Recent Posts

5426

Living Room / Re: Tech support — why bother?

« Last post by 40hz on August 24, 2012, 11:08 AM »

^Actually, Windows support on the end-user level is still quite good from what I've seen.

Props where props are due!

And which also highlights one of the drawbacks of owning an inexpensive OEM copy of Windows (as in the one that comes with almost every manufactured PC) since you're supposed to go to the PC manufacturer for OS support when you have one of those. If you bought your copy retail, the tech support is terrific. If you didn't, Microsoft is usually pretty good about assisting so long as you're running the most recent version of Windows. Or at least they used to be good about it.

5427

Living Room / Re: Tech support — why bother?

« Last post by 40hz on August 24, 2012, 10:46 AM »

I bother. Because I need tech support.

And I must admit one thing Microsoft does do extremely well is handle its Tech Support Incident requests. On the 'professional' and enterprise level Microsoft has been a lifesaver more than once when the voodoo required to fix some utterly esoteric server problem went beyond what I knew how to comfortably handle. Or at least comfortably handle at the time it happened. A real plus with having your hand held by an MS über-wonk through something godawful is it becomes a "been there, done that" learning experience once it's over. (For example, one thing I've learned is how much I hate all things SBS! Absolutely hate it! )



Microsoft doesn't do everything right. But when it comes to 'real' tech support, I must say they do that extremely well. The big drawback is getting access to "the real stuff" if you're only on the consumer level.

5428

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me understand Virtual Machine [VMWare]

« Last post by 40hz on August 24, 2012, 09:17 AM »

@tomos: Take a look at this article. (I'm assuming you're using Player rather than Workstation.)

Some additional resources:

Don't know if you're the reading type, but the proverbial "FMs" for Player can be downloaded from here.

VMWare hosts community forums which I've found helpful from time to time. And they also host interest and location specific groups although I've never joined one.

5429

Developer's Corner / Re: This reads like my life...

« Last post by 40hz on August 24, 2012, 08:12 AM »

On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.

-40hz (August 24, 2012, 06:14 AM)

I like that.

-Stoic Joker (August 24, 2012, 07:13 AM)

Me too. Chuck Palahniuk is great for coming up with memorable lines.

5430

General Software Discussion / Re: Steps to Flash the HP ENVY 14 laptop's Matshita DVD RAM - to make it Region-free

« Last post by 40hz on August 24, 2012, 06:28 AM »

Are they still putting the Regional Coding enhancement (RCE) on some disks? I remember a period not too long ago when I saw a spate of DVDs that wouldn't play on any of my PCs since I had set the drives to be region free. They'd flash a message that the disk was not authorized for the selected playback device, and then helpfully suggest I try using a different player.

5431

Developer's Corner / Re: This reads like my life...

« Last post by 40hz on August 24, 2012, 06:14 AM »

To do a paraphrased mashup from a famous novel:

"On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. So...The first rule of Hack Club is: You do not talk about Hack Club. The second rule of Hack Club is: You do not talk about Hack Club."

Even after many many years.

5432

General Software Discussion / Re: Simplifying Your Computer

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2012, 07:08 PM »

In a pinch I'll boot to WinPE, strip the attributes and permissions and toss the old install in a folder, and then just drop the new OS next to the old one (variation on a parallel install). Then I can pick out the driver bits from the old install and feed them to device manager (it's actually a lot faster than it sounds).

-Stoic Joker (August 23, 2012, 06:13 PM)

And no chance of overlooking a driver  .  Works like a charm.  And you also have the old registry hives available for comparison(s).  That process has been a life-saver (and a hair-saver) more than once  .

-barney (August 23, 2012, 06:41 PM)

@SJ: Wow! Power user! Haven't heard anybody doing the side-by-side trick in a long time. Muy macho! (I like!)

@Barney: Yes indeed! That trick has been a life-saver (or more correctly 'client saver' ) for me a few times too.

