Computer Vampires

01/11/2010

Computer Vampires

I am now thoroughly convinced that computers are out for blood. All those times hen people call me up and say, “Hey fix this”, and it magically starts working -- this may seem like some great and wonderful thing. Really, what I’m thinking is, “Oh shit, I’m going to pay for this later.
You know which problems I’m talking about. Little, annoying, convoluted yet obscure problems that only crop up when the moon is full, Jupiter is in retrograde, and Mars is in alignment with a thousand sword-swallowing virgins (who happen to be dancing on their right foot during the autumnal equinox). The problems that disappear as quickly as they materialize reflect, at the very least, the complex conditions of their birth.

Perhaps it is because of this complexity that these same problems scatter away like a house of cards when a toothpick is dropped from the Empire State Building. Perhaps it is some kind of technological “Midas Touch”, an aura of order that forces everything back into proper alignment.

Of course, there is another possibility: Computer Vampires. That’s right, little blood-sucking gremlins that extract their pound of flesh. It may sound like nonsense to you (and the proof of their existence may be elusive), but when you feel the nasty bite of a late-night server outage, where absolutely nothing goes right and you only have about twenty-three minutes until everything is supposed to be back up and operational, you will believe.

It’s moments like these in which this supposed “Midas Touch” is non-existent, when all hope seems to be lost and you have to fight tooth-and-nail to get everything working properly. The computer vampires save it all up for these moments when their bite is the most stinging.

So the next time you have a problem and it gets miraculous better, beware. There are fundamental rules to this technological universe: cause and effect, and computer vampires.

I DID IT!! Hackintosh w/ Asus P6T & Intel Core i7 920 !!

After 3 days of trial and error, I finally did it! I managed to create my very first hackintosh.









This was the most agonizing 3 days of frustration that I have had, but the final result is something I am very much in love with. A fully functioning Hackintosh system Dual Booted with Windows 7 (sigh, Star Trek Online is coming out soon after all) and at about a third of the cost of an comparable Apple system. I ranked at about 9367 using GeekBench, and I haven't even overclocked yet.

If you are thinking of attempting this yourself, know this:

1) It is an extremely frustrating and sometimes hopeless experience. It took me 3 days, so don't give up. Google sometimes will fail you. Use the search feature on Insanelymac's forums. Sometimes insanelymac will fail you. Use google.

2) Though frustrating, it is extremely rewarding. I love my new Hackintosh.

3) MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN NVIDIA CHIPSET VIDEO CARD. Some ATI cards are supported (see netkas's site), but you will be much happier using an nvidia chipset. I basically didn't have to do anything special except use the boot loader provided in the P6TEssentials file and I was up and running on my GTX 275.

4) WHEN YOU GET IT WORKING, FOR GODS SAKE USE TIME MACHINE TO BACK IT UP. Buy an extra USB drive (bigger, 100gb or so) so that when you get it working, you can always restore to that point. Make sure you have a backup before updating to 10.6.2, because you can always boot from your USB 8G stick, go into the installer, go up to utilities, and restore from time machine backup.

5) If you want to be safe and not have to worry about time machine, you can make a copy of your Extensions.mkext file in your /Extra folder before messing with your kexts. Make a copy, name it Extensions.mkexts.WORKS or something. That way if anything goes wrong, you can boot the USB stick, go into a terminal, and go to /Volumes/(your Snow Leopard HD)/Extra and restore your Extensions.mkext.WORKS to Extensions.mkext and reboot.

6) Don't use the EFI option with 3_Macloader script. I dunno, I just launched the 3_Macloader script and said NO to the EFI, and put the boot loader on the main mac drive. That way you can just unplug the mac HD, plug in an empty one to SATA 0, install windows, then put the mac drive back on SATA 0 and the windows drive on SATA 1,2,3,4, or 5. Boot to Sata 0 and the chameleon boot loader for the mac drive will automagically see the windows 7 partition and allow you to boot to it.

