Re: [H] QAM and digital cable...
Last I had looked at it the answer was no if we are talking about encrypted channels (nearly all of them are). The only way you can tune encrypted digital cable is through the use of a Cablecard. Something you would have to obtain from your cable provider. This is why some of the new television sets have cablecard slots built into them. This way people arent forced into renting or purchasing a cablebox. I have not seen a pci or usb cablecard addon for whitebox/homemade PCs. There is a device made by AMD/ATI but it is for use with OEM systems from the likes of Dell and HP and has some serious DRM lockdown stuff. ...now if your provider does have unencrypted qam, Clear QAM, channels then you should be able to get those. --- On Sat, 7/26/08, Bobby Heid [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Bobby Heid [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [H] QAM and digital cable... To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Date: Saturday, July 26, 2008, 3:43 PM Hey, I currently record regular cable TV with my Hauppauge PVR-150. I know that the PVR-1600 can do QAM. I know this is supposed to let me record unencrypted HD channels, but does it also mean that I would be able to record the regular digital channels without having a cable box? Or, I guess in general, does a QAM enabled tuner allow me to record unencrypted HD and unencrypted digital channels in addition to regular cable? Thanks, Bobby
Re: [H] Ubuntu 8.04
If you had an existing EXT 3 partition you should have chosen the manual partitioning option during the installation process. You would have been able to select your existing partitions and set their mount points as well as format the partition or leave the existing data intact (with the exception of overwritten files). The automated choices will either wipe the whole disk or resize your partitions. Sounds like you did the latter. I just installed Ubuntu 8.04 this past weekend to dual-boot with Windows XP on my laptop. Seems pretty good so far. Had some issues with the wireless card but finally got it working with ndiswrapper. I've got two 20gb partitions for windows (ntfs) and ubuntu (ext3), 2gb linux swap partition, 100gb data partition (fat32) and I also have a 5gb truecrypt partition I can access from both systems. --- Joe User [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello Sam, Friday, May 23, 2008, 10:29:41 AM, you wrote: I just got the new Ubuntu and decided to try it. I put in the CD, followed the instructions to install, and the darn thing trashed both my hard drives by the time it was through. I had an EXT3 partition I thought it would use. That drive it wiped everything off it and took over the end of the other drive. It squashed my 2 other partitions right up against each other at the beginning of the drive, taking up all the extra space. All my data was on partition 2 and it squashed it so tightly I can not even access it. The first partition had my Windows on it. Windows would still run, but it was useless because it could not access the data on partition 2. Can anyone tell me how to install Ubuntu without trashing everything after I get my computer back running again? Or is it necessary to install it on it's own box? Sam I had no problems such as this, however I didn't let it automatically do things. Which I am willing to bet, you did. This wasn't Ubuntu's fault. I have a XP/Ubuntu machine a Vista/XP/Ubuntu machine. -- Regards, joeuser - Still looking for the 'any' key...
Re: [H] HTPC Replacement - Popcorn Hour
Wow this sounds really awesome. When I first setup an AppleTV for a client, it made me reconsider how I might approach an HTPC in the future. Unfortunately the processing capabilities weren't very good with some of the various STB's at that time and the firmware and GUI interfaces seemed kind of poor. If this can support 720P and 1080i then it would be a great way to add the HD media stored on my NAS to the rest of the home. I'd still keep my htpc on my main display though because I use it for gaming (MAME, NES, SNES, Sega Genesis emulators w/ wireless Xbox360 controllers) as well as PVR/DVR and DVD upscaling.
Re: [H] HTPC Replacement - Popcorn Hour
No doubt a real HTPC built by anyone here would be much better but there are some definite Pros when using a STB (turnkey, compact, low power, quiet, no movable parts, etc). At the moment I wouldn't dream of replacing my HTPC with something like this, but I don't want 3-4 HTPCs in my home. Something like this will be fine for the kitchen, guest bedroom, outdoor stereo, etc. -Tharin O. --- j maccraw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm not impressed. Starting with the case that I would not even cram my hdd into (had one, returned as junk), the spartan product web site, lastly the current bug list tells me this is slightly above homebrew. Whatever hardware goes into this, I'll bet any of us could build better. SNIP
Re: [H] HTPC Replacement - Popcorn Hour
I didn't think the Xbox had the horsepower to handle high bitrate H.264 very well if it all. I've got hi-def rips from BluRay/HDDVD and what not that made a Core2Duo 2180 stutter, display artifacts, etc. because one of the cores was hitting 100% utilization. It wasn't until I installed the CoreAVC codecs that supported SMP that I could achieve flawless playback on such files. Xbox's also require hard drives and aftermarket mods don't they? -Tharin O. --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Then one htpc and xbox's everywhere else. Hell, with plugins they relay divx/xvid, interface and stored dvd, plus mcl applications. Sent via BlackBerry -Original Message- From: Tharin Olsen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 08:14:38 To:hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: Re: [H] HTPC Replacement - Popcorn Hour No doubt a real HTPC built by anyone here would be much better but there are some definite Pros when using a STB (turnkey, compact, low power, quiet, no movable parts, etc). At the moment I wouldn't dream of replacing my HTPC with something like this, but I don't want 3-4 HTPCs in my home. Something like this will be fine for the kitchen, guest bedroom, outdoor stereo, etc. -Tharin O. --- j maccraw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm not impressed. Starting with the case that I would not even cram my hdd into (had one, returned as junk), the spartan product web site, lastly the current bug list tells me this is slightly above homebrew. Whatever hardware goes into this, I'll bet any of us could build better. SNIP
Re: [H] 5V 3A Transformer
http://www.bgmicro.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPRODProdID=12673 just snip off the barrel connector and use your own? --- Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have a Linksys switch that is missing it's AC to DC 5V 3A transformer. I am having a hard time finding one that handles 3A. Anyone have one in their junk pile they want to sell? Thanks
Re: [H] Capturing websites
Someone mentioned HTTrack. I second that motion. I've used it many times to backup websites for customers who couldn't get a hold of their webmaster and needed to transfer their site to another webhost -Tharin O. --- Anthony Q. Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Anyone know of a tool (free is nice) to capture an entire website? Not interested in stealing, mind you. I just need to preserve the info there so that I can look at it after the website disappears. Doesn't Acrobat (not the reader) do that? Thanks.
Re: [H] RAID0 SATA vs. single disk SATA 2
As always there are little niggling differences that can be a pro or con for either. But spindle speed is definitely the biggest deciding factor. SATA2 can achieve higher burst speeds due to the higher bandwidth of the interface + caching. There is an edge in performance when transferring small blocks of data. Overall a 10k or 15k rpm drive should definitely out win out over a 7200rpm drive regardless of the interface. The main idea is that sustained transfers from all conventional hard disks aren't capable of even saturating the slower interfaces much less the faster ones. -Tharin O. --- James Maki [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi all, Is there a difinitive answer to the question of performance between a RAID0 array of 10,000 rpm 36 GB Raptors vs single 7200 rpm SATA 2 drive for the OS? I am looking at a re-install of Windows XP Pro in the future and am looking at my options. Both would be on SATA 2 mobo ports. Thanks, Jim Maki [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [H] Marvell network stuff
I've used the Marvell Yukon gigabit controllers before. I had them on some boards from Gigabyte a couple of years ago. I'd just whichever one Asus has on their site. I have not heard of Alaska. Once I had one onboard a motherboard was whose Device ID did not match the device ids in the drivers (*.inf). I had to force install the driver and it worked fine after that. I think somehow the device id changed because this was a production system at a local Copy Center that suddenly went offline. I quickly saw that it's ethernet controller had become an unknown/other device in the Windows Device Manager. After checking the vendor and device id of the ethernet controller I found that the vendor code matched but the device id didn't. Neither the drivers from the motherboard manufacturer nor Marvell's reference driver had a matching id. It was very odd. ::shrug:: -Tharin O. --- DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks Al, Have not found a change log yet. I've exploded all the zippers I have. No info/log files yet.. V10 is the plan, as soon as I find out just which Marvell chip is on the board. Could now be Alaska. Thought it was Yukon. Stupid codewords. Got to the Marvell site, but, as usual, it is not a clear path to what I'd like to know. I do not know the proper lingo and buzz/codewords. The search is fun anyway. Best, Duncan At 17:56 01/31/2008 -0500, you wrote: DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I now have drivers at V7, V8, V9, and V10. Am I correct to use the V10 drivers? Or, should I just use the default V6.27 that came with the m/b to start with? There should be a change log telling what each version corrected. I would just go with the newest driver... Best, Al
[H] Roaming Access to Printers
Hey guys, just began a new project this week and I thought I'd try and pick the brain of the collective. I'm going to be helping out a small charter school in my town and need to get most of their IT needs in order and very quickly. They received some generous grants and bought lots of desktops and laptops and what not but it has not been rolled out in an organized fashion yet. No domain, active directory, group policies, antivirus protection, web filtering, etc. As usual I come into the picture after all or most of this money has been spent and the equipment has already been purchased. ::sigh:: One interesting problem is that the teachers each have their own laptop and they go from classroom to classroom. The students stay put. I informed the head of the faculty that I will need to install the drivers and what not for the network printers onto each of the teachers laptops so that the teachers can start printing. Since the teachers move around they won't be printing to the same printer all the time, they will need to print to the one that is physically closer to them. I figured I would just install the printers and name them based on their physical location. When a teacher would need to print something, they would choose the appropriate printer from their printer list first then hit the print button. Simple, yes? Well they think this might be too complicated for their teachers. They want to hit print and automagically have the computer route the print job to the nearest printer instead. I have no idea how to do this.. well I suppose one could have something that sensed which wireless access point their notebook was connected to then based on that route it to the nearby printer but I still wouldnt know how to do that... So have any of gurus on here done something like this? Or should I tell them to suck it up and learn how choose a printer from the six that are available? :) -Tharin Olsen
