Thursday, May 24, 2007

Trying Out Ubuntu

I can't remember where I stumbled upon ubuntu but I wasn't really aware about their existence. Because of the bottleneck of broadband internet connection, I was put off from the idea of downloading Ubuntu which is based on Linux OS. So, on the 5th of May 2007, I requested a Ubuntu 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn) CD. At first I couldn't believe that they are ship out those CD for free. However, I proceed to filled the form anyway.

Yesterday afternoon or 18 days later, I found this package inside my mailbox:

ubuntu shipped to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia


Inside the package is this:

ubuntu CD and stickers


It's a CD package along with a few stickers of ubuntu. I am always excited to get something new so I tried my new OS immediately:

ubuntu on ashrufzz PC


I don't want to install ubuntu yet on my PC, so I'm using the Live CD feature to try it out. So far, I've spent a couple of hours exploring this fantastic operating system. It detects all my computer hardware including my Wireless USB stick. I tried surfing the internet using my 4 days year old Maxis Wireless Broadband connection and it worked better than Windows. I'm still editing my review about my Maxis Wireless Broadband I just got last Sunday beside doing a couple of more testing. I'll post my outcome shortly.

Here's a screenshot of my ubuntu desktop:

ubuntu-screenshot.jpg


I just love the desktop GUI and there is so much features and softwares bundled together that I become ecstatic about this OS. I'll try and write something about my discovery in my next posts. Here comes the hard part, I'm still trying to figure out whether I should install dual boot-up (ubuntu and Win XP) or just use Virtual PC 2007 to install ubuntu under Windows environment. I'm a Windows user since the DOS era which later on followed by Windows version 3.1, Windows 95/98/NT/XP so it's kind of hard to get used to something that we are not accustomed to. Oh well, I need to back-up all my files first before deciding anything.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Cruising The SMART Tunnel

Yesterday I had the opportunity to drive through the half a billion Ringgit Malaysia "SMART Tunnel" while returning home after driving my father to Bandar Tasik Selatan. For those of you who haven't used this tunnel yet, better do so before they charge RM4 for this 4km tunnel next month.

I didn't bring along my digital camera so I couldn't take any pictures while driving inside the tunnel. Anyway, I'll just conclude what I've experience. The Smart Tunnel

  • The sign before the toll gate ask to flash your Touch n Go card but it's kind of useless as people just drive by there (while still free of course)

  • The road inside the tunnel is bumpy

  • Selected radio station are available inside the tunnel

  • My Maxis phone line is available too

  • If you are claustrophobic, better stay away from this tunnel.

  • The air inside the tunnel is hot and full of carbon monoxide. Better repair your car's air conditioner if you haven't do so or you'll get suffocated the entire journey.

  • It bothered me that I had no idea where I was at while inside the tunnel plus you need to drive really carefully.

  • Better make sure your car doesn't break down or overheat while inside the tunnel. There isn't enough space for an emergency lane and you'll get cursed for causing traffic jam inside the tunnel.


Bottomline, I would only use the SMART Tunnel if only I'm in a rush or in case of an emergency. I don't really like driving inside a tunnel. By the way, speaking about tunnel, I watched a movie called Terowongan Casablanca last month and it was the most ridiculous ghost story I've ever seen (I'm not a fan of ghost movies so I don't watch much of it). I don't think ghost would be interested on the SMART Tunnel though..haha..

Related interesting links:

Saturday, May 19, 2007

My PayPerPost Love

I've been writing sponsored blog posts for quite some time already. I don't really write much as my previous sponsored blog provider only e-mails me whenever there is such opportunity to do so. Still, I my only concern is I don't find it interesting to read text book kind of writing. So being that case producing high quality post that has my personality is my number one priority when writing blog posts.

I've registered with PayPerPost for quite some time ago. However, I have not wrote any sponsored blog post provided by PayPerPost yet. The reason; I was lazy to find open opportunities that they have to offer. Another reason is, PayPerPost administration page is so slow that I wandered off somewhere and had forgotten that I was supposed to learn, find and write about sponsored blog post from PayPerPost.

Since this would be my first ever sponsored blog post from PayPerPost, I'm penniless at the moment. I did however earned almost USD70 from my previous sponsored blog post provider and here what I did with the money I had earned:
  • Traded for cash (It was hard to convert to cash in banks from country)
  • Bought domain names for myself
  • Bought web hosting services
  • Bought a cheap e-book
I guess when I made some money with PayPerPost, I'd be doing the same thing but I should be focusing on writing blog post first.

What I've learned from writing sponsored blog post is that there are certain stuff that we don't really know but because of the motivation to earn that money, we somehow still pursue on digging the information to write about it. Therefore, by writing sponsored blog posts, it can be a new discovery by itself.

