PS3 and/or XBox 360 Emulator: Part 2

New fact: The PS3 doesn't necessarily use every processor so computers might be able to handle more than we expected

Anyway, conversion to a different processors machine code would be the best option (because obviously TIME and SPACE isn't enough when running conditionals, which are a common solution to emulators.) For example, one would convert 01 in an Intel processor to it's equivalent in a PPC processor. Thus, it would be readable on a PPC processor. Ofcourse, the only problem is that not every processor has equivalent commands. So, the program would have to be dynamic enough that it could develop code that would use the most low-level commands of each processor to recreate/emulate the other commands. It could watch the commands virtually and then run if else statements using a map algorithm to find the "path" that emulates the initial command.

This should be FUN, because times are changing! Software is going to have to become more efficient, or those 500 GHz and theoretical 1 THz processor could just come out.

I learned something new about emulators...the hard way

I was trying to emulate a processor from the mid-1990's. Unfortunately, I dove write into the code with minimal studying of documentation, and no overall plan. I must warn you that there are a few things that you really want to do beforehand.

1) Learn about the processor (registers, accumulators and all)

2) Learn about the each machine code

3) Write the functions for each piece of opcode, then write the case statements that test which piece of machine code is going through

NUMBER THREE MAKES IT SO MUCH EASIER.

PS3 and/or XBox 360 Emulator

Sorry, for all of you who thought this page you just found on google would supply you with an emulator of a system from the seventh generation.

I know it can be done and it can be completed in less than 10-20 years. Everyone complains that graphics and CPU's aren't efficient enough. I am aware especially since the CPU's in computers are running heavier OS's and such.

The question I propose is: does a emulator user really, truly need an emulator that runs graphics perfectly? Well, NO unless they need it at which point they would want great graphics and buy a great card that can handle it. So, my solution to the graphics card problems with the more advanced emulators would be to just make it lossy (like a JPEG.) We don't need all of the data for the game to continue. It can be slightly pixelated. Again, if that was not good enough people that need it to be better would end up going out of their way to buy that new card.

I do not have a general solution to the fact that the PS3 has 8 cores. Ofcourse, what one can do is use less cores because I am sure that it requires those eight cores to be amazing but maybe it will work fine with just 4.

Nevertheless, I propose what I think is the best solution. Convert the low-level assembly code in the game file or ROM into assembly code for your specific processor. Everything would process well...i think. The approach could be like that of Windows Emulator(Wine.)

What do you think?

Windows 7 Review: Part 1 -- The Bootup

Windows 7!!!

Windows 7 definitely got better -- there is no doubt in my mind -- however, it still is not the best OS and has some serious flaws.

I would like to begin with the boot process. It is a bit quicker, but not too much. Also, there is a problem with dual booting sometimes because if you shut down incorrectly and you run a different operating system before doing the protocol "Start WINDOWS normally" any mounting of the drive could erase the drive/partition.

Additionally, I noticed that the system does not utilize multiple cores initially, unless preset by the hardware manufacturer. I figured this out through msconfig, which smoothly leads into my next point. The computer has never booted faster than 22 seconds and tends to rarely even get that fast It is safer to say it boots at around 28-50 seconds. The login, then, takes 20-30 seconds. Adjusting settings in msconfig does not actually, noticeably, speed up your boot.

Lastly, the part I found most amazing about the boot, because everything else had minimal performance increase, was the new animated logo.

In sum, the boot really isn't anything special.

Next, week I will talk about the login and the succeeding post will be about the Desktop environment (specifically the speed increase with the Aero theme.)

Security Idea -- Which also helps speed up a OS X (on a flash drive) with limited space

NOTE: This has yet to be tested

First, some people are capable of using terminal to tell the Virtual RAM to put itself on a secondary HDD, however I found an alternative.

You will set up a new drive. Then make an alias for all of the files in the first HDD. Then, move the kernel from the initial drive to the new one along with all of the alias'. Then, bless your secondary disk so that it can boot. (Install a bootloader, etc.) The computer thinks that the initial disk is the main drive so it throws all of the Virtual RAM there. Now, by making the alias's you removed all of the extra space which vastly increases the amount of space you have for Virtual RAM.