Re: [H] Possible router faliure
I guess we can assume your cable modem and computers are fine then? Given your description of equipment is this how you had it connected??? BEFCMU10 Lan Port == BEFSX41 Wan Port BEFSX41 Lan Port == WRT54G Lan port | | === Desktop ethernet card WRT54G (DHCP Disabled) === Wireless clients Normally I fix things by asking myself a bunch of questions and then testing/verifying each one, so Is the equipment running the latest release of their respective firmware? Did I reset them to defaults after upgrading? What is the proper MTU setting for the cable connection, is it set correctly in the modem and router? Are any QOS or Speed Tuning features in the firmware of the devices disabled? If not, try it. Is DHCP enabled only on the primary router? Are all of the ethernet cables Cat5E? Are they in good shape? How fast will data transfer from one PC on the LAN to another? (FTP works well) Was the cable modem power cycled before/after connecting a new device to its LAN port? (Required down here. Cable company seems to lock onto the MAC address of whatever is connected directly to the cable modem. Takes at least a couple of minutes for it to flush out of their system.) Did the equipment get baked by stacking them w/o proper ventilation? -Tharin Olsen - Original Message From: Jeff Lane [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 8:03:03 PM Subject: [H] Possible router faliure SNIP I have removed the wired router, reset it, and tried a new setup. No luck. Removed wired router and tried to set up wireless as primary. I had no luck with this as it does not recognize the wireless router. I have no idea why. When all routers are connected the connected PC and laptop work perfectly, except very, very slow. My email is so slow downloading that it occasionally times out. Please yell if you need some more info. I am sending this to two lists to warn those of you that are on both. Sorry for the long post, but can anyone help? Jeff
Re: [H] Auto call forwarding
Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have looked at Asterix before and never got around to setting it up. The problem is that I don't have a landline - just my cell phone. And the SIM card will not be in that cell phone as it will be traveling with me and have another country SIM. So I'm not sure how Asterix would get the calls and forward them as I am under the impression that it needs to be connected to POTS somehow to do that. Maybe I'm wrong. And normally I would just have the phone company forward the number but I am guessing that forwarding my Canadian number to an American number would cause some sort of sizeable fee. I'm not sure how forwarding charges from the Telco works because I've never used it, but I bet you are right that if you forwarded calls from your cellphone to some international phone number you would bear the expense. Plus it might be some ridiculous rate because it is a cellular service and they seem to like to screw you whenever you step outside what your normal service plan allows. I don't know anything about Grandcentral so I can't add my opinion about it; however, I do have a fair amount of experience with Asterisk. Right now I use Asterisk in my home and business with a four port card [2 pots lines (FXO), 2 phone lines in the house (FXS)], a per minute voip account, and I'm currently experimenting with bluetooth connectivity to a cellphone. It is definitely easier to setup Asterisk for use with a VOIP service provider than with a landline because all you need is a high-speed internet connection which is something you've probably got already. Going on the idea of strictly using a VOIP service to interface with Asterisk, you would need to forward your cellphone number to the voip phone number. A call from Canada to the U.S. would probably be no biggie since most VOIP companies charge the same fee for calls to Canada as the U.S. Because you ultimately need to terminate the call to a mobile number you would configure Asterisk to forward that incoming call to your current cellphone number as an outbound call via the same VOIP service or some other VOIP provider else that will terminate the call to your destination for less. 1. Incoming call on Canadian cell number == Forward to local VOIP number 2. Incoming call to Asterisk server == Forward to Current Cell number through cheap VOIP service I was under the impression that most US cellphone providers allow calls from the U.S. to Canada. Time used would be deducted from your minutes but no extra charges are incurred. Better check that out with your provider. If you can forward the call for no extra expense to a US# then you could just forward the Canadian cell# directly to the U.S. cell# while you are stateside. I imagine you would just be losing minutes on both cellular accounts. You would probably want to forward your incoming calls through a VOIP service if you are going to the EU because I think those folks have to pay for just about every second they use a phone including local calls. I also think it is more expensive to make international calls to EU mobile numbers than an EU landline. There are VOIP plans that are Per Minute (what I use since I use very little minutes) and plans that are Unlimited. Careful with unlimited plans because I've read on forums that companies monitor the frequency of calls and the randomness of the numbers. They might deem you as abusing that plan and charge you a different rate/fee. CallCentric, Telasip, Teliax, Voicepulse are just a few of the VOIP providers that support Asterisk. If you are going to be in a hotel or office with access to a high-speed connection it might be good to use a cheap ATA from Linksys or Grandstream and pair it with a regular telephone. You could then configure the ATA to communicate directly with your VOIP provider and eliminate the extra cellular minutes and long distance fees. You could also use a PC or laptop with a softphone. You could install Asterisk as a virtual machine on your home computer if you don't have a spare pc to dedicate to it. Any management of the dial plans on the Asterisk system could be done remotely over the internet. -Tharin Olsen
Re: [H] Newegg like
If you are paying the use tax as you should for your out-of-state purchases does it make much difference? ;) http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/faqusetax.htm Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I like Newegg, I get a lot of stuff at Newegg, but they are in CA and so am I. I end up paying 7.75 percent sales tax. On a few hundred dollars I can live with it because, I am 100 miles awa,y and ground shipping turns into overnight. But when I start getting up there on the price, like I am about to do now, the tax is expensive. so is there a Newegg like web vendor that isn't in CA? Thanks!
Re: [H] Newegg like
Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 03:15 PM 1/4/2008, you wrote: If you are paying the use tax as you should for your out-of-state purchases does it make much difference? ;) http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/faqusetax.htm What are you kidding me... for a consumer retail purchase. You would have hell of a time finding any consumer in this state paying that! Ermm yes well.. since use tax is pretty much an honor system the only people who would normally have to fear anything would be businesses and institutions because they are bigger fish. Just about every state, if not all, has an excise tax on out-of-state purchases that applies to EVERYONE but most folks don't know about it or ignore it. We don't have state income tax in Texas but I think some states that do include a line for use tax. I like to joke about it when people talk about buying stuff out of state. Newegg.com and Zipzoomfly.com tend to be my favorite for special orders (single unit items) because of aggresive pricing and their cheap shipping rates. It seems that alot of the better e-tailers for computer equipment are based in California. Probably because most hardware gets off the slow boat from china (literally!) in California first and most of the wholesale distributors are based in California. Anyway check out... Directron.com (its in houston, tx) globalcomputer.com (new york state)
Re: [H] Sony ?
I would also think that it is some sort of recovery partition. Very common now to see NTFS partition and Fat32 partitions on Tier1 systems. Usually the FAT32 partition will be hidden and it is actually the first partition on the drive and the NTFS drive will be the working partition for XP or Vista. 7.5gb of a 20gb drive though seems a bit wasteful. -Tharin Olsen Jim Edwards [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Was/is a recovery partition? Weird, got a Sony notebook in for service, full drive. I free'ed up 1gb on the boot partition but further investigation shows TWO partitions on what looks like a 20gb drive with a 7,5gb FAT32 boot partition and the rest NTFS WTF. Hesitate to merge these partitions. Curious why Sony did this. fp -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- Efficiency takes time. Frugality: who can afford it?
Re: [H] Sony ?
I don't think I have ever seen a system that was Win2K or XP come with a FAT32 partition instead of NTFS. Perhaps the owner or someone else worked on it before and managed to do blow out the recovery partition and did a new install onto the smaller FAT32 partition. -Tharin O. FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: seen that too but in this case the fate32 was the boot partition. Very strange. all better Fp At 04:28 PM 12/26/2007, Richard Kim Poked the stick with: Yup. Recovery partition. Thinkpads have the same thing. They have a small recovery program and a copy of everything that came on the laptop. Originally the laptop came with a 40GB drive but only 34GB free. While I was transferring everything over to a larger HDD, I noticed the program had made 2 partitions, 1 in NTFS and another in FAT32. The FAT32 was hidden on the factory drive. It's a waste of space. I deleted the partition on the new drive which is in the computer now, but I've saved the older 40GB drive incase I ever need it again. On the thinkpads, there is a button you press to automatically boot at the FAT32 partition. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Edwards Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 12:03 PM To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: Re: [H] Sony ? Was/is a recovery partition? Weird, got a Sony notebook in for service, full drive. I free'ed up 1gb on the boot partition but further investigation shows TWO partitions on what looks like a 20gb drive with a 7,5gb FAT32 boot partition and the rest NTFS WTF. Hesitate to merge these partitions. Curious why Sony did this. fp -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- Efficiency takes time. Frugality: who can afford it? -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- Important letters develop errors in the mail.
