Your credit card number belongs to us!
I bought ViewSonic VA912b 19" LCD monitor last Saturday at Low Yat Plaza after calculating the possibility that my three-year old 15" CRT monitor wouldn't last a life time. The old one starts to display invisible streaks across the screen. I considered the LCD model after taking into account the price and the features it had. It is especially when my graphic card has one DVI port which it will be great for LCD monitors with DVI support. At the same time, I bought 512MB PC133 SDRAM so my beloved PC would have a total of 1GB RAM memory on it.
I decided to pay my purchases with my credit card since I was lazy to line up at ATM booth to draw a large sum of money from my account into my deep pocket (I've just got a salary increase and it was back-dated since January this year....Thank you, God!). I thought it would be safe to seal a credit card transaction. But, I was angry to see the guy keyed in my credit card number, all in entire, into my invoice and it was immediately stored in his company's database plainly naked!
continued
So, I asked him to removed it from my invoice, the carbon copy of my invoice and the database. He said it was a normal practice when in fact it wasn't! The company needs to get my consent first as the credit card number is my personal thing nobody can simply own or have it. Even, it is utterly inappropriate as he could completely see all the digits of my credit card number and I would not be happy to trust him blindly, considering that he had his eyes on my CCV number like he was trying to memorize it as well!
Therefore, for those who want to use their credit cards to purchase at Low Yat Plaza or at any other place, please look at what the merchants are doing with your credit card information!
Getting laid by Xgl/Compiz
My desktop wobbles!
Copyright © 2006 Ee. All rights reserved
I was introduced to Xgl/Compiz quite recently when I saw it on the Internet. Setting up Xgl/Campiz was straight-forward. I would be able to get it working straight away after buying a new NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 256MB to replace my old rusty AGP 8X graphics card. But before that, I had to set up my NVIDIA card driver properly first. I opted for latest NVIDIA driver and set up nvidia-settings.
And, Xgl/Compiz was brilliantly executed on my Ubuntu Dapper Drake. There were several options available to set up Xgl/Compiz (you can find the instructions in here). But, the next time I tried to log into another Xgl session, I was bogged by this GLX problem:
X Error of failed request: BadLength (poly request too large or internal Xlib length error)
Major opcode of failed request: 142 (GLX)
Minor opcode of failed request: 1 (X_GLXRender)
Serial number of failed request: 98
Current serial number in output stream: 99
Oh my! What was that?
continued
I searched for the solution in Google and I found out it was a famous problem hitting Xgl/Compiz users. I tried all the solutions but I could not get hanged with it anymore. I went on reading some articles about Xgl/Compiz architecture. The articles said that NVIDIA had implemented its own indirect rendering with its binaries instead of open-source OpengGL MESA library. And, I realized that I had not installed nvidia-glx yet which it contained MESA GLX component needed by Xgl. It was evident that NVIDIA's nvidia-settings would not work with MESA-based nvidia-glx.
Once, I set up nvidia-glx immediately. Voila! I get my beloved Xgl/Compiz session back!
Microsoft Sites Down?
As for today since this post is written, all Microsoft sites are down. Hmm.
Cool Linksys WAG354G Wireless-G ADSL Home Gateway
Certification ID: W003478
Copyright © 2006 Wi-Fi.org. All rights reservedThis is my first entry in 2006!
I've just recently bought Linksys WAG354G Wireless-G ADSL Home Gateway (WAG354G-SG) from PC Zone (Lot 2-42, 2nd. Floor, Low Yat Plaza, Kuala Lumpur) on the 4th of July 2006. After googling all way through Internet to look for a good all-in-one ADSL Internet gateway, I've finally decided to go for this model.
Below is the summary of my choice for the model:
- ADSL modem + Router (LAN & Wireless) + Internet Gateway
- Future Wireless-G support (up to 25Mbps; no Wireless-N support yet)
- Compatible with TM ADSL Streamyx G.dmt scheme
- Support WPA-Personal™ Pre-Shared Key (PSK)
- Easy configuration (damn simple and straight-forward)
- Simple design (with enough ventilation system)
- Quite cheap among all-in-one models (you can get around RM330-RM370; I paid RM360 for it)
WAG354G is still a new model at Low Yat Plaza, and there is only one shop that sells it (yeah, yeah).
