jay tech info
Friday, January 30, 2004
Issue 12 - Which Brands of CD-R Discs are Best for Long-Term Data and Photo Storage?
Issue 12 - Which Brands of CD-R Discs are Best for Long-Term Data and Photo Storage?:This issue contains advice on selecting quality CD-R discs to use when recording/storing imporant data and photos for long-term storage.
0. Don't use CD-RW discs! They're only designed for short-term storage, and are erasable. Don't go putting your imporant photos on these!
1. The dye used is probably the most important for long-term stability and lifespan.
There are three dyes used today in CD-Rs, in order of preferece.
A. Phthalocyanine - inherently stable unlike cyanine dye which must be stabilized by the addition of other metals, etc. Longest lasting under testing. Expected lifespans exceeding 200+ years when coupled with gold reflective layers in cold storage.
(color, light green on silver reflective surface; light yellow/green on gold reflective surface)
B. Azo. Only Mitsubishi/Verbatim makes this. Up to 100 years, less stable than Phthalocyanine dye, but more so than cyanine dye.
(color, very deep blue on silver reflective surface)
C. Cyanine dye. Chemically unstable alone, and must be stabilized. Still, less stable than the other dyes in long-term simulation tests. However, the first made consumer CD-Rs used this and is part of the 'standard' all CD-RW drives must be compatible with.
(color, green-blue/blue on silver)
2. You can use CDRIdentifier to read the dye information stored on the CD-Rs you buy as well, which is more reliable if you don't know which bottom colors represent which combinations.
CDRIdentifier: http://www.gum.de/it/download/english.htm
3. Besides dye, the reflective layer used affects long-term storage lifespans.
There are three known types used today, in order of preference:
A. Gold - yep, expensive, but from the bottom, it'll look like real gold.
B. Gold + Silver - Only Kodak Ultima Silver+Gold CD-Rs use this. Their tests suggest this combination lasts longer than silver-looking only discs.
C. silver. - not true silver, but silver looking. Most discs produced today use this. However, given that metals except gold corrode, corrosion of such surfaces (when the top laquer layer has been removed/scratched) can and will occur.
4. Do not look at the top when trying to determing reflective layer type! Look at the bottom in particular, the exposed areas around the rim and inner hub. The fake 'gold' layer they put on top of some CD-Rs are not true gold at all, and only there to 'fake' the customers.
5. The longest lasting CD-Rs, based on longevity testing, use Phthalocyanine dye and Gold reflective layers. Phthalocyanine with Gold&Silver reflective layers next, followed by Phthalocyanine and Silver and Azo and Silver. Cyanine on anything (only silver today) is the worst performing disc.
6. Typically, Japanese made CD-Rs tend have better quality control, IMO.
Once they move production to Taiwan/Mexico, forget em.
Top Quality Name-Brands, in order of preference:
A. Mitsui Gold CD-R & Kodak Gold Ultima - Phthalocyanine dye + Gold.
B. Kodak Gold Silver+Gold - Phthalocyanine dye + Silver & Gold.
C. Mitsui Silver, Ricoh Platinum - Phthalocyanine dye + Silver.
D. Mitsubishi/Verbatim - Azo + Silver.
E. Taiyo Yuden - Cyanine + Silver.
7. You can get these at www.cdrexpress.com and www.memorymedia.com.
Use www.silverace.com/smartpig/ to locate more places to buy, along with online coupons, rebates, and ways to save money online.
8. All the other 'cheapies' not mentioned above are generally of poorer & more variable quality. eg. those $15 / 100pk of no-name CD-Rs at www.microcenter.com and www.compusa.com are the worst in long-term longevity.
However, even the quality of cheapies today will last a few years before deteriorating (assuming no long sunlight exposure; a few hours in the sun will kill discs) and will work fine. Great for disposable burns, music, and stuff you don't care if they fade away soon.
The poorest performing brand-name disc above, 6-#E, will still last 10-20 years in cold storage w/o any problems at all!
Remember to keep them away from sunlight/UV, and that most likely, you'll be moving all of the data off CD-Rs onto newer storage medium (maybe DVD-R? Holographic?) in 10-20 years. Why? Not one storage medium has lived that long, and realistically, you'll want to move the data off obsolete storage media =before= they stop making the drives!!
