yauhui's garbage barn

Switching to the old layout

2009-01-15T22:10:00.000+08:00

Because it's easier on the eyes. By the way, go see http://yauhui.thefreaks.co.cc if you haven't already do so.

Frikios.com/TheFreaks.co.cc up and running

2008-12-31T17:51:00.002+08:00

It is with great pleasure that I've set the TheFreaks homepage up and have it running! Do visit!

www.Frikios.com
www.TheFreaks.co.cc

New blog

2008-12-29T20:01:00.004+08:00

It is with great pleasure that I announce my new blog at http://yauhui.thefreaks.co.cc - you'll feel like you haven't left this blog at all!

Click>>> [LINK]

Processors.

2008-12-28T21:48:00.002+08:00

It is worth noting that FSB speeds mentioned here directly influences the possible RAM speeds. For example, the Pentium II had an FSB speed of 100MHz, so this means that the RAM must not exceed 100MHz.

Mention the single holy word and chances are, 99% of your audiences have Intel in their heads.

This is not surprising ever since the Core 2 CPUs were launched - they were the first mainstream Intel products to not have "Pentium" in their trademark names.

Intel talk

Let's have a tea talk focusing on Intel since it's more fun. They have been making processors for some time, good or bad it didn't matter. Their Pentium lineup began on 1993 with the Pentium processor.

They were built on the P5 microarchitecture, had a minimum feature size of 8 nanometers, and had blazing fast speeds - at that time at least. With up to 66 MHz (or 0.066GHz for more dramatic effects), these chicks can make you a Pong legend.

Intel selected the name Pentium after courts disallowed registration of numbers as trademarks - the Pentium processor was originally known as the i586. The word "Pentium" originated from the Greek word "penta" for "five".

At first Intel was disappointed, as competitors were also using similar names (as AMD had named their CPU "5k86", Cyrix named theirs "5x86" and NexGen "Nx586"). They sought the help of Lexicon Branding to create a brand that could be trademarked and the name Pentium was born.

The original Pentium processor was succeeded by the revised Pentium MMX and included in the Pentium family is the Pentium OverDrive upgrade system - however these brought along many incompatibility problems and Intel went under the radar for some time, only to resurface to unleash the Pentium Pro processor.

The Pentium Pro introduced the new P6 architecture (or known as i686 among enthusiasts) and is Intel's sixth generation x86 processor. It was originally intended to replace the older Pentium processors in a full range of applications.

The original Pentium had 3.1 million transistors, with the Pentium MMX having 4.5 million. The Pentium Pro however, was a breakthrough with 5.5 million transistors. Later, the Pentium Pro was narrowed down for use in high-end desktops and servers.

The Pentium Pro was capable of both dual- and quad-processor configurations and was available in only one form - the large, rectangular Socket 8. It had up to 200MHz clock rate with 256KB L2 cache, which were tremendous figures back in the old days.

In 1997 the Pentium II replaced the Pentium Pro, which was essentially a cost-reduced and re-branded Pentium Pro with the addition of MMX and enhanced 16-bit code performance. Costs were reduced by using standard SRAM cache chips running at half-speed, which increased production yields. The next year, in 1998, Intel split the market into three segments: budget workstations and home users, higher-end workstations and power users, and multi-processor capable servers. Those segments were served by the Celeron, the Pentium II, and the Pentium II Xeon, respectively.

The Pentium II continued using the P6 architecture with 7.5 million transistors. It had up to 450MHz clock rate with FSB speeds of up to 100MHz. Pentium II was available in several forms, notably Socket 1 (pictured below), MMC-1, MMC-2 and Mini-Cartridge.

Unlike previous Pentium and Pentium Pro processors, the Pentium II CPU was packaged in a slot-based module rather than a CPU socket. The processor and associated components were carried on a daughterboard similar to a typical expansion board within a plastic cartridge. A fixed or removable heatsink was carried on one side, sometimes using its own fan.

This larger package was a compromise allowing Intel to separate the secondary cache from the processor while still keeping it on a closely coupled backside bus. The L2 cache ran at half the processor's clock frequency, unlike the Pentium Pro, whose off die L2 cache ran at the same frequency as the processor. However, the smallest cache size was increased to 512 KiB from the 256 KiB on the Pentium Pro. Off-package cache solved the Pentium Pro's low yields, allowing Intel to introduce the Pentium II at a mainstream price level.

