Friday, October 18, 2024
8:12 a.m. Paklang Kopitiam, Table 18
Port Dickson, Malaysia
(2,865 words)
I am back at the Paklang Kopitiam. Normally, I come here when I need to upload videos. I can use the excellent mobile Internet signal here and I can use their WiFi. Both work well. But this morning, I don’t have any videos to upload. I came here today mainly because I wanted to test the Asus VivoBook laptop that my friend Lim offered to give me. In my initial testing, I didn’t think it would be suitable. It was far too slow, and it wasn’t even able to load DaVinci Resolve let alone edit videos. I wasn’t even able to play videos from my GoPros because the VivoBook doesn’t have the codecs to even play H.265 videos. However, I decided to break it out again yesterday and put it through its paces and see if there is some way I can use it.
The first thing I did was delete some programs that were clogging up the system. Lim’s sons used this laptop mainly for gaming, and there were some games from some platform called Riot still on the laptop. I don’t think it mattered that these games were on the computer, but they all seemed to load into memory when I turned on the laptop, and it took forever. After eight minutes, I’d think the laptop was finally ready to go, and then something from Riot would pop up and start to update and load. It went on and on. Plus, Discord was on the laptop, and Discord was always needing to update something, and it wasn’t able to update, so the Discord window would open and just keep spinning and spinning and spinning. I decided to go through all the installed apps and delete as many as I could, including Riot and Discord and McAfee anti-virus. Those anit-virus programs seem to do much more harm than good and they appear to slow down computers. So I got rid of it.
Simply removing these programs took most of the evening. You’d think you could take care of it with just a couple of mouse clicks, but it doesn’t work that way. One part of the program would have to be deleted first before you could delete the next part. And you would have to restart the computer to finish the uninstall, and simply restarting could take up to 20 minutes. However, I finally got it done, and that freed up 150 GB of storage on the hard drive and a bunch of RAM. And while I was going through the list of apps, I was able to refresh my memory about how Windows works. I’d forgotten so much of the inner workings of Windows. For example, I didn’t even know how to navigate the system settings and check on storage and RAM usage and CPU usage, etc. But it all started to come back to me quickly once I got into it. I also came across some other programs that were loaded onto the computer, such as Power Director. That surprised me, and I decided to try it out. To my surprise, it loaded quite quickly. I started to think that maybe I could use this laptop for video editing after all. Though to use it, I would have to pay for the pro version. The version that is preinstalled on Asus computers is the basic free version, and it can only edit 1080p videos. I figured that out when Power Director refused to load any of the video I had. And then I realized all that video was shot in 4K. And to edit 4K video, you’d have to buy the pro version. And then to work with H.265, I’d have to buy a codec pack from the MicroSoft store. So things started to get more and more complicated to even just test it. However, I found some 1080p video, and though it looked horrible on the VivoBook LCD screen, I was able to edit and export it. And from what I could tell, there was never a particular problem with RAM or the CPU.
As a long-term option, this VivoBook is not attractive at all. It’s old and slow with a terrible screen and no battery life, etc.. But I started to think that maybe I could at least bring it to Sumatra with me. I could use it to write emails and work on Patreon, and reply to YouTube comments. It might be more convenient to use a laptop than this tablet and Bluetooth keyboard combination. Anyway, that is a very long story just to say that I brought the VivoBook to Paklang so that I can play around with it for a few minutes while connected to fast WiFi. That could give me a better idea if it would be worth investing time in trying to get it set up and usable. When I was working on it before, I had it connected to the Hotspot on my phone, and that Internet connection is very slow.
The one big problem and the one thing that keeps me from making up my mind is that even after deleting all these programs and freeing up all that memory, the startup time is very long. I timed it yesterday, and it took 8 minutes just for the laptop to turn on. And when I was trying to surf the Internet, the laptop would simply stop working for a while and then start again. Weird things would happen all the time, and it feels like over time, it would get very annoying. And there’s no point dragging it all over Sumatra if I have to fight with it constantly. Then I’d be better off keeping things light and streamlined and using just this tablet.