5433

Living Room / Re: Hyperrealism in Action

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2012, 06:43 PM »

Gotta put this guy on TED.

He also shows up on the Arrested Motion website every so often. (arrestedmotion.com) It's a great site to discover more equally mind-blowing art. Highly recommended.

5434

General Software Discussion / Re: Steps to Flash the HP ENVY 14 laptop's Matshita DVD RAM - to make it Region-free

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2012, 06:39 PM »

[/i] Before purchasing a computer, do some research and check whether it has a Region-free (RPC1) or flashable model of DVD drive. It can sometimes be a real nuisance to later discover that you can't unlock a DVD drive in your new computer. You may end up having to buy a separate, additional drive - one that is a Region-free (RPC1) or flashable model of DVD drive.

-IainB (August 23, 2012, 05:28 PM)

Q: Aren't all drives manufactured after 2000 or 2001 RPC2? I thought I read that somewhere. Or did that just apply to drives sold in the USA?

5435

General Software Discussion / Re: Simplifying Your Computer

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2012, 04:07 PM »

I have original Windows discs sitting right here but for the purpose format/reinstall is there legal *up to date* Windows image available somewhere or is there some mystery method I am clueless about? (there have been 100s of MB updates since SP3 alone)

-rgdot (August 23, 2012, 03:51 PM)

You can slipstream all the updates, but it's far more trouble and work than it's worth for a single PC IMHO.

Easier is to just get the full archive of all available updates and install from that. Fortunately, there's a handy and free tool that will download a full set of updates and pack them onto a DVD or USB key for you to use, along with a utility that handles getting everything installed afterwards. It's variously known as the c't Updater or the WSUS Offline Update. Download it from here.

Note: It will take a while to retrieve all the files from Microsoft, so it's usually easiest to kick it off overnight the first time you gather the updates. Subsequent runs take significantly less time because the utility is smart enough to know what it's already downloaded.
 


Addendum: if you do decide to do a clean reinstall, don't forget to backup all your current hardware drivers first. Hunting down drivers - especially XP drivers - is a real PITA. So if you already have a working machine, take advantage of that and get copies of the drivers prior to flat-lining your current system disk. You'll thank yourself later on.

5436

Living Room / Re: Amazon.com toastabag

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2012, 11:06 AM »

Batter to waffle than rye about it.  

5437

General Software Discussion / Re: Simplifying Your Computer

« Last post by 40hz on August 23, 2012, 09:09 AM »

+1 with above three posts.

There reaches a point where you just want to start from scratch and do a clean install, if for no other reason than to be sure you have a factory fresh registry to work with.

I keep a list of my must have apps. When things reach a certain point I reinstall the OS off a previously created "gold" image and go from there. And if you keep an updated offline WSUS archive somewhere, installing the usual 250M worth of Windows updates doesn't take very long or chew up your bandwidth.
 

5438

Living Room / Re: Please (oh please!) let this be a joke...

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 06:28 PM »

When it comes to emerging tech, William Gibson said it best: "The street finds its own uses for things."
 

5439

General Software Discussion / Re: Simplifying Your Computer

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 06:22 PM »

constantly asking everyone I could if they wanted a Linux-based PC or server absolutely free

-40hz (August 22, 2012, 03:17 PM)

You didn't ask me 

-rgdot (August 22, 2012, 04:35 PM)

Apologies. Actually, I had thought about throwing it up online. But shipping costs would make it hardly worth it, so I kept the offer local. Besides, when you can score an i3/4Gb/500Gb combo with full warranty plus a copy of Windows for <$500 why bother unless you can just go and pick it up? The new machines are quieter and have better energy footprints so there's also that to consider.

5440

General Software Discussion / Re: Simplifying Your Computer

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 06:17 PM »

Wait...what is the meaning of this?!  No more lab?

-superboyac (August 22, 2012, 04:23 PM)

Nope. Or at least not a full-bore setup like I used to have. It's all virtual going forward baby, virtual!

