The work we have to do is less everyday.

I work part time at a butcher dept, in addition to my full-time college.
I have noticed after two days of work here, that technology is making life easier for a person.

I've had to stomp on cardboard boxes to break them down in previous jobs, but here I have access to a baler/box crusher.

When I package meat, I sit it on a conveyor belt, and the price tag with the pertinent information is placed on it with a robotic arm.....  I thought that someone would have to go through the trouble of placing a label on by hand after removing it from a printer...  guess that needed to be replaced by a robot...

I didn't expect to see equipment in a butcher shop receiving orders to do work through cat5 lines that are plugged into them.


What does the future of technology have to offer us next?

Cisco Networking Academy

After some looking around at my local college, I found that they teach a network administration courseload, with a strong emphasis on Cisco routers.

These classes have been excellent so far. They are somewhat challenging, and require attention to detail in order to master what is being taught.
Cisco textbooks are cheaper than most other college books, since they not only dominate the field in technology for networking, they also create most of the standards we use today.

The purpose of me taking these classes is to obtain a CCNA, which should give me a better chance of getting a job in the field.

I go to my nightshift job tomorrow, so I may take a day or two to post new content.

TL;DR : Cisco CCNA prep classes are worth the time.

Technology classes at your local college.

It's way easier than you think.
I took a class that teaches about the internet, how to use email, and some other crap like the use of amazon and ebay.
It was great, considering that I never read the book, and just did the assignments from personal knowledge alone. and I got an A.

If you can get the funding, DO IT!


I now have an apartment in town, and my postings are going to be much more frequent again.
I intend to write an article on my opinions of the cisco company, and my thoughts on their networking academy.

See you guys then....

No power at house.

I wont be posting for probably another week, due to a tornado slamming a tree down on the power line that connects my house. My landlord won't answer any calls, so who knows when I'll have power.....

What brand of CPU do you prefer?

 sorry bout the time it took to get this out, its been a busy week (cisco routing class)

I decided to write this entry to bring up the two largest manufacturers of Central Processing Units.
Back in the day, Intel was new in the business, and started producing processors for computers.
They helped make an architectural standard in conjunction with IBM, known today as x86.
Around the time of the 486, being after the 386 and 286, some employees defected and created a company called AMD (Advanced Micro Devices). After a war of lawsuits between the two erupted and lasted for years. It seems that the beef is settled between the two giants. Nowadays, they compete mostly in the CPU market, and both have pros and cons.

I will summarize the pros and cons of each company.

Advanced Micro Devices

Makes cheap and still decent CPUs.

Pros: Very affordable products
Cons: Not the cutting edge in processor speeds.


Intel Corporation

Commonly used by the big PC companies such as Dell, HP, and gateway.

Pros: Mind blowing speeds, various technologies that AMD lacks
Cons: Too damn expensive


 TL;DR, I use AMD, because I'm not rich, and can still have a quad core.

Breaking in a new PC.

So you finally scored that PC you wanted.... What to do now?
As long as your OS (Operating System) is fresh and clean, you should consider installing some programs to help you out on your computing adventures. In the last post I asked "what will you use your PC for ?", and explained what I use my system for, I will go into further detail of most of the programs I use.

Multimedia

Winamp

For my collection of digital music I use Winamp, which can parse a crapload of mp3s into a concise and easy to use library which is searchable. You may obtain winamp @ http://www.winamp.com for free, as well as a paid version with more features(that you probably don't need).

Combined Community Codec Pack

I use the CCCP for the codecs it contains, as well as the Media Player Classic that comes with it.
You may obtain CCCP @ http://www.cccp-project.net/ for free.

Internet

Tor

I use Tor for anonynimity purposes, see my post about tor for more info.

Mozilla Firefox

I use Firefox due to preference mostly. Check it out @ http://www.getfirefox.com

torbutton can be installed in it for easy and safer browsing.

Chatzilla is also nice if you want to lurk in the IRC areas of the internet.

Technitium MAC address changer

A great tool to change the MAC address of your network interface.
get it at tmac.technitium.com/



TL;DR  A short example list of programs I use on my PC, to help the reader get a better idea of what they need for their purposes.

Post any questions and I'll try my best to respond.

