Steve Ballmer seems to have ruled out a launch of Office 14 this year (2009). Despite having given out a few ideas, discussions, and a short glimpse of what is to come at the PDC last year; which gave a few people the idea that it would be launched in 2009; Ballmer has decided that the time is not right, yet.

His decision appears to be based upon current economic trends in the main:

"Desktop productivity [is] very affected by PC sales," he said. "And on the corporate side, it’s also affected by enterprise IT spend."

As for the competition, such as OpenOffice and the various Google apps; he said: "We have the superior offering."

To tell you the truth I think he’s right about delaying the roll-out this year; but not solely for the reasons he stated.

There’s Office 97, which some people still use today, and also Office 2000, Office XP – which I use on 1 of my comps – despite it being no longer supported AFAIK, Office 2003, and Office 2007. That’s a lot of Office; bearing in mind the various flavours of each. Do we really need an Office 2009? I don’t think so honestly. 2007 is still a perfectly adequate and fully-functional version for today’s needs.

What they could do; and I’ve hinted at this before, but not on this blog yet, is to design a partially-cloud-oriented version of Office, based upon Office 2007 but with a lot more online interaction:-

Zipping + encrypting copies of documents and spreadsheets and keeping them in protected server databases online may be an idea, as would a departure from the CD or DVD to a more centrally-based suite, downloadable from Microsoft’s servers, on maybe a subscription-based system in addition to a pay-once-only fee?

I also think that some of the old apps in office should be downloadable online, for use with the new Office suite: Microsoft Photo Editor, for one. That app is something that I find invaluable; yet it’s not present in Office 2007. OK there’s Paint.net available as a download and totally separate from Office; but it’s just not the same.

With the new forthcoming operating system, Windows 7, Microsoft are at last concentrating on what their customers want rather than what they think is best for their customers: If they also did likewise with Office 14 I feel it would be a good move on their part.

There’s no mad rush for a new version of Office at the time being, and to all intents and purposes I feel that OpenOffice and the like have a lot of catching up to do for the time being. When Microsoft release their next Office suite I hope it’s going to be something sensational and on a parallel with Windows 7.

At the moment they’re giving their all to 7. When that’s released they can start putting equal efforts into Office 14. For the time being I’m sure nobody wants to rush out to buy another Office version. It’s just too soon, and Microsoft do tend to try and rush things too much if they feel pressured. As it is though, they have plenty of time on their hands in my opinion.

What do you think? – Agree? Disagree?  – Do comment.

When Windows XP installs it also installs Outlook Express, which is pre-set as your default mail client. Many XP users no longer use Outlook Express, and have downloaded and started using Windows Live Mail instead. Fair play to them. Some of us, including myself, have opted to continue to use OE nevertheless. Personally I like it and still prefer it to Windows Live Mail.

By default OE stores its respective files and folders in a very inaccessible and difficult to remember location: -

C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{Long hex-code sequence}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

• It’s a hidden file.
• It’s a heck of a long path to remember.
• It’s a pain-in-the-ass to get hold of fast when you need to do so.

- But there is a remedy: Store the OE files and folders somewhere else.

There’s a setting in OE options that allows you to do just that.

First though, we need to have a new location for the files to go before we attempt to move them. Since we’re moving them because we don’t want to have to remember a long and complicated URL to a hidden folder buried under a mytiad of others; we’ll keep things nice and simple:

Open ‘My Computer’ and go to C: drive. On C: drive create a folder called ‘OE Store’. That’s that particular piece of the operation sorted out.

Open Outlook Express and click on ‘Tools’. Click ‘Options’ and click the maintenance tab. Click the ‘Store Folder’ button and then the ‘Change’ button. Browse to C: drive and single-click on the folder you’ve just created: ‘OE Store’. Click ‘OK’. Click ‘OK’ again.

A dialogue box will appear informing you that nothing will be changed until you shut down and restart Outlook Express. Do just that. When Outlook Express restarts, Windows will start copying the OE files and folders to the new location, which takes seconds unless you have a massive amount of mail stored.

In future; when you need to get to your OE files; rather than having to remember a long and complicated path to a hidden folder, you just look in C:\OE Store instead.

Target Neutralised.

Autorun was originally incorporated as part of Windows to allow programs and install routines, etc, to start up automatically when a CD, DVD, USB memory stick, etc, is inserted. Unfortunately malware vendors noted this and targeted their malware to be run in a similar fashion; by the very same process that was designed to remove a lot of the hassle from running things. (See here for more.)

In the light of this; there are now reports of much malware that has infected computers by this means, and, as far as I am aware, that number continues to grow. The autorun process has gone from useful to, in some cases, evil.

The solution is to turn off autorun completely. While terminating the autorun function is no guard against complacency, lethargy in security awareness, as well as sheer stupidity, it is a good start.

There are allegedly a number of ways of doing this: Tweak UI, for instance, has a function for this purpose. That being said, however, there seems only one totally infallible way to turn autorun off totally and completely: –

There is a file called autorun.inf that resides in the root directory of most removable devices: These include CDs, DVDs, as well as most USB sticks and other devices. This is the file that initiates the autorun sequence when the device is inserted.

The good news is that there is a registry fix that will make Windows totally ignore this file on any removable drive or on any device that’s inserted into any drive. This is accomplished by adding a registry key to the windows registry at [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf] .

More good news; especially for those who hate editing the registry: You don’t have to edit the registry. There’s a much simpler way, using the following three lines of text: -

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]

@="@SYS:DoesNotExist"

There are 2 ways of doing this: -

The first is to copy these 3 lines of text exactly as above into a text file and save it as “autorunoff.reg”

The second, easier alternative, is to use the pre-prepared file I made earlier. Download it here. (Right click and choose “Save File As…”)

Before you do anything else; it’s now advisable to back up your registry by creating a restore point.

Now activate the file by double-clicking it and, after you’ve confirmed that you are sure that you want to include this in your registry, it will be thus included and autorun will be no more.

Nothing will ever autorun again while you have this key in your registry. This means that you’ll have to manually open files and run programs from now onwards. Hassle yes; but worth it in the knowledge that your computer won’t be getting a virus from any removable media inserted into it.

Your comments are welcomed and expected.

When you buy a new pre-built computer from somewhere; ‘chances are that the display is generated by the northbridge of the 2-part (Northbridge, southbridge.) chipset on the motherboard, and is around 64-128MB. (With some boards I’ve known it to be up to 256MB.)

Although this may be quite enough for general-computing usage; such as word-processing, instant-messaging, etc, (In fact around 10MB graphics capability will cover most of that type of thing. (-Just)) when it comes to video; such as animations, as playing games and watching TV, for instance, it may fall short of the required mark and cause the picture to jerk, stall, not form correctly, or even cause a BSOD in rare cases.

This is where a graphics card is useful. The relatively simple process of fitting a graphics card, plus a lot more information, is covered in the article “The Graphics Card”.

Another thing about onboard graphics is that it steals system RAM. That’s fine if you don’t use your computer for any extensive tasks or run many tasks at once. However if, for instance, you were to go out and buy a machine running Windows Vista – a notorious memory-hogger of an operating system – that has 250 MB onboard graphics and 1 GB RAM fitted, then that only leaves you with 750 MB or maybe less spare unused RAM that Vista will instantly consume, require more, and run slowly as a result.

Here a graphics card would be a bonus, as it would free the extra 250MB and give you a whole 1GB for vista to consume. (Personally I recommend using 2GB RAM minimum when running Vista. I use 2GB DDR2 to run XP, and when intensive operations are running a lot of that is used. For instance the other day as I opened Firefox with god-knows-how-many windows open I noticed the available RAM go right down to 64MB. Vista eats RAM: Use as much as you can with it.) Even if you only have a 64MB shared-graphics-usage; that’s pretty low and could do with a boost. Also you’d reclaim the 64 megs back to system RAM by fitting a graphics card.

If you’re intending to play the latest and next generation of games then I recommend a top-spec graphics card with at least 256MB graphics RAM in a machine running the latest Intel multi-core processor and DDR3 RAM. (In my opinion XP is a better OS for games than Vista. Windows 7 will probably be better still; but we’ll have to wait for the RTM release to know that for sure.)

A graphics card is always a useful thing to have installed in your computer. Personally I have a graphics card in both of my machines: I have what is known as a turbocharged  graphics card in both machines (The one linked (64-256MB) in the older machine, and a 128-500MB card in the newer-build machine.): That means that the card has a certain amount of graphics RAM onboard the card itself; so under normal circumstances it utilises that, leaving the system memory free for the rest of the system to utilise. When it needs more RAM than it has onboard for whatever reason; maybe it’s displaying a video or animation that is a bit more taxing, it goes to system RAM and borrows the extra.

This is good for me because I’m not a gamer, so I don’t usually need more RAM than is built-in to the graphics card; therefore my 2GB system RAM is commonly unaffected. For gamers, however, this would cause problems, as having to keep transferring data between the graphics card and the borrowed system RAM would take too long and would slow the frame-rate considerably.

In conclusion, then; if you’re a gamer you need a graphics card no matter what (Not a turbocharged graphics card.): No questions asked. If you’re not a gamer though, I still advise you to get one for the reasons I’ve already mentioned.

Performance-boost your system today: Fit a graphics card.

Please feel free to comment on this article.

These days flash memory is becoming quite the in-thing. It appears that the days of the DVD are slowly coming to an end.

In fact, as soon as flash drives generally are improved so that they can store a terabyte or more and the price comes down considerably, I can see the days of spinning-disk storage coming to an end completely. That’ll mean less moving-parts in a computer, and therefore less to wear out quite so quick. (Although even flash memory has its lifetime limits.) It’ll also mean slightly less noise, other than fan noise.

At the present moment removable flash-drives are generally superseding the DVD-RW drive; which at one point not so long ago replaced the CD-RW drive, which replaced the floppy-drive: All within around 14 years. What of the blue-ray drive? It’s one of the current popular methods of data-storage; but its day will come.

So in the light of the fact that flash-cards are popular, and indeed a number of peripheral and other devices use them; such as digital cameras, mobile phones, mp3 players and the like. Although it’s possible to download from such devices by means of USB and FireWire, it’s also a good idea to have spare flash cards, just in case the one fitted to your digital camera fills up during a holiday for instance.

In such a case, when you arrive back home with several flash-memory cards full of snaps; it’s a good idea to have something other than the camera itself to read them on – Such as a universal card reader fitted to the PC for instance.

