Good Morning New York! I think it’s safe to say that it’s been a long while since I’ve blogged for you guys, and I just have to say, It’s not my fault! First off, my laptop crashed, and when it crashes, it’s not convenient for me to blog – it annoys me to boot up the desktop and start blogging.

I did manage to fix my laptop – sort of. As you may already know, I have an Inspiron 1525, and it’s a great laptop except for three things: it overheats a lot, the charger breaks too easily, and I’ve had crashing problems with it.

Well, this time, after it crashed, I could seemingly do nothing to fix it. I tried everything, System Restore, Startup Repair, Last Known Good Configuration, etc. etc. I tried running system tests, and all that I could possibly do from the menus available before Windows actually loads. Eventually I realized that whatever had happened to my laptop is seemingly irreversable, so I had to find a new angle. I ended up buying an external hard drive enclosure, so that I could transfer my files to my desktop.

I’m no expert on these things so I only made this decision after consulting my tech savvy friend Joey and asking around on Yahoo Answers.

I had found one on the Radioshack website for about $30, but it was only available online. So I ended up buying one from Best Buy for $50. I KNOW, it’s a big difference HOWEVER, I will get money back in Rewards points (I buy all my electronic stuff from Best Buy so becoming a Rewards member was the best thing I could ever do). The Best Buy Rewards program is actually one of the few rewards programs that I actually make good use out of. Anyway, as it turns out, I bought one of the best HDD Enclosures out there, without even doing comparisons!

I bought an Antec MX-1 and after looking up their website when I got home (for more detailed instructions), I found what made this worth it’s money. This HDD enclosure includes a built in fan that actively cools your hard drive during use so it stays safe and doesn’t overheat. This is a huge plus for me, considering how annoying it gets dealing with overheating all the time. And since it has a fan, they have silicone padding on the inside and a specially designed case that helps muffle and reduce sound. I will testify to the fact that I heard almost nothing when it was on. It’s as close to a silent machine as it can get. Also, I could not feel any heat coming from the enclosure when I touched it, so the fan was definitely doing it’s job.

The package includes the HDD Enclosure, a stand, a power adapter, a USB Cable (this is what I used), and an eSATA Cable and PCI-slot cover.

At first I actually was afraid that my HDD wouldn’t be compatible with this machine because from the videos I saw online, and the actually width of the product, I judged that my laptop hard drive would be too small a.k.a. not the right type. This is because in the box, they also include 4 screws so that you may firmly hold your HDD in place within the enclosure. My laptop’s HDD was too small to require this, which is why I got scared. However, I realized that it was still compatible and that I just had to meet the connectors, which I did by placing this small HDD on one side, as long as it matched up and plugged in.

As soon as I plugged it in, I searched through folders and found all my files. You have NO idea how relieved I was. I was little dancing, lmfao. It worked like a charm.
I must say that although I was nervous since I’ve never done anything like this before, it was actually very simple. Removing the hard drive from my laptop was pie, just two screws to slide it out and two more to remove the cover.

The enclosure was easy as well: one long screw from the bottom opened up the top of the enclosure, which was then slid off to be removed. Then just one screw on either side of the actual part that would hold the HDD, the removal of the LED plug (so you can lift that part away from the base), then you slide in your HDD and plug it into the receptors [screw in the 4 screws if needed], put the whole thing back into the base component, re-attach the LED wire, screw it back in, close the lid, and tighten the screw.

Believe me, it’s simpler than it sounds, when you’re actually doing it.

So anyway, it worked just as it should, and after I had transfered my files to my desktop, I took the HDD back out and replaced it in my laptop. Since my files were safe on my other computer, I just used the option to return the computer to it’s Dell Factory State (wipe out everything, including whatever was wrong with my computer in the first place) and now my computer is just like new – literally, hahaha.

