Pem’s Tech Blog

USB

I doubt I’ll consistently do 30 min every single day, but in the last 5 days I’ve done a 30 min workout each day with calorie burn counts of 387, 355, 364, 402, and 398 (warning, I think the numbers are backwards, since they all said 2010/01/01, since I did these before I set the machine’s clock).  1906 calories of exercise in 5 days is pretty impressive compared to my previous week’s workout which mostly just consisted of just walking up a few flights of stairs, instead of the elevator, from the parking garage to my office cube.

I did a few uses of the elliptical before these 5, but I didn’t record it. The USB thing only lets you copy 5 workouts at a time, which is kind of ridiculous for a $1300 machine, when you consider how cheap 100 MB or 1 GB of memory would be.

The USB thing is a really cool idea for someone like me. But the details of the current version are somewhat disappointing. I tried updating the firmware, but it didn’t work. The directions were very simple, see here. But somehow the elliptical doesn’t find the ROM.bin, and says NO SOFTWARE ON USB. It’s a very simple process – but it just didn’t work.

XML

I was also kind of disappointed with how little info the workout XML file saves. I’m very happy that it’s a simple human readable XML file, which is what things like this should be – I’m a huge fan of simple data formats like this. However, I was hoping for more data. Like a snapshot of the current (resistance, incline, wattage, calories per sec, etc) at a time delta, such as every minute or every 5 seconds even. Of course that would probably be overkill.

But one obvious simple thing the XML file is missing is just the name and level of the workout program. It has different workout programs that automatically vary the resistance and incline over time (such as weight loss level 1 to 10, or muscle toner level 1 to 10, manual, or custom workout program uploaded from USB, etc). Also, the XML file has the date, but it’s missing the time of day, which I find very annoying.

That said, overall, I think it’s pretty cool that it auto-records the basic info – date, average pace, calories, distance, total time. For up to 5 workouts, then you copy to the USB stick, and to your computer. I just wish it did a little more beyond that – it could at least add the workout program’s name and the time of day.  Anyway, here’s the XML file it generated for my workout 01.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<workout>
<userid>USER1</userid>
<model>LS13_0E</model>
<summary>
<Year>2011</Year>
<Month>10</Month>
<Date>25</Date>
<Avgpace>13.42</Avgpace>
<Calories>387</Calories>
<Distances>2.19</Distances>
<Totalelev>0</Totalelev>
<TotalTime>1800</TotalTime>
</summary>
</workout>

Website Graphs

And here’s the nifty graphs it gave me on livestrong.com, for those five once-per-day 30 min workouts. The graphs are kind of cool, but they are also kind of bare bones. For one thing there’s no way to delete an incorrect entry – hence that empty 2010/01/01 entry. This is part of MyPlate, and I didn’t even mess with the food tracking (calorie counter) part of the website – I just wanted to try out the workout graphs.

In any event, relative to improved graphs, I’d be much more excited about a firmware update process that actually works, and saves more data to the XML files – again, even just the workout’s start time and the workout’s program name would be a great addition.

3 Digit Display

My friend decided to test what happens when the 3 digit display for calories-per-workout goes over 999, by seeing if he could get it over 999 calories in a 60 min workout.  The answer?  The display stops at 999, but the machine’s computer keeps counting.  It also doesn’t let you enter a weight below 50 pounds or above 350 pounds.  He said he’s going to test the distance counter next, since the display only has space for up to 9.99 miles.  Warning, 2010/01/01 is wrong – it defaulted to that because the workout was before I set the clock.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<workout>
    <userid>USER2</userid>
    <model>LS13_0E</model>
    <summary>
        <Year>2010</Year>
        <Month>1</Month>
        <Date>1</Date>
        <Avgpace>8.31</Avgpace>
        <Calories>1103</Calories>
        <Distances>7.05</Distances>
        <Totalelev>4730</Totalelev>
        <TotalTime>3600</TotalTime>
    </summary>
</workout>

Close

Obviously things like the quality of the machine in terms of doing exercise and durability and the physical engineering, are probably more important than the USB toys.  However, as a passionate software engineer and computer science graduate, it makes sense for my blog post to be about the workout machine’s computer toys.