I consider WAG354G a reliable all-in-one internet gateway to connect to ADSL TM Streamyx broadband connection from my home. Even, at this time, I am testing it as a wireless router at my office besides the existing office's local LAN network.
continued
If you want to configure WAG354G as a wireless router in an existing local LAN network, you need to do the following (assuming that the default WAG354G gateway is 192.168.1.1 and its DHCP server is enabled; my existing LAN gateway is at 10.12.28.1):
- Connect any empty LAN port on WAG354G to your LAN network with a LAN cable (non-loopback)
- Connect your PC to any empty LAN port on WAG354G with another LAN cable (non-loopback)
- Open TCP/IP configuration (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X)
- Add 192.168.1.1 to the list of gateways and set it as Metric 1
- Reconfigure other gateways to use Metric 1
- Add static IP 192.168.1.X to the list of IP addresses (X must be a valid value listed in your WAG354G's DHCP server setting)
- Open WAG354G's setting (default http://192.168.1.1)
- Enable RIP routing (optional) under WAG354G's advanced routing setting
- Use "Obtain an IP Address Automatically" under WAG354G's basic setup setting
- Test connection to your existing LAN router from any PC in your local LAN network (use command-line "ping 10.12.28.1"); it should be 100% successful
- Test connection to WAG354G router from any PC in your local LAN network (use command-line "ping 192.168.1.1"); it should be 100% successful
- Do Steps 3 to 6 to configure other PCs in your local LAN network, especially the ones with WI-FI capability
- Add the same DNS settings like the DNS settings of your LAN local network into your PC's TCP/IP configuration
I've upgraded WAG354G firmware from 1.01.03 to 1.01.05. And, it seems to work fine at this moment. Next, I will test Wi-Fi certified WAG354G access points (AP) with Wi-Fi capable notebooks.
Update: My friend has tested my configuration with his notebook and it works flawlessly! He can surf the Internet via LAN local network.
MyKad's story
The famous MyKad's face
Copyright © 2005 JPN. All rights reserved
I've just heard on the radio news today that if a Malaysian citizen losts his or her MyKad (smartcard-based Malaysian Identity Card), under no prejudice, he or she has to pay RM150 (some guys mention RM200!) to get a replacement. I think that is absurd! I've thought Malaysian government is citizen-friendly, but it is on the contrary. Before that, please check this JPN link for replacing a lost MyKad.
My officemate told me a real-life story of an old man in his golden age was trying to replace his MyKad due to wrong information. But, the attending officer instructed him that he needs to pay RM50 due to faulty chip inside his MyKad. Again, this is absurd! How on earth this old man knows how to access the chip inside the card and render his chip useless? I believe he has no slight idea on how to use it! There was a young man behind this old man—after hearing this, had came to his defense. He shared the same belief as mine. But, the officer tried to reiterate that all MyKads have a valid warranty of six months! (For comparison, my smartcard-based DIGI SIM Phone Card that I use daily has lasted for more than two years already!)
continued
So, what? We have to carry our MyKad for the rest of our lives as accorded by law. Why should we be penalized if the chip inside will become useless after six months and we have to bear the cost? In fact, we have no slight idea either the chip is damaged by itself (despite we have not benefited anything at all from it) or it is of low quality?
Once, there was an issue of MyKad card readers were not being provided to all government authorities. The funny thing is that MyKad is promoted as "Government Multipurpose Card." So, what on earth has government forgotten to provide its instruments their own card readers when conducting checks on citizen's identity?
Do we have to be "kere" (Indonesian word means beggar or low-class citizen) in our own country? I think the government should think again about these issues and make sure public interest is uphold first above anything. About the old man: he was told to meet the top officer, as the young man becamed so agitated to hear this bullshit. I am sure I will be like him, though!
Well, I want to wish all Muslim friends Happy Raya Aidilfitri and my friends of Hindu faith Happy Deepavali.
Goal!
The feeling of excitement when you get what you want so much!
Copyright © 2005 Buena Vista International / Goal Ltd. All rights reserved
It's so obvious about what I am going to talk about today. Yesterday, I watched a sneak preview of Goal! by myself at the Mines. That was after trying so hard to persuade a friend to come and join me for the movie. But, what the heck, I could not reach my goal here…
I highly recommend the movie. Believe me, you will not regret a single bit paying some money for it!
UPDATE
I've heard that the movie will be made into a trilogy, of which some footages will be taken during World Cup 2006 in Germany. Oh my!