Pentium II is basically a more consumer-oriented version of the Pentium Pro. It was cheaper to manufacture because of the separate, slower L2 cache memory. The improved 16-bit performance and MMX support made it a better choice for consumer-level operating systems, such as Windows 9x, and multimedia applications. Combined with the larger L1 cache and improved 16-bit performance, the slower and cheaper L2 cache's performance impact was reduced. General processor performance was increased while costs were cut.

Pentium III slowly made its way to the market, with the most notable difference being the addition of the SSE instruction set (to accelerate media processing and 3D graphics), and the introduction of a controversial serial number embedded in the chip during the manufacturing process. This was the first Intel processor to be (by default) capable of exceeding 1GHz, with the higher-end Pentium III having up to 1.4GHz clock speed. The Pentium 3 featured up to 133MHz FSB speeds, much to the delight of server administrators. Feature size reduced dramatically - now being as small as 13 nanometers.

Similarly to the Pentium II it superseded, the Pentium III was also accompanied by the Celeron brand for lower-end CPU versions, and the Xeon for high-end (server and workstation) derivatives. The Pentium III was eventually superseded by the Pentium 4, but its Tualatin core also served as the basis for the Pentium M CPUs, which used many ideas from the Intel P6 microarchitecture. Subsequently, it was the P-M microarchitecture of Pentium M branded CPUs, and not the NetBurst found in Pentium 4 processors, that formed the basis for Intel's energy-efficient Intel Core microarchitecture of CPUs branded Core 2, Pentium Dual-Core, Celeron (Core), and Xeon. The Pentium III was the first Intel processor to break 1 GFLOPS, with a theoretical performance of 2 GFLOPS. I could go on to further elaborate on these FLOPS units but that would exhorbitantly increase post size so if you wanna know just Google it up.

The year 2000 was a turning point for Intel, with productions on the much-hyped Pentium IV starting to flood the market. They had the 7th-generation microarchitecture, called NetBurst, which was the company's first all-new design since 1995, when the Intel P6 microarchitecture of the Pentium Pro CPUs had been introduced. NetBurst differed from the preceding Intel P6 - of Pentium III, II, etc. - by featuring a very deep instruction pipeline to achieve very high clock speeds (up to 4 GHz) limited only by maximum power consumption (TDP or Thermal Design Power, the amount of cooling required) reaching up to 115 W in 3.6–3.8 GHz Prescotts and Prescotts 2M (a high TDP requires additional cooling that can be noisy or expensive). In 2004, the initial 32-bit x86 instruction set of the Pentium 4 microprocessors was extended by the 64-bit x86-64 set.

The original Pentium 4s were capable of 1.4GHz, and later versions reached up to 3.6GHz and supported HyperThreading. Notable with the introduction of the Pentium 4 was the 400 MT/s FSB. It was actually based on a 100 MHz clock wave, but the bus was quad-pumped, meaning that the maximum transfer rate was four times that of a normal bus, so it was considered to run at 400 MT/s. The AMD Athlon was running at 266 MT/s (using a double-pumped bus) at that time.

The Pentium 4 was complemented by the Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition dual-core CPUs. Pentium D was basically two Pentium 4s crammed together into one.

Computer geeks have nicknamed NetBurst-based chips as power demons, with the Pentium 4, D and Extreme Edition processors placing a higher emphasis on clock count rather than data per clock to finish the job. This of course gave AMD the advantage, with their Athlon X2 Energy Efficient Small Form Factor processor getting the podium over NetBurst. Another drawback was that the Pentium processors did not include an onboard memory controller - something AMD had included in their chips for a long, long time - and this meant limited expandability.

The Pentium M was released during the heyday of Pentium 4 and Pentium D, thus being overshadowed and even not released in some major markets worldwide. Pentium M was based on the old P6 architecture and was intended as an energy-efficient processor for laptops (thus the "M" moniker, which stands for "mobile"). Pentium M was two single-core 32-bit x86 microprocessors, forming part of the Centrino family.

