HyperPac´s site

A little bit unexpected I needed an external WLAN interface for my laptop, which still runs the much dead OS Windows XP x64 (64-bit Edition). And I was really scared with the last driver madness in my mind.

Anyway I got this Ralink thing for only 15 EUR (around 20$) on eBay and I was really surprised. The device came with x64 drivers. Yessss…and it worked right after I installed them. Unbelieveable…

The performance was a little bit bad, so I grabbed the newest drivers from the Ralink website. The performance increased a bit and also the newest drivers have a great support for x64 based OS (also Vista and Windows 7).

Nearly all Ralink chipsets feature x64 compatible drivers which is – at this price level – a really cool thing. Most upper class devices only have a support for Windows 7 x64, but not for Windows XP x64 or other x64 systems.
But with all the good news about this device, there´s one thing that can´t impress as much as the rest. The antenna which should supply a +5dbi connection boost. It was really hard to notice at least a boost, but honestly there´s one, but only around +1dbi / +2dbi. If you´re on a bad coverage this antenna won´t make things better at all.

In general, you can´t do anything wrong with this device at that price and if you don´t plan to use any other OS than Windows XP x64 you won´t have much choice at all.

Update :

Well with this nice 2.4 GHZ WLAN antenna from hama I boosted my WLAN stick. It works really good. Connection raised from a low signal strength to a good and sometimes even very good signal strength. The antenna was about 18 EUR on eBay (around 25$) and can be wall mounted. It is connected via a reverse SMA plug, compatible to the Ralink WLAN stick.

It’s been a long time since the last Street Art update. Yesterday in Weimar, Germany I found a lot. So here they are, enjoy !!!

This topic is not totally new to me. I think 2 or 3 years ago I found this list from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) but then I lost the topic. I recovered it while reading about printed documents being used in a lawsuit as a demonstration on origin finding with imprinted tracking dots, more common know as watermarks. The EFF still features this list of printers which do or do not imprint those tracking stuff.

So if you need to print some really private documents you should get your hands on one of those printers first.

http://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots

Some models are available at eBay for a fair deal.

Update:

Haaaa…just a few days after I complained about the Bond games of our time, Nintendo announces a new Bond game for the Wii. It bases on the best Bond games of all times – Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64. Though the trailer starts a bit boring, everything else you can see there looks very promising. If you think that it looks ugly, you´re right, but don´t mind. The gameplay will make you forget about this.

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(only in german – sorry)

Ich weiß nicht mehr wie, aber irgendwann im Laufe des Tages dachte ich an den guten alten Brotkasten aka C64. Und als alter James Bond Fan war der Weg in meinem Hirn nicht mehr weit zu dem James Bond Spiel auf dem C64…dem…ja wie hieß das noch gleich ? Daran konnte ich mich nicht mehr erinnern, aber zum Glück gibt es ja Google.

10 Sekunden später wusste ich immer noch nicht mehr, aber ich stieß auf http://www.c64.at wo diverse Videospielmagazine als PDF hinterlegt waren und auch Lotek64, Nr. 3, Oktober 2002 – mit einem C64 James Bond Special (S. 22 – 24).

Nach kurzer Lektüre fand ich heraus, dass es The Spy Who Loved Me war was mich damals so begeisterte. Der Artikel bestätigt meinen in der Erinnerung nicht mehr ganz so frischen, aber guten Eindruck des Spiels – bis auf die Steuerung.

Ich denke ich werde mal den guten alten C64 EMU herauskramen und schauen, ob ich das Game irgendwo finde und gestartet bekomme (ähhhh “Load,8,1″).  Mal schauen ob die Steuerung wirklich so grässlich war, wie beschrieben.

Ach ja…warum gibts eigentlich in der Neuzeit nicht ein vernünftiges James Bond Spiel ? Kann doch nicht so schwer sein, eins auf die Beine zu stellen was so spannend und gutaussehend ist wie Uncharted 2 zum Bleistift.

Download PDF – Lotek64 – Nr. 3, Oktober 2002 (1,28 MB)

Hier einige Screenshots, allerdings von der Atari ST bzw. Amiga 500 / 600 Version (die ich beide nie gespielt habe):

Quelle: http://www.thelegacy.de/Museum/5635/

I decided to post some of my daily spam mail. Sometimes the content is so funny and other times some things written there are so true, that I think it´s worth to read it.

(this one only in german, sorry) – And I think I should check if I have a relative called Manfred Becker.

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Lieber Freund!!!

