OddballGreg - Computerphile

Ah, the joys of snipping screenshots from YouTube such as this one from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9-y-6csu5WGm29I7JiwpnA. Perhaps I should invest in some new and creative way to represent each article. Comics perhaps?

Do you think of yourself as an utter nerd? Do you enjoy learning about various computer oriented facts and trivia as well as gaining interesting insight into their general functioning? If you answered yes to either of those questions, then I suggest checking out the YouTube channel Computerphile.

If you've been reading the TCSA blog recently, you may have noticed that JovialJman has been discussing various Maths related subjects both recently and occasionally in the past. If you've read said posts, you'll probably have noticed that JovialJman is quite the fan of a YouTube channel known as "Numberphile". Of course, being the typical YouTube addict that I am apparently, I recently ended up watching a variety of the Numberphile video's which inadvertently led me, via the suggestions bar on YouTube, to the channel "Computerphile", who's video's are very much similar in style to Numberphile, but discuss all things related to computers. (Naturally, this led to spending the next 3 hours watching their video's, as no self-respecting nerd could possibly pass up the opportunity to learn about things like hacking, the internet, unicode, terms and conditions and various other fascinating things.)

Presented in the friendly, over the table to the newbie manner that makes many of my favorite YouTube channel's like CGP Grey and Vsauce fun to watch, Numberphile explains a lot of the basics when it discusses the more complicated ideas that are large parts of computing in general. With discussions from a variety of professionals on a bunch of subjects, it's hard not to find something that will be of at least some interest. Of course, like most of my YouTuber features, the best way to understand just what I'm talking about is to watch one or two of their video's and see what you think, so please do peruse some of my favorite Computerphile video's which I have linked below.

In any case, do be sure to let us here at TCSA know what you think of Computerphile, or more importantly, what you would like to see us discuss next on the blog. We love to get your feedback as that's what lets us know that we're writing the kind of stuff you enjoy reading. Speaking of enjoyment, if you happen to have any nerdy friends that enjoy computer related trivia and facts, perhaps share this article with them as I'm sure they will enjoy it. And if you yourself would like to read more article's like this one, or perhaps some of the vastly different ones that come up all the time then do be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Try not to spend too much time on YouTube, my friends.

OddballGreg - Notepad++

Screenshot is from Notepad++... obviously... In case you weren't sure. Unless is it's the latest Call Of Duty in disguise? It's also occasionally useful to cut images in half and reverse the sides so that you can actually see what matters in the picture. Who knew?

Programming and Web Design are somewhat difficult and interesting practices that I recently tried my hand at, (more the Web Design than the Programming), to varying degrees of success. During my exploits I came across various interesting programs to the aid of programmers and web designers, and decided to discuss Notepad++ as a result.

Notepad++ is an open-source, numbered line based text-editor which is designed with the more technical user applications in mind. Basically, it's made for programmers and web designers. (If I say Programmers and Web Designers any more frequently, it's going to become a drinking game.)

What's handy about Notepad++ mainly, is it's integration with a rather large list of coding, scripting and markup languages which allows it to make the editing of such text significantly easier. (Although you'd probably be better off using IDE's for coding and scripting languages due to the integrated compilers and whatnot.) It is able to automatically highlight and detail the code as you write it, making it easier to read, understand and edit as necessary. For Web Design it's extremely useful for ensuring that your tags are correctly closed and set, as the growing length of HTML documents can make finding issues somewhat painful without features like that.

Other handy features include tab-based document reading, just like your browser is most likely capable of, Macro creation and use, plugin support for all manner of additional functionality that you might need and can usually be found online and various other things I don't understand fully well enough to really talk about. (Teehee) Fast loading time and the fact that its FREE make Notepad++ a rather nifty program even for simple notepad use, since the search, replace and auto-completion functions can all be useful regardless of the actual document contents.

Following the release of the earlier linked article that I wrote about programming, I was told about another program called Sublime Text, which is functionally similar to Notepad++, but focused towards fast and easy manipulation of coding and markup text with some interesting extra features like simultaneous line editing and the like. While useful for those features, my preference lies with Notepad++ based entirely on familiarity, since those extra functions are not entirely necessary for my application. I'll leave a link to both the Sublime Text and Notepad++ pages below though so that you can decide for yourself which you which to try/use.

http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

http://www.sublimetext.com/

In any case, that's all I have for today's topic, if you have something you wish to add, or simply wish to ask for my opinion on some other software or anything in general, do be sure to do so down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. Of course, if you have any friends who might be interested in reading about the features of various programs and software, perhaps consider sharing this article with them, perhaps they will appreciate the information. And if you yourself would like to read more interesting articles such as this one, consider liking the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or following us on Twitter to get all the latest posts, as they're published. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had and absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Happy editing my friends.