Well that’s enough rambling. In the 30+ min it took me to write this, I probably could’ve been doing another 30 min workout . I hope this inspires someone out there on the internet to work on better health

Pem (Admin) :: 2011/10/30 (Sunday, October 30, 2011) :: Health / Food, Other :: No Comments »

I need more exercise and better health

Over the past almost 6 years since graduating from college in Computer Science, and starting my first and only fulltime job (other than a brief part-time pizza kitchen job, and 1 year 5 months of Coops during college), I’ve gone from 6 foot tall and 180 pounds, to around 235 pounds.  And from a Medium T-Shirt that I recently found in my closet, to an XL2 t-shirt being kind of tight.  This probably relates to my daily routine of a sedentary lifestyle, which involves a lot of sitting in front of a computer (or papers/books), at my cube office desk and/or home office desk.

I’m just a nerdy programmer guy who lives in the cloud aka Plato’s World of Forms as an aspiring ivory tower intellectual / brain-in-a-vat / mind-body-dualist (exaggerated, but not hugely).  Trying to impress anyone with my physique or athletic prowess or physical abilities was never very high on my list.  I guess ceteris paribus it’s preferred, but it’s just hasn’t been a very high priority for me.

However, regardless of one’s personality, we all exist in a physical reality.  And given current technology, we all have a lot of biological evolutionary baggage and imperfections that we have to live with.  Health is very important, even if it’s just for the potential benefits – to extend one’s lifespan, increase one’s energy level, and improve one’s emotional health.  One obvious way to improve health is to do is some routine exercise.

LiveStrong LS13.0E

One day I will setup a treadmill desk.  But for now, I’m starting with an elliptical and a media player.  With my new LiveStrong LS13.0E elliptical, I can now watch a programming lecture.  Such as Harvard’s intro to computer graphics from iTunes U.  Or Stanford’s intro to Computer Science from iTunes U.  Or Khan Academy’s math classes.

The table is for extra space for the media center remote, the TV volume remote, the fan remote, a glass or bottle of water, tissues, and even paper and pencil notes.  Yes I have actually tried to take notes while watching a class lecture and jogging on the elliptical.  It sort of worked, but will probably do better with some other setup, possibly typing with a keyboard or thumb keyboard.

I’ll post more later

Pem (Admin) :: 2011/10/30 (Sunday, October 30, 2011) :: Health / Food, Other :: 2 Comments »

Plan – make two separate blogs:
1) Pem Tech blog is about anything: opinions / philosophy, computer tips, whatever
2) Pem Code blog is about programming, and nothing else; anything else, even general computer stuff or general game stuff, goes on the other blog; this way, my code stuff stays here

My intent is to put useful programming related stuff in Pem Code blog.  Then if for some reason I have a senseless urge to post random stuff, I can put that on Pem Tech blog.  So the Pem Code blog is intended to be useful code stuff, notes for learning, and potentially related to resume (CV), for non-work hobby-project self-learning programmer examples.  In other words, Pem Tech blog isn’t really work-related or programmer-related, but Pem Code blog is.

There may be some areas of confusion, such as where do I put a computer bug fix thing?  If it’s not a code thing, then it goes in Pem Tech blog.  What about little scripts for AutoHotKey?  I think that’s a code thing, so Pem Code blog.

Another example of gray area is details on the parts I picked for my build-it-yourself computer.  This is sort of career-related, since it shows interest and literacy in higher level hardware stuff, and as of 2011/10/23, I work on a full system simulator (functional simulation, GPU simulation).  But, in the end, that’s not really code, so maybe it should go in Pem Tech blog.

Another example of a gray area is this post itself.  Since it rambles and doesn’t focus on (teaching / explaining, or showing off) a programming thing, I’ll keep this post here, in Pem Tech blog.  In other words, even though this post is about Pem’s Code Blog, it’s a rambling post that adds clutter, so this rambling clutter post can go here on Pem’s Tech Blog.

Examples of what would go on Pem’s Code Blog?  Notes on the Computer Science class videos I’m currently watching (Stanford intro Computer Science, Harvard intro Computer Graphics, Khan Academy Math and Physics).  Notes from the papers or books I’m studying (GPU papers, GPU doc, DirectX / OpenGL doc, Essential Math for Games and Interactive Applications book, GRE Computer Science).  Notes on something I learned for work, such as C++ and OO related or GPU related.

Since I already take a lot of notes in my daily life (for work and for learning) on Paper, in OneNote, in EverNote, in code comments, etc…  Pem’s Code Blog will be one more place for me to put notes.  Hopefully, if do end up putting many posts on Pem’s Code Blog, it will be concise and useful and well-organized.

