Links & Thoughts & Stuff

Do you remember our posting on PSYLock?

Well, in the meantime the guys there got an online demo up and running.

Check it out, it looks really promising … what’s left is of course the coffee cup problem

Just discovered a cool site InstaLinux where you can build your own unattend-installation ISO image for the following distributions:

• Debian 3.1 i386
• Debian 3.2 i386
• Fedora Core 4 i386
• Fedora Core 4 x86_64
• SuSE 10.0 – i386
• SuSE 10.0 – x86_64
• SuSE 9.3 – i386
• SuSE 9.3 – x86_64
• Ubuntu Breezy – i386
• Ubuntu Hoary – i386

This morning I generated a Debian 3.1 ISO image and what should I say – it worked perfectly.

The only thing I missed was post-boot actions to take place (e.g. configuring some things unatteneded when logged into the system first).

So if you need a standard system without any special install-treatments (such as RAID Systems, kernel modules to be loaded at boot-time via shell, …) you can use this to save a lot of keyboard strikes when installing many systems.

Yesterday I had a little update and optimization party. After the sad result of my 3DMark06 tests, I did some little researching and finally got a result I can live with. Here’s the story.

First I made a default test with all the necessary applications running and no further optimization. The result was 683 3DMarks.

OK, maybe there were just some performance killers running? After shutting down all applications and terminating some drivers I got nearly acceptable 725 3DMarks.

After that I installed the latest Catalyst (sorry Micha, I was wrong … Detonator is the NVidia Driver) Driver and tested again. This time only 2 Points more … 727 3DMarks.

Finally I cleared the DLL cache, defragmented the HDD and configured the drivers texture quality to high performance. So I reached the current end result of 749 3DMarks.

Before I forget … in the meantime I tested some forked drivers suggested by friends.

First test were the DNA Drivers suggested by Oli. Even with the benchmark profile activated I got poor 681 3DMarks with all of the described optimizations.

Then I tried the Omega Drivers suggested by Chriz which got even less … 673 3DMarks.

One more good reason to go with the default drivers

Happy Tweaking,
yours Sascha

As written in one of my previous posts I planned to download and try out the new 3DMark06. I did, and it was a pretty sad story. My overall score is about 560 Points (or Marks?). The GPU test ran at 2 FPS, the CPU test at 0.5 FPS. Did I mention I bought my computer only half a year ago?

Just read an interresting news at Golem.de. SourceForge is going to support Subversion in the future. At the moment they’ll slowly roll out SVN support to some bigger projects but will make it available for everyone soon. Of course they will leave the CVS support as is and the project managers can choose their preferred system. That’s what I call good news

Read the complete (german) article at Golem.de.

BlackDog is a fully self-contained computer with a built-in biometric reader and a host of other powerful features. Unlike any other computing device, BlackDog is completely powered off of the USB port of your host computer – no external power adapter required!

To access and use your BlackDog, you merely plug it in to your host computer’s USB port and BlackDog takes over! Your host machine’s monitor, keyboard, mouse, and Internet connection are taken over by BlackDog for the duration of your session, when you are done, you simply remove BlackDog and everything on the host is returned to its original state.

Black Dog is so extremely cool!

Check out the demo video. If I only had the smallest clue what to do with such a device I’d buy it.

Hmmm, this sounds a lot like advertisement, but I’m just too impressed to be objective

Is this the next generation in securing your workstation?

A critical point in securing computer systems and electronic transactions against misuse is the verification of the user’s identity (authentication). Passwords, smart card systems, and other methods often, for various reasons, do not offer the necessary security. However, biometrical systems that are based on the biological features of the user are very promising.

The PSYLock method uses the fact that each computer user demonstrates an individual typing behaviour. The individual typing behaviour is characterized by the writing dynamics and by the underlying psychometrical features such as left and/or right-handedness or key finger placing. These criteria can be measured by using standard hardware and can be used for identity verification of the computer user.

Read more at UNI Regensburg.

VMware Player is free software that enables PC users to easily run any virtual machine on a Windows or Linux PC. VMware Player runs virtual machines created by VMware Workstation, GSX Server or ESX Server and also supports Microsoft virtual machines and Symantec LiveState Recovery disk formats.

More information at vmware.com.

After writing about the Optimus Keyboard, there’s now an even cooler alternative:

If you are an elite programmer who can write sophisticated code under tight deadlines, someone who makes impossible projects possible; or a Silver Web Surfer your colleagues turn to when they need IT advice: this keyboard is for you.

What shall I say … you’ll have to see this yourself.

Yes, that’s right … now, as we’re all running the QT7 Beta for some months, the final version is finally out

You can get it right at the QuickTime Download page bundled with iTunes, or, if you’re like me, you can also get the Standalone QuickTime Player which is hidden very well on the page.

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