A universal card reader is inexpensive. (Although it’s possible to buy an external card-reader for a few groats more and connect it via USB, it’s always easier to have said card-reader installed into the front panel of your PC so that you can just pop the card in, cut and paste its contents to disk, and use it likewise again.) I bought the one fitted to my computer as a stock part about 2 years ago for less than £5.00 UKP.

In the picture above you can see the universal card-reader fitted between the DVD-RW above and the floppy-drive below. (Yes I still use floppies.)

The good news is that they’re rather easy to install as well as being inexpensive. Most modern pre-built computers these days are supplied with a card-reader built in, but not all of them. Older computers, commonly 2 years + old, probably won’t have a card-reader fitted.

Before you fit a card-reader, you’ll need to do some checks. The first of those being: Do you have a spare drive bay with a front opening in your computer’s case. The front-opening may be concealed by a plastic panel which can be popped out from inside the case – So just because you can’t see any more openings doesn’t mean there are none available.

The card-reader unit is commonly the right size to fit a smaller drive bay where hard-drives and floppy-drives are fitted. If you don’t have a smaller 3 1/2-inch drive-bay spare with a front opening then don’t worry: You can buy an adapter which makes it fit into a larger 5 1/4 inch drive-bay where you’d normally fit a DVD-RW drive for instance: basically its two pieces of metal and an extra fascia that screw onto the card-reader unit so that it fits into the larger drive-bay. Once again this is quite inexpensive.

Once you’ve mounted your card-reader unit in a drive-bay, all you need to do is plug it in. On the motherboard there should be at least 1 spare USB connector. (This is NOT a standard USB 2 port: It’s a set of pins onto which fits a plug that leads to a USB device: Either a number of USB ports on the back or front of the case, or otherwise; such as a card-reader as in this case.) If you’re unsure which connector is which I suggest you refer to your motherboard’s manual (RTFM), or if you no longer have it then download it from the manufacturer’s website.

Whilst it is true that most motherboards should have at least a single spare USB connector, there may be cases where this isn’t the case; such as in some computers built from a barebones kit, or on some older motherboards. In such cases it is usually possible to remove the single plug from the only available USB connector; but the front USB ports on the computer’s case may stop working if you do. Therefore this is a good check to do beforehand: Do I have enough USB connectors available on the motherboard, and if not am I prepared to sacrifice the function of my front USB ports in order to connect up this card-reader?

In the picture above the USB connectors on the motherboard are marked with arrows. I’ve connected my universal card-reader to the top one; marked with an asterisk at the tail-end of the arrow.

I suggest before doing anything inside a computer you earth yourself to prevent any static charge being transferred to sensitive components inside the computer. You can purchase a wrist-strap that you connect to electrical earth and wear, or you can connect a piece of metal jewellery or a metal watch that you wear to a metal pipe or the house’s electrical earth.

When you connect the plug to the pins, make sure that the plug is the right way round before you push it home. If it resists DON’T FORCE IT; check that it’s round the right way and try again.

Once connected, power up your computer and install the drivers and/or other software from the accompanying disk if necessary. Your card-reader should now read all the flash-cards that it’s designed to read.

That was a fairly easy install. I would assume that even someone with limited knowledge of computers would be able to do it as described.

Please comment on this article. Thank you.

This post is aimed at the hobbyist electronics constructor; but others might find it useful also.

Some graphics cards have a TV output that you can connect to the UHF aerial socket of a TV set using a co-axial lead with a co-axial TV aerial plug on each end. There’s a problem with this method, in that the picture is terrible.

The graphics card takes the binary H-sync + V-sync  signal, and passes them through a UHF modulator: Result = the synchronisation pulses aren’t properly attenuated into the composite sync pulses that the TV requires, and the resultant picture becomes distorted as a result; therefore it looks a mess.

There is, however, a relatively simple circuit which uses no more than a quad-exclusive-OR gate TTL chip and a couple of transistors, plus 2 capacitors and 9 resistors; which does the job better and will interface a VGA output of a graphics card to the SCART input of a television set.

If you have the necessary constructional abilities including soft-soldering (on veroboard), then this might be a fun project to build in your spare time.

The circuit basically combines and attenuates the H-sync and V-sync outputs from the graphics-card into the composite sync pulses required by a TV set. The RGB signals are left unchanged. Unlike the TV output of a graphics card; these signals haven’t been frequency-shifted to UHF in order that they can be seen at the UHF aerial input of the TV set. This in itself removes a huge chunk of the distortion that can result from such a frequency change – Only for the TV set to change the UHF to IF and split up the signal into its constituent parts…

You’ll find all the details; circuit diagram, component layout, the lot, by clicking this link. Enjoy.

On the 12th February 2009, Microsoft announced that they’ll be in partnership with other organisations in coordinating a response to the Conficker worm. Microsoft will be working with with a collection of Internet registry companies (VeriSign, Afilias, Public Internet Registry, to name a few.) in addition to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to disable domains involved in the spread of Conficker. I would imagine this would also include infected private servers, running IIS or otherwise. The advice here is if you’re running any type of server – POP, FTP, mail, web, whatever; ensure that it’s clean or you may get shut down.

Conficker uses a sizable list of algorithmically-generated domain names in order to spread itself. By reverse-engineering on the worm the authorities revealed what the names are and when they will be used. Therefore a coordinated plan of action can be implemented.

The writers and distributors of the successful Conficker malware attack have attracted a lot of attention; but maybe not completely quite the attention that they were hoping for: Microsoft have announced a $250,000 reward for information that results in the arrest and conviction of those responsible for illegally launching the Conficker malicious code on the Internet.

Someone somewhere knows who that person is, as well as where they are. No doubt the person concerned is having to pay for people who knows’ silence. – And they should be afraid: Very afraid; because when the internet detectives get on the trail I envision posses of bounty-hunters with dollar signs in their eyes galloping through cyberspace with the intent of collecting the reward-money.

The posses aren’t just going to be from the Western United States either: Anyone anywhere on the planet can collect the reward. Anyone with relevant information should contact their international law enforcement agencies.

Someone, somewhere, could be in for a rougher time than they’d ever anticipated.

HP has decided that it won’t be launching its new Mini 1000 Mi Edition netbook in the UK; because, it says, the UK  consumer doesn’t want Linux.

Yes you read that right: HP thinks the average British consumer doesn’t want Linux. – Ubuntu Linux too.

Personally I know of many people who would give their right arm to have a netbook running Ubuntu Linux; but HP either know something I don’t or are just plain dumb.

The company has said that it won’t be launching the netbook in the UK; so not only don’t the British get another chance to learn to use and like Linux, but also they don’t get the netbook either.

HP is launching its new Mini 1000 Mi Edition netbook in the US, and it comes with a custom-made Ubuntu Linux operating system. The Brits, however, have to go without: No notebook and no Linux either.

HP is under the impression that UK customers are happy with the netbooks that are already available to buy in the Brit market, and have decided not to offer the Mini 1000 Mi Edition on this side of the pond.

Contrary to HP’s opinion however, other companies including publishers and retailers have seen a large amount of UK interest in Linux operating systems.

On the evidence of this; HP have shot themselves in the foot and will miss out on a rather good opportunity. – But that’s their problem to some extent. I wonder exactly what the UK Linux-users and prospective-UK-Linux-users are missing out on? There’s one way to find out: Import HP’s netbooks from America and sell them packaged with an AC mains voltage adapter in the UK.

Have I given someone ideas? I don’t even know whether it’s legal to do so under joint US / British trade regulations; neither will I be held responsible for anyone else’s possible contravention of any rules relating to them as a result of my suggested idea. I’m not an international trader and I can’t be expected to know much about it.

Nevertheless I see no reason why the UK should miss out on the product and Linux due to the fanciful whim of the manufacturer.

“Wait a minute there…” You interject: –

“You’re a self-admitted Wintard. What do you care about Linux?”

Yes it’s true that I prefer Windows personally. I also occasionally use Linux at times myself though, and I think that those who prefer Linux to Windows should all have equal rights to use it to the greatest possible extent; just as I think that those including myself who prefer Windows to Linux should also have the same rights; whether they live in the USA, Canada, the UK, Africa, India, Australia, or on Mars even: Wherever. I don’t think it fair that a company should deny a whole group of countries the right to own their product and use Linux on it if they wish to do so.

It’s neither in the interests of the Brits or HP to do so. OK I appreciate that they’re targeting what they believe to be a better marketplace; fair play to them, but in the interests of commerce it would appear as logical to target a market where the need is lesser and create a need, as it would be to serve the marketplace area where the extent of anticipated trade is better known. – Surely I’m right?

‘Anyone disagree? ‘Anyone strongly in agreement? Do comment.

Microsoft recently launched the beta of their new operating system; Windows 7, to the public this year (2009). Reports indicate that until the time of writing, the public are generally impressed with what they see. –And rightly so.

However there is a lot more to Windows 7 than one might imagine; so impressed you may well be; but after reading the article “50 Seriously Useful Windows 7 Tips” on Tech Radar, you’ll no doubt be even more impressed. All credit to Microsoft for going that one step further with this release and giving us something that’s worth the fee, rather than just a heap of hassle such as that experienced under Vista, at least initially. There are many things highlighted within the article which will enable you to optimally use your PC under Windows 7 and get the best out of the new OS.

The four different sections that the tips are split into include sub topics,  and you can learn about new features such as the problem steps recorder, creating and mounting VHD files, setting up automatic PC cleanup, using RSS powered wallpapers, restoring quick launch bar, and more.

The article is certainly well worth a read if you use Windows 7 and want to get the best out of it.

50 Seriously Useful Windows 7 Tips

According to all available sources; Microsoft are giving Windows Vista SP1 users an easy upgrade option to Windows 7 when they release it. kkomp.com’s prediction is that Windows 7 will be available later this year (2009): probably in late August.

The hardware required to run 7 will be no different to that which Vista runs on; but some XP users with older computers may not be able to meet the minimum specification set out for running Win. 7. The minimum hardware requirements for Windows 7 are as follows:

1 GHz CPU 

1 GB RAM 

  At least 16 GB free hard drive space

Graphics card or onboard graphics with support for Direct X 9 graphics and 128 MB memory.

XP users with older computers may find that they have to upgrade their RAM to 1GB and fit a graphics card or a better graphics card. XP users who use computers with a processor that is less than 1GHz should, in my opinion, keep using XP on it for now, relegate it to a second machine or give it to the kids, or use it as a server, and buy a new machine with Windows 7 pre-installed after it is released.

