Binary Inspirations is a blog devoted to the latest and greatest tech items in the form of computers, gadgets, and hacks. Also featured are miscellaneous programs I've written, tips, informal hardware/software reviews, rants, tutorials, and more.
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This is the F9 release BIOS. Tested successfully on a revision 1.0 board.
Disclaimer: BIOS flashing is, of course, a potentially risky operation. All the mods below have been flashed and tested successfully, but I am not responsible for anything that happens due to the use of these mods.
Board model: Gigabyte H55M-UD2H
BIOS type: Award
BIOS version: F9
SLIC OEM: Acer[ACRSYSACRPRDCT-ANNI]2.1.BIN
Mod method: SSV3
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/fbq5xcrg7t
This is a Cygwin-compiled build of the *nix rdesktop RDP client for Windows machines.
Sound support is included.
Depending on your needs, you may find this to be a useful alternative
to the standard built-in Windows client.
Requirements:
X server for Windows (e.g. Xming or Cygwin X11)
You must have the X server running prior to using rdesktop.
Additionally, the DISPLAY environment variable must be set.
See the included batch script (RDstart.cmd) for an example
of how to set this variable and start rdesktop.
rdesktop is a command-line program: for more information, please
see the original rdesktop website.
This is an incremental update that restores functionality with the blocklistpro.com downloads. The source code has been reworked for full Python 3.1+ compatibility, and the EXEs are now built with cx_freeze. Download the new version here: http://sites.google.com/site/whitehat2k9/Home/my-programs/utorrent-ipfilter-updater
Here’s another BIOS mod, this time for the Gigabyte MA78LM-S2H. The version is F10 and is current as of this post. Tested successfully on a revision 1.3 board, and should work on all earlier revisions.
Disclaimer: BIOS flashing is, of course, a potentially risky operation. All the mods below have been flashed and tested successfully, but I am not responsible for anything that happens due to the use of these mods.
Board model: Gigabyte MA78LM-S2H
BIOS type: Award
BIOS version: F10
SLIC OEM: Acer[ACRSYSACRPRDCT-ANNI]2.1.BIN
Mod method: SSV3
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/vs2sf00y81
Version 1.35 is a major release and supports the saving and loading of profiles. These profiles allow heavy torrenters to quickly import sets of tracker URLs. Additionally, most fields are now persistent – in other words, their content will be preserved in between application sessions.
Go to the main project page for a full readme and the download link.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/personalize
Microsoft has for download a smorgasbord of themes, ranging from Ferrari to Ducati to Bing to…South Africa? Each one promises a stunning set of new desktop backgrounds. Also available are some awesome standalone backgrounds and a showcase of gadgets. For you early Win7 adopters, check these out! Microsoft has uncharacteristically took a pretty good stab at the world of user customization…
Hey…you learn something new everyday. Have you ever needed to create a title page where the text has to sit in the vertical center of the page? Just go to Page Layout, then hit the little arrow in the lower right of Page Setup. Go to the Layout tab and set Vertical Alignment to center. No more slamming the enter key 50 million times or painstakingly positioning a text book!
Hey, you learn something new every day.
Windows 7’s version number is actually NT 6.1, implying it’s only a minor point release compared to Vista (NT 6.0). But in reality, most would agree that Win7 is a significant step forward in the OS world, even if it’s just a comprehensive improvement of the Vista codebase. Regardless of your opinions on Vista, it’s hard to deny that 7 brings some awesome new features to the table. Here is my Top 10 take on those awesome features, in no particular order.
There are so many new and improved features in Windows 7 – this is but a smattering of them. Hopefully, you now have an idea of the awesomeness to expect when Microsoft releases 7 to the public.
http://www.microsoft.com/Security_essentials/
Wow, this is a first for Microsoft – releasing a competitive AV/antispyware package for FREE (unlike that OneCare BS that came before). MSE (codename Morro) is intended as a replacement for both OneCare and Windows Defender (it appears that the latter is actively disabled during MSE installation). The new user interface is designed to be lean and mean, which is suitable for even less tech-savvy users. MSE uses Microsoft Update for signature updating and is West Coast Labs Checkmark certified. Time will tell how good this new kid on the block really is, but my gut feeling is that this will be an excellent competitor in the free AV market, particularly compared to AVG and Avast.
My personal advice, of course, is that no antivirus/security program – no matter how effective – is a replacement for basic common sense and smart computing practices.
Here’s a list of all my SLIC 2.1 modded BIOS, created for educational purposes. For more information on what these do, please see: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/showthread.php?t=6921. As detailed there, the mods were performed using AndyP’s AMI and Award Mod Tools. All files below are archives containing the modded BIOS, the corresponding XRM-MS certificate, and a suitable DOS flashing tool. For more information on DOS BIOS flashing, please see my previous post.
Disclaimer: BIOS flashing is, of course, a potentially risky operation. All the mods below have been flashed and tested successfully, but I am not responsible for anything that happens due to the use of these mods.