[H] IRQ sharing - was Re: Thanks Tharin O.
I didn't think IRQ sharing was really an issue nowadays but I guess you are using an older mainboard/chipset that this could be an problem. Did you actually experience something negative or are you just uncomfortable with the idea of the IRQs being shared?? Normally IRQ assignments on later systems, PII and higher, had a lot to do with the particular PCI slot you placed a card in. It was often noted in the mainboard manual which PCI slots were shared/common. Sometimes the BIOS will let you manually assign a particular IRQ to certain PCI slot. I would not blame the cards for the IRQ assignments and if anything I'd disable the onboard 1.1 USB as well as any legacy ports not being utilized such as the serial and parallel ports. I can't remember the last time I had to pay attention to IRQ values unless I was dealing with a SCSI card or some early soundcards. -Tharin Olsen DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Tharin O., My order from FrontX arrived this morning. I now have the two rear USB m/b ports cabled to a 5.25in front bay. I also tried the Kuotech IO-P222 card to connect 2 of the built-in USB ports of the Lian-Li case. This did not work so well. The IO-P222 seems to grab an IRQ from each of the m/b's PIRQ lines. It ends up camped out sharing with the Video card and the NIC. Hmm. :( And, no amount of card shuffle seems to get the Kuotech to play nice. Interesting test, less than acceptable results. No harm, no foul! 2 more cards for the pile! Best, Duncan
Re: [H] EIDE-speak?
All IDE devices/cables are parallel ata. The Blue/gray/black cables you have should be the ATA 66/100 rated cables with 80 conductors/wires. The older style only had 40 but was only good up to ATA 33. Black (far end of cable) is master and gray (middle connector) is slave. You are right about Blue being for the host controller. Pin 20 should be the one that is plugged on your cables. You might be able to remove it with a pick if it isn't actually molded that way. Newer drives and motherboards have that pin removed and the cables are keyed as such. It was also like that on early compaqs, dells, etc. I remember having lots of pulled cables from those kind of systems and not being able to use them on whitebox motherboards or drives because they weren't keyed. The Tier1's seemed to like have their cables keyed, I guess they couldn't put stuff on backwards at the factory that way. -Tharin Olsen DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Am I correct: Old EIDE: Black connector (m/b) - Black connector (master) - Black connector (slave) Pata EIDE: Blue connector (m/b) - Gray connector (master) - Black connector (slave) Still wondering about the plugged pin in the m/b connector. Have lots of these. Can not use them. My m/b has a pin where it should not be. Best, Duncan
Re: [H] EIDE-speak?
Some of those drives had a jumper to force the 504mb drive geometry for compatibility. I imagine you would have spotted this though because it is normally on the drive label. Is it actually sharing the ide cable with another drive or is it by itself? Sometimes the older drives had to be jumpered for Single instead of Master. Obviously a 440BX chipset board should handle a 1gb drive. I think that one was new enough to go up to the 32gb barrier or possibly the 137gb barrier. If you enter CMOS utility and use the Auto Detect IDE option does it display the values it is detecting for the sector, head, cylinder, disk type, etc. ?? Is it LBA, CHS, or LARGE mode? What happens if you force LBA, CHS, or LARGE and leave the geometry details set to Auto? Go into FDISK and look under NON-DOS Partitions (#4 i think)?, anything there? Try using FDISK /MBR at the command prompt of your DOS boot disk to rewrite the master boot record. It doesn't really matter I suppose, but I'm having trouble understanding why are you dealing with DOS and trying to get a pretty ESCD table in the first place? I thought you were gonna run FreeBSD or Linux?? I'm drawing upon neurons that were formed during late grade school and jr. high. Not quite sure if that makes me feel young or old. ;) -Tharin Olsen DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: MS-DOS does not seen the hd any differently. Still 504MB. Have not tested the CDROM on the same cable yet. Still Playing.. I just think that DOS does not care for a 1083MB hard drive from IBM! I could be real wrong here too!
Re: [H] Thumb/Flash Drive Recommendation
Actually they have flash drives that are 8gb-16gb in capacity and still have the small form factor you'd expect a thumb drive to be. I think Kanguru has a 32gb model but physically it is a bit larger than a normal thumb drive. -Tharin O. DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Wow! We are up to 2GB models now... I still own an old Crucital 256MB Gizmo. Visited Crucial. Hmm.. :( I am going to follow all of these links to find new hdw. Thanks all. Like the Corsair models so far. Not crazy about the slide-contact business of the SanDisk. Best, Duncan
Re: [H] Thumb/Flash Drive Recommendation
The Corsair Voyager flash drives are very quick and have a rubber sleeve that makes them fairly ruggedized. I was quite sad when I lost my 1gb flash drive. I don't know how they compare in price now but the Corsair units were on the high side of the scale. -Tharin O. Al [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Looking for suggestions on a thumb/flash drive. Don't need the biggest, but fast is good. Bootable is good too. TIA, al
Re: [H] Building a Virtualization box
Uhm, shouldnt matter. I just used an ATI 9600 agp video card. The idea was no virtual environment, just a dual screen desktop. One DVI output for the desktop monitor and the other output for the HDTV. Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Which card did you use? On 12/21/07, Tharin Olsen wrote: Unfortunately a Virtualized environment isn't going to be of much use for multimedia/gaming purposes. Most of the hardware is emulated in the guest os. I have a consolidated HTPC and Desktop that I built for use at my girlfriends place and it works fine. My secret was to use a dual-head video card. ;) -Tharin O. Brian Weeden wrote: I wanted to pick everyone's brain a bit about building a virtualization machine (vm). Right now I have 2 machines, my main desktop and my HTPC. I would like to consolidate them into one box. It would be in my office behind the wall where the A/V rack is for the home theater. The goal would be to have 3 VMs running at all times: 1 dedicated to HTPC functions with video out from the card to the A/V rack Either 1 work XP VM OR 1 gaming Xp VM 1 VM linux web server The hardware would be an Intel quad-core (probably Q6600), 4GB of DDR2. I would like to continue using my Radeon Sapphire X1950XT card but I think that might be a problem. It has 2 DVI outputs with HDCP but I'm not sure how it would work if I tried to game and feed a DVD at the same time. Questions I need to get answered before I can pull this off: - If you install some new software or have another reason to reboot one of the VM instances can you just restart it and avoid rebooting the whole machine? - When you boot up, is there a primary OS that loads and then you run the different VMs inside of it or do you boot straight to a VM? - Can you divvy up the resources for running multiple VMs at once so like each gets a GB of RAM and 2 cores? - Would I need 2 Video cards, one associated with the HTPC VM and one associated with the Work/gaming VM? - If I do need 2 cards, how would that work hardware wise? Never done it before in the same box. Do I just get a board with 2 PCI-Express slots and slap a card in each? We're not talking about SLI here - but two different cards working independently. -- Brian Weeden -- Brian Weeden
Re: [H] Building a Virtualization box
Unfortunately a Virtualized environment isn't going to be of much use for multimedia/gaming purposes. Most of the hardware is emulated in the guest os. I have a consolidated HTPC and Desktop that I built for use at my girlfriends place and it works fine. My secret was to use a dual-head video card. ;) -Tharin O. Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I wanted to pick everyone's brain a bit about building a virtualization machine (vm). Right now I have 2 machines, my main desktop and my HTPC. I would like to consolidate them into one box. It would be in my office behind the wall where the A/V rack is for the home theater. The goal would be to have 3 VMs running at all times: 1 dedicated to HTPC functions with video out from the card to the A/V rack Either 1 work XP VM OR 1 gaming Xp VM 1 VM linux web server The hardware would be an Intel quad-core (probably Q6600), 4GB of DDR2. I would like to continue using my Radeon Sapphire X1950XT card but I think that might be a problem. It has 2 DVI outputs with HDCP but I'm not sure how it would work if I tried to game and feed a DVD at the same time. Questions I need to get answered before I can pull this off: - If you install some new software or have another reason to reboot one of the VM instances can you just restart it and avoid rebooting the whole machine? - When you boot up, is there a primary OS that loads and then you run the different VMs inside of it or do you boot straight to a VM? - Can you divvy up the resources for running multiple VMs at once so like each gets a GB of RAM and 2 cores? - Would I need 2 Video cards, one associated with the HTPC VM and one associated with the Work/gaming VM? - If I do need 2 cards, how would that work hardware wise? Never done it before in the same box. Do I just get a board with 2 PCI-Express slots and slap a card in each? We're not talking about SLI here - but two different cards working independently. -- Brian Weeden
Re: [H] Building a Virtualization box
Yes, Ben understood what I meant. It would make more sense and wouldn't seem innovative in any fashion if you had dealt with multi-displays before. I have two soundcards, onboard audio + pci soundcard w/ optical out. My htpc apps are assigned to direct audio output to the addon card. This machine isn't meant for 24/7 dual tuner PVR use or anything. I just use it to play my digital audio archives and encoded videos on an onkyo receiver and 42 lcd tv. I can control my media stuff with an IR remote. I'm testing out Linux but am mainly running this rig under Windows XP MCE 2K5. I have a dedicated htpc in my home but it is a low power system that streams video and audio off a server over a gigabit network (not necessary). I bought a pulled Core Duo mobile processor off of ebay for $30 and installed it on a mini-itx motherboard. H264 encodes play great with CoreAVC codec because it can utilize multiple processors. -Tharin O. Ben Ruset [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There's no VM in what he was talking about. His setup is the same as if you had a desktop with two monitors. Windows handles driving the two monitors. Brian Weeden wrote: Ah - mine already has dual DVI outs. So maybe it will work for the purpose. Sorry for asking the dumb questions but I have never setup a multi-monitor solution before. What controls which signal goes to which card output? Is it a graphics card setting under the windows desktop or something with the VM? Did you get Powerstrip working with it?
