JOEYTROY.COM

Long live open source, smash the Apple!

2010-01-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

So I was super gung ho about Windows 7, and I still am. However Ubuntu 9.10 found it's way onto my laptop. So far I can't complain. It boots faster and shuts down faster than Windows XP, and 7. Just thinking about open source makes me crave Chrome OS that is due this year. As long as google gets some sweet hardware for the netbooks I am one sold monkey. Also along the lines of computers I am so done with Apple. I know I know, but really who wants to pay tons of money for a computer? I held out and saved and saved to drop $1700.00 for a 1st gen 21' 2.0ghz iMac back in 2007. Now my current computer which is a used HP XW8200 dual 3.2ghz Xeon Workstation purchased used on ebay (produced in May 2007) runs circles around the iMac for only $289.00.

Sure I bought a second processor $24.00, fan $19.00, 25' monitor $269, dvd burner $38.00, wireless keyboard and mouse $49. But that is it, and that is still less than half of what I paid for the iMac. The only thing I need to finish up with is 4GB of ram for 89.00 on ebay and another 1TB drive which is 89.00 on new egg so I can setup single raid for my data and I am done. Oh maybe a webcam for like 30 bucks. Big deal it's still less than $1000.00 for a screaming dual single core Xeon box, that can handle upto 16GB of ram compared to the max 2GB on my old iMac. BAH! I swear I wasn't going to bash Apple but just thinking about all that money I spent for that iMac seems insane. Never again Apple, never again.

Over a year,,,

2009-11-12T16:08:00.000-08:00

So here I am typing away on Windows 7 Pro, yup I sure am, and you ask "where is that little pretty iMac"? SOLD baby! I'm a PC now! And a darn tooten happy one at that. I spent so long trying to find the perfect OS and played the Ubuntu, OS X, Windows musical chair game which was mostly just the OS X chair for the last 3 years. Of course I do support all 3 OS's with my job but I have finally made the switch back to Microsoft and couldn't be happier. I missed iPhoto and found a better replacement Picasa 3 from google. I used to love Safari and it's been replaced by the good ole Fire Fox, and of course Quick Silver but then sure enough I found Launchy. So what does it matter at the end of the day?

Well it comes down to simplicity and ease of use duh! With Windows Media Center I can stream all our Photos, Music, and Videos right to the TV through our Xbox 360 and with the new feature of Groups I can share everything right across the network from one computer to the next, and the printer too! Never had it easier, as it was always a pain going from PC to Mac and back. So do yourself a favor and give Windows 7 a try. I can't say I agree with the pricing model, or the home, pro, ultimate as OS X has it down with one to rule them all, but by God Windows works this time around. So hey Microsoft, Good Job.

I am Joey Troy and I am a PC.

Farewell Eclipse Aviation and Farewell Microsoft?!?

2008-06-29T05:07:00.000-07:00

Long and behold my last day working with Eclipse Aviation was June 27th the same day Bill Gates also retired from Microsoft? Is it possible me and Bill where scheming this together? I don't believe so as I don't have a work relationship with Bill directly, however I have meet and worked with staff from Microsoft while working at Eclipse Aviation. Also Bill has funded Eclipse Aviation at one time as Vern Raburn and Bill Gates once worked together. Anyways after checking out gizmodo this morning I just realized that Bill had left Microsoft on Friday. I suppose working in a Windows shop I should have known that but I was to busy saying my goodbyes and and also tying up loose ends to really care about what Bill was doing. Anyways just thought I would post about the weirdness of both Bill and me leaving our jobs on the same day, what a coincidence?!?

Presidential Election

2008-01-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

So here I find myself posting on the Presidential Election for 2008. However I will not be telling you who to vote for, our if you should even vote. This post is simply a means for people like myself that may have missed information along the way and or debates you would have liked to have seen. Since I do not own a TiVo and I am not big on keeping up with news, unless of course it's Apple or some other form of Techno Geek Nerd thing, I miss out on it. Anyways to get back to the point at hand I found a useful link that has information on the Presidential Election, along with all the debate videos which you can watch at your leisure.

http://www.youdecide2008.com/

Universal Remote Control

2008-01-23T09:02:00.000-08:00

I have not really been keeping up with the site as I hoped, so I figured it's time to add some useful information. So today's useful information will be on a Universal Remote Control. I am sure many of you are like me, the TV, the Satellite Dish, the XBOX and just a slew of other devices in the living room. So where do we begin to find this perfect Universal Remote Control to control all this stuff? Well a great start is amazon.com. Now if you take a look at amazon.com a URC (Universal Remote Control) can range from .87 cents all the way to $1,499.99 for the Marantz RC9001 Universal Learning IR - WiFi Remote?!?!?!

For $14999.99 that remote better scratch my back, get me a beer and rub my feet! Anyways you need to ask yourself how much are you willing to spend, or maybe the better geek questions is "What is the last (put product name here) I can buy, that will do everything I need it too and most importantly, not break my budget?". Your answer maybe different than mine, however after looking, reading and checking reviews I decided to purchase the One for All URC 8910 Universal Remote Control.

After reading the reviews posted on Amazon I was sold for the cheap low price of $19.95 USD + Shipping. Now once the remote showed up I programmed my TV and XBOX. Of course my Satellite dish didn't work as it's newer than the remote, but based on the reviews with the nifty over the phone programming, I called tech support. Now since I live in MST and the hours for support are 8-5 EST M-F there is now way I could call them in front of the Satellite dish to program, since I am at work. So being the tech geek that I am, I thought I will just record the tone over the phone with my USB headset and play it over my computer speakers when I get home.

Well to save you the time of a long story, the short and easy is tech support will actually send the sound file to your email so you can play the tone over your computer speakers along with the specific programming code for your device. So with my Satellite dish configured and working, I am down to one single remote instead of three. Now before I end this post I want to add an additional note about the URC 8910. On my XBOX remote there is a back button however there is no back button on the URC. Well the URC has a learning feature that learns from your orginal remote. After a little (RTFM) and configuration, I now have my back button functioning on the 8910. So with what, I bid you good luck on the path to a single remote.

A New Start

2008-01-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

Most the people that know me, know I used to blog all the time when blogging was brand new back in early 2001. Well seven years later blogging has overwhelmed the vast pages of the internet. You can find just about anything you want in the blog arena. Anyways my thought was to start blogging again, however instead of posting all about what I am doing and what is going on in my world, I have decided to share personal tips, tricks, and tools which have made my life easier. My hopes is that this will be a gathering place for useful information about computers, life, and other useful stuff.