What I mean here is that if your machine has a processor less than 1 GHz, then your machine is getting very old and may not last much longer anyway. Upgrading to a faster processor will probably entail replacing the motherboard for a newer model capable of running a modern processor, which might also mean replacing the PSU too. Unless you want a retro-look machine with today’s standard capabilities; plus you have the money, time, and expertise to fully rebuild it, it’s simply not worth bothering with.

So let’s assume that you do have a machine capable of running Windows 7, but which you’re currently running XP on. What are the options? Many users didn’t bother with Vista due to rumours, mostly true; of driver incompatibilities, software issues, performance problems, and hardware dysfunctions. I’m one of those users myself.

Microsoft will allow us XP users to purchase an install Windows 7 at a discount; but the upgrade option is seemingly a no-no. Unless you’re a Vista user it’s a backup your important data, reformat, and install Windows 7. – No easy upgrade option for us traitors who failed to follow Microsoft’s every move to the letter. Oh no; we dared to disagree with the almighty software-giant and we must now accept our punishment.

Would it have been so much easier if we’d moved up to Vista when we were commanded to do so? In short no: in my opinion the extra hassles, problems, toils, crashes, downtime, confusion, etc, that moving to Vista pre-SP1 would have involved would far outweigh a simple backup, reformat, and install.

- And then there’s a matter of crap: Crap builds up on any disk from the moment it’s first used with a Windows operating system: Bits of deleted files, broken links, data and file-system corruption, registry errors, unseen malware; it all increases with time and starts to slow your system down, cause crashes, errors, and further data corruption. Upgrading your operating system from, in this case, Vista to Windows 7, brings all that crap with you into your new installation, causing problems right from the start.

I suggest taking the XP user’s route anyway, whether or not you’re running Vista right now: Backup anything important, reformat, install Windows 7.

In fact I’ll go one further than that and say if your hard-drive is more than 2 years old: No matter which company manufactured it and how great it appears to currently perform; replace it with a new and  larger one.

Why? The average working life of a hard-drive; depending upon manufacturer, is 2 to 4 years; more commonly 3. If yours is 2 years old or more it has probably at most another 2 years of life in it. Also when you purchased it; whether preinstalled in your new machine or as a replacement for the old one, it seemed huge and you thought you’d never use all that available disk-space. (I remember thinking that when I purchased a new machine with an 80GB HDD in 2001. By 2007 when I built myself a new machine I’d almost used all the available space and had fitted a second, larger, hard-drive also.)

Think big, think forward: 250GB – or whatever the capacity of your current hard-disk – may sound reasonable today, but in 2 years time you’ll probably be replacing your almost worn-out and full 250 GB drive with a much larger one, if you haven’t experienced a disk-crash by then.

Go buy a 1.5 terabyte disk and install it as your main drive, your C: drive. By all means use your existing drive as a second hard-disk, a data-store for little-used files perhaps, but as I said; think forward. Format your new 1.5 terabyte drive in NTFS and install Windows 7 on it. Delete any junk on your old disk; subject it to every security scan imaginable just to be on the safe side, and use it while it lasts.

Maybe Microsoft’s in the light of reality done us XP users a favour? What’s your opinion?

I was looking at the top 50 blogs on MyBlogLog; and suddenly thought that this would be a fun idea: -

- So welcome along to kkomp.com on this Wednesday 18th February 2009.

This is the list of the 50 hottest blogs currently online, as compiled by MyBlogLog.com:

Furthest down but going strong it’s the wordy blog-site of[chrisbrogan.com]

At No 49. on the line it’s Yugatech.

We didn’t make you wait: At No.48 it’s the Yahoo! Developer Network

47 steps from heaven  it’s the top-ranking TopRankBlog.com

At 46; either sinking or rising quick, it’s The Yahoo User Interface Library

- And at No.45; down but stayin’ alive, it’s The Thinking Blog.

At 44 but wantin’ more it’s The The MyBlogLog Blog – Are they cheatin’ in their own charts?

43 and it’s all right by me, it’s TechCrunch France; a la Francais romance.

42 and never blue; Arrington’s bunch: It’s TechCrunch .

At 41 under the sun it’s Sushi’s Diary @ Pixnet : I can never work out whether that’s a blog or a Japanese email address.

Blind 40, and it’s RomainLibeau.com

39 and doing fine it’s ReadWriteWeb .

Tipping the tops at 38 and never too late it’s Quick Online Tips

While at 37 and nearer to heaven it’s PlayPC – ‘Sounds like a Mac to me.

36 but not in a fix it’s Papilles et Pupilles – J’adore le Francais.

35 and takin’ no jive it’s Pandemia.

At 34 and way off the floor it’s New: NEW MMDays !!

33 it’s Napolux.com | AJAX, Web 2.0, PHP, M… .

32 and stayin’ true it’s MyBlogLog – Again?! Self-promotion has never been so good.

31 and havin’ fun, Mashable France

Blind 30: makin’ use of this spot is MakeUseOf.com

LiewCF Tech Blog is at 29,

and at 28 il aussi vivre le France:  Les Influenceurs.

27 – I can only rhyme with heaven: La révolution web 2.0 en live ! . The French influence is overwhelming!

26 and all alone, it’s Just Jared .

Half-way through at number 25 is John Cow dot Com. Beware of imitations.

Well we’re half-way through our chart rundown, and coming up – the Top 24 places; right after this: -

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Welcome back. This is kkomp.com with the top 24 hottest blogs currently online as compiled by MyBlogLog.com .

Moving right on, and at 24 it’s the real thing: It’s John Chow dot Com .

23 it’s www.christabelle.idv.tw ,

and in the number 22 position it’s GuiM Weblog .

At 21 it’s GorillaSushi : A Japanese primate dish maybe?

Holding the number 20 slot: Gonzague

Here’s the final countdown; the Top of the Pops of the hottest blog sites online, compiled by MyBlogLog.com .

Number 19: It’s Entrepreneur’s Journey

At 18 it’s Egotastic! .

17. It’s Easy Wordpress

At 16 it’s Digital Inspiration Technology Guide .

The countdown of the hottest blogs online, as compiled by MyBlogLog.com, continues:

At No.15 it’s Court’s Internet Marketing / Personal Development – The legal profession’s online sideline maybe?

At No.14  – Cosa Aranda | My Journey – NEW .

13 – We missed out 13 because we’re superstitious.

12 is ChauffeurdeBuzz ,

and at 11 it’s Caroline Middlebrook.

It’s that time; but wait for this break. we’ll be right back:

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kkomp.com proudly present the Top Ten online hits, as compiled by MyBlogLog.com.

Here we go with the countdown of the top 10; the Top of the Pops of the online blogosphere.

Number 10: It’s Business Opportunities Weblog.

Number 9: Bozarblog .

Number 8: ◊ Blog Marketing .

Number 7: blog d’emery .

At number 6 it’s AVC …

Here’s the countdown of the top 5 blogs from the online blogosphere as compiled by MyBlogLog.com

At number 5 it’s Andy Beard – Niche Marketing .

At 4 it’s  amarylliss’ blog.

This is it then: The top 3 places; the Top of the Pops from the blogosphere, as compiled by MyBlogLog.com:

At number 3 it’s PlugIM – Internet Marketing Company .

Sharing the No.2 spot it’s a Chinese couple that I simply cannot pronounce or even read:  部落格觀察 and 工頭堅部… .

It’s the number 1 blog according to the list compiled by MyBlogLog.com. This week’s Top of the Pops is: -

到台湾找我玩，同志！ Come See Me In Taiwan, Comrade.

That’s Top of the Pops this Wednesday 18th February 2009. Thank you for browsing in. Enjoy your week.

(That took a heck of a lot longer to do than I first thought it would!)

RAM – It’s your computer’s processor’s instantly-accessible working-space. It’s the first place the CPU uses for storing information, notes, formulae, algorithms, data, logs, and anything else that it might want to access in a hurry. If there’s not enough room in the RAM then the processor has to utilise some space on the hard-disk to use in its place.

What’s the big deal with that then? Well to the processor the difference is like popping in to the local store next door – or driving to town, parking up, walking to the supermarket, waiting in a queue at the checkout to pay, walking back to the car, and driving back home again. Disk access takes ages compared to accessing the RAM, and it also causes extra wear and tear on the disk too.

On the evidence of that, then, we can say that the more RAM you have installed in your computer the better… Up to a point: If you’re using a 32-bit operating system then your computer will only see a limited amount of RAM. I know this for a fact. A customer of mine was adamant that he was going to have 4GB RAM fitted to his box that I was building, and that we’d agreed I was going to install 32-bit XP professional on; This despite the fact that I had told him that the operating system wouldn’t see all of the RAM if that much were installed. When completed the computer saw only 3.5 GB of RAM with its 32-bit operating system; and the onboard graphics used 250MB of that, leaving 3.25 GB with 500MB unseen. Click this link for a little more.

I’ll move on to 64-bit operating systems further down.

Both of my computers run 32-bit XP Professional and have 2GB RAM fitted. Only once when I was indexing and viewing a large file of over 2000 pictures; some over 1GB in size, have I ever run out of space in RAM. If you’re using a 32-bit operating system and using your computer for average general computing then 2GB is probably as much as you’ll ever need. With the low price of RAM sticks there days, though, it wouldn’t hurt to fit 3GB RAM if you have enough memory slots on the motherboard.

If you’re using a 64-bit operating system, though, it won’t hurt to stuff as much RAM as you can into your box. Assuming that your motherboard will support it; filling 4 memory slots with 4 x 4GB memory sticks – making a total of 16 GB – is fine. Why waste memory slots? They may as well be used if they can be used.

64-bit operating systems have the capability to address much more RAM. How much? Well it appears that nobody can actually agree on exactly how much: Nobody I know anyway.

I’ve heard one person claim that it can take an infinite amount of RAM – Which is wrong; there is a limit. I’ve heard someone else still claim that it will only see a terabyte of RAM. I personally calculated it at several terabytes. Whichever is correct, it’s fairly academic anyway: I don’t see a motherboard anywhere at the moment that’ll take 250 X 4GB RAM sticks (1TB). Such a board would be rather large: Larger than most people would like anyway, I think it would be safe to assume. The most RAM I’ve ever heard of anyone using in a single box under a 64-bit environment, up to time of writing, is 32GB on a Mac. That is used for doing a shedload of video editing/broadcasting, in addition to running an entire online business. Do you have more than that fitted to your computer? Please say so if you do.

There are a few rules to fitting RAM, other than fitting the right type of RAM, e.g. DDR, DDR2, DDR3, etc. Let’s take a look at some of them: =

Most motherboards these days have dual-channel architecture. This is analogous to the dual-core processor in a way; except for the preference that at least 2 individual sticks of RAM should be used. There should be no problems using only 1, but system performance will be enhanced by using at least 2. It’s a better idea to use an even number of sticks; though I’ve not heard of any major issues in using an odd number of sticks.