I did some research online to see if simply adding more RAM would make the laptop faster. And the answers weren’t very positive. People said that normal RAM usage of an idle laptop could be 25%-35%. And this VivoBook seemed to be using about 35% of the available RAM. So there appeared to be more than enough RAM. It has 8GB right now. And if it isn’t even using 4GG, then doubling the RAM from 8GB to 16GB might not make any difference at all. Anyway, I’ve had so many problems with technology, I’m hesitant to fold another big problem into my life right now.
I mentioned the other day that I was worried about a package that was being shipped from Netherlands. It was scheduled to arrive on October 8th, I think. And as of yesterday morning, it still hadn’t arrived, and there was no clear indication of where it was. The last tracking was on October 3rd, and it said something about how the package had “crossed the border.” But it didn’t say which border. So I didn’t know if the package was still in Europe or had arrived in Malaysia. But everything changed very quickly. I checked the online tracking website, and there was a sudden flurry of updates saying that the package had arrived in Malaysia, was being examined by Customs, had been released by Customs, and was on its way to its addressee. And almost before I’d finished reading those new updates, there was a knock on my door, and the housekeeper for this house handed me the package. It had arrived.
The most important item in this package was a rain cover for my trailer. On my last couple of bike rides, I started putting the rain cover on the trailer every day, not just when it was raining. It was nice to have the cover protecting the trailer itself from sunlight, dust, dirt, and tar. I never found the rain cover was very good at actually keeping out the rain, but maybe this new rain cover has been updated and is more waterproof. I remember the first time I used that rain cover in a heavy rain, it was a disaster. The problem, I figured out, is that the trailer itself is generally wide and flat. And the rain pooled in the middle of the trailer. And since the rain was just sitting on top of the trailer in a big puddle, it seeped through the rain cover and everything got soaked inside. After that, I made sure to pack the trailer in such a way that I created a central peak, like the top of a house. I used my rolled-up sleeping pad to do that. I shoved it into the trailer right down the middle, and it created a V-shape at the top. The idea is that now the rain will run down the rain cover and drain off the sides rather than pooling on the top. That worked better. It’s a bit ridiculous but I also put a waterproof tarp underneath the rain cover. The thing is that these days, every company tries so hard to make everything lighter. Therefore, instead of just making a rain cover out of waterproof plastic, they make the cover out of light fabric and add a waterproof coating. And that coating generally works in a marginal way. It will repel water a little bit, but then that water has to run off in droplets. Any water that stays in place will still soak through. Plus, the waterproof coating degrades very quickly and flakes off. It would be better to just make rain covers out of actual waterproof material, but that would make it heavier, I guess.
When I ordered the rain cover, I also ordered a couple of spacers for the wheel axles and I ordered the new version of the safety link. One problem with the design of the Cyclone trailer is that the removable wheels have a little bit of play in the axles. Therefore, if you ride down rough roads or gravel roads, the wheels rattle. It’s annoying. It would be nice if these spacers kept it tight enough to reduce the rattling, but they don’t. And I’m not sure about this new safety cable. The old one was a problem. It was made out of braided cable, and the cable itself frayed. Needle-sharp pieces of wire stuck out from this cable all over the place, and when you tried to put it on or take it off, you stabbed yourself in the fingers and hands. It was super painful. Perhaps they realized the design flaw, because this new safety cable is made of a different material. Right now, however, it is far too tight. It is nearly impossible to fit it over the trailer hitch and take it off again. Perhaps it will loosen up a bit over time.
I also spent some time yesterday thinking about how to mount the Insta360 X3 camera on the bicycle. And I came up with some interesting ideas. It’s complicated, of course, because you have to have two mounting points. You have to have a place to attach the base of the invisible selfie stick. And then you have to have some kind of clamp holding the stick somewhere along its length. And both have to be adjustable. It’s not ideal, perhaps, but one way to do this is to clamp my RAM mount gear onto the pannier racks. And then I thought I could take one for the GoPro adhesive mounts and stick it to the top of the rack. And I could put a tripod ball head onto one of the GoPro buckle mounts. I played around with this, and it seemed like it might just work. However, I’m concerned that the adhesive buckle mount won’t be strong enough in the long term. And there will be play in it.
