HP - Decoding HP Notebook Codes

I'll get this out there right up front: I'm not a fan of HP notebooks. Partially, becuase I've had limited exposure and find their model lineup frustratingly complex and partially because what experience I've had has tended to be dealing with reliability/repair issues on the cheap consumer models.

Still, I've finally been able to get a good decoder for the business line:

First number
6 = mid-range business
8 = high end
2 = ultraportable

Second number:
The higher the 2nd number the better generally, it denotes a market segment.

Third number:

year
10 = 2007
30 = 2008

4th number:

0 = Intel
5 = AMD

Final position: code letters:

s = cheap/value edition - lower end screen, no docking connector except USB solutions
b = mainstream business
p = professional business e.g. 6910p, 8510p
w = mobile workstation e.g. 8510w 8710w

If somebody has a better way to decode models, I'm all ears.

LG 70 HDTV/Monitor

LCD prices for all types of panels have been contracting recently, but I'm very impressed with how much you can get for so little nowadays. I went shopping for a presentation display for work and brought an LG LG70 42" TV/Display. This is still a somewhat cost-reduced model when compared with flagship-style Sony products, but for $1099, I got a 42" 1080P screen that works flawlessly when hooked up to a computer via VGA. The TV detected the input immediately and asked if I wanted to "enjoy" this new connection now. The screen was set up immediately, correctly, and absolutely no waves, jaggies, dead/stuck pixels or "snow" were evident when using VGA. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn it was a digital signal.

My only beef is the dark, sparkly red stripe around the outside of the unit. It hides all of the buttons except for power and frankly looks a bit too "boy racer."

All in all, I'm very impressed at what's out there now for so little. If only I had the money for one of my own... it would make a kicking monitor.

Apple: In praise of XQuartz

As with many things Apple, The Jobs and crew like to bless a lot of common projects before distributing versions on the Mac. Recently, however, I came across some problems with the Apple distribution of X11 (an optional component on the OS disk) on 10.5.4. When launched, the App would appear in the dock, then disappear, then reappear again a few times. Checking the running processes, it started then entered a zombie state almost immediately-- before any logs get written.

The first system was a fairly modern MacBook Pro, but had a user profile that was migrated from a PPC Powerbook. Thinking this may be the problem, I uninstalled and then reinstalled X11 to no avail from the OS disk. I stepped through all kinds of diagnosis, running updates, clearing caches, checking all the config and shell profile files with no luck. I finally stumbled on a suggestion to try the XQuartz version of X11. Apple uses the XQuartz project as a basis for building their X11 distribution, but apparently don't do a good job all the time. The XQuartz version dropped right in and works great. The only downdside was that it requires a logoff.

The problem occurred the very next day for me on a PPC Mac running 10.5.4, so the problem may be something in the OS or configs we use. It doesn't appear to be platform-based. The same fix worked like a charm.

As some further notes, Apple may overwrite X11 with their point-releases of their OS, so reinstallation may be necessary at a later date. The X11 version, however, was last changed at 10.5.2, and was unchanged with the 10.5.3 and 10.5.4 releases.

Linux - Linuxcommand.org

Just a quickie-- There are tons of Linux newbie guides on the 'net, but I found one that I like. The pages at linuxcommand.org show you not only the 'right' way to do things (starting with command line, pretty much distro-agnostic), but guide you on what you should know without a *nix basis.