Today, when I left my newly installed and configured HackBook (running XxX 10.5.6) downstairs for awhile, the display went to sleep. I thought nothing of it of course. I closed the lid and took it upstairs. When I opened the lid, it gave me the boot prompt. “Strange,” I thought, and when I pressed enter to boot it, nothing happened. My keyboard had stopped working. I rebooted and the keyboard still didn’t work. Rebooted again. Nothing. At this point I was cursing. Loudly.

I figured the only way to get it back was to reinstall it. I got the XxX 10.5.6 DVD, popped it in, and waited for the “press any key” prompt. I pressed the spacebar. The prompt was still there. My keyboard still wasn’t working. I started cursing again when the countdown on the prompt reached zero and booted my hard drive. Elation filled me. I was back in business.

As soon as I got to the desktop, I fired up System Preferences. I figured the problem was with my power-saver settings. I went to “Energy Saver”, clicked “Show Details”, and set everything to “Never”. Hopefully that’ll make it so it never happens again.

I rebooted without the DVD, reached the boot prompt and pressed enter. My keyboard was working again. Huzzah!

The lesson here? If this ever happens to you, pop in the DVD and let it boot for you.

I installed Windows 7 Beta on my Dell Inspiron 1525.    It was a success, but here is a summary of problems that I encountered.

1.  I wanted to dual boot with my factory installed Vista.   These Dell 1525’s come with a 160Gb hard drive, so I still had plenty of space to create a second partition that I could dual boot from. I started by following the guidance outlined here to use the ‘Shrink Volume’ feature included with Vista so that I could create that second partition. The first problem I had was actually shrinking the volume….Vista would only allow me to shrink it by 10Gb, even though the drive had about 100Gb free. But, after following the steps outlined here, I was able to shrink it by about 60Gb.

2. The next problem I had, was that my Dell Inspiron 1525 apparently already had 4 primary partitions, and you can’t create more than 4. My 4 factory configured partitions were a 39Mb EISA partition, the 160Gb O/S partition, a 10Gb RECOVERY partition, and a 2.5Mb partition, which is apparently for the Dell Direct utilities. (By the way, you can have 3 primary, and 1 extended, and create more primary partitions inside that extended..so I figured if I could somehow convert one of those primary partitions to an extended partition, I could then create more partitions. I don’t even know if such a thing is possible). Stumped, I finally downloaded a utility called GParted so that I could look at my partitions in greater detail. You burn GParted to a CD and boot with the CD by the way. When I looked at my partitions with GParted, I noticed that the 2.5Mb partition was apparently an extended partition (I didn’t seem to notice that when looking at it with Vista’s Disk management). I took the space that I captured in paragraph 1 above, and assigned it to the 2.5Mb partition, making it now about 60Gb. Then, using Gparted, I created a new primary partition for my Windows 7 dual boot. GParted let me create the new partition and format it NTFS.

3. Finally, I booted with my Windows 7 beta DVD, and installed it to my new partition, carefully selecting the new partition so that I wouldn’t overwrite my existing Vista partition.

4. The only thing that did not seem to install properly was the video drivers for the Inspiron 1525. It said they installed, but the colors were not right. This laptop using the Mobile Intel 965 Express. After messing around with it for a while, the solution seemed to be downloading and installling the graphics drivers from Dell for Vista. They will not install unless you enable the Vista Compatibility mode for the .exe associated with the driver. (To be honest, I can’t remember where that setting was, but I think you right click on the .exe and look at properties….its somewhere in there).

After that, everthing looked great.

One last thing, if you decide to install Windows 7 inside Virtual PC 2007, make sure you get SP1 for Virtual PC. Otherwise you’ll likely have problems when you try to install the Virtual Machine Additions.

Dell Inspiron 1525 is currently, its most popular product in India.

Here are my views about the pros and cons about this laptop and why do I think it is better than the equivalent HP DV6 series. By the way, I have Inspiron 1525 and I love it !

Pros :

i) Reasonable Price

After you configure your laptop in the Dell’s Online Site and look at the net price, I’m sure you won’t say like “What the hell? Did I put any Gold Chips inside it ? “.