The Pentium M represented a new and radical departure for Intel, as it was not a low-power version of the desktop-oriented Pentium 4, but instead a heavily modified version of the Pentium III Tualatin design (itself based on the Pentium Pro core design). It is optimised for power efficiency, a vital characteristic for extending notebook computer battery life. Running with very low average power consumption and much lower heat output than desktop processors, the Pentium M runs at a lower clock speed than the laptop version of the Pentium 4 (The Pentium 4-Mobile, or P4-M), but with similar performance - a 1.6 GHz Pentium M can typically attain the performance of a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4-M.

When the environment issue came into play, Intel was in big trouble - their power demon processors were gulping down electricity like your urine into the toilet. This particular time was a big advantage for AMD, as their Athlon X2 EE chips were given preference by most computer manufacturers. Asus however chose to use a special adapter that allowed the Pentium M to be installed on select Asus motherboards as an energy-saving measure.

Under pressure, Intel sought after the original Israeli designers of the Pentium M, and they came up with what was known today as the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Solo processors (the latter didn't live long as people gave preference for dual-cores).

In recent times, Intel revived the Pentium lineup with their Pentium Dual-Core chipset targetted at mobile computers - initially it was a single-core processor but apparently, a single-core Conroe-L with 1 MB cache was not strong enough to distinguish the planned Pentiums from other planned Celerons, so it was replaced by dual-core CPUs, bringing the "Dual-Core" add-on to the "Pentium" moniker.

The Intel Atom processor soon replaced the Pentium Dual-Core as top-favourite among mobile computer (or "netbooks") manufacturers.

Now with all the hype surrounding the Core i7, we might just wait for a moment and think about it - are all those extra cores anything but necessary? The Tech Report has made an extensive insight, available here, and concluding the tests - results were staggering (if not unforeseen).

Overall the quad-core chips scored in the dynamic fluid and particle simulations, with an edge in compression tools over the dual-core counterparts.

However when it comes to games, surprising. The Core 2 Duo managed to somehow surpass the Core 2 Quad (if not equal the performance) in most areas.

When it comes to regular desktop applications such as Microsoft Office, again the dual-core processors get the edge (with slight performance fallback vs huge price gap).

How about the Core i7? Ah, yes. We all know that the Core i7 is the first chip to support three-channel DDR3 memory modules, but is it really worth the extra buck to go out and buy three, instead of two, RAM sticks? The Tech Report has an insight here explaining the fine details.

Windows: An Envisionment Flash project

2008-12-28T17:53:00.001+08:00

PROGRESS: 0%.

Arthur has yet to start on the sprites, or has he? I'll be back with moar news!

Santa says: "HO-HO-HO(LY-CRAP-I'M-BROKE)!"

2008-12-26T16:48:00.002+08:00

Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year to whoever here! :) Thank you for continuously frequenting my blog! This week alone there have been 73 visits and I'm proud of that!

Nuffnang has provided a very in-depth view of the visitors to my blog for the past month and according to it:

- 1011 pageviews in the past month, with 690 unique hits;
- 74% of visitors are from Malaysia, 19.6% from USA, 2.4% from UK, 0.8% from Singapore, 0.7% from Korea and Germany, 0.5% from Canada, Australia and Czech Republic, and finally 0.3% from Turkey;
- The keywords "quattro avenue k", "kakiis nite out" and "kakiis night out" have brought the most hits of 5, with "red alert 3 serial key" bringing 4, and "hackintosh core i7", "rudy morning crew", "aladdin jamine unclothed", "red alert 3 serial", "naturalmotion endorphin 2.7" and "messenger beta is rubbish" bringing 3 hits respectively;
- 164 hits were referred from the address "www.yauhuiieeee.co.cc", with 21 from "iris-lame.blogspot.com", 17 from "dan-vivalaamerica.blogspot.com", 15 from "jing-tearsofhappymemories.blogspot.com", 12 from "jerry00jerry.blogspot.com", 9 from "wendybloggie.blogspot.com", 7 from "www.blogcatalog.com/topic/kalyway", 5 from "www.bloggerunited.com/blog", 4 from "www.buboo.tw/msg/808e4f1706c01c3.html" and "www5.cbox.ws/box/?boxid=109260&boxtag=zvvkjt&sec=main", and finally 3 from "www.blogcatalog.com/topic/hackintosh";
- No nuffnangers have visited my blog in the past month.

