Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by zxeen

Gaming capable laptop that looks discreet

zxeen — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 17:13:24 +0800

Hi, I’m looking for a RTX3050 above laptop. I was previously looking at the Dell Inspiron 15 Plus which was suddenly discontinued from the Malaysia website. Only the Inspiron 16 is available now, which I’m not too keen.

Are there any other gaming capable (not strictly gaming) which would look more elegant? I’m not a fan of the aggressive design of most gaming laptops, although I feel inclined to the Lenovo Ideapad Gaming 3. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks. 😊

Which of these would make the best Ebay DAC kit?

zxeen — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 11:07:30 +0800

Hi, I'm not an expert when it comes to DACs but I'm thinking of getting a budget one mainly for my laptop. I'd also like coax and optical support too. For me, anything as an improvement over the laptop sound is good enough for me. so I have filtered down to these few. Given the budget of $30-40, which would make the better one?

Basically there are a few designs based on on a few chipsets,

CS8416 & CS4398

WM8805 + AD1955 + PCM2704

PCM2706 + CS4398 + AD827

Or probably this one with just USB
HIFI PCM2706 + PCM1793 + AD827

Thanks all!

Connecting secound wifi router to streamyx modem

zxeen — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 10:38:05 +0800

Hi, I'm trying to set up a second wifi router for my home. For practical purpose, I've decided on the setup in the figure I provided. I'm fairly unenlightened when it comes to network settings and steamyx is very new to me. So I need some help here.

The orignal stremyx router's wifi broadcast does not reach all the corners of my house, so since I have an unused router (Dlink DIR-300), I've decided to use it as an extender. Planned setup is in the figure. This router has no DSL input, so internet data must come in from the network cable. So my plan is to take the internet from one of the LAN output of the streamyx Innacom W7100 and connect it to the input of the Dlink DIR-300.

If my idea would work at all, what settings should I be looking into for interfacing both the Innacom and Dlink router?

Thanks in advance

Remaster vs Original CD

zxeen — Fri, 23 May 2014 18:20:07 +0800

Heard about the loudness war? Generally what audio engineers do during a remaster is take the original recording and make damn loud. Most consumers will be quick to point out that remastered CDs are too loud and sound terrible compared to the original.

I got myself some CDs to listen to see how bad can it be.

First up is Madonna's Papa Don't Preach. The first track is from the 2001 remastered True Blue (TB) album. The second one is from the CD The Immaculate Collection (TIC) released in 1990. Note that I don't have the 1986 TB CD, but I think the TIC sound quality would be close enough to the original. Here is the waveform of the two versions. The first is "as is" and the second I reduce the volume of the remaster to the same volume as the original.

The remaster is a whole lot louder. We can't compare it this way. We would need to turn down the volume..

Here's what it looks like after reducing the volume to the same listening level as the original.

First you can see how loud the remaster is compared to the original. Not only louder, the dynamics are compressed to the maximum. That means there is no loud and soft - everything's equally loud and great deal of the dynamic range has been clipped. Listening test would reveal that compression resulted music which is much louder and Madonna's voice just drowns out. There is also an awful lot of distortion and loss of high frequency sound.

Verdict: Bin the remaster, get the original

Cyndi Lauper didn't have it too bad. Here's the waveform of Change of Heart. The original is from her 1986 True Colors CD while the remaster is from The Essential Cyndi (2003)

The remaster is significantly louder and slightly clipped. However the original 1986 recording didn't have much dynamic range to begin with. Observe that in the remaster, the track is only made louder to the verge of clipping, but the proportions are well preserved. Listening tests did not reveal any difference at all.

Verdict: No significant difference

Now, not all remasters are bad. Here is Gary Moore's Still Got The Blues 2001 remaster. I sample the first two tracks of the CD.

Although I don't have the original CD to compare, looking at the waveform, you can tell that dynamics are very much preserved. Good job to this engineer!

