ReadersZone

Today, I was going through my personal archive of technology magazines and blogs, to find out the best baby (hardware in geek’s lingo) for money, for my friend and owner of this blog. After searching for a while, I was able to make the list of A-things available in the market, that can help one do the basic computing tasks, and casual gaming with the ease. Soon enough, this idea struck to my mind, to share the same information with everyone, so that no one spend their money foolishly and end up with an idiot box instead of PC.

So, I started making out what are the general requirements of a beginner programmer, or for your grand-dad, or your mom, for a PC. I figured out that the basic work that everyone does is, watching movies or listening songs. Apart from that, maintaining tasks list, viewing photos, keeping documents, surfing are other few basic activities. A beginner programmer also needs to use Oracle 9i, or Visual Studio, or some JDK on their system. These programming requirements seems heavy and costly. But, after going through the requirement specifications of these development kits, I figured out that these tasks can be done easily on a basic PC too.

Also, as my friend stated, and every one else look forward to, is that whatever amount of money they are spending on hardware, doesn’t matter much. All that they need is a PC which is jack of all trades. It should be good looking, having better ergonomics (for keyboard, and mouse), and should also play all the latest games. So, obviously budget is supposed to be big enough. Although, if one is not interested in movies, and games, budget can be somewhere around 25000Rs., but since we are looking for a budget-do-all PC, I started off with a budget of 35000Rs., with a margin of 3k. And so, begins my hunt for the list of better hardware, and choosing the best buy. Since, we are on for a budget PC, I never opted for a better performance hardware, but for a best-bang-for-the-money baby.  And this is what I came up with:-

