The Blog-Blog

CoJ 2 - Bound in Blood - Black Screen

2010-03-19T09:05:00.004-01:00

Some time ago I bought the game "Call of Juarez 2 - Bound in Blood."

The annoying problem, which cost me lots of time and despair, was a black screen right after the click on the icon. I couldn’t return to windows but press the reset button. I use Windows 7 (64bit) on my machine and thought this would be the reason so I read lots of forums but nothing worked for me.

Suggested solutions were: right click on the shortcut (or the .exe file in the game folger) and go to settings. In compatibility mode choose Windows Vista SP2 and disable visual themes and disable desktop composition.

All didn’t work for me but sometimes it is just too simple!
I use a firewall (Comodo). One day it crashed on system startup. –and the game suddenly started.

Don’t know why I didn’t think earlier of it, but well… maybe it helps if I post it here. So: Shutdown your firewall before the first start of the game. (Later you can switch between the game and windows by pressing Alt+Tab and change firewall settings.) Now the game runs perfect, even without compatibility mode.

Enjoy the game!

Service Manual ASUS L3000 / L3400

2008-07-30T09:44:00.001Z

People say that ASUS has a terrible service. Recently I tried to repair an Asus L3000 and was looking for a Service Manual. - People seem to be right, I didn't find one online. So I tried it myself. Maybe I can publish here a kind of inoficial instruction of how to open the computer. Good luck with your repair then!

(Disclaimer: Using this instruction is on your own risk! I will not take respomsibility for its completeness or resulting damage on your computer. For questions concerning your computer problem contact the ASUS Support Service.)

1. Remove the screws on the backside

2. Turn the computer around and remove battery and screws

3. Carefully remove Harddisk: Remove the screw and pull the black tie until it slips out

4. Turn the computer around and open it.

5. Use a sharp thin tool to press the hole on the left side over the keyboard and slide away the plastic cover to the left side.

6. Remove the keyboard and its cable

7. Remove the screws: 1. Releases the monitor; 2. and 3. releases top bezel.

7. Pull out the screen cables (2x) and remove the screen

8. Pull out the red touchpad cable

9. Unplug the microphone cable and now you can remove the top bezel

10. Remove the CD Drive and the screws, also remove the "bridge" which holds the CD Drive

11. Pull out speaker cables and Floppy Cable

12. Gently remove the main board; Pay attention to the two fans on the bottom side. Unplug them.

Vorleser.net

2008-07-01T20:51:00.000Z

Vor einiger Zeit habe ich eine Quelle für kostenlose Hörbücher entdeckt. -Ja, man mag es kaum glauben, sogar legal. Hier der Link: www.vorleser.net
In letzter Zeit bin ich etwas vorsichtiger geworden, was das Nutzen von im Web erhältlichen Bildern angeht. Hin und wieder hört man von Prozessen wegen Urheberrechtsverletzung. -selbst in nicht ganz so weit reichenden Kreisen... Deswegen diesmal ohne das Logo von vorleser.net...

New Blog

2008-06-09T16:22:00.000Z

Huh... Long time no see... Although this (first) blog of mine is decaying more and more, I just opened up a new one (hehehe). (More internet trash! Hurray!)
Ask me for the reason and I would simply say that I prefer taking pictures for the moment. (Although I still hope that I start writing sooner or later again - like Mr Hummel) Plus, I needed to save the URL name for later.... (hehehe 2). So just have a look at http://www.gerolf-m.blogspot.com. At the moment I am experimenting with makro photography...

Surveillance

2007-11-08T06:34:00.000-01:00

A friend of mine sent me the link to an interesting flash animation. If you want to get informed about current possibilities and use of surveillance technology, check this out. (It is available on several mirrors. Choose one. Only available in German.)

Motivation and Hope for Non-Graduates

2007-11-02T11:42:00.000-01:00

I found this speech accidentally today. It shows Steve Jobs (CEO, Apple and Pixar) at the Stanford Commencement Speech 2005. For me an interesting source for own speeches and motivation.

Revival

2007-10-19T14:15:00.001Z

Isnt it fantastic?! Finally after one year I could reactivate my blog account. I found a new software which is not as convenient as w.bloggar though. For everybody who is looking for a free software that is compatible with the "new" blogger, try Sematic.

It works the same, you can use html editing mode as well as WYSIWYG (viewing mode without HTML code). Unfortunately the feature "edit templates" is missing.