Not really, what Inspiron can offer you in that price is far more than any other decent product can offer you.

ii) Highly customizable

The Laptop is fully customizable. You put into it only what you need and they’ll build that. How much RAM you need, How much Harddisk space you want, Do you want any logical-partition , Do you need some extra cables to connect your laptop to TV or DVD player, What OS & security softwares you need, etc. You can configure everything as you want, both inside and outside.

iii) Good looking & Matte Finish

Yes, the laptop is really beautiful and comfy. Its sizes are compact & it isn’t bulky at all. You won’t have any trouble using it whether you’re in your home, train, or airplane. Besides, its looks are really stunning with slim body and a very sleek finish. And the best part, you have the option of “Matte Finish” , which not many laptops offer.

Now those who would argue that “Matte Finish” is boring,dull & totally waste, I want to ask them to try scratching the matte finish. Yes, the Matte Finish makes your laptop literally free from any scratches at all. If you ask for Glossy looks, definitely you’ll get a shining gem, but once, accidently (which is very common), your cover gets scratched, then you’ll see how odd it looks and in that very moment, you’ll ask yourself why you didn’t have Matte over it.

iv) Fully packed with features

HDMI port, Multiple Card Reader, Micro/Mini SD Card Reader, SPDIF Port, IEEE port and the most useful- 4 USB ports and 2 headphone ports. 4 USB ports lets you play Counter Strike on your laptop using an external mouse & an external keyboard (USB) and at the same time transfer music from 1 iPod to other. I tried it, its great !

iv) Cool Accessories & Amazing Battery Life

You won’t believe If I say to you that I saw 2 hollywood movies back to back on my laptop running only on batteries (6-pack default) and still got 25% battery remaining. Yes ,believe me, it is true. The laptop’s battery life was amazing and when I compared it with those of my friend’s laptop, I really felt proud. Besides, the batteries, you get many cool accessories along with it, to mention some : A Dell Notebook Carry Bag, Dell Earbuds(they’re really awesome, superb quality better than Apple’s ) , Extra Modem Cables (for connecting to a Landline Phone) & SPDIF Cable ( for connecting to PC) ,A remote control,etc. There’s nothing you can’t get if you ask for it.

iv) Warranty, Reliability & Rigidity

Well, I dont think I have to say anything about this as the name “Dell” says it all.

Cons:

i) Low Watt Speakers

One major problem about this laptop are its low-watt speakers. So, you cannot use your laptop for watching movies with a group of your friends without having any external speakers attached to it. But you do get “Dell Earbuds” along with your laptop and you have “2″ earphone jacks on the front panel, so it won’t be a problem when there are only 2 of you. The speakers voice is enough when only you’re using your laptop. This is where HP really beats  Dell.

2) No Dedicated Graphics Card

This is a fault only  for Gamers. Those who need the laptop desperately for playing games, I’d suggest to go for Dell XPS or HP. For others, the 3 GB RAM & Core2Duo Processor takes care of average gaming needs.

Thats it folks ! Hope you guys got some good idea about Inspiron. If you’re still in doubt, you can take a look at 1500+ reviews of Dells Inspiron worldwide in their official website. Now by this article I’m not trying to offend those who have got HP or Compaq, I’m just discussing the Pros & Cons of Inspiron !! [:)]

I Have shifted my blog to abhishekdelta.wordpress.com.
For the article on Dell Inspiron 1525, check this out : http://abhishekdelta.wordpress.com/2008/12/21/dell-inspiron-1525/

Já comprei meu presente de natal!

Vai rodar Linux, é claro.

Se não ocorrer atraso, chega no dia 23 ou 24 de dezembro.

