Today's ping = bad...

Watershed analysis and X-Plane

So, my i7-920 has been calculating this for the last 12 hours, and the end is nowhere in sight. Still, processor usage was low, so I fired up X-Plane on my three screens, connected to IVAO and had a short flight from Pearce to Jandakot in a PA-310 (Piper Malibu). Still having issues with oil pressure in the simulation. In the green at idle, and as soon as the throttle is advanced, it goes into yellow.

Nokia's new netbook is very light indeed...

From

I love Windows Vista

Never thought I would say that so soon. Received the i7 beast, assembled, installed, forgot to activate RAID, installed again, broke Autoexec.bat three times before I found out the culprit program from some unnamable motherboard supplier, and now the system is running like a dream.

My SLI is enabled, programs are being installed, and I am looking forward to do some ESRI work at high speed.

But back to Vista. Having read countless forum posts on why the execution protection is so frustrating, I can not agree. In the last day I have installed many programs, but it works. Are you sure you know this program? Yes, I am. Hardly what I would call work. The first time my system broke was when the driver installer said it was finished, but it did not release my Autoexec.bat. Vista told me so, but since I received the message from the installer saying all ended well, I chose to believe that.

So Vista is good, well thought out, and not so different to XP that you would notice it.

Buy or build?

I have been researching computers for a few days now, and finally today found what I was looking for. If I build a system myself, it would be a lot cheaper than the one I considered purchasing a week or so ago. Which leads to the next hing, it has been seven years since my last desktop purchase, and seven years since I last put together a computer. Also about seven years since anyone posted instructions on how to do it. But one of the links came out tops, and I saw a nice video on how to build your own pc.

It brought back many memories.

So, parts were duly ordered from Simline, to be picked up tomorrow, after some haggling on case availability. I appreciated the service that was provided. Top notch.

Of course, building is not for everyone, and there is something to be said for system unification. But saving half the purchase price allows for a lot of money to be spent on unification. Or on a desperately needed fast laser printer.

Some details on what I purchased:
Case: Coolermaster HAF932
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit
Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe OC Palm
Processor: Intel i7-920
GPU: GTX280 x 2 SLI'd
RAID-0 supported by default.
Powersupply: Gigabyte ODIN Pro 1200W


So, I assume my GIS work will be going a bit faster now. :)

NVIDIA GTX295 preview

Just when you think you have arrived, something new comes out. Here I am still contemplating purchasing a system with two GTX280's in SLI, and soon to be released is the GTX295, which has two boards in one housing, already SLI'd, and you can even purchase two, SLI them, and have four GPU's working for you.

But all of this remains a dream, as spending has been cut down drastically. None the less, read the preview here, and enjoy.

Intel i7 core, the way to go.

My desktop is now six years old. Unprecedented, I know, but for the last year I have been using only a powerful Dell D630 laptop. It does struggle, though with some of my graphics-intensive applications, especially when I do GIS work. So I have been researching a desktop/laptop replacement, but to get decent performance in a laptop, and have it portable enough is difficult. So I think it will be a desktop replacement.

What better place to look than Alienware for a performance desktop. Although today we will be discussing support options. Dell still has my great admiration, for their support over the last year has been magnificent. On my business account I have always received their advertised next day on-site support, and even though I had a few issues with my D630, I have been very happy. It has worked hard over the last year, and I am now on my second hard drive, and third mother board (due to an overheating graphics chip - told you it works hard).

Anyway, back to the Alienware system I have been researching.

Intel® Core™ i7-940 Performance 2.93GHZ 8MB Cache
Alienware® P2 ALX Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - ALX - Saucer Silver
Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting
Alienware® ALX High-Performance Liquid Cooling
Alienware® Acoustic Dampening
Alienware® 1200 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Dual 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280 - ALX
6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 3 x 2048MB
Alienware® Approved Intel® X-58 Motherboard- Socket 1366 Core i7 Ready, Dual Triple Channel DDR3 Memory
Microsoft® Windows® VISTA 64-bit Ultimate with Service Pack 1
Extreme Performance (RAID 0) - 1TB (2 x 500GB) Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 2 x 16MB Cache
High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio
1-Year AlienCare Warranty Return To Base + Toll-Free Phone Support

I am also looking forward to the 64 bit Vista. This will be my first 64 bit operating system should I complete the purchase.

