Harry Potter @ Islands of Adventure

My wife is a huge HP fan and she had been planning on going to this park for over a year. Some how, I was able to talk her into waiting a week instead of going on opening day and I was also able to convince her to go on a weekday instead of the weekend. I think that this made a enormous difference in our enjoyment of the park. We went on Friday, June 25th and arrived within the first hour of the park opening. We had picked our tickets up the night before after eating dinner at the Latin Quarter in CityWalk. Picking up the tickets early saved us some time and we were able to enter the park without waiting in any line on Friday morning. We started to walk directly to the HP section of the park and were forced to turn around by the park staff. They said the line to HP was in the other direction even though the park map showed that we were headed the right way. We turned around without arguing and followed the mass of people heading to Hogwarts. Along the way, we were misguided several times by park staff toward "the line for Harry Potter" which weaved us in and out of some walkways and paths around different attractions for about 5 minutes only to dump us out into the main walkway only 30 feet from where we had entered and there still was no organized line. Now, I don't mind waiting in line especially for something like a Harry Potter theme park but this was right about the time my BS flag went up and I called shenanigans on the whole fake line. I took out my park map and we walked toward the Harry Potter side of the park on our own, ignoring the park staff when they tried to re-direct us in another direction. We were exiting the Toon Lagoon and walking toward Jurassic Park when we found the end of the largest line I have ever seen. I consulted the map and decided this line was way too long to wait in. I attempted to ask one of the park staff how long the wait is and they explained that it would be at least two or three hours. At this point, it was almost 11:00 so we decided to follow the line to see how long it really was... and it was huge. We followed it all the way to the harry potter entrance and I was able to get close enough to take some pictures. We spoke to a girl with a clipboard and asked about wait times. She said that it will take several hours if we wait in the line and that at 3pm, they will stop making people wait and open the gates of the Harry Potter section to everyone. I stepped away to take some more pictures while my wife continued to talk to the girl with the clipboard. I'm not sure what my wife said, but a few minutes later, we were entering the magical world of Harry Potter. We went directly to the Forbidden Journey (the inside of Hogwarts was amazing) and waited another 45 minutes to ride. After the F.J., we went to Three Broomsticks and had a Butter Beer. We spent a few more minutes walking around the village and then went to enjoy the rest of the park. After lunch, some rides and a show, we decided to go back to the HP side of the park and were able to enter without waiting in line. We enjoyed some pumpkin juice while checking out the shops and some of the smaller attractions we missed the first time and then we called it a day. Overall, I was pleased with the experience but I would advise against going on a weekend and if possible, wait until summer is over, it will be cooler and there will be much smaller crowds. Oh, and have a Butter Beer.... they are delicious.

Olympus Stylus Tough 6000

Here is my new camera. It is an Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 and let me tell you, it is one tough camera. It is designed to withstand the elements as well as the abuse that comes with the territory. It can operate in freezing temperatures (-10°C/14°F), can be dropped onto concrete (1.5m/5ft), and is capable of taking pictures and video underwater (3m/10ft). Oh yeah, it is also 10 mega pixels and has a wide angle lens. The pictures it takes seem to be just as good as any other 10mp digital camera I have used but the ability to handle the abuse is the real selling point here. I have seen reviews if this camera where it was frozen in a block of ice, dropped on the ground and then used to take a picture; it was run over with a truck; it was even strapped to the hood of a car and driven through a wall of ice. I do not intend on testing my camera to those extremes, but it is comforting to know that it can handle the abuse and I wont worry if I accidentally drop it. Even with it's tough exterior, it still has the features you look for in a quality digital camera like 3.6x optical zoom, xD/MicroSD expansion, several macro modes, dual image stabilization, a 2.7" LCD, smile detection, panoramic mode, continuious photo shooting (4.9 fps), a flash and separate LED light, video recording @ 640x480 & 30 fps, and 25 different picture modes. I can't wait to put it to use this summer and expect to see some amazing results.

