KONICA MINOLTA PAGEPRO 1380 MF part 1

THIS PRINTER DOESN'T SUPPORT WINDOWS 7, yet.....


Until I did something like this...



Though its not fully supported on Win-7...


-.-"

52.5mm Challange

Armed with just a loaner 35mm f/1.8G AF-S, with an equivalent focal length of 52.5mm on a DX crop factored camera (which is what my D90 is), see what the standard lens can bring to the table...

But before that, what is a standard lens? (WARNING: BORING STUFF AHEAD, JUST SKIP TO THE PICS OR OTHERWISE)

A standard (normal) lens is "A lens that provides about the same angle of view of a scene as the human eye and that does not unduly magnify or diminish the relative size of objects in the image." as quoted from www.sederquist.com/clagloss.html

Or scientifically, (very boring stuff) "let's conduct a thought experiment in which we take a picture, make a print on the spot, then see how it compares to the scene in front of us. Simple geometry (using the concept of similar triangles) states that a print viewed from a distance equal to it's diagonal will exactly match the subject in perspective when the focal length of the lens that was used to make the picture is equal to the diagonal of the sensor. When we use this approach to calculate the focal lengths of 'theoretically correct' standard lenses for various sensor sizes, the results are slightly surprising. Full frame works out as 43mm, 1.5x APS-C as 29mm, and Four Thirds, 21mm. This flies in the face of received wisdom (and convention), which suggests 50mm, 35mm and 25mm respectively." (DPreview.com)



Simply put, its the lens that is about the same magnification as what our eyes perceives.


Note that this challenge is to use a fix focused length camera all day without changing lenses, with the purpose to reduce bulk on light travel.


The setting: PC fair 2010 (II)



First up, parked the car at Menara Keck Seng, and since its Saturday, the whole day parking rate is RM3.00 (after Saturday afternoon working hours).

And walked to Pavilion which is opposite, and saw this...















[Check out the price, close to a cool million ringgit, though gotta say that the rated fuel consumption is not bad]



[Big Bum]



And later we passed by a construction site on the way over to KLCC [convention center]







[Now I sorta understand Kai W...]




And here we arrived at the PC fair...

Booth professional pics and some other interesting pics are next...












[A strike at the PC fair??]




































[Hmmm... The booth professional at Lenovo Hall 2]








[They were shouting... Something like a 10-pac DVD for RM1, t&c is buy above RM10]















[The booths are tall...]












[Cloudy day... and this pic seems like a d*** coming out of a b*sh. Wakakakka, that's Maxis for you]






After hauling the big ass multifunction b/w laser printer for 1.7km, we head to the Curve for dinner... [another post about the printer... *$%#&@!!!!]



















The conclusion:

1. At some point I would still prefer my 50mm lens as I'm used to frame with it.
2. Using the standard lens brought me some wide coverage, as in I don't have to reverse back for side to side shots. (22.5mm difference is quite a lot in wideness, considering)
3. Would I get it? I think that I would need more time to get used to the loaner lens..


Another thing is that, thanks to Ng. PL for the loaner lens. Good lens, fast auto focus (and quiet too).

Firefox 3.6

Finally! When I click to open to a new tab, it goes to the next adjacent tab!


In case you don't know, in 3.5, the new tab still goes to the last tab. Kinda annoying if you have plenty of tabs open.


Get it here!

What The Year 2009 Has Done to Me

2009. I've celebrated the coming of the year in tHe Curve.


Looking back, the year was crazy to say the least.


Yes, from my Blog, the year seemed kinda boring. But what I would highlight is the things that I did in the University first.

1. The Haunted House





2. My Uni has been hit with A(H1N1)

3. My Uni is boring!!!


Well, apart from my Uni, there's also other places that I've hanged with my uni friends.

1. Went to UCSI Orchestra to see Amy perform.






2. Went to Broga Hill, found out that I really need to work on my stamina!





3. Went for Shabu-Shabu, conveyor belt steamboat.





4. Celebrated my 21st Birthday. Ahh... Pics are on Facebook... (Steamboat... Again Minus the sigh) Thanks Guys!


DIY and Upgrades that I've done;

1. Finally my bed is stable! Manage to fix the problem of the mattress constantly falling into the bed frame.






2. Installed Windows 7 (32-bit), then Dual-Boot it with XP and Windows 7 (64-bit)







3. Installed 4 GB of RAM.


Besides that, I've became God-like when I was back in my hometown for three months, couch-sitting, TV-sitting and bed-sitting.

