PacketOne Networks, better known as P1 is steadily expanding their WiMAX network coverage in Peninsula. The most recent one is announced in some place in East Coast and Southern area. It is just a matter of time for them to reach East Malaysia, probably by earlier next year if not by the end of this year. I was informed that in Peninsula P1 is not the only player that brought in the WiMAX technology to Malaysian. Even in Sarawak there's already a provider, RedTone who claimed to have a network speed 44 times faster than any other existing wireless broadband service provider. And all that comes with a hefty price; even their cheapest package cost more than MYR100, but in return you get more monthly bandwidth to utilize as well as a fixed IP address, allowing you to virtually host your own web server at home, provided that you are willing to keep it on the whole day of course.

Wireless broadband has gradually maturing in Malaysia, thanks to their initial presence in the from of 3G network since 2006. Soon after that the 3.5G follow suit and now we have WiMAX in the list. Most of us may have known well about both 3G and 3.5G. To sum it up, 3G is the most basic wireless your money can get while 3.5G is nothing but 3G on steroid, and comes with extra price too. WiMAX on the other hand evolved from a completely different path. However, unlike the relationship between  3G and 3.5G, the WiMAX you know today is not Wi-fi on steroid, so to speak. It sure have evolved from the traditional Wi-fi but now it is a completely different technology from its 'ancestor'.

Just like both 3G and 3.5G (which have been existing long before they become accessible to us), WiMAX also has been around since 2005 when Intel first reveal about it on that time. As we already know Intel is one of many tech bodies who pushes the Wi-fi technology to us, thanks to their Centrino technology found in most notebooks. It was also their plan to bring Wi-fi to the next level and Wi-MAX is the answer. However, unlike Wi-fi, WiMAX requires special carrier (service provider) to put the technology into use, thus it is not really an upgraded version of Wi-fi.

Well, you might wonder all this time, if Wi-MAX is not Wi-fi on steroid, then what is? Ever heard about Super Wi-fi? For me that is what I call Wi-fi on steroid. Believe it or not, the one behind this technology is not Intel but Altai Technologies. Rather than working on something new (like how WiMAX was born) their approach is simple; boost and enhance whatever the current Wi-fi today have and voila, you got Super Wi-fi. Unlike Wi-MAX, you don't need special modem to connect to it. Only the access point needs to be change and with that all are set. Hmm, I wish I could experience it myself too but I have a feeling that this Super Wi-fi will be like cable TV technology that never sees it's day here.

• 0 comments »

I'm planning to make a new XP installation disk with SP3 integrated, from my existing XP SP2 disk. Things like this are possible for users with the use of slipstreamers, which in my case, I use nLite. This way I can simplify the installation process via automation, removed the unnecessary stuffs, and have the updates installed from the very start. Apart from slipstreaming SP3 into the disk, I've also integrated RyanVM's Post-SP3 Update Pack, Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player 11, and a few other nice stuffs.

The XP installation disk originally comes in a CD, so at most the size should be less than 700MB. However, I'm using a DVD, leaving me with a lot of space to put in stuff. So I decided to put in a whole slew of useful softwares into the disk, which I don't integrate to the OS but available to be installed from the same disk.

Looking into my software collection, I realized that most of them are old versions that needs an  update. Up I go lurking the Internet, scavenging softwares (mostly freeware and open source). Quite a few new gems I found.

Among them is ThumbView Lite, which allows a number of files - PSD, DDS, TGA, and a few others - to have thumbnails just like JPG files in Windows Explorer. Unfortunately it doesn't work in Vista, but I tested them in XP under Virtual PC 2007 SP1, and it works like a charm. Still, it doesn't allow you to open the files to view them, so it's better coupled with an image viewer like IrfanView (with plugins).