Original XBOX Softmod Full Instructions

THE XBOX HARD DRIVE SWAP AND SOFTMOD:

*note: I will not be hosting any files or links to the files for this softmod. If you do not have access to the files, you can perform a Google search or look on the following web site: http://www.xbox-scene.com/

You will need the following:
1. Xbox
2. Action Replay AR MAX for xbox
3. A copy of the original Splinter Cell
4. A new IDE hard drive (This is strongly recommended but only necessary if you want more storage space. Otherwise, skip steps 3-7)
5. Krayzie_SC-NTSC_Ndure_Installer_v1.1.rar
6. xboxhdm_v1.9.zip
The files used in Steps 5&6 were teh current installers at the time this guide was created. There may be newer files available, but I know that the ones listed here work.

Step 1: Install the software that came with your Action Replay. Plug in your AR USB adapter into your USB port on your computer. Make sure your memory card is in the adapter now. Bring up the AR program. Navigate to your Krayzie Ndure Installer folder and in that folder, go to the save folder (for Splinter Cell, there is 2 saves folders) and drag the udata (remember to drag BOTH udata's for SC if that's the game you are using) to the Memory Card (MC) slot on your AR software. Once you have both files on your MC, remove it from the AR adapter and bring it over to your xbox. You may have to move the udata files separately if the memory card is not big enough to hold them both. Plug it into your controller and boot up your xbox without a game in the drive. Transfer the files onto your hard drive (hdd). To do this go to the "Memory" screen from the main standard MS Dashboard. When you get into the memory menu, click on the memory card (by pressing left on the D-Pad) and select it by pressing A. When you get into your memory card and find the file, you might have to press the right button on your D-Pad to select the file and then choose copy. Do this for BOTH files or else the installation will not work/start. Make sure to delete any other splinter cell game saves on your xbox or the exploit will not work correctly.
Now that the files have been transferred to the xbox, put the game in that you are going to use to softmod with

Splinter Cell: Go to Start Game, click LINUX, and you wont see any check points, but still press A for the Check Points twice. Then the installer should load up.

Step 2: Click 1st Backup EEPROM
-- Click Yes or OK for the next 2 windows then a new screen will come up and click BACKUP EEPROM
(very important step!! The eeprom is unique to each xbox and without this, it is virtually impossible to successfully mod or repair an xbox hard drive. Make sure to backup the xbox eeprom!!!!!)
I suggest going to SETTINGS at the bottom, get your IP and FTP to your xbox. Once you are in your xbox, navigate to your EEPROM backup and transfer it to your computer.
OPTIONAL: Click COPY EEPROM TO MU. This will back up your EEPROM to your memory card (MU = MEMORY UNIT).

Step 3: Now, we need to ftp to the xbox. I used Flash FXP. The login/password for the xbox is xbox/xbox. Once you have ftp access to the xbox, copy the entire C: and E: drives to your computer's hard drive.

Step 4: Unpack xboxhdm_v1.9
After you unpack you find this files under xboxhdm folder:
a. linux ( folder)
b. cygwin1.dll
c. make-DOS-floppy.bat
d. make-iso-lin.sh
e. make-iso-win.bat
f. mkisofs.exe
g. rawrite.exe
h. also some other readme files.
Copy files for xbox C:\ drive and put the files in xboxhdm's linux>C folder. Also copy any E:\ drive files to linux>E folder.
copy your xbox's eeprom.bin to linux>eeprom folder (very important step!! The eeprom is unique to each xbox and without this, it is virtually impossible to successfully mod or repair an xbox hard drive. Make sure to backup the xbox eeprom!!!!!)
Double click on make-iso-win.bat, it will bring up a command prompt and dump the bootable iso into the same folder.
Burn this iso to a CD or DVD depending how big it is.

Step 5: Put you cd/dvd drive in primary slave and your brand new hard drive in primary master and disconnect any other drives from your computer.
Configure your computer's bios to boot from CD drive. Boot the CD/DVD from the disk we created in step 4.