1. Back there, I've also met up with friends for trips to Permai, twice actually.





2. Yum Char sessions, which I think would amount to more than 10.

3. BBQ at Joash's place, met up with Dominic, Clifford, Kai Liang and so on...

4. Played Prospectors and Saboteurs during almost every yum char session when Joash is there. Nice game by the way!

5. Family time.


While during the last semester break;

1. Yum Char sessions

2. Went to Permai again, this time to skim-board. Thanks Mei Fern for the lesson. Now my butt doesn't hurt anymore from falling down!


~~~

However, there were downers,

1. PTPTN - I forgot to receive or take the agreement letter, had to drive all the way to Bukit Damansara to get the letter! Hence my school fee was paid during the last minute. Anyway, the upside is that the cash came in just in time.

2. Leg Injury. 20 cents coin on my knee!!!

3. Flu. But which one did I get??!!

4. Hard Disk failure! Lost some documents. -.-''


Despite the downers, the yeas has been memorable. The last week I've prepared Spaghetti and Meatballs from scratch, for 30++ people during the Christmas Party. Pics later la...

This year, I'll send off the year 2009 with a BBQ with friends.

The Menu~

1. Chicken Wings
2. Lamb Chop
3. Mashed Potatoes
4. Fries
5. Watermelon.


Yeah, I know that its not as grand as it can be, but smoking and charring for 16 people will prove a new challenge. With just a nominal fee of RM15, would you expect smoked salmon? Well, if I've got the cash, I will personally fillet and smoke the fish for 5hrs!

Anyway, gotta marinade the meat soon~

Windows 7 and XP RAM Usage

Here's a screen shot of XP and Windows 7 page file usage...










Well, the difference is that I've haven't configured the start-up process in Win 7, hence the higher PF usage.



Secondly, I think my PC runs smoother compared with XP. However, that could be due to the newer hard disk that I've installed to use Win 7.


Both of the OS runs on somewhat similar hardware, except for the hard disk..

Installing Windows 7

Here's a couple of pics I took when I installed Windows 7

The 1st step, I didn't took any photographs, but it's quite simpled compared with an XP installation.

The installation will ask you which partition you want to install, in full graphical interface, i.e. with a mouse, click, select how much MB or GB you want for that partition, unless you've already formated the hard disk, or continue with the size of that partition.

If its an unformatted hard disk, you would have to select >NEW> Size of Disk>OK>format>next to install...

If you've already have the disk that is partition and just taking over XP or an clean install, just click >NEXT

2. Enter some basic info, or something... and you will come to this screen...

3. Wait for awhile, you are near completion.

4. It will resize the screen, nearing completion.

5. Tadda!!! Windows 7 is done installing. Basically, you will have to enter some basic thing like your name and pc name..

6. Update, activate and so on..

7. Find drivers like graphics card driver and some other basic driver, like your audio codec driver... Like I did.. It took me an hour to find a suitable driver.. I have to hunt down the driver from Realtek myself, took me awhile to realize that the driver from the motherboard website's is very old, not compatible with windows 7. Hence, here's the site...

8. Install those programs, like firefox, antivirus; AVG or something. Maybe office?

9. Look at the beautiful stuff, and now switch back to XP, cause I'm downloading something.. Lolx..

My desktop...

Windows 7.

It only took about 30-40 minutes to install...

Will post progress later..

IN KL!!!

I've forgotten how large a 19 inch monitor can be...

or,

How fast a speedy mouse really make things fun, and super fast at the same time.


But, been using a mac for these past few days, i can't stop 'expose' my desktop...



On another note, the plane ride was ok, minus the fact that the two person sitting next to me had running nose, and the taxi driver is having a cough. A virus come to mind???

Must be all those people wearing masks that are making me worry...

Desktop Update

My desktop underwent a major overhaul last night...



[Note: the new external hard disk from Maxtor]


But, its nothing to worry about, since I'm just cleaning the dust buildup for over 2 and 1/2 years worth of dust on my motherboard.


The whole motherboard have minimal dust though, even the fin of the chipset cooler have minute amount of dust on it.


Time started: 11.00 p.m.


I took out the rear casing fan first, initially cleaning it with a toothbrush. The 120 mm fan has been running near-non-stop for the past 3-4 months or so when I last cleaned it, and boy! There's a whole colony of dust bunnies because it looked like fur was growing out of the fins.
Even with dust filters at the front of my casing, and monthly cleaning, there were still plenty of dust.

Next, I used a cotton blot, with a little baby oil I rub off the excess dust.


11.30

Took the case to the balcony and brush the vents clean.