My first attempt with Leopard was a dismal failure, but with Snow Leopard and a thumb drive it was much easier. The hardest part was learning how kexts work with Chameleon. Once I figured out how to load them up it became much easier. The best advice I can give is to find a good tutorial on kexts or a good script that loads them for you. I found a pre-made script and analyzed it to figure out what the hell it was doing. Finding out which kexts to use for my hardware. Luckily, I found this guide by Trick77 which contained some very important information, including a comment by a reader which contained the scripts, kexts, and information that I needed:

http://www.trick77.com/2009/10/12/asus-p6t-64-bit-osx86/

If you look at eric r's post, he says use this guide:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=189052

But with these files instead:

http://www.mediafire.com/?zzyzmjxm0xy

(PS, if the above link is dead I am also hosting this file here):

P6T Essentials File

This was a huge help, and eric R was spot-on and I love him/her/it dearly. This post is what finally got me working.

I am running the following hardware:

Motherboard: Asus P6T

NOTE: When I was reading the forums on insanelymac, etc, people were referencing P6T Deluxe, Extreme, etc. I have no idea if mine is one of these since it just says P6T on the box. But I know that there were a few P6T variation guides on insanelymac that were just NOT working for me. My motherboard has "Xtreme Phase" on the box as one of the features, but the box label and the manual itself just say P6T Motherboard... and my receipt just says Asus P6T, so I'm betting it's the standard version.

Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.67 Ghz Processor
Memory: Kingston 6GB Set (2GB Each)
Storage: 2x750gb Western Digital drives
Video: BFG GTX 975 w/ 892mb Video RAM
Case: Asus 900

Monitor: Two 24inch LG's connected via VGA cable, but with two VGA-DVI converters when the cables get to the video card

Soooooooooooooo, off the top of my head, all I did was use an existing Macbook Pro to make a copy of Snow Leopard Install DVD (yes I bought it) onto an external USB stick using disk utility.

A few caveats:

The scripts provided in the 2nd link use the "3_Macloader" script (which is slightly different from the guide) to compile all kexts in the KEXTs directory and put the compiled Extensions.mkext into the Extra folder on your Snow Leopard partition. I found a lot of the guides referenced an /Extra/Extensions folder, which really you don't need, since this script pulls from the kexts in the KEXTs folder. When you unpack the files, you'll see what I mean. Take a look at Scriptfiles\snowleoinstaller.sh, and you will see how it compiles the kexts, sets the permissions, and then moves the Extensions.mkext into the /Extra folder.

My SATA LG DVD drive would not properly play DVD's at first. They would skip around and act choppy. My solution was to put it on the JMicron SATA controller instead of the regular sata controller.

Be careful updating to 10.6.2. The instructions say to make sure that you have SleepEnabler.kext installed BEFORE you update, and then make sure AFTER you update that you put the new 10.6.2 version of SleepEnabler on your system. I found that the best way was to not have SleepEnabler.kext at ALL, and then after you get your system booted with 10.6.2, install the NEWEST sleep enabler.

Also, after 10.6.2, audio doesn't work. You have to use a special AppleHDA.kext (i think I finally found it on the insanelymac forums... search!) and the newest fakesmc.kext (2.5 is what I used)

10.6.2 Info:

Here is a link to my KEXTs, which are what i'm now using on Snow Leopard 10.6.2 with working Sound, DVD, accelerated graphics, etc: My Kexts Click Here

Here is a link to MY KextScripts.zip file which is basically the P6TEssentials package with the kext's and scripts for 10.6.2. Just run 3_Macloader and it should install the right KEXTs. Please note, this has been modified a little and the KEXTs in the KEXT folder are for 10.6.2 and really just a reference for me. If you can get the P6TEssentials.zip file instead, that would be better for you (unless you are on 10.6.2 already and looking for how I got my audio working):

MY KEXTs & SCRIPTS for 10.6.2

Here is a list of the KEXTs I am now using in my final 10.6.2 System:

AppleHDA (modified version which enabled HD sound on Asus P6T)
fakesmc.kext (v2.5)
IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector.kext
IONetworkingFamily.kext
JMicronATA.kext
NullCPUPowerManagement.kext
OpenHaltRestart.kext
PlatformUUID.kext
RealtekR1000.kext
SleepEnabler.kext
UUID.kext


Extra Tips:

1) You can use Aqua Mac's "About this Mac" package to display the right processor information in About->About this Mac. Mine showed up at 2.7 Ghz Unknown until I ran his package. Now it always reflects the right speed. Make sure you have his latest one on the insanelyMac forums, because the earlier versions did not properly display overclocked speeds.