Step 6: After you boot to xboxhdm choose "1" "Boot VGA Console". Now type "xboxhd" and press enter.
Select option "1" in option screen and press enter (Build a new XBOX HD from scratch)
Type "yes" and press enter, now it will build the partition table and then if you have the proper files in the CD, it will copy the files from cd to C:\ and E:\ drives. Just follow the prompts an type yes when needed.
After it is all done imaging your hard drive you will need to lock the drive. Each xbox has a unique eeprom and this is where the eeprom backup from steps 2, 3, and 4 comes in. Boot the linux cd again and select option "3" (Boot linux with locking/unlocking utilities)
Type "lockhd" and press enter. Then type "lockhd -a" and press enter again. This will automatically lock the hard drive using the eeprom that was put into the linux>eeprom folder from step 10. This step is very important because if the drive is not locked correctly it will not function in the xbox. Also, if it is locked incorrectly, it may render the drive permanently useless.

Step 7: Now, you should have a exact copy of your original xbox hard drive. Remove this new drive from your computer and replace the original xbox hard drive with the new one. It should boot up exactly as it normally would.

Step 8: Moving on to the final mod, Load the Splinter cell game and go to Start Game, click LINUX, and you wont see any check points, but still press A for the Check Points twice. Then the installer should load up. Click Basic Installation.
PERSONAL PREFERENCE: I suggest using EvolutionX (EvoX) since you can customize it more.
After choosing the dashboard, you will get a message asking to PROCEED. Please, if you didn’t verify your current MS Dashboard BEFORE you started this softmod process, please restart your xbox and check to see what your dashboard is. If you know for sure its MS 5960, then proceed.
It’s going to go through screens, read them to know what is going on and keep proceeding. All that’s going on is the installer is checking to make sure it can move it without running into errors. Once everything is present, it will begin softmodding your xbox.
Once it is done modifying your xbox, you will get a message saying to turn off your Xbox or press OK. Press OK. Once it is shut off, press the EJECT button to get your game out.
You will get a screen that says PRESS A. Press it. Read the message that comes up and click ok.
Once it is done making the Shadow C, you will be a completion message. Read each message that comes up after you click OK.


Your xbox will then restart and you now have a MODIFIED XBOX! Congrats!

Original XBOX Softmod - Intro/Overview

*note: I will not be hosting any files or links to the files for this softmod. If you do not have access to the files, you can perform a Google search or look on the following web site: http://www.xbox-scene.com/

The Microsoft Xbox 360 has proven to be an excellent gaming console. Almost everyone I know that is in to gaming has one. But what about the original Xbox? You may have one at home collecting dust, or if you go to your local used game store, you may find that they have stacks of old Xbox systems piled up in the back of the store. The demand is just not that high for this aging console anymore. Which is exactly why it it the perfect time for you to get one and mod it. You may ask: "What can a softmodded Xbox do for me?" Well, I'll tell you... It is a very comprehensive media center computer, it will play your backed up games from disk or the hard drive, play ROMs from older gaming systems, you can install apps and scripts like the iTunes streaming radio script, it will play or stream about any video format (with XBMC) and you can even install a Linux distribution (XDSL) and use it as a computer. Ok, so now you want to know how to do it... You can use your old console, or pick a used one up for about $50 at a used game store like GameStop. There are several other requirements before you get started. The softmod is accomplished by loading a hacked game save from one of several games. In this example, I will be using the original Splinter Cell game. You will also need the hacked game save and a way to transfer it to the Xbox memory card. I use AR Max for Xbox to transfer the game save to the memory card. Once the save is on the memory card, you will need to transfer it to the Xbox hard drive and make sure to delete any pre-existing Splinter Cell game saves. Once the files are copied, you launch the game and load the hacked game save. It will bring you to the alternate dashboard which will give you several options. This is where things can vary depending on your intentions. Personally, I like to use the alternate dashboard to allow me FTP access to the Xbox. I will then copy the file system from the Xbox hard drive to my computer and use a program called Xbox HDM (Xbox Hard Drive Maker) to make an image of the hard drive. I will then boot a computer from this disk and use it to image a new IDE hard drive with a greater capacity than the original allowing more room for game, video and music storage as well as allowing me to keep my old hard drive un-modded as a backup. I will then remove the old hard drive from the Xbox and replace it with my new hard drive. At this point, the Xbox should boot back up like it normally would and we will have to launch the game again and load the hacked game save. Now, we can finish the mod following the steps in the alternate dashboard. You can mod the Xbox without adding a larger hard drive but you will not have much space on the original hard drive to store games or movies and you will not . After the softmod is complete, you can add applications, games, scripts and videos by pasting them in the corresponding folders via FTP. One application I would highly recommend is XBMC or Xbox Media Center. This app can act as a dashboard allowing you to launch other apps, scripts and games. You can also use it to stream video from a NAS (Network attached storage) or a shared hard drive / folder on your computer. Overall, this turns out to be a well rounded media center computer that can be made easily from your old Xbox. I have successfully performed this softmod on many Xboxes and have never run into any trouble. Give it a shot and breathe new life into your old Xbox gaming system.