Another one is Chrome Frame. This is actually a plugin for Internet Explorer, but it replaces IE's Trident engine with Google Chrome's WebKit engine. The result: IE with a loading speed of Chrome. Yes, a ninefold speed increase. Kinda neat, although you can just get Google Chrome instead. It's still in early stages, so expect bugs and crashes though.

For most of my stuffs, they were merely updates made possible over this rarely good speeds in this crappy wireless service today. Among them are DirectX August 2009, Pidgin 2.6.2, Rainlendar 2.6, Opera 10, and a quite a list of softwares.

• 0 comments »

The days of crappy networks in my college seems to be endless, and it just went crapper than ever. Yesterday I was trying to upload a small image (my current avatar in /g/), using my usual image hosting site, imagehost.org. Oddly enough, this site seems to be blocked with Websense by the network admin, under the category "Personal Network Storage and Backup". I wonder what kind of genius is that, it's far beyond my comprehension.

This Websense filtering has been used before over here, with numerous revisions, but it has never been as nonsensical as this. "Personal Network Storage and Backup" supposedly belongs to file hosting sites such as MediaFire, RapidShare, MegaUpload, DepositFiles, etc. It makes sense if they are trying to improve the Internet surfing experience by not allowing the users to leech large files from these sites, thus saving bandwidth.

But why image hosting sites are blocked as well? Many of us rely on these services to upload and view images all over the Internet. And most of these images doesn't go larger than 100MB, due to the website's restrictions over unregistered/free users. C'mon, do us some justice. There's no good reason why image hosting sites should be blocked.

I tried a number of websites and keywords that I expect to be blocked, the results are pretty much weird. Popular file hosting sites were blocked, as well as popular image hosting sites. XS.TO, which I used to upload the image just now, isn't blocked, probably because its less popular. The keyword "porn" is blocked, under the category "Streaming Media". Keywords like "sex", "nude", "warez", "hentai", etc. haven't been blocked, which is indeed weird. So they're stopping us from downloading stuff, which might be important/legal, but allow us to view porn sites?

I can't get YouTube, Metacafe, or Google Video to load though, so I don't know the results for the time being.

Websense is never a welcome addition to me. It just worsens the Internet experience. Now since file hosting sites are blocked, I can't download regular cool stuffs from there anymore. Just throw the web filtering nonsense away and give us better networks instead. We pay for that.

• 6 comments »

A friend of mine just lend me his copy of Ghostbusters: The Video Game a few days ago. Although most licensed games end up bad, I'm actually looking up to this title, since the gameplay video looks kinda sweet in X-Play.

And so goes to the installation. It was all fine until it said the installation failed in the end. Oddly enough, I found the files in my Program Files folder, and actually able to launch the game. Perhaps it's the crappy installer by those pirates I guess (sshhhh!).

So the game launches, and I reach the main menu. And... it lags like hell. More like a slightly movable slide show. Whatever. I tried to play career mode, regardless of the lag, hoping it would be fine there. It was indeed better, but still unplayable. I set the resolution to 800 x 600, then it becomes playable, but not entirely smooth either.

This mystery of extreme lagging has puzzled me. My rig is a good 2.6GHz dual core CPU, 4GB of DDR2-667 RAMs, and a factory-overclocked 9600GT with 512MBs of DDR3 memory. What could've gone wrong? Vista sucks? Unlikely, since my friend also uses Vista, and his game was really smooth.

I almost gave up playing the game, until I briefly re-played Call of Duty last night. I tweaked the game (Call of Duty) via Nvidia's Control Panel to give the old game justice some time ago. Then I realized, maybe I should check something in that control panel.

Indeed it was. The culprit is the global 3D settings were set in a way that not all games are compatible, perhaps a mistake I've done some time ago (I should set profile setting instead of global, which affects all 3D apps). Reset to default settings, and voila, problem no more. In fact, other games seemed smoother than before.

So yeah, next time, try looking up into the control panels if there was any problem with your games. Perhaps you can find a solution there. Now the only problem is beating up those tough and swarming marshmallow minions. Wish me luck, because it's really hard.