Now, if you do this on an HDD it will require the flash drive to boot. You get a security and speed benefit although not simultaneously.

Snow Leopard Hackintosh On A Flash Drive

I have been very busy recently so I won't make this tutorial just yet. It will show up in a later post.

Security Recommendations

On your computer turn on all encryption algorithms and firewalls. Then, make a separate account the administrator account. Finally, lock all the folders and files in your home folder.

All of that makes it hard for a hacker or virus to run a shell script to remove files. Their only other option is to do something with visual dialogs which also slows down or completely halts what they can do.

DarWINE

DarWINE is a windows emulator for Mac OS X. (The name is clever because it says Darwin like the Mac OS X kernel).

Anyway, I had tried Crossover which was also a windows emulator but it didn't work that well. DarWINE has worked with every application that I have tried including Firefox, Grahpical Analysis 3.4, and Google Chrome.

So, AFAIK DarWINE sets up folders that act like the C drive and the program files folder. Then, since Windows program are x11 based, the X11 terminal like app runs that virtual folder that DarWINE set up.

THE END.

Chrome Your Algorithmic Inefficiencies Disappoint Me

What is this?! Chrome has three processes running named "Chrome Helper" This doesn't seem good for my RAM! I hope they make this more efficient or at least builds the chrome program to delete any older Chrome Helper processes. Well, I will file a bug report!

Little reversing algorithm (non-recursive)

I will make a recursive algorithm for reversing later. I wrote this in applescript because it will be easier to follow since it is highly English-based.

tell application "Finder"

set answer to ""

display dialog "Input:" default answer ""

set userInput to text returned of result

set counter to count of userInput

repeat while counter is not equal to 0

set answer to answer & item counter of userInput

set counter to counter - 1

end repeat

display dialog answer

end tell

Too many...Finder windows?

The other day I had about 200 finder windows open. It was slowing down the system to the point where I could not interact with Finder; everything else worked well though. This is why I recommend a backup file navigational program such as Path Finder. Anyhow I had to find a way to close it.

You can do this from property list editor. Open com.apple.finder.plist from ~/Library/Preferences. You can do this in Property List Editor. Just check the box that says BrowserWindowRestoreAttempted. It should be type Boolean.

If you want to do this in terminal just open a terminal window. Type in the following without the quotations: "defaults write com.apple.finder.plist BrowserWindowRestoreAttempted -bool true"

Then, type "killall Finder" without the quotes.

Finder should restart and not reopen those windows. Everything will run normally and the system will handle itself fine after restart.

Customizing View in Window Mac

Here is a quick tip. It will increase your productivity for Customizing the menus in a window.

When you are in an application you can hold down command and rearrange the icons in that window. it helps you organize with out right clicking or going to the View Menu and clicking Customize.

Theory I Have about System 7 relating to the success of Apple (in the long run)

I read recently that System 7 was experiencing major crashes and worst of all they were random. At the time, Steve Wozniak pieced together that it was only happening with computers running IE. If you ever opened it it could crash on you at any time. I figured that it probably was eating up RAM.

What I think is a possibility is that Microsoft new it had the only mainstream browser for Mac. The others held a low market share, iCab and Netscape Navigator. Microsoft might have taken that to their advantage by having IE crash the OS by maybe a physical memory dump which they could have controlled if they made their program not quit one process. That process could have crashed the entire computer at any time making it hard to determine that the cause was IE. Anyway, long time users of Mac's said these Macs are bad now and we should go to PC. So, they left Mac when Mac was dominating the market for Personal, Educational and Business computers.

I must say that if Microsoft did that then they are terrible people, at least at the time. However, there are pro's and con's. Microsoft did "steal" thew market share almost causing apple to go out of business. However, Apple thought it was the virus invulnerable, secure and strong OS that was the problem so it caused them to make a new OS. This in turn resulted in OS 8 and OS 9 which originated from NeXTSTEP which was virtually the predecessor to OS X.

In the end, Apple could have gone out of business but since they didn't and their market share is now climbing Microsoft actually did Apple a favor because it helped them form the best OS in the world (Mac OS X).

iTunes 9 Home Sharing Quick Tutorial

Just a quick tutorial.

