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Been busy lately geeking out at home.  First got my Logitech MX Revolution mouse charging problem fixed.  And now I have been playing around with Ubuntu for a few days, trying to run it on the Acer easyStore h340 Home Server which was running my Windows Home Server.  Why? I have been growing uneasiness about saving my files on the Windows Home Server. Here is what has been happening….

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I have been using Microsoft Money for a long time.  I think the first version of Microsoft Money I started using was version 3.0.  Back in the days, I had a choice of Quicken or Money on the Windows platform.  Since I was buying it to help me manage money, I chose the cheaper of the two.

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If you have not seen BumpTop, you should really check it out.  It is an interactive 3D environment, an alternative for your current 2D desktop on your PC.  The new version has multitouch gesture support in Windows 7.  Isn’t that much nicer than a 2D desktop?

You can download a free copy or get the Pro for only US$29.

Visit BumpTop.com for more information.  For Mac and Linux users, you will have to wait.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5371919/bumptop-gets-amazing+looking-multi+touch-on-windows-7?autoplay=true

Have been using the Arras theme by Melvin Lee since I started this blog.

The reason I picked it in the first place was because of the rotating image at the top of the home page.  It is an attractive feature.  Also it has the different style of displaying the blog postings that made it a nice choice for anyone who likes some flexibility in their layout.  The theme is very configurable and easy to work with.

However after using it for a while, I feel that it is quite difficult to find my blog postings.  So that’s why I am trying this new theme, Elegant Grunge by Michael Tyson, and see how it feels.  I know that this is a heavier theme and that I am loading it with more photos on each page.  Hope it is bearable for you all.  Please leave me comments of how you like this theme and if you have any suggestions.

Thanks for visiting :)

You would think that after I got the Acer easyStore Home Server, my files are at least safe.  Well, they are from a hardware point of view, but not from stupidity point of view.

Yesterday, I realized I lost a lot of files: 7 years worth of photos.  The Acer easyStore Home Server did not fail me.  I did.  So here is what happened. Continue reading

Since I acquired the Acer easyStore Home Server, I have been trying to reorganize my digital library within the server.  As the Acer easyStore Home Server came with 2TB of drive space, I quickly added a couple more 1TB drives I used to have with the old homemade Home Server to it to make it a total of 4TB in storage.  After migrating all the files back to it, I was left with only about 0.8TB of free space.  I was faced with a new decision, either deleting old files or add additional storage to the server. Continue reading

Since I got an iMac at home, I have the pleasure of using it with an otherwise Windows only home network.  I used to run only Windows machines because Mac has always been a bit too pricy for me.  But with Windows Vista being a bit of a disappointment and Windows XP was getting to be a bit outdated, late last year I found some courage to switch over to the Apple platform. Continue reading

I did spare some time to test my Home Server again.  It turns out that it is the drive enclosure that was flaky and causes the Home Server to misbehave.  I had a clue which drive enclosure it could be because out of the 3 drive enclosures still connected to the server, 1 does not have the light on.  After exchanging the drive enclosure with a spare external drive, and connected everything back with the server, everything seems to be normal again.

I still don’t think it is very safe to store my data in external USB drives.  After having numerous problems with this setup, it probably is time to retire this aging hardware and replace it with a newer setup for the sake of my data.  So I actually ordered and picked up the Acer easyStore Windows Home Server from NCIX (a local computer chain store in Canada).

Here it is. Continue reading