Just like nobody has 5 1/4" (or 8/12") floppy drives anymore, expect only to need at the minimum discs that'll last until you migrate the data off them in 10-20 years from now. Of course, higher quality, longer lasting discs 6-#A-#D will only help your peace-of-mind.
9. Burn at least two copies of every important piece of data. Preferably, to two different brands of discs, and preferably two difference types (eg. Picking #A always is a good #1 pick, anything from 6-#B-#E as your #2). Although simulated longevity tests suggest #A has the best lifepsan, nobody has ever sat around long enough yet to see if that's true (in fact, CD-Rs have been out only about 10-15 years!). Best to make sure you use two different brands and types to keep bad-batches and combos of dyes/layers from ruining your data years from now.
10. Double-check all imporant discs after each burn - make sure they match the original files 100% before putting them away and assuming they're good burns. Use the CD-R program's 'verify-after-write' feature, available in only some programs, or CDCheck: http://fusion.zejn.si/ to do this.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
BadRam www.gballard.net
BadRam www.gballard.net: "Bad RAM can wreak havoc on our sanity....
It will surface as intermittent or total system instability, or it may prevent Mac from booting altogether.
In Adobe Photoshop, it will surface as rows of bad pixels (as well as lockups).
(A bad cable, bad card, bad switch, bad/misconfigured router, bad repeater, bad termination, bad wiring, bad hard drive, bad controller, bad connections, bad logic board, bad CPU (Altivec) "
KODAK: Labeling CD-R Media
KODAK: Labeling CD-R Media: "Labeling KODAK CD-R Media
Contents
* What's the proper method to label a CD?
* Why do you advise against the use of self-adhesive labels?
Updated 5 March, 2002.
What's the proper method to label a CD?
You can write on the screenprinted side (coated side) of a CD-R. Never write on the clear, 'mirror' side (uncoated side) of a CD-R. Never use a sharp-pointed instrument, like a pen or pencil to label a CD-R. Preferably, use a felt tip pen or marker. The use of water-soluble ink is generally recommended because no one has studied the long term effects of solvent-based inks on CD-R media. However, Kodak has never seen a disc fail because someone wrote on it with solvent-based ink from a felt-tip pen or marker. If you're writing a small amount of information (like an identification number), just write it in the clear area near the hub (center hole), away from any coated layers or recorded information.
For more information about writing on the surface of a CD-R, check out Andy McFadden's CD-Recordable FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) at http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq07.html#S7-7
Why do you advise against the use of self-adhesive labels?
If done correctly using good label stock, self-adhesive labels can provide a neat, good looking disc at a price a consumer is willing to pay. But there are risks, including delamination, a condition of off-balance that may lead to less than optimum writing and reading performance and potential chemical reactions between the label adhesive and the disc layers.
Kodak advises against the use of labels because it's a process that could lead to loss of data. You must carefully weigh the risks against the benefits for your own situation before you make a decision about how to label. Kodak does not warranty CD-R media that has had self-adhesive labels applied.
The potential problems are summarized very well in Andy McFadden's CD-Recordable FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) at http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq07.html#S7-7."
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs
Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs:
CLIR and NIST joint project
NIST Special Publication 500-252, October 2003, Final"
Friday, January 23, 2004
Venis Productions Theater: Too Much Caffeine
HEY YA, CHARLIE BROWN! very cute video, Peanuts meets Outkast
Thursday, January 22, 2004
"Dell PCs are usually pretty good--- I used to use Dells as my main PCs. But I personally prefer whitebox/small brand PCs now. For example, I just bought a new 'Systemax' PC from TigerDirect: a 3.2GHz Hyperthreaded Pentium that came with 512MB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, good video card, NIC, modem, floppy, DVD player, a DVD burner that handles -R, -RW, CD-R, and CD-RW formats, and more. It cost $1200, which is $700 less than a comparably equipped Dell Dimension 8300. You can see the system here: http://langa.com/u/3e.htm . It's very nice- -- I'm using it to write this issue. Both the clock speed increase and the 'Hyperthreading' ( http://www.intel.com/technology/hyperthread/ ) make a noticeable improvement in speed over the system I was previously using; the Hyperthreading technology even fools some system utilities into thinking that the one-CPU system is actually equipped with dual processors! Full disclosure: TigerDirect is a LangaList advertiser. But I bought the Systemax solely for its price and configuration after comparing it to systems from Dell, Micron and Gateway. Dell currently offers free shipping and an extra 512MB of RAM, which reduces the Systemax price savings from $700 down to around $550 or so after you pay for the shipping and upgrade the Systemax's RAM to a full 1GB (which I did). But a $550 savings is still a fair chunk of change in favor of the Systemax."
