2010 February - All Narfed Up

Archive for February 2010

3RVX

In Software, Windows on 27 February 2010 tagged audio, Freeware, indicator, OSI, Windows with no comments

My keyboard has dedicated volume and mute keys. I usually check the system tray to see the level of my master volume since I don’t touch the [physical] volume control on my speakers.

Now, 3RVX gives me a slick on screen volume indicator like Macs. Sweet! (Hat tip: Lifehacker)

Feeling Negative?

In Photography on 23 February 2010 tagged film with 3 comments

Brian Auer¹ and Tomas Webb² just launched a photography website dedicated to film: Feeling Negative?

They’re both good friends that have inspired my photography in some way and deserve a huge amount of love, support, and new visitors. In other words, get over there!

See “Feeling Negative? Check Out This New Film Photography Blog!“

Feeling Negative? Check Out This New Film Photography Blog!

Epic Edits Weblog ↩
a.k.a. The Wolf Brigade on Flickr ↩

One year and almost nine months later

In Computers on 22 February 2010 tagged AMD, capacitors, Intel, motherboard, Shuttle with 2 comments

I had to upgrade my computer since my Shuttle SN68SG2 died on me. Well, sort of. Let me explain.

Increasing problems with the SN68SG2

I’ve noticed 2-3 times that my computer wouldn’t turn on, but linger in some sort of standby mode. I removed the CMOS battery for a bit, then the computer started up just fine.

Last Friday, while I was in the middle of processing photos, my computer just shut down.

Here’s my logic:

If it was the processor (CPU), memory (RAM), or hard drive, I would’ve probably gotten a blue screen of death (BSOD).
I didn’t see any bulging capacitors on the motherboard.
Why was I able to use the computer within Safe Mode?

It might’ve been capacitors inside the power supply or capacitors on the motherboard that weren’t showing obvious symptoms.

To save money, I could’ve bought a replacement power supply; that’d take more work and time that I didn’t have, nor was there any guarantee that Mwave had any in stock. (I had wedding photos to process and two photo sessions coming up over the next three days.)

Will call at Mwave

Saturday morning, I drove to Mwave¹, timing myself so I’d arrive when they opened.

I initially ordered a Shuttle SA76G2 (barebone system) and AMD Athlon II X3 435 2.93GHz. Why AMD?

I can get a faster processor for less money.
I haven’t noticed stability differences between AMD and Intel.

If you can refer to some articles that explain the differences in processors between AMD and Intel, please leave a comment.

My new computer

After 20 minutes, I was told that the barebone system wasn’t in stock and needed to be special ordered. The only barebone system they had was Intel-based. So, I ended up with:

The memory, hard drive, and DVD burner would carry over to the new system.

Don’t worry. My data is kept on a different partition that’s synchronized nightly (Karen’s Replicator) to a folder on my Drobo. A lot of my data is also backed up to Amazon S3 via Jungle Disk.

Final moments with the SN68SG2

Within safe mode, I was able to copy the program settings and profiles onto the other partition in safe mode.

Sunday, I spent my last few hours with the Shuttle SN68SG2. I tried testing the memory (MemTest86+), then clean installing Windows XP with one of the two memory sticks². Several attempts to restart would result in the system going into “standby.” I could open/close the DVD drive. Holding the power button down for a few seconds would power off the computer completely. (Not normal.)

Moving on

Fed up, I finally opened the sealed box to the new processor and Shuttle XPC barebone system.

After an hour of installing the new parts into the barebone system, Windows XP³ was installed.

Driver quirk

The Shuttle SG31G2-V2 included a driver DVD. Unlike my last USB-only system, this one had PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors.

Windows installed just fine. When I got to the chipset drivers, I couldn’t use my keyboard or mouse to finish the install. I found a USB to PS/2 connector for my mouse, then did another clean install.

After the chipset driver was installed and the computer restarted, my DVD drive wouldn’t read the driver DVD. (It would read regular CDs, and there wasn’t a problem with it in device manager.)