I used Wavepad, a free software to open the mp3 files. Please share your findings if you can have few versions of the same track. It would be interesting. Cheers

What's the Mudah & Lelong equivalent in Australia

zxeen — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 10:19:33 +0800

Hi, I will be staying in Australia for a year pretty soon. I need to buy to settle down and sell them off when I come back. If you have experience, please share which is the most preferred classified/auction sites there.

If you have been staying there for a while, maybe you can also share:

1. What's really cheap in Australia but damn expensive in Malaysia
2. What's bloody expensive in Australia but dirt cheap in Malaysia

I plan to make a side income by internet trading

Food is a big no though . Australia is paranoid about foreign food landing on their soil.

Cheers,

My Galaxy tab 10.1 Chrome is weird with facebook

zxeen — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:57:04 +0800

Hi my galaxy tab 10.1 is not showing facebook images correctly on chrome. As you can see in the first picture, all the photos are grey with three dots as if they are loading. But in fact they have loaded. They appeared briefly before replaced by the grey box. Another issue is the video is not able to play. All I get is the little blue box with a question mark. Is there some wrong settings or I have to update something? Here are the pictures»
Thanks!

Unable to update to Belle

zxeen — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:19:09 +0800

Hi, I just acquired the phone used, it has Anna OS v0.22 - something, which is quite old already. I wanted to update to Belle, so I go through the steps as recommended by Nokia. So I download the PC Suite and use it to update. So this is what I got. I can only get the Belle demo, not the Belle itself. Have I done anything wrong? I've searched the web, it seems the only way to update is through the PC SUite.

Here are screen shots

Home screen with current OS version:

Software update screen:

No Belle option. Only Belle demo!

Thanks,

How to brew a cup of offee from powder

zxeen — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:12:31 +0800

Hi, I'm learning how to make a cup of coffee from powder. (Those Nescafe, Hang Tuah brand instant coffee type). The guideline on the Nescafe creamer is 2 teaspoon creamer, 1 teaspoon coffee powder and sugar to taste. I want to get the taste of the 3 in 1 but I'm never able get close. Most of the time either too bitter, too sweet but no aroma.

What's your formula?

System for managing letters

zxeen — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:31:10 +0800

Hello, I have a small project to do. I hope I can find leads to the tools I need and where to start.

Current scenario:
Our office produces a lot of letters. These letters are physically printed out and CCed to many parties. Each letter has a running serial number which we manually record in a logbook with the info of the sender, receiver, date and serial number.

Currently we use MS Word to create the letters manually and before we print, we need to refer to the logbook to obtain the current serial number, which we type in manually. It is cumbersome and prone to errors where the serial number of letters do overlap and when people do not update the logbook after they have created the letter. This logbook is audited every 6 months, so it's always a source of trouble.

I need to make a web based system which assists the user in the following algorithm. First of all, there are basically four types of letters, each have their own format. We only need to change the name, address, date, serial number and edit a sentence. So in the database, the templates of the four letters are already stored.

1. System prompts the user for the type of letter he wants to create. -> User selects from a list

2. User fills in recipient name, address and the text to edit.

3. System auto generate the serial number and create the lette in a .doc or .pdf file

4. System also records the following data: Recipient, sender, date and serial number and can present these information in a table, which can be exported to pdf or word.

Additional functions:
These four types of letters are successive. That means the second, third and fourth letters are follow ups to the first letter. (like reminder system). So if the following function is available it would be good.
1. The system will store the recipient data when the first letter is created. When the successive letter is created, the data from the first letter can be imported over.
2. Users can view a statistic of the recipients in a form of a table.

I know that's a mouthful. This is not a do-my-homework question. I just need to know where to get started and what tools I need to get this job done. I've some experience in programming but it's assembly and C for embedded systems, I've never worked with database. If I can be enlightened on the tools I need I think I might be able to find my way.

