[Tutorial] Installing and Setting up RetroArch 1.3.6 on Blackberry Passport with Physical Keyboard Support

I've finally bit the bullet and got the Blackberry Passport Silver Edition on hand. Nothing beats its 1:1 4.5"square aspect ratio for some retro gaming love.

As of this writing there had been several versions of RetroArch that is runnable on the Blackberry OS 10, the notable ones being RetroArch Cascades and RetroArch Android version. There are, however, some drawbacks to these.

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[Guide] A Detailed and Beginner Friendly Walkthrough Guide for Installing BrowserHax, MenuHax, and Downgrade New 3DS LL/XL from Firmware 9.9J to 9.2J

Prelude 

Why I Upgrade from Original 3DS to New 3DS LL

tldr; Skip to the next section <Guide Start> to jump straight into my ordeal of downgrading my 3DS LL v9.9J firmware into v9.2 and booting into Gateway Mode

Having played on the Original 3DS (yes the small clamshell one that Nintendo first released back in 2011) for quite some time now, I finally decided to purchase a New 3DS LL (also known as New Nintendo 3DS XL outside Japan). As opposed to what others had complained about the LL/XL for its huge size, bulkiness and unportability, I actually found it to be pleasing to my play style. Main reason that I purchased it is its large 4.88 inch screen size. If the number seems meaningless to you, think of it being almost the same size as the PS Vita. Sure you wouldn't see much crisp image like the O3DS or the New 3DS regular edition due to its larger PPI, but frankly, for me that is negligible and it's the 3D immersion that really benefits from such a big screen. Not that 3DS console is known for its HD like image for gaming on-the-go.

Mind you that I had an average sized hands as well and holding it definitely helps to prolong my play time until I start to feel hand cramp.

Another reason for choosing the New 3DSLL over the regular size one is I think the 20% screen estate increase from my O3DS wouldn't be that much noticeable after all.

So there you have it.

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My Complete Illustrated Experience to Mod X-Arcade TankStick (Part 2)

This is the SECOND of the THREE part posts that I wrote to share my experience to mod my X-Arcade TankStick.

The X-Arcade TankStick came with a very sturdy cabinet and offers a lot of room for modding. Search on Google and you'll find numerous mods that people had done with it over the years.

I decided to write this post to share my experience in modding the TankStick with little DIY background :-) I made sure to took pictures of every steps that I did not only to share the progress with you, but also as a flashback moment for me during the mod. The whole mod took around 3 days as I tried different joysticks every time I mounted a new one before finally deciding on one.

Modding the TankStick actually requires no woodwork AT ALL if you're only seeking to replace the push buttons and installing a spinner. Woodwork is only needed in case you want to mount a universal mounting plate such as the Kowal, which you'll then install it on the Japanese or Korean joysticks. This is mainly because the default mounting space is not tall enough to fit it vertically. The width fits perfectly though.

Please see the following post to find out which arcade parts I purchased for this mod project.

• Part 1 - Purchasing the Arcade Parts to mod my X-Arcade TankStick

Note: This post contains a lot of high resolution images. Please view it only if you have sufficient Internet bandwidth.

In essence, I mod the TankStick in the following ways:

• Replaced the stock X-Arcade push buttons with Euro iL Short Stem Convex Push Buttons (multi-colored)
• Installed Ultimarc SpinTrak, a high resolution rotary device that provides analog X-Axis (left/right) inputs. It would shows up as a Mouse device on Windows.
• Did some woodwork to expand the default joystick mounting place in order to install the Kowal Universal Mounting Plate.
• Mounted Kowal Universal Mounting Plate on various joysticks, i.e. Sanwa JLW and Seimitsu LS-32. 
• I also tried to mount the Eurostick iL Joystick without the Kowal plate since it is an exact fit. It's basically a drop-in replacement.
• Connecting the other end of the JLF-5H 5-Pin wiring harness to the Quick Disconnect. I did it because I don't want to cut the quick disconnect as I might want to use the non-PCB joystick on some fine day :)

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Purchasing Arcade Parts to Mod My X-Arcade TankStick (Part 1)

This is the FIRST of the THREE part posts that I wrote to share my experience to mod my X-Arcade TankStick.