As you may or may not know; there are different speeds of RAM: For instance; one of my machines is fitted with DDR2 533MHz RAM, whereas the other one, which I’m writing this on, is fitted with DDR2 667MHz RAM. What’s the difference? The difference is the frequency that they operate at. What difference does the RAM speed make to system performance? A very small and almost unnoticeable difference; but something rather than nothing. If I was using DDR3 RAM in one of them then the difference would be noticeable; and so would the cost, as DDR3 is more expensive than DDR2, added to which I’d need to replace the motherboard to be able to use DDR3, as my memory slots will only accommodate DDR2 sticks.

So what happens if I were to mix up the sticks and fit a 533 and a 667 MHz stick to one of the computers? The answer is that the RAM would run at the speed of the slowest stick; in this case 533MHz. – So yes you can mix the speeds; but the result will be that all the sticks will run at the speed of the slowest stick.

How much RAM can I get away with NOT using?

I’ve run XP Home on a Pentium 1 processor with 32MB PC133 RAM before now; and it worked. – ‘Just that it took half an hour to boot, thrashed the disk like crazy, and ran slower than the UK railways.

I’ve run XP Home on 250MB DDR RAM in a box with an AMD Sempron 32-bit single-core CPU. It was slow, and the hard disk was very busy. I installed a second 250MB DDR stick and everything worked reasonably well; on “tick-over” that is: It wasn’t 100% happy when doing intensive jobs and took its time over some operations.

XP Pro 32-bit works fine with a dual-core processor and 1GB DDR2 RAM. I like to have 2GB installed as there are occasions when the system needs it. I have nVidia turbocharged graphics cards; which borrow up to 186 MB of it if the display needs it too.

Vista loves RAM; and it’ll greedily utilise loads of it just showing the desktop. It’s a well-known resource-hogger; so if you’re running Vista I’d say 2GB minimum for 32 or 64-bit.

Linux – depending on the distro – will run on almost anything. In the case of operating systems like Ubuntu, however, I’d recommend a minimum of 1GB.

Mac OSX – A very versatile *nix – based 64-bit OS. With that one I’d say the more the merrier…And that goes for any 64-bit OS too in all honesty. – It depends what you’re using it for.

That’s about it for this article: I think I’ve RAMmed the message home enough for now. – That’s enough PUNishment. If you have any thoughts, disagreements, views, whatever, then please comment below.

If you’ve never done this before; Please read the entire article before you begin any operations.

OK. The first thing you might ask is:

“Why would I want to upgrade a socket AM2 processor?”

AMD’s Socket AM2 has been around a while; and in some cases an AM2 motherboard capable of supporting a dual-core processor has been fitted with a single-core processor; an Athlon 64 for example. You may feel the need to upgrade to dual-core but not want to go to all the expense of a total rebuild.

If your motherboard has a single-core socket AM2 processor attached then it might very well be fairly easy to upgrade the CPU without doing very much else. An AMD Athlon 64 x 2 processor is a good direct replacement for a single-core Athlon 64. In many cases it’s also a good replacement for a socket AM2 Sempron too. (Please bear in mind that the Sempron processor is commonly a 32-bit processor. A 64-bit version is available and was used on some occasions. Check that your motherboard is capable of supporting 64-bit architecture, in addition to the checks below, before upgrading a 32-bit Sempron to a 64-bit Athlon.)

The first thing I would suggest before doing any upgrade of any kind is that you back up all of your data: Operating system as well as other files. – In essence ghost your disk(s) and have a backup ready on a USB device or another computer.

Why? The reason for making a ghost backup is that if you’re upgrading from a single-core to a dual-core processor, you’ll need to perform a maintenance-reinstall of your operating system after you’ve physically upgraded your processor. If the maintenance reinstall goes tits-up then you’ll have the original backup to reinstall. (A maintenance-reinstall is completely different to a full reinstall. The only data you’ll lose, if you’re using Windows, is probably the Microsoft patches and upgrades. – But you can always download these again anyway.)

So you have backed up all of your data: In effect ghosted the contents of your hard-disk(s).

You now need to ensure that your motherboard is capable of supporting dual-core processor technology. Go to your motherboard’s manufacturer’s website and look up data on your particular model and revision of motherboard. If yes then we can proceed. If no then that total rebuild that you were trying to avoid appears to be the only option if you want to go multi-core.

Select the exact AMD Athlon 64 x 2 processor that you want to use.

A word of caution here: Some motherboards will only support a processor operating frequency of up to 2.2 GHz. This may be particularly true in the case of older boards. (pre-2007) that are fitted with a single-core socket AM2 Athlon 64 or Sempron. If this is the case then you may find that you have trouble getting hold of a new Athlon 64 x 2 with the required operating frequency, and have to purchase a secondhand Windsor – cored Athlon 64 x 2; 1.8, 2.0, or 2.2 GHz, or a Brisbane-cored 2.1 GHz model from eBay or Craigslist.

*Added 28th April 2009: A further word of caution, and something that I omitted to add to this original article: -

I am still working on this and another blog right at this moment as promised. The changes will be largely unseen as regards this one. The other blog is my new second blog called Shazza-Live – which you can view now if you like. It’s still in its infancy at the moment and is extremely light on content. Even the pages and posts that exist are in most cases only half-built and need further attention. Nevertheless, if you’d like to check out the proceedings then please feel free to mosey on over using this link.

Although the blog has a dot co dot UK URL, you can also use the dot com URL as an alternative, which redirects to the former.

“OK; so what’s going down then?” You ask. “In the last post you made on this site you said that you were working hard and wouldn’t be posting anything until Monday. You’re not very consistent at sticking to your decisions are you?”

You may have a point there, to some extent. The reason I’m making this post is due to a number of circumstances. I thought it prudent at this point, although it may be a little late in the day for some, to post the following: –

Part of the work that I was intending to undertake was a manual upgrade of my Wordpress installation. had I done this it would have been a first for me, as I’ve only done the initial install, – twice now, with both this blog and also Shazza-Live too, – but I’ve always relied on automatic upgrades. These have all gone smoothly for me up until recently: -

…And that is the main reason for this unscheduled post. – That, as well as the fact that I have possibly cut an hour or two out of the weekends’ schedule by avoiding manually upgrading.

Wordpress 2.7 has a built-in upgrading feature; whereas in previous versions of Wordpress you either had to rely on a plugin to do the auto-upgrade, or manually do it yourself. I always used the plugin option without any problems other than fear that things would screw up in the middle of the process and I’d have to take an on-the-job crash-course in rebuilding the database. Fortunately that never happened under the old WP Auto-Upgrade plugin; at least not in my case anyway.

When I upgraded to WP 2.7; almost as soon as it was released in RTM format, I noticed that it had its own built-in upgrading feature, and I wondered if the WP Auto-Upgrade plugin would interfere with that. – Despite the fact that it had handled the upgrade to 2.7 without problem. I made a mental note and put it to the back of my mind… And forgot all about it.

When it came to upgrading from 2.7 to 2.7.1; which I wanted to get done as 2.7 was rather overly buggy for an RTM release, I clicked on the “Upgrade Automatically” button: CRASH! : -

Upgrade WordPress

Downloading update from http://wordpress.org/wordpress-2.7.1.zip

Unpacking the core update

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare pclziputilpathreduction() (previously declared in /538/linux/kkomp.com/hdoc/content/plugins/wordpress-automatic-upgrade/lib/pclzip.lib.php:5421) in /538/linux/kkomp.com/hdoc/admin/includes/class-pclzip.php on line 5498

‘Pretty obvious really – Like RTFM (Read The F…ing Manual.). I failed to spot the obvious, however, and nothing jogged my memory either. I even showed this to an alleged php expert; who said that it was probably due to a fault in the server’s php and that I should get on to the host about it. I did; and even the advisor at Fasthosts.co.uk missed the obvious; advising me that my Wordpress install had screwed up and that I’d have to manually upgrade to fix the problem.

Fortunately I’d also put out on Twitter, but not getting a decent response for 24 hours wasn’t helping. I took my attention off Twitter and began planning the manual upgrade; going through every step with a fine-toothed comb.

I was distracted by my older computer, which had been acting strangely for a while, crashing with a repeated BSOD. I put that problem right, and as I reinstalled Twhirl I looked at the replies in my Twitter account: –

My thanks to @kwbridge, who came straight up with the solution:

“Do you have the WP Auto-Upgrade plugin installed? If so, delete it and try again.” Brilliant!

I found and deleted the WP Auto Upgrade folder in Root\WP-content\Plugins directory, attempted the auto-upgrade, and everything was accomplished in a matter of seconds.

Target neutralised.

I’m rather embarrassed that I failed to spot the obvious though. Rather than “RTFM”, analyse, diagnose, rectify; it was more a case of LATFM (Look At The F…ing Manual.) and panic:

“Oh sh.t my blog’s crashed: There goes my blogging career before it even started properly.”

Panic stations. Dial 999 and ask for the technical assistance squad. Shut down all operations. ‘Houston we have a problem.’ Gather all available financial resources and put them on standby. Go to red alert status. Battle stations. Evacuate all non-essential personnel. Mayday, mayday…

In hindsight the problem was obvious: The php code had already declared and set a value for the function “pclziputilpathreduction()” when the plugin activated, hence when the built-in Auto-Upgrade function was activated and attempted to redeclare it, it was unable to do so and caused the fatal error. It’s all there in the error description FFS; but me being a php novice caused me to go into a flap.

As @kwbridge said in a reply to my reply:

“…I wonder how many people have that plugin installed and are going to run into the same problem?”

Well if any of those people happen to be you then here’s the solution in case you missed it like I did.

Kkomp.com – Taking you beyond the comfort zone and ensuring that you don’t miss out in getting your geek on. I so hope pcmech.com don’t mind me combining their motto with mine. Lol.

And now, with that out of the way, back to the grindstone. Onwards and upwards with panic asunder…

- From your desktop no less.

If I were to mention the phrase;

“App for uploading pics to Facebook”,

- you’d probably reply, “Facebook Photo Uploader”.

Very square indeed. There is another one however, that might even be a little more versatile.

It’s a Java-based app.

– For those crying;

“I don’t want to install Java; it’s bloat.”

I always install Java on a new build; whether I need it straight away or not. It’s harmless, and may well be useful in the future, even if not at present. – ‘Same with .net Framework, and of late Adobe Air too..