Friday, January 16, 2004
Seeking Good DHTML Debuggers?
Seeking Good DHTML Debuggers?: Re:You already have the tools (Score:4, Informative)
by Jerk City Troll (661616) Friend of a Friend on 09:29 AM -- Friday January 16 2004 (#7997491)
(http://weblog.elwing...archives/000065.html | Last Journal: 01:12 PM -- Sunday July 20 2003)
Its good for image rollovers and validating forms but the moment you try and do anything fancy with it like manipulating layers you will be plagued by crossbrowser incompatibilities.
No, no, NO!
First of all, do not use JavaScript for image rollovers. It's a terrible idea and the person who thought of using JavaScript for image rollovers should be shot. You never put images in webpages where the image is not the content. That's presentational HTML. Instead, follow this example [www.pixy.cz] which uses pure CSS. The basic idea is that you use the :hover pseudo-class to change the background property of a hyperlink. That background image can contain all states or it can be separate files. Wrap the inner text with a span tag and specify that span tags within the scope of your anchor tag get a display: none propety. Its so simple, it works without JavaScript, loads faster, cross-browser compatible, and if the user is running a non-graphical browser, it's still accessible. Here's a quick example (where somepic.png contains both roll over states, one at (0, 0) and the other at (0, 20):
a.Foo {
display: block;
width: 100;
height: 20;
background: url("somepic.png") top left no-repeat;
}
a.Foo:hover {
background-position: -20px;
}
a.Foo span {
display: none;
}
Then in your markup, you put this:
link to foo
Next, you should never rely on JavaScript to do your form validation. That's the most stupid, absurd thing I've ever heard. Leaving input validation in the hands of the client is to trust the user to not attempt to screw up your input. For forms to the useful, they have to be submitted to some kind of server-side logic. That is where the form validation should take place because then the user cannot side-step your input validation.
Yikes. With people like you building websites, no wonder the Web is such a disaster today. Please change professions ASAP or read Designing With Web Standards [zeldman.com]
--
litigious bastards [sco.com] [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:You already have the tools by Jerk City Troll (Score:4)
Starting Score: 1 point
Moderation +3
70% Informative
30% Insightful
Extra 'Informative' Modifier 0 (Edit)
Total Score: 4
Re:You already have the tools (Score:2, Insightful)
by edwdig (47888) Alter Relationship on 09:54 AM -- Friday January 16 2004 (#7997664)
(http://slashdot.org/) First of all, do not use JavaScript for image rollovers. It's a terrible idea and the person who thought of using JavaScript for image rollovers should be shot.
JavaScript was pretty much invented for things like that. JavaScript first showed up in Netscape 2.0, but CSS didn't show up until the 4.0 browsers.
Relying on CSS isn't always the best idea - IE does a terrible job of handling it. When I do web development, most of my time gets spent trying to work around limitations of IE. Very simple CSS works in IE, but anything even somewhat complex probably won't work right in it.
Next, you should never rely on JavaScript to do your form validation.
Yes, completely relying on JavaScript for form validation is a very stupid thing to do. But that doesn't mean you can't do initial validation with it. If you click Submit on a form, and a JavaScript alert pops up to tell you that you have to enter your phone number, it's a lot nicer than if you get the error after the page submits.
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
* Re:You already have the tools by lowmagnet (Score:1) 10:23 AM -- Friday January 16 2004
o Re:You already have the tools by Tilde~ (Score:1) 01:23 PM -- Friday January 16 2004
+ Re:You already have the tools by lowmagnet (Score:1) 02:41 PM -- Friday January 16 2004
Re:You already have the tools (Score:1)
by (trb001) (224998) Alter Relationship on 09:59 AM -- Friday January 16 2004 (#7997723)
(http://www.boughyah.org/trb) Next, you should never rely on JavaScript to do your form validation
Right and wrong. You can/should use JS to provide feedback to the client if they entered something blaringly incorrect (ie, left the last name field blank, formatted a date wrong, etc). You should, however, *always* assume the input coming to your back end is fiddled with and trying to break your system, so still have all input checking on the backend as well. Client side input validation is good because it gives immediate response to the client, helps to decrease your server's load and shortens the overall time needed to input data by informing the client of errors before submitting. While not a problem on your LAN, clients over dialup can take seconds if not longer to submit a single form, let alone page after page of them. Knowing that a date has to be in a certain format or that 5 fields are required before submitting shortens their time considerably.
