Archive for the 'Computers' Category

Picky WindowsXP Home Installation

Published
by
Chris
on December 14, 2008
in Software
. 2 Comments

Here is one for ya! I’m trying to install WindowsXP Home Edition onto a PC for a client. They handed me the PC with the copy of WindowsXP Home SP3 install CD. The PC isn’t anything special, but it’s has 2 250GB SATA II hard drives running in a RAID-1 (mirrored) configuration, and 4 DVD drives (2 are Samsung, and 2 are Lite-on Light Scribe). Now, this is where the fun begins.

As per a normal installation, I insert the CD and run the installer. Silly me forgot about the raid drivers the first time, but then I was presented with a BSOD. A Stop Error to be exact.

0x0000007b (0xf78d2524,0xc0000034,0x00000000,0x00000000)

Now, the interesting thing about this error, is that from my google research, it seems that either the installer doesn’t like the destination drive for the installation, or there is a problem with the CD. I checked out the disc, all fine there, so maybe a problem with the Raid setup.

Even after a second attempt with the Raid drivers on a floppy disc (a what?!?! people still use them?? Sadly, yep), I was still presented with the BSOD.

This now had me baffeled, and almost everything I tried had errors. In the end, I started trying different DVD drive. Both Samsung drives gave the errors. I then tried a Liteon drive, and wouldn’t you know it, Windows is now installing. Currently it formatting the Raid-1 drive (27% formatted), but so far it’s been fine and working as expected.

Linux fun and joys with networking

Published
by
Chris
on November 2, 2008
in Hardware and Software
. 0 Comments

have just spent the best part of about 4 hours installing ndiswrapper and a Netgear WG311v3 to a new PC running Ubuntu 8.10 x64 bit. All the turorials that I seemed to fine all mentioned the same way of going about to get this card up and running, but it wasn’t until not I came across a post somewhere saying to check ‘dsmeg’ and see what it say. There I found that it was saying that I’m running a 64 bit kernel, and the driver is only 32 bit, and that it was “bad magic”, lol!! Anyway, James Wilson has made some 64 bit drivers for this particular wifi card.

Many thanks to James for these drivers. I was starting to go nuts trying to get this card working. I have put this post up to help spread the word about these drivers, and show people that there is success on the horizon regarding this wifi card.

1 week with Ubuntu and counting

Published
by
Chris
on October 24, 2008
in Computers and Software
. 2 Comments

As per my last post, I’ve made the move to Linux. Previous attempts to move away from Windows to Linux have usually resulted in having to revert back cause I needed some program to do something, but since I last tried, Linux has come along way.

Anyway, I decided to give Linux another go as my WindowsXP install was getting rather slow, and was in need of a format and reinstall. My decided to go with Ubuntu as my chosen distribution as I’ve had previous use of it and found it to be rather easy to use. Rather then trying out the latest stable version, I decided to jump in head first and try out the latest beta 8.10 which from the Live CD seemed to have a lot better support for my hardware then the latest stable 8.04.

The main problem that was holding me back was to be able to stream media to my Xbox 360. Previously there were many ways to achieve this, but usually required some long confusing process that I never really wanted to try as I’m only a novice to Linux. Following this tutorial, I managed to get Ubuntu talking to my Xbox 360 just like in WindowsXP.

Wine is a great program for running some Windows program. uTorrent would have to be my favourite bittorrent program, but so far, everything I’ve seen for Linux comes no where near the feature of uTorrent. Using Wine, it is now possible for me to continue using uTorrent, and it works great!! :D Even the web interface works, so I can continue to check up on my downloads via my iPhone.

The only things that I haven’t tried much of is GIMP. I don’t really like it, but as Photoshop doesn’t run on Linux, I guess I’m stuck with it. I just have to work out how to use it.

Other then that, I can do everything that I previously could do in Windows, and it’s faster!! The only exception is that I cannot sync my iPhone3G as Apple haven’t made it possible. Hopefully this will change, but for now, I just use my Vista notebook with iTunes. So for now, I have no intentions of switching back to Windows any time soon for this PC. Besides, I still have my Vista notebook, should I need something.

What are your thoughts on Linux? Have you tried it? Have you made the switch?