Well, for me it maskes blogging more convenient again. However my blogroll won't be often up-to-date ;-)

Blogging in Word??!

2007-10-01T17:04:00.001Z

Oh my, I can't believe it. Is there no other chance to publish offline created posts in blogger?! There must be a better solution. Google should work on it!

"Lonelygirl15 the Media Whore"

2006-10-11T08:45:00.000Z

This is how a critical video calls a very famous video blogger.

I haven't heard much about video blogs so far. (Unfortunately, or else it had appeared in my research paper on weblogs as well) But recently I discovered YouTube and thus a new dimensions of blogging.

It seems that video blogging is quite popular already in the USA. One of the most famous video-bloggers is probably lonelygirl15. I just watched one of her clips and I have to say that it is quite professional.

However, so far I haven't compared it to other videos in the category "Blogs". So I can not say if it is a typical example for a blogger video. On the other hand there are also rumours if she is a real video blogger or not. If you check out the video linked above, you will know what I mean. There she can be seen on TV where she admits that some details about her were actually fake.

Nevertheless, I feel pretty interested in this new form of media. It offers a great deal of possibilities I think. The only problem is the lame modem connection at home...

Google buys YouTube

2006-10-10T10:39:00.000Z

I just created an account at YouTube. It shall be possible to upload 100 Mb of videos and mp3 for free. Well, I will try it soon probably.

And then I read the news. Google bought YouTube! The internet isn't safe anymore. Google is on a good way to become a monopole I think. Nevertheless, the action saved YouTube's life. They had lots of problems keeping the site alive. Many people recommended Google not to buy it. I think, however, that it was a good deal for Google.

We will see probably in the near future what Google makes out of YouTube. I hope that in the end the customers will benefit...

Old News - Though Good Stuff

2006-10-09T19:32:00.000Z

For me it is a news though. I always wondered how to include videos in weblogs. Now I found out. (Unfortunately I don't have a broadband connection so far, so there is no video now where I am telling you this ;-)

YouTube is a platform for hosting videos (lots of funny stuff there). I maybe will try it in the near future...

Manual for Travelmate 800

2006-10-05T17:34:00.000Z

Today somebody visited my page and was looking for a solution to open his Acer Travelmate 800 case. Because I had the same problem and it took me a while to find the service manual, here is a link (hope it works for a while) for the Travelmate 800 Service Manual. In case it should be offline, try to google for the file tm800sg.pdf.

Technorati up-to-date

2006-10-03T09:49:00.000Z

From next Friday on, Technorati plans to have its own newsletter. It shall appear every week.

"The Buzz Monitor will be your weekly update of what's happening on the web, right now. We'll pipe you headlines from the blogosphere, photos from our members, tips and tricks for our publishers, and guides for our users. All this delivered fresh to your inbox each week courtesy of the world's leading index of user-generated media."

"We'll strive to report the best of the World Live Web every week, and we're confident you'll like it. And you may just become addicted, so don't say we didn't warn you." they claim in an email.

SIgning in shall be possible at http://www.technorati.com.

The Broken Sword

2006-10-01T09:43:00.000Z

I couldn’t believe it when I opened today’s newspaper advertisements. Finally there is a new part of “The Broken Sword” available! This would be the 4th part of the computer game whose part 1 fascinated me a lot 10 years ago.

However the following parts were a harsh disappointment. Well, let’s see how the new part of this adventure-game is. Unfortunately the 3D characters from the 3rd part are still existent and any similarity with the characters from the previous parts is gone.

Some developers, however, created an unofficial version 2.5. A demo can be downloaded at http://www.baphometsfluch25.de/. The actors from the first 2 parts who borrowed their voices for the game’s characters even renounced to get paid.

To be honest, I am more looking forwards to the unofficial version than two play the 4th part (“The Angel of Death”) in a few years when it costs only a quarter of the €44!

"I don't wanna die!!!!....Pleeeaaasseee-...!

2006-09-30T19:44:00.000Z

I just dropped by my blog after three months of absence(!). Actually I wanted to let it die… actually… Well, I am not sure what I will blog on next. The Internet-Impact-Course is over. Yea… this research paper… Actually had to be handed in today… But there is weekend now :) and the next two weekdays are holidays… so… :D

The only news is that I wanted to move to Halle. Yes, wanted to. I rented an apartment with the only requests of being in centre and cheap. Hmm… I found one. However there was a lot to do and so I was working for 2 months there to get it half way liveable. Wanna see it?