--trb
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
* Re:You already have the tools by lowmagnet (Score:1) 10:27 AM -- Friday January 16 2004
o Re:You already have the tools by Tilde~ (Score:1) 01:30 PM -- Friday January 16 2004
+ Re:You already have the tools by lowmagnet (Score:1) 02:50 PM -- Friday January 16 2004
# Re:You already have the tools by fean (Score:1) 04:00 PM -- Friday January 16 2004
Re:You already have the tools (Score:1)
by gibi (581962) Alter Relationship on 10:00 AM -- Friday January 16 2004 (#7997732)
Next, you should never rely on JavaScript to do your form validation. That's the most stupid, absurd thing I've ever heard. Leaving input validation in the hands of the client is to trust the user to not attempt to screw up your input. For forms to the useful, they have to be submitted to some kind of server-side logic. That is where the form validation should take place because then the user cannot side-step your input validation. It's bad to rely on JavaScript for form validation but it can be a good idea to do JavaScript AND server-side validation. It can be good for the user (mainly because you save one page load if the validation fails).
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:You already have the tools (Score:1)
by mykdavies (1369) Alter Relationship on 10:01 AM -- Friday January 16 2004 (#7997741)
(http://www.lammas.com/) "Next, you should never rely on JavaScript to do your form validation."
The key word here is 'rely'. It's perfectly reasonable to allow the page to do simple first-pass checking of the content to avoid simple errors, like blank or incorrectly formatted data. You just need to ensure that (1) you re-validate at the server, (2) the form still submits if you don't have JS enabled (ie put validation code in the onSubmit event).
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:You already have the tools (Score:1)
by LeftOfCentre (539344) Alter Relationship
[ Reply to This | Parent ]
Re:You already have the tools (Score:2, Interesting)
by mr3038 (121693) Alter Relationship on 10:23 AM -- Friday January 16 2004 (#7997946)
(http://www.jyu.fi/~mira/index.html)
Its so simple, it works without JavaScript, loads faster, cross-browser compatible, and if the user is running a non-graphical browser, it's still accessible. Here's a quick example (where somepic.png contains both roll over states, one at (0, 0) and the other at (0, 20):
a.Foo {
display: block;
width: 100;
height: 20;
background: url("somepic.png") top left no-repeat;
}
If you start throwing out examples, it would be nice to check that those work. You've a mistake there as "width:100;" or "height:20;" mean nothing. You have to define the unit unless the value you're trying to set is zero. Yep, they work in MSIE, but when did that browser knew anything about the standards? The correct format is width: 100px and height: 20px .
After saying that, yes, for simple roll-overs [meyerweb.com] and cascading menus [meyerweb.com], the CSS is much better choice than javascript. Javascript should be used when the functionality required is much more complex [michaelbystrom.com].
Thursday, January 15, 2004
Sheikhs or, How to Do Business in Iraq
Current Chaos Manor mail:
Many in Iraq have clamored for electricity, and many others have worked to hinder its restoration. Insurgents? No, bandits. There is a profitable black market trade in copper across the border in Iran. The 'Restore Iraqi Electricity' contract calls for rebuilding damaged high tension power lines, with their attendant tower pylons. You've seen these things all over the States, metal truss structures with huge insulators and heavy cables draped from one tower to the next. In Iraq, between Basra and Baghdad, there are 732 of them, running nearly 300 miles, spaced every 500 meters. They carry four hundred thousand volt/amps of current. A few had been damaged by neglect- rust and high winds- but almost none were hurt by U.S. bombs or tanks. By the time reconstruction efforts were fully under weigh, over 400 of them were down. At night, resourceful Iraqis would climb a tower and tie a rope to the top. They would attach it to a pickup truck, unbolt two of the tower legs ! from the concrete caissons in the ground, and pull the tower down. Swarming over the downed cables, as thick as a man's arm, they would cut them into four foot chunks, load up their trucks, and haul them across the border, a mere 20 miles away. There they are put into brick kilns to burn off the plastic insulation and melt the copper, then cool it into solid blocks for sale. Five hundred meters of cable can bring $300 to $500, a fine wage for a night's work in Iraq.
