I will be accompanied with Tom (Five Step Path) & friends for all of the gigs.

Click the venue name to see the venue’s website. Click the address for a Google Maps location. The list below will continue to be updated as information is received.

Confirmed dates:

I’m afraid I can’t do that.

Specs:
Intel Pentium 4 HT (3.0Ghz)
1GB RAM DDR
200GB hard drive (7200RPM SATA)
NVidia 8500 GT
PSU: Stock – Max 308w
Drive: HP DVDRW dvd1140i (IDE)

Served me well until 2008, when I purchased my Macbook Pro.

If you own this computer and are wishing to upgrade it, read on. There’s a couple of things you need to know and ask yourself.

What exactly do you want to upgrade and why? What will you be using it for? The motherboard in that computer is a LGA755 (Socket T). The Dual/Quad Core (last generation) chips are designed to fit on the board but are not compatible with it. Not only has the motherboard not been updated to be compatible, but the board itself is five years old, with support only for 2GB (max) DDR400 (Old) RAM. So if you really want the computer to run the latest Intel chips, you’re going to have to buy brand new components. You can get by upgrading the computer for as little as $300 (Core i3 + 1GB RAM + New Motherboard + New PSU). In this project, i go midway with a Core i5 750 (potentially overclocking in the future), 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a graphics card. Please note, you’re going to have to upgrade the PSU. The stock power supply is 308W max. Modern day motherboards, processors, graphics cards require more than that. Depending on your usage, your needs will vary. For me, a 630W PSU will suit me just fine.

If you buy a motherboard with PATA/IDE, you can re-use the same drives (assuming they still work that is, which both of mine did not). Because the HDD is SATA, you can re-use it. Is 200GB enough for you? It is for me. For the time being, anyway.

Upgrading to:
Processor: Intel Core i5 750 (2.66Ghz) | $200
RAM: Corsair 2GB x 2 DDR3 | $100
PSU: Raidmax 630w | $6

Upgrading to the new Intel Core i3/i5/i7 line requires a new motherboard:
Asus P7H55-M Pro (LGA 1156 / H55 Chipset) MicroATX (DOA)
Gigabyte H55M-USB3 (LGA 1156 / H55 Chipset) MicroATX | $110

+Aftermarket CPU cooler | $30
+Thermal Paste | $10

Total spent on project: $510 (Excluding taxes/shipping)

Read on to see more information and pictures.

You don’t need the same motherboard I own but you’ll need to look for a MicroATX board. It’s smaller than a regular full sized ATX board and should fit just fine in the Sony Vaio case. MicroATX boards are similar to their larger brothers but are missing expansions ports. If you don’t plan on using dual graphics cards (which you may have trouble finding a compatible Micro board), then you should be fine. Even then, if you do plan on SLI/Crossfire-ing, you’ll have to dump the Sony case and get a bigger one to fit the cards and improve airflow.

I will be reusing the same case, DVD drive, hard drive, and graphics card. I will later upgrade the hard drive and the graphics card in the near future. This computer will serve as my main music creation and gaming machine.

Buy local if possible. But don’t buy at Best Buy because their prices aren’t even remotely sane (nor is their selection). If you have a Fry’s Electronics in your area, go there. There’s been a lot of bad word going around about Fry’s but locations vary. For instance, the NASA location here in Houston has been super, incredibly helpful. Either way, do your research. Buying local is great because if a component is DOA or is incompatible, you can simply return it to the store and buy the new one. Buying online requires you to ship it back (and possibly pay restocking fees) or only get an exchange of the same product. Not to mention shipping would be a hassle.

The front USB ports and the FireWire port do work but the same can not be said about the card reader. The card reader appears to be USB based but there are no Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit) drivers available. The orange light on the device (read light) appears to stay on from time to time but that’s about it.

Most MicroATX boards do not have a built-in speaker (used to sound beeps if something is wrong with the hardware) and the Sony Vaio case does not have a speaker built in. Pick up a small speaker and connect it so in the event something is wrong with the hardware, you’ll know quickly instead of wondering why your computer isn’t booting properly, like my RAM fiasco below.