Re: [H] Playing?
DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well, no. Not in the version of Nero that I am using. At 22:26 12/19/2007 -0800, you wrote: In Nero there will be an option to create a cd from an Image Nope, have not seen this. I have /make data cd/ or /make bootable cd/. as opposed to making a plain old Data cd. I'm afraid you did the latter and this is a common mistake by folks who haven't really dealt with disc images before. have made both. Neither has worked. snip Of course neither option worked because neither one is for creating a cd from a disc image. Those two options are for creating a disc from scratch. When you have an ISO you have a snapshot of a complete cd. Nero Express is setup in a flow diagram and the option for creating a CD from an image will be in the very first menu. The screen where it is asking if the type of cd will be for data, audio, photos-video, etc. If you ventured into the Data subcategory you've already goofed. An ISO file can contain data tracks, audio tracks, or both. When burning an image, Nero is just going to copy the sectors to disc and the result should be whatever it was meant to be. If Nero came with your DVD Burner it will be an OEM version/license. Sometimes those kinds of programs can be crippled but I'm pretty sure you can still burn images.
Re: [H] Cox blocking
Strange it would do that ONLY when sending mail to customer service addresses. I honestly can't imagine this could be the whole story on your problem. It would imply that Cox is blocking outgoing mail to particular userids. Are you actually connected to a Cox internet connection and trying to deliver it through the proper Cox smtp server?? Does your ISP require or support SMTP authentication and have you enabled it in Eudora? Assuming you aren't making a typo in the 'To:' field of you mail client, often times a smtp server will reject mail with a 553 code when the person/host trying to send the mail is using a different internet provider or if the from/return address on the email is not a valid address for that ISP. Sometimes enabling smtp authentication in your mail client is all that needs to be done. -Tharin O. Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Why does Cox block customer service email? They have been doing this a long time. I can't reply with Eudora to anything from any tech support, or customer service, or anything like that. It gets blocked by COX SMTP server. I end up having to send from a web interface. It doesn't matter if I am sending to a big company like Logitech or a email vendor ,. I have the same Can't send to ''. The server gives this reason: '553 Sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts.'. error in Eudora.
Re: [H] Cox blocking
For an ISP to block a particular userid is a strange idea to me. Do a test by using an email account that is configured with all your valid Cox credentials first. Setup eudora, outlook, or whatever with an account that has your Cox address as the from and reply-to address. Looks like your smtp server is smtp.west.cox.net Section V of the following link may have details pertinent to your trouble. http://www.cox.com/sandiego/highspeedinternet/spamfaq.asp -Tharin O. Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 03:48 PM 12/19/2007, you wrote: Strange it would do that ONLY when sending mail to customer service addresses. not strange if Cox is blocking the domains or user name. I don't use COX SMTP. I use Godaddy's, and even though it gets blocked when I try to send it out of Eudora using Godaddy SMTP or Outlook using COX SMTP, I can log into my Godaddy email web interface and send things out just fine. so it isn't Godaddy ... it has to be COX... no?? I honestly can't imagine this could be the whole story on your problem. It would imply that Cox is blocking outgoing mail to particular userids. Are you actually connected to a Cox internet connection and trying to deliver it through the proper Cox smtp server?? Does your ISP require or support SMTP authentication and have you enabled it in Eudora? Assuming you aren't making a typo in the 'To:' field of you mail client, no, I am either pasting in the name or replying to email I received from some support or customer service address. This has been going on for well over a year.
Re: [H] Playing?
The fact that the hard drive was formatted with Win2K/XP is why you see the NTLDR message, this is nothing to worry about. The more pressing issue is why your CD-ROM did not boot. If the cd was burned properly it should have booted. An ISO is a disc image and would already contain the necessary boot loader if thats how the cd was meant to be used. Did you actually create a cd FROM a disc image or did you just place the iso file onto the cd??? What I mean is if you look at the contents of your cd drive from windows do you see a bunch of files or just one little lonely iso file?? The burned cd should have a volume name of FreeNAS_cd, a directory called boot and a couple of gnuzipped files in the root path, 17 files in all on the cd. Just in case... try using Active@ ISO Burner, a small freeware utility, to burn a new disc. It is designed to just burn iso files. Dummy proof for a sod like me :) Download Page http://www.ntfs.com/iso-burning.htm Direct Link http://www.ntfs.com/downloads/Iso-burner.exe -Tharin O. DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What do I need to add to my cdrw to get it to read and play? Have cd burned with a dot-iso for FreeNAS. Yes, know it is FreeBSD based. OK. The cd seems to be missing some (?) boot loader. Which one? Am getting the following msg: Verifying DMI Pool Data. Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM: Failure NTLDR is missing Press CAD to restart Where do I start? No idea why IT looks for NTLDR. The hard drive has been erased! Perhaps I need to format it yet againfrom MSDOS :) It is only 1.08GB in size, and, is really old..but still kicking I'll be up most of the night with this one. Best, Duncan
Re: [H] OT can anybody make this out
Wow! He gave me a lot of.. dry erase boards ?? =D Winterlight [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have a voice recording that got picked up after I hung up. I can't make it out. Maybe it's generational, current vernacular... does this make sense to anybody ?? I hear Wow, he gave me a . and then here is the part I don't understand ??? www.winterlight.net/what.wav thanks
Re: [H] usb?
Generally you are going to be wiring front panel usb connectors and internal usb devices directly to header pins on your motherboard. The Koutech IO-PU222 is is the only card I've found that has two internal header pins like the type normally found on a motherboard. It is a 4-port USB 2.0 PCI card with 2 external and 2 internal header pin connectors. It goes for about $10-15. There are also cables that can adapt internal headers to the external style. Some are made for staying inside of the case and others might have a through hole in an internal bracket for looping the wire out the rear of the case and back into a rear usb port. Have a look at http://www.frontx.com/ http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=indexcPath=34_81_250 -Tharin O. DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yes, I admit to belonging to the noob class of usb. I do know about v 1.1. I do know about v2.0. I will pick v2.0. But, am hdw limited, I suspect. Have searched for internal USB cards that might work. What I really need is a PCI card that has 4x the 6 copper pins on-board so I can plug in my case's 4x usb ports. Does a card like this even exist (anymore?) If I am screwed, so be it. Wondering I am. Just because I can. Screwed does not bother me ATM. Thank you. Best, Duncan
Re: [H] Netopia Cayman 3341 GW modem
The Netopia units are meant to be a gateway/router so it will likely have its own Firewall, DHCP server, and NAT features enabled. You need to disable these things if you want to use this gateway as just a simple bridged modem. What you mentioned about the router halfway working when you switch the ethernet cable from the WAN to LAN plug means your Netopia gateway is not properly configured yet. There is no way you could have the modem configured for bridging if you are connecting to the internet when the router is connected through its LAN port instead of its WAN plug. Assuming you are using PPPoE authentication to establish your DSL connection, the intellinet router would not be able to perform this function over one of its LAN ports. This scenario tells me you still have this turned on in the Netopia unit. Turn it off!! You could always forget about the intellinet router and just use the Netopia gateway since it is a NAT router also! Call Netopia. My experiences speaking with them on the phone has been a pleasant one. SBC wasn't much help at all when dealing with this equipment so I just talked to Netopia directly. They emailed me the 'feature key' files that were necessary to unlock some of the menus/settings in their equipment. I don't recall ever having to pay a fee for phone support. a couple more helpful links :) http://www.netopia.com/support/hardware/3341.html http://www.netopia.com/corp/contact_us.html
Re: [H] Netopia Cayman 3341 GW modem
Eh.. no not really or at least not all of it. A 'public ip' is supposed to be the internet routable ip assigned by your provider. This is the address you would see when you go to something like http://www.whatismyip.com I think this doc is for people who still require PPPoE but are somehow are assigned a block of static ip addresses once connected. This is not a situation I've seen in practice in the real world but I guess it is possible. See what you can do about disabling NAT and DHCP and then configure the modem as bridge. Another guide on enabling bridge mode http://www.seidata.com/bridge Disabling NAT (might not be necessary, but you can try it if all else fails) http://www.netopia.com/support/hardware/technotes/CQG_015.html DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.netopia.com/support/hardware/technotes/CQG_042.html Tharin, I have stumbled across this netopia process for disabling the modem's nat when a router will be behind the modem. Can I follow it to try again to set this modem up? The only question about this process is that it requires me to use public lan address (of the router?). This is step 10b. Can I use the router's address (192.168.2.1) as my public address even though it is really another private address on a different subnet than the modem (192.168.1.254)? If so, I think this 3341 just may work! Best, Duncan
Re: [H] Which TV would you choose...