See Part Two - My Complete Illustrated Experience to Mod X-Arcade TankStick to see a complete pictures showing you my progress of mounting/installing these parts inside the TankStick.

The first step is of course purchasing the arcade parts. Following are the arcade parts which I purchased from various sites:

FocusAttack

• Euro iL Short Stem Convex 28mm Push Buttons
• Cherry DX44 Microswitches with 0.187" terminal size
• Kowal Universal Joystick Mounting Plate (to fit with American/European and Japanese joystick)

AkiShop

• Seimitsu LS-32
• Seimitsu LS-32-02 (same as LS-32 but with PCB mounted)
• Sanwa JLF
• Shaft cover and dust washer for Sanwa and Seimitsu Joysticks
• JLF-5H 5-Pin wire harness (to connect with the PCB on the Joystick)
• Restrictor Gates

ArcadeWorldUK
I decided to split my order into two separate shipments with declared value of ~USD150 each in order to avoid having to pay for custom duty. I'm just glad I made the decision!

First Box

• Eurostick iL Arcade Joystick (White)
• SpinTrak Steering wheel
• Sanwa GT-0 Round Restrictor Gate
• Sanwa JLW-TM-8 Joystick with Fine Mesh Ball Top (Green)

Second Box 

• Euro iL Convex Arcade Start Button (Player 1 & 2)
• SpinTrak Arcade Spinner with red/silver handle and Large flyweight

More about the parts

Ultimarc SpinTrak

Ultimarc SpinTrak with Large Flyweight, Red Knob, and PCB

Steering wheel

Euro iL Joystick (White)

Sanwa JLW Joystick and GT-O Circle Restrictor Gate

See Part Two - My Complete Illustrated Experience to Mod X-Arcade TankStick to view my progress on modding the TankStick using these arcade parts.

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Mapping X-Arcade TankStick to Multiple Emulators (AHK Script)

Since the TankStick is recognized as Keyboard input device here is a script that allows you to use it with a wide variety of emulators.

You may also find similar topic in HyperSpin official thread here. *Require premium member privilege to view*

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[Tutorial] A Comprehensive Pictorial Guide to Install Custom Bubbles on PS Vita 3.36 on TN-C and TN-V11!

Foreword

This is a tutorial written as a result of my personal readings and experience on installing custom Bubbles on PS Vita running OFW3.36 and using NUMBLAST US exploit and running TN-C and TN-V11. I've decided to write this since I found no one single tutorial that covers this. Frankly you will need to read tons of materials just to have an idea what is going on. I did try my best to explain the reason behind each steps to my best of knowledge. Frankly I've left Vita scene for quite some time now and recently gaining interest during my spare time.

In short, this guide basically summarize my attempts to achieve this feat after spending literally dozens of hours / days reading on forum posts and YouTube videos. And jolly-o-joy, I'm glad that I was able to achieve it. Granted it took me a lot of trial and error, and at some point even at the verge of tearing my hair apart. :-P

Before reading on, note that this is a PICTORIAL tutorial that I hope will aid to illustrate my points as clearly as possible. Combined that with my writeups and you should have no problem completing your goal! Just make sure to read and follow everything EXACTLY as mentioned. Keep in mind that I generally wrote this tutorial gearing towards even the novice computer users with minimal technical background but still wanted to attempt. Hence, don't find it strange if you find me explaining even some of the very straightforward steps for intermediate/advance computer users.

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How to Deal with Malaysia Royal Custom For Detained/Held Items from Overseas Purchases @ How to Clear Customs in Malaysia

How to Clear Customs in Malaysia

Following my first overseas purchase that was being detained by custom in Malaysia, I decided to write this post to share my experiences on how to deal with them.

