The Digital Light Scribe

Turn Your Netbook Into A Desktop

Russel — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:04:11 +0000

I have always believed in downsizing my gear: not just my photo gear but also my electronic gear. As a techie, I tend to collect a lot of electronics, from mobile phones to computers. There was a point in my life that I collected so much gadgets, I couldn’t decide which one to use. Those days are over, and now I try to limit my gadgets to those that I actually need.

Six months ago, I made the hard decision of letting go of my Asus laptop because:

I was using my netbook more.
I wasn’t doing any heavy computing at home anymore.
It’s more practical to bring my netbook with me( in terms of weight and battery life : netbook=9hours vs laptop 2hours).
The Asus laptop is getting old, and cheap and I’ll just lose more money if I sell it at a later time.

It may sound counter-productive, trading a full size laptop to a netbook, but it’s not. For my needs, the netbook was more than enough. The fact that I don’t have a big powerful laptop also made one “habit” of mine disappear: the habit of taking my work everywhere, including my home. Ever since I removed the option of doing work at home, I got back a lot of quality time.

Three months ago, I decided to give my netbook a new home. Previously, it just stayed on top of my table with my other gadgets, when not is use. My computer table was looking empty without my old laptop, when I had this idea to turn my netbook into my desktop workstation. You may ask,”Why don’t you just buy a desktop?” Well, honestly, I will, but the need for it isn’t that great because my MSI Wind U100 can handle my web, office, and writing tasks pretty well. Perhaps when I’ve already succeeded in setting up a home-based business, that’s the time I’ll buy a desktop.

So back to my netbook /desktop conversion. The process of making my MSI Wind U100 into a desktop workstation is pretty straight-forward: just buy the accessories.

Here’s the list of accessories I bought:

Additional LCD (SGD278)

This is the biggest “accessory” of my netbook: a 23” Dell Full HD LCD Monitor. I use this when I work at home. I mainly work on documents and graphics, both work benefits greatly with a 23″ monitor. I can view 2 A4 size documents side by side at 100% zoom level. I can do split screen browsing when doing web-related work. Example: I’m researching on a topic: I have half of the screen occupied by my text editor or one instance of my browser showing Google Docs, and the other half occupied by my web browser. So as I research on my browser, I can easily copy and paste links and text to the article I’m writing on the other side of the screen.

For those asking if using a bigger monitor slows down my netbook, the answer is NO. I don’t have a problem with refresh rates and I can even play a 720p movie fullscreen, and it doesn’t lag. But when it comes to graphic intensive games, don’t expect them to play well, or at all, in netbooks, that’s just asking too much. Remember that netbooks weren’t designed to handle those kinds of tasks: It’s called a “net”book for a good reason.

Extra Keyboard (SGD15)

For those with big hands, a full keyboard works wonders. Let’s face it, the keyboards on netbooks are good to use for around a couple of hours at most. After that, your wrists begin to hurt.

Extra Mouse (came with my netbook)

Using the touchpad on your netbook is okay for at most an hour, but after that it becomes a pain. Get a mouse. I suggest you get the wireless mouse kind so that you’re not hassled by all those wires.

External Harddrive (SGD +/- 185)

You need this to create backups regularly. You don’t want to lose all your data when you’re netbook meets an accident while your using it outside, like in a park, coffee shop, or on a bus. Now that the price of storage is going down, cost of the Gigabytes is no long a big issue.

External DVD Reader/Writer (came with our other PC)

For those rare instances that you would need to access CDs and DVDs, you need an external DVD drive. I also find it useful for creating backups of your files especially photos.

Travel Charger (SGD +/-30)

Even if you have a 6 or 9 cell battery that can last 4-10 hours, you would still need to charge your netbook. An MSI Wind Wall/Travel Charger comes in pretty handy because of it’s size. The normal power adapters for netbook will come with a power block and a power cord. The travel charger is just one piece with the power block on one end and the connector for the netbook on the other end.

I have two power adapters now: one for home, and one for traveling.

External Speakers (SGD 19.95)

If you enjoy listening to music or watching movies on your netbook, I really recommend you buy a pair of good portable speakers. I bought Sonic Gear Lab’s 2GoNow Mobile Speakers. It’s small, can be powered by AAA batteries and connects to any device that has a 3.5″ jack. I even used it once during our 10Km Dragon Boat Race; imagine paddling to the beat of Black Eyed Peas’ Boom Boom Pow and I got Feelin’.

A good USB Hub (I got it as a giveaway)

If you plan to connect a lot of devices to your netbook, you NEED to get a USB hub so that you don’t run out of USB ports. I have a 4-port USB hub that allows me to connect 4 USB devices to just one USB port (pretty useful).

