http://anomalator.com/ Adrift on the seas of the web en-us Nucleus CMS v3.24 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://anomalator.com//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://anomalator.com/ http://anomalator.com/index.php?itemid=7 quit just like that. I don't think my system is putting a lot of demand on this power supply,
and I was not doing anything that required a lot of CPU power when it quit, so I think it was
just a bad PSU. But this does make me a bit skeptical of Rosewill power supplies. Thankfully it
was covered by a one year warranty from Newegg so it was replaced right away, and all I had to
pay was shipping. It was replaced with the same model PSU from Rosewill, so now I'm wondering
if I'm just going to have the same problem in another six months. If the second unit fails I
will definitely be buying a different brand. The Rosewill PSU was only about $40, so this makes
me think that this could be a good example of getting what you pay for. Maybe it was cheap for
a reason.

At some point very soon I will need to add another HDD. The two internal and one external are
just about full, and by the time I back everything up to DVDR's I will have spent as much on
blank discs as I would have on a new hard drive. The only drawback to adding another internal
hard drive is the demand it will put on my PSU. And given the fact that the first PSU failed
I'm not sure I want to take a chance. If the replacement PSU fails and I get the opportunity to
upgrade to a better brand at a higher wattage then I may go ahead and get a third internal hard
drive. Otherwise I may just end up getting a second external drive, and if I do that I will get
one with an eSATA connection to take advantage of the higher speed of a SATA connection and the
second SATA port on my motherboard.

Of course, the ideal solution would be a 2 TB external HDD unit, or better yet a NAS media
server, but that costs as much as my PC! One can always dream though.]]> The Compaqtor http://anomalator.com/index.php?itemid=7 Wed, 6 Feb 2008 20:59:56 -0700 http://anomalator.com/index.php?itemid=6
A few months ago I installed a second hard drive specifically for the purpose of storing music and video files. It's only a 250 GB drive, which unfortunately was all I could afford at the time, but so far it's working out quite well. I partitioned the drive into two separate drives to have one for music and the other for video, just to make things easier to organize.

Ripping and saving a standard DVD to a hard drive would consume way too much space. Most DVD movies use roughly about 4 to 8 GB of space on a disc, so saving a movie to your hard drive straight from the disc would be impractical. Even with 1 TB of storage you would quickly run out of space if you have a large movie collection, which I do. Not to mention that there is often quite a bit on a DVD that is nothing but previews, commentary, and extras that you're probably not going to want to watch as much as the movie itself. In order to make the most efficient use of space I encode the movie into the Xvid format. Xvid is an mpeg4 AVI format similar to Divx, but it's an open source format so there is no proprietary video player or sales pitch to sucker you into buying an upgrade or "pro" version of something. The only thing you need to play Xvid encoded videos on your PC is the Xvid codec, which is free.

After installing the Xvid codec you will then need two programs to rip and encode your movie as an Xvid movie file. The first one is pgc.NET. This program will scan the DVD in your drive for the main movie file, audio tracks, and subtitles and save them to the folder you specify as a VOB file. The process can take anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes, depending on your drive and the length of the movie. It's a simple process and the program is very straightforward and easy to use. The only things you need to select in pgc.NET are the drive where the DVD is located, and where you want to save your movie.

After you've extracted your movie you will then need the second program, avi.NET. What avi.NET does is compress the VOB file into one of two mpeg4 codecs you can choose from. You can select either the Divx or Xvid codec. I choose Xvid because it's an open source format, and if you burn it to a disc it will play on any device that can play Divx files. This is great for making back up copies of your movies when all you really want to see is the movie itself. It's also very convenient for making copies of the movies you own to take with you when you travel, rather then take the original DVD with you and risk damaging it. I have a portable Panasonic DVD player that works great with all the Xvid discs I've burned. Plus I can fit several movies on one DVD. And this is a lifesaver if you travel with kids!

Once you choose a format you then need to decide how much you want to compress the movie, and what type of audio track to use. You can take a 7 GB movie and compress it down to about 700 MB, perfect for a CD. Or choose to make the file a little bigger to retain better quality. You can also choose to keep an AC3 surround sound audio track, or convert it to 2 channel mp3. There are several options available in avi.NET to choose from when you want to compress your VOB file, but nothing overly technical. You may have to try it a couple of times to see which settings work best for you, but it's fairly easy to figure out. Once you have it set and you start the conversion it can take a few hours to complete the process, so I've found that it's best to let the program run overnight or when you won't need you computer for a while.

