I decided to upgrade my computer a few days ago (the reason is tedious...). In particular, the processor, motherboard, RAM, and graphics card will be 'gone' and I need to buy them. If you know exactly what you use the computer for, it is easy to spot what components you really need.

Processor
I often use VirtualBox. So, for reasonable performance, the processor must support nested paging. I am inclined to buy an AMD processor. Don't need to have very high processing speed.
For AMD processors, nested paging became available starting with the K10 architecture [en.wikipedia.org]. I checked some prices lists, and found that the cheapest AMD processor with K10 is AMD Athlon II X2 240, which was priced at RM198. Ok, would get this.

Motherboard
The AMD Athlon II X2 needs AM3 socket. The cheapest motherboard on the price lists that supports AM3, is stable, and has good name or reviews is ASUS M4N78 SE, which was priced at RM220. Besides, it is good that the motherboard has an UltraDMA interface, as my optical drive and a harddisk still need it. Ok, should be a good choice.

Graphics Card
The ASUS M4N78 SE motherboard supports only graphics cards with PCIe interface. I don't play high-end 3D games, so I decided to get the cheapest card out there. There are three cheapest cards priced at RM125, and I finally chose XFX NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS. Both the motherboard chosen and this card used the chipsets designed by the same company -- Nvidia. Besides, the card supports GPU programming via CUDA. Ok, would get this too.

RAM
The motherboard supports only DDR2 RAM. Decided to get 4GB as I often run several big applications at the same time. Finally chose two pieces of 2GB Kingston DDR2 RAM, each priced at RM133.

So I spent RM809 to buy all these yesterday, and upgraded my box last night. The performance and features are satisfactory. I get a very significant performance boost too when using VirtualBox due to the support of nested paging. I'm using it to write this post with the enhanced box right now.

Yasmin Ahmad [en.wikipedia.org], an internationally renowned filmmaker from Malaysia, passed away last month at the age of 51. Her works have won many awards throughout the world. This two-minute short film, 'Chocolate', was her last film. This piece is part of the 15MALAYSIA [15malaysia.com] project.

Like all her other films and TV commercials, this piece is equally deep and absolutely thought-provoking. She has been able to compress so many messages into this short piece. The piece lasts about two minutes but can let you to think for more than two hours! You may not catch much when the film just finished. But as you watch it or think about it again, you should gradually catch the elements Yasmin tried to tell you: Cultures, races, generations, hopes, lives, choices, limitations, government, ...

Last Updated: 13-Aug-2010 14:31 MYT

H1N1 has invaded Malaysia, and the threat is not over yet. So in addition of keeping track of the current global situation, I have also created this post to illustrate the current situation in Malaysia.

** The number of death cases

** The number of confirmed cases (Obsolete! I have stopped updating this as it seems that the updated figures are not updated regularly after 12-Aug-2009)

Important updates:

• 15-May-2009: First confirmed case
• 18-Jun-2009: First locally transmitted case
• 13-Jul-2009: First time that a daily H1N1 count shows more locally transmitted cases
• 17-Jul-2009: WHO said that the pandemic has been spreading at an unprecedented speed. Ministry of Health will focus on cases that require treatments in hospitals and clusters of ILI (Influenza-Like Illness). Statistics since 18-Jul-2009 reflect only these two situations.
• 23-Jul-2009: First A(H1N1)-related death case [thestar.com.my] occurred on 21-Jul-2009. A(H1N1) was not the direct cause as he died from cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation.
• 27-Jul-2009: Second A(H1N1)-related death case [thestar.com.my] occurred on 26-Jul-2009.
• 28-Jul-2009: Third death case [thestar.com.my].
• 28-Feb-2010: A new death case is found to be related to A(H1N1) [h1n1.moh.gov.my]. It's diagnosed as "Septicemic Shock with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome secondary to H1N1 Infection". If I interpreted the document correctly, it was not counted a death case caused directly by A(H1N1) and was thus not included into the statistics in the official update by MOH.
• 13-Apr-2010: The 78th victim [thestar.com.my] is reported on the news. I have failed to find the related report from the official site. (I have probably missed it.)

Source: H1N1 Situation [h1n1.moh.gov.my] (Ministry of Health Malaysia)

I use Gnuplot [gnuplot.info] to generate the charts with the help of a script and a data file (in which I updated it manually). I have also written a python script to automate the update process: Generates, previews, and uploads the chart to the website.

Configuring internet connection sharing in GNU/Linux normally involves modifying several configuration files and issuing several commands. You need to at least:

• Give Linux kernel the permission to forward network packets;
• Set up DHCP service;
• Set up firewall and route the network packets properly;
• Set up DNS forwarder.

This is definitely not user-friendly for beginners or for those who just want to set up a simple network.

Luckily, since version 0.7 of NetworkManager [projects.gnome.org], shipped with Ubuntu 8.10 and later, includes a very simple GUI for you set up a simple NAT network.

Suppose that you want to set up the following network:

I just bought a 3G mobile broadband package and used my Sony Ericsson handphone as a 3G modem (save money!) to go online. It is so simple and straightforward to set it up now especially if compared with how I did a similar task two years ago.

I have these:

• Xubuntu 9.04
• Sony Ericsson K770i
• Mobile Broadband by Celcom Malaysia

Last Updated: 11-Aug-2010 (Graphs: 13-Aug-2010 06:31 UTC)

Update: The H1N1 pandemic is officially over. Hopefully it's really over and I don't need to update this post again!

The threat of Influenza A(H1N1) is not over yet. I have created the charts below to illustrate the current situation, and will update them regularly with my scripts (That's why I put this post under 'Programming' too, and see below if interested).

Other important updates:

• 25-Apr-2009: WHO declared Phase 3 for pandemic alert level [who.int]
• 27-Apr-2009: WHO raised pandemic alert level to Phase 4 [who.int]
• 29-Apr-2009: WHO raised pandemic alert level to Phase 5 [who.int]
• 11-Jun-2009: WHO raised pandemic alert level to Phase 6 [who.int]
• 16-Jul-2009: WHO would no longer issue the global tables showing the numbers of confirmed cases for all countries [who.int]
• 04-Dec-2009: WHO no longer issued the number of reported confirmed cases [who.int]
• 10-Aug-2010: H1N1 in Post-Pandemic Period [who.int]

** The number of death cases

** The number of confirmed cases (Up to 22-Nov-09 only)

** The mortality rate (Up to 22-Nov-09 only) (Note: The figures are obtained simply by dividing the number of death cases by the number of confirmed cases. Since confirmed cases need not be reported after July-2009, the mortality rate after that does not really reflect the actual situation.)

Source: WHO updates on Influenza A(H1N1) [www.who.int]

I use Gnuplot [gnuplot.info] to generate the charts with the help of a script and a data file. I used to use a python script to automate the entire update process: Fetches the latest updates from WHO website, parses the page, generates the latest data file, generates the charts, and finally uploads the charts. However, since the format became less well-formatted starting from update 60, I have since abandoned the script and update the data manually.