Make sure you have the latest Java runtime environment installed. This’ll work on Java 5 or 6+. It’s called Bloom.

You can tag photos with it, upload them to an existing album, or create a new album and upload to it, and you can also view your friend’s pics with it too.

It’s not platform specific, so whether you run osX, Windows, or Linux, provided you have Java installed you’re in clover.

You might just discover that it’s bloomin’ good.

Get it here at antaki.ca. 

Latest version released 20th January 2009.

On April 14th 2009 – Which incidentally is also one of Microsoft’s “Patch Tuesdays”. – Windows XP leaves Microsoft’s mainstream support and enters extended support.

At seven-years old; XP is already Microsoft’s most successful operating system, partly due to its enhanced longevity.

Normally Microsoft keeps an operating system in mainstream support for 5 years after its release date, and then puts it into extended support for another 5, before retiring it completely. In the case of XP, however, Microsoft were forced to extend the support-lifetime a further 3 years due to the long delay between the releases of XP and Vista. In reality, then, XP has been already living on borrowed time for the last couple of years and a bit more.

Mainstream support includes security and functionality bug-fixes – Also issuing service packs as an extra, which are a condensed form of a compilation of existing and new bug and security fixes encapsulated into a single package for ease of installation.

Extended support, however, includes critical updates and security-related patches only. From April 14th onwards this is all that XP will have issued.

Does that mean that people should stop using XP? Not at all. There is another 5 years of critical-security related support available for XP from April 2009. This means that XP will not become a security risk, like Win 9x and ME now are due to the unavailability of security fixes, until April 2014. My advice for the moment is if you’re comfortable using XP at present then carry on using it for now.

What of its successors? Well in my opinion Vista was a flop, and at this point isn’t worth worrying about. – Although having said that there are a few people, one of whom is an online-friend of mine, who prefer Vista to anything else Microsoft have ever produced. Those people are nevertheless in the minority.

Then there’s Windows 7:  At time of writing, Windows 7 is available in beta form.

(NOTICE: If people who intend to download the beta haven’t yet done so then I do suggest doing so ASAP as a matter of urgency. Microsoft are closing entries to the beta program in a few days time.)

Windows 7 looks promising; but as I’ve stated in an earlier article, Microsoft have decided to issue 6 versions, allegedly in the hope of maximising their profits by doing so. As I said in a comment I made on PC Mech, if it was a choice between Home, pro, and Business versions; I’d go straight out and buy Pro as soon as it was released in RTM format. Now I’m going to wait to let those with the money who are brave enough to do so jump in where angels fear to tread and test the versions, before reporting what the customer will get with each version. Yes I’m hanging back until I know what I’m letting myself in for, and I advise my readers to do the same, unless they happen to be well-off financially and extremely geeky.

For now I’m sticking to XP; and I may well run XP on one of my comps right up until 2014. I may even use it as a standalone system even after that, until the comp it’s installed on packs up beyond reasonable repair through old age.

Are Microsoft going to do their best to kill off XP from April onward as rumour has it? I don’t think they need to in all honesty. I think Windows 7 will do that before long, although not totally. What’s your opinion? Please do comment.

I started writing this with the intention of writing an e-book; but I simply don’t have the time or the patience to write the reams and reams of text to justify a full coverage of the subject: Therefore I’ve condensed some of what I wrote down into a rather large post. Some of the text isn’t quite as I’d like it to be; but overall it conveys the right message.

This article is written with a view to teaching a few of the basics of electronic circuit design using a number of equations from or based upon Ohms’ Law. It is aimed at the beginner-level student. Whilst knowledge of component function is assumed throughout, links to articles from other sources as well as kkomp.com have been included throughout in order that the reader can study and read up on the function of individual electronic components for the purpose of being able to better follow the basic tuition herein.

Electronics is such a huge subject that it is impossible to cover every aspect in the required detail in a single article. Maybe a 1.5 terabyte hard drive would be large enough to store the knowledge of the average engineer, if it were zipped and otherwise compressed.

We begin by looking at the basics of Ohms’ Law and go on to design of a very basic DC inverting amplifier stage using three resistors and a transistor. I have attempted to keep the material as light as is possible, given such an intense learning curve packed into such a small space.

The main onus is left up to the reader, as near the end of the article I leave the reader with a conundrum to solve. The problem can be solved using only resistors, transistors, and a diode or maybe two. In solving the problem the reader will construct and solve many equations using Ohms’ Law; therefore putting into practice all that they have learned herein whilst at the same time developing their skills further.

It’s short and concise. There’s a lot of study and knowledge packed into it, and I hope I’ve done the subject justice.

Foreword

Electronics is a vast and complicated field. There’s so much to learn, and that learning curve never stops. No matter how much you know; there’s always more to be known as new discoveries are constantly being made.

For instance; forty years ago, nobody would have thought that the recently-invented transistor would be at the centre of technological advancement. It would have been thought of a a crazy notion that over sixty million transistors could be compacted into a device with the volume of a standard matchbox that is the central processing unit of a powerful personal computer.

In this article I’m not intending to describe in great detail the various functions of individual electronic components. Where this may be necessary I’ve linked to articles containing further information on this, should the reader require it.

This article is mainly about calculation used in simple circuit design, brought about by the use of basic calculus, in part using Ohms’ Law. The publication is intended to be the first in an ongoing series of books covering the basic principles of electronics and electronic circuit design. A basic knowledge of component identification and function is assumed in the reader. If this happens to not be the case then the information provided at the destination of the links incorporated within the text should be a sufficient source of knowledge.

The article that you’re now reading does not endeavour to go into digital electronics at this stage, and concentrates rather on basic analogue DC circuit principles, which should be learned as a forerunner to the discovery of digital circuitry.

Electronics is a very intense subject; and one could devote one’s entire lifetime to the furtherance of knowledge in this field. However with the rate of new discoveries now being made it is extremely unlikely that one could ever learn everything there is to know about the subject in even a very long lifetime.

This article is intended for the beginner class on levels 2 and 3. However, by utilising the links provided I feel even an absolute beginner on level 1 would be able to keep up, with much study, and maybe even progress a degree in doing so.

One thing that has been the very basis of all electronic advancement, from the days of valves up until the present day, is a set of equations known as Ohm’s Law. In this article we’ll be taking a look at Ohm’s Law and showing how it is applicable to every aspect of electricity and electronics.

Georg Simon Ohm was born in Germany on 16th March 1789, and lived until 6 July 1854. He became a physicist, and during his career determined that there is a direct proportionality between the voltage applied across a conductor and the resultant electric current flowing in the circuit. Further experimentation meant that eventually Ohm was able to define the relationships of voltage, current, and electrical resistance.

_._

In this rather large article I’m going to be using circuit diagrams. For those not familiar with circuit diagrams I would suggest that you take a look at this link and/or here to familiarise yourself with some of the symbols used. You will notice that I don’t always stick to the usual format in a number of cases when I’m drawing my own circuit diagrams freehand or other than on the computer itself: For instance; when I’m drawing a resistor I use a diagonal zigzag line rather than a rectangular box. Also when drawing a transistor symbol I usually omit the circle around the device.

This is for a number of purposes; the main ones being speed and neatness: If you’ve ever tried to draw a perfect circle without using a pair of compasses or a jar lid, you’ll know just how difficult it is. The symbol inside the circle is the same and unique whichever way round one draws it. The reason for the circle is to indicate that the device is a discreet device, meaning a single device in a package; as opposed to part of a multi-transistor chip or an integrated circuit. For this article we’ll just use the symbol without the circle where I’ve drawn the circuit diagrams myself: It’s a transistor and that’s it.

Standard Transistor Symbol     Transistor Symbol Used Herein

(The link shows only the symbols of a bipolar NPN and a PNP transistor, and also a phototransistor. There are many other types of transistor; such as the FET or Field Effect Transistor in its various different guises. (Which, incidentally, was not named after the author; Sharron Field. (Sadly.))

I commonly use a zigzag line as the symbol for a resistor; this was once the standard symbol for a resistor. It was abandoned for the sake of clarity because it looks too similar to the symbol for an inductor , the symbol of which has curves where the old resistor symbol has angles.

= This is how I draw a resistor

Whereas this is the modern standard symbol:

I personally use the old zigzag line symbol because it’s vastly easier to draw and takes less than 1/4 of the time. If I try to draw a rectangular box I end up wishing I hadn’t.

You’ll notice that the circuit diagrams that I’ve included were drawn with a pen or pencil on paper and scanned in: That’s the way things are currently. I don’t at the moment have either the software to draw exclusively on the computer nor the time and patience to learn how to use it. The situation may be different in the future; but right now that’s the way things stand.

The Basic Triangle

So let’s look at the most basic bit of Ohm’s Law first; that being the relationship of Voltage to current to resistance in a DC (Direct Current) environment: -

The relationship can be expressed in an easy-to-remember format thus:

V

I        R

Where V is Voltage in Volts,

I is electric current in Amperes,

and R is DC electrical resistance in Ohms

From this simple illustration we can draw the following equations: -

V / I = R

V / R = I

I x R = V

If we were to substitute the figure 1 for all of the variables we would notice that the equations are all true and equal in their most basic form: If a single Ampere flowed through a resistance of a single ohm at a voltage of a single volt it would be the point of correlation between the three measurements.

If, as happens in nearly all cases in a practical working environment, we were to increase or decrease the value to a number less than or greater than one for any or all of these variables, then that correlation vanishes; yet the equations still hold together.

Let’s look at an example on the next page: -

A current of 2 Amperes, or amps for short, is flowing through a resistance of 2 Ohms.

In this case Ohm’s law tells us that the voltage present at the point where the current exits the 2 Ohm resistor is 4 Volts; as 2 amps x 2 Ohms = 4 Volts.

Another example: –

An unspecified current is flowing through a resistance of 10 Ohms. The voltage at the point where the current exits the resistor is 5 Volts.

Ohms’ Law reveals that the unspecified current must be 5 Volts / 10 Ohms = 1/2 amp.

A third example: -

A current of 0.1 amps, or 100 milliamps, is outputting a resistor at a Voltage of 0.3 Volts, or 300 millivolts.

Ohms’ Law informs us that the resistor’s value in Ohms is 0.3 Volts / 0.1 amps = 3 Ohms.

Yes it really is that simple; at least at this stage in the proceedings.

Power

The next denomination we introduce into the mix is electrical power, represented by the letter P; and which is measured in Watts.

Here we introduce another law, that being Joule’s Law, which is named after the British physicist James Joule.