UPDATE 05/08/2010: MA785GM-US2H updated to new F10 BIOS.
UPDATE 03/31/2010: MA785GM-US2H updated to new F8 BIOS.
UPDATE 10/09/2009: Foxconn A7DA-S updated to new 81BF1P09 BIOS.
Board model: ASRock A780GMH/128M
BIOS type: AMI
BIOS version: P1.20
SLIC OEM: Acer[ACRSYSACRPRDCT-ANNI]2.1.BIN
Mod method: SSV3
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/122kmxsark
Board model: ECS MCP61PM-AM
BIOS type: Award
BIOS version: 1.12GS
***NOTE: This is an OEM board used in the eMachines T5234 and possibly some Gateway models.***
SLIC OEM: Acer[ACRSYSACRPRDCT-ANNI]2.1.BIN
Mod method: Dynamic (due to presence of existing Vista SLIC 2.0 table)
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/uc6kzkjzo2
Board model: Foxconn A7DA-S (Socket AM2+ DDR2 version, NOT the new 3.0!)
BIOS type: AMI
BIOS version: 81BF1P09
SLIC OEM: Acer[ACRSYSACRPRDCT-ANNI]2.1.BIN
Mod method: SSV3
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/fp5lcr777f
Board model: Gigabyte MA78GM-S2HP
BIOS type: Award
BIOS version: F5
SLIC OEM: Acer[ACRSYSACRPRDCT-ANNI]2.1.BIN
Mod method: SSV3
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/rjsk4tfrp7
Board model: Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H
BIOS type: Award
BIOS version: F10
SLIC OEM: Acer[ACRSYSACRPRDCT-ANNI]2.1.BIN
Mod method: SSV3
Download: http://www.box.net/shared/94rvdqg79i
My trusty Dell Inspiron E1705, a 17” behemoth of a laptop, has lasted me beautifully for more than three years. It originally came with an OEM install of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 – all right, but quite frankly the MCE features were unneeded. This was followed up with an upgrade to XP Professional and eventually SP3. The machine ran XP decently enough – somewhat fast, but by no means snappy. It also had a bad habit of hard drive thrashing. The battery is also completely dead, but that’s no fault of the laptop (I hope!)
The system specs:
After getting hold of Windows 7 Ultimate, I thought “Why not?” It wouldn’t run any slower than XP, would it?
After a tolerably brief install process, I found myself sitting in front of a pristine Win7 desktop. Wow, that new taskbar (with those big pinnable icons and jumplists) is awesome. All hardware was immediately recognized and installed with the exception of the Ricoh memory card reader. However, that was quickly resolved after a visit to Windows Update.
The GMA 950 is notorious for its poor performance, especially in games, but believe it or not it has actually had a WDDM driver (read: Windows Aero capable) since Vista. And yes, it actually runs Aero amazingly well. Nowhere near as fluid as, say, my desktop’s Radeon 4830 but more than sufficient for daily workstation use.
As for other software, compatibility has been decent so far. Some issues I’ve noticed: Acronis True Image Home 2009 is unable to mount TIB images. Hopefully that will be fixed as I’ve got some music from my XP backup that needs to be re-instituted. (UPDATE: True Image Home 2010 is out.) Also, Daemon Tools installation popped up a compatibility warning, but the latest version seems to work fine. TrueCrypt also popped up a warning, but as long as you stay way from full-disk encryption it will work normally.
As for security, I’m just running Avast 4.8 Home with the Windows 7 firewall. It’s a nice, unobtrusive combination that’s reasonably light on system resources.
In general, I’ve found Windows 7 to be faster and more responsive than XP was. This is no small feat considering that the Dell is 3+ years old and Windows 7 is a brand-new OS. This may be attributable to Windows 7’s revamped hardware support and the use of the GPU for the Aero UI.
Oh, and by the way, here’s a shot of the Windows Experience Index:
Not TOO shabby, eh?
For some time now, people have speculated about when Microsoft will announce the “gold” RTM (release-to-manufacturing) of Windows 7. First, it was July 18, then the July 13 rumors started. Well, there is indeed a build 7600 that appeared today, but Microsoft has broken the silence and denied that this is the coveted final version. Nevertheless, the appearance of this build (on the usual slew of P2P networks) is suspicious – the latest known build was somewhere in the 7260 range, so this jump may mean that Microsoft has made significant progress in finalizing the code. Finally, note that the official build number of the final release has NOT been determined.
Hackers Targeting Windows XP-Based ATM Machines | Maximum PC
Wow, whose bright idea was it to put XP on a highly sensitive, mission-critical machine that processes privileged information and holds large sums of money? It would really, really suck to have a BSOD right before the cash drawer was supposed to open. This takes spyware to a whole new level…yikes. Windows belongs nowhere near an ATM.