Authorize all of the computers on your network by going to the Store Menu and clicking Authorize Computer.

Then, on both computers, go to the Advanced Menu and choose "Turn on Home Sharing".

Finally, connect both computers to the Wi-Fi and within seconds you will be able to see the computer that you are sharing from. At that point you will be able to transfer songs, applications, and videos between the computers WIRELESSLY!!!

Difference between Shift-Click and Command-Click

In OSX you can shift click and command click. That allows you to select multiple items that aren't right next to each other. The types of clicks do the same thing in Icon View but in every other view they have a different function. It wasn't included in Icon View because it would take a rather large learning curve.

So in, Grid, List and Cover Flow View Command-Click selects multiple separates files. Shift-Click selects all the files in between the file you selected first and the one you selected second.

This is quite helpful to know so that you don't waste time dragging the cursor while clicking to select everything in a list. Just scroll to the top and shift-click.

I hope this helps you boost your productivity.

Netbooks

I think netbooks are great, given they are set up properly and by properly I mean the following.

1. They have 3g network capabilities along with Wi-fi and Bluetooth, etc.

2. A greater than 7 hour battery life.

3. At least a 9 inch screen

4. A camera and microphone

5. Two USB ports

6. Ethernet Port

7. Headphone Jack

8. Some sort of video output whether it be DVI or VGA.

Then, when at home, you should be able to connect an external bluetooth mouse and keyboard, connect a larger monitor and close the lid.

This just optimizes it for good use in any environment: on the run or at home.

Favorite Key of the Week

Escape Key

Migration Assistant vs. Easy File Transfer Wizard

The other day I had to transfer my entire computer from Leopard to Snow Leopard (all settings, files, user accounts and applications.) It was easy though because all I had to do was connect my old computer and click transfer. Migration Assistant doesn't have a huge learning curve while giving you the ability to customize exactly what you want to copy. On top of that is gives you more options and is much more intuitive than Windows Easy File Transfer Wizard.

I had the chance to test out the Windows Easy File Transfer Wizard when moving my XP stuff to Win 7. Unfortunately, it required you to first ask whether or not this was the first computer or the computer to be transferred to. Then, it made customization hard. Finally, you had to save the file like some XML file or RDP file. It wasn't a simple transfer from this computer to another. After going through a comparatively tedious process just to get it onto a flash drive or HDD you had to move the flash drive or HDD to the other computer and go through that process again. What was worse was that it requires you to get a big flash drive or a big hard drive or partition but that causes too much of a hassle.

In sum, Apple Migration Assistant prevailed over Windows Easy File Transfer Wizard.

Ejecting a Disk that won't eject -- MacBook

There are two things to do in this situation.

There are two hard ways and one easy thing.

The two hard ways are using a paperclip or terminal. You can use Terminal to quit any processes that are using your disk which replicates a system restart allowing your disk to eject. On the other hand you could just stick a paperclip into the proper part of a disk drive but why not do the easy way first?

On startup hold down the mouse button or the trackpad when you hear the sound play until the disk comes out. This is generally no longer than 15 seconds.

So, next time your disk drive won't eject restart and hold down the mouse button.

Snow Leopard Upgrade

I installed Snow Leopard the other day and since Leopard was my first Mac OS I didn't know how things would go. I expected to back up my files by copying them to a flash drive or external hard drive. Then, install Snow Leopard and manually put back all of those files. However, after researching a bit I found the easiest way to do it and it took an hour total (you would hear a 15 minute install but you'll understand my situation in a minute)

I disabled File Vault on all my user accounts (I will explain in the next paragraph). I made another partition(200GB). Then, I installed Snow Leopard on that partition. It took <27 minutes but I do have a large hard drive and everything is slower when you write and read on the same hard drive. Generally, twice as long in my experience. So my time makes sense. Also, many of my friends had had ≤15 minutes. Then, I used Migration Assistant to copy everything from my old leopard partition which took about thirty minutes. Then, I turned on Filevault and a few other tweaks.

One of the tweaks was that I had to use Dock Library again. Pretty much anything that involves different themes has to be re-done but the program and files will be there. Like I said before I had to turn off File Vault on my leopard accounts. This is because with File Vault on you can't copy user accounts with Migration Assistant.