11.45

The progress of taking out the motherboard began. Disconnected all the wires, SATA cables, molex power cords, motherboard power cords. Removed those RAM sticks and graphics card, and placed them in the anti-static bag.

12.05

Unscrewed the retention screws of the motherboard. Next, carefully holding the sides of the MB, took the thing out. The CPU cooler was dirty as well.


12.30

Since I bought thermal paste when I was in Lowyat, I anticipated that I would need to take off the CPU cooler and try changing the position of it, for better cooling...




Having Cooler Master NanoFusion at hand, I (almost not as) carefully as I usually am, took out the Cooler Master Hyper TX-2.


[got the pics at overclockers online]





Wow, I didn't know that dust would build up so damn fast on my cpu cooler, thinking it was those type that has thinner fins than the stock cooler. The back side of the fan was a whole continent of dust bunnies, thicker than furs you see on those ceiling fans that has not been cleaned for ages.





After removing the fan from the heat sink, I used cotton buds to clear off the dust. Took ages to clean the fins of the heat sink as well.





1.00a.m.

The cleaning process of the CPU cooler is done, and the base is cleaned from the previous thermal paste, and so is the CPU itself. The process of cleaning the motherboard began.


It was simple, since there wasn't much dust to begin with.



1.15 a.m.

The endeavor of applying the thermal paste is on. Since I've never done it before, I could only guess that you would want a even spread, as thin as possible and blah-blah-blah...


1.30 a.m.

The HSF is now on the MB, with the fan blowing towards the rear case fan, so I guess that the heat is straight away exhausted through the rear opening. [Note: I hate those Intel push pins mechenisms for putting in the HSF]


[Note: the clearence of the cooler from the chipset cooler]



Since previously I had it blowing towards the power supply fan, I guess that the hot air was not good for my PSU.



[Facing upside down before my overhaul]


1.45 a.m.

Now to put everything back together. Its harder than taking everything out. Much more challanging I would say...


I bought Cooler Master (don't call me a fan boy, cause its the most reasonably priced stuff I could get and the fan is quiet.) 120mm fan. The pack of four was divided between Peter and I, and the econo-pack cost RM37 for four. Heck, icute 120mm fans cost RM18 each, and they were as loud as hell!.




I installed the new fan at the front of my case. Since I have two hard disks running now ( a 250Gb and a 500Gb) I needed something to cool them down. Before, my 250Gig was running 41 degrees during idle.


2.00 a.m.

Reinsert the cables, wires, pins into the motherboard. Damn it was strenous. The front panel pins are to go in the correct place or else I'm not able to use the front audio ports (seldom use them though). Power bottons, reset botton, HDD LED, power LED pins are plugged accordingly, and the USB and firewire pins are plugged too.


2.20 a.m.

Hard Disks are repositioned to make sure that the front case fan and give them a good chill. The graphics card are inserted and RAMs are slotted in possition.



2.25 a.m

Everything is connected, wires are organized. By leaving the case opened, I hoped that nothing will go wrong.


It did...

The screen of the monitor was blank, wont load windows or even the RAID checksum for that matter...


Well, Murphy's Law states that: When something has the possibility of going wrong, it WILL go wrong...



I lay down on the floor and think of the possibilities...

1. I did (maybe) changed the position of the hard disk SATA slot numbers, I could've maybe changed the boot order.
2. Sort of un-pinned the CPU, could've mess up the post or CMOS of the MB.
   
3. I screw up with the CPU when cleaning off the previous thermal paste
4. I fried the MB with static electricity when cleaning it, didn't put it in the anti-static bag for around 30 mins when cleaning the CPU cooler.
   

Eventually, it was 1 and 2. Reset the CMOS by (not removing the CMOS battery) but jumping the switch pin of my motherboard. It's sort of like the reset button for your MB, with out the button, you have 3 pins and a hat that goes into only 2 pins. So, by changing the position of the connection, or jumping, you can reset the CMOS.


2.40 a.m.

It entered into the RAID checksum, but wouldn't load Windows.

Restart and entered the BIOS. Redid the load priority, mess with the values a little and restarted.


2.41 a.m.

Hurray!!! It loaded Windows.





2.43 a.m.

Closed the case and tested if everything was up and running.




3.00 a.m.

Wiped everything down with a cloth and enjoy the results...






The Temperature Difference.

Before, the CPU was running idle at 37 deg.

Now, its 35 deg idle


Hard Disk,

The 250Gb is now 39deg (before was 41) idle

and the 500gig is now 35deg idle (didn't know the temperature before adding the case fan)



So the whole process took me more than 4 hours, but the satisfaction is more than that.