Toshiba Satellite P100-102 - for Windows XP users only

Three years ago my girlfriend bought herself a notebook - The Toshiba P100-102. We've chosen it together as it's always better to have more critical points of view when it comes to buying such stuff. Our decision was based on multiple aspects. The critical ones were quality, performance and display size. My girlfriend upgraded this list with the additional one - "the looks". This notebook really rocked. Even today, after three years its performance would be totally satisfactory if not... the BIOS and the "f***n" graphic card cooling issue!

Toshiba mounted the "NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600" card into this great and whatsoever beautiful box. This was the largest mistake the company could ever make! Why? This chip has to be cooled down with a fan. After three years of what I would call "normal usage" the card simply DIED! And as you would expect, without the card the rest may be considered DEAD too!!! The funny part is, my girlfriend did not play any games, the chip did never work under extreme pressure. So how can that be?

Well, I always trusted Toshiba and believed that what they build will run for at least next 10-15 years (this was the case of my first notebook with Celeron 650MHz - it still simply runs!). What the hell did you guys do? Did you change your strategy from building quality products to building shit and forcing people to change their boxes every year?? I hope not, because if you did, I'll never buy a Toshiba again!!!

So what happened with the card? Did it overheat? Oh YES it did! Why? Well, this is what I found on nvidia Linux support forum after doing some research on "fan problems + P100 + geforce go". The guys explain how Toshiba controls the fan cooling the GPU. Here's what some said:

"... The modified Toshiba nvidia driver is constantly polling the MAX6659 sensor and then writing something into it's own embedded controller that is controlling the fan. So, I don't think it's a problem with the nvidia drivers but instead with Toshiba simply not telling nvidia how to control the fans they are using on their nvidia based laptops..."

This means:

• you're stuck with old XP (note: not only windows! you are stuck with XP!)


• you're stuck with old Toshiba modified NVIDIA drivers


• you're possibly stuck with specific BIOS version too (at least you may hack it easily)


• well... in other words, this notebook SUCKS!!! (as well as many other based on same idea and GeForce Go GPUs)

The whole cooling system story sounds a bit like a "big hack", immaturity and incompetence of the notebook manufacturer! So how do I see the Toshiba notebooks now? I will say just one thing. I am an OpenSource software fan... I don't like to be limited... and I absolutely HATE low quality components (including software of course) in my notebook!

So what am I going to buy now (apart from new, old GeForce 7600)?

When should you reinvent the wheel?

You will be warned by so many software developers to not make this big mistake and reinvent the wheel again. They will say that this is purely just a waste of time. Your solution will be new, not properly tested and probably not efficient too. In other words "it will suck anyway!" Well... they are totally right! Well.. at least in most of the cases. There are however some buts... and this is going to be the subject of this short blog post.

There are cases when reinventing the wheel is exactly the thing that you want to do! This is connected with two very important subjects: education and evolution. Let's take Intel as an example. What would it be if they stuck with their i386 processor implementation and not reinvent it again in form of i486, then Pentium and finally Core 2? The technology changes... did you ask yourself why? Because people invent new things, often by reinventing the wheel. Those changes allow other people to go further by getting rid of old limitations (e.g. performance, functionalities, etc.). This leads us towards optimization of our existing solutions ("the old wheel") and creating new ones ("rocket powered multi-road moon wheel" - which is still a wheel, but a better one).



Also, if you are newbie in the IT world willing to become a "guru" in the future. How the hell will you get to know how stuff works if you have never looked inside of it? How can you make it better if you are not allowed to change the hearts of it?

If you have time and creative mind then go ahead and do it. Please, reinvent the wheel so that I can use it in my next large, time intensive project allowing me to make a lot of money ;-)

The wisdom of "Döner Kebab" consumers

I was pretty hungry yesterday in the evening so I decided to go to the city center to get me a "Döner". The plan was good, the only problem I had was that I didn't know which place to choose. The city of Munich has hundreds (or rather thousands) of them! Each place offers very similar product for the similar price. How do I choose the one offering a good quality and won't cause me stomach aches at night?

So what did I do? Well... I just relied on the instinct :-) Sounds easy, but as soon as I got what I wanted (a nice, fresh and tasty "Döner") I realized how complex and logical my decision making process was. (Tip: It has something to do with groups.)

Once I got to the city center I walked along the street for a while passing "Döner" bars. I didn't go to the first one, not even to the second one or third one. The one I've chosen was somewhere in the middle of the street. Just a typical "Döner" place (small and a bit dirty looking). There was however one significant difference if you compared this place to the other ones. In this bar there were people, many people. What's more, people who were waiting in a queue for their food to get prepared. Why did my brain told me to go there and wait with those guys? Illogical, isn't it?

No, it's not. It's rather really cool! This group actually "told" me which place to choose by simply being there and my instinct convinced me that I should rely on their wisdom.

The choice was perfect. I got myself a "Döner" having a very good "price/quality" ratio... just because I was relying on my instinct.



Interestingly, in my city I do not rely on the instinct anymore. I simply know where to go. I guess I learned which bars are the best from some other groups ;-)

Better controlling the Cloud

This is what I found on the web. Check it out:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1753162278?bctid=17374112001

Seems to be an interesting idea. Waiting for some opensource product going this way.

I hate Mondays!

Last week I've booked my hotel and tickets to Munchen. I originally planed to stay there for three days (read two nights) and then come back to Erlangen and work remotely. Everything was great until today when I realized that I've made appointment for Thursday with a guy who substitutes my boss and comes to get some feedback info about me and my work. This fu... totally sucks! Booking another hotel just for one night in Munchen (it won't be cheap), re-booking the ticket (those guys at DB really know how to piss somebody off), etc. My girlfriend will be pissed of too (I promised to give her a ride to Nuernberg to the dentist on Thursday.) Why didn't I look at the calendar last week? It was all written there!! I don't get it! Oh.. I am such a... oh... no... I just hate these fu... Mondays!!!