Microsoft has released Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista (and Server 2008), so grab it now either off of Windows Update, as a standalone installer, or an ISO:
SP2 for x86 32-bit
SP2 for x64 64-bit
SP2 ISO Image
For more info, check out the release notes.
The second service pack for Office 2007 has been released. Highlights include ODF document support and the usual slew of stability/performance enhancements. Get your 290MB copy either from Microsoft Update or from the official download page:
Google Book Search and its ambitious scanning project have put many of the world’s finest literary and scientific works at our fingertips. One can download entire works if they are public domain or are no longer under copyright, but for current-market books only a preview of a certain number of pages is allowed. So…let’s say, hypothetically, that you DESPERATELY need the full text of a book, but don’t feel like making a late-night trip to the library. What then? Why, it’s Google Book Downloader to the rescue!
This handy little tool, written in C#, solves your literary woes. Simply input the Google BookID (found in the URL of the original Google Books page) and hit Check. Once that completes, click “Download All” and GBD does the rest by systematically downloading the pages in a randomized order (boy, does that make sense :) Finally, click “Save entire book as” the temporary downloaded pages are compiled into a nice, neat PDF. The GUI could use a little work, but once you figure out how to use the tool things work out nicely. PDF creation is handled by iTextSharp, the C# port of the popular iText Java library.
GBD in action:
http://googlebookdownloader.codeplex.com/ (.NET Framework 3.5 is required.)
Note that I do NOT condone any illegal or unsavory use of this software. Have a nice day.
» Microsoft simplifies the Windows 7 lineup | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com
Finally, Microsoft has pulled its head out of the sand and simplified the Windows 7 edition lineup (for those of us who don’t lived in a third-world country, at least). There will be 3 clear-cut and easy to understand editions: Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate (also called Enterprise for volume buyers). Unlike Vista, each edition will contain all features of the edition(s) below it: for example, Professional’s features are a superset of Home Premium’s features, and Ultimate will have all of Professional’s features. Yay! Now slack-off workers can play videos through Media Center will being connected to the corporate domain. Just what we need. But seriously, this is a much more elegant move on Microsoft’s part – no more confusion over what edition to get and heated discussions about which edition is most suitable. And no more hilarious parodies like this:
How to Get Your Windows 7 Beta 1 on Friday | Epicenter from Wired.com
Sometime tomorrow, Friday, January 9, Microsoft will open up Windows 7 to the public by offering downloads of Windows 7 Beta 1 to the first 2.5 million visitors. Registration for a key is required, and the beta expires in August. If you want to get in on some next-gen Windows action, stay tuned to the official Windows 7 webpage throughout the day, as a specific time has not been announced.
It seems that everyone's mind has been solidly inundated with horror stories about Windows Vista and how bloated and slow it is and how horribly it runs on not-so-new computers. I have been using Vista now for quite some time, both on a low-end single-core desktop and a high-powered Core 2 laptop. Compared to XP, I am EXTREMELY satisfied with my Vista experience on both machines.
Vista: It ain't so bad...
The desktop in question is a true bargain-basement system, a lowest-of-the-low prebuilt Compaq. To be honest, it is slightly souped up, but the base specs would have had a hard time running even XP decently. I wasn't expecting much when I threw Vista onto this underpowered box, but I am quite pleased with the end results.
A meager machine, no doubt, but guess what? This baby not only runs a stock install of Vista snappily enough, but can handle HDTV recording via Media Center any day. Average RAM consumption is about 450MB, well below the 1.5GB available. Thanks to the Radeon 2400 Aero runs fluidly.
So why the big disparity between perception and real-world performance? When Vista first came out back in January 2007, it had its share of issues. Computers were sold that were barely capable of running XP, let alone Vista; consumers hoping to invest in a cheap Vista computer were, unsurprisingly, disgusted. Intel took a lot of heat for selling substandard integrated graphics parts, which simply weren't up to snuff when running Vista's Aero interface. Vista did have demanding hardware requirements - the problem was that big-box computer manufacturers failed to prepare adequately for the Vista launch.
Now, the situation has improved, and virtually all consumer machines sold today are more than capable of running Vista - even on anemic integrated graphics parts. You will still find computers sold with only 1GB of RAM, but from firsthand experience I can say that Vista WILL run. Don't expect any miracles - budget computers are intended for easygoing tasks, so you get what you pay for.
Microsoft has also matured Vista with the release of Service Pack 1 (SP1) back in April 2008. Like any new OS, the RTM version of Vista was plagued with a slew of annoying bugs and glitches, which SP1 has helped to resolve. SP1 may also be responsible for improved system memory usage as well. In general, I find that a fully-updated Vista system is just as good as, if not better than, the same system running on XP SP3.
Maybe the critics were right in the beginning, but they sure as hell don't have a lot of credibility now. XP will remain around for the foreseeable future, but Vista is now a formidable contender in the Windows OS market. Now we wait and see what Windows 7 brings...