]]> http://leogrilo.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/wireless-dell-inspirion-1525-ubuntu-explicando-detalhadamente/ Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:53:48 +0000 Leonardo Grilo http://leogrilo.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/wireless-dell-inspirion-1525-ubuntu-explicando-detalhadamente/

Devido a muitos erros de interpretação, e eu sei que sou muito ruim em me expressar por um blog, resolvi tentar esclarecer algumas dúvidas que haviam ficado. Qualquer dúvida, estou aberto a melhorar mais uma vez.

E peço que os que puderem dar uma forcinha no blog: WWW.ZERODAY.COM.BR, onde recentemente assumi junto ao Leandro Maverick a parte de edição de notícias. Comentem, as opiniões de vocês é que fazem o crescimento.

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Como instalar o drive wireless correto do notebook Dell Inspiron 1525(UTILIZANDO O LINUX UBUNTU) (aviso: se for comprar esse note, compre com o wireless INTEL e não da Dell. Assim não precisaria ler este post inteiro).

Não se desesperem. Eu também estava com este problema no meu inspiron 1525, pesquisando aqui e tendo maior dificuldade, quando fui no Synaptic(Gerenciador de Pacotes do Ubuntu) e me deparei com uma ferramenta chamada NDISWRAPPER DRIVER INSTALATION TOOL(WINDOWS WIRELESS DRIVE).

É só baixar o drive correto da sua placa wireless para windows(ou no site da Dell usando seu código ou como no meu caso.. pegando do própeio CD – nome: bcmwl5.inf), descompacte-o. Abra o programa no LINUX UBUNTU chamado WINDOWS WIRELESS DRIVE você adiciona o arquivo de extensão “.inf”.

Outra opção é fazer manualmente, como fiz no meu caso:

Entre no terminal logado como Super Usuário;

#ndiswrapper -i /caminho/arquivo.inf

Logo após faça a checagem para verificar se foi instalado corretamente:

#ndiswrapper -l

Pronto… Seu Wireless estará funcionando no LINUX, mas eu gosto de frizar que o meu esta funcionando erfeitamente com o WEP, com o WPA ainda ocorrem alguns problemas, como conectar automaticamente ao ligar o computador, mas fora isso está aprovado.

Já não é a primeira vez que o Ubuntu me deixa triste… mas sou persistente… vamos continuar até ver aonde aguento.

fontes: dell, zeroday.com.br

Muitos se fazem essa pergunta quando acessam o www.dell.com.br/notebook, e lá encontram os laptops com maior desconto possível.

São poucos os relatos de utilizadores de notebook Dell e muitos os relatos de atraso na hora de entrega, porém.. Eu comprei meu Dell não faz nem um mês, e ai vai minha história…

Dia 14/07/2008 pela noite eu solicitei no site da Dell o meu Notebook Inspiron 1525 costumizado, sem dinheiro fui optando pelos acessórios mais baratos, Celeron, Vista Basic, Camera, Controle, Cabo de Video, Surround, capa verde e por ai vai.

Dia 15/07 pela manhã, recebi a confirmação da solicitação, assim comecei a visitar todos os sites para ver se demorava pra entregar. Quando comecei a ler quase morri! 1 Mês, 2 meses, no mínimo 20 dias.

Pronto, olhei no site e estava lá “Previsão para entrega até dia 12 de Agosto”. Estou aqui com o note, dia 11 de agosto, sendo que ele chegou dia 21/07, exatamente 7 dias após a solicitação.

O Inspiron 1525 é um ÓTIMO note, o meu tem 2gb de memória, photoshop, dreamweaver, office 2007, fireworks, megacubo, editor de vídeo, editor de som, todos os programas possíveis e impossíveis, e ainda assim ele funciona perfeitamente sem travar nadinha.

Então pra você que está afim de fazer uma boa compra por um preço ótimo, não perca!! Muitos que ligaram para o 0800 conseguiram um BOM desconto e brindes! Melhor do que pedir pelo site! Mas entre lá pra dar uma conferida no que você pode escolher!!!

Além disso participe do concurso cultural “o que inspira o seu estilo” e concorra a um notebook Inspiron™1525 com Intel® Core™2 Duo!