Moving over to Linux

Published
by
Chris
on October 18, 2008
in Computers and Software
. 2 Comments

For the last 4 days now, I have been running Ubuntu 8.10 Beta as my primary (and only) OS. WindowsXP has started to really slow down my machine, so much so, that it is more of a chore to use it, rather then a quick task to do something simple.

One major hurdle that was slowing down my move over, which could also through a spanner in the works and stop the whole move over (but is sorted out), was to stream media to my Xbox 360. I have seen numerous tutorials on how to achieve this, but also a lot of problems, so I was a little hesitant to make the move.

Anyway, I had a spare 120GB hard drive laying around, so I formatted it and installed Ubuntu on to it and set out on my quest to get Linux to do what I do in Windows. I’m now happy to say that this task is complete, mind you there was a few problems involved along the way.

The first problem that I had was that I wasn’t able to play any mp3’s, but as it turns out, this is very common with Linux, and you must install the relevant mp3 codecs for this to work. Sometimes simple, sometimes hard. In my case, it wasn’t fun. I had it working, then it stopped, then I done something, and it’s working again.

The other problem was with my displays. I run a dual screen setup, and this wasn’t an easy task. I managed to install the nVidia drivers, but they didn’t show the relevant screen resolutions for my displays. Up until now, I still have no idea how I’ve got it working (maybe a few reboots), but I’ve got dual 1280×1024 screens running, with compiz for some sexy eye candy and cube effects. :D

The last problem, that I’ve only just solved now, was that I couldn’t configure Samba (so Linux can talk to Windows). Turns out there is a bug in the current version of the config program, and would result in it crashing everytime I tried to change settings. I found a patch to my problem and had to rebuild the whole Samba config program (which was a cool lesson to learn), and now it’s all fine and dandy. My Windows PC’s can happily print to my printer which shared via Samba.

What I thought was going to be a huge process, but turned out to be very quick, what to enable Linux to stream media to my Xbox 360. I tried Twonky, but didn’t like the fact that it was a 30 trial, and had to pay about US$40 for it. I ended using this tutorial, which uses a modified version of ‘ushare’ to work with the Xbox 360. So far this is working great, but I haven’t tried it out extensivly of my library as yet.

I only have one task left, and that is to get my music from Linux over to my iPhone 3G. I’m thinking of using my Vista notebook and setting up the iTunes library to get it’s music from the Linux PC. Sounds simple in theroy, but who knows what problems I may encounter. Hopefully all goes well.

So, all up, I’ve got Linux running just how I want it to. It’s speedy, compared to WindowsXP, shares my printer to other Windows PC’s, and downloads torrents for me (though not automatically like utorrent for Windows does). The main thing that I’m happy about is that this PC is now really quick to use. Boot up times arn’t much different, but normal use once loaded is much quicker and snappier and is mainly what I was after. Oh, and I have installed WindowsXP in a virtual machine just incase I need Windows for something, but so far, I haven’t. Just more for toying around with at the moment.

Have you made the switch to Linux? Did you stay or go back to Windows and why? How was your experience with Linux?

HTML signatures in Gmail

Published
by
Chris
on September 5, 2008
in On The Web and Software
. 0 Comments

As most Gmail users would know, HTML signatures are not supported in Gmail. I’ve just moved my domain over to Google Apps, and I’m really not liking the standard text signatures.

Today I went on a quest to see if there was a work around, more specifically I wanted to see if there was a Greasemonkey script that could do something, but I found one better, an actual Firefox add-on.

Blank Canvas Gmail Signatures automatically inserts HTML signatures into your Gmail message. So far I’m yet to come across any problems with this plugin. You can have multiple signatures, and also works with multiple accounts.

There is only one drawback for my use. I have a bookmark that opens the compose message window in a new window in the sidebar, and this add-on doesn’t yet support that, but this is no biggy.

Now that I have a HTML signature, I’m happy. It’s been one thing that has annoyed me, and I think that Google should add this in, but until then, this add-on will do, and I’m happy. :)

Firefox For a World Record

Published
by
Chris
on June 15, 2008
in Software
. 0 Comments

Download Day 2008

Firefox has to be the best web browser that I’ve ever used. It’s so customisable and it’s great. Since the first day I started using it many years ago, I’ve never looked back. I’d have to say that the main thing that got me hooked was the tabbed browsing. It’s so much neater and a heck of a lot better then having the task bar full of website and a million different windows.