The Sharp unit seems to have the better contrast ratio and a higher pixel count. It's a 16:10 display which should make it slightly more squarish than the LG. However, television programming and movies don't come in a 16:10 format; so, you will likely see vertical bars on the top and bottom or distortion if it does some kind of stretching. It would only have the better screen utilization area with 4:3 programming. There would be some pillarboxing but less than the LG. The LG has a higher brightness and slightly better response time of 8ms. It is a 16:9 display which would mean none or less vertical bars for widescreen programming. Standard def 4:3 programming would have a larger pillarboxing effect than the Sharp. According to user reviews the built-in speakers seem to suck . A tough choice with all the pros and cons for both displays. I'd want to see both in action in the store but since I can't I would probably go with the Sharp just because its cheaper. (its always about the dollar!) -Tharin O. Bobby Heid [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hey, Looking to get a small TV for the kitchen. I went up to Best Buy to look at their TVs ( I have a gift card there) and narrowed it down to these two: LG - 20 720p Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD HDTV http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8259449st=LG+20LS7D+lp=1typ e=productcp=1id=1169858021075 and Sharp - 19 720p Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD HDTV/DVD Combo http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=830st=sharp+lc19ad22ulp= 1type=productcp=1id=1174091786466 I only have a 17 clearance and the 19-20 TVs look about the right size. Any comments? Thanks, Bobby
Re: [H] Satellite PC Card needed
I don't think you should bother with a DVB-S card for unless you like to tinker, cuss, and holler. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago the signal is encrypted so you would have to get 3rd party stuff to decode it. This is something that you could possibly get working one day after much effort and then the next day it would be non-functional for an indefinite period of time. Doing a web search with appropriate keywords, i.e. dish fta dvb-s forum should yield many results for various forums that discuss FTA satellite reception. This is a topic that doesn't usually have much hand holding available. Expect some people to be rude if you go about asking a question that has been answered in previous threads or worse a FAQ sticky. So are you going to subscribe to a package with HD channels?? I think you will only be able to get standard def programming with todays dvb-s cards since dish network requires a an 8PSK demodulator for HD. My recommended method would be by using an actual sat receivers S-Video output and a good PVR card. It wouldn't be very practical to try and capture a component (YPbPr) or HDMI signal. You could get a PVR/DVR receiver and let the receiver do the recording. There are devices called IR blasters that can be used by your PC to control the satellite receiver. -Tharin O. K Humrich [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: First of all, thank you very much for your replies, Tharin Olsen and Brian Weeden. snip BUT, I really really wanna get a PC card that will let me use DISH TV on my PC with is. Any ideas anyone? On list of off? A, not specifically asking for something that would break any list rules, but if what you have to suggest is against rules here in any way, just email me or call me please? I need to finalize my purchases quite soon..
Re: [H] X-Box 360 questions...
Do you like a certain genre of games? How old are the kids?? I would assume they have an inclination about what console they would want, given what they've likely seen at the store or Johnny's house down the street. If you haven't yet; go into a place like Gamestop, Game Crazy, Electronics Boutique, etc to see what the consoles are like. There is some backwards compatability with previous gen consoles. Do you already have an older console? Console pricing is supposed to be fixed, but I have seen lower pricing for bundles. Ebay, Craigs List, classified ads, etc. can be a free for all. The Microsoft Xbox360 probably has most of the best as well as the largest selection of titles. Sony's Playstation3 is just getting there but it has some outstanding games available now. The Xbox360 is edged out by the PS3 when it comes to the raw capability of the hardware. Of course that doesn't mean much when you can't get any good games and the competition has more of the better games. I bought a Nintendo Wii on its release date and I think it is excellent. It's price compared to what other consoles were going for at their inception was a definite plus. The controls are very different from what previous consoles have been using since they have gyroscopic sensors that are sensitive to motion. Most Wii titles implement this physical element of interaction in some manner. The games on Wii probably have the widest range of appeal for people of any age. The Wii's graphics and processing power is not near what the Xbox360 and PS3 have to offer though. Owning a Wii is probably close to being something like a Mac user. Making something fast and powerful isn't so tough since computers will always be moving in that direction, but I've been totally captured by the different approach to gaming Nintendo has taken with the Wii. I now have to fight with my girlfriend over who can play video games, where as before she just used to watch. The Wii can draw in an audience that wasn't being reached before. This link does a good comparison job on showing some of the facts about the Wii, Xbox360, and PS3. http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/xbox360_ps3_wii.asp Personally I would choose the Xbox360 over the PS3, but mainly because theres some whizbang on the PS3 that wouldn't do me any good and it would put the bigger hurt on my pocketbook. -Tharin O. Christopher Fisk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Thu, 29 Nov 2007, Veech wrote: I'm researching getting the kids an XBox 360 for Christmas. Is the XBox 360 Premium worth the extra bucks? Any pros or cons to XBox vs other platforms such as PlayStation 2? They want Guitar Hero, is XBox the best - or only - platform to buy for this game? Finally, is there a way to get any deals or is it price-locked? Thanks for any info... Guitar Hero 3 is available for PS2, PS3, Wii and XBox360. Go with whichever one offers the other features you want. Christopher Fisk -- I AM NOT THE LAST DON I AM NOT THE LAST DON Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode AABF21
Re: [H] Satellite PC Card needed
Well playback, ripping, and recording of dvds can be done easily on a PC as long as you have a DVD-ReWritable drive and the necessary software. Now days these drives start at $30. Music can be handled by software like Itunes, Windows Media Player, Media Monkey, Winamp, etc. If you are going to use a nice receiver for audio you might look for a motherboard or soundcard with an optical or coaxial SPDIF output. You didn't mention which satellite dish system you are using?? Technically a feed from something like DirectTV and Dish Network can't be decoded by anything other than their own receivers because the streams use a proprietary encryption. Since you must use their receiver to decode the signal, you could get by using any method that would allow input from an analog video (s-video, composite, or coaxial) + audio source into the PC. This could be a PCI, USB, or Firewire capture/tuner card from the likes of Hauppauge, ATI, Avermedia, etc. Check this link on newegg.com for some ideas http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=47 In order to decode the signal straight from a satellite dish you would need a DVB-S card. These DVB-S cards are mostly intended for use with FTA (Free-to-Air) broadcasts. TwinHan is probably the most popular manufacturer of this type of product at the moment. (http://www.twinhan.com/product_satellite.asp) - - I know some people have had some success in getting DVB-S cards to decode streams from DTV and Bev/Dish but I dont think you'll get any help with this on the list. Not publicly at least :) Since I'm not doing any recording from my Dish Network sat receiver in my home, I just use a Slingbox so I can watch and control my sat receiver from any PC in the house. The three problems with a Slingbox is that only one computer at a time is allowed to log in, the picture quality is not stellar since it is being transcoded and streamed, and the slingbox software doesn't let you capture the stream. I think the latter problem can solved with 3rd party software though. If I had not already built my own HTPC or felt I needed something that was wife proof, I would be much more likely to go with something like an AppleTV ($200 on fleebay), modded Xbox, or one of the other UPNP media devices available from D-link, Linksys, Netgear, etc. With something like this you can stream media (music, video, online radio) stored on your pc to a set-top box that is made to just play media files and nothing else. On the other hand these devices are meant for playback on a TV which may not fit what you are looking for... uh hrmm... ever consider replacing your existing monitor with a LCD TV and a Tivo??? :) -Tharin O. K Humrich [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hello everyone! I am working on changing my room with all new speakers, tuner/DVD, and a PC Card for Satellite TV.. Well everything needed to allow me to run the line in from the Satellite dish, and be able to play TV/Music/DvD on my PC OR on my TV, and use a PC card so I can store everything on my PC's harddrive, write things I like to DvD's and so on.. snip
Re: [H] dsl status
Most folks do not have any reason that they would need to know their internet address at any given time of the day. But when you need access to resources on your home pc or home network from somewhere other than home like work, a friends house, some random hotspot, whatever. You need to know the address of your internet connection at home in order to access your remote desktop, ftp server, security camera system, etc. For years I've been using a free account registered with a dynamic dns service at DynDNS.com Through them I can create a subdomain on one of the many domains they have available and they will point that subdomain to the IP address that they've been given. After the DynDNS server is informed of a new ip address it only takes a couple of minutes to take effect. I have ADSL service through ATT that is a dynamic IP plan. Every time I reconnect my PPPoE connection, my WAN address changes. Well, this stinks for me because I like to remotely connect to my desktop and run other services on my network that I could only access from somewhere else if I know the WAN address. By using DynDNS.com and the dyndns feature on my D-link router, the router will automatically inform the DynDNS.com server what my IP address is. Now I can be assured that whenever I connect to 'tjolsen.dyndns.com' it will be pointing to the current IP address assigned to my WAN connection at home. It is like having a static IP address without the added cost of a static ip plan from ATT. DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: When I mentioned dynamic dns before, what I was referring to is a feature where the router automatically notifies a server what the ip address you are currently assigned is. This server provides a vanity address that can be used to access your lan from the net. Essentially you get a static 'named' address that will always point to your dynamically changing ip address. Check out http://www.technopagan.org/dynamic/ Thanks for the link. More reading. I read the words you sent. They really went over my head. OK. We could be stuck on 'server.' Yes, I think I own one. At this time, I may not really, truly, have a 'server' on my LAN. It (my server) may just really be another PC (with special potential if/when I turn it on!). I agree that my LAN might really suck. I am seeing this now. I am now thinking of re-trying the class C IP seriesjust to get directly against the modem!...and.just because I screwed it up so bad 2 weeks ago. More read.no harm, no foul. Thank you. (too bad you are not next door!) I do have patience. Best, Duncan -Tharin O.