2) Download iStat Menus (google it) for a nice temperature readout of all your cores, CPU Core utilization, disk usage, etc. It makes it easier to keep tabs on your extremely awesome system. If you look at my screenshots, you can see it running in the upper-right corner of the finder bar.

3) Even though it doesn't look like you can type anything at the chameleon boot loader, if you start typing -v at the boot loader screen, it will allow you to type in kernel options. It took me a while to realize this.



TO RECAP:

Step 1) Use this guide:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=189052

But with these P6T Essential files instead:

http://www.mediafire.com/?zzyzmjxm0xy

(PS, if the above link is dead I am also hosting this file here):

P6T Essentials File

This will get you to Snow Leopard 10.6.0. The only difference is that you use 3_Macloader instead of 3_Loader and the essential files I am providing you from Trick77's site.

Step 2) BEFORE YOU UPDATE, KNOW THAT IF YOU REBOOT AFTER THE UPDATE WITH THE SleepEnabler.kext that is provided in the KEXTs folder of the essentials file, you will KERNEL PANIC and have a problem!

Step 3) So, knowing that, do the 10.6.2 update:

Run the update (NOT FROM SOFTWARE UPDATE!!!) -- download it here:

here if your on 10.6.0
here if your on 10.6.1

DO NOT RESTART AFTER THE UPDATE!DO NOT RESTART AFTER THE UPDATE!DO NOT RESTART AFTER THE UPDATE!DO NOT RESTART AFTER THE UPDATE!DO NOT RESTART AFTER THE UPDATE! (get the point?)

Step 4) MAKE A COPY OF YOUR /Extra/Extensions.mkext file, so you can restore it if there is a problem!!!

Step 5) Replace your KEXTs in the KEXTs folder of P6TEssentials folder with these 10.6.2 kexts, specifically Sleepenabler.kext -- and re-run your 3_MacLoader. I would just get rid of all the KEXTs and replace them with these new ones:

MY KEXTs & SCRIPTS for 10.6.2

Step 6) Re-run 3_MacLoader (say NO to EFI). This will rebuild and replace your Extensions.mkext in /Extra

Reboot, light a candle, slay a chicken.

Tarmon Gaidon

The brighter the cross,
The deeper the sin,
The nature of omnipotence,
Is it's inclusion within...
Laments of the guilty,
And cries of the damned,
Clever cell towers covered,
With the foliage of lands...

The people all are speaking,
Trying to save the things that they know...
Reacting to a feeling,
That everything they know is about to blow.

A silent flash in the sky...
Like a shooting star, without the sigh.

I have been informed that I have 6.75 terms worth of financial aid left, and I have about 8 terms worth of classes to take still.

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am screwwwwwed!

Universities and their Generalized Teaching

Hello teacher, tell me: what's my lesson?

Look right through me... Look right through me.

Are you out there??

I wonder if any person still reads this. I think it's mostly become a method of remembering my own past. I guess there's still a vain hope at times that maybe someone will read it and find some piece of wisdom that they can pluck from my experiences. Maybe some of you check in every now and then to see what I'm up to, even though I may not have seen you in a number of years.

MAYBE satan is watching and wondering when I'll finally come to my senses and join him in the netherworld.

Let's see... Topics and latest activities...

1) If you have not seen "Into the Wild", you should watch it. It's good. Powerful message.
2) Jay Brennan is coming to town again. He'll be here I think around the 25th of July. Make sure you buy your tickets. He'll be playing at Doug Fir.
3) All power that ever was or ever will be is here now.