• 0 comments »

I've been absent for 2 weeks, thanks to my job interview I attended on Friday Aug 7. It was for vacancies of computer technician in various federal departments and I was quite happy to think that if I'm lucky I'll work (and play) with computers.

The interview is supposed to be easy but somehow I screwed up a bit since I don't have time to think, to manage my words but still the interview runs smoothly and everything seems to be fine.

10 questions being asked to me:

1. Tell us more about yourself
This is where I first screwed-up. I shouldn't have talked much about my bio since everything is already in the resume. I should have talked about what I like/dislike, my interest in computers as well as my opinion related to that stuff. Of course i had them planned in my head but they interrupted me before I could go any further.

2. Main component of a computer
This is easy. I explain everything from CPU to GPU, types of monitor and even the development of Terabyte HDD. My only worry is I might have gone too far LOL (too excited?).

3. Ports at the back of a computer
This one is also easy. I listed out everything I know, including the obsolete and legacy ports (PS/2, serial, parallel, etc). Even the graphics ports (RGB, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc) also not spared haha!

4. Types of topological networking
This is where I screwed up again. I was taking too much time to explain about LAN and I didn't have a chance to explain about other types of networking since they interrupted me in the middle.

5. Frequently used ports in networking
This is quite easy also. I quickly learned from my mistake from earlier questions (although it might be too late already) so I just explain things straight forward. What port is used by HTTP, FTP, POP3/IMAP mail, p2p networking, etc.

6. How to prevent virus infection
This is relatively easy since this is what I'm always asked for help in my current workplace, although I'm not a computer technician there. Of course I answered everything about antivirus, firewall, email attachment, etc. Luckily for this question I got time to explain about source of infections, what are rootkits about, worms, trojanhorses, backdoors, keyloggers and many other as well as how to deal with any of these.

7. The diference between RG11 & RG45
Too bad I failed to answer this. I know this is about cable stuff but since I'm lacking of experience in working with network so I don't know much about types of cables & antennas. What did I do then? Well, I just apologized and told them honestly that I don't have much experience in networking in the most polite way I could think of.

8. How many bits in a byte
Simple. I just answered straight to the point because I know time is running out.

9. The differences between 32-bit computing and 64-bit computing
I also don't take much time to answer this so I just told them whatever I have in my head.

10. Ways to connect to the Internet
The most unexpected question comes last! I just managed to answer 2 (fixed-line & wireless) before being interrupted, marks the end of the session.

All that took roughly 20 minutes. The guy before me took longer, almost half an hour. I'm not sure why but that guy possess a diploma in electric-electronic while the 2 guys after me possess a cert in electric-electronic from local polytechnic. I am the only one with only SPM in hand so I was quite surprised to know that my job application was accepted. Not sure about those who are interviewed days before us though.

• 1 comments »

limit July 27 marks the 3rd month I am on 3G network. Thanks for the 'cheap' unlimited plan by Celcom, I finally able to enjoy 'broadband' too, which term was made exclusively only for fixed line users in the past. How cheap, you asked? At 68 bucks per month for the so-called 'unlimited' plan, it's only slightly higher than my monthly Astro bill.

Most of you may wonder what's the meaning with the words between those single quotes. 'Cheap' because it is still affordable for me, though I hope it was 50 bucks or less. 'Broadband' because it is peaked at 384kbps, thus allowing me to do some torrenting & listening to internet radio. 'Unlimited' because there is no time restriction, I can stay online for the whole day if I wanted to.

Seriously how 'cheap' this service actually? For me I'm like paying more than I was offered. They said it is 'broadband' but torrenting & any existing p2p network, just like the issue faced by all Streamyx users, are cruelly and mercilessly throttled. Not only I'm not allowed to do port-forwarding, due to the fact that all Celcom 3G client IPs are NAT-ed (Network Address Translation), I'm forced to comply with the monthly allocated 5GB data transfer.