I've converted several mpg and VOB files so far and haven't had one problem with these programs. And I now have a nice selection of the movies I own on my PC so I can watch them whenever I want, and without taking up a huge amount of hard drive space. I use Windows Media Player 11 to play the movies and maintain a library of the movies stored on my PC with no problems at all. If you looking for an alternative to WMP try VLC media player, it supports several different formats and does an equally nice job of playing movies, and its free.]]> Geek Stuff http://anomalator.com/index.php?itemid=6 Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:59:55 -0700 http://anomalator.com/index.php?itemid=5

Compaq SR1820NX

It came out of the box with an ASUS A8N-LA mobo with an Athlon 64 3400+ 2.2 Ghz processor socket 939, 1 GB RAM, Samsung 160 GB HDD, Lite-On DVD(+/-)R/RW Lightscribe drive, a 350 watt PSU, and Windows XP Home. Not exactly a screamer in the performance department, but good enough to start with. Especially considering that I was upgrading from a four year old Dell laptop with a Pentium 4 1.4 Ghz CPU, a 30 GB hard drive, and one of the most buggy versions of Windows XP I've ever had the displeasure of using.

Being the media junkie that I am, it didn't take long for me to fill up the hard drive. Let's face it, a 160 GB HDD isn't very much storage nowadays, so an additional HDD was definitely in order. After about six months of saving up some cash it was time for the first round of upgrades. These upgrades consisted of adding two sticks of 512 MB RAM to bump up the total RAM to 2 GB, an Hitachi 250 GB SATA HDD, a Sapphire ATI Radeon X1050 graphics card, an additional case fan, and a Rosewill 450 watt PSU. All for about $200 from Newegg.

The original hard drive was also replaced after about a month and a half. It started generating imminent failure alerts after one month of use. It was replaced under warranty, which was good, but unfortunately it had to be replaced with a drive of the same capacity, 160 GB. But at least HP sent me a better drive, an Hitachi. After one year of use it's still going strong.

Cramped!

As you can see in the above photo, it got quite cramped inside the Compaq after installing all these additional components. The Compaq case was a bit on the small side for a mid tower, so I installed the additional case fan on the front to help pull some air in. This was only a marginal improvement in cooling though, because the case wasn't designed for an additional fan in front. In fact, the case wasn't even designed for an additional HDD even though the motherboard was. I did manage to squeeze the second hard drive into a 3.5" front bay slot so I could mount it somewhere. This was a good solid mounting location, but extremely bad for cooling a hard drive as there was absolutely no air circulating in this area of the case. There wasn't even much room for me to get my hands in the case to connect some of the cables, so I knew this machine had to be running a little hotter then it should be. Time for a case upgrade!

The variety of after market PC cases is almost overwhelming, and the prices range from less then $20 to well over $250. And a lot of them are damn ugly! This meant doing research and reading dozens of reviews about cases so I could get a good deal and not regret what I bought. After reading a positive review at Modders-Inc.com I chose an Ultra eTorque mid tower case. This case has a clean, solid look, it's well built, and has a good amount of room for expansion. It has four 5.25" bays, one 3.5" bay, five 3.5" HDD slots, and seven expansion slots on the back. Plenty of room for additional components! It also has a side window, which is something I wanted in a case just because it looks cool. And being the cheap bastard that I am I managed to find this case brand new on eBay for $50. Sweet!

Ultra eTorque

The process of transferring all of the components into the new case was pretty straightforward and problem free. I'm impressed with the quality of the Ultra case. Everything fit just like it should. The case has a tool-less design that makes installing hard drives and CD/DVD burners incredibly simple. The case also had tool-less brackets for the front and rear case fans, but I opted to remove these in favor of mounting the fans with screws and silicone noise dampeners for a more solid mount. Each fan also has a variable speed control mounted in a rear expansion slot. And because this case has a side window I added red cold cathode tubes to the inside to give it a nice red glow at night. I also modified the front power switch to change the LED to red from the factory green LED, so it would match the red lighting inside the case.

Inside view

The Rosewill PSU came with factory installed cable sleeving on all wires for a nice clean look. In order to keep the inside if the case a attractive as possible I sleeved all the wires for the fans and cold cathode components. This not only makes it look better inside the case but it also makes for better airflow. Round IDE cables were also added for the primary HDD and the two CD/DVD drives. And just for fun, red FireFlies LED lights were added to some of the molex connectors.

Ultra eTorque assembled

All put together this machine makes for a pretty decent PC. It's no high end gaming rig by any means, but for what I need, it will do just fine for now. It's a solid performer that's able to tackle just about any task that I want. But of course, I'll continue to make upgrades to it as time progresses. There's always room for improvement and tweaking!

The Compaqtor

]]> The Compaqtor http://anomalator.com/index.php?itemid=5 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:44:54 -0700 http://anomalator.com/index.php?itemid=3
Initially I wanted to run Joomla, but after trying it out it seemed a bit too complicated for somebody that's a complete nooby to CMS, like myself. I also got the impression that Joomla is geared more towards larger scale sites and high traffic blogs, and for people that already know CMS. I don't need anything that intense. Nucleus, on the other hand, seems much simpler to use and it was a breeze to set up. And it should work just fine for what I need. So far, so good.