Joules’ Law has 2 main equations for giving the relation of power, or wattage, to the integers that we’ve already introduced in Ohms’ Law: The following equations describe this relationship: -

P = I x V

2 ,

P = V  / IP = V squared / square root of I

and

2

P = I  R        (P = I squared x R)

(Please excuse the error in writing the equations as mathematical formulae: The text has cocked up beyond repair. Please read the words rather than the badly-printed equations.))

Let’s look at some examples of this: -

1) A lamp draws 1 amp of current at a voltage of 6 Volts. Joules’ Law combined with Ohms’ Law tells us that the lamp is burning 1 amp x 6 Volts = 6 Watts.

2) A DC circuit draws 2A of current, and has an overall resistance of 12 Ohms. Joules’ Law tells us that (2 x 2) amps of current x 12 Ohms = 48 Watts.

In Circuit

So that’s the very simple bit out of the way and dealt with. let’s now take a look at connecting resistances in parallel and also in series, as well as working out the total resistance: -

There are different equations for calculating parallel and series resistances. Let’s first take a look at series resistances:

In the example above we have a circuit diagram of 2 resistances, R1 and R2, in series. To calculate the total resistance of the series pair we simply add up the sum of the values of the two resistors thus: –

Rt = R1 + R2

That was easy.

When calculating the resistance of 2 resistors in parallel, however, things are slightly more complicated. The equation for calculating the total resistance of 2 resistors in parallel is:

Rt = (R1 x R2) / (R1 + R2)

Let’s look at an example of this: -

In the diagram above we have a 2,200 Ohm (2.2 kilohms) resistor connected in parallel with a 1,100 Ohm (1.1 kilohms) resistor. The total resistance is given by

Rt = (1,100 x 2,200) / (1,100 + 2,200)

Rt = 2,420,000 / 3300

Rt = 733.33 Ohms (0.73333 kilohms)

Here’s a reminder of the resistor colour code and how to read the resistance value of the component. (This code also applies to some capacitors too.) : -

Introducing Semiconductors

In this article I’m not going to be covering any other “passive” components, such as capacitors and inductors. – I’ll save that for you to learn elsewhere. Right now I’d like to move on to what are termed “active components”, or semiconductors.

All the many types of transistor are classed as semiconductors, as are a range of components called diodes. There are also semiconductor components called thyristors which are used for DC power control, also triacs which are used in AC power control circuitry. High-current versions of these are probably utilised in the power supply of your computer, along with capacitors – large and small, resistors, diodes, power transistors, and inductors. Here we are starting to go beyond the scope of this article, however.

Herein I’d rather stick, for now, with just resistors, diodes, and a single basic type of transistor known as a bipolar transistor.

Very briefly; the diode in its raw form is a semiconductor device that only allows electricity to flow only one way through it. Click the hyperlink at the word “diode” above and discover more about it.

Standard Transistor Symbol     Transistor Symbol Used Herein

Yes you have seen these symbols before. They appear in the Foreword.  I thought it prudent to place them here also to serve as a reminder of the point on circuit diagrammatic terminology touched upon therein, as well as to provide the circuit diagram symbol for a bipolar transistor. – No it’s not an electronic device with a mental condition. The name derives from its construction. See the link above for more information.

The bipolar transistor comes in 2 ‘flavours’; those being NPN and PNP:

ollector                                                       mitter

NPN                                                                PNP

The meaning of these terms is described in detail in the Wikipedia article linked to above. This article isn’t written with an intention of dealing with the construction and function of electronic components. Foreknowledge in this area is assumed. Links to locations which detail this are provided for those who need to know, however.

For the examples in this publication we’ll be using the NPN transistor.

Throughput

You will appreciate that every device has its limitations; therefore although there are expensive hi-current devices available that can handle several amps of power, most low-power, and small signal bipolar transistors can only deal with a fraction of an amp passing through them without burning out. With this fact in mind we have to ensure that the current supplied to the individual transistor will not overload it. This is accomplished by a resistor connected between the collector and the + supply rail (VS). This resistor is commonly referred to as the “collector load resistor”. the amount of current allowed by this resistor is calculated by means of Ohms’ Law:

I=V/R

The main amount of current flowing through the device passes from collector to emitter. A smaller current is also required to be applied to the base connection, usually about 0.1 times or 10% (maximum) of the larger current.

More Terminology

In electronics terminology we refer to the current flowing between collector and emitter as Ice0, and the current flowing between the diode junction of the emitter and base as Ieb0.

Similarly with respect to voltage, the terms Vce0 and Veb0 are used respectively.

The terms Vb, Vc, and Ve, refer to the voltage present at the transistor’s base, collector , and emitter respectively. Similarly the terms Ib, Ic, and Ie, refer to the current present likewise.

V+ usually refers to the supply voltage, otherwise referred to as VS or Vss.

Biasing the Base

A bipolar transistor requires a voltage of 0.7 volts present at its base before it will allow any current to pass between collector and emitter. This is known as the “transconductance threshold” It is for this reason, particularly where the device is used under small signal conditions such as audio amplification that the base needs to be biased with a tiny current in proportion to the input signal, to a voltage of just under 0.7 volts.

To achieve this, a pair of resistors connected in series across the supply rails is normally used as a potential divider. The resistances of each resistor are selected such that the voltage at the centre-tap to which the base is connected is just below 0.7 volts. In addition to this the resistances of the resistors are kept as high as is reasonably possible to ensure as little current as possible, and consequently as little wattage as possible, is wasted; as a potential divider will continue to burn the same amount of wattage whether or not an output is drawn from its centre point, due to it effectively being a resistance connected across the supply rails.

In the example above we use a 10 kilohm resistor as R1 and a 1.1 kilohm resistor as R2. The supply voltage, VS, is 7 volts.

To calculate the voltage at the centre tap between the two resistors, to which the transistor’s base is connected, therefore the base voltage (Vb), we use the following equation:

Vb = VS X (R2 / R1 + R2)

Therefore in this example: -

Vb = 7 X (1100 / (10000 + 1100))

Vb = 7 X (1100 / 11100)

Vb = 7 X (11 / 111)

Vb = 7 X 0.099099

Vb = 0.6693693V

- Which puts the transistor right at the edge of the threshold of transconductance. A voltage of over 31 millivolts will flip the device over into transconductance and a proportionally equivalent current will flow between collector and emitter.

Beta

No this doesn’t refer to a test-version of a new computer program: The beta of a transistor is the quantity giving the amplification factor of that transistor. There are two ways of looking at this; in-circuit and out-of-circuit.

Out-of-circuit, as a standalone unused component, a given type of transistor has a maximum beta rating that it can be run at in-circuit. This can vary from around 20 or less for some power-transistors, to up to 1500 or more for some hi-gain amplifier transistors.

Setting the beta of a transistor in-circuit is another part of circuit design.

The in-circuit beta of a given transistor can be calculated by the proportion of Ib when Vb is above the transconductance threshold to the amount of current represented as Ice0. (Unless the transistor is connected in-circuit as a voltage amplifier rather than a current amplifier; in which case the beta is calculated by replacing the term Ib with Vb and Ice0 with Vce0. That is beyond the scope of this book, so we’ll stick to the current amplifier model for now.)

For example; let’s assume that we have a transistor connected in circuit with a base voltage of 0.75 volts (Vb = 0V75), therefore biasing it into transconductance. The base current is set at 1 milliamp (1mA). The supply voltage (VS) is 10 volts, and the collector load resistor is 100 ohms:

Ic (collector current) = V / R

Ic = 10 / 100

Ic = 0.1A (100mA)

The in-circuit beta of that transistor can then be given as:

b = Ic / Ib

b = 100 / 1

b = 100

Provided that this doesn’t exceed the transistor’s out-of-circuit beta rating it’s perfectly safe to run the transistor at this beta and expect its amplification factor to be 100 X.

(In most cases, though, such a large amplification factor in a single-transistor amplifier stage would give rise to signal distortion; especially in high-frequency

AC amplifiers. For DC amplifiers such as we’re dealing with here, though, this beta rating is OK and won’t cause any distortion as there’s effectively nothing to distort in this example.)

Let’s sum up and take a look at an example of what we’re trying to achieve here:

In the circuit above we’re using the potential divider we mentioned earlier:

R1 = 10K and R2 = 1K1

That’s great with a supply voltage of 7V as it biases the base just below the transconductance threshold as we saw earlier.

- But we haven’t yet worked out Ib in this case. How do we do that? well the total current flowing in the potential divider will be:

VS / (R1 + R2)

7 / 11100 in other words; which equates to 0.00063A, or 63 microamps. That’s pretty low but it’s OK. If we want to run the transistor at a beta of 100 then we’ll need to make the collector load resistor allow 63 X 100 microamps to flow as Ice0.

So we want to arrive at a scenario where Ice0 = 6.3 mA.

We know just how to do that using Ohms’ Law: -

If Ice0 = 6.3 mA and V=7 volts, then V / I = R:

7 / 0.0063 = 1111.1111 ohms

- Is the value of resistor that we’re looking for. We look in the spares box and find that the nearest value of resistor that we have is 1100 ohms (1K1). only 11.1111 ohms out; which will make very little difference except that the beta will be a fraction over 100. That’s good enough. – So we choose 1K1 as the value for the collector load resistor.

Another Stage?

That’s it then: We’ve designed a DC inverting amplifier with a beta of 100 (+/-1%) using a single transistor and 3 resistors.

For clarity here’s a components list: –

Transistor:

Q1: BC108C (I chose this one as its quite ideal for the purpose.)

Resistors:

R1: 1K1 1/8Watt

R2: 10K 1/8 watt

R3: 1K1 1/8 watt

If we were to apply a current of 1mV to the base, then the collector current (Ic) would drop by 100 mV. That’s a very basic medium-high gain inverting amplification stage we’ve just designed. Give yourself a pat on the back – That’s quite an achievement if you started reading this article without much, if any, idea of circuit design.

What’s meant by an inverting amplification stage? Well basically the input is the opposite of the output: When the input voltage is zero the output voltage is equal to the supply rail voltage, and whatever voltage is applied to the input, the output drops by a factor proportional to the amplifier’s beta.

For instance; if a DC voltage of 41mV was applied to the base of the transistor in this circuit, then the output would drop by 1.0 volts; from 7v to 6v. That means that if 101mV (0.101V) was applied to the input at the transistor’s base, the output at the transistor’s collector would drop from 7v to zero. – that’s a pretty sensitive circuit we’ve designed there. – But we want to design a non-inverting amplifier; one where if we apply 101mV to the input then the output rises from zero volts to 7 volts.

