Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty - A Modern Day Remake of Abe's Oddysee

First played Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee on my friend's Playstation One, I started reading more about it in gaming magazines. I (hopelessly) got addicted to it and kept on bugging my friend to let me play the game until late into the nights. The game was awesome - it's got all the humour, puzzles and graphics that a platformer should.

Therefore, it's not surprising to be excited to find that there's a remake in the name of Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty and this time around, available for almost all platforms, including the Mac! The Mac had been deprived of all the Oddworld games so this is a most welcome change. The Windows, Mac and Linux versions are available for pre-order on Valve's Steam.

Below is the trailer of the new game:

And here's a comparison of the old and the new. Although the new game received raving reviews and praise, the person that uploaded the video here is not too enthusiastic, though, and if you have half an hour, you will find out why.

As for me, the remake is now in my wishlist and when the price is right... ;)

Hack An iOS Device With... A CHARGER???

Read about hacking. Fascinated about how it could be done in the movies. But this is new: Hack any iOS device using a charger! The Verge has it in the news. Below, excerpts from the article:

The team at Georgia Institute of Technology says its charger was able to upload arbitrary software to an iOS device within one minute of it being plugged in. According to the researchers, "all users" are at risk, as the hack doesn't require any user interaction. Hackers are even capable of hiding the applications, so they don't show up in the device's app list. It's not clear if the charger is able to upload malicious code — Apple's iOS devices, by default, are "sandboxed" and will only install and run properly signed apps — but this is a worrying development regardless.

My Puppy's Desk

First blog post from Puppy Linux. This is Puppy Linux's default desktop which is (SURPRISE!) also my default on the AMD Duron.I had earlier today screwed up the resolution of the screen and was in a bit of a panic as it became unusable. After doing some searching on the net, I found out how to edit the resolution settings by going out to the command prompt and get back to the low XVesa driver. Phew.

Here's a little bit more about Puppy since my first post about it here. Note that first post was done on Windows Vista while this second post which is also my first on Puppy was done on Puppy Linux. Pardon me, I woke up a little too early on a Sunday. Anyways...

The browser that came with Puppy is SeaMonkey, derived from some Mozilla codes, if I read the "About" correctly on the browser. Oh yes, during installation, I had no problems of any missing drivers that I need to search all over the internet for... very unlike Windows. If I were to install Windows on this ancient without any drivers discs, I might just have to open up the computer, clean out the dust and take out a magnifying glass and torchlight to check on the make of the motherboard.

The other day, I had to format and reinstall Windows XP on a (ancient, what else?) laptop. I was surprised that XP did not recognise the Video driver which is an Intel integrated one. Oops, I had talked about this already. You can find it here. Please take note that I refuse to acknowledge that repeating myself here has anything to do with failing memory from old age.

Puppy

Downloaded and installed Puppy Linux on yet another ancient acquisition. This time it's a desktop with a 1GHz AMD Duron with 256MB of RAM in it. My first intention was to install the latest Xubuntu 8.10 (like Puppy, it's another light Linux distribution derived from Ubuntu) in it but that had failed. Every time I tried installing, I get thrown out to some command prompt which I had no idea what it is. As I am quite a Linux newbie, I have no whatsoever skill to solve that issue. Googling did not give me any solution either.

However, Googling for a light Linux pointed me to the Puppy direction and the latest version 4.1.2 being less than 100MB was totally amazing. I did install Ubuntu 8.04 a week or so earlier but due to slow performance, I tried this instead. Successfully did the installation two nights ago and tried it briefly early this morning. As the desktop will be primarily used by my dad, I had set the screen resolution to 800 x 600 for easy reading. The monitor is just 14". :P

Everything really required is installed together using the download image which was burnt to a CD. Such as word processing, image editing, spreadsheet and browser. All are of the lighter genre, I have read. Tried the browser (but can't remember what it's called) with Google Reader and Gmail. Both ran fine but were slightly sluggish though still useable. I would think that is due to the processing power of the grand ancient and not to blame on Puppy.