• Monitor :- In case, you are not interested in movies, and gaming, you can opt for any CRT monitor of 15-17inches. I would recommend the LG e700sh - 17inch Flat CRT, which costs around 5,500 bucks. But, in case, you like watching movies, or want to play games too, then an LCD screen is the better option for good picture quality and lesser space requirement. I would personally recommend AOC 917VW - 19 inch LCD priced at 9,500Rs.
• Keyboard And Mouse :- No questions asked. Just one recommendation. Logitech Multimedia Combo priced at 800Rs. is the best choice considering ease of use, and sturdyness. I personally used it for 2 years, for all my gaming needs, before selling it for 500bucks. Seriously, best buy for your money.
• Motherboard :- The most important and most neglected component of your CPU. If you go ahead and buy the best processor and RAM in the market, but using an age-old motherboard, then you have got serious problems. Your best-in-class processor and RAM are of no use, in case motherboard is not good enough. So, save money for it, even if that means cutting costs on other components like RAM, DVD-Writer, etc. The other point to be considered is that we rarely upgrade our motherboard, atleast not more than once in 2 years. So, expansion slots, no. of USB ports and other slots are important aspect. Here, my choice is Asus M2N-MX, which costs a little less than 4,000Rs. Its good, having enough ungrade option to future proof your system, and is really dirt cheap.
• Processor :- So, we came down to the core part of the system. I preferred AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+, which costs 3,600Rs. Intel processors offer a lot better performance at this time, but considering the higher prices, they are a serious NO for any budget PC.
• RAM :- Considering the current scenario, and the upcoming trend, going for 2gb RAM is a good thing, if you can increase your budget by 2,000 Rs. Else, best choice is Kingston 1GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM. This sweet baby costs just under 1500Rs. which is quite a steal for the price, considering its performance.
• Hard Disk Drive :- Considering current memory space requirements of everything from your documents to games or HD movies, this is a major component to check out. Best buy would be Hitachi DeskStar 7K160 SATA, which costs just around 3,200Rs. People used to ask how does a faster hard disk can be useful. It really depends on usage, means the amount of data one used to save or load at regular intervals. The other point is that hard disk serves as a virtual RAM. So, all memory hungry processes like, Visual Studio, demands better hard drive. Although in case of very tight budget, you can opt for another brand or model, which may costs some 500rs less, but will decrease the performance by 10% too.
• DVD - Writer :- A faster DVD reader is a good choice. It rarely increases your budget by 200rs or so, but can dramatically affect the performance, in case of accessing DVDs for gaming or playing movies directly from the DVD. Although, it rarely counts, so to help reduce the budget, one can opt for cheaper ones, but at their own risk. I would personally prefer Samsung SH-203, which costs just 1,200Rs. Quiet cheap huh..
• Sound Card :- This one is simply an optional component. Only recommended in case you want to play games too, or in case you are a serious audiophile. For all others, onboard sound card is the best option. But in case, you love music, or gaming, and looking for a 5.1 speaker set, then Creative SoundBlaster Live 5.1 Card will be the best companion of your beloved speakers. But still its a matter of choice.
• Speaker set :- Now, this depends on a lot of choices. Are you ready to spend some extra cash,  for surround sound, or just happy with a 2.1 speaker set. Both has their own advantages. 5.1 sounds better, but needs better hardware and more space, and a whole lot of painstaking setup time. So, I selected the best buy in both segments. For 2.1 speaker set, one can opt for Altec Lansing BXR1121, which costs 1250Rs. and is a good choice. But if you love gaming, or if you have already opted for a sound card, then go for Altec Lansing VS3251 which is priced at 4,300Rs. Again a matter of choice.
• PC Case :- An equally important part of a good PC. If your system is running at 60+degrees, then you have got serious cooling issues to deal with. Also, performance will drop too, and chances are you may end up, harming other computer parts. Risking critical parts of your system for just some 500 bucks is non-sense. So, opt for one which provides better cooling options. Else you may have to look for aftermarket cooling solution to bring down the temperature below 50degrees. Zebronics Lava with 450watts power supply, is highly recommended.
• Graphics Card :- Kindly go for it. Although you can give it a miss, in case you are planning to stick with onboard GPU. But a drop in performance is obvious, and is much of an impact in case of watching movies. I would say, spend 2,000 odd bucks, and buy atleast the cheapest one, but go for it. Its worth every penny. For those who loves to do some casual gaming too, here is a choice. If you have opted for 17inch monitor, or low settings didn’t bother you much, then, you can opt for Sparkle GeForce 8400GS, which costs just 2400Rs. And the best thing is it can easily run Windows Vista with Aero and other effects turned on. But, sadly it gives just 5fps, in Crysis, and 9fps in NFS Prostreet, for medium settings and 1240p resolution. Although it can manage playable frame rates in lower resolution. But still its advisable to go for slightly bigger budget, in case you want the latest of the gaming action. I would recommend Asus EAH2600XT which is priced at 5600Rs, and atleast 2.5 times faster then the Sparkle GeForce 8400GS. It manages to get 26 FPS for Crysis with medium settings at 1240p resolution, which is best one can get for this price range.

OK, so the list is done. Well, it is just 1k more than our budget. But as I said, if you opt for a tighter budget, the optional recommendations are also listed. And in case, you have way too tight budget, or you need it just for surfing and maintaining tasks list, and nothing else, then try Asus Eee PC, which is really a steal for the money.

Finally, I hope that this post would have helped you searching for the best components. If yes, then do comment, else kindly tell me what else you need to know. Also, if you can find something, that’s better than the listed items, then do tell me too.

Share

Well, fairly speaking its not an idea that struck my mind. I was surfing through archive of one of the programmer’s blog, and found this post. According to that post,

It’s unbelievable to me that a company would pay a developer $60-$100k in salary, yet cripple him or her with terrible working conditions and crusty hand-me-down hardware. This makes no business sense whatsoever. And yet I see it all the time. It’s shocking how many companies still don’t provide software developers with the essential things they need to succeed.