Re: [H] Dual core or Quad core?
Only just recently have I gotten into virtualization and golly gee, I think it's swell! I rebuilt my personal computer as a low power / quiet system in a slim case. I don't do any gaming so I just needed something that could play high quality H.264 videos without a hitch. I also consolidated several systems into one quad core computer w/4gb of ram. I've got all sorts of VM's on it such as Win2003 Server, CentOS, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, Win2K Pro, etc. Primarily it acts as a file server with 2TB (5x500gb RAID 5) storage space. I have Asterisk running on the host OS so it can handle the telephony card that is installed and connected to my POTS lines. I utilize the different vm's for various tasks like testing apps and operating systems, ripping/encoding, file sharing, musicvideo streaming, network backups, etc. I can connect to the various VM's from my pc or laptop using Remote Desktop or VNC. Since it resides in my wiring closet on the opposite end of the house I don't hear the slightest sound of a hard drive clicking or a fan whirring :) -Tharin O. Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I was actually thinking about the virtualization comment from Tharin. I use XP mainly because of gaming. I have Ubuntu on my laptop and much prefer it for your daily office/internet/stuff usage but of course gaming sucks. And I would really prefer to use OSX for my video work because the tools are just easier to use and interface better. Has anyone built a virtualization box? Meaning, it should be possible to have 3 OS images (XP, Linux, OSX) and just moving between the three as you see fit. Now that I could see needing a quadcore and about 4GB of RAM. Aside from I/O becoming your chokepoint, anything else I'm not thinking about that would prevent such a setup from running? -- Brian Weeden On 11/7/07, Anthony Q. Martin wrote: that looks like a fine board to me...core 2 quad is your ticket... we seem to have very similar needs in a PC. Brian Weeden wrote: Right now I'm playing Orange Box (friggin AWESOME), Bioshock (when it doesn't crash), Civ 4, and AOE 3. I'm mainly an RTS / strategy gamer but do grab the occasional FPS but only the ones with good first person as I don't get into the multiplayer shooters much. For mobo I was looking at the ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131196 Dual video cards is not something I plan on doing anytime soon but onboard USB, Fireware, LAN, and audio is.
Re: [H] OEM Logos ?
Check these reg keys.. HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OEMInformation HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winsat\WindowsExperienceIndexOemInfo FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Customer wants me to remove the OEM logos from Vista XP was not a problem, the start menu logo not a problem Can not fine the files in vista Any help appreciated Fast Google search did not help THG better then Google. :-) fp -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- Okay. When I count to three, everybody smile!
Re: [H] dsl status
Most of the modems provided by the two telcos in my area, ATT and Verizon, seem to come in one of two designs. A single ethernet and/or usb port DSL modem intended for use with one PC or a router. The other a combination of a dsl modem, router, switch, and wireless ap. An http interface is used to change the settings of modem and maybe look at the stats of the dsl signal. If you have your own router I've found it to be better to disable PPPoE on the modem and switch it to a bridged mode. It's much easier to start and tear down the pppoe sessions from your router instead of the modem. If you use the dynamic dns service in the router it will be better at issuing updates as well. -Tharin O. DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Brian, Yes, I got this. If I had an 'access port/point' I too would have demoted my router to 'bridged.' I only have one router. I call it my 'gateway.' Yes, am using PPPoE. So far, today, it all works.
Re: [H] Dual core or Quad core?
I'm pleased to have gotten down to one laptop, two low power dual core workstations (150w according to my kill-a-watt), an htpc and the vm server. In total I think spent about $1400 building the server but it was totally worth it because of all the different roles it serves. I have also begun putting virtualization to use for a few clients of mine. One had a fifteen year old server that was running an accounting program on several dumb terminals, the type with the monochrome monitors with amber or green text. I was able to change it into a vm with access via ssh over their lan. A non-profit that I provide volunteer IT support for was able to run multiple vms on two good workstations that were donated, essentially behaving like a terminal server, in order to better utilize some of their older equipment that the rest of the staff have to use in their offices. Another business has a chain of dry cleaning stores that run DOS, lantastic 6, and a custom POS program on their computers. After setting up MS Virtual PC on the owner's computer with several DOS VMs, he can now emulate the same setup in his stores on one modern desktop in his office without even rebooting. I'm trying to improve on my skills to setup thin clients based on virtual machines instead of Terminal services. If an end user manages to crash their vm you just reboot it and none of the other machines are phased by it. -Tharin O. Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Tharin, I think you just upped the ante for all the computer geeks on this list. Awesome man.
Re: [H] XP has lost it's thumb drive drivers
Yah, you're right about the necessary drivers already being installed in XP. The flash drives normally detetect as a USB Mass storage device or something to that effect. I had a system that would do that in normal mode, but in safe mode it would detect and install properly. Ended up being some problem with an application or combination of applications in their startup/services. Otherwise it could possibly be a driver problem or, more likely, something screwy in the registry. Sometimes system restore can save your arse if the problem started recently. You need to have these files... %SYSTEMROOT%\USBSTOR.INF %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\usbstor.sys If they're not there or suspect damage, insert your XP cd with the appropriate service pack and copy the files back onto the computer from a comand prompt with: expand -r d:\usbstor.in_ %systemroot%\inf expand -r d:\usbstor.sy_ %systemroot%\system32\drivers I assume D: is the CD drive. Substitute as required Worst case might involve doing a Repair install. Good luck -Tharin O. Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've got an XP machine that won't install drivers for thumbdrives, even though they should be built in. Every time I put a thumbdrive or card reader in the machine, it tells me an error has occured installing the new hardware. Any idea how I can make sure the drivers in Windows are all installed? T
Re: [H] Dual core or Quad core?
If you arent doing any heavy audio/video encoding or have a desire to run a virtualized operating system I'd get a better dual-core instead of a quad. -Tharin O. Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've finally decided to upgrade my main system from the Althon 64 3000+ and nForce4 mobo that have served me so well for the past couple years. I definitely going Intel for the first time in a long time but can't decide whether it is worth it for the Quad core as opposed to the Dual core. I am looking at both the Core2Dou E6650 and the Quad core Q6600. The Core2Dou is $170 on Newegg while the QuadCore is $285. It would be going into my main PC which is use for work (some numerical simulation), video rendering, and gaming. I guess the question comes down to how much multiple cores would help. From what I have seen, only a few games support 4 cores and not that many more support 2 cores. I already have an ATI X1950XT that I won't be replacing for at least another year so that might end up being the limiter on gaming anyways. All I know is right now the Athlon 64 is the bottleneck. I know certain video/audio encoders support 4 and it will help there but I don't do that much. And the numerical simulations I currently use are not multi-core aware. The budget is tight this time around which I guess is why I'm banging my head so hard about that last $100. I guess the bottom line is does everyone think that $100 for 2 more cores is a good long-term investment? -- Brian Weeden
Re: [H] XP has lost it's thumb drive drivers
correction, usbstor.inf should be in %systemroot%\inf so the file path is %SYSTEMROOT%\INF\USBSTOR.INF Tharin Olsen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: You need to have these files... %SYSTEMROOT%\USBSTOR.INF %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\usbstor.sys
Re: [H] Private IP classes
You can use 10.0.0.1, 10.10.10.1, 10.30.20.1 or any other ip series you want. I just think that you have to use one of the subnet masks mentioned in my previous post that per subnet limits you to 254 or less hosts. Technically a Class A network would have a default subnet mask of 255.0.0.0. When assigning your router an IP of 10.0.0.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 you're still creating a subnet with a maximum of 254 hosts whose ip address would have to be in a range of 10.0.0.1-10.0.0.254. Functionally this should be no different than using a Class C address with the 192.168.x.x ip series. I don't know any reason why one would seem any slower than the other. I'm curious what you mean about being slow or glitchy?? By using a Class A address you would just be expanding the theoretical maximum capacity of your private network. A full Class A network subnetted as 255.255.255.0 would create 65536 subnets. I suppose if you had that many $30 routers from Best Buy you could create a private network with over 16 million hosts. I think in some legacy equipment from... say twenty years ago or more, when this stuff was dreamed up, the logic about class a, b, and c networks would have been hardcoded to some degree. I don't think these kind of designations mean much when creating a private lan. -Tharin O. DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: OK. I understand. I will again attempt to apply a class C network strategy. Even though the LAN runs very much better using class A with a full (25.255.255.0) netmask. Even the router is happy at 10.0.0.1/255.255.255.0.
