Braid
It is a very nice game. Played on a Mac. I was fascinated. It is on my buy list.
Available for MS Windows and Mac OS X (there is a demo, too).
HP LJ 1020 hotplug on Asus WL-500gP v2
Most of you who have the Hewlett Packard LaserJet 1020 know that it is a GDI printer. Because of this it needs the sihp1020 driver loaded from the computer that is the printer connected to (all the “work” is done by the software instead of the hardware; so don’t wonder why is this printer a cheap one).
If this printer is connected directly to a computer (running MS Windows, Linux or Mac OS X or other Unix-like OS), there should be no problem to use this hardware. But if your HP LJ 1020 is connected to a router via USB, the things become a little complicated.
I own an Asus WL-500gP v2 router. I bought it because of the 2 USB ports.
The biggest problem to use this printer over a USB router is how to load the sihp1020.dl driver.
The easiest way is over ssh:
- connect to the router over ssh and load it with: cat /path/to/the/sihp1020.dl > /dev/usb/lp0 (my sihp1020.dl is stored on an USB pen).
But that is not practical. If you power off the printer, you will have to load the driver again after you power it on.
Finally I found a way how to load the driver automatically after the printer is powered on. It is done with hotplug.
First, hotplug works with the X-Wrt firmware (I think it works with OpenWrt, too, but I’m using X-Wrt).
Download the brcm-2.4 firmware image for WL-500gp v2 and flash it (how to do that please search on Google).
After you did that make a new hotplug script (/etc/hotplug.d/usb/hplj1020):
#!/bin/sh
FIRMWARE=”/mnt/sihp1020.dl”
if [ "$PRODUCT" = "3f0/2b17/100" ]
then
if [ "$ACTION" = "add" ]
then
sleep 10
echo “`date` : Sending firmware to printer. I hope!” >> /tmp/hp1020.log
cat $FIRMWARE > /dev/usb/lp0
echo “`date` : done.” >> /tmp/hp1020.log
echo “`date` : waited 10 seconds” >> /tmp/hp1020.log
fi
fi
This script is from here, but I modified it a little.
So the firmware load should work now.
This script should also work with HP LJ 1000/1005/1018/1022, BUT NOTE:
check your $PRODUCT id first. How to do that, read here (under HowTo run HP LaserJet 1018/1020/1022 on OpenWRT Kamikaze 7.06).
To check the id, run:
lsusb -v (install it with opkg) (Note: make sure that usbfs is mounted).
My lsusb -l:
Update (16.7.2009):
You can also use a Tomato mod on this router. You can get it from here.
I’m using the tomato-1.25-ND-USB-8632-vpn3.3.rar firmware because of VPN. And an important notice: Tomato’s user interface is snappier than X-Wrt’s and this could be a plus for using this Tomato mod. Here is how to set up the hotplug.
MacUpdate Holiday Bundle
A bought a MacUpdate Holiday Bundle for Mac OS X. There are 10 applications in the bundle plus I got one additional because I was among the first 5000 buyers (now extended to 10000 buyers).
10 bundled applications:
- KeyCue
- MacPilot
- What Size
- iVolume
- RapidWeaver
- LittleSnitch
- MacGourmet Deluxe
- VirusBarrier X5
- Drive Genius
- Default Folder X
Additional app:
- iDive
iMac temperatures
iMac 2.8
2 Gb RAM
Nvidia Geforce 8800GS
Temperatures while running Adium, Safari, Terminal, NetNewsWire and Quicksilver:
Temperatures after playing Warcraft 3 (1 hour):
Could be the temperature of the Power Supply a problem? I think the temperature is little bit too high.
Quicksilver
Quicksilver is an another application I like a lot.
Some words had been said here (via MacMegasite).
I got Warcraft III
I ordered Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos from the Blizzard online store.
I created first a Blizzard account, then ordered the game and payed with my credit card. Everything went fast.
I chose the digital download over the retail version. What is the plus of the digital download? You can download the game to every machine you are using without breaking the copyright laws. I think with this Blizzard chose the best direction it could.
I know that Warcraft is an old game, but I like a lot. And 19,99 $ (12 EUR) is not that much for an old game.
Update (July 13, 2008): patch 1.22a for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne is out.
iMac and IXUS 30
Don’t connect Canon IXUS 30 directly to the iMac, the connection is very slow. Get a card reader. I have a Sweex 53-in-1 card reader and the transfer of the pictures is much faster.
iMac 8800GS benchmark
Since the first iMac post I had two upgrades: from Mac OS X 10.5.2 to 10.5.3 and from 10.5.3 to 10.5.4.
Here are the benchmarks (24″ iMac with GF 8800GS – 2 Gb Ram):
Geekbench (32-bit) and 10.5.2.
Geekbench (32-bit) and 10.5.3.
Geekbench (32-bit) and 10.5.4.
Cinebench R10:
10.5.2
Rendering (Single CPU): 3222 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 5954 CB-CPU
Multiprocessor Speedup: 1.85
Shading (OpenGL Standard) : 6082 CB-GFX
10.5.3
Rendering (Single CPU): 3217 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 6160 CB-CPU
Multiprocessor Speedup: 1.91
Shading (OpenGL Standard) : 6139 CB-GFX
10.5.4
Rendering (Single CPU): 3235 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 6168 CB-CPU
Multiprocessor Speedup: 1.91
Shading (OpenGL Standard) : 6139 CB-GFX
Xbench:
10.5.2
10.5.4
I forgot to save the Xbench results for 10.5.3, sorry.
Mac OS X 10.5.4 is out!
Hm, that was fast.
I hope my problem with the e-banking problem is fixed (the page isn’t showed properly).