OddballGreg - Operating Systems (What's The Difference?)

Operating system logo's and mascots. Pictured above is the Microsoft logo, Tux, the linux penguin, the Ubuntu Linux log, and the Google Android mascot.

A few days ago, a friend of mine asked me to do an article on what the differences between the most used Operating Systems are. Interestingly enough, this question is not quite as easily answerable as you might expect. Let's talk about that.

First and foremost, what is an operating system: "An operating system (OS) is software that manages computer hardware and software resources and provides common services for computer programs. The operating system is an essential component of the system software in a computer system." - Wikipedia (Goes to inflict grievous bodily harm to self for quoting Wikipedia)

Fantastic, so, now that we know what an Operating System is, lets try to answer the question. First and foremost, we need to decide what, exactly, are the most used Operating Systems. Now if you were lazy, you would probably say: "Uhhh, isn't that Windows and MacOS?". While you wouldn't be wrong, and those are indeed 2 of the most used Operating Systems out there, there are a great many more computer operating systems out there. Most notably missing from that list is Linux and it's many, MANY spawn that stem from it. On top of this, we are not even considering the fact that Android, IOS and Windows Phone, are in technicality, operating systems as well.

While I could be lazy and simply say that my friend wanted to know the main differences between PC Operating systems; that is to say, Personal Computer, which while technically applicable to phones, has come to be commonly understood as someone's home desktop or laptop computer. That would be no fun though, so I'll talk about both mobile and PC Operating systems in separate sections. In terms of popularity, It's fair to surmise that any Operating Systems I did not mention are clearly not commonly used, since with research, I still don't know they exist. That said, lets begin with PC Operating systems!

PC Operating Systems

Microsoft Windows

First up to the batter plate is Microsoft Windows, perhaps the most commonly used operating system in the world. (Don't quote me on that.) Windows is, and has always been, primarily focused towards office and general purpose use, and, to a degree, is good enough for those purposes. Somewhat easy to install, set up and run, Windows is good because it doesn't require a rocket scientist to figure out how to remove a program. (*cough* linux *cough*)

While perhaps not the most elegant option for most things, it's arguable that for someone not very technically adept, Windows is about the best thing you could give a newbie to start learning to use compared to the other commonly used Operating Systems; due to the cross compatibility of hardware for Windows, it's ability to do anything moderately well, and it's relative ease of use. For dedicated computing however, you'd be hard put to say that Windows is your best choice for anything apart from computer games, and even that is slowly become incorrect as game distribution platforms like Steam and the widely acclaimed Linux WINE program are making it increasingly unnecessary for gamers to stick to Windows to run their games.

MacOS

MacOS is the Macintosh operating system from Apple for the Apple Mac. (Get it?) Exclusive to Apple made hardware, MacOS is lauded for technical superiority and ability to easily do things like run artistic programs such as Photoshop, video editing software, 3D modeling programs, etc. Basically, MacOS is considered something of an artists tool. As for it's ease of use and whether or not it deserves such a reputation, I cannot accurately confirm or dispute due to the fact that I've never actually used MacOS or owned a mac. (And I couldn't exactly just go buy one for a blog post. Not yet anyway.)

Many Apple purists will tell you that MacOS is the best, but many Apple purists also tend to have extremely deep pockets as well, as the MacOS runs exclusively on Apple hardware, (and vice versa). So unless you have a hefty sum of money to shell out, MacOS is not your best option. While MacOS is enjoyed for it's "Works out of the box" attitude to use, there is the unfortunate problem to consider that Mac computers are usually rather fragile, and do not have the same part interchangeability of regular computers. As such, if you drop it, you buy a new one; instead of just replacing the part that got damaged like you would with a Windows/Linux PC.

Linux

Linux is a difficult operating system to accurately talk about the pro's and con's of, simply due to the fact that Linux is, technically speaking the base architecture for a multitude of "distributions" of lLinuxwhich are tailored towards a multitude of uses. The 44 fastest supercomputers in the world run off some permutation of Linux and Linux is free to be redistributed, as such, anyone is able to create their own distribution which can be created for any use ranging from home computer to company server to research supercomputer. Some of the popular mainstream distrubutions include Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, openSUSE and Arch Linux, all of which are best suited for different tasks as determined by what packages form part of their basic package, which in itself can be easily customized post-install. tl;dr, Linux is this really cool, usually open-source, usually free operating system that can do all kinds of stuff.

