The Clone Wars - Muunilist 10, Clone Troopers, AT-AP

Some of the Clone Troopers from the Star Wars prequel trilogy...

The Muunilinst 10 was a group of Advanced Recon Commandos and standard clone troopers led by ARC Captain Fordo that consisted of two ARC lieutenants, and seven infantry clones, though one was killed.

A pair of Clone Troopers carrying the Merr-Sonn PLX-1 portable missile launcher, which was in service almost from the beginning of the Clone Wars and continued to be used in different militaries well after the conclusion of that cataclysmic conflict.

The All Terrain Attack Pod (AT-AP), or Pod Attack Walker (PAW), was a highly successful way of transporting heavy artillery from place-to-place, its main function was to serve as a mobile gun platform used for shelling enemy positions, rather than attacking troops or other vehicles. It featured highly-advanced targeting systems that gave it the nickname "sniper tank."

Y-wing fighter & TIE Interceptor

Nam was wondering how the Hasbro Star Wars toys look like and so here you go Nam! The Hasbro Star Wars vehicles are actually quite nicely done and are a lot better than the old Kenner toys. Here's the Y-wing and one of the TIE Interceptor. Enjoy!

Y-wing, pilot and droid unit

Y-wing, pilot and droid unit

TIE Interceptor

Lenovo Ideapad S10 - Upclose!

I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad S10. It's one of those new netbooks which is running on the Intel Atom processor. It's really small and portable - the LCD is only 10.2" but running a resolution of 1024x600. It came with a 6-cell battery which last over 4 hours. Here's some close up shots of this amazing device.

Lenovo Ideapad S10 in the free Pink/Gray sleeve

The Lenovo Ideapad S10 - White

Left side

Right View - a lot more ports

The right side also contains the Kensington Lock slot

The "elusive" 6-cell Lenovo Ideapad battery

The 6-cell battery pack adds an extra 2 rubber feet

Its angled and lifts the back portion of the S10. This leaves a gap for more airflow but does change the side profile of the netbook.

The OneKey Recovery button is unique to the Lenovo Ideapad S10 netbook. A powerful and also dangerous feature. Be sure to set a password to prevent accidental reset to factory setting - thereby deleting all your data.

The uhm... Power Button...

Integrated Webcam

I took these pictures with my old Canon Powershot G3 digital camera that was lying semi-retired in my drawer. The pictures were then transferred to the Lenovo Ideapad S10 via a USB compact flash card reader (the onboard card reader only reads SD sizes or smaller). These pictures were then edited in my Photoshop Elements 5.0 on the Lenovo Ideapad S10 itself. Finally, this blog entry was also written on the Lenovo Ideapad S10. I did this to try out how useful a small device like a netbook would be for simple photo editing and text typing. It worked surprisingly well.

The keyboard layout is a little small for extended typing but that is to be expected. The screen is also kinda small for editing large pictures.

My Lenovo Ideapad S10:

• Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz
• 2 GB RAM
• 160GB Harddisk
• 6-cell battery
• Microsoft Windows XP SP3

Amazing Screen Spanning Doctor!

Just installed Screen Spanning Doctor on my iBook. What this does is to enable the use of the iBook screen as well as an external monitor/LCD as a seperate display!

What's more, I can now set the external display resolution to the full screen resolution. Meaning my iBook can remain at 1024x768 while my 19 inch Viewsonic LCD can be at its 1280x1024! Since my LCD can select between analog input (VGA port) or digital (DVI), I can share it with my windows PC.

Anyway, what Screen Spanning Doctor does is to enable the graphics card and OS X's ability to support 2 monitors. On an iBook this has been disabled. Probably to encourage customers to "upgrade" to a better Apple product.

One of the best free downloads ever.

Upgrading RAM on a iBook

I bought a fairly new used iBook recently and decided to upgrade the RAM. Went down to Sim Lim Square based on a tip off from a fellow Mac Users Group member on where to get the RAM. Since my iBook is a 12 inch 1.33 gHz PowerPC, it required PC2700/333 SO-DIMM RAM. Fuwell at Sim Lim carried these in 1GB and 512mb modules. I decided to get a Twinmos 1GB PC2700 SODIMM DDR module.

The following is an account of how to upgrade the RAM of an iBook. Please do take caution when handling the delicate interiors of your iBook. I will not be responsible for any damages done in your iBook. Be careful when handling microchips. Earth yourself before handling them. Follow it at your own risk.

Ok, with the disclaimers in place, it is fairly easy to upgrade the RAM of an iBook. In fact, the instruction manual even mentions it. Have a small Phillip screwderiver (cross head type of screwdriver) ready, here we go.

The first step is to remove battery. Do this with a coin to unlock it. Next, you will remove the keyboard of the iBook. There are 2 catches on the keyboard that releases it from the iBook. Also make sure the center lock is in the horizontal position (by default it should be in this position)

When the keyboard is removed, just place it face down on the palmrest. Do be careful about the keyboard cable. The cable should still be attached after placing the keyboard face down.

Once the keyboard is out of the way, you will notice a metal plate with lots of holes in it. This is the covering of the RAM slot. There is also a laser etched diagram and instructions on the left hand side, describing how to install the RAM. There are 4 screws on the metal plate. You will need to unscrew them with your Phillip screwdriver. The screws should still be attached to the metal plate after you unscrew them. Another thoughtful bit of Apple engineering to ensure that you will not lose those screws.

Carefully lift the metal plate once the 4 screws are losened. Be extra careful not to damage the keyboard cable.

You should be able to see the SO-DIMM RAM slot. Note the instructions on the left hand side.

Here is the Twinmos 1GB PC2700 SODIMM DDR RAM removed from its package.

Insert the RAM at an angle of about 30 degrees (you do not have to be exactly at that angle). Take note of the notch to align your RAM module. Make sure it goes in all the way. It should stick there at an angle.

Now, slowly press down the RAM module to let it click in place with the 2 catches at the side. You may need to slightly push out the catches to help it click in place. Once done, it should sit horiziontally and firmly in place. The side catches should align nicely with the notches on the side. Do not force it in. Re insert the RAM module if you have to. It should click in place quite easily.

Now, put back the metal plate with the holes and screw in the 4 screws. Just make sure the screws are firmly in place. Do not over tighten as it might damage the screw heads. Put back the keyboad, make sure the keyboard cable is folded the same way. Click the keyboard catches in place. Put back your battery.

Ok, now the RAM is installed. Just boot up the iBook. To check the RAM of the iBook, go to Finder-Applications-Utilities-System Profiler. My iBook now shows 1.5GB in memory. =)