A little research revealed that certain Motorola PCMCIA cards with the same guts as the Airport serve the same purpose and are immediately identified by OSX as Airport cards – no drivers and no configuring. I bought a Motorola Wireless Notebook Adapter WN825G from Amazon for $10 and it still works a charm…

There are some other cards that have the same chipset (Broadcom BCM4306 chipset) that also work, in exactly the same way. I’ll make a list of them if I get around to it. Thinking of getting another if I can find one actually, just in case…

I’ve been trying to figure this out for a very long time and I finally have a perfectly free and efficient way of converting Powerpoint Presentations (.ppt) of figures, annotated graphs, etc to Encapsulated Postscript (.eps) files for use in LateX documents:

(I suspect that this works with the OpenOffice version of Powerpoint also, for those that dont wanna feed the Microsoft beast any more than they have to.)

1. First you will need a postscript printer. Luckily a virtual printer will do just fine, so go over to PDF995 and download the free PDF printer software. Get the Pdf995 Printer Driver and Free Converter and install them both.

This will also give you the ability to save any document as a PDF file for free (niiiiice!) (borat rules):). The software is add supported (unobtrusive) and very reliable.

2. Fire up Powerpoint and adjust the page properties to reflect the size/scale that you want your eps image to have. This method will make an .eps file out of a whole slide, so make sure the scale fits your needs: File > Page Setup

Note: This is the only place where you may have some problems. The bounding box for your eps image is likely to get messed up if you dont use a square page size that is very similar to the printing size of a normal page. Through trial and error I have found that 7×7 inches works perfectly, so from now on all of my images are perfect squares — something I have found very easy to live with.

3. Design your figure/image. If you have previously designed your figures and have now resized the page, you will find that your images have been squashed. Its best to start a new powerpoint presentation with the page dimensions you want and then just copy and paste your figures from the old presentation. That way the scale of the figure will stay the same.

4. Now we are ready to “print” our PPT figure into an EPS file. Go to: File > Print, select the PDF995 printer and put a tick on Print to File, as shown in the image:

5. Click on the printer Properties > Advanced and change Paper/Output > Paper Size to PostScript Custom Page Size. Here enter the same page dimensions as you entered earlier in Step 2.

6. Click on Document Options > PostScript Options and set PostScript Output Option to Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) and PostScript Language Level to 1, as shown:

7. Click OK, OK, OK. You will be prompted to save your .eps file (I suggest choosing “All files” from the file type menu, to save you having to rename your file. Let the PDF995 advertisement banners time out, close them and you are done! Now your PPT figure has been saved in the EPS full vector graphic format!

Here’s a comparison of the results from using a JPG and a EPS in a LaTeX document, mostly for my viewing pleasure I hope this helps you guys.

For a compilation of other really useful LaTeX tips and trips visit Tao Xie’s LaTeX page.

DSOpera will only work for about 1 minute, before the erroneous area of the ram is accessed and the whole thing freezes up. Then the other day I installed DSLinux and while the app was loading the Rumble Ram pack (that I had never heard rumbling before) started rumbling at full volume and the DS *Blitzed* on me. Suffice to say that I freaked out. The DS did not want to start up afterwards and a few minutes later with my heart racing I was searching through my stuff for the receipt – if I even had it sitting around…

Long story short, the DS started up after removing the battery and inserting it again. I now attribute the lockups while using DSOpera and other RAM-needy homebrew to a bad Rumble Ram pack. I have contacted Divineo, asking for an exchange (I’ll update this post when I get the replacement — fingers crossed!).

I have done some extra research and have found that several M3 DS Real Rumble Ram cartridges are in fact not working properly, and they disguise themselves as odd/opportunistic problems. The source of the trouble are memory errors that can be found by running the memtestARM homebrew application. memtestARM reports that the RAM is broken at address 0×8200000 (on my specific cart):

The exact problem has been documented by this user, who has exactly the same symptoms, other than his memory is broken at address 0×8400000. The video included in this blog, shows the memory errors, crashes and asynchronous rumbling when certain parts of the ram are accessed.