Re: [H] Private IP classes
This is interesting what you say about the Windows file sharing and what not. I always blew off any slowness/stalling when browsing the workgroup to just another crappy bonus of Microsoft Windows. Whenever I would observe this sort of behavior it would happen on one or two workstations but not all of them.. eventually it would seem to straighten up. I will probably do a little experimenting the next time I'm setting up a little Windows based peer-to-peer network. -Tharin O. DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:snip I am still reading over your explanation of subnet qualification via the 4th octet of the netmask. Think I'm going to make it into a chart for the wall! This has been a very instructive 2.5 weeks. I am smarter now with your shares, and the shares of j maccraw, but I am still really afraid to try the class C IP addy series. It just does not seem to work here. Perhaps something very subtle on my LAN, and I have not found it in the last 8 years. And, I freely admit it is my fault. The machines are so much smarter than I feel sometimes. LOL! Best, Duncan
Re: [H] wify printer ?
resending this because it got bounced last night Ahaha.. ermm yes.. well, its not terribly difficult. Since I don't see a mention of a particular make and model of printer I'll just summarize how most network printers are configured and installed. Hopefully you are already using a wireless access point or wireless router (an all-in-one device that includes an access point). Depending on whether the printer is just a printer or a multifunction printer that scans and faxes can change the complexity of the installation. If you don't have a wireless router or access point then you are going to have to configure the printer for ad-hoc mode instead of infrastructure mode. In ad-hoc mode you also need to have a wireless adapter on each computer that will talk directly to the printer. I'm going to assume you already have a wireless router or AP. This will make your printer available to all devices on the network whether they are hardwired or using the wifi connection. Make sure your printer is set to the same SSID as your AP. Factory default SSID on most routers will be something like 'linksys', 'netgear', 'default', etc. Once the printer is properly connected to the wireless network it will most likely be assigned an IP address through DHCP. If there is a LCD screen on the printer you can probably print a report of the printers current network settings. I'd recommend that you give the printer a static IP address on your network, the setup software on most HP wifi printers I've seen recently will recommend and do this at some stage of the installation wizard. Once you successfully configure the printer from one computer and can print to it, it is pretty easy to configure the rest of the computers on your network to use the printer. All network printers wireless or wired are essentially a combination of a print server and of course, a printer. This means that you should be able to access the printer through one or more protocols through the network such as RAW TCP, LPR, NetBEUI, AppleTalk, IPX/SPX, etc. I like to use either LPR w/ byte counting or RAW TCP. To install the printer on any additional Windows computers you can usually use the Add Printer Wizard from the Printer Control Panel. You can always re-rerun the printer setup disc but I prefer manual installations. First start the wizard, next choose the option for a local printer (deselect plug n' play detection), choose create a new port, select standard tcp/ip port, enter the ip address of the printer, choose printer driver in the selection window. Voila, you're through! Wash, rinse, repeat on the rest of your computers. If the printer is a multifunction device that can scan and print then you will definitely have to install the printer software from the installation disc. Are they shipping printers without install instructions now??? :) -Tharin O. DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well, according to Tharin, there just might be... .I always assumed not too I'll wait. Best, Duncan At 17:39 10/29/2007 -0700, you wrote: Have to set up a wireless printer, at the moment have no idea how the network is setup, whether a router or direct. I assume this is no big deal if there is a router. Fp snip
Re: [H] Private IP classes
resending another email that bounced.. did hardwaregroup.com go down yesterday? I'm not certain because I've never tested it, but I think on the LAN side you must use a subnet that would be confined to a single Class C network when using a consumer router. Using 255.255.0.0 as a subnet mask would actually be subnetted as a Class B network since only the first two octets would be the network portion. It could be that a router would let you enter this type of subnet on the LAN configuration but would not function as expected. Nice choice on the router btw; I own the very same unit. I wanted a router with a gigabit switch and tests on Tom's Hardware showed that it could support a high speed WAN connection as well as many active sessions, thus making it P2P file-sharing friendly. My previous router would spontaneously reboot if I had too many active connections due to Kademlia. It simply wasn't powerful enough to handle the load. Anyway.. back to the subnets.. I think the only valid choices for a subnet mask when using these kinds of routers would be one that restricts you to functioning under a single Class C network. (when I say Class C I mean that when looking at an IP of AAA.BBB.CCC.xxx only hosts whose first three octets are matching, can communicate directly) The usable subnet masks are the following 255.255.255.0 (1 network, 254 hosts) 255.255.255.128 (2 networks, 126 hosts each) 255.255.255.192 (4 networks, 62 hosts each) 255.255.255.224 (8 networks, 30 hosts each) 255.255.255.240 (16 networks, 14 hosts each) 255.255.255.248 (32 networks, 6 hosts each, used with 5 ip accounts) 255.255.255.252 (64 networks, 2 hosts each, what most ISPs assign) If you were using a Class C address of 192.168.1.x and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.192 you would essentially be chopping up 192.168.1.x into 4 subnets. There would be a total of 64 ip addresses in each subnet but since the first and last address of any network are reserved, there are only 62 usable addresses for your hosts. The same logic can be seen in the other subnet masks. I know I'm probably repeating/rephrasing some of what I already said but I think more examples help me when trying to understand something. -Tharin O. DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Tharin, Thank you for the reply. The smoke clears. I want to read your reply a few more times.
Re: [H] Private IP classes
Simple answer is that a Private Class C network with a 255.255.255.0 subnet
mask is fine for you. This would create a local network allowing up to 254
hosts (machines, computers, whatever). If my math is right, 254 is way bigger
than than 7 :)
When using this subnet you must make sure the first three quartiles are the
exact same. All hosts need to have matching IPs except for the fourth set. If
you want to make use of the entire block of 192.168.x.x then use 255.255.0.0.
(But why would you need a lan of 65 thousand addresses?)
Customarily a router/gateway is assigned an IP like 192.168.1.1 or
192.168.1.254, since 1 and 254 are the first and last IP address that can be
used in the last quartile. Your computers, slingbox, nintendo wii, voip phone,
and like can then be assigned addresses ranging from 1-253 or 2-254 depending
on which one you choose for your gateway.
Are you going to share a DSL or Cable internet connection? Do you already have
a router or were you turning a PC into a server/gateway/router?
~~ More drawn own discussion below ~~
Since computers use binary the proper term, for what you refer to as a
quartile, is actually an octet. Binary is ugly for people to read and remember
so we write IPs in a decimal form 'aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd'
Anyway, the local network is defined by the subnet and ip that you assign.
If you use 255.255.255.0 as a subnet mask with a Class C network, then
essentially you are dividing up 192.168.x.x into 256 local networks that can
each have 254 hosts. A computer/machine/host/whatever will only be able to talk
to others that are using an IP that match the first three octets 192.168.1.x,
192.168.2.x, 192.168.3.x, etc. ('x' can be a value from 1 to 254, 0 and 255 are
reserved). A computer on 192.168.2.x can't talk to a computer on 192.168.3.x.
Data bound for an address outside the scope of your local network, such as the
internet, would have the packets sent to your router/gateway. (The gateway
should be your router. A consumer router is actually several things its a
gateway, a router, a switch, a firewall, and often times a wireless access
point.)
If you were to use a different subnet like 255.255.255.240 and it would create
a local network with 16 addresses. This would means you could have 16 subnets
on a single Class C block. 192.168.1.0-16 (LAN 1), 192.168.1.17-32 (LAN 2),
192.168.1.33-48 (LAN 3), etc. The entire 192.168.x block would be divided into
4000+ seperate networks.
A subnet of 255.255.0.0 would turn the whole 192.168 block into your local
network. Any machine with an ip in the range of 192.168.0-255.x could talk to
each other.
I hope I'm making some sense...
-Tharin O.
DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Tharin,
Can I ask for some more expansion on the below send? This may be the
critical link!
At 16:02 10/29/2007 -0700, you wrote:
snip
The subnet mask will determine the range of IP addresses that will be in
your local network. Your local network being the computers/devices you
have direct access to send data without needing to be handled through a router.
snip
How did you need to apply this knowledge?? Are you configuring a router or
small network in your home??
I was trying to have 2 subnets. Perhaps I did it wrong/badly. I have given up!
Why is the ...needing to be handled through a router part of this
equation?