Word of mouth marketing these days are becoming more and more trusted. This is because we are now listening to the person that we trust instead of some lame marketing ploy that just wants our money. It is definitely crucial for business and word of mouth can travel a lot faster than we can ever imagine. Which is why I love PayPerPost effort in spreading the word of mouth marketing.

Friday, May 18, 2007

My Web Host: The Fastest Web Host?

Yesterday, I received this newsletter e-mail from my web host:

bytehost-newsletter.jpg


I was kind of skeptical at first because how do you measure the fastest web hosting server and what does that suppose to mean? Reading my newsletter carefully and made further reading about Free PHP Hosting Services Comparison Benchmark, I now know that the comparison benchmark result was made using a PHP script and it is measure based on the PHP execution (Whatever that means). I don't really know much about PHP language yet but I do know that they are resource intensive on the web servers with high traffic loads and will really strain your web server (if your website/blog post got dugged) causing it to experience downtime and other not so good stuff.

I never really much care about these performance stuff to be honest. The reason I became a paying customer for Bytehost was because of the package that they sell includes a free domain name with huge amount of web spaces and it was the cheapest I can find. Furthermore, I had some PayPal money that I need to spend that time because cashing it out was not a good option for me.

Digging information about my web host a little further, my web host has an address located in Newcastle, England. This reminds me when I was little, my father sent me to Richard Avenue Primary School in Sunderland, England and I think we once went to Newscastle for some sightseeing since it is not that far north from Sunderland, I guess. At that time, my father was pursuing his degree at Sunderland Polytechnic (now it's University of Sunderland). By the way, just look add the feature my web host gives; I can host adult content. Well, I don't really want to go into that path. I heard that the money is good in that industry but it wouldn't be a decent way of earning an income.

So, is my web host the fastest free web hosting server? I don't know, so far it did a good job for all my websites and this blog. My only challenge right now is I'm currently utilizing less than 5% of what I've paid for, so I'm still under utilizing my web hosting plan capabilities. Well, got to work hard on that to see if what they claim is true.

Related links:

Saturday, May 05, 2007

My New Google Page Rank

I bought my domain name which came along with the package of webhosting at Byethost on 23rd February 2007. So, that would make my domain name is less than 3 months old. So far I've posted 18 posts, well I haven't been managed to update my blog quite oftenly because I've been busy plus I procrastinate a lot. Anyway, recently Google has updated their Pagerank for all the website that they have indexed. My website is also included of course. Here is how I scored a PR of 2.

Sometimes, you web browser can play tricks on you, so I like to double check to see if the Pagerank that I got is real or not. You can visit Check Page Rank.

This proves that you can have Google Pagerank quite easily and you don't have to really pay or do a lot of work. For me, having a pagerank or not is no big deal. It is like having a house with some decoration to it. I'm not really fussy about having the tiles marbled, at least not yet. However, it is nice to see those green bar going up. That shows that you have a quality website and it is useful for the readers to read.

Okay, it's time for me to go. By the way, I'm writing this post with my brother's HP Compaq nx6320 with intel Centrino Duo processor which belongs to his company. This morning I sent my PC to my local shop nearby for an upgrade. I'm upgrading my CPU from 1.7GHz Intel Celeron to a 1.5GHz Pentium 4 processor and also moving the motherboard and all that junk into a new casing. Hope after the upgrade, it could make my web projects a lot smoother. I'll write about a review about my upgraded computer soon.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Maxis High-Speed 3G Broadband: Worth It?

My darling is a student at my former university (UiTM Shah Alam) where I used to go to. She lives in a hostel inside the university called Kolej Melati. She said that nowadays, every student is encourage to own a laptop or at least a computer. It has been a couple of years since UiTM has introduced online registration each time a new semester is opened. Because of that, every UiTM or generally most of university students in Malaysia should have at least a basic understanding of how to use a web browser and the internet.

With this online trend going strong, having access to the internet is getting more and more a necessity in a life of a student. The sad part is, Wi-Fi areas where a lot of students could access the internet easily is very limited. Fortunately, at my darling's hostel, they provide a WiFi coverage called Kolej Melati Wi-Fi Hotspot Instant Surf (WHIS). They've already installed the service for over a year now and they've recently extended the service to the hostel next to it (Kolej Mawar).

The WHIS service is not a free Wi-Fi. To subscribe, after paying a registration fees to get a username and password, a RM50 fee per semester has to be paid to enjoy the service.  My darling was one of the first to register and during the early deployment, the connection was quite good. From my observation (yeah, I went into her hostel area many times..hehe), the Wi-Fi source was a cybercafe inside the hostel and they broadcast the signal from an antenna just outside the cafe. Problem arises when more and more student subscribe and connection became unstable probably because of the demanding traffic I supposed.