Skidding into disintegration

Via

Create free ringtones for your iPhone

Found this a few minutes ago, and it works. Using iTunes 8, you can also create ringtones from non-iTunes Store purchased songs. Which is great, because I have beeen using my own composition on my Nokia for as long as I can remember. At last I can use it on my iPhone.

http://www.techmixer.com/how-to-create-free-iphone-ringtone-with-itunes-8-video-tutorial/

Resources for small businesses

Blog entries have been sparce, mostly because I have been working my proverbial off. And moved house.

Back to the topic. I have found frequently since November 2007 that when I was sitting at a client's site, I could receive email via Microsoft Outlook, but I was unable to send any email. To do that I had to wait until returning home the evening - very unproductive.

This, together with the need for centralised data, email, and a higher capacity backup system led me to take the plunge earlier the week - I purchased a Dell server, with Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 R2 and Symantec Backup Exec pre-installed.

What will this do for me?
Make available remote access via VPN.
Data storage
Data backups.
Set up the IT side of Vulcan Technologies Pty Ltd for further growth.

Whilst waiting for the box of goodies to arrive, I have been doing reserach on many things server-related. This site is quite useful.

Keyboard shortcut to create a new folder

This is something that has frustrated me for a very long time. I am very much old-school when it comes to using the dreaded mouse. Give me a keyboard only, and I will be happy. Why use the mouse to go select word, right click, copy, select new location, paste - when you can just go CTRL-C and CTRL-V?

Well, today I typed in the correct search string into Google Group Search, and hey presto, two easy solutions:
1) In any folder other than on the Desktop: Alt-F W F
2) On the Desktop: Alt-F10 W F

And also, the Alt-F10 shortcut is quite useful for other functions on the Desktop.

Via.

Stopped by group policy from getting into add windows components?

Use this command....

Obviously you still do need admin privileges to do the setup, but even with admin, the add windows components can still be hidden, the following command gets around that.

Useful when trying to install IIS and Frontpage extensions for Visual Studio 2003.

sysocmgr /i:sysoc.inf

What to do if you get a Blue Screen of Death

Courtesy of Steve Bass at PCWorld.

OQO 02 - feedback after a month of use

My comments on the OQO as follows:
1) Processor power - The VIA Esther 1.5GHz ULV processor runs well enough. Running two external screens starts to tax the total system capabilities, and the Intel 945 internal graphics card, together with the slow processor sometimes stutters before refreshing the screen.

Polycom PVX also complained that the processor is too small to initiate or receive video calls. Still awaiting a response from Polycom on this. I am convinced that the processor is powerful enough.

2) The five inch screen is quite small for inking on, and if you select an A4 electronic sheet in Windows Journal to write on, it is difficult to fit many words on one line. So the OQO is not nearly as good as a LE1700 for inking on.

3) Screen resolution options: Native screen resolution is standard UMPC 800x480, but you can use 1000x600, or even 1200x720 should you so desire. A nice function is to zoom in or out using dedicated zoom buttons, and thus I tend to run in native (easier to read), and zoom out if an application does not scroll properly or hide its OK/Cancel buttons(typically older applications).

4) Accessories Since this was a trial purchase, I went the whole hog, and purchased probably a bit too much.

Default package contents:
OQO
Belt clip case
Wacom pen, which stores in the belt clip case.
Charger VGA & Ethernet adapter.

Purchased accessories:
Belt clip case (I didn't know).
Docking station, including three USB ports and DVD writer. Docking station supports DVI and VGA (DVI through an extension cable supplied with docking station).
Three screen protectors
Spare Wacom pen
Double capacity battery
Spare charger to use at home/travels
Aeroplane/car charger.
Charger adapter to charge a battery only.
Tether cable since the device is so small. May walk very easily.
USB data cable Stowaway Bluetooth foldable keyboard

If there are future purchases, I would recommend the following:
Default package
Docking station
Screen protectors
Double capacity battery
Spare charger to use at home/travels
Aeroplane/car charger.
USB data cable Stowaway Bluetooth foldable keyboard

Tether cable fits the device, but does not fit the device through the docking station - thus useless.
5) How do I use the device? Device was used as my primary system for two weeks, and apart from the occasional screen refresh pause as mentioned before, worked fine. USB devices plugged in was a USB powered adapter, supporting a mouse, keyboard, electronic whiteboard and webcam.