Note: This is a personal sharing of mine on how to deal with Malaysia Royal Custom for your detained or held items from overseas purchases. Hopefully this will be helpful to assist you to clear your items :) 

Signs to Look for - Your Items *MIGHT* be detained by customs

If you saw the following description on PosLaju tracking website such as 'Custom Inspection. High - value goods', there is a high chance that your item might be detained by the custom for import tax and sales tax. In that case, you would normally received a letter of detainment from them and is delivered by your trusty PosLaju mailman on the next day. In my case, I got the said letter on the next day from the website.

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My Purchasing/Buying Experience from AmiAmi (Japanese Character & Hobby Online Store) for Pokemon TCGs and Items from Malaysia Using PayPal

Thought that I would like to share my first oversea purchase from the nation of the rising sun, Nihon or Japan!

I had to admit, being a young adult, having a hobby like CCG (collectables card games) is usually frown upon by parents. And that is so true in my case. Regardless, I earned my own money and my wallet answers to no one but myself, or at least that is the case for now.

Anyways, I might be the latecomers when I say that I am purchasing some Pokemon TCG Gaia Volcano/Tidal Storm (or also known as Primal Clash in English) Booster Boxes since it was released roughly one or two months back.

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How to Link Maybank Debit Card (Visa/Mastercard) with PayPal for International/Overseas Purchase (Amazon, eBay...)

After successfully activated my Maybank debit card (MASTERCARD logo with Cherry image), or more commonly identified as Cherry card for PayPal I decided to write this up to assist anyone else that have the same desire as I did. 

Maybank Debit Card with Cherry logo. Mine was a MasterCard. I prefer Visa though but they ran out of it while I'm trying to upgrade from my previous ATM or Maybankard.

Note that this is a sum up writings of my experience trying to link my Debit card with PayPal. You may directly skip to the end of this article for the tldr (too long don't read) version :-P

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An Honest Reviews on the BlackBerry Z30, BlackBerry OS 10, and iOS

My Z30 finally arrived after placing my order yesterday. It came with 6 layers of inner packaging. Its like opening a Matryoshka doll, albeit differ in the packaging content :-P

Overall speaking I am very impressed with BBOS 10. Mind you that this is my first time trying out BBOS 10 and I'm already started to love it. Prior to that I already spent one whole week watching various features introduced in BBOS 10, so it is easier for me to make the transition. Believe me not, you wouldn't appreciate the creamy beauty of BBOS 10 until you lay your fingers on actually using it :)

As expected, the immediate things that I did after unboxing it was plugging it into a charger and let it update to 10.2.1.2977 from the stock 10.2.0.xxx. At that point I didn't really explore it nor syncing my data such as contacts to avoid possible issues during the update. Not that it will happen but let's play it safe since I am going to update it sooner or later anyways :-)

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[Tutorial] The Complete Guide for Installing Your Own Subsonic Music Streaming Server

IMPORTANT: This guide is continually updated from time to time.

TODO

• Guide to setting up transcoding.
• Changing the subsonic source code and compile.

Introduction

Subsonic (or Subsonic Music Streamer) is an open source media player server that allows even normal user to share their multimedia files online. The following tutorial is prepared to guide you to fresh install SubSonic mods such as MusicCabinet and Madsonic on Mac OS X. The setup is done on a Mountain Lion 10.8.2 system.

At the end of this tutorial you will:

• Have a Subsonic streaming server setup on your Mac.

• Setup Subsonic registration engine so that other user can register without manually creating the users.

Prerequisite

• Java 7
• Tomcat 6
• Postgre
• Macports

Before you proceed with this tutorial, you must make sure that you have the aforementioned components setup. This guide will cover the installation of Tomcat and Postgre as well.

You will have to download the installer from Oracle to install the latest Java 7 as it is not distributed by Apple.