There was one Wi-Fi service provider a few months back came to the hostel and launched another Wi-Fi service called Blue Dream. They gave out a free trial for a week and was going to charge RM40 per month. My darling tested that one and the connection was blazing fast. For me, RM40 per month is too steep for a student to pay plus wireless environment is not something reliable you can trust yet. Apparently, the service provider got chased out by the hostel management from what I heard so the WHIS is still the sole Wi-Fi provider for UiTM's Kolej Melati and Kolej Mawar. I wonder why TMNet hadn't install their Hotzone service for UiTM's residential college such as what they did at Universiti Teknologi Petronas the past several months.

Unfortunately, the WHIS is not working the past several weeks now. Basically, it's useless and not worth the money paid. She recently found out a friend of hers who is using Maxis High-Speed 3G Broadband a couple of floors up from where her room is. The network is utilizing the Maxis 3G network for internet access. I did some reading on that last year and was taking it as an option to my highly unstable Streamyx connection. Last night, I also did some readings on a few blogs and forum as listed down below this blog post. There's a lot of things to consider because from most of my readings, a lot of them are negative feedback. However, we all know that we tend to complain far more than praising so it's not really fair to judge before trying right?



So earlier today, after being begged by my darling plus my eagerness to try out something new, we head down to Maxis Centre downtown Suria KLCC. Stepping inside Maxis Centre got me kind of impressed with a lot of decorations and with so many terminals promoting the latest handphone craze. After asking the officer about the product, I finally signed on the dotted line upon agreeing for a trial 30 days run of usage for the Maxis Wireless High-Speed 3G Broadband. Just to let you know, the modem is actually really bulky. I mean, your TM Net Streamyx  DSL modem is a lot smaller. So, it's not really mobile after all. Drop by Maxis Centre if you happen to go there to see it for yourself. It's just in front of the reception area.

Actually I don't really need another internet connection as my house is already equipped with Wi-Fi powered by a 1MB TMNet Streamyx connection but this is a chance for me to test out this product first before handing it over to my darling for her to use. Of course I'll do a review of it when I get my hand on it, so stay tuned.

By the way, the Maxis guy told me that they are currently receiving a lot of applications so it may take up to one month before the installation can be done. The guy also told me that a lot of people are returning the modem and asking for their money back after trying it out less than a month. Oh well, I guess I'd better wait and try it for myself before jumping into conclusion.

Related info for you to munch:



Update: I've wrote about my experience with this service: Maxis Wireless Internet 3G Broadband Review.


After 642-436, many students aim for 1Y0-259. Those who don’t, usually decide upon 70-536 or 70-642, before thinking of the advanced 642-642 certificate.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Auditing Your Own PC

After reading my former blog which was hosted on Xfresh.com way back in 2004, I realized something significant, I am still using my freaking old obsolete computer!

Nevertheless, this old computer that I'm using can still handle a lot of my web projects and serve me alright. Here's a picture of my freaking old computer:




This picture was taken back in 2004 which was almost 3 years ago and it is still the computer that I'm still using until today. If you are wondering where's the cover, most of the time I like to keep the air flow flowing because the casing cover is made of metal so it consolidate the heat inside eventhough metal is a heat conducter. The processor is a 1.7 GHz Intel Celeron. If you have never used an Intel Celeron processor before, this kind of CPU will get really hot in a short period of time especially when you are the kind of person who tend to abuse your PC's resources. How do you know if you are abusing your own PC or not? Take a look at this screenshot:



Press CTRL+ALT+DEL and the Windows Task Manager will pop up. This is where you can see what program you have opened, how much resources is still available and the whole inside engine of Windows Operating System. You will know that you are abusing your PC when the CPU usage graph is stuck at 100%. If you have a poor PC cooling system, your computer will automatically shut down without warning. This is one of the reason it is advisable to place your computer in an air-conditioned room. Apparently, I don't really like being in an air-conditioned room for too long so my room normally doesn't have the air-conditioned switched on. Fortunately, my PC stays alive until today.

So, how can we learned and get to know your own PC the easy way? Get Belarc Advisor and Audit your own PC. You can also recover your original Windows XP Installation key using this software. Just don't publish what you have on the internet like what recently happened. You can read more about Belarc Advisor here. Anyway, here's what I find out about my computer:



I kind of symphatize myself for still using a computer with such an obsolete specification. I don't have enough resources yet to buy a new PC. My Intel Celeron CPU is really slowing my job efficiency especially during multitasking. I'm heading to a used computer shop nearby my house to see if I could find a cheap used Pentium 4 CPU so that I could have more CPU power for my web projects.