I'm not sure yet how well Nucleus will work as far as hosting visual content, but I guess I'll find out. And besides, half the fun of figuring something out is to see what it can and can't do.

Let the tweaking begin!]]> General http://anomalator.com/index.php?itemid=3 Sun, 23 Dec 2007 22:46:37 -0700 http://anomalator.com/index.php?itemid=1
We've loaded this first entry with links and information to get you started. Though you can delete this entry, it will eventually scroll off the main page as you add content to your site. Add your comments while you learn to work with Nucleus CMS, or bookmark this page so you can come back to it when you need to.Home - nucleuscms.org
Welcome to the world of Nucleus CMS.

In 2001 a set of PHP scripts were let loose on the open Internet. Those scripts, which took user-generated data and used it to dynamically create html pages, contained the ideas and the algorithms that are the core of today’s Nucleus CMS. Though Nucleus CMS 3.2 is far more flexible and powerful than the scripts from which it emerged, it still expresses the values that guided its birth: flexibility, security, and computational elegance.

Thanks to an international community of sophisticated developers and designers, Nucleus CMS remains simple enough for anyone to learn, and expandable enough to allow you to build almost any website you can imagine. Nucleus CMS lets you integrate text, images, and user comments in a seamless package that will make your web presence as serious, professional, personal, or fun as you want it to be.

We hope you enjoy its power.

Documentation - docs.nucleuscms.org
Visit our frequently asked questions page for a quick overview.

The install process places user and developer documentation on the web server for your convenience.

Pop-up help is available throughout the administration area to assist you in maintaining and customizing your site. When in the Nucleus CMS admin area, click on this symbol for context-sensitive help.

Or, if you can’t find the answer you need, visit our community Wiki for user written tips and how-tos.

Support - forum.nucleuscms.org
Should you require assistance, please don't hesitate to join the 1800+ registered users on our forums. With its built-in search capability of the 28,000+ posted articles, your answers are just a few clicks away. Remember: almost any question you think of has already been asked on the forums, and almost anything you want to do with Nucleus has been tried and explained there. Be sure to check them out.

Thanks to all the volunteers at the support forums.
admun - Ottawa, ON, Canada
anand - Bangalore, India
hcgtv - Miami, USA
ikeizer - Maastricht
moraes - Curitiba, Brazil
roel - Rotterdam, The Netherlands
TeRanEX - Ekeren, Antwerp, Belgium
Trent - Alberta, Canada
xiffy - Deventer

Personalization - skins.nucleuscms.org
The combination of multi-weblogs and skins/templates make for a powerful duo in personalizing your site or designing one for a friend, relative or business client. Import new skins to change the look of your website, or create your own skins and share them with the Nucleus community! Help designing or modifying skins is only a few clicks away in the Nucleus forums.

What’s possible with Nucleus CMS:

Nucleus CMS is used on over 700 registered sites. Here are some ideas to get you started thinking about what Nucleus CMS can do for you:

Personal blogs
stanch.net - Stanch's personal weblog
rakaz.nl - Rakaz's personal weblog
beefcake.nl - Beefcake | Nuke the whales!
bloggard.com - The Adventures of Bloggard
sempermagis.be - Webvoer voor de digitale honger. Warm geserveerd

Community blogs
tipos.com.br - Brazilian blogging community

Family pages
maguire.trentadams.ca - Maguire Baby Journal
baruchito.com - Baruchito's homeCage

News sites
printculture.com - Politics, Culture, Academics
americandaily.com - American Daily - News & Commentary

Travel sites
hsbluebird.com - Hot Springs, Montana's Online Resource
groningen-info.de - Neues aus Groningen. Für Leute aus Duitsland.

Business sites
adrenalinsports.nl - Adrenalin sports
c-nes.org - Centre for Northeast Studies and Policy Research (C-NES)

Nucleus Developer Network - dev.nucleuscms.org
The NUDN is a hub for developer sites and programming resources.

NUDN satellite sites, location and UTC offset:
karma - Izegem +02
hcgtv - Miami -05
admun - Ottawa -04
TeRanEX - Ekeren +02

Sourceforge.net graciously hosts our Open Source project page which contains our software downloads and CVS repository.

Want to play around, test changes or tell a friend or relative about Nucleus CMS? Visit our live demo site.

Looking to add some extra functionality to the base Nucleus CMS package? Our plugin repository gives you plenty of ways to extend and expand what Nucleus CMS can do; your imagination and creativity are the only limit on how Nucleus CMS can work for you.

Donators
We would like to thank these nice people for their support. Thanks all!

Like Nucleus CMS? Vote for us at HotScripts and opensourceCMS.

License
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.]]> General http://anomalator.com/index.php?itemid=1 Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:46:03 -0700