4) I'm still in school. I'll be a Junior in the fall, yay!
5) Wake-boarding is fun. Try it.
6) I play world of warcraft and I have a guild. I'm a nerd. Alliance. Chromaggus. Qs.
7) I started reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series again (but I began with Book 5). The new book is coming out near the end of September, if the lady at the bookstore in Gold Beach was correct.
8) I'm out of practice on my guitar, but I'm feeling the inspiration of a new song rattling around my head. Stay tuned?
9) The new Transformers movie sucked a little.
10) The new Harry Potter comes out on Friday, and it will rawk.
11) I just got back from my physical education classes and I hurt a little.

If you want words of wisdom, I suggest you take a walk in a park. Go lay down and look at the sky for a while, watch the clouds, contemplate your existence and the "reality" around you. Remember that it's all just a complex combination of words, subject to all the miscommunication and fallibility that words embody. Take a bath in the irony. Don't take it so seriously. It's hard to take something so seriously when you can see the lies behind a desperate attempt at a complex illusion of perfection.

Bleh, what a bunch of dribble. Go find your own wisdom :)

Rainbow Rhetoric
Written by Cameron Barry

Some of the effects of popular culture on the gay subculture are easily recognized. Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, Red Bull and Smirnoff have all signed on to the disposal cash-cow that is the gay individual. Camel and Marlboro, Saks 5th Avenue, Nordstrom and more have all marketed, indirectly or otherwise, to gay male culture by assigning a specific masculine archetype to their advertisements. Many gay men who walk into a bar in the summer sport Hollister or A&F clothing with Nordstrom scents dangling in the air. This is perhaps a not-so-subtle attempt to incorporate media-cultivated desires into their lifestyle, to create a mirror instead of a lens, which lures others in while simultaneously protecting them from true exposure.

The result of this indirect marketing seems pretty clear at the surface. Brands and marketing have subtly made their way into what could arguably be called one of the more taboo counter-cultures of America, but the effects cannot be easily pinpointed. Steve Gonzales, the manager of Hobos (a local gay-friendly bar/restaurant in downtown Portland) suggests that marketing and sponsorship may have had a positive effect on gay culture:

"Just thinking of the last decade or so, there’s been a lot more acceptance in a lot of companies. I think things with corporations are becoming a lot more lenient towards supporting gay lifestyle. Corporations have become a lot more lenient towards gays in the workplace. The market has changed a little bit where we are more accepted by bigger companies. In the last several years there’s been more gay sports events and there are bigger names with whoever is gay (say the professional). Sport is involved. Sponsorship. I think we are coming to a broader support system when it comes to money and advertising, and that companies aren’t so abrupt to putting their finger down on someone. Times are changing, and companies aren’t feeling like they are going to be looked down upon for sponsoring an individual be he gay or not. I think we are coming to the fact that sponsoring is sponsoring. No one should be pointed at just because they’re gay. There’s a lot more money going into that side of things" (Steve Gonzales, Personal Interview).

There are some positive aspects to corporate sponsorship. As more and more sponsorship occurs, it becomes less taboo and more and more companies sign on. The more sponsorship occurs, the more money and supplies are available, which equates to more exposure of the gay community. But there are nefarious effects of marketing as well, especially when the messages of marketing run deep within our culture. Marketing sameness as a method of connection is one of the darker results of branding, and very prevalent in Gay culture. One such example can be seen in the drinking habits of gay male individuals. In an article appropriately titled “Driven to Drink” in Just Out Magazine, Mike Binks claims, “some [gay men] will say, ‘I really started to drink pretty heavily in adolescence, because I wanted to be one of the guys, and the way to be one of the guys and to distance myself from this difference that I’m feeling inside was to go and drink a lot of beer.’ Other gay men will say, ‘I initially felt very uncomfortable in gay venues, so my social lubricant was alcohol…” (Williams 16, emphasis mine)

A sense of man-ness is clear in most beer advertising. Camaraderie and male-bonding rituals often revolve around guys drinking beer, perhaps mostly due to the marketing image of beer in general. A gay man who has feelings of difference and is inundated with beer advertisements seeks sameness with his fellows, a connection that is fabricated by the display of unification between groups of males. This unification is something that a gay male seeks not only for a sense of sameness, but because of his own sexuality as well; for most of the men in beer commercials are notably attractive.