Firefox is just about to hit a new stage of it’s life. It’s about to hit the public release of version 3. I’m currently running the latest beta version RC3. I’ve been having a peak at version 3 since Beta 2 and much say that I’m excited to see where things are going with the web browser. The latest version of Firefox is the best yet with over 15,000 improvements over the previous versions.

To help celebrate the launch of Firefox 3, the team are trying to set a new Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. People can make a pledge to download the new version on June 17th. There will also be a special certificate that you can download on the day.

I’ve signed up, have you? Just click on the red banner above for more information.

New Toy - Wireless N

Published
by
Chris
on June 13, 2008
in Hardware and Technology
. 2 Comments

Netgear WNDR3300

I’ve been having some issues with my DrayTek Vigor2600G lately. Mainly with the wireless part, and I haven’t really been using it for the last month or so. I’ve had my notebook connected via ethernet, but that darn blue cable can get rather annoying. So today I went out and brought the Netgear WNDR3300. It’s a RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router which is pretty sweet, and so far it’s been great. The coverage is awesome, though my Nokia N95 8GB is having some issues finding the wireless network, but for now, I’m not to worried about that.

Later on down the track I’m looking at getting a Netgear WNHDE111 to hook up to my Xbox360 resulting in getting rid of the 15m ethernet cable and my wife Lisa will be a happy woman. :D

My Thoughts on IE8

Published
by
Chris
on March 8, 2008
in Software
. 0 Comments

As some of you may know, Microsoft have released Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 to the public. I downloaded it the other day and gave it a bit of a test run, as this a primarily a developer release for web developers to ensure that their sites will work. As a primary browser for every days tasks, I’d advise you to stay away from it. There are a lot of sites that will break. I’m guessing the main cause of this is that IE8 is a standards compliant browser (finally!!), and that a lot of that hacks that are used to get sites to look right in previous version of IE are causing these issues.

I’ve since removed IE8b1 from my computer as it was conflicting with Outlook Today in Outlook 2007. All my calendar entries and task links had a permanent underline. This was quite annoying, and upon removing IE8b1, it’s all fine again. Hopefully this fix this in future versions, but for now, I’ll be sticking with IE7 via IE Tab in Firefox.

Making phone calls via Outlook

Published
by
Chris
on February 25, 2008
in Hardware, Software and Technology
. 2 Comments

I’m a frequent Microsoft Outlook (currently using 2007) user and have been for many years. I just can’t see to get away from it, and I’m yet to find anything that comes close to it. One thing that keeps me is that I can sync my phone with it, which in turns syncs with my Google Calendar.

Up until today, I’ve always looked at the little phone button on the toolbar and wondered how that works. Well, it’s a lot simpler then I though. I just had to plug a modem in to the phone line, and hit the button and it makes a call. How awesome is that!?!?! Now I can call anyone in my contact list with the hit of a button, instead of reading it and then keying it into my phone, then pick up my phone. Oh, and the best part about it is that this works over my VoIP line. Free calls and lazy dialing!! :D

Cleaning the Windows

Published
by
Chris
on January 14, 2008
in Software
. 6 Comments

One thing that annoys me with Windows is how easily useless stuff builds up and never goes away until you stumble across it all. Sure you can trudge through it all and find uninstallers or manually remove it, but I usually find the best way is a simple reinstall of Windows. Oh, and by the way, I’m not talking about windows on your house, I’m talking about WindowsXP. :p

Over the past year I performed a number of hacks and mods, most of which can’t be removed. Two big ones I done were to add Media Center 2005 to XP Pro and add the sidebar from Vista.

So now, I’m currently going through Windows Setup (formatting at 25%), then comes the fun of installing drivers, updates and then finding all the programs that I use daily.

On the upside, this gives me a chance to look at what I use and see if there are any alternatives out there that may be better.

Some may wonder why I don’t just install Ubuntu (or other linux flavour), but the reason behind it is that I can do things much faster in Windows, I don’t really have time to tell Ubuntu who is boss trying to work it out, and I have a heap of Windows only programs that I use regularly and I don’t want to fart around with virtual machines, oh, and I stream to my Xbox360 and my wife doesn’t like Linux.

Reader Question: For you Windows users out there, how often do you do a fresh install of Windows and why? Any hints or tips I should take note of for next time?