Test video samples for Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS5 Point & Shoot

HD 1280x720

VGA 640x480

QVGA 320x240

Test image samples for Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS5 Point & Shoot

4:3 14M      4320x3240       - for printing up to A2 size prints

4:3 10M      3648x2736 EZ - for printing up to A3 size prints

4:3 5M        2560x1920 EZ - for printing up to A4 size prints

4:3 3M        2048x1536 EZ - for printing up to 13x18cm(5x7") prints

4:3 0.3M     640x480 EZ     -for sending as e-mail attachments or WEB photo

3:2 12.5M   4320x2880       - for printing up to A2 size prints

16:9 10.5M 4320x2432       - for printing up to A3 size prints

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS5 Point & Shoot

Moi first kamera :P
Wanted a simple Point n Shoot basic camera and got this atlast..

How to fix Emerald in Linux Mint 10

When i do

> emerald --replace

i get the error "Segmentation fault"

To fix that I had to follow these steps.



1. Remove emerald completely

> sudo apt-get purge emerald

2. Install some deps packages

> sudo apt-get install git autoconf libtool libwnck1.0-cil-dev libwnck-dev intltool libdecoration0-dev libemeraldengine0

3. Fetch emerald via GIT

> git clone git://anongit.compiz.org/fusion/decorators/emerald

4. Compile and install it!

> cd emerald

> git checkout -b compiz++ origin/compiz++

> ./autogen.sh

> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local

> make                   

> sudo make install

After that i ran

> emerald --replace

and it worked.

Source

Toshiba Satellite C640-i4010- why, where and how ?

This is my review and not a generic review on how the machine works. I wanted one as my current ones were Acer 4520 and Lenovo S10-3. The former an old 14 inch notebook which has come back from death like a phoenix and the latter a brand new netbook which is superfast after a RAM fix. Well i wanted a new 14/15 incher as the 10" netbook was too small and light for me. So after weeks of hunting i ended up on some options:

1)Lenovo Essential G Series G565 (59-053008) 24.7k
[AMD Athlon 2 Dual Core, 15.6", 2GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200]
2)Toshiba Satellite C Series C640-I4010 24.8k
[Intel Core I3, 14", 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, Intel HD Graphics]
3)MSI CR Series CR420 23.6k
[Intel Core I3, 14", 2GB DDR3, 250GB HDD]

Option 2 was the only option for me as it was a tempting deal, but wait, I can't find any reviews about that machine online [Did the whole world missed reviewing it? ] I decided to take the risk. Speaking of the config, it has 2nd gen Core i3 2310M which was more tempting and if you get 4GB gigs and 500GB Hdd what else do you need. I was ok adjusting with the two USB 2.0 ports as I felt I am getting way more for my budget that was 25k .

Once i decided, the next main decision to be taken was from where. I hated online shopping maybe just cos that i haven't tried it but i had no intention in buying it online. I saw the BEST price at www.flipkart.com and i was like 'wow'. But then I didn't know how good flipkart is but it had a frigging awesome word-of-mouth from my friends. I thought of testing it, ordered a 8GB pen drive. I got proper and timely notifications of my order from them and got my order in 2 working days. I was like 'awesomeeeeeee' [Miz WWE style]. I decided to take the risk and ordered the C640-i4010 on a Wednesday. I got the notification that i would get it before next Tuesday (so 6 days). On Thursday i got another notification that it has been dispatched. And to my surprise I got it Friday evening (within 2 days time). That was quick too.


You can see the pics here Toshiba Satellite c640-i4010. It came with no OS and no carry bag (1k more if you want the two). Next up was which OS to install. Was sick and tired of MS crap , i loved the Ubuntu NBR and Jolicloud OS which i installed on my netbook so I went the opensource way and this time installed Linux Mint 11 [after looking at many reviews] . I went with efficiency and speed over gaming this time. Installation was a very simple and straightforward. After that i had a complete laptop.

Complete Hardware and Software Specs here.

Coming back to the review, this is a VFM machine not a very high end just because of the tempting specs.

Looks- Its not as sturdy as my old Acer 4520 but neither is it as plastic as other toshiba models are, its just OK. Keyboard is chicklet type and is smooth once you are used to it. Trackpad is neat with multi-touch technology with finger scroll which is impressive. Its a 14 inch HD LED CSV Display and is more than enuf for me with 1366x768 resolution. Includes a decent 0.3MP camera

Connectivity- Bluetooth, Wi-fi works flawlessly. It has a DVD-writer too which works too. Also includes a VGA port and an Ethernet port. Built in audio speakers are decent. There are ports for audio and mic.

Battery Life- I get 4.5hrs when just browsing. If you are playing movies then you will get 3.5hrs from a full discharge. 6-cell battery

Performance- 4gigs of RAM  and a 5400rpm 500GB HDD is sufficient and the 2nd gen Core i3- 2310M too. Running smooth.