Another alternative light Linux worth considering is TinyMe. Was weighing between Puppy and TinyMe but ended up with Puppy. Maybe I will talk more about Puppy in the future but no promises. :P

Running Windows Vista and XP In Ubuntu With Multiple Desktops!

I am considering installing VirtualBox either in Windows or in Ubuntu and run the other as a virtual machine. While surfing the net, I came across this YouTube video. This video shows someone running and flipping through Windows Vista and Windows XP in Ubuntu Linux with multiple desktops. One desktop contains Ubuntu's own desktop, while one has VirtualBox running XP and another running Vista:

VirtualBox is an open source virtual machine software that allows users to run multiple operating systems inside an existing operating system. Errr... you get the drift?

A Visit To A "Dell Store"

Is it called a "Dell Store"? What I mean is a retail outlet selling Dell products. I visited one last night at the Digital Mall in Petaling Jaya. I went there to have a feel of the Inspiron 1420, a laptop on offer for the PC Fair period. The offer appears to be really good if you are looking for a laptop at this time. It ends Monday, 21 April 2008. You can visit Dell's website for this offer.

Anyway, this blog is about my visit to the Dell Store. The store offers cash and carry services, so unlike purchasing from the website (which takes up to a week), you get to pay and own one almost immediately. When I reached there, I noticed at least 3 different groups of people were in the process of getting a laptop. The focus of this particular store is mainly on laptops. I saw only one desktop and one printer on display. The rest are all laptops, with the majority the Inspiron 1420. There were a unit of XPS M1330 and a M1530. I did not notice other products as my main focus was the 1420. I wanted to have a look at the Inspiron 1525, too, but it was not on display.

A sales rep approached and handed me a brochure of Dell Store's PC Fair promotions. At first glance, they all seemed similar to the ones on the website but there are big differences. The rep told me that they were more or less the same, except that the retail offers Windows-less systems, which over here, they are called "Free DOS". Is this a common term across the globe?

The other major difference that the sales guy stressed on was the CPUs are of higher specifications. Free DOS and higher spec CPU will make the pricing similar to those on the website. So for those that want an operating system-less Dell here in Malaysia, a visit to the store is required because Dell's website does not offer such systems.

Another good point that the sales rep pointed out was that if you purchased from them and you went home with any defects within 3 days, you could still bring it back to the store for an exchange (well, I wouldn't know if this is sales talk or what).

The disadvantage in purchasing from the store is, the sales rep did point this out, too, you would not be able to customise on things like type of LCDs on the laptop, the CPU, and other more internal stuff. RAM upgrades are available, though. This is in-line with Dell's recent announcement to place more focus on pre-built systems.

Update 4:05pm: One thing that I forgot to mention was that the sales rep told me extra charges will apply if payment is made by credit card once the promotional period is over. This doesn't happen if purchase is made online.

My personal preference would be if I were to buy a Dell laptop, I would like to visit a Dell Store to have some hands-on BUT would return to the website to make my purchase. This is provided I am not in any urgent need of a laptop. I still prefer the Dell buy direct concept.

Related post: Dell Begins?

IonBuck's Attempt at Comics...

And here is the result... not sure if you know what it means, but here it is:

Drawn with Inkscape 0.45 in Ubuntu OS from my thumbdrive. ;)

And The Story Continues...

Sorry to leave you all in a cliffhanger like that from my previous post from a few days ago. Since I am now in Ubuntu Linux again, I should continue with my story:

I stopped at the part where I could not boot from my Ubuntu thumbdrive nor Windows (please do not be confused with the incident from my most recent post). This time, I took out the internal hard disk and booted from the Ubuntu Live CD. Did the installation again but partitioned the 8GB thumbdrive - allocating 5GB for the file system, 500MB for swap (which I later removed, but that is another story that perhaps will be forgotten) and the remaining for normal storage (I had this wishful thought that perhaps I can use the remaining space as just a normal plug and play thumbdrive for Windows but then Windows do not support partitioned thumbdrives - found this out much later).