NOTE: The latest Java version distributed by Apple is Java 6, which doesn’t meet the minimum requirements of Subsonic.

The mods might comes with two distribution, namely:

• Standalone - Bundle together with Jetty Web Server. This is the easiest deployment. 
• WAR (Web Archive) format - To be deployed on a Java Web Server such as Tomcat. More complicated.

Method 1 - Standalone Deployment (e.g. Music Cabinet)

1. Download the latest standalone deployment here at http://forum.subsonic.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=11

2. Extract it to somewhere convenient, e.g. /Desktop and change your working directory there

cd /Desktop/subsonic-installer-standalone

3. The archive file normally have name such as subsonic-installer-standalone which contains files such as subsonic.war, subsonic-booter-jar-with-dependencies.jar, subsonic.bat (startfup script for windows) and subsonic.sh (startup script for *NIX/Mac)

4. Before launching the startup script, you will need to assign +x rights to the subsonic.sh file.

sudo chmod +x subsonic.sh

5. Create a new directory called /subsonic under /var/ and assign the ownership to it. This directory is used to store subsonic database and log files.

$ sudo mkdir /var/subsonic
$ sudo chown dsync /var/subsonic

6. Launch the script by entering:

./subsonic.sh

7. Access the page by going to http://localhost:4040. You should see a login page.

8. Log in using the default admin account using ‘admin’ for both the username and password.

9. You should see a getting started page that require you to have a Postgre database setup. Proceed here install Postgre if you haven’t got it setup.

10. After setting it up, click on the Configure System. You will be asked to enter a password for the user ‘postgres’. The default password is ‘postgres’ if you installed it using the installation guide on step 8. Otherwise enter the password that you supplied when installing PostgreSQL.

11. That’s it, you’re done.

Method 2 - WAR deployment using Tomcat

Currently it is stated in the site that Subsonic only works well on Tomcat version 6. So this tutorial will proceed to install with Tomcat 6.

1. Refer to the guide (http://wolfpaulus.com/journal/mac/tomcat7)

2. To start the server, simply type:

$ /Library/Tomcat/bin/startup.sh

or the following to stop the server:

$ /Library/Tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh

3. To check which JRE that Tomcat is running, enter (http://localhost:8080) and click the Manager.

4. By default, there isn’t any user created to access the manager interface. You will need to create it by editing:

$ nano /Library/Tomcat/conf/tomcat-users.xml

Then paste the following code just above the '<'/tomcat-users'>'. This will create a user with the name ‘tomcat’ and password ‘s3cret’.

<role rolename="manager-gui">
<user password="s3cret" roles="manager-gui" username="tomcat">
</user></role>

5. Now click the Status and make sure the JVM running is 1.7+. If it is running on version 1.6.x or below, refer here.

6. After making sure that Tomcat is running using JVM version 1.7.x, move the .war file to the following path:

$ mv /Desktop/subsonic.war /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.35/webapps

7. Restart and run the server again. If all goes well you will see the page loading at http://localhost:8080/subsonic

Installing PostgreSQL 9.2

There are two ways of installing it, one is to directly using the .pkg installer found on Postgre official site. The second one is through MacPorts. This tutorial will cover the second method:

1. Update to the latest MacPorts version. Go grab a coffee because this will take up quite some time.

$ sudo port –v selfupdate
$ sudo port –v install postgresql92-server

2. Create the initial database for Music Cabinet:

$ sudo mkdir –p /opt/local/var/db/postgresql92/musiccabinet
$ sudo chown postgres:postgres /opt/local/var/db
$ sudo su postgres –c ‘/opt/local/lib/postgresql92/bin/initdb –D /opt/local/var/db/postgresql92/musiccabinet

3. To run the server manually:

$ sudo su postgres -c '/opt/local/lib/postgresql92/bin/postgres -D /opt/local/var/db/postgresql92/musiccabinet'

NOTE: The default user created is ‘postgres’ with the same password ‘postgres’.