I had to run yet another clean install!

Immediately after the clean install, I:

copied the files off the driver DVD onto my hard drive,
installed Service Pack 3⁴, then
installed the drivers.

Now, all is well again. I have a few more programs to install and I’ll be back to normal.

If you’re following me on Twitter (@bryan), thanks for putting up with my rants the past couple days. I try not to do that often.

Wait. Did I test the DVD drive for reading DVD media? Doh! If it doesn’t work, to be continued…

Additional reading

Update 2010-03-02 — I returned the Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6300 2.8GHz to Mwave for a refund (minus the 15% restocking fee) and bought an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66GHz 4MB L2 Cache Quad-Core Processor. Lightroom was pretty quick this past week, but it should be even faster now. When I upgrade to Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit, I’m sure it’ll be off the hook.

Why Mwave? They offer will call pick up for $5. ↩
Thanks for the suggestion, Arnold! ↩
I need to save up for Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. This situation didn’t help. ↩
I was using the original disk because I misplaced the Windows XP Pro install CD slipstreamed with SP3. ↩

If you couldn’t take a hint

In Photos on 19 February 2010 tagged construction, Monrovia, signs, street photography with no comments

Monrovia, CA

Transcription (for search): “Sidewalk closed – Use other side”

Flickr / Buy this print

Getting into Smart Collections

In Lightroom, Photography on 18 February 2010 tagged Adobe, digital asset management, Smart Collections, workflow with 6 comments

I’d like to share my ideas for using Smart Collections in Lightroom 2.

The past two years, I haven’t touched collections. What are they?

Collections are a great way to organize photos into groups for easy viewing at a later time. Matt Kloskowski

Workflow background

My workflow consisted of picking (P) the best photos, processing those, then exporting low-res JPEG files for Flickr (or hi-res JPEG files to Zenfolio).

Blue (label, keypad 9) photos were processed, but not uploaded to Flickr.
Green (label, keypad photos are on Flickr.

How about figuring out if photos were on Zenfolio? I’d open the Metadata library filter and change one of the sort columns to display “Uploaded to Zenfolio.”

Photos were sorted into folders by year, month, and day. I’d append the event/location after the day.

I had to make things easier for myself.

Utilizing Smart Collections

I finally added collections and smart collections to help me find photos that need to be processed and/or uploaded. I keyword and geotag my photos liberally, so that’s the driving power behind these smart collections.

The California¹ collection set will only work if I add location metadata to my photos. Since I geotag almost everything, this’ll work for me.
I’m not sure what else to put into genre, but I’ll figure it out. They’re all based on keywords.
Photo sessions will be manual collections, but maybe I can enter a Job Title (IPTC > Contact) and use that for a smart collection. (I’m pondering out loud.)
Websites are manual collections. I keep track of where photos are posted (aside from Flickr and Zenfolio).

Smart Collections: Workflow

The main one is the Workflow collection set.

Processed — Photos labelled blue.

Processed without title — Photos labelled blue, but without a title. Since you can’t use an “is empty” modifier for Title, entering these vowels is a workaround.

Unprocessed — No labels.

The Flickr/Zenfolio collection sets are based on the color label and the “Uploaded to Zenfolio” tag.

I’ll need to add smart collections based on stars/picks, especially if I want to make it easier on myself to share my favorites at the end of the year.

I have no smart collection for rejected (X) photos. I’m more daring when it comes to deleting photos I’ll probably never touch again.

The bigger “picture”

Since you can sort photos by date (Library Filter > Metadata), I might move away from date-based folders. It’s all open to discussion.

For now, please leave comments related to Lightroom 2 smart collections.

Do you have any ideas for smart collections?

P.S. I’ve heard of “The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers.” I’ll eventually get it, but if you’d buy it for me, I’d appreciate it!

Lightroom In-Depth: Smart Collections (Nir Dremer Photography)

Hopefully I travel out of state so it won’t just be California. ↩

← Before

← Back to Home

All Narfed Up words (and some photography pre-2010) by Bryan Villarin