Using a secondary monitor as a primary monitor on MBP with lid closed

This was tested on a MBP but probably will work on the other models.

First, download InsomniaX. On installation there will be a checkbox that says "Anonymous Reports" or something along those lines; uncheck it if you don't want the people who created InsomniaX to get reports on your system.

Next, start InsomniaX. An item will appear at the top right with the rest of the menu extras. CAUTION: DON'T click Enable Hibernation because this can cause serious problems and even break your computer if you have "Secure Virtual Memory" checked off in the security settings in System Preferences. Just click Enable Insomnia.

Your menu extras should look like the following. InsomniaX is the blue one. Processor is the one with the square and a number at the bottom right. Displays is the one that looks like a display. It doesn't matter what order they come in.

Then, download Fan Control. This will show up in System Preferences. Click on that and set the "Base Speed" slider all the way to the right so that it says 3500 RPM.

After, go to Finder and click Command + Shift + G and type in "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras". Select and Double-Click the item named Displays.menu and the item named CPU.menu.

Connect your external keyboard, mouse and monitor. Then click the Displays menu which popped up at the top right and click Turn on Mirror Displays. The next part reduces what could become a SERIOUS problem (overheating). It will reduce performance but the overheating could destroy your screen and/or the entire computer. Go to the CPU menu and click "Single CPU". Now turn the brightness all the way down on the MBP so that the screen goes black. Next, turn keyboard illumination down all the way so it is not lit up at all.

Close the display on the MBP and begin.

To go back to normal settings open the MBP and turn the display back on. Go to the CPU menu at the top right and set it back to "Dual CPU." Hold down command and click the CPU menu item and drag it off. Hold down command and drag off the Displays Menu. In the InsomniaX menu click Disable Insomnia and then click quit at the bottom of that menu. After, go to System Preferences --> Fan Control. Lower the "Base Speed" slider to 2300 RPM.

NOTE: I will be making a program that will quickly do this entire set up for you. I will include the download link when it is finished.

Samsung Blast Review

The Samsung Blast has a nice form factor(slide), is very thin and looks nice.

On the inside the Samsung Blast has 11 MB of RAM (disappointing when you look at the smart phone capabilities of 256 MB but not bad.) The RAM is sufficient though because I have never had any application crash on me. When compared to phones like the EN V and other Samsung phones the processor seems pretty slow but only really noticeable when starting the camera application otherwise it doesn't seem slow at all. Another hardware feature is the 1.3 Megapixel camera. I think that a theme of this phone is give you only what you need. But then again whenever it came out it could have been really advanced.

Call quality is pretty good and volume is nice. Unfortunately, it is hard to talk when slid closed because it blocks the microphone. Anyway, you can navigate the entire phone with it closed without opening until text-input is required. For the outer key input devices it has a shortcut key and quick access to the web. When it comes to the keyboard this phone is great. The keys are about the size of that of a Blackberry and it is QWERTY. However, it has T9 text prediction to help with typing because there are two characters per key. Nonetheless, I enjoyed texting, e-mailing and browsing the web on it.

The texting setup was great except for the fact that it was not organized as if it were a chat, like the iPhone.

E-mailing had a nice interface but was a little slow because it is on an EDGE network.

Web browsing was as good as any other phone of the kind. Of course it had limitation but it was good that the screen was a little larger then normal. Overall it was a fully-functioning browser. This seems like a pretty good office suite beside the fact that there were no word processing applications.

Unfortunately, many SD cards were not recognized by the Samsung Blast. But, I didn't have a problem because transferring music through bluetooth was VERY easy.

For battery life, my phone died at about 5 o'clock. It lasted from 7 in the morning to 5 o'clock.

Lastly, voice control was ok but not good enough to the point where it is actually worth using.

Overall, this was a nice phone and satisfied my technological needs. If it had an office suite and a better battery I might never have upgraded. (Hopefully, by Saturday I will have a review of the Samsung SGH-T439 and the iPhone)

4G Network Thoughts

So, I will start off with some of the objectives of a fourth generation cellular network. It pretty much is going to accommodate the Quality of Service rate requirements set by MMS, VC, Mobile TV, HDTV content and DVB on an Anywhere, Anytime basis. This means that it pretty much will allow those technologies to work at their best at an location and an time of day.