Connecting the front switch and lights are covered near the end of this post.

Read some articles on building a PC and remember to destatic yourself before working on the computer!

To upgrade in the future:
Hard Drive to 500GB | $60
Graphics Card | ~$150-$200

I’m doing some information look-up but i still need help deciding on a graphics card in that price range.

July 6, 2010: Products purchased.

The Build

July 7, 2010: Set up
(11:30am) – Removed original motherboard and installed new one. Success! Perfect fit.

(1:00pm) Connected all cables, installed CPU and RAM.
(1:10pm) Computer boots, fans spins for 5 seconds and everything turns off. 4 seconds later, the process repeats itself. Bad RAM?
(1:30pm) Tried individual RAM. Same results. If it’s the RAM, then i’m unlucky to get two DOAs.
(3:00pm) Spoke to lady at Asus, had me troubleshoot:
Control: CPU + RAM installed = Computer boots, shuts off and repeats itself.
Process 1: CPU only installed = Computer boots, stays on, no video.
Process 2: CPU installed, removed EATX 8-pin power = Computer boots, stays on, no video.
Process 3: CPU removed = Computer boots, stays on, no video, no surprise.
Process 4: RAM only installed = Computer boots, stays on, no video, no surprise.

PSU is fine. Tried with 3 different power supplies and they all came to the same conclusion.

(4:20pm) Spoke to man at Intel. Told me RAM seems fine and that the fault could either be the processor or the motherboard. I would need to have both tested.

(8:30pm) I had previously ordered a PSU off of Newegg a day ago. The one I have now i purchased from Fry’s temporarily to see if all the components worked correctly. I will be returning this PSU and the CPU and going ahead and upgrading to the Core i5 chip.

July 8, 2010: Trips back and fourth
(7:30am) I’ll be going back to Fry’s to return the processor and PSU and upgrade to the new i5. I won’t be able to test it until tomorrow when my previously purchased power supply comes in.

(9:00am) Surprise surprise! The processor is fine. It’s the motherboard. It made sense, actually. If it was the processor, the computer would boot further in. Exchanged the i3 processor for the i5. Will go back and exchange the motherboard.

(11:00am) Well, shit. I accidentally bought the Intel i5 650 (Dual-core). I exchanged it for the i5 750 (Quad-core) and a brand new Mobo by Gigabyte.

(1:30pm) With the new motherboard: Power up, splash screen, will not take keystrokes, shuts off by itself after 5 seconds. Am I just that unlucky?

(3:00pm) Still trying to troubleshoot what’s going on. Is it bad RAM? Another dud motherboard? A crap PSU?

(4:45pm) I’m taking everything back to the store to get them tested. I’m just completely stumped on what the problem could be the second time around. RAM? PSU? Processor? ANOTHER faulty motherboard? We’ll see what happens.

(7:00pm) The RAM! THE RAM! The source of all things evil! The motherboard was just fine! The RAM was at fault! I got rid of that PoS and went ahead and upgraded to 2GB x 2 Corsair sticks. I made sure I tested everything before i left the damn store.

(8:10pm) Everything is running fine so far. Currently installing Windows 7 x64. Asus and Intel had great technical support about their products (even if they were both wrong). Gigabyte is lagging mad behind, relying solely on e-mails instead of live-chat and phone. I guess e-mails WOULD be fine if they were actually fast about it, which they aren’t.

Connecting front switch/lights

This Sony Vaio originally had a 6 pin connection (bracket) that plugged into the old motherboard. Depending on the new motherboard you get, chances are, you won’t be able to just plug it in. Thankfully, it isn’t all too hard.

Start by removing the front cover. There are two tabs on the bottom of the machine, near the front panel that when pulled, allows you to snap the front panel off (with a bit of force).

you’ll see 8 wires in total. 4 connecting to the 2 lights that light up the Sony Vaio logo and the other light under the flip-down compartment. Red/Brown is Positive. Black is Negative. Find out which pair of wires goes to what and label them, as shown below.