Getting a new PC (without getting ripped off)

I'm writing this as a rant after seeing a laptop for sale in a catalog, which boasted it had a "HUGE 20GB Hard Drive".......

That kinda killed me a little inside.

Many people want a new computer, but some don't know what to look for, and get less than they should for a price.

What are you getting the PC for? You might consider gaming, video editing, or maybe thats all crap to you and you just want a decent computer to browse the web and hold some digital photos.

You must consider the above, because it can mean a difference in hundreds of bucks.

Most people can get away with a factory built tower as a PC.


I have my own special needs in a PC, it needs to hold everything for about 10 people, and shouldn't lag.

Consider my build as an example, It acts as a powerhouse, working both to run my games, and serve the rest of the house with movies and music.
 I spent a bit extra than what most would, do to my nasty habit of hoarding information, and loving to customize PCs.

Summary

		Computer:
			Computer Type	ACPI x86-based PC
			Operating System	Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
			OS Service Pack	Service Pack 1
			Internet Explorer	8.0.6001.18702 (IE 8.0)
			DirectX	DirectX 10.1
			Computer Name	ENTERPRISE
			User Name	Zandercorp
			Logon Domain	ENTERPRISE
			Date / Time	2011-04-06 / 16:59
		Motherboard:
			CPU Type	QuadCore AMD Athlon II X4 620, 2800 MHz (13 x 215)
			Motherboard Name	Biostar TA790GXB3 (3 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Video, Gigabit LAN)
			Motherboard Chipset	AMD 790GX, AMD K10
			System Memory	3328 MB (DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM)
			DIMM1: Corsair XMS3 CM3X1G1333C9	1 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM (9-9-9-24 @ 666 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 592 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 518 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 444 MHz)
			DIMM2: Corsair XMS3 CM3X1G1333C9	1 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM (9-9-9-24 @ 666 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 592 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 518 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 444 MHz)
			DIMM3: Corsair XMS3 CM3X1G1333C9	1 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM (9-9-9-24 @ 666 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 592 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 518 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 444 MHz)
			DIMM4: Corsair XMS3 CM3X1G1333C9	1 GB DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM (9-9-9-24 @ 666 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 592 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 518 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 444 MHz)
			BIOS Type	AMI (07/30/09)
		Display:
			Video Adapter	ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics (256 MB)
			Video Adapter	ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics (256 MB)
			3D Accelerator	ATI Radeon HD 3300 (RS780D)
			Monitor	Generic PnP Monitor [NoDB] (942RY1NA00923)
		Multimedia:
			Audio Adapter	ATI RS690 HDMI @ AMD RS780/RS880 Chipset - High Definition Audio Controller
			Audio Adapter	ATI RS690 HDMI @ ATI SB750 - High Definition Audio Controller
		Storage:
			IDE Controller	Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
			IDE Controller	Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
			Storage Controller	AZCH756R IDE Controller
			Storage Controller	Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
			Storage Controller	VIA RAID Controller - 3249
			Disk Drive	Generic Storage Device USB Device
			Disk Drive	ST31000333AS ATA Device (1000 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
			Disk Drive	ST32000542AS ATA Device (2000 GB, 5900 RPM, SATA-II)
			Disk Drive	ST3250623A ATA Device (250 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
			Disk Drive	ST3500830AS ATA Device (500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
			Optical Drive	Optiarc DVD RW AD-7170A ATA Device (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:8x, DVD+RW:18x/8x, DVD-RW:18x/6x, DVD-RAM:12x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)
			Optical Drive	QNY 0PUZ896VCPQ SCSI CdRom Device
			Optical Drive	QNY 0PUZ896VCPQ SCSI CdRom Device
			SMART Hard Disks Status	OK
		Partitions:
			C: (NTFS)	218.2 GB (24.2 GB free)
			D: (NTFS)	931.5 GB (315.8 GB free)
			E: (NTFS)	6997 MB (1975 MB free)
			F: (NTFS)	7051 MB (6706 MB free)
			I: (NTFS)	465.8 GB (114.3 GB free)
			X: (NTFS)	1863.0 GB (1219.0 GB free)
			Total Size	3492.2 GB (1681.8 GB free)

TL;DR : Don't get screwed out of your hard earned cash buying or building a new PC.
Read up on current standards by going to http://www.tigerdirect.com or http://www.newegg.com