As of 2011/10/23, Pem’s Code Blog is empty.  I installed WordPress, but I didn’t setup a theme yet, and I didn’t write the first post yet.  However, I did just get off the elliptical.  I did around 370+ calories of exercise while watching a Harvard Extensions School Computer Graphics class from iTunes U, which had some great review info.  I took some notes, and those notes are an example of something I might post on Pem’s Code Blog.

See Pem’s Code Blog

Pem (Admin) :: 2011/10/24 (Monday, October 24, 2011) :: Blogging, Computers / Tech :: No Comments »

Pem’s Tech Blog was an excuse to play a little with another set of web tools (ie, WordPress blogs).  I had lots more ideas of things I’d ramble (or rant) about here…  Such as more Magic:TCG vocab, Philosophy related, computers and STEM related, and other random stuff.

Without even spending that much time on this, I got an idea of how huge a time sink maintaining a blog and writing entries can be.  Doing your own WordPress setup via shared web hosting adds to that time consumption – though obviously not as bad as if I ran my own dedicated server’s OS, PHP, SQL, etc.

I also got some more exposure to a particular kind of writing.  For the type of writing I do in these posts and in emails…  I think it’s different than the kind of writing they like to see for Liberal Arts classes or GRE essays.  Ie, proper grammar and full sentences and eloquent verbose writing styles are bad, or at least less important.  The important thing is efficient meaningful concise useful communication.  A good engineer type email likes to be concise and contain a high information content per word count.  At least for the intro paragraph.  Then you can attach or append something more verbose, or imply to discuss further in person or if they ask for more detail via email.  That’s the type of efficient concise communication I’d like to focus on with emails and blogs.  At least for the initial intro paragraphs, or for quick reference info posts.

I might still put some occasional rambling here…  But I think a more productive thing would be that if I do any more blog posts, they should be stuff like notes related to Programming.  Ie, a work project, a side project, or a study/learning aside.  For this purpose, I am creating a separate Pem’s Code Blog, see ../pemcode

Pem (Admin) :: 2011/10/23 (Sunday, October 23, 2011) :: Blogging, Computers / Tech :: No Comments »

Sometimes the ability to copy/paste between my local computer and remote computer breaks when I use Windows Remote Desktop Connection.  The simple fix is:

1) on the remote computer, use Task Manager to kill rdclip.exe
2) close your RDC session
3) re-open your RDC session

The reason apparently has something to do with certain applications not passing the clipboard messages around the way Windows requires (do an internet search if you want to know more).

I ran into a similar issue when with TightVNC on Windows to a Linux vncserver.  I was able to connect, but the clipboard didn’t work.  After I ran “vncconfig”, the clipboard worked.

Pem (Admin) :: 2011/07/26 (Tuesday, July 26, 2011) :: Linux, Windows OS :: No Comments »

I recently built a desktop computer (from parts).  Warning, it’s been up and running for at least a few weeks, so some of the parts may already be outdated.  The most obvious change is that AMD will soon be releasing Bulldozer CPU’s.  However, there’s always better hardware coming out…  And I didn’t want to put it off any longer (my old computer was really falling apart, and becoming a distraction / liability).

Parts:
* HAF 932 AMD Edition (AMD Fusion dragon computer case), $160
* Corsair AX1200, $280 minus $10 mail-in rebate
* Asus Crosshair IV Formula, $215 on newegg.com
* CPU cooler, Thermalright Silver Arrow, $90, amazon.com
* CPU, AMD Phenom II X6, Socket AM3, $200 for 3.2 ghz, minus $50 rebate
* GPU, Asus DirectCU II Radeon HD 6970, oversized and overpriced, but less loud than other 6970′s, $400 minus $60 rebate
* DDR3 memory x 16 GB (4 GB x 4 slots) ($300, overpriced)
* Optical Drive with Blu-ray, $110 on newegg.com
* HDD, WD Caviar Black, $170 on newegg.com

Total: 160 + 270 + 215 + 170 + 90 + 150 + 340 + 300 + 110 = $1805

Extras (which put it over $2000):
* air filters to reduce dust
* extra case fan, reversed 3 of 4 fans to create negative air pressure
* extra hdd’s, including a very expensive and very fast SSD, 240 GB OCZ Vertex 3

Reuse: I reused my KVM, keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, furniture. I got a new mouse pad shortly about a month after the computer was setup (Razor Ironclad), b/c the paint on my desk (which is made of particle board) is bumpy and erratic.  If I get anything else for the computer in the next year (12 months or so), it probably won’t be anything expensive.