Hope to hear you opinions

Switching from html to CMS

zxeen — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:38:19 +0800

Hi, I'm not actually familiar with creating websites. I experimented with making a website for a relative's company not too long ago using the wsyiwyg creator. The problem is, every now and then, there is some updates i.e. new photos, announcements etc. Its quite a burden for me to update a static website with no CMS, since have to go through the web creator program every time. The user also can't do it themselves because they don't have the software. So I think of changing the whole website to use Joomla so it is more intuitive for the user to update the site by themselves.

However, I'm quite satisfied with how the search engines landed my website ranking. If I change to Joomla, I'm worried that the search engine will not return the same results in the future. Will there be any effect on how the search engines sees the new site?

Regards,

Chemistry vs Chemical Engineering

zxeen — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:29:04 +0800

Hi, I met some new friends, found out that some taking degree in chemistry and chemical engineering. I'm curios to know what's the difference and the prospect? I personally am electrical engineering so forgive me if this is actually a dumb question

If you're taking these courses please discuss here.

Regards,

In-ear earphone recommendation

zxeen — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:51:08 +0800

Hi, I'm thinking of getting a noise isolating earphones. Looking for one with really good sound insulation. The main reason is to double up as earplugs block out the ambiance noise of my office (I have very noisy colleagues and wearing industrial earplugs will look silly). Of course music comes second, but its not really so much priority. Looking at more commercially available brands like Philips or Sony. Please share if you've ever used an earphone with really good passive noise reduction. Thanks

Installing Windows XP

zxeen — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:45:50 +0800

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the correct place for this topic, or is there any similar topics existing already. My Laptop DVD Rom is faulty. My Windows XP installation source is CD and I need to clean format and reinstall. Is there any other way to install say, from an image, or create boot partition in HDD or USB flash device?

buying from ebay

zxeen — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:35:49 +0800

hi,

just want to ask those who have experience buying and bidding from international ebay. would you still click the buy or bid button if the seller never reply to your questions? assuming the listing is quite complete and the seller is very established and well received. i'm very attracted to an item by a seller. but the seller never replies my questions, so i have reservations. just wonder what you think? value of item plus shipping is about rm400.

any idea how this usb tv receiver works?

zxeen — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:31:53 +0800

i saw this at lelong. smells like snake oil to me. have anyone used it before? it says can watch free internet tv. so what's the difference from watching directly with internet browser?

link:
http://www.lelong.com.my/watch-tv-radio-fm...05-01-Std-I.htm

potentiometers with discreet resistors

zxeen — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:44:26 +0800

hi, what is the proper term for the type of high end pots which uses pieces of resistors instead of a continuous coil for resistance? instead of sliding, it is actually switching. i forgot the name but need to look it up[. thanks

can facebook use direct ftp?

zxeen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:06:55 +0800

hi, i'm just wondering if facebook can use direct ftp to upload photos. their photo uploader tool very suck. very often error halfway and no resume. then i have to start over because i don't know which photo already uploaded..

Logitech budget mouse

zxeen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:20:24 +0800

i ordered this budget logitech mouse from a lelong dealer. it's for my lab and the only reason i bought it is just to replace one of the mouse that got missing. all the other computers came with this mouse.

Nameless mouse

the dealer messed up delivered this instead:

M100

i'm pretty sure these mice sit at the lowest rank of the logitech family, pretty much the same in looks and feel so i won't bother to change. but i wonder which one actually costs more and which side of the mess up and i on? any help on the actual retail price of these 2 models would be appreciated because internet price varies

how to go to lcct from bkt jalil temp bus terminal

zxeen — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:11:16 +0800

hi, i'm travelling from south to kl by bus, then to the lcct. i just realized the pudu station moved temporarily to bukit jalil and the terminal there is just for express bus. so how do i go from there to lcct by public transport? thanks

introducing the transistor amplifier

zxeen — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:47:53 +0800

here's an interesting article from a 1962 popular science magazine, when the transistor amp was "cutting edge" technology over the tube amp. pretty much the same thing when the lcd/plasma tv came to the market a few years ago.

http://books.google.com.my/books?id=LCEDAA...plifier&f=false