To wrap things up, I’m simply sharing my experience of using a netbook as a desktop. I know to some it’s not practical, but again, your needs may not be the same as mine. Hopefully if you do decide to go down the same path, you find the things I shared above useful.

—Russel

PS.

I wrote this post on my netbook desktop, on a 23″ screen while watching a movie, downloading files, and facebook browsing; thank goodness for all this screen space.

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The module apologizes in a climate.

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From a Calcutta brothel to a New York university

Russel — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:02:05 +0000

Photography is not just a hobby. It can be a profession. It can also be used to transform peoples lives. One good example is from the news article:

BBC News – From a Calcutta brothel to a New York university.

Born into a brothel in the Indian city of Calcutta, Avijit Halder’s life has undergone a dramatic transformation.

The 20-year-old is currently pursuing a degree at one of the top film schools in the US.

The story behind this life changing event for Avijit Halder’s life revolves around the documentary “Born Into Brothels“.

I was fortunate to watch the documentary back in 2006 and I recommend it to those who are passionate about photography, not just about the wonderful images they can create but also for the potential of photography for advocacy.

I’ve always believed that photography shouldn’t be used just to portray the good things in life, but all the realities of life, however harsh they may be.

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Yasmin Ahmad – Making Film and Ads with a Heart

Russel — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:59:48 +0000

If you live in Singapore I guess you’ve seen that moving TV commercial “Funeral” about the uniqueness and importance of family. That commercial was directed by Malaysian filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad, the same director for the “Rich Son, Poor Son” video I linked to some days ago.
I did a research about her and was shocked to know that she passed away last year. I tried searching more for her works, and one thing I can say is that her works have a heart. They touch you and make you think. It’s sad to know that she’s not with us anymore, but I believe she has left a legacy with her works and these works will inspire us through generations to come.
To know more about her, I strongly suggest you watch the following videos. Or if you have the time, go search “Yasmin Ahmad” in Youtube.com.

A tribute to Yasmin Ahmad:

The behind the scene interview for “Funeral”:

The last commercial Yasmin Ahmad created:

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Rich Son, Poor Son

Russel — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:16:45 +0000

Here’s another video I found that really drives a message well. It’s in a chinese dialect, hokkien i believe, but there are subtitles.
This video made me value my mother even more. Check it out:

So what do you think about it?

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Unfortunately, Not All Men Are Not Psychic

Russel — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:16:32 +0000

Warning: This post is not for the people who are weak in spirit, have low self-esteem, or are easily offended. Openmindedness is advised.

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For the women out there: How many times have you had sleepless nights falling in love with a guy, but that guy doesn’t seem to notice how you feel about them.

Ladies (and men), please take note of this fact:

Men will not assume you like them even if you flirt with them, not because they’re insensitive, but because they don’t want to assume something then be humiliated for thinking so.

If you want a guy to know how you feel about him, just tell him! You get to know their reaction faster, and it removes the countless nights of thinking whether or not they like you. Let’s face it: Men are not all psychic. If you girls can’t read our minds, why do expect us to read your mind? Human beings have evolved an efficient way of expressing their thoughts and feelings: it’s called talking.

I will be daring enough to assume that if you’re reading this blog, you are human. Then, if I’m right, you can talk too (maybe even too much). Do you know how irritating it gets when a girl talks and talks about how great someone is? Yes it can be very annoying.

Here’s the kicker: After some time this girl will come to you crying or sobbing or with a very long face and then suddenly blurting out that this guy that she can’t stop talking about is seeing a new girl and that, that guy is thankful for her for being a great friend? So you let her cry, then you ask her, “Did you tell him how you feel about them?” And her answer….drumroll please…”No”. Tada! And then you have this lightbulb moment: “So that’s why.” Something reminiscent of the “My Bestfriend’s Wedding”.

So why are you afraid to tell him?

Fear of rejection? Fear of the unknown? Fear of losing a friend? If he’s really your friend, he won’t leave. You are both rational people, right? Sort it out. Don’t dwell on it if he leaves, at least you got one less friend to think about. Don’t act like a child; you don’t need a boyfriend to survive. You’re like saying that all singles are unhappy without a partner. Once you get that idea straight, life will be easier.

Don’t pressure yourself, and definitely don’t rush it. It will come when the time is right.

Don’t get tunnel vision and block out your other friends. You have friends that understands you and care for you. You have them; don’t risk losing them because of one boy, man or woman.

Live your life to the fullest. Remember, not all men are psychic.

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