Goals affecting hardware choices – high performance & stability, less noise
I didn’t get workstation hardware (you could easily spend over $5,000), and I got an AMD CPU (at the time of writing, the Phenom II X6 costs significantly less than an equivalent Intel Core i7).  But other than that, cost was not a significant factor.  In case it’s not obvious, this is very much an AMD computer (AMD CPU, AMD GPU, and AMD chipsets on the motherboard).

A primary goal was to have reasonably high cooling (and stability), but with significantly less noise than my old computer.  Bigger fans typically means less noise per airflow (CFM).  This goal influenced my choices for almost every component.

In some cases, I picked a component with lower performance, not due to the price, but due to my concerns about noise.  Example, the Asus Crosshair IV Extreme is higher end than the Asus Crosshair IV Formula, but it has an annoying tiny/loud chipset fan.  Example, the 6990 (at the time of writing) only had a reference version, which had a much louder fan.

I also decided to go with (negative air pressure) and (dust filters) to reduce dust.  The dust filters are DemciFlex, which are magnetic, and custom size/shape.  Only my case’s front fan is an exhaust fan.  The rest are intake fans.  This is to create negative air pressure (to reduce dust).

I also wanted a better (cleaner, neater, bigger) case, with better cable management and big fans (low noise but high airflow).  I decided on the AMD Edition of the HAF 932.  The standard HAF 932 has a big fan on the side, but the AMD Edition replaces the fan with a bigger window, with an AMD Fusion dragon logo on it.  I’m not sure if I would normally trade a big fan for a bigger window.  But, I do like the big window (and AMD theme).

Pem (Admin) :: 2011/05/15 (Sunday, May 15, 2011) :: Computers / Tech, Hardware :: 1 Comment »

I have some really old DDR memory from Crucial (years old).  It recently broke, and I heard Crucial has a lifetime warranty on it.  I got it directly from their website, crucial.com.  And I submit an RMA request to replace the 1 GB stick, for free, also from crucial.com.  It sent me an address label and RMA paper to print.  I put them in a regular envelope with a 42 cent USPS stamp on it, and put it in the USPS box.  They sent me the replacement, with no additional hassle.  I didn’t have to call them on the phone even once, or keep track of some years old warranty paper or number.  Pretty low hassle, especially since the broken RAM fit in an envelope.

Somewhere in the RMA papers, I think it said to put it in the original package, so I was worried they wouldn’t accept it in a plain standard envelope…  Fortunately, they sent me the replacement anyway.

I more recently got some DDR3 from newegg.com, branded G.Skill.  If it breaks, I just hope it’s as easy to RMA as that 1 GB DDR stick from crucial.com.  If not, then I’ll regret getting (G.Skill from newegg.com) rather than (Crucial from crucial.com).

Pem (Admin) :: 2011/05/01 (Sunday, May 1, 2011) :: Computers / Tech, Hardware :: No Comments »

I had a strange device driver conflict with my newer GPU (Radeon HD 4850) on Windows 7 and my old motherboard (MSI MS-7184, aka HP AmethystM-GL6E) (see here).  After recently installing the latest ATI GPU drivers, I noticed that the High Definition Audio Controller got re-enabled whenever I reboot Windows 7.  So, I investigated an automated way to disable it after the reboot.

I tried doing it with AutoHotKey, but the GUI scripting wasn’t working for Device Manager.  So instead, I looked into a command line version of Device Manager called devcon.  I had better luck with devcon.  So, I ended up putting a simple one line batch (*.bat) script in my startup folder:

devcon\amd64\devcon.exe disable find *DEV_AA30

How did I figure out the “*DEV_AA30” part?  “devcon.exe find *” listed all the devices, one of which was High Definition Audio Controller with the ID “PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_AA30&SUBSYS_AA301002&REV_00\4&3083E1D6&0&0110”.  Using that ID directly got multiple matches (something weird with the & symbols?).  But I figured out that doing “devcon find *DEV_AA30” only matched one device.

Pem (Admin) :: 2011/04/10 (Sunday, April 10, 2011) :: Windows OS :: No Comments »

I noticed this on TurboTax 2010’s web site:

[BEGIN QUOTE]
Completing your return
* Online – Step-by-step Interview questions make tax preparation simple.
* Desktop – Step-by-step Interview questions and the ability to view and complete tax forms just as they appear on paper.
http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/iq/TurboTax/Buyer-s-Guide—Should-I-use-TurboTax-Online-or-Desktop-/GEN12410.html
[END QUOTE]

In other words, the desktop version is more full-featured and lets you interact more with the actual tax forms.  I think this would make it a lot easier to understand what’s going on, such as to google IRS info (or read info at irs.gov).  Or, to do comparisons if you have different options (such as standard deduction vs. itemized, or married filing jointly vs. filing separate).