The downside is you need to be a rocket scientist to use it... kind of. I'll be the first to point out the the "Graphical User Interface" or "GUI" is not a focus of Linux like it is for MacOS and Windows. Many Linux distributions are centered around the use of a terminal or Command Line Interface and eschew all graphics in favor of speeding up the computer. (For the non-technical of you, that means that there's no buttons to click on. You type in commands and the computer writes back about what happened.) While this not a bad thing in any way, it does mean that actually figuring out how to do anything with Linux almost deserves a class of it's own; and after 4 days "Job-Shadowing" a Linux user back in High School, I felt like I had achieved something when I learned how to find my way around the file directory, let alone actually do anything useful.

In short: Windows is the cheap, easy to use OS that does what you need it to do usually. MacOS is the expensive OS that does what it's designed to do really well, if you can afford to get the hardware it natively comes with. And Linux is the hardcore programmer OS that can do all manner of amazing things, for free, if you can figure out how to use it. And now, onto the 4 commonly used smartphone operating systems:

Mobile Operating Systems

IOS

IOS is the Apple mobile operating system which is, again, designed exclusively for the Apple Iphone, as well as the various other "I"gadgets such as Ipods and the like. Following the Mac principle of "Works out the box", IOS is very user friendly and does what a person needs it to do, when they need it to, while offering very little in terms of customization. It's also expensive, just like everything else Apple makes. While inherently reliable, IOS can be painful for some due to it's need to pair and synchronize with Itunes to do any data exchange with a PC, and can only do so with that specific PC lest it re-synchronize and effectively wipe all your data. FUN! It also has the nasty problem of requiring one's credit card details to simply sign up to the Istore, even if you don't intend on buying anything. (Call me a skeptic, but I don't trust that.)

Indisputably, IOS and Apple Phones are good at what they do, but their price and complete rejection of user customization can be something of an issue for some. If they aren't for you, I probably would suggest getting an Iphone.

Android

Android, the Google developed smartphone operating system which is based on Linux. Very customisable, Android is the technical minded person's joy simply because it'll let anyone who wants to tinker with it's inner workings to do so. While this is open to abuse by hackers and can allow those lacking in caution to "brick" their phone, the ability to even completely reinstall or change the operating system of your phone is something that Apple simply does not offer with IOS, and as such is the reason why Android is available on phones ranging from Samsung to HTC and many others besides. Also, it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to get an Android phone. (Unless it's a Samsung.)

Windows Phone

Less known and soon technically defunct as the latest versions of Windows become platform independent, (That is to say, Windows 10 is going to be the same operating system, regardless of whether you're using a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer.) Windows Phone is the Microsoft answer to Android and IOS which is great for... the "Modern UI". In all technicality, Windows Phone is not a bad mobile operating system, except for the fact Android and IOS do it better, and are more widely used and supported. The range of app's for Windows Phone is abysmally small, as is the market for Windows Phones, which is why most companies haven't even bothered supporting it in any way. Basically, don't bother.

And with that, that bring's us to the end of the topic. I hope that I have sufficiently answered the question, (or perhaps done so in excess), and that you are somewhat better informed about the purposes of the more mainstream Operating Systems out there. If not, feel free to ask any questions you may have down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. Of course, your support via the sharing of this article with any of your friends who are curious about Operating Systems would be greatly appreciated; as is your liking of the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or following of us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left, thus enabling you to get all the latest posts, as they're published. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Farewell my friends.

OddballGreg - All In One Runtimes (Sereby.org)

Screenshot is of http://www.sereby.org/site/start. German websites are always so fun to read. "Actung!" "Wartu!" "Fertig!".  Good thing Google Chrome translates pages right?

You're sitting at home, and that game you just installed keeps giving you the same "MSVCR100.dll" error regardless of how many times you reinstall the Microsoft Visual C++ redistrubutable packages. Luckily, unsere freunde Deutch from Sereby.org have got our backs with AIO Runtimes.

If you've spent any fair amount of time on a computer playing games or installing software of the general kind, then it's rather extremely likely that you've come across this sort of problem before. You install the program and all it's required redistributable packages, but for some strange reason, you just keep getting that same irritating error.

I'd rate this as a close second in "rage inducement". Number one is a BSOD when you've forgotten to save 10 hours of work.

Frustrated, you uninstall all of the packages and reinstall them all again, only to find that the cumulative result of your effort is a great deal of wasted time and effort, since nothing has changed except your growing urge to facedesk. (I gave into it personally. I find it hard not to get annoyed when I'm still fixing a computer at 3am with nothing to show for it.)

Suddenly, a ray of light appeared from the depths of purgatory. (Probably exaggerating.) My desperation to finally fix the issue and thus allow Path Of Exile and Dead Island: Riptide to function on my computer led me to watch the some of the worst, most badly narrated videos on YouTube, as every would-be helper has their say on what will fix the issues on your computer. Strangely enough, one of them was actually right.