I know this is not a completely in depth guide, it is more of an introduction to the capabilities of a modded Xbox. I will go into further detail in a later post and include the full instructions.

Intel Core i7

I recently built a new computer on the Intel Core i7 platform and I would like to share my experience. If you are not familiar with this new line of processors from Intel, just let me tell you... they are fast! There are currently 3 processors in this line, the 920, 940 and 965. Their default clock speeds are 2.66, 2.93 and 3.2GHz respectively. I picked up a 920 and paired it with a Gigabyte (GA-EX58-UD5) motherboard, 3GB of G.Skill 1333MHz DDR3 RAM and an EVGA Nvidia 9800 GTX+ (512MB) video card. The Core i7 processors are all quad core and they have Hyper-Threading. If you are unfamiliar with Hyper-Threading, it is a feature which enables each core to handle 2 processes at the same time, doubling the workload of each core. Windows will view this as 8 processing cores even though there are only 4 true cores. Another feature unique to this series of processor is the QPI (Quick Path Interconnect), which is essentially a replacement of the FSB (Front Side Bus). The QPI increases the bandwidth of the processors and moves the memory controller onto the CPU, which is a first for Intel. Also, the new processors are manufactured on a 45 nm technology allowing higher performance, better energy efficiency, and cooler operating temperatures. In addition, if you are interested in overclocking your CPU, the i7 920 has been known to exceed 4GHz on air cooling alone. This is amazing, considering you can get the processing power of the i7 965 for $800 less with the i7 920. If you are into gaming, I have good news. Even though current games are not written to utilize quad core processors, the Core i7 processors will handle the most demanding of games at high resolutions and fluid gameplay... wilth other apps running in the background. This is something I would have never dreamed of with my previous single core processor(AMD Athlon 64 3400+ @ 2.4GHz). I am now able to play my games, including Crysis, with all the settings at "Very High" and with extremely smooth graphics and gameplay. Overall, the Core i7 processors have proven to be excellent chips. They already have a reputation for being reliable overclockers, multitaskers, video encoders and gamers. I highly recommend the Intel Core i7 920 to anyone interested in upgrading or building a new system. Just keep in mind that you will need a new motherboard with an LGA 1366 socket and an X58 chipset as well as DDR3 RAM. These additioanl components are required and will cost a little more because they are new technology, but the end result is worth it if you want the cutting edge in computing.

~Nick

Music!

If you look to the right, ------> you will notice that I have 2 music gadgets in my blog. Music is very important to me. I like to listen while I am on the computer or at work. It keeps me moving and helps the time pass. I would like to share this with you. If you are looking for a specific song or artist, try the Google Music Search gadget. It will open an index search for you based on the artist or song you enter. If you would like to stream music (my favorite), then check out the Digitally Imported Radio gadget. It has various types of techno and streams nicely in Winamp. If you don't have Winamp, get it here: http://www.winamp.com/ Enjoy!

~Nick

Welcome to my blog!

Well, here we go. I am a 28 year old living in Tampa, FL with my wife and 2 dogs. I have always been interested in computers and electronics so, the majority of my blog will revolve around that but I will stray from time to time and discuss other topics. I will try to post regularly with informative and entertaining content. Comments and discussion is encouraged. Keep an eye out for new posts coming soon. Thanks for stopping by.

~Nick