Troubleshooting

How to increase Postgre maximum connection number?
NOTE: Proceed only if you see any FATAL ERROR: too many clients already in the terminal.

If you wish to increase the maximum connection number of Postgre from the default value of 20 to a higher number, the SHMMAX read by the kernel need to be increased as well.

You can check the current SHMMAX value by your running kernel by issuing

$ sysctl –a

and then you will find the following which is the default.

kern.sysv.shmmax: 4194304

To increase this value, you will need to create a file under /etc/sysctl.conf and enter the following lines as recommended by Postgre README file for MBP 2GB RAM. The purpose of creating the file is so that the changes made will be persistent each time you reboot the system.

$ nano /etc/sysctl.conf

kern.sysv.shmmax=1610612736
kern.sysv.shmall=393216
kern.sysv.shmmin=1
kern.sysv.shmmni=32
kern.sysv.shmseg=8
kern.maxprocperuid=512
kern.maxproc=2048

How to Set Java Path to Java 7
1. Go to /Applications/Utilities and select Java Preferences.
2. Drag and drop Java SE 7 so that it is located at the top.

By doing so, your system is now configured to use JRE 7 as its priority and will only fallback if the Java application doesn’t support it.

3. In the terminal, type

/usr/libexec/java_home --version 1.7

4. This should return with a path such as

/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_09.jdk/Contents/Home

5. To include this as the $JAVA_PATH:

export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.7.0_09.jdk/Contents/Home

NOTE: Using the following command would not register JAVA 7 because the latest Java 7 is not distributed by Apple, instead it is by Oracle.

export JAVA_HOME=/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/CurrentJDK/Home

How to integrate PHP-CGI and Tomcat 6

1. Download php-cgi from MacPorts.

sudo port install php5 +fastcgi fcgi php5-gd php5-mysql php5-sqlite php5-curl php5-iconv

2. Add the following lines into /TOMCAT_DIR/conf/web.xml.

php.java.servlet.ContextLoaderListener

PhpJavaServlet php.java.servlet.PhpJavaServlet PhpCGIServlet php.java.servlet.PhpCGIServlet prefer_system_php_execOn php_include_javaOn PhpJavaServlet *.phpjavabridge PhpCGIServlet *.php
3. Follow the instructions here.

4. After extracting the files, put both JavaBridge.jar and php-servlet.jar into /TOMCAT_DIR/lib

5. Open context.xml found under the /TOMCAT_DIR/conf/

6. Append the following line to the Context header.

reloadable="true" privileged="true"

For example:

<Context reloadable="true" privileged="true">

<!-- Default set of monitored resources -->
<WatchedResource>WEB-INF/web.xml</WatchedResource>
<!-- Uncomment this to disable session persistence across Tomcat restarts -->
<!--
<Manager pathname="" />
-->

<!-- Uncomment this to enable Comet connection tacking (provides events
on session expiration as well as webapp lifecycle) -->
<!--
<Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.CometConnectionManagerValve" />
-->

</Context>

FAQ

1. Where is the Subsonic log file?
A. It is located under /var/subsonic.

2. Where is Tomcat Log file?
A. It can be found under /tomcat dir/logs. It is very useful to troubleshoot why a page refuses to load.

3. How to increase Tomcat heap size to prevent OutOfMemory error?
Type the following command in the terminal.

export JAVA_OPTS="-Xms1024m -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m"

Additional Setup

1. Subsonic Registration Engine - http://www.schattorie.com/subsonic-registration-engine/
2. Hiding server status and usage to public user - http://forum.subsonic.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8040&p=36224&hilit=hide#p36224

A. Subsonic Registration Engine

1. Follow the instruction here.

2. Extract and put the file into /TOMCAT_DIR/webapps.

3. Make some necessary changes to the following files:
- register.php

Change the domain name into your subsonic address.

- /lib/config.php
- /lib/mailconf.php


- /lib/mail/passresetmail.txt
Contains the format of the mail received by the user when they reset their password.