Ich vermute das diese E-Mail eine Überraschung für Sie sein wird, aber es ist wahr.Ich bin bei einer routinen Überprüfung in meiner Bank (Standard Bank von Süd Afrika) wo ich arbeite, auf einem Konto gestoßen, was nicht in anspruch genommen worden ist, wo derzeit $12,500,000 (zwölfmillionenfünfhundert US Dollar) gutgeschrieben sind.

Dieses Konto gehörte Herrn Manfred Becker, der ein Kunde in unsere Bank war, der leider verstorben ist. Herr Becker war ein gebürtiger Deutscher.Damit es mir möglich ist dieses Geld $12,500,000 inanspruch zunehmen, benötige ich die zusammenarbeit eines Ausländischen Partners wie Sie,den ich als Verwandter und Erbe des verstorbenen Herrn Becker vorstellen kann,damit wir das Geld inanspruch nehmen können.

Für diese Unterstützung erhalten Sie 30% der Erbschaftsumme und die restlichen 70% teile ich mir mit meinen zwei Arbeitskollegen, die mich bei dieser Transaktion ebenfalls unterstützen.Wenn Sie interessiert sind, können Sie mir bitte eine E-Mail schicken, damit ich Ihnen mehr Details zukommen lassen kann.Schicken Sie bitte Ihre Antwort auf diese E-Mail Adresse: (ditoweber@aim.com)

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Herr MARTINS WEBER DITO

19.05.2010

• Split / Second: Velocity (PS3 / XBOX 360)

I´ve been an addicted player of Burnout 3 Take Down but I never got used to the free world concept in Burnout Paradise. Split / Second: Velocity seems to be a secret brother of the Burnout series and it promises fast paced racing, compensating it´s lack in content with explosions and the BOOOOMMMM effect everywhere. So exactly my kind of game.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/downtown-trailer-split-second/64043

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-debut-split-second/46433

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/the-shipyard-split-second/60055

10.04.2010

• Formula One Championship Edition (PS3)

The last two F1 games I played were Geoff Crammonds Grand Prix 2 (PC) a million years ago and Formula One´97 (PSX). From today´s view both are messy, but GP2 was a great simulation and F1 97 looked brilliant…at that time. When I connected my PS3 to the Playstation Network yesterday I found the demo for Formula One C.E. and I remembered that it was a very much hyped launch title for the PS3. After the frustration with Motorstorm (looked not half as good as it was supposed to) and the fact that the PS3 was absolutely unaffordable at launch time I lost focus on this F1 game. So I downloaded the demo yesterday, and it´s far from perfect but I think the best F1 game currently available. I was only shocked about the prices at eBay and Amazon…gotta look for a cheap one…somewhere.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/preview-hd-formula-one/16987

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/trailer-3-formula-one/18171

• Midnight Club Los Angeles (XBOX 360)

This is not a typical “must have” game but I think it´s worth a try. I loved the first part of Need For Speed on the PSX but all after versions on any platform couldn´t draw my attention.  Test Drive, Pure, Project Gotham Racing and Forza Motorsport – which all are alternatives to Midnight Club L.A. were a too fuzzy mixture between arcade and simulation (though Forza 3 and PGR 4 are definitely great games). And I´ve never been into that tuning thing, in my opinion wasted time in a racing game. Midnight Club L.A. promises to be a real arcade racer with the focus on fast and thrilling racing action. It has that tuning thing too, but I think it can be easily ignored.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/south-central-midnight-club/46191

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launch-trailer-midnight-club/41776?type=flv

• New Super Mario Bros (Wii)

I missed this game in the last updates of this list, and I still wonder why. I´ve spent so many hours with Super Mario World on the SNES and so New Super Mario Bros is a must have for me. It´s already at home, I only need to find some time to play it.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/ent-09-new-super/57807

26.03.2010

• Just Cause 2 (PS3)

This is a real arcade action game. Don´t expect too good game mechanics, K.I. or level / story design. It´s all about the boooooooom effect and some nice physics.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/things-that-just-cause-2/63538

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/vehicles-gameplay-just-cause-2/63540

• Red Steel 2 (Wii)

The first part of this game was a real disappointment especially after it´s good locking previews and promising game mechanics.  But in the end the gameplay sucked hard. Now the developers took themself a heart and work hard on the whole gameplay. So now it really feels like a good old sword fight and by the way it is a perfect muscle training for your right (or left) arm. Wii Motion Plus ist required !