So what's the solution? The Army is too busy fighting ex-Baathists, radical Islamists and foreign mercenaries to do more than cursory patrols of the pylons. The private security firm hired to provide protection for our construction managers came up with an ingenious plan. Pay the sheikhs. The sheikhs are local clan and tribal leaders, whose suzerainty covers a few square miles, and a few hundred family and village people. They own cars. They wear decent clothes. They smile and shake hands with visitors, scrupulous in their courtesy. And you had better not cross them. They do like money, too. Each sheikh is tasked with guarding the towers in his jurisdiction. His guards (2 per tower- one day shift, one night) get paid $60 a month in wages (that's for 360 hours of work, for the mathematically disinclined), plus a $50 per month food allowance. The sheikh gets $100 per guard per month, and he gets a $500 bonus at the end of construction for keeping the towers and cab! les undamaged. The guards are provided with uniforms and AK-47s with 30 rounds of ammunition, free of charge.
The sheikhs are very attentive to their rights and sovereignty. Their guys may have been the very ones who went to the NEIGHBORING sheikh's property to steal copper cables, but will defend with bullets their own area. So let the sheikhs defend towers on their own land, and pay them a bonus to keep them up for the duration. They are quite dependable in this, and see no inconsistency in their roles. Stealing from competing tribes is an ancient and honorable Middle-Eastern custom, dating back to long before Muhammad. Loyalty to sheikh is higher than loyalty to country. The cables will get strung without further plundering.
Hmmm, you say, 400 towers times 2 guards plus sheikh's cut plus bonus works out to what in 3 months? $572,000. A drop in the bucket compared with the overall cost of reconstruction. We can look at it as an investment.
Now, who takes care of all this when the rich American contractors leave the country? Why, the Iraqi Electricity Ministry, of course. Oops, weren't those the same fellows who were caught bringing down towers one night, along with some local police? Well, perhaps they just had a few bad eggs. Hmmm again. Please do understand, fair reader, that our government (NOT the contractors) provided 150 Nissan 4 wheel drive pickup trucks to this same Ministry. In 3 week's time, all 150 had disappeared. That's right, lost, stolen, 'reallocated,' whatever. Gone. That's over $3,000,000 worth of rolling stock, gone for good. So maybe $572,000 doesn't seem like such a bad deal after all. At least we get something for it. With whom would YOU rather do business?
Regards,
Steve Erbach Neenah, WI
Friday, January 09, 2004
Fontifier
Fontifier: "Fontifier lets you use your own handwriting for the text you write on your computer.
It turns a scanned sample of your handwriting into a computer font that you can use
in your word processor or graphics program, just like regular fonts such as Helvetica."
Thursday, January 08, 2004
NBOR - What You Can Do in Blackspace That You Can't Do Anywhere Else
NBOR - What You Can Do in Blackspace That You Can't Do Anywhere Else: "Everything that you can do with NBOR software operates in Blackspace all the time. You have full text processing, sound processing (including very sophisticated DSP, coming in Q2 of 2004), graphics capability, drawing, layout capabilities, pie charts and bar graphs, video and audio players, the ability to build complex devices, online co-production capabilities, email, online support, animation, slideshows -- the list goes on and on. Once you're in Blackspace, you never have to launch a single program to gain access to any of this, because there are no programs. You decide what you want to do and then just do it. This simple fact presents users with a unique environment that supports unheard of freedom. This environment is called Blackspace. "
Thursday, January 01, 2004
How does Mirra work � Mirra. The first personal server
How does Mirra work � Mirra. The first personal server: "Mirra gives you hands-free backup. Right-click on any of the folders on your desktop (photos, MP3s, documents, etc.) and you see Mirra Backup in the Windows dropdown menu. Click once and Mirra backs up your files. Mirra tags your important files and folders, then builds a directory and copies their contents. Mirra's software tracks changes you make to your files locally on your PC and relays them to the Mirra Personal Server, ensuring that your files are up-to-date and available to you, wherever you are."