...did you just say durian?

2008-12-26T00:49:00.002+08:00

Phooi Sze has just unveiled her Durian Durian online boutique store at Durian-Durian.com and what's available?

Elegant dresses for elegant people, that are light on the wallet yet heavy on the glamour! (I was kinda tempted to type "elegant dresses for elephant people" and hope people will pass it off as a typo but the kinder side of me decided otherwise :D ahaha. what christmas? why are everyone dancing around like hooligans? and what's with those flashing lights? don't they ever think about their electric bills??)

Anyways! I wanted to have my thefreaks.com.my domain so badly but due to some stuff I can't. :-( .com.my domains are only allowed for registered companies and not individuals.

But yauhui.com, yauhui.net, yauhui.co.cc, thefreaks.com, thefreaks.net and thefreaks.co.cc are already taken!

It's like the whole internet denying your right for an online presence :-(

Wear your seatbelt.

2008-12-23T17:25:00.001+08:00

It's engineered to save lives.

Solutions to major computer problems

2008-12-22T16:53:00.001+08:00

This is a non-exhaustive list of common problems and their solutions. If you have encountered a problem not listed here do notify me and I'll try to work up a method of fixing it.

Note: The solutions here are based on the assumption that you use a pre-assembled computer (e.g. Dell, Acer PCs) with a legal copy of Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 with System Restore allowed to automatically create restore points, and that you have not had any errors prior to this - unless otherwise stated. Please read the problem/solution to the end, including any fine prints (if any) before attempting to troubleshoot your computer. By following the methods shown here, you agree to hold all responsibilities to your actions and that I shall not be held liable for any mishaps arising from this post.

Q: I encountered a blue screen when I turned my computer on!!1!1!!

A: Sometimes you might get the following screen when you boot up your computer.

This is known as the BSOD ("Blue Screen of Death/Doom" or sometimes known as "Stop screen") and is an error screen displayed by some operating systems, most notably Microsoft Windows, after encountering a critical system error which can cause the system to shut down, to prevent damage.

The text on the error screen contains the code of the error and its symbolic name (e.g. "0x0000001E, KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED") along with four error-dependent values in parentheses that are there to help software engineers fix the problem that occurred. Depending on the error code, it may display the address where the problem occurred, along with the driver which is loaded at that address.

There is no clear solution for BSOD at this time, but what you can do is:

Method 1:

1) Restart your computer.
2) Before Windows starts loading (i.e. right after the BIOS splash screen flashes), keep pressing F8 repeatedly. If done correctly you should be presented with a black prompt screen.
3) Using the up/down arrow keys, navigate to Last Known Good Configuration.
4) If you can successfully boot into Windows XP, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.
5) Choose a restore point when your computer wasn't experiencing any errors.
6) If you cannot boot into Windows XP with this method proceed to Method 2.

Method 2:

1) Follow steps 1 and 2 in Method 1.
2) Using the up/down arrow keys, navigate to Safe Mode.
3) If you managed to successfully boot into WinXP, you should be presented with a prompt dialog box. Click on "No" and the System Restore window should appear.
4) Choose a restore point when your computer wasn't experiencing any errors.
5) If you cannot boot into WinXP with this method proceed to Method 3.

Method 3:

1) Ensure you have the Windows XP installation disc.
2) By default your BIOS should boot with the CD drive at top priority. Turn your computer on and immediately pop the WinXP disc into the CD drive before the BIOS splash screen appears.
3) The WinXP disc should start loading. This might take some time.
4) Once done loading, you should see a prompt, with the options "Install", "Repair Console" and "Exit" (or something similar). Press the number beside the "Install" option (if I'm not mistaken it's number 1) and hit Enter. Do not enter the Repair Console.
5) Once the Installation prompt appears, select the "Repair" option by pressing the number beside it (if I'm not mistaken it's number 2) and hit Enter.
6) Your Windows will start repairing itself. Some custom DLLs and Operating System mods will not work after this.
7) Once repair is done remove the WinXP disc and restart your PC (unless it will restart on its own). You should be able to boot into Windows normally.

Q: Help!!! My screen is flipped/inverted!