- /lib/mail/regmail.txt
Contains the format of the mail received by the user when they register.


Add the following to login.jsp so that it will display both the register and forgot password link.

<!-- REGISTER START -->
<td align="left"><br><a href="http://musicscrape.zapto.org:8080/register/register.php" >Register</a>
<br><a href="http://musicscrape.zapto.org:8080/register/forgotpass.php">Forgot password</a></td>

<!-- REGISTER END -->

References

1. Installing PostgreSQL9.2 on OS X Mountain Lion - http://phlippers.net/blog/2012/08/03/install-postgresql-9-dot-2-on-os-x-mountain-lion/
2. Postgres Max Connections and Shared Buffers - http://gabe.grayum.name/?p=postgres_max_connections_and_shared_buffers
3. FATAL: could not created shared memory segment - http://grokbase.com/t/postgresql/pgsql-general/12a76zj50s/mac-os-x-mountain-lion-fatal-could-not-create-shared-memory-segment-cannot-allocate-memory
4. Installing TomCat 7.0.x on OS X - http://wolfpaulus.com/journal/mac/tomcat7
5. Setting JAVA_HOME on Mac OS X 10.5 - http://www.mehtanirav.com/2008/09/02/setting-java_home-on-mac-os-x-105/
6. Installing Java 7 on Mac OS X - http://www.vineetmanohar.com/2011/03/installing-java-7-on-mac-os-x/
7. MusicCabinet - http://dilerium.se/musiccabinet/#installation
8. http://www.helloyi.cn/index.php/2011/09/30/mac-osx-lion-macport-nginx-php/
9. Serve PHP with Tomcat - http://www.thomasknierim.com/140/java/serve-php-with-tomcat/

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VGMPulse BETA registration is OPEN NOW!

Good news guys!

I am happy to announce that VGMPulse (a music streaming site) is open for beta registration now! What are you waiting for? Click on the logo below for more information! Don't forget to share it among your friends!

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Using Final Cut Pro X to import and export video for stream (YouTube)

Final Cut Pro X is very choosy when it comes to importing media, and most often you might in a situation where you need to convert your media into FCP friendly format, such as .avi.

This guide will teach you to:

• Convert 'non FCP-friendly' videos into 'friendly' videos using MPEG Streamclip.
• Create a template in Compressor using x264Encoder and complies with YouTube video upload standard.

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Quick Start Guide for Using Dolphin (Wii Emulator)

 

Who should read this guide?

This guide should serve as a quick pointer for first time Dolphin user.

A couple of things you should know about Dolphin:

• Previously Dolphin had used the subversion numbering, e.g. Dolphin r7990. In the recent months the developer had switched to git numbering, resulting in a release name such as Dolphin 3.0-458. Higher number means latest version.
• You might find that some games are playable on a certain version, yet unplayable with the subsequent/later versions. So always choose the best version to play the games. For example, Rhythm Heaven Fever will only playble on older version of Dolphin.
• There are a couple of games that require a customized or patched Dolphin version to play properly. E.g. Xenoblade Chronicles.
• To check whether a game is compatible to play in Dolphin, check out their Wiki for a list of compatible Wii games. This list will also contains the issue that the games are having and workarounds for fixing it.

More after the break.

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The Ultimate Guide to Download Like a PRO from File Hosts (Part 3)

Finally we are at the final part of this tutorial.

In this final part you will learn to:

• Understand the concept of 'free premium account'.
• Know reliable sites to search for free premium account that actually works.
• Add premium account username and password in IDM.
• Add and use premium account cookies.

Steps after the break.

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The Ultimate Guide to Download Like a PRO from File Hosts (Part 2)

Welcome to the second part of the tutorial on how to download like a PRO from various FileHosting sites.

In this part of the tutorial you will learn the following:

• Know your download manager in terms of user interface, settings, and tweaks.
• Customizing your download manager to suit your preference (e.g. internet speed, download behaviour).