I went ahead and bought myself an EZ 3-in-1 adapter from RealHotStuff (Newegg for Nintendo DS accessories!), because it has been reported to have the best support for homebrew applications and it also contains Ram and GBA capabilities in the same cart (browser and GBA games need to be patched appropriately — see my DS pages for more details). I immediately tested it with memtestARM and it passed with flying colors:

I should have gotten this from the beginning, since I want to end up with the CycloDS Evolution cart eventually. I am sure that not every Rumble Ram pack is faulty, since there are many reviews that tell of the homebrew applications I mentioned working flawlessly. However, if you’re having similar problems please report this here or in the relevant forums, to save people some trouble trying to figure out whats wrong!

Update:

I just got the replacement M3 DS RAM Slot-2 Cart from Divineo, and alas… IT IS ALSO BROKEN AT THE SAME MEMORY ADDRESS… I’ll be sending it back again and again untill they get it right! (I asked them to test it before sending, but didnt really expect them to do so…)

“ Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe’s Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.” Took a while but I figured it out:

1. Close all active programs
2. Go to Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility. Select your hard drive from the left panel and click on “Repair Disk Permissions”.
3. Download the Flash Player Installer and Uninstaller from here.
4. Run the uninstaller and then the installer.

It turns out that Opera still doesn’t work, but at least Safari does, and thats good enough for me. Also while surfing around I realized that Mac:Explorer is completely unsupported and I uninstalled it forever.

1. Open the Starry Night CD, by right clicking on the CD/DVD icon in My Computer.
2. Locate the setup.exe or install.exe file that is the main file that installs Starry Night. This will differ depending on the version, so do a little bit of searching around if you need to.
3. Right click on the setup.exe files and go to Properties/Advanced and under Compatibility, select “Windows XP”.
4. Run the installer.

Thats it. This trick works with every other program that has version conflicts with Vista.

Needless to say, every single song in every single album has some… offering. Depending on your mood you will take something new out of them and make it yours forever. “The gates of Rock and Roll will never close on me”. “I live to see the day He comes upon a horse”. “Put me inside flesh that is dying… just dont take your love away”. “…and the moon gives me permission as I enter through your eyes”.

There are no favorite songs. Nor is there a good or bad time to listen to VAST. Its the single most played collection of albums in my music collection. I take it and I leave it. Sometimes on purpose, just because I find it so powerful. It always leaves me in a contemplative and relaxed mood, I must admit. I have noticed that my faith in life and humans is reinforced when I listen to VAST, I guess because it reminds me that someone is thinking this way and that others are listening.

There arent many fans of VAST around. But only because they havent heard it yet. Even if you dont know me, or you’re for some reason unconvinced by my rant here then please just ignore me and go have a look at some songs. You choose for yourself.

I was trying to repair a windows installation and needed to boot from the WinXP CD. I am using a USB keyboard, which was not a problem at all at first, as I was able to press F9 and enter the BIOS. From there I set the computer to boot from the CD. When the computer restarted and asked me to:

Press any key to boot from the CD-ROM…

I was unable to do so. I never found a fix and it was necessary for me to install a PS/2 keyboard to get the computer to boot from the CD. I later realized that running “sfc /scannow” from a command prompt (available by typing “cmd” in the “Run…” box on the Start Menu) combined with a registry backup would have cleared up my problem, but hey…

Some modern BIOS revisions have an option to enable USB keyboard support from the BIOS or OS. Setting this to BIOS will clear up this problem in most cases (mine didnt include this option, but a quick test on a computer at work.

It is good practice to have a PS/2 keyboard and mouse always at hand, just in case something goes wrong with your wireless devices.

Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management

There are several more advanced partitioning tools that let you create, delete, format, defragment, resize, move partitions around, modify their attributes or even copy entire hard disks from one to another. Cute Partition Manager is free and comes highly recommended.

Quite often I find that when I attempt to add a support for one of the new versions of these codecs that are continuously updated, it results in choppy / stuttery video playback. So here are my guidelines for clearing up your system for optimal video performance.

This guide is for WinXP:

1. Uninstall all Codecs

From the control panel, find any individual codecs or codec packs you may have install and remove them.

2. Check if any codecs have been left over :

Right-Click on > My Computer > Properties > Hardware Tab > Device Manager > Sound, Video and Game Controllers > Video Codecs. Right-Click again and go to > Properties > Properties Tab. This is a list of all of the video codecs that are installed on your system.