A: On some PCs, the graphic card supports "flipping", where the screen is rotated or vertically inverted.

To do/fix this just hold down Ctrl+Alt+Up/Down/Left/Right.

Known graphic cards to support this are those under the Intel GMA series (not GMA Mobile).

Q: Alamak! My screen blackout whenever I run Half-Life/Counter-Strike/Warcraft!

A: This occurs when you run the application above the resolution limit of your graphics card. The only way to fix this is to change the game resolution manually (not in-game). I have yet to find a solution for this.

Ukay Perdana identified as risky

2008-12-22T16:22:00.001+08:00

Ukay Perdana (identified as area "C") is at risk of landslides. How awesome is that.

The Vampire Game Number 4

2008-12-20T13:55:00.002+08:00

It's something everyone should play!

Also: BAD NEWS. I got a letter from Sri Garden.

"Dear parent/guardian of LIM YAU HUI, F1G KS3,

The following item(s) issued to the above borrower are now OVERDUE:

Accession Num.: S011635
Title: CSI : Crime Scene Investigation : Double Dealer by COLLINS, Max Allan
Classification: EF COL
Due: 8/29/2008
Replacement: RM71.80

Your assistance in the recovery or cost of replacement for the above items would be greatly appreciated."

So guys I need your co-operation. Seek out the person who used my Smart Card to borrow the above book and get him/her to pay me.

Thanks.

Year-end class party part 1.

2008-12-20T01:39:00.003+08:00

Playing Worms! on the class computer.

Akmal using a pink PSP! LOL!

Remember when fireworks spewed out from the air-con? Good ol' times. ;D

The two awesomest fellas waiting for Worms! to load. *cough*

Them playing. Nothing much to see here, move on.

The mini casino in our class. ;)

"I'm all in, ye!"

"The queen on the card looks quite sexy... *admires*"

Failed attempt at getting a discount.

IT'S A HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL SOUNDTRACK! *shriek*

Aha steamboat.

Karl reads women's magazines.

"Eh, hungry lah."

Mr Logan flirting with the gals.

A little campfire story to kill time... only without the campfire.

The pro evaluating his cards.

The "rich" brat who couldn't repay his 2-year-old debt. o_o

Okay that's it for today come back again soon kthxbai.

Life as a Samsung user

2008-12-20T01:32:00.002+08:00

I wake up. I look at my phone.

Oh, it's a Samsung. I walk to my computer.

The monitor is a Samsung.

My TV is a Samsung.

My MP3 is a Samsung.

I even have Samsung digital photo album!

The camera I use is a Samsung! My fridge is a Samsung!

My whole life is filled by Samsung!

Dot com domain? A distant dream.

2008-12-20T00:28:00.002+08:00

o_O I wanted a dotcom domain of my own, but hell they don't come cheap. :(

RM99 for first year, RM154 for the remaining years! Holy cow that is EXPENSIVE!

D:

Firefox 2 has seen its end.

2008-12-19T21:05:00.001+08:00

If you have updated to Firefox 2.0.0.20, you'll notice that THERE IS NO MORE PLANNED UPDATES FOR FIREFOX 2 AND ALL PEOPLES WILL SOON HAVE TO MOVE TO FIREFOX 3.

D:

2009 is the year for change.

2008-12-19T14:24:00.001+08:00

2009, Barack Obama will lead the White House.

2009, my little forum will have a change.

2009, this blog will see a change.

Change it is. 2009 it is.

Mass resize images with ImageResizer

2008-12-16T21:44:00.004+08:00

ImageResizer is a free application and is part of the PowerToys applications for Windows XP.

Download ImageResizer and more here. (The download links are on the right)

Kakiis Night Out? OMG I MISSED IT

2008-12-15T23:54:00.003+08:00

I wanted to go, and my brother wanted to go. But we didn't go. ARGH.

Phooi Sze went! I mean like OMG! THERE'S COUNTERSTRIKE AND FOOSBALL! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH.

But she encountered some of the meanest people out there.

Damn there's no use regretting now! BUT I MEAN LIKE.. UGH.. *self conflict*

Switching to a new blog layout

2008-12-15T23:25:00.002+08:00

I'm really pissed off right now.