Nah… just kidding.
This one is real... (okay... now was real):

Nevertheless,... I hope I can move soon.

Online (again)

2006-06-30T21:38:00.000Z

...and June passes by... But one news is there! My computer is back and I play it down when I write that I am happy about it. A big stone of relief dropped from my heart when the mechanic called me yesterday. I had taken the computerapart myself and handed only the motherboard and the bottom bezel in. Unfortunately the mechanic didnt do his job well with putting it all together again (the solder was okay). Well, it was some time until I had re-constructed it all again (it took me the whole soccer match Germany-Argentina!).

And then I checked my FeedReader for the first time to know what was going on in the blogs during the meantime. Oh yes, again: This tool does really a great service! And now actually I could open statistics about who wrote most entries during this time. If you really want to know... Mr Hummel is on top (8 postings). But okay, he didn't blog only on class issues. M. Koch is one of the first, too, followed by T. Löwe. But this chart actually tells only something about the quantity. And so, I don't need to feel embarrassed about my merely four entries.

Anyway, blogging has me back :oD

Hyperlinks

2006-05-27T13:44:00.000Z

Some people really don’t know how to create hyperlinks it seems to me. I recently got a request to explain it and that’s why I will do it here (in short) for everybody who has problems with it.
Basically it is very simple. You can install the W.Bloggar and write postings through this tool. Then you only need to press a button and the link will appear automatically. In a similar way you can use Blogger, there is also a button (looks like a chain?) in the “create a posting” screen. But if you want to do it manually, here you are. (For more information please google yourself. You will find enough pages which explain it.)

If you use this code your page will be opened in the same browser window:

<a href=" URL">Text to be displayed</a>

for example: <a href="www.got-blog.blogspot.com">Gerolf’s Blog</a>

If you use that code your page will be opened in a new browser window:

<a href="URL" target="_blank">Text to be displayed</a>

for example: <a href="www.got-blog.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Gerolf’s Blog</a>

I hope the answers will satisfy you, if you still have problems just drop me a comment.

"Informatik verstehen"

2006-05-23T16:57:00.000Z

This is actually more to my classmates: If you are interested further in computers and internet and certain topics spoken about in class, I want to recommend you the Öffentliche Ringvorlesung “Informatik verstehen” offered by the Martin-Luther-University Halle. Unfortunately some of the interesting topics are outside of our deadline to write the term paper but maybe you would still be interested…

The full program is directly available as PDF (and in colour) when you click here.

Further information about the single lectures you get at the Fachbereich für Mathematik und Informatik.

10. Mai 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Einführungsveranstaltung
Prof. Dr. Paul Molitor, Institut für Informatik
Wie intelligent sind Rechner?

24. Mai 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Prof. Dr. Wolf Zimmermann, Institut für Informatik
Was Rechner alles anrichten können und wie
man es vermeiden kann.

7. Juni 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Prof. Dr. Ronald Maier, Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik
und Operations Research
Portale, Portale und nochmals Portale

21. Juni 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Brass, Institut für Informatik
Suchmaschinen im Internet

5. Juli 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Doz. Dr. Peter Schenzel, Institut für Informatik
Virtual Reality - Wie wirklich ist unsere
Wirklichkeit?

11. Oktober 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Posch, Institut für Informatik
Bioinformatik, was ist das?

25. Oktober 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Dr. Klaus Estenfeld, Siemens AG München
Digitale Rechteverwaltung - Fluch und Segen

8. November 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Prof. Dr. Taieb Mellouli, Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik
und Operations Research
Besser, schneller, effizienter durch
Optimierung und Simulation

22. November 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Dr. Steffen Vieweg, GISA GmbH Halle
Viren, Würmer, Trojaner und anderes Getier

6. Dezember 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Prof. Dr. Ludwig Staiger, Institut für Informatik
Datensicherheit durch Fehlertoleranz

20. Dezember 2006, 18 Uhr c.t.
Prof. Dr. Ralf Peters, Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik und
Operations Research
E-Business? Mit Sicherheit!