Wait! Only 5GB? I can fill that in no time! I remember in the first month of my 3G subscription, that 5GB limit was reached within 2 weeks only, although I only downloaded 4 anime episodes and 12 mp3s, as well as occasional (weekly) online games session. I learned something on that time; limit the uploading speed for my torrent so other people are not eating my bandwidth too much. Sorry my torrent peers but I'm forced to do so. Celcom is Streamyx by another name after all.

Thank goodness Celcom did not ban the network for exceeding the limit. Instead they throttle everything down to the same level as a dial-up modem! That means I can still do some 'Twitting', 'Facebooking', blogging & emailing but downloading would be a pain. Can you imagine taking 10 minutes to download a 5MB mp3 when we are so used to downloading them in seconds before? Torrenting is a complete no-no when the full throttling imposed. I can't understand why Malaysian ISPs are so mean towards torrenteer? In the US 3G networks are not NAT-ed, allowed to do port-forwarding and even may have fixed IP, allowing one to host a website on a home server!

Oh yeah, I did mention about the so-called 'unlimited' right? The plan I'm subscribing to is indeed unlimited, to certain extent. Although 5GB is the maximum data transfer allowed for me, I can keep continuing for more without extra charges. However, this limitation is close to impossible if I must say. 5GB is too small for an avid downloader like me. Sure there are better but more expensive plan (HSDPA plan with double the amount of the bandwidth plus the 3.6MBps speed) but that would be overkill for me, even if it is only 98 bucks per month.

Digi recently launch their first 3G network but currently only available in the Peninsula. They used to have only EDGE network but only usable on EDGE supporting phone and no specialized modem for it. I'm thinking of switching to Digi 3G once they reach here but for now Celcom is my only/best choice. Well, Digi offers 50GB monthly data transfer how could I refuse? WiMax, on the other hand has made its move in Bolehland as well. Packet One Networks, the nation's first WiMax telco has launched their WiGGY service in May. Now, another provider, RedTone already make its presence in Borneo, offering "48x faster speed than any other wireless technology" as they claimed, premiumly priced at 138 bucks per month. I'd only consider subscribing to any one of these if the price dropped by 50%.

Seriously, I need around 100GB data transfer per month, judging from my usage rate. Using some rough calculation (based on 384kbps speed):
(384kbps)*(60seconds)*(60minutes)*(2hours/day)*(30days/month)=83GB
And that was assuming I on online at average 2 hours per day (though I think might be 4 hours or even more).

Now, comparing the speed before and after full throttling:

Before:


After:


Celcom is sick. Now I'm waiting for them to reset the throttling so I can resume my torrent again (weird? It's already the 1st day of August but it seems like my network is still throttled. They were never this late before). Honestly, the 5GB limit is a little too small for me. It is supposed to be a 'broadband' right? And being 'broadband' means they are geared towards heavy user like me, regardless they are mobile or on fixed line. What's the point of using the term 'broadband' if its usage is limited then.

• 4 comments »

It comes to my attention that someday, I won't be able to handle all the stuffs in /g/'s Tech section. Well, the time has come anyway, with revo being quite busy with his life, and apparently I'm starting to get busy myself. Being a final year student, assignments are getting heftier, studies are getting harder, and more responsibilities are showing up. Added with the fact that my room no longer has any access to the Internet, I need to find more people to assist me.

So now we're recruiting new Techrangers. Basically, any gforumer can be a Techranger, as long as they will help us in any way possible for them. Just send an application to me and I'll consider your request to be one. You can do it via:

• Commenting to this post
• PM me in gforum
• Posting a reply to the recruitment thread
  

You'll receive a number of priviledges for being a Techranger. It isn't much, but it may help. So yeah, come and apply, now.

UPDATE: Added another option for applications via recruitment thread.

• 3 comments »