ImageShack deleted my blog layout image from their server.

"404 - Not Found"

So, I've picked this design here and I have a trusty person who is willing to help me tweak it! YAY!

You can visit his blog here.

Just for you curious people, my old (current) blog layout is here:

Download!

Petrol price down; George Bush gets two shoes as his welcome gift to Iraq.

2008-12-15T21:36:00.006+08:00

Yes! That means RON97 is now at RM1.80 and RON92 is at RM1.70, whereas fuel for fishermen at rural areas are at RM1.30 (although they wanted RM1.00).

Also, here are two videos showing a dude throwing both his shoes at President George Bush. Amazingly, he managed to evade both shoes like a pro. Awesome reflex for an old man he is.

This might interest you:

911 emails on my inbox

2008-12-14T22:10:00.003+08:00

Look! I have 911 emails on my inbox! ;D

Now time to make way for the "happy couple"!

NOTICE: Image currently unavailable. Please come back again later. :)

To make up for that, ...

FUN FACT! I have Really. Fat. Thighs.

WillHostForFood hints at application

2008-12-13T23:20:00.005+08:00

The guys over at WillHostForFood have hinted at plans for an upload application, much similar to Megaupload's.

While the speeds of WHFF is not comparable to those at Rapidshare or Megaupload, it is definitely a website that I feel comfortable in. You should try it out too (for free!), and maybe support or even get yourself a premium account while the 25% discount is still on (although I doubt it'll go away. It's been there since like, last year or so.)

Register for a free member account on WillHostForFood now!

Fun facts!

2008-12-12T19:01:00.002+08:00

Chewing gum is proven to increase flatulence (read: fart).

Well, that's just a random line to distract your attention. ;D

Yippee kai yay.

The Anti-JPEG revolution.

2008-12-11T23:20:00.002+08:00

We're trying to spread the awareness to every individual on Facebook about how sucky JPEG is at digital image compression and re-compression.

JPEG is not a lossless file format - the more you save and re-save as a JPEG, the more data losses (which is not worth the tiny drop in file size).

Everyone should know that the best file format for digital images is PNG - with PNG, all image data is preserved perfectly, unlike JPEG.

If you complain that the standard PNG filesize is too large, go for PNG-8. You can see reduction in filesize of up to 100% in some cases.

To save an image as PNG-8 in Photoshop, go to File > Save for Web & Devices... > File format: PNG-8.

If PNG is by any chance not an option, BMP is the best you can get (if not for the humongous filesize). Should that be also unavailable, there are two options:

1) Choose JPEG if the image has less fine details.
2) Choose GIF if the image has a narrow colour range. (GIF is lossless and supports 256 colours only)

We're trying to get as many people as possible to join this. You can support this anti-JPEG group by placing the following image(s) to your blog/website and a link to this group (or you can create your own!):

Image 1

Image 2

Join the Anti-JPEG group on Facebook!

(Don't take this too seriously. It's a just-for-fun thing)

Kakiis Night Out - Extra 20 invites

2008-12-11T22:17:00.003+08:00

I shall quote:

Dear Nuffnangers,

Thanks to Kakiis, we now have 20 extra invites for Nuffnangers to join in the fun for 'Kakiis Nite Out' which is taking place this Saturday with lots of games with cool prizes for everyone who attends. Expect to enjoy the evening with lots of games that will test your friendships and expect to be rewarded for your efforts as well. ;)

Details of the event as followed;

Kakiis Nite Out
Time : 5pm till 10pm
Date : 13th of December (Saturday)
Venue : Euphoria by Ministry of Sound, Sunway
What to expect : Free food and beverages, games and lots of prizes

All you have to do to reserve yourself an invite to 'Kakiis Nite Out' is simply by writing in to kakiis@nuffnang.com with the subject 'I'm a Nuffnangers with Kakiis' and provide us your full name and you stand a chance to be invited for this grand event along with any 2 of your friends.

Hurry!! Write in now as we only have 20 invites for our dearest Nuffnangers!

Cheers
Robb Chew
Bloggers Relations Executive

Anyone interested?

Besides that....

I have exactly 888 emails on my inbox. Wonderful, eh? I'm lucky.

...Although nothing ever went according to my plans. Nothing.