Unlike other technologies like smart phones the 4G has standards, they are:
1. Spectral Efficiency: the information rate transmitted over a bandwidth and how efficiently that is used over whatever protocol. HTTP, FTP etc.
2. High network capacity
3. If a cell user is moving at high speeds relative to the cell tower they will receive 100 Mbit/s faster then the lousy 7.2 on 3g. Also if they user is still they will get 1 Gbit/s.
4. A smooth data rate (no packets dropped, etc) at 100Mbit/s from any two points in the world. a VC with QoS from anywhere.
5. Smooth handoff between heterogeneous networks, no delay when leaving a zone to access another carriers tower
6. Seamless connectivity
7. The high QoS for next generation MM Support (stated in the first paragraph)
8. Interoperability with existing wireless standards
9. An all IP, packet switched network

Some possible problems that I see:
Besides us not having the preparation for an Anywhere network would be Battery and RAM necessary to operate big downloads. With these abilities battery will be used in huge amounts. So, batteries need improvement unless we could get Tesla's free wireless electricity (somewhat implemented in the Palm Pre.) Second, even though people don't make more then 400 MB's on average. You won't actually get that speed because to be written to the storage it takes some time and on a cell phone the most RAM I have seen is 256 - 300 MB's of RAM. So, assume that you have 70% usable space you still have to write to RAM, to storage, add new data to the RAM. What I am trying to say the network won't be that hard to make it's the cell phone hardware that is the problem. Now, laptops on the other hand or more precisely, netbooks could use this technology really well. Especially for speedy cloud computing.

Two Ideas about the iPhone; One about jailbreaking

Number One:
I think that facebook makes money from Mobile Texts. It might set up a deal with the service provider and say that it will help people go over their texting limit and make the company more money. This money of course supports facebook's servers and programmers, etc. Without that it would slowly "fall" off the web. So if push notifications were integrated into Facebook for iPhone they would lose a lot of people that would use mobile texts. iPhone makes up something between 25 and 50 % of Att users. That would be huge losses and that could havev prevented them from purchasing friend feed and losing that great technology.

Number Two:
There haven't been major upgrades in batteries for a while. So there is a limit to what we can do hardware wise. The only thing to do is use software "hacks". FOr example, if processors never sped up there are only a few software ways to artificially speed it up. RIght? well, cell phone's have to frequently (on a second long basis) contact with tower which EATS your battery. So to save battery life iPhone can only go so far because it is limited by hardware. So it communicates with tower less frequently to save battery. That is why it takes an extra second to connect when calling. So I see a correlation between battery life limitations and the phone service on the iPhone. They inverse.

Jailbreaking Idea:
To make the iPhone a fully functioning computer. It would require a jailbreak so you can edit the keyboard, multitask, have a file navigation system and then allow a little programming for some add-ons (add-ons would be limited based on how much power can go through the phone at once.)

Some Web Stuff

I have composed a list of web browsers and search engines in that order. can you guys look over it and see if something was improperly ranked.

Favorite Web Browsers:
1. Safari 4 (simple and it has all the features necessary with 3 add-ons)
2. Firefox (Second only because it quickly becomes bloatware with one afternoon at addons.mozilla.com and it starts at 45 Mb's 3 times larger than the other browsers)
3. Opera (lacks add-ons and has a harder to use interface which doesn't maintain certain features depending on what OS you are running, does include mouse gestures but every other browser supports mouse gestures with add-ons)
4.Google Chrome (fast rendering but it still lacks many important features but it will get there; I can see it tieing with or surpassing Safari 4 in the next year)
5. Internet Explorer (bloatware with a messy interface and good anti-phishing security)
6. SeaMonkey and Camino(simple UI but very few add-ons, not bloatware, poor-ok security)

Search Engines
1. Google - the new version is intuitive and actually finds what you need (I don't want to go into it now but it works well)
2. Clusty - helps pinpoint your search with clustering
3. MetaCrawler - only when Google and Yahoo work well it comes first
4. Yahoo - helps pinpoint your search with selecting related words and all but not as good as clusty
4. Bing and Ask - small list of related searches but not that intuitive