24. Januar 2007, 18 Uhr c.t.
Abschlussveranstaltung
What happens next Ein Blick in die Zukunft

An (Im)Possible Life of a Blogger

2006-05-18T16:57:00.000Z

I feel being prevented. That computer! But anyway it was my fault why it is broken now. No! Ha! Of course I will not tell you how I did it! However it is still not fixed. I thought of sending it in but to everyone: Become an Acer technician! You would get €80 per hour! And everyone would come to you because it is impossible to fix it yourself. I didn’t want to pay this of course. So I was asking the biggest computer shop in town to repair it. But they didn’t accept it and had sent it in too, with the only difference that in addition they would charge something for - don’t ask me - labelling it maybe. So I left with the advice to try it in other shops. That’s what I did by phone. But I found no shop which accepted to have a look at it. They were all - as it seemed to me - scared to take notebooks. They are so small that you easily can break something and do worse than anything good. Well, I seriously wondered why in their advertisement in the yellow pages was written NOTEBOOK REPAIR!

Despaired I called a friend. He is much into software development if he knows a hardware guy. Yea, he does. I will meet him on Friday. But already yesterday I thought of another solution… if maybe has published in his blog how to open an Acer Travelmate 800. It seems to be impossible because the case is still sticking together although all the screws are out.

But I miss my computer a lot! I wondered how can I continue blogging? Aren’t we bound to our computers? No emails, no blogs. Terrible. Yes, terrible! A few months ago this sentence had been: “No emails. Terrible!”. But this month it is “No emails, no blogs. Terrible.” That is an interesting change if you re-read the first entry. Thus, so far I would say I have “extended my horizon”. Blogging became somehow a part of my (contemporary) life which is comparable with email, chat, VoIP.

The “desire” is even that big that I found a way to post another entry despite still not having my own computer. And actually the general growing computerization and mobility made it possible. Everybody has a computer and the internet is widely accessible. If you have no computer just go to a friend, your parents, your job, there you would surely find one.

This time I owe it to my girlfriend that I am some sort of “online”. It is not the own computer, no WBloggar, Feedreader and other personal tools. But still I can use it to upload my posting.

It seems not to be important if in our “mobile society” one individual member is broken down. There is enough capacity provided by all the other units. Sending emails, blogging and all the other internet use is not limited to the “elite”, those who own the hardware, but actually accessible from everyone and -where.
- Fortunately!

Offline

2006-05-11T14:28:00.000Z

Sorry... I can neither comment nor blog at the moment. My computer needs a repair. It should be fixed by the end of next week I hope. (Incredible how expansive the customer's support is!)

Intercultural Projects in Turkey and France

2006-04-27T10:33:00.000Z

Well, I post it in German... Unfortunately I can not participate myself in those interesting projects but only can recommend them. All you would have to pay is 30% of the travelling costs (and flights to Turkey and France are not that expansive!), so take the chance! For all those who study IKEAS it is - I am sure - a good opportunity to gain intercultural competence.
Please spread the information on your homepages, emails and so on. For further information please click on the coutries and you will be directed automatically to the pages of the project.
Thanks a lot!

**Teilnehmer für Projekte in Frankreich und Türkei gesucht**

Frankreich: 10.07.2006 - 20.07.2006
Türkei: 01.09. - 09.09.2006

Offen für alle Teilnehmer zwischen 18 und 25 Jahren! Fragen und Anmeldungen bei Stefan-At-Newchance.de
Alle Informationen auf
Newchance.de (Stichwort "Internationales")

The Lecture

2006-04-24T17:28:00.000Z

I have held the lecture and now I am happy. Everything went real well although I had some problems at the beginning to explain the technical terms part. To my surprise the class was real empty. Of those 21 students counted last time there were only 15 present! But I would say the topics were actually not that boring (were they?). For those who have missed the presentation (and of course also for those who have listened) there is a handout available for download. Just click here or go to the Center for US-Studies where you also find the course schedule.
Well, anyway... thank you again for listening and for being patient because I needed some more time than the actual lesson was.

Trouble with the Comments

2006-04-24T17:25:00.000Z

I dont know why but the comments are not displayed properly in my blog. After I heard from several people that they could not write a comment I tried it myself. Indeed the comments are not displayed. So far I could not figure out what the problem is. I tried to re-organize the template but... no result yet. I only found out that Blogger collects the actual comments but they are invisible. Well, I hope I can fix it soon.
Unfortunately Blogger was overtaxed with re-publishing the templates today. I even could hardly log in. Is it only a problem I have? (If it works again feel free to comment on this ;-)

[Update]

Hurray! It works again. So please feel free to comment me...