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/katakara-showdown-red-steel-2/63530

17.03.2010

• Brütal Legend (PS3)

I own this one already for the PS3 and it´s so much fun.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-brutal-legend/49772

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• Heavy Rain (PS3)

This game is supposed to be the successor of Fahrenheit and I can´t await giving it a try. Now I only need to convince myself to spend 50 EUR for it.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/to-catch-heavy-rain/61300

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2k6-heavy-rain/10758 (the beloved E3 trailer / tech demo from 2006)

• Uncharted 2 (PS3)

I loved the first part of this game. It looks and feels like a modern Indiana Jones with less adventure and more action components. It looks great on the PS3, has an exciting story and a strong gameplay. I think I´ll have this imported from Amazon UK in a few days.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-uncharted-2/50366

• God of War 3

This great piece of gaming got it´s place on the list mainly for my girlfriend. She loved the 2nd part of the game and I think she´ll make me buy this one as soon as it´s out.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launch-trailer-god-of-war/63218

—english version below—

Erhaltet ihr folgende Fehlermeldung wenn ihr via Windows Sicherung einen Systemreparaturdatenträger (kann das Wort mal einer für Glücksrad vorschlagen ?) erstellen wollt,

Systemreparaturdatenträger kann nicht erstellt werden – Falscher Parameter (0×80070057)

dann liegt es daran, dass der SPTD Treiber (der die Kommunikation zwischen Windows 7 und eurem CD/DVD Brenner regelt) nicht mehr aktuell ist.

Lösung :

1.) Den neusten SPTD Treiber von http://www.duplexsecure.com/windows7 herunterladen (achtet auf 64bit oder 32bit)

2.) Treiber installieren, Windows neustarten

3.) Sicherung aufrufen => Systemreparaturdatenträger erstellen

4.) Freuen, dass es funktioniert !

===

If you receive the following error when trying to create a new system resuce disc within the Windows 7 backup,

Can´t create system rescue disk – wrong parameter (0×80070057)

then your SPTD drivers (it controls the communication between Windows and your CD/DVD burner) is out of date.

Solution :

1.) Download the latest driver from http://www.duplexsecure.com/windows7 (64bit or 32bit depending on your Windows version)

2.) Install the driver and restart Windows

3.) Open the backup menu => create system rescue disk

4.) Smile, cause it works !

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Source & Thanks to : http://www.pcwelt.de/forum/windows-7/372788-systemreparaturdatentr-ger-erstellt.html

I found this little piece of software in an article at golem.de about the ash cloud from Island. Funny hah ?

But this software is so great that I have to write about it. What is it ? The website says it´s a Freeware Access Tool for mobile Internet. And it´s a software tool that supports numerous GPRS / EDGE / UMTS modems (USB, PCMCIA, PC-CARD, etc.) and a bunch of mobile net providers all over the world. Especially when you´re abroad and don´t want to spend millions for international (data) roaming you can just buy a prepaid sim, insert it into your (sim- & netlock free) modem, select the appropriate profile in MWCONN and there you go – happy surfing.

It´s also very helpful if you need to use more than one data modem. You can create a separate profile for every device and then simply select the one you need.

The tool also allows a nearly endless configuration of everything and supports Windows and Linux. Admittedly the graphical interface of the tool is not the most beautiful and you may need some time before you know how to handle it. But then it provides great functionality, anywhere in the world. They also have a Wiki where you can check if your modem is compatible with the software.

Website: http://mwconn.net

Wiki: http://www.mwconn.info/wiki/

Goal: Either make RalliSport Challenge 2 (XBOX) playable on XBOX 360 (emulated) or make DICE / Microsoft release a HD port via XBOX Arcade / XBOX Live.

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This article will cover all actions that are made to achieve this goal.

last update: 23.04.2010

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03.) A fax to the developers – DICE

02.) E-mail to the developers – DICE

01.) About the game

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Continue reading ‘The RalliSport Challenge 2 HD project’ »

I got my hands on Hitman – Blood Money for a couple of bucks but when I tried to play it, Windows always says that the “msvcr71.dll” is missing.

Here´s the solution :

1.) Download the missing msvcr71.dll from here

2a.) If you have a 32bit Windows (Vista or 7) copy the file to C:\Windows\system32

2b.) If you have a 64bit Windows (Vista or 7) copy the file to C:\Windows\SysWOW64

3.) Run the game and have fun !

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Thx to :

http://i.justrealized.com/2009/05/16/how-to-fix-missing-msvcr71dll-problem-in-windows/