Refer to the manual that came with your motherboard about what two pins does what. To connect the pins, pull each individual wire from the holding bracket. Then you can simply push those down onto the pins on the motherboard.

The top light is the HDD activity light (which for some reason, never correctly worked for me), bottom is power LED light. Followed by power switch

If your motherboard supports two power LED connections, then you can connect the decorative lights to the secondary pins. If your Mobo does not support it, you’ll have to live without them.

~

The build is finished! To be honest, this isn’t much of an upgrade. It’s almost a brand new computer (with the exception of re-using the case and a few things). You can buy a slightly larger case for $60 and just fit a full-sized ATX board in it. Which I may or may not end up doing, since this case isn’t all too nice looking to begin with.

There! I hope you find this post informative. If you liked it and wish to show your thanks or if you have any questions, leave a comment below!

Also, be sure to watch for possible live performances in Texas and Chicago. My new album will also be released by Winter this year (First full length release since 2007). It’ll be available in regular stereo mix and 5.1 surround mix, if there is interest for it.

TF2 in particular is a special one. The OS X community all got iPod earbuds as a welcome gift into the delightfully gore-tastic festival that is Team Fortress 2. Since I’ve been playing the game on Boot Camp for almost a year now, it’s reassuring to know that when I feel like sniping heads off, I no longer have to boot into Windows.

Actually, I confess. I still boot into Windows to play Tf2. The game is just way too buggy and under-performing (to its Windows counterpart) for me to accurately play. For instance, the first time I ran the game, I couldn’t join any of the custom maps that I mostly play on. The download of the map file itself would just stop. I bypassed this problem by grabbing the custom maps from my Boot Camp partition:

c:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\<username>\team fortress 2\tf\maps\

Right in there you’ll find your custom maps associated with the servers you have joined. Their extensions end with “.bsp”. Just copy those files and place them in Mac OS X in:

/users/<name>/Library/Application support/Steam/SteamApps/<username>/team fortress 2/tf/maps

You’ll be able to join your favorite servers with no problem.

But other than that, the game just runs poorly on OS X versus Windows. Lower frame rates and stuttering audio are some of the other problems. Something about the way the mouse is handled bothers me too. The same can be said for Half-Life 2 and Portal. The periodic updates are helping some, but it’s still just not as good. The great news it that Valve is working closely with Apple + NVidia / ATi to bring better driver performance to OS X, so we’ll be waiting for that.

It’s not just with Valve games. Sims 3 is the same deal. Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 runs so poorly even with every graphical setting imaginable at the lowest point. Okay, but RCT3 just may be a horrid port. The point is, for the time being, the same games under identical hardware runs far better on Windows than Mac OS X. Hopefully, that changes.

You can add me on Steam and join our gaming community via Steam or on the Forums. I go by VO!D and I frequent Desert and Rainy.

That being said, Steam was announced for Mac OS X on March 8, 2010 and promised to bring all Source games, including Team Fortress 2. This is great because now it means I don’t have to constantly boot into my Windows partition to game on. Originally planned for a late April release (and take into account Valve Time), the Steam client was released on May 12th with just a handful of games. What’s missing? Every Source game except for Portal. I was a frustrated and disappointed to see TF2 MIA on the initial release but Valve did gave away Portal for free. Not a time-restricted demo but the full game, which is absolutely fantastic in my book.

With plans to release Mac updates every Wednesday, I now wait until the day where I can finally download that massive 7GB OS X native TF2 game, along with every other Mac Steam user. A shame my download speeds are mediocre (2.5Mbps).

Hard to believe it’s been three years.

In fact, i think it would work out quite well. TextWrangler on the left hand side of the screen and Firefox on the right with the HTML document open that you’re working on. Just set the HTML to refresh every five or ten seconds so when you save the document you’re editing, it’ll refresh on the web browser. Presto. If you’re working with PHP web pages, just run everything from a MAMP or XAMPP installation.

Probably the only super useful feature about using Dreamweaver is the ability to easily create Image Maps.