Why does it behave like this?

When there is no input, the transistor if switched off and current flows unopposed through R3 to the output. (Remember; a resistor gives resistance to current, not voltage; so although the collector current is regulated by R3, the voltage remains unchanged.)  – Therefore the output is at 7v. As the input voltage rises and the transistor begins to switch on and allow current to flow through it to ground, the voltage at its collector falls proportionally.

We could take resistor R3 out of the collector circuit and connect it between the transistor’s emitter and ground, taking the output from the emitter. That would work fine. – Then as the transistor begins to switch on the voltage at its emitter would rise from zero volts proportionally; but R3 as an emitter-load resistor would never allow the output voltage to rise as far as the 7 volts we require. Remember the transistor’s 0v7 transconductance threshold? That would affect the output so that it would never be able to rise above 6v3. What we need is some more circuitry added to what we’ve designed so far. Let’s get designing:

We can modify our existing circuit by adding an output stage to it: -

We have a condition at the output of our device we just designed where the output is at 7v with no input. The output drops by 0.1v with every millivolt above 31 mV applied to the input. Let’s ignore the 31mV for the time being, for the sake of simplicity. – But that idea of taking the output from the emitter can be used. First we’ll redesign the circuit: -

We’re now taking the output from the emitter. This type of circuit is called an “emitter-follower” for seemingly obvious reasons. We now design a second stage for this circuit to correct the error; or should I say YOU now design it.

“But I’m no circuit designer!”

You know enough now to solve the problem.

‘Your Turn

It’s tricky, but it can be done using only what you’ve already learned herein and by clicking on the links provided. You can use as many resistors and transistors as you wish, but remember, in the interests of cost efficiency you need to keep the number of components used as low as you can. If you manage to solve the problem using 64 transistors and 184 resistors then well done for solving it; but that’s far too many components. Keep the component-count low but keep trying.

I ask two further things: The first is that you don’t modify the original emitter-follower circuit in any way. You can connect to it at any point you choose; however you must take the output from the emitter and you cannot change either the existing circuit configuration or the component values. You also cannot change the supply voltage.

Good luck. You can refer to any electronics teaching media that you wish to use. However – here’s the second thing I ask of you – you cannot ask an electronics engineer or technician to solve the problem for you. This is your project. A qualified engineer will have no problem with it; but a qualified engineer doesn’t need to learn how to do it. Hopefully by the time you’ve solved it you’ll have learned how to do everything I’ve shown you off by heart and with ease.

All the information you need is written above; but you can use whatever other media you wish. If you want to learn then this is a worthy project. if not then I hope you’ve found what you’ve learned edifying.

If you happen to be a bit unsure of component function then click the links provided again and study the material. Several months’ basic electronics tuition has been crammed into this book to this point. It would be unrealistic to expect anyone to grasp it all in one reading; even if they did click every link and study the information there in full.

After – word

So you’ve decided you want to be an electronics engineer? Good choice. I’m not the one to teach you though: I’m only qualified as a technician. I am qualified to teach you the basics, though; and that’s a start if nothing else.

I’m trying to limit what I teach herein to what I’m qualified to teach. What I know is more than I’m trained to know. Whilst I’m not up to engineer’s status in knowledge, I do have perhaps a bit more know-how than the average technician. Had I qualified at a higher level I could teach more and feel comfortable in doing so.

The engineer’s course is 4 years long. I studied the equivalent of 2 years (‘Just over a years’ intensive training.) for my technician’s qualification. (City & Guilds 300, 301.)

I’ve deliberately not tried to make this aritcle “pretty” or to give it extra appeal. What you see is what you get. Electronics is a cold hard emotionless science: There’s a lot of maths involved; on a much higher level than this article has delved. (Bode plots and Nyquist diagrams included.) What you see is the beginnings of elementary calculus and an opportunity to dip your toe into using Ohms’ Law for real. If this breif and basic look at electronics has whetted your appetite for more then you’re probably a natural to at least a certain extent. I suggest you glean as much of the elementary basics as you can from this source; following which you continue your studies both online and offline.

Keep your eye on http://kkomp.com for any electronics titbits that I throw out to my readers. Take a home study course, night school, even go for it and take an electronics engineer’s degree if you like. This article only covers a few of the basics: I’ve barely touched on capacitors and inductors, no more than mentioned diodes and some other components, and I’ve only once or twice mentioned digital electronics. – With its logic gates, pulse-triggered flip-flops, Schmitt triggers…

The material herein has barely scratched the surface of analogue electronics. There’s so much to learn; and you’ve hardly begun.

If you’re intent on learning more, or even becoming qualified in electronics, then I wish you the very best of luck. If you found this heavy going and decided that the subject’s not for you then thank you for reading. At least you now have some idea of a subject that you don’t want to pursue any further. I hope you gained some enlightenment from your reading.

Whatever you choose to do; I hope you get the very best from it.

- This despite the European Union’s suggestion that MI5 and police officers should be allowed to hack into your computer without a warrant.

It’s unfortunate that a large number of Brits will try to engage in criminal activity to make a fast buck if they can get away with it. They’re probably only following the example of big UK businesses who get away with defrauding the British consumer daily.

In the UK there appears to be a standard law for most; and a different, mutable set of laws for the select few.

Some companies have been getting away with daylight robbery for ages; such as the mobile phone companies. Utility suppliers are currently in on the con too: Charging the British people 2008 prices for energy while they themselves pay the much lower 2009 prices for it. – Therefore raking in a massive profit at their customers’ expense.

It is the culture of Rip-Off Britain that is driving the country criminally insane and causing legal irresponsibility on a huge scale. They lay-person sees those in authority acting dishonestly; such as Tony Blair telling the country that Iraq is stockpiling weapons of mass-destruction in order to convince them to go fight in George Bush’s war to capture the Iraqi nation’s oil interests. They also see the big companies responsible for the supply of goods and services, as well as the banking industry worldwide, doing as little as they can get away with for as great a reward as they can obtain, by hook or by crook, solely in their own interests, and charging them a fortune for doing so.

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander; and the average Joe and Jill do likewise. But they fail to realise that big business and politics has a separate set of rules to everyone else. What is perfectly acceptable in the UK, even though it’s classified as illegal by definition, if you’re rolling in it and well-connected, is illegal for everyone else. Money talks; and in the UK class and connections give that money a loud voice. Your peers will cloak you if you have finance and connections. If you don’t you might be lucky: If not you’re stuffed.

That doesn’t seem to deter people though. Maybe they think it’s worth the risk? Maybe and more likely they just don’t think. Unfortunately the standards of education and personal responsibility appear to be currently at an all-time low in the UK. Basically it’s thug rule for many. – ‘Law-of-the-jungle-type-mentality: A society of baboons and chimpanzees having lost all natural intelligence along with most of their humanity.

As I put it elsewhere in this blog at one time: “The UK – Proving evolution by reverse-engineering it.”

This is the result of allowing the so-called ‘elite’ free-reign over the people in general in British society: It turns the common people into a group of thugs and criminals. It’s the result of the mismanagement of our opposing succession of so-called ‘leaders’ over the last 50 or so years. Freedom comes at a price. Every action causes a reaction: It’s the nature of things, the way things are. Freedom is good, but unmanaged freedom straight after years of repression and domination by church and state is tantamount to winding up a spring as tight as it will go, holding there for ages, then suddenly and fully releasing it: BOYYING! – It flies out of your hands out of control. Add downwards pressure to the equation while releasing it and the effect is even greater. Although the problem is exacerbated in the UK, it is nevertheless to some extent a worldwide problem.

This issue has absolutely nothing to do with the lack of religion’s control of society as such, although that control, mainly by means of fear, was repressive enough to prevent the inevitable from happening for the time that it was instituted. It has a lot to do with Human nature, bearing in mind our evolutionary roots. I feel at this point in history the Human race is young and naive. (Remember; Homo-Sapiens, as a species, are only 10-12,000 or so years old.) Although developed enough to be able to invent better methods of destruction, war, squabbling, in-fighting, etc; the Human race hasn’t developed to a level where it is above that, where it can see that such an approach will result in nothing more than self-destruction. We’re still, in effect, just clever monkeys.

This is going way off-topic though. My point was: Give a criminal thug a computer and they’ll use it to help them be a criminal thug. – That’s why the police might need to know what’s on their computer.

So we have a nation of backward-thinkers, all out for what they can get and never mind the expense to anyone else, all expecting someone else to pay the bill for the damage they cause. Give these devolved primates a computer and guess what they do with it.

- Hence this motion by the EU to give the law the powers to hack into people’s systems to see what they’re doing.

However, it was an EU proposal, nothing more: So whether it happens next year, next century, or never; it won’t be happening anytime soon, according to a UK Home Office spokesman.

Remember though; Big Brother is breathing down our necks ever more and more. In a way it’s our own fault: If society in general acted more responsibly and more like Humans than animals then Big Brother/the Nanny State wouldn’t have to bother with all these artificial control mechanisms.

Do you view things in a different light? Please comment.

                                vanilla raspberry   lemon    Strawberry  blueberry  lime

Microsoft have cocked up yet again in my opinion (I predicted they’d do it; and sure enough they did it.): Confusion reigns supreme as the Softies decide to ruin the release of 7, just as they did with Vista, with a number of different “flavours”; no doubt with different (escalating) prices to match. Some people are slow learners.

To me this makes Windows 7 unattractive: I now fear that unless I can afford to pay a small fortune I’ll get a restricted version with aggressive feature disablement. – You’d have thought they’d have learned from Vista’s fiasco on that note; but no – Not good ol’ M$. It’s profit before customer satisfaction as usual.

How’s this going to affect the market? Well I for one have just scrapped plans to buy a copy of 7 as soon as it’s released: I don’t know which version is the best deal; and until someone analyses the situation, and I’ve read a number of differing opinions, I’ll be staying with XP thank you very much. I am not going to grab the Ultimate edition straight off until I know for sure that It’s worth the price tag that they put on it. I’m not going to buy the starter edition either; despite the fact that it’ll be the cheapest of all: Why not? Because it’ll probably not be much if any more than XP with a new name; if that.

- I’ll be looking to buy somewhere higher up the scale; but not before I know what I’m letting myself in for. I don’t like the fact that the Starter edition is followed by the Home Basic and then the Home Premium editions either: They sound cheap. – But they’re meant to sound cheap; so that the customer spends more on a better-sounding title. – Like the Professional edition; which is the next one up from Home Premium.

