My New Advocacy: eBooks for Pinoy

I just started a new blog and it will, more or less, concentrate on eBooks -- reading, organizing and hunting for them. See it at eBookster :)

MSI Wind Tip: Sharing Files between a Dual-boot Wind (XP & OSX)

Now that I'm running a dual-boot MSI Wind (XP Home & OSX) I have a problem about sharing files between OSX and XP.  This is not a really big problem with OSX because the XP partition is seen as a read-only drive but under XP, the OSX partition is rendered invisible.  This makes things a bit difficult for me because I may have files I downloaded or created under OSX that I will need to access in XP.

The simplest solution to this problem is to save all data files onto a USB flashdrive.  This solution may suffice to most users but I personally don't want an extra appendage constantly attached to my Wind so I thought of a more elegant solution.

There's this cross-platform service called DropBox and I installed the DropBox client on both XP and OSX.  Whenever I am running on either OS and need to share a file between the my XP and OSX partition, I just save it on my DropBox folder.  Easy and no sweat sharing of files!

cool huh?

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My WindOSX-periment -- 95% Functional

This is a continuation of my two previous posts.

The OSX installation on my MSI Wind was a resounding success.  I have a fairly stable system and everything seems to "just work" even if I had to jump through hoops to make them work the first time.  Here are some of the additional customizations I did on my WindOSX so far:

• I was able to make its built in wifi adapter to work using a leaked driver that can be easily searched on the 'net.  That means I don't have to crack this baby open and replace its wifi adapter in order to have untethered access to the 'net.
• Using a nifty little program called Audieee4Wind and CHUD, I was able to make the headphone-out of this baby work.  However, I am still searching for a way to make the microphone work.

So far, the only things *not* working under OSX the are microphone and the VGA out (fixable by applying the updated video drivers).  The webcam initially didn't work under Photobooth but it eventually did when I applied the 10.5.6 combo update.

So, what's in store for this OSX-ified MSI Wind?  I'll probably hack it until I find a way to make everything "just work" and by that time, I hope I have enough dough to buy me the real McCoy.

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My "small" Switch -- Hacking the Wind

I I previously mentioned, I switched from the Eee PC 701 to the MSI Wind U-100x. The Atom processor in this baby is vastly faster than the Celeron processor of my old Eee PC. The larger screen is also kinder to my aging eyes.

The primary reason why I switched to the Wind is its high "hackability" potential. I know that people had been installing OSX to the Wind since last year but there were a lot of kinks and bugs that made installing OSX a losing proposition. That was until I discovered that the built-in wi-fi adapter of the MSI Wind is already working with minimal fuss. All thank to MSIWind.net.


Installing OSX to the Wind was very easy as long as all the drivers required is at hand. I was amazed at this because I feel like the Wind is as fast as my previously stolen white Apple MacBook. The only quirk remaning with this installation is its wonky webcam when running PhotoBooth -- something I rarely use.

I configured my Wind to dual-boot with the bundled MS Windows XP Home but I find myself using OSX 90% of the time because I mainly use it to surf the 'net and I am more confident that I will be less vulnerable to at least 98% of virus and trojans on it.

One good effect of this exercise is now I am more convinced to get a unibody MacBook later in the year as a replacement for my stolen white MacBook. But for now, I'll just enjoy what I have at hand.

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My "small" Switch!

For more than a year now, I've been contented with my Eee PC 701 (4G) but around two weeks ago, I decided that the small screen and small storage of the Eee is no longer serving me well. An officemate, who is also connected with a local PC reseller has offered me a good deal on a yet another netbook. Since I have some disposable cash, I opted to "bite" at his offer.

My new netbook is now an MSI Wind U-100x. This is the cheaper variant of the Wind that does not have built-in bluetooth but has 2GB on-board RAM and 160GB hard drive.

Setting up the Wind for the first time was a no-sweat affair. All I needed to do was sit back and relax while it does its own thing and after a reboot, everything is in place -- MS Windows XP was installed and all I needed to do was to install my favorite apps (FireFox, MS Office, etc.)

Being a self-confessed techie, I also experimented with installing the Wind with OS X but that's for a different post altogether.

Eeep! The MSI Wind is Finally Available Locally!

Well, its official: The much awaited MSI Wind ulpc is now available locally at PC Corner! Initial pricing ranges from Php 24K (around $535) for a "bare" unit with no OS and it goes up to Php32K (around $710) for one that has Windows XP preinstalled among other add-ins.


Although the Wind is priced around Php10K more than the entry-level Eee PC, the Wind has the upper hand in terms of processor (Intel Atom), keyboard/trackpad size, and storage. If I'm in the market for a laptop, I wouldn't think twice before getting this baby over the HP2133(mininote) but I would have to reserve final judgement until Acer and Dell comes out with their own entry to the ulpc niche.

OSX on the MSI Wind!

A fellow at Insanely Mac was able to hack his way into installing OS X on the yet-to-be-officially-released MSI Wind! It is running OSX 10.5.2 (kalyway) and according to the person who did it, ethernet and bluetooth works but he's still working on making its built-in wifi to work.

Not to shabby eh?