The posting of this blog topic was intentionally delayed. Really, I was conflicted about whether I would post it at all. This specific topic is one where many people, including myself, have many varying opinions.

On one hand, I’m a huge fan of the Apple corporation. I am an even bigger fan of the products Apple develops and sells. Any genuine Apple product, is far superior, in my mind, to any competitor’s product. I have even gone on the record before, saying Apple products aren’t nearly as expensive as they seem, so long as you compare equal ability.

On the other hand, I spent the last two weeks comparing a used Apple desktop system to the equivalent hardware for a PC. Using eBay to determine the fair market value of the specific systems, I find Apple owners want way too much for their used machines. Very few used Apple systems found on eBay even come with legally usable software including the OS. You can spend $3200.00 for a used Apple Pro with an 8-core Xeon Processor, a 1T hardrive and 8 Gigs of RAM, with no legally usable software or operating system. Or you can spend a lot less and get a brand new non-Apple system with the same configuration.

In the end, I’m sure a GENUINE APPLE product will be much more reliable. However technology buffs everywhere would just as soon build their own computers, as to pay so much to go the other route. So, I decided to go forward with the rest of this post.

ExpressHD has created a Boot Processing Unit (BPU) providing a full Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) environment called the EFI-X (EFiX). EFI is a new standard created by Intel(tm) . The EFiX is 10-1 pin computer chip containing an embedded CPU, memory drive, and a USB connector. It is designed so it can be mounted internally on a motherboard. EFiX is for enthusiasts putting expandability and performance before anything else in their computing needs.

ExpressHD sells the EFiX for around $240, although they run specials from time to time, reducing the cost of the EFiX unit in combination with a motherboard or system. The EFiX is fully able to support Windows and various flavors of Linux. The biggest selling point of all, is the ability to boot Apple OS X native on non-Apple PC hardware.

I’ve got to believe the EFiX, when used to install or boot Apple’s OS X, violates the OS X EULA. However, the EFiX provides the ability to install OS X without using hacked, pirated and/or otherwise virus infected versions of OS X.

The EFiX device requires a separate hardrive for each operating system you want to use. However, if you can get by the OS needing a dedicated hardrive, the EFiX is basically a performance management device.

*USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

If you have questions about the EFiX USB Dongle, you will want to contact ExpressHD and/or the manufacturer of your motherboard.

If you you have gone through the EFiX Support and the support provided by your motherboard manufacturer and still can’t make heads or tails of how to correctly use the EFiX, contact me by using the CONTACT US link in the menu.

Filed under: Computers, Desktop, Hardrives, Hardware, Linux-Unix, Macintosh, Motherboards, Operating Systems, Processors, Software, Utilities, Windows | 1 Comment »

Intel boasts that their new Intel® Core™ i7 has faster, intelligent, multi-core technology to apply processing power where it’s needed most. This new processors deliver an incredible breakthrough in PC performance.

Intel lists the following Features & Benefits

Go to the next level of multi-core performance. Intel® Core™ i7 processors deliver an incredible breakthrough in quad-core performance and feature the latest innovations in processor technologies:

• Intel® Turbo Boost technology maximizes speed for demanding applications, dynamically accelerating performance to match your workload—more performance when you need it the most.
• Intel® Hyper-Threading technology enables highly threaded applications to get more work done in parallel. With 8 threads available to the operating system, multi-tasking becomes even easier.
• Intel® Smart Cache provides a higher-performance, more efficient cache subsystem. Optimized for industry leading multi-threaded games.
• Intel® QuickPath Interconnect is designed for increased bandwidth and low latency. It can achieve data transfer speeds as high as 25.6 GB/sec with the Extreme Edition processor.
• Integrated memory controller enables three channels of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, resulting in up to 25.6 GB/sec memory bandwidth. This memory controller’s lower latency and higher memory bandwidth delivers amazing performance for data-intensive applications.
• Intel® HD Boost significantly improves a broad range of multimedia and compute-intensive applications. The 128-bit SSE instructions are issued at a throughput rate of one per clock cycle, allowing a new level of processing efficiency with SSE4 optimized applications.

Filed under: Computers, Free Software, Hardware, Processors | No Comments »

Sapphire Solutions LAN – PART 2 provides more detailed information on the SmoothWall Express Firewall we use as well as details about the system we use it on.

The SmoothWall GPL project was founded in the summer of 2000 by Lawrence Manning (Principle Code Author) and Richard Morrell (Project Manager). Their goal was to create a Linux distribution that could convert a redundant PC into a hardened internet firewall device.

Currently we are using SmoothWall Express 3.0, and you can see some of the ability by viewing the screen shots below…

Control…

About…

Services…

Networking…

VPN…

Logs…

Tools…

Maintenance…

…these screen shots are also available here.

If you would like to try SmoothWall Express for yourself, you can get the latest version as well as the Installation Guide and Administrator Guide, here.

For additional information or help with your SmoothWall Express Firewall, make sure you visit the SmoothWall Express User Forums. You can even search the user forum for ‘Bamajr’ to find questions I have asked or topics I have been a part of.

Our SmoothWall Express Firewall is running on a 1U, Half-depth Server, by Rackable Systems.

The Rackable Systems Server utilizes a powerful system board developed by Tyan.

The Tyan motherboard has dual 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, which are perfect for the Orange and Green Interfaces of the SmoothWall. It also has a single 10/100 Ethernet port, which is ideal for the SmoothWall’s Red Interface.

With the ability to support SATA Hardrives, 12 Gigs of RAM and two (2) Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processors, this system is ready for performance.

Filed under: Computers, Hardrives, Hardware, Linux-Unix, Motherboards, Network Interface Cards, Networking, Processors, Random Access Memory, Software | No Comments »