We must also bear in mind that one of the primary tools of social connection is finding some kind of commonality crutch and developing a conversation. Not only is alcohol and beer a commonality crutch in a bar (what honest drinker would refuse a free drink), but its inhibitive and euphoric effects are also used as ‘social lubricant’ to free a gay man from years of fear and repression in a homophobic society. The fear of approaching a person of the same sex in order to engage in courtship is dulled by the effects of alcohol.
So we ask ourselves: “What does this have to do with marketing?” While the answer may not be immediately forthcoming, Paul Brown makes an interesting statement which might shed a little light on the subject, “Just to give you an idea, the gay bars in Portland have the single largest beer purchases on a monthly basis versus any straight bar out there… frequently the only place we have to socialize and to be free and unencumbered from judging eyes is the bar scene” (Williams 17).

It is interesting to note that every gay bar in Portland has on tap at least three or four (if not more) different microbrews, but the same could be said of many bars in Portland. Paul makes it clear that gay venues purchase more beer than straight venues, and interestingly enough gay men in order to “be one of the guys,” seem to be gravitating towards advertisement that otherwise is targeted towards stereotypical heterosexual demographics. In this case, the intent of these corporations may not be to target gay male individuals. Perhaps the result is merely a random convergence of chance, but it raises an interesting question: If the alcohol corporations do know about this, what are they doing about it, considering the side effect of addiction is clearly the goal of any money-making monolith? Furthermore, if the gay community knows about this, what are they doing about it?

Enter: Sponsorship. According to Steve Gonzales, sponsorship has had a positive effect in Portland. When asked what kind of gay-targeted sponsorship he’s seen in Portland, Steve replies, “Everything that I’ve seen that’s had to do with sponsorship has been around fund-raising. [Events] have been marketed towards a fund-raising situation. A dance, a show, whatever, funds and donations are going to good causes.” Perhaps in an attempt to offset the darker side of marketing, corporations are spending money in order to uplift their image through gay corporate sponsorship. Lisa Neff writes in her article, Who Pays for Pride, “The parties and parades come at a price, and eager corporate sponsors are more than happy to foot the bill” (Neff 1). Miller, Bud Light, Absolut Vodka, all have been sponsoring multiple pride events (Neff 2). In an attempt to promote a gay-friendly image, these corporations are throwing money at the minority, while simultaneously pumping out advertisements. These advertisements seem to flagrantly promote heterosexual male unification and sameness, while ingeniously attracting males from a diverse lifestyle. A complex and interesting partnership emerges, an irony considering the fact that the gay populous is aware of the negative effects these corporations have on their community.

But the money has to come from somewhere, right? In “Pranking Rhetoric: ‘Culture Jamming’ as Media Activism,” author Christine Harold defines culture jamming as a sort of mixture between jamming, sabotage, and pranking. It is a sort of ontological terrorism, a “clogging” and “channeling” that seeks to subvert the conditioning of the conventional patterns (196-197) by exploiting their medium and hijacking the messages that they portray. She writes that the Truth campaign provided mini-billboards inside teen magazines (204) as a way of training young people “to practice their own brand of Situationism, by confiscating a small space from commercial advertising and using it as a site for rhetorical invention” (206).

Consider the possibility that gay pride sponsorship is a form of culture jamming. Consider that members of the gay community are using corporate funds instead of a confiscated space for their rhetorical invention. In a way, this is just as valid a method as using hi-jacked billboards or ad-spaces to send a message. In this case, culture jamming need not be limited to hijacked billboards, but the concept is expanded on to include the use of corporate funds. The same corporations that promote images of sameness, unification, and heterosexuality are fueling culture jamming. Their corporate dollars are being sent with a powerful message of diversity; a parade of queer individuals with rainbows, drag queens, boas, leather and more, dancing on floats shirtless and celebrating their difference, their own unification, their separation from the sameness.

Some may say that this exact separation highlights the sameness that troubled gay men have gravitated towards; for sometimes these parades of celebrated diversity are seen as a line drawn in the sand. Yet consider that the screams of “We’re here! We’re Queer!” don’t contain a hint of elitism. Elitism, as we know, is so often the catalyst of a doomed movement. Instead, consider these parades as a method of culture jamming, a pranking; for when you come to a deeper analysis, that is what they are.