Besides, I need the space for musical instrument design and construction. My new career if Microsoft walls off its garden like Apple did. And with all the cloud and managed service moves taking place, I can see an end for smaller SMB support operations like mine where I live. I'm not a coder, so that's not a path that's open to me. And I can't see spending most of my remaining work years doing basic PC repairs...or selling subscriptions to Office 360 or some other big cloud service.

"...the times, they are a changing," as Uncle Bob D once said. Makes sense that they change too. Especially since not enough people and businesses are concerned about putting all their eggs in too few baskets - to say nothing about being unbelievably careless about whom they trust with their information. I'm tired of fighting that battle. About the best I can do now is wish them well. Seriously. I do wish them well.

I'll still keep a small hand in the game I guess. But it will be more along the lines of my getting back to my roots with things like the Raspberry Pi or Arduino boards.

Can't hardly wait!

5441

Living Room / Re: Wikileaks - Julian Assange Granted Asylum by Ecuador

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 03:41 PM »

Politically, I'm all over the place...

-zridling (August 22, 2012, 05:00 AM)

Me too! But I prefer to characterize myself as a Political Non-Euclidean.

5442

General Software Discussion / Re: Simplifying Your Computer

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 03:17 PM »

Don't know if this counts, but after 6+ months of constantly asking everyone I could if they wanted a Linux-based PC or server absolutely free, I gave up hanging onto my small fleet of perfectly usable project and "giveaway" machines. (There were 18 in all - including two older Proliant servers.)  

So, after a deep sigh (and an ale or two) I grabbed my trusty power screwdriver and went into full Hellboy vs Golden Army mode...

'The Fleet' is now completely disassembled. And all the pieces have since been given away, sold as scrap, or responsibly recycled. (Note: It's amazing the amount of "stuff" in an average PC that you do not want to just dump in a landfill even if it is still legal to do it where you live.)
 
For future projects I'll primarily be using VMs on my two workstations, abetted by some inexpensive low-power single-board computers if separate hardware is needed..

My old lab space now looks barren. It's a liberating feeling.

5443

Living Room / Need to store 5.5 Petabits long term? Try DNA.

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 12:08 PM »

Experiments have been going on for a while to use DNA molecules as a data storage medium. But a Harvard team has recently beat the previous record for storage by successfully storing 5.5 petabits of data (approximately 700 terabytes) in one gram of DNA. Unlike some of the quantum based storage methods currently being researched, DNA storage does not require exotic environments or extreme temperatures to work since DNA is stable at normal room temperatures.

There's a video on Vimeo where the team talks about the project. Link here.

A quick write-up can be found here.

A more technical article is available on the Harvard Medical School website. Link here.

Some interesting highlights about the possibilities of this technology:

And where some experimental media—like quantum holography—require incredibly cold temperatures and tremendous energy, DNA is stable at room temperature. “You can drop it wherever you want, in the desert or your backyard, and it will be there 400,000 years later,” Church said.
 
Reading and writing in DNA is slower than in other media, however, which makes it better suited for archival storage of massive amounts of data, rather than for quick retrieval or data processing. “Imagine that you had really cheap video recorders everywhere,” Church said. “Just paint walls with video recorders. And for the most part they just record and no one ever goes to them. But if something really good or really bad happens you want to go and scrape the wall and see what you got. So something that’s molecular is so much more energy efficient and compact that you can consider applications that were impossible before.”
 
About four grams of DNA theoretically could store the digital data humankind creates in one year.

There's also an interesting note for those who may have ethical or religious concerns about this particular type of project (emphasis added):
 

Although other projects have encoded data in the DNA of living bacteria, the Church team used commercial DNA microchips to create standalone DNA. “We purposefully avoided living cells,” Church said. “In an organism, your message is a tiny fraction of the whole cell, so there’s a lot of wasted space. But more importantly, almost as soon as a DNA goes into a cell, if that DNA doesn’t earn its keep, if it isn’t evolutionarily advantageous, the cell will start mutating it, and eventually the cell will completely delete it.”