Note that some of the codecs here that you may not recognize are used by the Windows GUI (these are indicated by .dll or .drv, but not limited to) and removing them would result in the need for a complete re-installation of your operating system.

If there are named codecs there such as DivX Pro, or XviD 4.12 codecs (these are often the central cause of bad video payback) then go back and see if you missed them in the Add/Remove codecs panel. If you still cannot find them then download and install the program : Codec Sniper. Search very carefully for the codec you want to uninstall and do so.

I had a particularly strange problem with XviD 4.12, as I mentioned above, that would re-appear in my video codecs after I rebooted, even though I removed it from the Device Manager. Codec Sniper did the trick for me.

3. Install a Unified Codec Pack :

I have always been an advocate of minimalism, especially when it comes to system files and codecs, and despite the excellent work that current unified codec projects such as The CCCP: Combined Community Codec Pack and The K-Lite Codec Pack, I feel that the best way to ensure reliable video and audio capabilities on any computer is to install only what you need.

I recently did a review of many codec packs available and came up with a prescription, so to speak, for reliable media playback:

Before I begin, I just want to make a note about Windows Media Player 11. I have noticed for a long time now, that when a media file decides to launch with MPC11, etc it often goes online and downloads or overwrites the codecs that the rest of the system are using, in favor of the Microsoft Certified ones. However, I bet that Anime Translation groups dont give a rat’s ass about what Microsoft has certified and my anime shows started experiencing problems, such as stuttering, subtitle problems, dual audio problems and the list goes on (basically anything and everything).

Having in fact uninstalled Windows Media Player 11, from the Add/Remove Programs Menu, under Windows Components, I now have my peace of mind knowing that I’m not going to start flaming at my computer when I next decide to watch a batch of Naturo or Bleach releases.

I leave this step completely up to you and your own judgement, as I know that some people just like to do things differently, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to see a pretty interface in front of you (although, it’s invisible when you fullscreen your video, right… I’m just saying… ^_^)

#1 : Media Player Classic is a small but supercharged version of the old Windows Media Player 6.4. It is by far the smallest, most reliable and feature rich video player available and I recommend it hands down. If you have been raised in a world of WMP 11 etc, you may miss the slick interface, but I bet you will enjoy the speed and features. You can resize and zoom the image using the numberpad and even speed up or delay audio on the fly, switch audio or subtitle tracks on the fly and it is also a full blown DVD Player – just select File > Play DVD. I have been using this for years without any problems. Remember to associate your .mkv files with MPC (Right Click > Open With … > Pick Media Player Classic (you may have to search through your program files) and then tick on the [Always Open The Selected Program ... etc ] radio button)

#2 : FFDShow MPEG-4 Video Decoder is the intelligence behind all the popular codec packs. It is the collection of pure decoder filters that are used to play back video and audio of all kinds you will ever encounter. During installation you can choose to let FFDShow handle every file type and then enjoy the simplest and in my opinion the best codec solution available on the net today. (Rated No.1 on free-codecs.com’s downloads, need I say more?)

#3 : Quicktime Alternative | Real Alternative. Through your life and times you will come across the occational Quicktime or high compression Realplayer .rmjb file that you want to play back, be it a movie trailer or something you had stored away. Quicktime and Realmedia were once celebrated companies, as they pioneered video playback on our PCs, but have now been reduced to an amalgamation of bloatware, spyware and everything that messes with my mojo. The alternatives work wonders. Get em, install em, forget em.

#4 : VLC: Video Lan Client is a standalone portable media player that has the ability to stream media over a network or even feed it into another application. I have never had to do this, but I keep it around because it uses it’s own internal codecs to play back media.

As a final suggestion, I would recommend that you dont update these programs unless you actually encounter a problem, at some point in the future. If you have any other problems, I suggest searching through some forums, but remember: If your video playback isnt broken, then dont fix it!

We entered into the kingdom of heaven as thieves in dark. But Gaia called us back.

The Group reformed finding a place to be silent but together again. We looked to eachother and found ourselves. Looked at our own image and found others there, sometimes more and sometimes less than what we have been.

We just wanted to let you know.

We are here now.