The Deadline

2006-04-17T13:09:00.000Z

Now, one week prior to my lecture, the subtopics and title are fixed (the more or less). But instead of giving the lecture here in detail I remain silent and keep the secret...
So, everybody should be looking forward to coming next Monday to class and to hear about what you should know about Web logs, their history and functions and how you (finally) can change the world...

Got a Tool!

2006-04-15T22:13:00.000Z

Yes! Finally! It works! In the morning I installed a tool on my computer for editing blogs from my desktop. You can find it under W.Bloggar. I hope that with it editing blogs would be no problem anymore in the blogger. But so far I could not try it. The first difficulty was to start the program because as I just found out, it could do nothing with my password where I used some special signs in it. Well, anyway, now it works I hope and this is the first entry I upload with it.

A serious plea!

2006-04-10T16:23:00.000Z

Dear Reader of my blog,

Please stop here for a while and tell me why you have clicked on my blog. If you have your own blog, why do you write a blog and when have you started doing so?

This is meant seriously because in university we do some researches about the internet. My task is to find out about weblogs and the people who write them. So far I did not make much progress and rather found out about technical aspects.
If there is someone who likes to share her or his opinion with me please contact me.
Thanks a lot!!!

Introduction II

2006-04-08T09:58:00.000Z

Well, yea… I have to confess something… This makes me feel slightly embarrassed because it is a confession in public.

My attitude towards blogs has changed somehow. I mean, I still have no solid opinion about this form of communication yet. But it starts fascinating me. There are a lot of possibilities to share things with whomever. During the last week I read some texts about blogs – no real deep study so far – but it is quite interesting. Especially the function of RSS is something exciting. I imagine that news must spread very fast that way! I will try to add an RSS-feature in my blog. –For now just as a test.

I also have thought of moving my blog. The msn-spaces are not really that satisfactory anymore. I have seen some blogs on blogger.com now and they provide much more freedom. The advantage of this Microsoft blog is that everything is really easy and you don’t have to know html or other codes to set up a blog. But this is also a disadvantage. So far I found no function which allows you to add some extra commands or features. When something doesn’t work, like in my profile uploading photos, you can do nothing about it. –At least I do not know how.
So I created already a profile at www.blogger.com. I could tell you the name already but so far there is no “new” content. First I have to experiment myself with creating it. Well, I have not had a closer look so far but things seem to be more sophisticated there. I tried uploading a picture too, but it wasn’t like in the msn-spaces where a pop-up appears and you just can select one from your hard disk. But fortunately there is everywhere a description. I hope I can figure it out during the weekend. If not, just give me some more time…
(Maybe, if I was successful, I can give some instructions during my lecture? –A crash course… “How to blog on / at / with Blogger” ;o)

Introduction

2006-04-06T16:14:00.000Z

Okay, I have a „blog“. So what?
This summer semester the university offers a course about “The Impact of Internet on American Society”. One of the course requirements was to create one’s own blog. That’s what I did. -But only because of this requirement!
I never have thought of doing so before. When this all started with blogs and so on a friend of mine was really fond of those blogs (and still is I think). She always read the diaries of other people and eventually created her own cyberspace. So far I absolutely don’t share her ardour. What is so interesting about reading the diaries of others? My own life is exciting enough. Their privacy shall remain theirs. So at first I basically don’t understand why people feel the need to read a blog and second why they write blogs. I mean why do those people think somebody would feel interested in their boring life?
But I don’t know much about blogs yet. At the moment I would call them only the “voluntary” spam of the internet. The only difference is that blogs are not sent coincidentally to whoever the receiver may be. People even go voluntarily on them.
I am very sceptical about those blogs at the moment. We will see if this changes during the course of the … course.
But as a “sign of good will” I even took the lecture about “blogs” and their impact on society which is already in 2 weeks.
My progresses on that issue will be posted here then.
But since this everybody-creates-his-own-blog-project is an experiment I am also keen to know if it will work out. I have thought of one “danger”: For those who in preparation for their lectures at the beginning of the courses have acquired a thorough knowledge of their topic it will be difficult to maintain a visible progress in their blog-postings about the same topic afterwards.
Well, anyway, I will try to keep my blog up to date and to get to know more about the advantages and disadvantages of what I still regard as “strange” :)