The full research team's report has been published on Science magazine's website (Sorry! $$$ or subscription req.).

Very cool stuff.

5444

Living Room / Re: XKCD makes online ratings easy to understand

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 11:11 AM »

But an audience of 1 billion+ demands it.

-nosh (August 22, 2012, 10:29 AM)

Well there you go! Democracy in action, folks!

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, a huge song and dance number is a pretty apt metaphor for most of what passes for 'daily life' on this planet.

So without further ado...

 

5445

Developer's Corner / Re: Help me think of a small ipad app idea to code

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 11:05 AM »

This is mostly on topic, but humorous:

http://www.zdnet.com...eveloper-7000002761/

True confessions of a former iPhone developer

-Renegade (August 21, 2012, 09:05 PM)

I can't imagine why any indy developer in their right mind, or with a shred of self-resoect, would still want to do an iOS app after reading that. You could almost excuse or overlook anything in the article except for how paid support request tickets not only went unanswered, but were apparently ignored.

How many times do small but hopeful iOS developers need to get slapped in the face and laughed at before they 'get' the message Apple is sending them?
 

5446

Living Room / Re: Ken Stark of the Helios Project needs our help.

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 06:49 AM »

would urge you not to try to use reason or rationality to analyze how much donations/funding something gets, and especially don't compare the funding of one thing to another or you are likely to get extremely depressed and angry at a world/community.

-mouser (August 22, 2012, 06:40 AM)

this.

5447

Living Room / Re: XKCD makes online ratings easy to understand

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 06:39 AM »

Yep. Randall Munroe nails it. Again.

5448

Living Room / Re: Ken Stark of the Helios Project needs our help.

« Last post by 40hz on August 22, 2012, 06:26 AM »

Seriously?  At the time of reading 77 views and 0 replies. 

I mean I don't expect to have 100% response, but does anyone want to help this guy?  Maybe you just donated and didn't reply...

-Rover (August 21, 2012, 10:30 PM)

I think that may be the case more often than not. Not everybody feels a need to "wear the t-shirt" in order to do some good. 

Besides, there really isn't much to else say that hasn't already been said in other places. Ken is in serious medical/financial trouble. He requires a life-saving surgical procedure (for cancer); and, being an American (and therefor protected from the scourge of socialized medicine) has discovered he is unable to afford it. End of story. It's a especially sad news considering what his significant other Diane just went through recently.

5449

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me understand Virtual Machine [VMWare]

« Last post by 40hz on August 21, 2012, 05:59 PM »

^Sorry! Should have warned you. Being in IT, it didn't really occur to me to tell you to skip forward. And yes he can repeat himself a bit. But part of that is the old school way of presenting tech info to a mixed audience, to wit:

First, tell them what you're gonna tell them.  
Next, tell them.  
Finally, tell them what you just told them.  

Everybody hates it. But it does boost retention quite a bit (at least in males) doing it that way.

And the first 8-10 minutes are worth digesting regardless.

Anyway, glad some of it was helpful.  

5450

Living Room / Re: Wikileaks - Julian Assange Granted Asylum by Ecuador

« Last post by 40hz on August 21, 2012, 05:48 PM »

^USA media culture isn't swamping anything IMO. It just caters to the lowest common denominator. And theres a lot of people like that in the world. Which is why it is so popular. Perhaps some places (the USA included) that complain about it the most may want to ask themselves why a "higher" form of "culture" isn't more popular. (Perhaps higher cultures aren't really as universally embraced as they might because the appetite for "crap entertainment" seems to be fairly universal? We see a lot of that in the USA too. People demand "quality." But what they actually watch is mostly garbage - even when alternatives are available. Looks like that old monkey brain is still firmly in charge  of our behaviors.  Depressing isn't it?)