So true. I personally calculated myself, the cost of increasing infrastructure quality (read, better system, and better facilities) can be recovered in just a month, provided that it efficiently increases one’s productivity by atleast 10%. And then, the fact that better infrastructure leads to better state of mind, which means better productivity again. Not just me or other developers think this way, but whole gaming industry is running according to these principles. And no one can deny the fact that it is the fastest growing sector in IT industry.  I know it sounds ridiculous according to the managerial concept that those HR guys learn in their IIM classes. But sometimes you just have to think outta box to make sure you are the leader.

Anyways, to adhere to this bill, is totally a matter of choice of the HR. We can just hope for the same. By the time, we should just make a list of what changes can seriously affect the productivity and hence should be included in this bill.

P.S. - Few of them are my own thoughts and few are from other developers all across the world.

So, here is the list.

• Every programmer shall have a bigger workspace :- Well, easily this is one thing that can radically change the time required to search for a pad or pencil, while you are busy discussing the issues with your clients. It happened to me a lot of times. Dropping the pad, while looking for a whiteboard marker is not something that’s rare.
• Every programmer shall have two monitors :- Although increasing the number of monitors, reduces the amount of free space available on your desk. But it really helps to open multiple windows at times, and thus can save the time used for switching to help window every now and then, and coming back to code window. Also, it helps decreasing the frustration of accidentally closing a window while minimizing it.
• Every programmer should have better PC :- Programmers deserve the rights to work on best in class hardware, as they are the persons using computers for half of their life. And other point is that no one loves to wait for a program to compile or for a application to load, looking at those silly progress bar or status bar.
• Every programmer should have comfortable chair :- I should say I personally prefers bean bag, but if chair is comfortable, that’s good enough. After all, we have to sit on that chair for too long, and I don’t think your brain will work, if you are feeling pain in your arse.
• Every programmer should get enough of coffee and snacks :- Every other day, a programmer works for more than usual time schedule. So, enough of coffee, and snacks can always help him keep going for hours. Oh yeah, if s/he is a smoker, providing enough of smokes can be a good option too.
• Every programmer should get better mouse and keyboard :- At work, I just like most of the programmers, use a sticky keyboard, and a scroll mouse, and I really feel this is an important point for consideration.
• Every programmer deserves his own space :- What if some one keep on nitpicking on your just-a-draft webpage, saying that it doesn’t look cool? No one likes it, right. So, does the programmer. But, sadly managers just don’t understand. They keep on asking you to tell them how much percentage of task you have done to complete the homepage structure of the website. It simply hurts.
• Every programmer should have fast Internet connection :- In case, you don’t have offline help, its very important. I can still remember those days, when I was stuck on some stupid syntax error, and googling for same, took 15 minutes of my time, thanks to that silly 54kbps connection I have got at my desk. Just by increasing the speed to 256kbps, this time could have reduced to 5 minutes. And if you consider the fact that you encounter same situation every hour, that accounts for 15% of your productivity.
• Every programmer should have rights to ask “Why?” :- How many times you have felt as a programmer that something you are working on is not properly justified? That the spacing between two textboxes can be decreased by 10% to make the page look better and to fit more information? I felt it almost every day when working on a enhancements project. And then, you have got no right to ask why you just can’t do it. Is it because, some stupid jerk called Business Analyst didn’t thought of it first. I know it sounds crazy. People who have got no idea about coding, defines the way we should code, and we can’t even argue on that.
• Every programmer should have access to all the documentation, books and Google :- Why does the managers think that being a programmer, you should know every thing about your programming language, and environment used? Why can’t I just use Google to look for an answer, when I am stuck?  And do you know about any manager who have crammed every single management principles,he learnt from the business school?
• Every programmer should be given full right to wear any outfit :- I am never able to understand how can one’s outfit affect his work. One reason is that I have to wear professional outfits for those daily meetings, I may attend. But then, if I am supposed to attend those meetings, why the hell we need those managers for?

So, here is the list of points what developers think, should be included in their rights. I would definitely love to hear about other points that you think, should be a part of this bill. Well, till that time, I am off to file a petition to the programmer’s union about this bill. Oops, i forgot, i don’t even know about any union as such. Do you??? Do you even care about your rights????