Site da promoção www.oqueinspiraoseuestilo.com.br .

Monte seu próprio Inspiron 1525.

Veja o vídeo do Inspiron 1525:

IBM has finally recognised Ubuntu as a first class Linux ditribution.  And it’s about time, as many customers have long used Ubuntu on their IBM machines as the default OS.  Why? What’s the secret sauce of Ubuntu?

First Ubuntu is unashamed and proud of Linux, server side and most importantly desktop-wise.  Ubuntu has a clear agenda and policy, is backed up by Canonical but independent of “political” machinations. No one fears that a takeover of Canonical would change what Ubuntu stands for.  

And that is in sharp contrast to Novell/Suse.  …

Suse has had a proud customer/community base, however the commercial versions have always been the primary target and therefore they followed the old software licensing model. The desktop with KDE preference looked like a techy version of Windows and was never a focus.  And then Novell changed it’s politics and made a deal with MS in 2006.  Rather than anticipating next generation economics, the management declared it’s preference for the old world, ie short term monetisation through licensing. (Ever tried to license SLES at a decent price?) 

Even Red Hat seemed to be rooted in this old world believe system that business means licensing: yes it’s open source but you need to buy it to get a good deal.

And then came Ubuntu in 2004.  Both Red Hat and Novell came out with their own “free” distributions, Fedora in 2003 (more like a stepchild and a by-product) and OpenSUSE in 2005 (as an answer to Fedora and Ubuntu).  But somehow, both projects feel like an afterthought.  Ubuntu however is genuinely a community project.  Canonicals business is derived from that, not the other way.

This transparency leads to trust and confidence. The desktop approach is fresh and different, not a copycat.  People are proud of using Ubuntu, not defensive.  And they particpate by contributing expertise and experience through forums and blogs. 

The first prominent hardware company to endorse Ubuntu has been Dell.  Now IBM has acknowledged that a lot of admins around the world have been using Ubuntu on their servers for quite some time. Check our stories about installing Lotus Domino on IBM servers running Ubuntu (it seems, that since then, installations have become even easier). And we are not alone: here is another one of many others. 

When people say that one argument pro-Windows is the ease of installation they a) have never really installed a fresh version of Windows and b) have never installed an Ubuntu Linux either.  Just the time it takes to update Windows with all those fixes…  patch-up boys

BTW, after 4 years of proud Apple Powerbook ownership, the author is contemplating buying a non-Mac notebook, not with Vista, please, oh no, with Ubuntu. One of those rare non-glossy 15” screens with WSXGA 1680×1050 recently caught my eyes. Resolution-wise that is better than the MacBook Pro for roughly a third of the price of the Apple 15” laptop. The HP qompaq 6715b can be ordered with FreeDOS instead of Vista – trouble is where?  Most retailers have it only with Windows.  The only issue for Ubuntu on the 6715b seems to be the Wifi support, a classic problem due mostly to proprietary drivers and stupid manufacturers.  More on 6715b with Ubuntu.

The alternative looks like the Dell Inspiron 1525 with a similar but glossy WSXGA screen (though I have only found the 1680×1050 option on the German Dell pages, and only for the Linux version, not the “normal” Windoze 1525, go figure).  The Dell is roughly 300EUR more expensive with the specs I’d like.  That is half the amount of the 6715b, which you can get for the street price of around 600EUR.  The Dell has a slightly better performance due to the Intel Duo Core, but as mentioned before, the screen is glossy, ie less practical.  Advantage of the 1525 is that Ubuntu is pre-installed, no hassles there.

Como instalar o drive wireless correto do notebook Dell Inspiron 1525 (aviso: se for comprar esse note, compre com o wireless INTEL e não da Dell. Assim não precisaria ler este post inteiro).

Não se desesperem. Eu também estava com este problema no meu inspiron 1525, pesquisando aqui e tendo maior dificuldade, quando fui no Synaptic e me deparei com uma ferramenta chamada NDISWRAPPER DRIVER INSTALATION TOOL(WINDOWS WIRELESS DRIVE).