If the desktop version has more functionality, then this is really not surprising, because with the online version, they let you answer their tax questions before you pay.  So if they showed you the 1040 etc docs that it creates before you paid, then it would be very convenient to use the software without paying for it.

Also, as a general rule, web apps are inherently limited compared to native apps.  Web apps run on a generic platform that works inside a web browser.  Native apps are integrated into the OS and the OS GUI.  This is basically the same argument that Apple uses for not allowing Adobe Flash on iOS – because they want to encourage the development of more native apps.  Even if an app uses the cloud, a native app typically has more potential for power, higher performance, OS integration (including OS GUI integration).

Of course the downside is that you don’t get automatic cloud storage and convenient access from anywhere.  This is why many cloud services offer both.  For example, access to email (or cloud services, such as EverNote) via web pages, desktop apps, and mobile apps.  Maybe TurboTax 2010 should offer this.  Then, again, it’s just a *.tax2010 file that you could backup however you want.

The other thing about TurboTax 2010 desktop is that it’s priced differently.  For the online version they sell you the efile.  For the desktop version, they sell you the software (with up to 5 free files).  If you’re only doing one efile, then it costs more:

TurboTax 2010 desktop editions pricing: 1040EZ is free.  Deluxe says "own a home, made donations or have medical expenses" and costs $60.  Premier says "own stocks, bonds, mutual funds or rental properties" and costs $90.  officemax.com currently sells them in a box on CD for $10 off.

I just installed TurboTax 2010 on a Windows 7 (AMD64 / x64) computer, and here’s my first impressions.  The first thing that killed me is that you can’t press Alt+F to go to the file menu (or Alt+E for Edit, etc).  This is a very basic violation of Windows HIG (btw, it’s called mnemonics).  This is a very minor thing, but I’m kind a nut about standardized shortcuts and good HIG-based OS GUI integration, so a detail like this does really bothers me.  It would be such a tiny GUI code fix.  I had a similar reaction when I first tried p4v.exe (Perfoce’s GUI) on Win7, and noticed that it didn’t use the taskbar jump lists (instead, I wrote cmd.exe batch files, and put those on a jump list, which is kludge).

On the other hand, I was at least glad to see the box that toggles between Step-by-Step and Forms view.  Unfortunately, it takes a few seconds to switch between them, which really doesn’t make sense, but I guess that’s not a big deal.  And I guess a performance bug in the GUI is not a big deal as long as all the actual functionality (ie, does taxes) is good.

Other than those comments, my overall initial impression is very positive.  But keep in mind, I’m writing this post before I’ve actually started using it.

I’ll close with a brief (and btw, uneducated) initial impression of H&R Block vs. TurboTax.  Intuit is a financial and tax software company (products include TurboTax, Quicken / Mint.com, QuickBooks, Billing Manager, Intuit Eclipse), so you might expect their software to be good.  H&R Block is a tax preparation company, so you might expect them to know about taxes.  Of course there are some others, such as TaxACT, which sounds similar but costs less.

Update 2011/02/12: A link from Bank of America also gives you a 35% discount, such as TurboTax 2010 Deluxe desktop edition discounted from $59.95 to $44.96.

Pem (Admin) :: 2011/02/11 (Friday, February 11, 2011) :: Financial :: No Comments »

For a period of time, I had begun to feel like mobile AMD CPU’s were having trouble competing with mobile Intel CPU’s (I’m specifically talking about mobile, not desktop, not server / workstation).  For example, I had some worries about if there might be a higher likelihood of heat problems (and battery life).  However, the Fusion APU’s completely change that.  laptopmag.com gave the HP Pavilian dm1z with Fusion APU an editor’s choice, and said, “Despite its small size, the dm1z is one of the coolest notebooks we’ve yet tested” and “blows past Atom-based netbooks while providing enough endurance to see you through the day”.  As mobile x86 CPUs and APUs allow smaller devices with low heat and all day battery life…  It might turn out that eventually the ARM tablets (iPad etc) turn out to be a fad.

Pem (Admin) :: 2011/01/23 (Sunday, January 23, 2011) :: Computers / Tech, Hardware, Mobility :: No Comments »