Share

Now this is what we call competition. Apple tried to capture the mobile phone market with their innovative multi-touch iPhone. And here it is. iPhone’s competitor is taking shape now. Microsoft and Mitshubishi, are trying to change the way, we interact with computers. Ofcourse, iPhone and Surface has already shown the dustbin to your age old keyboard and mouse.

But still, iPhone users suffers from the problem of fat fingers. Using iPhone’s map feature and keyboard is really not so easy. So, Microsoft and Mitshubishi tried to solve this very issue. And voila, we have got something that’s really cool. Well, Microsoft has given it the name of Lucid Touch, and its still in research phase. But, one can expect it to be out by 2011.

But what exactly this Lucid Touch thing is? Well, its a multi-touch device. So, isn’t an iPhone a multi-touch device. Well, yes it is, but wait, in iPhone, you use screen to touch and navigate. Here, in Lucid Touch, you can use the back of the screen too. When you hold the device in your hand, your fingers will cast a shadow on screen. That means your device will act like if its a psuedo-transparent, just like those shown in Steven Spielberg’s Sci-Fi movie. So, if you have got fat fingers, that’s not an issue anymore. Wow, it sounds cool, rite. But sadly, its a mere prototype, and is way too bulky. So, for the time-being, you can read more about the same, and get a glimpse of the next revolution, on Microsoft Research Site.

   Surely, one thing is true. Microsoft do knows how to stay in the market. Even if Vista was a failure, they have got Surface, and this Lucid Touch, to compensate for the losses.

Share

Today I saw this book in Wipro ISD (that’s what they call a library).  Just by judging from the cover, I was amazed on the writing style, this book has followed. Teaching programming and that too, using games, is quite a noble idea. And in this book of C#, it worked well too. After reading more, I came to know that this is not just a book, but a full series in name “For Absolute Beginner”. Can’t say, how good it feel to learn programming languages, by writing some cool and interesting games. In the end, you can always enjoy your day’s work, playing that same game for hours.

   And yeah, not to forget the sense of achievement, one gets after finishing up writing something useful, instead of stupid “Hello World” programs, and that too, from day one. A must read for every beginner, in programming world, this book also provides you code snippets,  in the CD (which comes with the packaging). All I can say, its a total solution to all those who ever dreaded learning a new language. Although, it is just for beginning purpose, you can’t master the skills just by reading this book. For that, go, grab some professional reading material.

Share

Windows XP, the 6-year-old operating system was set to be taken off of store shelves on June 30th of 2008 and fans of the operating system started sounding off in complaint of the decision. Those fans continue to sing the praises of Windows XP and its Superiority over Windows Vista since it’s launch in January along with numerous lukewarm reviews. To date, approximately 160,000 people have signed an online petition to “Save XP” and want Microsoft to keep selling the operating system until the next version of windows is released, which is currently set for 2010. But finally

Read the rest of this entry…

Share

India’s wait for the popular touch-screen gadget, iPhone, would be over before the year-end. Although the phone is available in gray market for quite a time, but it is not officially launched in India. Till now the preferred way to grab an iPhone in India was to get someone to bring it from USA . But such phones had to be unlocked by selected software’s available online. Unlocking the Apple iPhone without losing call quality has been a matter of hot debate since the time of its global launch. But, the wait for officially available IPhone, seems to end now, after the announcement made on May 06, 2008.

Read the rest of this entry…

Share

Although its always good to buy any software, instead of piracy. No one recommends piracy anyways. But then, Every Vista DVD includes the ability to install any edition of Vista without a product key. When you install without a product key, you get an automatic 30 day evaluation period. So, that’s not a news right. But, then what if, you can use it for more than that, 120 days to be precise. Yeah, that’s true, and ofcourse helpful too. But, then how to do it. That’s why you land in here, right. So here is the solution.

Read the rest of this entry…

Share