After another long session, I got to boot into Ubuntu with the thumbdrive again and waited and waited for some of my friends to come into MSN Messenger (using Pidgin in Ubuntu to access my MSN account) and also at the same time contemplating if I should just drive back to my office to get the Windows CD to run the Recovery Console.

Some more waiting later, WoonCC (linking to his flickr account because he seldom blogs :P) came into MSN and he agreed to meet and bring his Windows CD. And so we met, booted from the CD, went into Recovery Console and at the prompt, typed "fixmbr" and I can boot into Windows again! :D

How Ubuntu Linux Saved My Work and Andrewk Saved Windows

There was this big tender that we almost completed and everyone was compiling the documents. Only my certificate was missing, so I rushed home to retrieve my softcopy to e-mail it back to my colleagues. When I reached home, my laptop would not boot into Windows XP (FYI, it shutdown properly only about 20 minutes before)!

PANIC! SHOCK! HORROR! But thankfully, I have Ubuntu Linux in my thumbdrive. Phew! So logged into Gmail and did the rest.

Meanwhile, I was surfing the net to try to find the solution to my Windows problem. When I tried to boot, all I got was a blank screen with the text "Missing ntldr. Press ctrl + alt + del to reboot." Gosh! I did that so many times. Why not at least tell me to use a recovery disk or something?

Initially I Googled the error but decided I should look for it in Microsoft's website. I was taken to the solution page... but my friend Andrewk who happened to just logged into MSN Messenger at that time pointed out that that solution was for Windows 2000... *shy* So added the word "XP" into the search string and came to the right knowledge database. From there, Andrewk provided me with the ntldr and ntdetect.com files and I can boot into Windows XP again.

However, I rebooted back into Ubuntu here to blog this story to show my support for this open source free operating system. WAY TO GO!

Second Post In Ubuntu

This is my second post in Ubuntu Linux. Let me tell you my experience. Went out to buy a 8GB thumbdrive with WoonCC. Full of optimism to install Ubuntu in this thumbdrive so that I can boot with it from any PC. After getting home, got to work, following tutorials from here. Failed many times and gave up for the day. The next day, tried a few more times and still failed.

Therefore, took out the internal hard disk, ran the Ubuntu Live CD and installed the whole thing on the thumbdrive. That took about 30 to 45 minutes. Re-inserted the internal hard disk and got the thumbdrive to boot. I was thrilled but the performance from booting with a thumbdrive is sluggish. Occasionally, the application will halt momentarily, presumably to load stuff from the thumbdrive. :(

After some fooling around I discovered that there are security updates just like in Windows. I had to download and install 200+ of them. GASP! That took several hours. Besides that, with the help of WoonCC, i discovered some fun stuff, particularly the Cube desktop. I could switch between workspaces by rotating the cube (screenshot below)! Oh forgot to mention about the workspaces... basically you can have as many desktops as your machine can take and in Linux these are called workspaces... I think... :P
After awhile, I switched back to Windows XP and I plugged the thumbdrive in. Windows said it can't open it and suggested that I format it... since the whole Ubuntu installation only took about 4GB, so I thought maybe I should partition out 2GB for data usage in both Windows and Ubuntu. So I went about to reinstall Ubuntu... at this point, I must say i am a *NOOB*! This time I did the installation WITHOUT taking out the internal hard disk and at the end of all it, I can't boot from the thumbdrive and I ALSO can't boot from the hard disk!

And I noticed that I have typed too much for this post so I shall stop for now.

To be continued...

Blogging in Ubuntu!

This is a first for me! Blogging from within a Linux OS - Ubuntu. :D Wow, what an amazing piece of operating system! And best of all, it is free and comes with a whole list of other free applications and programs! I can basically start off surfing the net with the pre-installed Firefox. New experience for me here. Will report back later. ;)