No Thanks Leon

Recent, I have been doing a lot of posting on the micro-blogging website Twitter.  It is a good way to put out thoughts without having to write a full blog.  It is also a great way to consistently keep up with friends.  I enjoy being able to log in to Twitter and see what friends, acquaintances, and random other posters are doing during the day without the clutter of Facebook.  It is one more way to feed my need to be constantly connected.

Funny enough, I saw a post on Twitter that raised the question of whether micro-blogs (the short, text-messaged sized posts) are becoming more important than actual blogging.  And again, funny enough, here I am blogging about it.  I am not sure how I feel about the topic, but I do know that I keep up with with my Twitter account much more than I keep up with my blog.  It is much easier to post a short message to Twitter than sit and write a long blog.  I am not sure what exactly that says about me, though.  Does it say that I am lazy, or does it say that I like to stay connected more than blogging allows?  Which form of communication allows more information to be passed?  With multiple posts a day, does micro-blogging get more information out, or do longer normal blogs let you say more?  I feel that with the fads that cross the internet, different forms of communication become more popular at different times and some fade into the background (like instant messaging).  So this raises the question of whether micro-blogging is just a fad or if it has long-term possibility as a communication medium.  Personally, while I love the concept of micro-blogging, I do believe that it is something that will pass, if not entirely away, then into another form.  I do not believe that the Twitter format of micro-blogging will be a permanent thing, just as Twitter pulled its format from status updates on sites like Myspace and Facebook.

So I ask you, what do you think?  Is Twitter more important than blogging?  Will Twitter be  around long-term in its current form?  Let me know.

My Twitter

Brian Communications

When I built my new computer, I had a hard time deciding which operating system to use on it.  I knew that I was getting a dual core processor and that most true dual core processors are 64 bit processors.  I really wanted to take advantage of the 64 bit processing, but couldn’t decide if I wanted to hassle with a 64 bit operating system.  I had a limited choice at the time I was trying to decide, as I could get Windows XP in 32 bit and 64 bit flavors and Windows Vista in 32 bit for free through Kennesaw State’s MSDN student account.

Now, if this talk about “32 bit this and 64 bit that” has you confused, I will try to help explain the differences.  I am no expert and may get a small fact wrong here or there, but I will try to briefly describe what I am talking about.  Bits are the 1’s and 0’s (or on and off states) that are used to store information inside a computer.  This is called a binary number system (as opposed to our normal decimal system).  If none of this makes sense, or you want more information on the topic, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_numeral_system .  Basically, what this means for an operating system is that a 64 bit OS can shift around more bits at a time than a 32 bit system.  One of the side affects of this is that a 32 bit OS can not take advantage 4 gigabytes of RAM (the space where running programs are held while the computer is on).  A 64 bit OS can take advantage of A LOT more RAM.  So this brings me to one of the main reasons I chose the 64 bit Windows…

If you notice from my previous post, I installed 4 gigabytes of RAM in my new build.  Of course, since I paid for it, I wanted to use the full 4 gigabytes and the only way to do this was to install a 64 bit operating system.  I did not know at the time that I had access to a 64 bit version of Vista through the school, so I chose to install the 64 bit version of Windows XP, which turned out to be a mistake…

I would like to stop here and say that for a while now, I have been triple-booting my computer.  This means that I have had 3 different operating systems installed and would choose which one I wanted to use when the computer started.  I had been using Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux for different tasks and had Vista installed to play around with, but I mainly used XP.  I knew for my new computer that I would be using the flavor of Windows that I decided on and would install a 64 bit version of Linux.

Well, I got Windows XP installed, Ubuntu installed, and installed the 32 bit version of Vista.  I got a lot of programs installed and my computer set back up… then started noticing that I couldn’t install certain applications (mostly Microsoft) and certain other things just wouldn’t work.  Soon after I got just about everything set up, I realized that I had access to Vista in 64 bit, so I struggled for a few days with the idea of wiping my computer and reinstalling everything.  Finally, I decided that I just couldn’t keep using XP in 64 bit, so I completely wiped my computer and installed Vista 64 bit.

I couldn’t be happier with the results.  After hearing the horror stories about Vista since it came out, I was very wary about using it as my main OS, even though I had been playing around with it some.  I have not had a single major problem with it since I started using it.  Every program that I use has worked flawlessly and tends to be much speedier than I would have expected.  I couldn’t be happier with the results.

Brian Operating Systems

Just recently I decided to perform a major upgrade to my computing equipment (actually replacing almost everything).  I had a few components that I was able to keep from my last build, but only a few.  I could use the 2 disc drives and the case from the old system, but that was about it.  I had upgraded my computer several times since I got the original for school back in 2001, but I was at the point where the technology inside the computer was too old to upgrade anymore.  This is the first time that I have built a system from scratch all at once, but I had basically built my previous system up from scratch over time.  The only original components in it were one of the disc drives and the case.

Before I started, I knew I needed to research the new techs available.  It has been several years since I kept with processor technology, graphics cards, or memory (RAM).  After a little research, I decided on several highly rated components.  Nothing I selected was top of the line, and everything was a generation old (but significantly less expensive).  I searched and found all of the components at newegg.com.  They had great prices and have very good customer service.  The package arrived a few days later.

The build went very smoothly, and even afforded me the opportunity to vacuum out the case (which I haven’t done in a long time).  Afterwards, though, I ran into a big problem.  After starting up the computer, and running a few tests, the system would freeze…every time.  This is a nightmare for anyone who has just put together a computer.  Any number of problems could be causing the freezing.  There could be an incompatibility with some of the new hardware, the new memory could be defective, or any other problem.  I spent a lot time trying different combinations of settings with no progress, so I turned to Google.  At first, I didn’t find very much, but I eventually ran across a forum for the motherboard company that I had purchased from, and the very helpful people on the Gigabyte board at TweakTown helped me to solve my problem and keep my computer stable.  It turns out that the motherboard I have is very good, but can be very picky about the type of RAM it uses.  I had to tweak the voltage settings going to the RAM from the motherboard to keep the RAM stable.

After figuring out my problem, it was only a matter of getting an OS installed and set up with all of my programs again.  But that is another blog.  I am going to save all of my old components and hopefully turn them into a media center PC at some point in the future.  But that is another blog, too.

For those that care, here are the new specs for my computer:

• GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
• XFX PVT98WYDDU GeForce 9800 GTX+ XXX 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
• Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
• Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000333AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
• OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS 600W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready Active PFC Power Supply

Brian Hardware

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Brian Huckaby.  I am a Kennesaw State University alum with a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science.  I decided to start this blog to keep track of my journeys through technology and electronic-based entertainment.  If you are looking for my personal blog that Jenna and I share, please head on over to http://www.brianandjennaann.com/ and check us out there.

If you are wondering about the name of this blog, I have written up a short explanation in the About section.

I will try to keep this blog updated as much as possible, so check back in, and subscribe to my RSS feed to keep you updated.  Enjoy!

Brian Personal