All programs listed above are for Mac OS X, with the exception of XAMPP, which is also available for Windows/Linux.
Text editing programs: TextWranger (Mac) = Notepad++ (Windows)
Local Server Environments: MAMP (Mac) = WAMP (Windows)
XAMPP = Mac + Windows

WP e-commerce 3.7.5.3 – WordPress Plugin (http://getshopped.org/) – Free / $40 single / $195 business
This is a plugin designed for WordPress to help you sell things on your blog/website. It’s one of the very first i found when searching for an e-commerce solution. We took this plugin into strong consideration because it was very easy to customize (WordPress is essentially the template and there’s thousands of them). The ability to use FTP to upload our .zip albums was a huge plus, since many of our albums run 100MB and over. With the help of an additional plugin (which you have to pay for), you can make single song uploading easy.

Here’s where the good comments end. The plugin is incredibly buggy and chunky. Changing the plugin and tweaking it to your liking requires PHP knowledge, time and a lot of patience. Support on the forums is nearly non-existent. Seriously, don’t even bother making an account to ask questions. There aren’t nearly enough developers to help and/or they mostly seem to be on vacation. If you’re hoping to sell multiple versions of an album (Such as offering MP3, FLAC, etc.), you’re out of luck as product variations don’t work well for downloads. The only options you have for user downloads are the number of times the customer can download the album and “ip-address lock”, which restricts the downloads to the customer (assuming they have a static IP). If you would like an easy way for customers to listen to the album tracks, you’ll need some crappy MP3 plugin that they sell (that ALSO requires the “Gold cart”).

The actual shopping experience for the customer is sub-par and incredibly basic. Ideally, you would like to have customers sign up to have an account on your e-commerce site so they can access their digital downloads if they need to, as it’ll hold their records. Upon checkout, you can assign whether or not the user needs to make an account before they can purchase, which means it’ll stick a “register” form right below the cart and above the checkout forms. That’s it. No log in form or anything for the customers who may already HAVE an account. There’s also no option for both guest and registered user checkout, something a lot of the other carts do have. Also, your customers will have NO idea how big the download is or how much longer it’ll take, since for some reason, no matter what browser you use, it won’t tell you how big it is.

Should you decide to use this plugin, your experience will vary greatly. From the very first time i set it up, upon checkout for a digital purchase, it kept asking for shipping method, even though it had no option to input it. In another installation, I had to up my PHP set memory limit because ’32M’ wasn’t enough for it. From my latest experiment with this plugin, i’m getting strange user account issues where registered users aren’t allowed to see their account information or downloads, even if they’ve already made their purchase.

The developers insist their plugin is incredible/the best and they even have plans to take over the world. Uh, sure guys, whatever you say. It’s really hard to take you seriously when you call us lazy in your own FAQ:

Q: Awesome! You don’t expect me to manually load them all do you?
A: Cough Lazy Cough… excuse me, I had to clear my throat…

Q: Do I have to manually upload each and every track of an album? Can’t I just plonk the entire album online?
A: Cough Lazy Cough…oops, had to clear my throat again. I think I need a glass of water.

Selling Tickets
Q: How do I sell tickets?
A: We’re so glad you asked!

That last question had no actual answer.
Under “Support” in their FAQ (Last two questions of the three):

Q: But you give the software away for free – shouldnt you help us for free?
A: HA! Oh wait, you were serious weren’t you.

Q:Are you always so snarky?
A: Yes.

Q: Do JCROP images have to be so square?
A: Um…yeah. If you got a problem with it, crop your own damn images.

Troubleshooting
Q: I upgraded WordPress, and now a bunch of the links in my store are broken?
A: That’s because WordPress hates you! Oh just kidding…

Q: I changed the page name/title and everything is broken now – what do I do?
A: Ooooh, sucks to be you..

Yeah, every single one of those were pulled from the FAQ. Humor is good, this is not. Be a little more professional about your product. It’s a huge mess trying to deal with this plugin. But don’t take my word for it, go to their forums and take a gander at the thousands of unanswered questions.

Verdict for WP E-commerce:
MP3 Downloads: AVOID
Physical products: USE EXTREME CAUTION