And then I realized that I could drill a hole into the surface of the pannier rack and stick a tripod screw mount through it. That would be about as solid as it’s possible to get. But to do that, I have to figure out where I want those holes drilled. And then I have to find a shop that can drill them. I might work on that today.
In terms of pop culture, I just started watching a new show that I’m enjoying very much. It has a terrible name: The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself. Despite the terrible name, it is an enjoyable show so far. It has elements of so many other shows that I’ve enjoyed. The story is based on witches in modern day UK and Europe. It has some Harry Potter vibes in that the witches have powers but live among what they call “fains”. Fains are essentially what Harry Potter would call muggles. And there is a super-powerful evil witch that everyone is afraid of and everyone is fighting. And the young hero of the show, The Bastard Son, has been prophesied to be the one person who can defeat the evil witch. The Bastard Son is essentially Harry Potter and he is fighting their version of Voldemort. There are two classes of witches. In theory, the trueborn witches are the good witches and the blood witches are the bad ones. And that also lines up with the Harry Potter universe. There’s also this idea that witches come of age on their 17th birthday and they learn what their special power or magical specialty will be. This is something I’ve seen in many TV shows. It’s always fun to see these teenagers talking about what their powers might be and then being surprised, happy, or disappointed when they finally get their powers. This was a big part of the movie Encanto, for example. It’s also the main plot device of the British show Extraordinary. And there have been others. There are also elements of a show like Heroes, in which the main villain has the power to absorb the abilities of other witches while killing them. And this villain becomes more and more powerful over time with multiple magical abilities. Unfortunately, the main character of the show lacks charisma. He’s a bit of a lump on screen. The plot is also a bit confusing with many characters having a backstory that you only learn about over time, and it is difficult to piece it all together. The show would definitely not be for everyone. It is quite grim, violent, and graphic in its violence. It’s brutal.
I’ve also been watching the fourth season of Only Murders in the Building. It has been fantastic. I’ve been enjoying it very much. And I’ve been watching the fourth season of Slow Horses. I don’t think the fourth season of Slow Horses quite lives up to previous seasons. And the characters all seemed so unlikeable. I know they are supposed to be that way. But they went so far in season four that it was unpleasant to spend time with them. It was a very dismal and depressing show, but still very well done. And I also watched the second season of a science fiction show called The Ark. I don’t know that I would go out of my way to recommend this show to people. It isn’t a classic. It feels somewhat cheap and made-for-TV compared to the big, serious shows like The Expanse. But it was honestly much better and more enjoyable than it had any right to be. They took big swings in terms of their storytelling. It didn’t always land, but I still enjoyed it. Having watched a lot of science fiction, most of the story ideas were familiar to me. They were repeats of classic Star Trek episodes and things like that. For example, there was an episode where two of the main characters ended up in some kind of alternate reality where they lived a complete life of fifty or sixty years until they died. They got married and had a full, complete life. But it turns out it was all just a coma dream. Yet it felt real to them. And this was done in Star Trek as Captain Picard lived an entire lifetime on a different planet and had a family and a full life. And then he woke up back in his original world and original life. The Ark plays fast and loose with plot and characters. They don’t take things too seriously. But in the end I enjoyed it a lot. In fact, I think the second season was better and more mature than the first.
My Indonesian visa is still screwed up. I can’t locate it online, and I don’t know what will happen when I show up in Sumatra. But there’s nothing I can do about it now. I can send Indonesian immigration an email, but obviously that won’t do anything. I’m sure no one will ever see it.
So I think I’m going to wind up my thoughts for now. I’m going to spend the rest of the day working on my bicycle and gear and perhaps trying to find a metal shop that can drill holes in my pannier racks. And I’m going to get out this VivoBook and test it out with good WiFi. That’s it for this morning.