É só baixar o drive correto da sua placa wireless para windows(ou no site da Dell usando seu código ou como no meu caso.. pegando do própeio CD), descompacte-o pelo Winrar, por exemplo, numa pasta e dentro do programa WINDOWS WIRELESS DRIVE você adiciona o arquivo de extensão “.inf”.

Pronto… Seu Wireless estará funcionando…

Já não é a primeira vez que o Ubuntu me deixa triste… mas sou persistente… vamos continuar até ver aonde aguento.

fontes: dell, zeroday.com.br, ubuntudicas.blogspot.com/

Bei meinem, schon in vorigen Artikeln erwähntem, neuem Inspiron 1525 mit Ubuntu hatte ich ein Problem mit dem Sound. Ich konnte die Lautstärke nicht ordentlich regeln. Meine Soundkarte:

thomas@jane:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel – HDA Intel
HDA Intel at 0xfe9fc000 irq 19

und der benutzte Treiber war zum Zeitpunkt Conexant HSF (OSS Mixer) der scheinbar die Probleme bereitete. Ein kurzer Blick ins wiki von ubuntuusers zeigte, dass es einen eigenen Eintrag für die Installation von einem passendem Treiber für HDA – Soundkarten gibt, da es wohl öfters Probleme mit diesem Soundkartentyp gibt.

Ich befolgte also die Anleitung und jetzt funktioniert der Sound ohne Probleme.

An dieser Stelle ein dickes Dankeschön an ubuntuusers.de

Beim Versuch Compiz-Fusion auf meinem neuen Dell Inspiron 1525 mit Ubuntu zu starten, bekam ich immer die Fehlernachricht:

Desktop Effects could not be enabled

Mit ein wenig Recherche fand ich heraus, dass es einige Graphikkarten auf der Blacklist von Compiz gibt unter anderem auch meine:

thomas@jane:~$ lspci | grep “Display”
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)

Also musste ich nur meine Graphikkarte von der Blacklist in der Datei /usr/bin/compiz nehmen:

# blacklist based on the pci ids
# See http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist for details
T=” 1002:5954 1002:5854 1002:5955″ # ati rs480
T=”$T 1002:4153″ # ATI Rv350
T=”$T 8086:2982 8086:2992 8086:29a2 8086:2a02 8086:2a12″ # intel 965
T=”$T 8086:2972″ # i965 (x3000)
T=”$T 1002:3152 1002:3150 1002:5462 1002:5653 ” # ati X300 X600,X600 X700
BLACKLIST_PCIIDS=”$T”
unset T

nach der Änderung:

# blacklist based on the pci ids
# See http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist for details
T=” 1002:5954 1002:5854 1002:5955″ # ati rs480
T=”$T 1002:4153″ # ATI Rv350
#T=”$T 8086:2982 8086:2992 8086:29a2 8086:2a02 8086:2a12″ # intel 965
#T=”$T 8086:2972″ # i965 (x3000)
T=”$T 1002:3152 1002:3150 1002:5462 1002:5653 ” # ati X300 X600,X600 X700
BLACKLIST_PCIIDS=”$T”
unset T

En voilà un beau pc ! DELL continue sa lancée vers des pcs cools et funky avec la collaboration de l’artiste New-Yorkais Mike Ming (fan de surf, de vagues et de skate…) qui nous signent 2 coloris de l’Inspiron 1525. Nous avons ci-dessus le Sea-Sky et ci-dessous le Bunch O Surfers

2 configurations de bases sont disponibles, le Mike Ming Edition et l’Extreme Edition.

Inspiron 1525 – Mike Ming Edition à 699 dollars

Intel^® Pentium^® Dual Core processor / 3 GB de RAM /160 GB de disque dur

Inspiron 1525 – Mike Ming Extreme Edition à 799 dollars