There is a risk here of course. Naomi Klein in her book, “No Logo” makes a strong point against branding and marketing. Brands try very hard to become culture and to create culture through sponsorship (34). In the same interview with Steve Gonzales, he claims that he likes Absolut vodka. When asked if he felt his like for it had anything to do with sponsorship he replied, “In recesses yeah. I mean, it’s not a company that I’d hear gays boycotting or anything. They’re gay friendly…”

Absolut has made it a point of projecting a gay-friendly image, a point which they haven’t done accidentally but with careful planning and advertisement. Is Klein’s concern valid in this case? Is Absolut using careful branding to merge itself with gay culture? Is it sponsorship, or taste, that causes Steve to like that particular vodka over another? Steve replies, “It’s taste. And, I feel good that it’s not a company that is down on equal rights.”
In a second interview, Darin Colby (a gin lover) asked if he felt sponsorship had anything to do with his product choice. His reply:
“No. It’s the taste.”

It seems that despite corporate sponsorship and sameness marketing, some gay men still believe that their product choices are their own.

Bibliography:

"A Hobo's Manager on Gay Culture." Personal interview. 16 Feb. 2009.

Williams, Glenn S. "Driven to Drink." Just Out [Portland, OR] 20 Feb. 2009, 26th ed., sec. 8: 14-19.

Neff, Lisa. "Who pays for pride?" Advocate (2003): 64-69.

Harold, Christine. "Pranking Rhetoric: "Culture Jamming" as Media Activism." Critical Studies in Media Communication 21 (2004): 189-211.

Klein, Naomi. No Logo No Space, No Choice, No Jobs. New York: Picador, 2002.
"Darin Colby on Gay Culture." Personal interview. Feb. 2009.

Avila-Saavedra, Guillermo. "Nothing queer about queer television: televized construction of gay masculinities." Media, Culture & Society 31 (2009): 5-21.

Gilmore, David. "How 'Gay Style' Was Coopted and Corrupted." Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 12 (2005): 4-4.

Ruting, Brad. "Economic Transformations of Gay Urban Spaces: revisiting Collins' evolutionary gay district model." Australian Geographer 39 (2008): 259-69.

Ok, not earth shattering news by any means, but the IPhone is so god damned cool. I mean, yes... It has some bugs. Sometimes it annoys you by acting quirky, but anything, -anything- is better than samsung.

See how I do not even capitalize their name? That is because samsung, imho, can go eat a nice, big, bountiful bowl of dick.

Well I only have 15 minutes to write something up.

The office at my work sits on a hill with giant glass windows. The sky is covered with deep, dark thunderclouds. But it's warm, because this is summer in Oregon.

It feels like a lightning bolt could shoot out of the sky at any moment -- like you could reach across the horizon with your mind, channel yourself into the chaos ... and end up some place different.

I'm glad I wore linen today, because the wind touches softly on my skin and reminds me of ... memories. You can't really figure out which ones, but if you were to think on them long enough, memories would come.

I went and saw Jay Brannan last week. In a lot of ways he reminds me of myself. The words in his songs are powerful, and as I listen to every single one of them (I've downloaded them all into my new I-Phone) memories flash across my mind and it's like I could have written the same songs myself. He captures a lot of my past and echos it back into my headphones. I consider it a gift of the cosmos, since it's obviously a random convergence of chance.

Anyway, it's been nice at times listening to him. At other times it's filled me with doubt and fear... and deep depression.

I highly recommend his music. Go buy it from the I-Tunes store now!!! He's poor and hungry, and I can totally relate... :P

I have to go now. Toodles.

Virgins don't have babies.

And Water, it isn't wine.

And there's a holy spirit maybe,

But she would never rent a room with walls built by mankind.

Mary and Muhammad are screaming through the clouds,

To lay your goddamned arms down,

Rip your bigot roots up from the earth,

And salt the god damned ground.

-- Jay Brannan