This’ll probably be Home Premium with the Aero Interface enabled; plus a few other features also enabled. – Probably for another 25% extra too. ‘Sorry Microsoft; but this is a lame sales ploy to maximise your profits, and you’ve racked me off totally. Anyone else who’s not extremely rich financially with any common sense will, I feel, also wait before upgrading in a similar manner.

OK, let’s see what they’re offering in greater depth: -

Starter Edition: the lightweight version; designed mainly to be run on for netbook computers. It’s only capable of running three applications concurrently. It lacks the majority of advanced features, such as Media Center, and touchscreen support, but it does include the new Taskbar and Home Group feature:

- Cheap sucky crap.

Home Basic: Targeted at emerging markets; a poor person’s version. Intended to "access the internet and run basic productivity applications".

- Again; cheap sucky crap.

Home Premium: This is the one that Micro$oft will be pushing most; which indicates that it will have a heavier price tag than the preceding two versions. It includes Media Center, touchscreen support, full Aero glass graphics, improved media format support and streaming, and the option to easily share files across a home network with the new Libraries feature.

- Hmmm. I have no opinion of this at this time: I will need to see reviews, analyses, and probably experience it myself before any opinion can be gained. It appears to be the most attractive of all options currently, but time and pricing will tell.

Professional: A business version for home workers and small businesses not operating on a volume licence. It includes features such as advanced network backup and Encrypting File System. However, BitLocker encryption is once again reserved for the Enterprise and Ultimate editions.

- To be honest; basing my comment on the Vista fiasco, which this particular flavour fiasco closely resembles in my mind, this one sounds like a rip-off. Wait to see the dramatically-increased price-tag over Home Premium and then look at what you get for the huge mark-ups.

Enterprise: (Beam me up Ballmer.) For volume licence customers. It include all the Professional features, plus BitLocker protection – including the new option to encrypt USB flash drives and external hard disks. It also includes DirectAccess, which allows remote workers to securely access a company network without a VPN.

This edition will probably have a similar price-tag to the Professional edition(?).

Ultimate: The all-encompassing version of Windows 7, although there’s no repeat of Vista’s much-maligned Ultimate Extras. Branded as the "no compromise SKU for tech enthusiasts", it will include every single feature available in Windows 7.

I predict that this edition is going to cost a small fortune and that it will not be worth the extra cost. I hope I’m proved wrong though.

One bonus is that Microsoft says that every higher edition SKU will include all the features of lower editions. This wasn’t the case in Vista, where Home Premium included Media Center but Business didn’t.

Microsoft expects 80% of customers to be running either the Home Premium or Professional edition.

many people had been urging Microsoft to release just one all-encompassing version of the operating system, but this fell on deaf ears in the interests of profit.

The beta testers have been testing a version branded "Ultimate". betas, however, can’t be seen as resembling final release candidates, and therefore Microsoft have asked the beta testers not to get too excited about it at that point.

Pricing details have yet to be announced as this article went to press; but prepare yourselves for astronomical prices is the advice that I’m suggesting, at least as far as the Enterprise and Ultimate versions are concerned.

Microsoft intend to allow PC owners who’ve skipped Vista to benefit from upgrade pricing on Windows 7; which could be good news for many; myself included. However, Windows XP users will have to perform a clean install of Windows 7, unlike Vista users; who will be able to keep their existing applications and data with an upgrade install.

In a way I’m racked off about that too; but on the other side of the coin I’m pleased that any problems, either manifest or otherwise in my XP installation, will not appear nor have any chance of appearing identically in my Windows 7 installation. I’d have preferred ideally to have had the choice, though.

What’s your take? Jammy or just a joke? Good marketing or just a great mess-up, in Microsoft’s usual backward-thinking style?

Today sees the latest release, version 3.0.6 of the popular Firefox web browser.

Lately Firefox has been making great progress in its popularity. It has now overtaken Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the most popular browser used to view this blog.

So what new features does Firefox 3.0.6 bring? I’ll let Mozilla tell you in their own words: -

Vulnerabilities fixed: -

• 2009-01: Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (Critical)—This is the only one rated Critical by Mozilla and the only one that affects all 3 programs. Stability errors caused through JavaScript cause crashes which the team presumes could be exploitable. Note that this is the only vulnerability in this group to affect Thunderbird, and JavaScript is not turned on by default in that product. Were the advisory written only for Thunderbird it likely would have been rated much less than Critical, and this makes the whole update a less pressing matter for Thunderbird users.
• 2009-02: XSS using a chrome XBL method and window.eval (High)—It’s possible for one site to inject JavaScript into the context of another site.
• 2009-03: Local file stealing with SessionStore (High)—The type of a form input control can be changed during the restoration of a closed tab. This could be used to steal local files.
• 2009-04: Chrome privilege escalation via local .desktop files (Moderate)—A far-fetched complicated scenario would allow an attacker and a compliant user to bypass the provisions of a fix to a different bug last year, leading to the execution of privileged code in the browser.
• 2009-05: XMLHttpRequest allows reading HTTPOnly cookies (Low)—A violation of security policy makes certain cookies readable outside of the context in which they are supposed to be readable.
• 2009-06: Directives to not cache pages ignored (Low)—Firefox ignores some HTTP controls for not caching web pages, with the result that, on a multi-user system, private data could be exposed to a different user. This seems more than a “Low” bug to me, but perhaps it’s more difficult to exploit than the advisory implies.

To see more live links, please visit THIS LINK

My apologies for the fact that when this article was first published an important part of the post was missing: – Human error.

I’ve used and tested this software for quite some time now. I even submitted a product review article about it to a leading tech website giving my initial impressions of it; although it hasn’t been published as far as I’m aware. That fact is something I’m actually glad of; as since then I’ve noticed something unexpected about the program.

Installation went smoothly and without problems, and after a reboot, (The installer didn’t ask me to reboot; but I always reboot after installing a new program, on the advice of Bill Hely, author of several books.) I ran AdAware.

The first thing I noticed was that the UI was prettier than before. I was soon to notice that the program ran faster then before also; yet it still did the usual thorough sweep and found all adware cookies etc. I was quite impressed and, after awarding it full marks, I retained it and am still running it on both computers.

I thought that there would be no more to report on it and put the matter to the back of my mind. – There was more, though, and it came as quite a surprise to me: -

Today as I looked at my computer’s screen a balloon tip popped up from the AdAware Anniversary Edition’s tray icon advertising a source of Valentine’s Day gifts, and informing me that if I bought one I could have a free subscription to AdAware.

Wait a minute! Adware on AdAware? – How ironic! Now that in itself is to me unintrusive, and it seems reasonable as an idea; as since I am using their product free of charge they should have a chance to attempt to generate some income from me. – Fair enough. It’s just the concept that I find rather self-defeating: AdAware is very thorough and even finds and removes legitimate adware cookies that are harmless but could be malicious if abused by unethical companies. Yet AdAware is generating adverts itself.

I have no problem with that: If I see something useful advertised through AdAware’s ads then I might buy it. If AdAware is going to remove other firm’s cookies so that they have no chance of advertising though, is it fair and ethical for Lavasoft, via AdAware, to advertise alone?

My honest opinion is that it’s a bit sneaky in a rather clever way; which is what it seems advertising is all about these days. What do you readers think? Please do comment.

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There are several types: The main two, in layman’s terms, are a light dependant resistor – LDR  – the resistance of which increases with the amount/type of light falling on it; and conversely one the resistance of which decreases with the amount of light falling upon it.

One of the main uses for these devices is in switching on street lighting. Rumour has it that a timer mechanism was originally used for the purpose, before the LDR’s invention. That’s maybe a sound idea if the light happens to be situated at or near the Equator; where the seasonal variations between night and day are minimal. However when you start getting as far away from the Equator, even as “close” as Southern England – Where night can come as early as 3:50PM in the depths of winter; yet as late as 10:40PM in the heights of summer: The timer would require resetting at least weekly. I honestly can’t envisage electricians running round the country resetting street lamp timers every week. Having said that though; there were people who went around the major English cities in the evenings and mornings lighting and extinguishing gas street lamps in the Victorian era.

Thankfully technology has moved on a bit since then.

See the Wikipedia article hyperlinked above from the letters LDR for a full description of the component.

You may notice that, on the circuit below, I use a non-standard symbol for an LDR which is completely different from the standard symbol. The one that I use (A zig-zag line with two arrows pointing towards it.) is a shorthand circuit-diagrammatical representation. It’s the old symbol for a resistor with the two arrows indicating that its value is dependant upon the amount/type of light falling upon it. Similarly with the fixed-resistors in the circuit; a zig-zagged line without the arrows. The symbol used as standard for a resistor is a rectangular box with leads either end. i find this too much hassle and too time-consuming to draw; therefore I resort to my shorthand: I understand it even if not all other people do.

So how does the device work in-circuit? The circuit-diagram below shows a very basic circuit incorporating 2 fixed resistors, a transistor, and a light-emitting diode to display the output. The LDR is an inverse-effect type. That is to say its resistance decreases as more light is shone on its surface.

The LDR , along with R1, acts as a potential-divider, biasing the base of Q1. As the light shining upon the LDR gets brighter, so its resistance drops, and thus the voltage at Q1’s base drops via R3. (See “Ohms Law and the Potential Divider”. Also see “Base Voltage”) When the base voltage drops below 0.7 Volts the transistor switches off and the LED goes out.

The function of the circuit can be reversed by replacing R1 with the LDR and vice-versa: In that case as the light shining upon the LDR increases, so its resistance drops and the voltage at Q1’s base rises via R3. When the base voltage rises above 0.7 Volts the transistor switches on and the LED lights up.

This circuit does work; in fact I memorised it from my early self-tuition in electronics, as well as from college. (Where I gained C&G 300, 301: Analogue and digital electronics certificates. ( I also retook a Maths exam as I had a cold on the day of my original exam twenty-something years ago and didn’t do as well as I’d have liked. – I passed; but my grade wasn’t as good as I’d hoped for, and I knew that I could get a better result.))

You might like to experiment with different values of resistor for R1, although a kilohm is probably the lowest value you should use in this case. You could also try replacing R1 with a 1K resistor and a 10K linear potentiometer connected in series. I’ll leave you to experiment.

There are a few and there will be more posts on the subject of basic practical electronics in this blog. if you’re interested in the subject then do look further into the content. It’s not all listed at time of writing so Google is your friend; use it. (Or Windows Live Search, Ask, Yahoo… whatever: I’m not biased or sponsored by Google. I prefer to use Google myself as I find the GUI simple to use and the listings useful. Your opinions may vary.)

If you build the circuit and experiment with it please do tell me your results. I’ll be interested to know.

IMPORTANT

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