Without further ado, let's introduce you to two of the widely used and versatile download manager - Internet Download Manager (IDM) and JDownloader.

Steps after the break.

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The Ultimate Guide to Download like a PRO from File Hosts (Part 1)

Internet is truly an amazing place. What is not to love about it when it is free? However with these vast information it is hard to find the files (be it movie, music, tv series, or what not) that you wanted to search.

This tutorial will guide you to search for files and download them as effective as possible. It will not cover the torrents.

This tutorial will be divided into 3 parts, which each parts covering different section.
 

In this part of the tutorial you will learn the following:

• Know where to search as well as getting familiarize with each selected sites.
• Know how to use a search query that is concise to nail your search.

Steps after the break.

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Bandicam - A competitive game video capture software

Many have complaint that the crack for the latest version of Bandicam (v1.7.5 onwards) didn't work as expected. Or if it had somehow worked but the watermark is still present in the recorded video even after applying the crack. So I had decided to upload the one that I had used and really does work.


Although the version that I uploaded is from the older version (v1.7.1.133), but I couldn't see any major changes when compared to the latest version. At least the video doesn't have the watermark on it after crack.

Watermark on the recorded video even after applying the crack

More after the break.

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How to connect/pairing wiimote with PC for Dolphin

Today my purchase of original Wiimote Motion (Black), original Nunchunk (Black) and wireless sensor bar had arrived at my doorstep. Noticed how I use the work Original as I intend to use it with the dolphin emulator. Using third party wiimote might not work in high chance. This guide was created following my successful attempt on pairing it with my PC.

I had tested it with games such as Wii Sports Resort, Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, Fatal Frame IV and they all work perfectly.

More shots and guide after the break.

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Guide on how to recover from a failed or corrupted partition/hard disk

Recently my Rosetta, which is an 1TB external hard disk from Western Digital Mybook series had saw its day. It is the first WD hard drive that had failed over me and it is also the second external hard drive that failed, with the first one being Maxtor Basics 1TB. I had never saw it coming as I believed I took great care of it. Not a single drop, not even once. Initial inspection is that it is a software fault rather than a hardware fault because there is no 'clicking' sound a.k.a click of death. Actually I had this coming all along. Viewing the windows native Event Viewer had shows that the hard disk had suffered from some bad sectors since months ago, and Hardware Controller error few weeks ago. Yet I didn't bother to check through the Event Viewer. It is very rare for computer user to check through the Event Viewer unless there is a need to. I had no idea what causes it but every hard disk do have its own life span. Though WD lasted longer.

There are some great things to be relief of. First, that hard disk only stores some game roms which I had burned it via DVD few days before the disaster. So what's left of it are half of my 500GB of unwatched Animes (which I doubt I will spent time watching them) a couple of TV series and TVB dramas.

This unfortunate incident had proves the following statement to be true, and I will be remember it for the days to come in my whole life.

"All hard disk will certainly failed. Do not think IF my hard disk will fail. Instead, try to think WHEN will my hard disk fail."

Bearing this statement in mind, make sure you took the following steps to identify early symptoms of a hard drive failure.

1. Check through the Event Log for Critical or Error messages from time to time, say weekly to be safe.

2. If there is any bad sectors, even one, that drive might be failed in the days/months to come. Even if the bad sectors are fixed, it would be just delaying it from being deteriorating. Why? Because the bad sectors is only marked as bad or 'dirty' by the OS. So the OS will not write any further data to that sector, at its best. It means that you should start backing up that drive instantly.




Over the past few days I had spent quite some time trying to figuring out the best way to salvage the datas, or what's left of it. So I thought why not write an article that explains the best way to deal with situation such as this in case of the need arises again in the future (which I certain hope not). This article could also help those that experience the same problem that I had, I hope.

----------------------------------- 
Read the basic introduction on how NTFS works written by me, hopefully it is understandable to have a better understand on how NTFS works.

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