I do not have a roaming profile, but a local one per machine. I also used the OQO as my second device. Synchronising offline content was easily achieved with Wireless on the Company Wireless network. My Outlook .pst personal folders were copied over from my primary laptop on a regular basis with the USB data cable. Then, going home, all I needed to do was open Outlook to build a current .ost, and I was away.

I have used the OQO to deliver presentations and training, without any issues. And of course lots of Oohs and Aahs from participants.

People with new, powerful machines will find the OQO too slow to use as their primary device, and in our company I see its place as a companion device for people that travel regularly.

6) Screen brightness - In full sunlight the OQO viewability is very good, whether the viewer is wearing sunglasses or not.

During all other times, I tended to lower screen brightness to optimise battery life, and full brightness is really bright.

7) Battery life With Wireless and Bluetooth switched off, I was able to obtain the quoted 3 hours (normal battery) and 6 hours (double capacity battery).

Whilst I normally Hibernate my devices, Standby works really well with the OQO, as hibernation takes up to two minutes to complete. I was hesitant to put it into the belt clip case in case hibernation fails and the device overheats.

With wireless and Bluetooth on, battery life halved - much the same as other devices.

8) Other features
Screen rotation - works well, but I tended not to use it.
Keyboard backlighting - Lifesaver at home in bed. Great feature.
Stick pointing device and mouse buttons - works very well. Great design.
Separate Num pad - Excellent.
Windows XP Tablet edition - not required. Normal Windows XP would work, although I would still purchase a Wacom pen. But you lose inking. But you still gain the portability.

9) General
I can strongly recommend the OQO 02 as a companion device for people that will appreciate its low weight.

First post with my OQO Model 02.

So, it finally arrived last week, and I have been using it as my primary machine since. More on this later. By the way, I am inking this, of course.

My first tablet post

Today I received a Motion LE 1700 tablet to play with, in preparation for our UMPC trial. of course I am inking this as we speak, which is very nice. Not quite as fast as typing (yet), but I am sure I will improve as time goes on. For those of you who have not experienced the joys of writing rather than typing, I sincerely hope you will be able to experience the pleasure of plain old pen and paper with a modern touch.

The drawing by my five-year old. We had a lot of fun, and no child should have to battle with a mouse when holding a stylus is so much easier.

Excel VBA model enhancements

Right now I am working against a very tight deadline of Monday morning to completely rewrite a part of my main model at work. As a bit of background, I am moving my Excel-based database into Jet, and all my different customer files will follow in due course.

But to make that transition easy for my user base had me scratching my head for a good deal of last week. So my conceptual database design now complete (after a few revisions when special cases would make the concept fall over), it is time to commit fingers to keyboard, and start coding. If the first page goes well this morning, the rest should be easy.

Wish I could share more, but this model is what gives my company its competitive advantage in many areas. I do have some other ideas that I do not mind sharing. Some of you might find them useful.

In other news, I am still waiting on my Samsung Q1 Ultra and the OQO 02. Yesterday they were not yet ordered, and I am starting to think that I will have to lug my 4kg laptop around the world again instead of a 1kg Q1 Ultra, or even better, a 500 gram OQO.

Oh well, can't have it all, can we?

Competition - how fast can you go?

Let me know your score. In my opinion, iiNet is the best.

Dreaming of the ultimate UMPC

This from the GottabeMobile website:

Samsung Q1 Ultra demonstration feedback

So I saw it today, and I was suitably impressed. The split QWERTY keypad on the side was not as good as I expected, with me frequently having to correct double-typed characters.

But I didn't care. Who needs that when you have the thumb-typing on the screen (which I found to be very responsive, unlike other models I played with today which needed a positive, slow touch to ensure accurate typing), and of course the hand-writing recognition of Windows Vista.

That was just awesome. It recognised my boss' scribbles, but struggled with mine out of the box. I swapped the stylus for my trusty Pilot G-2 07, and since I was holding a proper pen, my handwriting improved to almost legible. But Vista managed to get 100% recognition.

Of course it can only get better, as Vista's hand writing recognition software learns the way you write, and even learns how you write certain letters in different contexts.

But this is not a report on Vista's capability.

The only other product that came close was the OQO model 02 , very nice typing experience, fast processor, but only a five inch screen.

The Samsung's seven inch screen won me over, and I am already waiting impatiently for mine to be delivered, our company image of Windows XP Tablet Edition to be put on, and me starting to use it.

My original thought was to use it as a companion to my Dell Latitude D610, but now I am thinking I might try it as my main system for a while. Only when I program and run models do I really need something more powerful.