My Tech

Desk setup

New desk

As of October 2012.

  • Dell MMS 5650 5.1 speakers.
  • LG M2350D Monitor/TV
  • Logitech wireless keyboard.
  • Microsoft Arc Touch mouse. The Logitech mouse that came with the keyboard can't handle the glossy desk. The Dell mouse I had been using wore out.
Desk
  • Abit iDome speakers.
  • LG M2294D-PZ Monitor/TV
  • Icybox 3.5/2.5 eSata/USB dock.
  • Linksys WUSB600N wireless N wifi adaptor.
  • Creative Live! Cam Video IM Pro (VF0410) webcam.
  • Logitech wireless keyboard.
  • Dell wired mouse.
older desk

This is an old set-up I had for a while. The netbook is connected to the monitor via VGA. I don't seem to even have had a external keyboard, very half-baked set-up indeed.

  • Abit iDome speakers.
  • Belina 17 inch CRT monitor.
  • Asus Eee PC 701.
  • Labtec wireless mouse.

Samsung NX100

Samsung NX100

August 2012. Picked this up on eBay.

Samsung NX100

November 2012. I got the 50-200mm lens to accompany the 20-50mm kit lens.

PC

Front of tower PC

A full page on this pc can be found here. Built in 2008 it is still relatively powerful.

Nikon Coolpix S8000

Nikon S8000

Most of the photos on this website were taken with this camera. I haven't been doing a great job of photography. I would like to make a gadget photography rig. With adequate lighting I should be able to take much better shots. A neutral background for all photos would also be a major improvement. The 10x zoom and 720p video capture are this compact cameras best features.

Motorola Xoom2 (Xyboard)

Motorola Xoom 2

Got this as mainly a pdf reader. It's great.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Liveview

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Liveview

I'm 80% happy with the phone and 50% with the Liveview.

06/10/2012 Update. The Liveview fell off it's strap got stepped on and broken. Wasn't bothered getting a new one. Xperia Play has gotten sluggish and taken off Icecream Sandwich upgrade list, annoying.

Lenovo Ideapad U350

Lenovo U350

Since I have my own desktop PC I have no need for a powerful laptop. The U350 is a lightweight 13inch CULV laptop. This isn't a very fast laptop at all (CPU: Intel Pentium SU4100 dual core @1.3GHz, Ram: 3GB ,GPU: Intel GMA 4500MHD) but it's light weight, small price 530euro (Nov 2009) and relatively good 4hr battery life make up for any lack of performance. I use this laptop when I'm away from my PC at weekends or on bus trips and so on. HD video playback is possible including HD flash, I often push content to my TV over hdmi.

Asus Eee PC 701

Asus Eee PC 701

This was the first computer I bought with my own money. I preordered one as soon as I could, receiving it in December 2007. Over it's life it's been through a lot. Starting with it's pre-installed custom Xandros this little machine has run many operating systems. I looked at every trick possible on http://wiki.eeeuser.com/. Soon I removed the special Xandros skin so I could use a standard desktop. Then I moved onto Ubuntu based OSs; easypeasy, jolicloud and Ubuntu Netbook edition. Starting with Ubuntu 11.04 the Ubuntu netbook edition has been merged into the desktop edition. Moblin and Android were nearly installed at stages. The Eee's small size makes it perfect for many things. I have been using it as a dedicated music streamer and internet radio player.

10/05/2011 Update.When trying to install the Ubuntu 11.04 on the 4GB SSD of the Eee you get an error saying you need more than 4.4GB of space. To get the install the work the following steps were needed;

  • Run the live CD
  • press alt+f2 and type:
    • gksu gedit /usr/lib/ubiquity/plugins/ubi-prepare.py
  • Then on line 310,
    • change "min_disk_size = size * 2"
    • to "min_disk_size = size * 1.4"
  • Then run then Ubuntu installer.

This solution was found here.

LG KS360

LG KS360

This phone is rubbish. The hardware is fine, its comfortable QWERTY keypad was why I bought it. Software wise this is the most sluggish buggy phone I've ever had. The battery dies with little or no warning during phonecalls. I hate it. I have two friends who have it, they hate it too.

29/06/2011 Update. I have upgraded the firmware of the phone. Upgrading using LGs software tool was a pain to use, I had to manually execute files and try many steps multiple times. After getting the phone finally updated It seems to have gotten rid of some bugs. The phone is still far too slow and buggy.

27/11/2011 Update. I got an Xperia Play about two weeks ago so I no longer have to put up with this "yoke", delighted.

SanDisk Sansa Clip+

Sandisk MP3 player

I bought this as a replacement for my unfortunately failing Creative Zen V plus. The Clip + is a great little MP3 player, I have the 8GB model. This MP3 player is not very loud so ear-canal headphones are a must and playing through weak speakers will disappoint volume wise. The belt clip on the rear of the player is extremely useful, especially when exercising.

Sennheiser Eco ear-canal earphones

Sennheiser headphones

For me these headphones are perfect. I bought them for 16euro fearing spending more due to a history of headphones breaking far too often. These headphones have lasted much longer than any other pair of headphones I've ever bought. They sound great and cut out a good amount of ambient noise. The Eco in the product name refers to the cardboard packaging they ship in, much better than the sharp hard to open plastic most products of this size come in.

06/10/2012 Update. The left bud stopped working a while back. Ordered Sennheiser CX 300 II Precision to replace them.

Wacom Bamboo (1st gen)

Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet

I use this Wacom for photo-editing and for that it does it's job just fine for me. My main complaint here is the tablet driver. The drivers always works but constantly gives error messages on boot and is a general annoyance.

Microsoft Arc Touch

Microsoft Arc Touch mouse

I got this mouse as a spot prize for answering a question during a Microsoft presentation in college. It's by far the coolest mouse I've ever owned. The way it folds up makes it pefect to bring around in my laptop bag.

Asus WL-330gE

Asus WL-330gE

The Asus WL-330gE is a wireless-g 5-in-1 mobile router. I bought it because it is so versatile to have but short-term to use as a repeater to boost wifi signals in my current college accommodation. It was a bit of a pain to set up. The problem turned out to be that my router (Buffalo WHR-G300n V2) was on WPA/WPA2 mixed mode, changing to WPA2 solved the problem. The WL-330gE didn't give any error messages to help me find out what the problem was and it's web UI is unreliable. Overall it's doing it's job as a repeater but should have been easier to get set-up.

06/10/2012 Update. I used this as a wireless adaptor for several months recently, worked very well.