Overall- I am happy . PERIOD

Benchmarking Test 1- Battery

I used Phoronix-test-suite , you can get it from here

Battery Power Usage
System - This test is designed for notebooks and netbooks and monitor's the system's battery consumption as it idles for 60 seconds, then turns off the monitor for 60 seconds via DPMS, then turns the display back on and plays back a sample H.264 1080p video file using mplayer with the X-Video output adapter


>>phoronix-test-suite benchmark battery-power-usage

sb2- battery at 100% discharging with just firefox running
sb3- battery at 80% discharging with again just firefox running
sb4- battery at 60% discharging with firefox, vlc player[1080x720 being played], bamshee player[another 1080x720 movie played], gimp[just opened] running

Global Comparision

Some pics of my Toshiba Satellite C640-i4010

Bottom View

Front View: No ports

Side View: power jack, optical drive

Back View: No ports

Side View: Audio jack. two USB 2.0, MMC slot,
Ethernet, VGA

Top View

Hmm no curves ;)

This is it

Just born

Finally it has arrived !! Toshiba Satellite C640-i4010

Hardware:
Processor: Intel Core i3-2310M @ 2.10GHz (4 Cores), Motherboard: TOSHIBA Portable PC, Chipset: Intel 2nd Generation Core Family, Memory: 4096MB, Disk: 500GB TOSHIBA MK5076GS, Graphics: Intel 2nd Generation Core Family IGP 256MB, Audio: Conexant CX20590

Software:
OS: LinuxMint 11, Kernel: 2.6.38-8-generic (x86_64), Desktop: GNOME 2.32.1, Display Server: X Server 1.10.1, Display Driver: intel 2.14.0, OpenGL: 2.1 Mesa 7.10.2, Compiler: GCC 4.5.2, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1366x768

Bought from www.flipkart.com for 24.8 INR. This came without any OS.

Backup your original firmware

Before doing anything fancy to your firmware or adding any custom ROMs, we should always take a backup of our firmware. So that while flashing if anything bad :) happens, you can always flash your phone with the original firmware which your phone came with.

For that we need to know the version of the firmware that we are using.

Some terms for Noobs

Here you will get to see some weird words which have their own meaning here. So I will just explain some. [Some definitions that sound odd will be my definitions and the other normal ones will be from the internet, who cares as long as you get to know what it means]

This is meant for noobs hence the level of explanation :)

Android- A Mobile Operating System just like the OS we have on a PC, this one is meant for the mobile device. Similar types of Mobile OS would be Symbian(mostly in Nokia), iOS(OS for Apple iPhone, iPod, iPad), Windows Mobile(a stripped down version of our PC's Windows OS), bada OS(for certain Samsung).

Froyo, Gingerbread, 2.2, 2.3- Codenames are there for each version of OS released. Android 2.2 is Froyo and Android 2.3 is Gingerbread. 2.1 is Eclair

Rooting- Its a method for Android OS users to get privileged control aka root access. If the phone is not rooted then we wont get access to delete some files or add some special files, or change the phone structure. And this is also legal. Without rooting you cannot run unauthorized apps(the ones ppl like you and me can make if we try)..

Advantage of Rooting [ without rooting you cant do the below ]

1. You rule the Android OS that you have. You get the power to change any file in that OS, add extra apps, put extra animation while booting, install awesome themes(ur own too).
2. Backup your fone to ur SD card and install custom ROMs.
3.  Move data from internal memory to SD card.
4. and many more... i still have to discover 

 ROM- ever heard of old-skool Read Only Memory? well here under Android, it means an actual OS image that we can install into the ROM area of our phone. And a KERNEL is the heart of the OS, literally :)

Stock ROM-  Its the version of the phone's OS that comes with it when we buy it. (like some PCs come with Windows installed)

Custom ROM- It basically means a modified version of a stock ROM. Since Android is open-source, developers(us too ;) ) are free to do any damn thing with it and redistribute it. Warning: Use custom ROMs under your own risk as its made by anyone out there, so there is a chance that it mite not work.

Flashing- The process of installing the ROM

Advantage of Custom ROMs

1.  increase/decrease frequency of the phone[Warning: increase too much and u can have ur fone for dinner]
2. open source, someone creates it, someone else fixes bugs, someone else donates for it and so on and on... its free. you get better updates in custom ROMs than in original ones.
3. better utilization of  battery as developers can remove unwanted apps/files or optimize the kernel .
4. upgrade to a newer version which is not out yet ;), either by porting the new OS from another phone which is already released or a leaked version which usually arrives 2-3 weeks before release :)
5. install apps to SDcard aka apps2SD 

Happy? wait... there are disadvantages too ;)

1.  flashing could go all wrong if you dont do it properly. it can even BRICK your phone, means a dead state or it wont switch on.
2. to flash, it has to delete the entire data in ur fone. So u have to backup before doing, if not then you cant restore once flashed.
3. custom ROMs , all of them cant be trusted, it can have bugs just like the stock ones though. So just search for ones which has lots of positive feedback and use that. 

The Good and the Bad abt my LG OP1 P500

Good

1. sleek and very comfy [chucked out some good ones as my hand was too big for them]
2. 3MP cam [I ain't a photographer, 3 is more than enuf for me]
3. Android 2.2 and confirmation from LG to be upgraded to 2.3. Yes the next big thing as some call it.
4. touchscreen and a good one [wanted a qwerty but no regrets]
5. 3G, wifi and all that
6. 1500mh battery, stays up for 1.5-2 days with normal usage [no blah blah talks, just 10-20 min per day]
7. and many more.... not getting into the technical aspects though :P

Bad

1.  hmmmm... no flash [but it does take some decent pics indoor]
2.  not dual sim [but i anyways lost my kerala sim so i just have one rite now]
3. i am not using my Zen Z77 cos of this. Big B became a brand ambassador 2 months after i bought the fone.
4. nothing else....will update if i find any

LG Optimus One P500

Yes I finally bought myself an LG OP1 P500. I got it from Mobile Store, Madhapur, Hyderabad.for 12.6k.

My 5 homescreens. Yes its Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans
1)Main Screen

 2)Left to Main Screen

 3)Left to left of Main Screen

 4)Right to Main Screen

 5)Right to right of Main Screen

End of thread!!