Well, I am not an Impulse buyer, but sometimes, some deals and offers are too hard to resists. So, ended up buying some electronics stuff in the last few days, which I kind of wanted to buy at the back of my mind.
- Got a 1 GB RS-MMC card with MMC Adapter - from meritline.com - got it for around $29 including shipping. I can use this card with my Nokia 6600 and also the Canon A610 digital camera.
- Mobile Bluetooth Headset - Got Logitech Mobile Freedom Bluetooth Headset from amazon.com for $27.50 - which is pretty good price. The actual cost advertised by logitech is around $59.99 - Also the reviews on this product is pretty good.
- Got a PNY 1 GB Mini Attaché USB 2.0 Flash Drive for around $20 (no rebates etc) from dell.com. This one yet yet to ship from dell.com.
- Bought a Mobile USB travel charger for iPod - No more PC/Laptop required to charge the Nano! - got this one for around $6!
I dont say that these would be the best ever prices that I would ever get these item. But its always best to buy when good deals are available. The catch is, these deals dont last long!. Good deals expire with a blink of the eye!!!! …….. ….there is always another time, but you need to keep an close eye on the deals available.
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August 4th, 2006 at 02:55pm
The world is getting faster by the day and USB is no exception. All the new USB devices are moving towards USB 2.0. With USB 2.0, the data is transferred at the rate of 480 Mbps (that’s Mega bits per second). Where as the earlier versions i.e., USB 1.1 (and 1.0), transferred data at the rate of mere 12 Mbps. And, 12 Mbps is way too slow.My motherboard at home, ASUS A7N266-VM has support for only USB 1.1. So, around a year back, I decided to go for a PCI to USB card, which would give me USB 2.0 ports. My vendor gave me a PCI to USB card which had a ALi chipset. I installed the card, but I never managed to get USB 2.0 working. No matter what I tried, it acted like USB 1.1. I tried reinstalling the drivers and tried all possible workarounds. But no matter what I did, the ports worked as if they were 1.1 ports. So, whenever I used to plug-in a USB 2.0 device (like my Sandisk Pen drive), windows would warn me that I have plugged in a Hi-speed device to a Low Speed port. :(. In fact, the problem continued after reinstalling windows (after the
ants attack).
Finally, I posted this problem on one of the USB forums. And to my surprise, found that the ALi chipset cards are not very reliable, and are prone to problems!. The folks at the forum suggested that I replace the card with one that has NEC chipset. So, next, called up my vendor, and told him about this problem. Luckily, he offered me a replacement card. This time, it was a Intex PCI to USB card, with 4 (+1 internal) USB 2.0 ports. The Intex card was based on the VIA chipset. My vendor did not have any cards with NEC chipset.
I took this new Intex card home, removed my old card off the PCI slot, and plugged this card in (after clearing up the old drivers etc). Booted the machine. Windows detected the new card correctly (thanks to PnP!), and automatically installed some standard Microsoft drivers. And now…I have USB 2.0 ports. Now the data transfers are blazing fast!
Just to give you and Idea. .. Earlier it used to take around 12 to 14 mins to transfer 1 GB of data from PC to my Sandisk Pen drive using USB 1.1 ports. Now, the same process takes around 1.5 mins!!
Sigh!!
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December 27th, 2005 at 01:58pm
Here is more on my adventures with broadband!
…. As a part of the touchtel package, we get a USB DSL modem on rental basis (Rs. 49 per month, included in the Rs. 700)
Initially, I was given a modem from beetel!…..
It had a beetel logo on it!. The installation went on without any problems…. And I was online in just a couple of mins. Was online for around 10 mins without any issues when the tech guy was around.
That night, I connected, and to my surprise, I got disconnected every 2 to 3 mins !….the connection was not at all stable.
Called up the tech guys again, and told them about the problem. They came down immediately the next day, checked the wiring etc., and finally, found the bug. It was got something to do with some settings on the server side, which was corrected, and after that no more disconnects !
Then started the real fun!…….. Now, I had stable connections without any disconnections!…:) => time to open up shareaza and make full use of my bandwidth :)………..
Started shareaza, and with a couple of mins after running shareaza, I got the blue screen of death on windows XP!. Boooom…….. Did major research on the net, and found that this was to with the modem drivers.
Tried to search for the latest version of the drivers,… and in the process came to know that the modem is actually manufactured by a Japanese company! and actually, its called TERA 100U !!..with a globespanvirata chipset. …the entire site is in Japanese. no english!., but still managed to get the drivers, and found that they are the same version as I had ! Then searched for some generic globespanvirata drivers!,…only to find that the company is taken over by conexant and could not find anything significant at conexant!
Only option left was to get back to tech guys!.. And to my surprise, the tech guy was really helpful and understanding. Without questions, he straight away replaced the modem. This time, a modem manufactured in Delhi!! with a proper conexant chipset. No more blue screen of death!.
Now all P2P programs rock!
Actually, this problem is more noticeable while running any P2P programs. i.e, its got something to do with the way in which these program work ! (may be opening up lot of connections..etc). Infact, I was able to reduce the frequency of the crash by changing the connection settings in shareaza. But could not avoid it altogether. But now, with the other modem, no problems at all. Not seen the blue screen of death since then.
All I can say is, the touchtel customer care is pretty good., and very responsive. Keep it up guys!
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August 18th, 2004 at 01:48pm