
• FireWire 800 Expansion Card - EZQuest A59999 - PCI-X Interface, Up to 800 Mbps Bandwidth, 3 External Ports, 1 Internal Port - $25
• Operating System 1 - Windows 7 Ultimate - 64-bit, 8-core Utilization - $200
• Operating System 2 - Mac Box Set: Snow Leopard Family Pack - 64-bit, 8-core Utilization - $175

Total: $1200

     Some of that pricing was planning for the future, hoping for a discount or something, but it is mostly accurate. I will be documenting every little bit of this computer-building adventure. I will also be making videos to correspond on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/SUM0Prod). Make sure to tune in to that. But for now, as it is nearing the end of October 31st, (yes, I am blogging on Halloween), 2009, I must say goodbye. Remember to comment; leave information about Boot-132, share your Hackintosh, whatever.