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Cracked my Dell E1505 Laptop LCD Screen

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:26:02 GMT

I cracked my Dell E1505 LCD screen so I ordered a new screen for $99. Along with the new screen I also ordered the second replacement battery but soon I found out that the old battery was not the problem! The laptop won’t charge the new battery either!! It probably has a faulty motherboard that can not charge.

Dell has the worst laptop and battery, and I won’t buy another Dell laptop!

UniWB and A700

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:45:04 GMT

Since the histogram on DSLR is not real reflection of RAW data, I have been trying to use UniWB method to recalibrate my Sony A700 settings to get a better histogram.

Based on trials and errors, here’re my current settings: Create Style -> Neutral; Contrast -> 0; Saturation -> 0; Brightness -> +3. My UniWB setting is 3900KG9 based on a fully blown out image. Here’s how to set up UniWB.

The histograms (mainly around right side) look closer on camera and in Lightroom (imported without any preset changes).

When shooting a high dynamic range scene, I first get a reading on the main subject and then check both highlights and lowlights (+/- 2-3 stops without clipping); shoot one and check the histogram and adjust exposure to push the highlight to the right side for maximum utilization of camera’s capabality.

I’m also using the zone system for exposure.

The alternative is just using exposure bracketing of +/- 0.5 to 1 stop.

Going Film with Maxxum 7

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:54:00 GMT

I found myself liking more my Maxxum 7. To make it easier, I also ordered a scanner that converts the negatives/slides into 5M pixel file.

Kindle For PC

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:25:03 GMT

I just tried Kindle for PC. Downloaded a few free books and started reading one of them. However, reading a book on PC does not feel comfortable for me. Kindle for iPad probably will be much better fit for reading.

Reading on PC is better fit for articles or short stories.

COD4 Online Game

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:34:24 GMT

I have been playing Call Of Duty 4 online on WII for a while. I was wondering if the online game mixes the different consoles from XBox and PS3 or each console has its own network and only works with same type?

Netflix Streaming over WII Console

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:58:29 GMT

Waiting for this to become available for a long while. Finally! Almost.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/192489/netflix_streaming_via_wii_coming_really_soon.html

Twitter down

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:09:59 GMT

I don’t have twitter account, but do follow some twitters. here’s what I saw today.

Custom Display Resolution in Ubuntu 9.10

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:33:27 GMT

Ubuntu 9.10 does not use xorg.config for display settings. I’m running a VirtualBox in a Vista Laptop to host Ubuntu 9.10. The laptop supports a native 1680×1050 resolution and I like to use my Ubuntu in full screen mode with full native resolution. As VirtualBox provides only a virtual display, not the nVidia card from the laptop.

Here’re the steps to enable more resolutions:

Make sure you have installed guest additions in Ubuntu
run the command “cvt 1680 1050” and copy the output to the next command
sudo xrandr —newmode “1680×1050_60.00” 146.25 1680 1784 1960 2240 1050 1053 1059 1089 -hsync +vsync
sudo xrandr —addmode VBOX1 1680×1050_60.00
sudo xrandr —output VBOX1—mode 1680×1050_60.00

You can add more resolution with above steps. The new resolution modes will be available in Display preferences too.

I saved the steps 3-5 into a file disp so it could be used next time.

Setting up Wii again and 51331 Error Code

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:20:38 GMT

I upgraded my wireless access point to 11N and had to reset my Wii connection. I got this 51331 error again and again after many trials and errors.

It turned out that Wii didn’t like WPA2!

Here’s my final setup:

11N router: 11 b/g/n mixed mode, WPA-PSK (TRIP) and Channell 11

Wii: Manual setup; Connection 2 (Wireless); Auto-IP and Auto-DNS, No Proxy and MTU = 1500.

New Backup Scheme With CWRSYNC on Windows 7

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:17:27 GMT

With the new Dell computer, I chose to use CWRSYNC to backup daily all my data to a RAID 1 array of two external hard drives. CWRSYNC is the reincarnation of outstanding program rsync on linux/unix for syncing up file systems.

It works like a charm on Windows 7.

Here’s the command I’m using. no-p avoids the “failed to set permission” error.

rsync -av --no-p --delete /cygdrive/c/work/ /cygdrive/x/work/