Following the link in one of these horrifically narrated video's description, I was taken to http://www.chip.de/downloads/All-in-One-Runtimes_37449838.html where I skeptically, (after translating the page into English), began downloading Sereby.org's All-In-One Runtimes pack.

Hope you can read German. Teehee

Imagine my delight at realizing that all I needed to do was tick all, press "Installieren" and give it about 15 to 20 minutes to uninstall and reinstall every single relevant package on my computer in order. Visual C++ Runtimes for 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013; Direct X, .Net Framework. My brain held still as I cautiously checked to see if it had done what was promised. A one stop fix for all these ridiculous .dll errors.

As funny as it would be to rickroll you right now with a Rick Astley video and say it didn't work, I'd be lying. What had taken 5 hours of frustration to get wrong, took 30 minutes to get right with this one brilliant program. Imagine the ridiculous little victory dances I was doing. (If you can't, I fear we've never met... Just imagine something really bad that's really funny... that's about right.)

In any case, hopefully this fantastic little program will be of as much assistance to you as it was for me, as it really is deserving of all this praise. If you have any questions, or simply want to tell us about how it helped you, please be sure to let us know in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear from you guys. Better yet, make sure to share this article with your computer oriented friends. I'd bet you money that they would thank you if I wasn't mostly broke all the time. (Teehee) And of course, if you would like to read more interesting, useful or just humorous articles like this one, then be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left so that you can get the latest posts, as they're published. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Happy computer fixing my friends.

OddballGreg - Baking Circuitboards (Culinary Electronics)

Newest magical ability of TCSA: Shrinking people down to the size of motherboards. Please don't turn that fan on.

Computers break. A lot... Often... In a variety of ways. Anyone who's ever owned a computer can attest to that. So of course, it makes sense that some rather strange methods of repair have also sprung up over the years, such as sticking your R10000 board or card into a baking oven. (That sounds perfectly safe.)

Motherboards, Graphics cards, etc. These things all stop working eventually. (Frequently with me. *facedesk* Word of advice, warranty's are your friend.) Lucky for us, YouTube is a source of endless information, (and entertainment if you're bored.), and a great variety of people have come upon the idea of actually baking you card in an oven.

Baking your card? I must be joking you're probably thinking. Strangely enough, no. I will point out that this is a  temporary solution, and also a last ditch one. There's probably as much chance of breaking your card as there is of fixing it, so I suggest only doing this if whatever manner of electronics it is simply does not work no matter what else you've tried.

Warning out of the way, here's how it works: If you know anything about electronics, then you'll understand that circuitboards are nothing more than tracks of conductive material on a non conductive board, which links various electronic components together so that they can perform their various functions. Of course, to attach the various parts to the board, you need a metal that is highly conductive, but can melt at high enough temperature that you can attach things to the board, without melting when the computer is running. Usually substances like solder are used, though I'm not sure what they use most frequently these days. (And you thought cooking meth like Bryan Cranston was hardcore. I BAKE METAL! *Headbang*)

So why does sticking your motherboard or graphics card or whatever into the oven work? Quite simply, you're redoing all of those joins on the board, in the hopes that it fixes any micro-cracks in these joins and gives you a few extra months of use on your otherwise messed up board. 

Now I know what you're thinking. This can't possibly work, I mean, tutorials such as the one above sound well meaning and honest enough. But you're sticking a metal and plastic board into the OVEN. That's crazy. Well, yes, again, this is a last ditch effort to get your card to work again. But it's a good idea to remove anything that can melt like plastic ports or cables, and some tutorials detail covering various components in metal foil to protect them. However, I've actually done this with an old graphics card I got from my uncle, and managed to get it to function for another good 6 months after a rather brutal drop onto the ground. (I did have to replace a capacitor that was broken off and lost.)

Crazy as that is, some people have done similar, and then simply baked the card again when it stopped working and got further use from theirs. Though I would point out that your warranty is pretty much void from the moment you touch the card with a screwdriver, so I suggest cashing in the warranty above doing ANYTHING else. (If they replace it, typically the warranty gets renewed, so this is a fairly better thing to do.)

In any case, if you have any faulty electronics lying around that are helping nobody, and decide to give this trick a try, do keep in mind, that it doesn't always work, but maybe you can get your busted up old Xbox to work again thanks to it. It beats not trying anything though. If you're interested in giving it a try, go check out a few video's on YouTube like the one I linked earlier in this article to get the full details on how to do it.

If it helps you, or at least was worth the try, then do be sure to let us know how it went in the comments section below or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And don't forget to share this post with any computer minded friends of yours. I'm sure they'll appreciate the potentially handy information. Of course, if you would like to read more articles about handy tricks like this, then be sure to like the official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter, using the associated buttons on the bar to the left, so that you can read the latest posts, as they go up. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Happy baking my friends.