This may be my confusion
Best,
Duncan
snip
Re: [H] Private IP classes
There is something like 64 thousand ip addresses in the private 192.168.x.x range. (192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255) The subnet mask will determine the range of IP addresses that will be in your local network. Your local network being the computers/devices you have direct access to send data without needing to be handled through a router. The common and default subnet mask that is used in a SOHO network and on a Private C class block is 255.255.255.0. This will allow for a total of 254 hosts. This is the default setting for most consumer routers from Linksys, D-link, Netgear, etc. If computerA had an ip address of 192.168.0.12 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 it would be able to communicate with the network range of 192.168.0.1-192.168.0.254. If computerB had an IP of 192.168.9.5 and the same subnet the valid network range would be 192.168.9.1-192.168.9.254. A ping from computerA would not reach computerB or vice versa because they are on two different networks. Hopefully this crude example shows how the subnet mask determines the ip range; especially, how that particular subnet mask would restrict your ip range to whichever block you choose in the third set of numbers. How did you need to apply this knowledge?? Are you configuring a router or small network in your home?? DHSinclair [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: OK, I now use what I read is the Class C private IP address series. I use 192.168.2xx.x. I am told that my sub-net mask should be 255.255.255.0. If this is true, then should not my chosen 3rd quartile of 2xx really be a value 0? Or, does it really mean that my chosen 3rd quartile is somehow ignored? Yes, I do recall discussion about this last year, but back then I was using the Class A private IP series. :) Thank you for any/all de-mystification. Best, Duncan
Re: [H] Ageia Physx ?
with multicore processors and the continual advancements in graphics cards the PhysX cards will lose or have already lost their appeal. I've seen a few video captures of various games showing some of the differences that occur with the cards installed vs. a system without. They were mostly minor differences like prettier water effects, extra droplets of blood, more shrapnel or sparks, finer details in waving flags, etc. Things that could be appreciated if you had one but not something that will make or break your gaming experience. -Tharin O. FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Installed Airborne demo, installed this sw and I do not have one of these cards. Game seems to play just fine without it cept I think my laser mouse is real fussy ( or it is just harder to aim ) Please tell me this Ageia is a gimmick cool game fp -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- Bigamist: An Italian fog.
Re: [H] restoring policy's ?
Do it :) It will take a whole 30 min. of your life to make one if you've got a broadband connection. You'll wonder how you ever got along without one. So far I haven't had any success in creating a BartPE flash drive. I'm tired of burning new cd-rs every few weeks and to create a bootable flash drive with BartPE would be most excellent. -Tharin O. FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: thanks, some of these I use ( or similar ) but I have been lazy about creating a PE disk. Have a really old superdisk but it is practically worthless except to retrieve data,
Re: [H] restoring policy's ?
Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 11:27 10-03-2007, Tharin Olsen typed: I'm tired of burning new cd-rs every few weeks and to create a bootable flash drive with BartPE would be most excellent. With the latest version of UltraIso you can edit the BartPE.iso file directly instead of using PE Builder to recreate the same thing over over again plus using CDRW disks are cheaper in the long run. I too have NOT been able to create a bootable USB flash drive w/ BartPE Lord knows I've tried. That reminds me I need to update the apps that I use on my XpPe disks. Good tip on the UltraISO I remember using that program some years ago. I need to check it out again. If it were for private or limited I'd use CD-RW but the odds of a CD-RW not working in some random persons optical drive is higher than that of a good quality CD-R. I own an on-site computer repair/service company for residential and commercial end-users which means I have to work on all sorts of systems everyday. Some cheap drives won't read a disc that barely has a scuff on it. I've tried a few times to get a bootable flash drive with BartPE but haven't managed to get it to work yet. Most instructions involve the use of a special format utility from the likes of HP or to use Win98 because the way XP formats them doesn't seem to work. Once I get a chance to spend some time with it again I will share what I learned with the list. That is if I manage to get it to work. :) -Tharin O.
Re: [H] restoring policy's ?
Download any of the tools below. I think the first two, SDFix and ComboFix, are the most recent. Essentially they are self-extracting archives with batch scripts that will reset the changed policy settings, scan for various trojans and malware, then give you a final report when its over. If you understand what details the report has it can clue you in on whether there is more material that needs to be dealt with. Run them while in safe mode. SDFix http://downloads.andymanchesta.com/RemovalTools/SDFix.exe ComboFix http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/sUBs/ComboFix.exe SmitFraudFix http://siri.urz.free.fr/Fix/SmitfraudFix_En.php SmitRem http://noahdfear.geekstogo.com/ If its reeeaally messed up I'd recommend pulling the drive and scanning it with a good computer with hopefully several antivirus tools i.e. AntiVir, AVG, Avast, Panda, etc. And also sweep the drive with more than one Malware scanner like Ad-aware, Spybot Search Destroy, AVG AntiSpyware, or Webroot. Then re-run one of the tools I posted the links for. If those steps dont take care of it it may be better to just format and start over. -Tharin O. FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Have a REALLY screwed up one. Spyware or something has basically locked out everything. While I did get the control panel back none of the applets run. gpedit.msc says file not found. can not manage users. Was able to fix this a little and it is better but some of this needs to be restored. I suspect a whole system restore is needed to be honest but I always respect a challenge. :-D Any suggestions will be helpful. ( or tools ) fp -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- Nobody home but the lights, and they're out too.
Re: [H] restoring policy's ?
In the last couple of weeks I've serviced several machines that had an internet speed monitor spyware installed file names were something like issm.exe. The files were in a subfolder of %ProgramFiles%. Of course this malware never seems to travel alone. It generally starts off with some sort of trojan that downloads more material into the computer and it only gets hairier from there. Additions to the Run keys in the registry are a given, along with addons to Internet Explorer's list of browser helper objects and toolbars. My kit of goodies for eliminating infections from computers consists of the following: Autoruns (use this instead of msconfig.exe) http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/AutoRuns.mspx HijackThis (conveniently displays reg entries that pertain to IE and startup apps) http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis EZPCFix (displays various settings of registry, can purge temp directories, etc.) http://www.ezpcfix.net/ LSPFix (manage your Layered Service Providers. eliminate NewDotNet, 3rd party firewall, etc) http://cexx.org/lspfix.htm WinsockXPFix by Option^Explicit (repairs/rebuilds winsock settings in Win9x,2K,XP) no official site im aware of, available on various file mirrors, google is your friend plus everything I mentioned previously (SmitRem, SDFix, AVG, Ad-aware, etc.) I would highly recommend you roll your own copy of the Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows. It's a customized Bart PE bootable CD with just about every maintenance tool a techie would need, including most of the ones I've mentioned. Be sure you update the definitions for the virus scanners before creating the disc. You can use this cd to boot into a clean Windows environment that is loaded into the system memory. Go to http://www.ubcd4win.net for more info and the download links. Right now the trickiest things for me to find on my own are the malware that are installing themselves as drivers in the Services area of the registry. These entries won't be detected by the likes of HijackThis. This is where SDFix and Combofix have been saving my bacon. I always do a manual analysis of the following registry keys: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run ..\RunOnce ..\runservices HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run ..\RunOnce ..\RunEx\ ..\runservices HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon When hunting for infected files I find that they tend to be in these folders: %systemdrive% %systemroot% %systemroot%\system32 %systemroot%\system32\drivers %temp% %programfiles% A good way to identify them is when the file has a modified/creation date that is very recent. The exe and dll files often lack a version tab when you check the file properties. Files that can't be deleted because they are already active can sometimes be removed after you disable the readexecute attribute in the security permissions on the file. This only works on NTFS partitions. If you are ultimately successful in disabling the autostart of the malware then you can rely on the use of multiple AV and Malware scanners to handle any residue you couldnt find on your own. Good luck. -Tharin O. FP [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: some of these I had, the combofix did not. got my permissions bad. So far so good, looks like it might fly. Still had a persistant ( internet speed control ) or something to that affect. superspyware remover seems so far to have got that. I may still install my webroot sw and do another scan. running more av scans. gpedit is still defunc but no biggy. thanks fred - Original Message - From:Tharin Olsen To: The Hardware List Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 12:57PM Subject: Re: [H] restoring policy's? Download any of the tools below. I think the first two, SDFixand ComboFix, are the most recent. Essentially they are self-extractingarchives with batch scripts that will reset the changed policy settings, scanfor various trojans and malware, then give you a final report when its over.If you understand what details the report has it can clue you in on whetherthere is more material that needs to be dealt with. Run them while in safemode. SDFix http://downloads.andymanchesta.com/RemovalTools/SDFix.exe ComboFix http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/sUBs/ComboFix.exe SmitFraudFix http://siri.urz.free.fr/Fix/SmitfraudFix_En.php SmitRem http://noahdfear.geekstogo.com/ Ifits reeeaally messed up I'd recommend pulling the drive and scanning it with agood computer with hopefully several antivirus tools i.e. AntiVir, AVG, Avast,Panda, etc. And also sweep the drive with more than one Malware scanner likeAd-aware, Spybot Search Destroy, AVG AntiSpyware, or Webroot. Thenre-run one of the tools I posted the links for. If those steps dont take careof it it may be better to just format and start over
Re: [H] What do you get when you run netstat?
Akamai is a dot com business that has thousands of caching servers that act as a media delivery system whether its a file mirroring, videos, banner ads, etc. You will stumble across them mainly on advertising type content. Companies pay Akamai to host certain content instead of their own servers because of their high availability. -Tharin O. W. D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I find that it's quick way to find out if there is spyware on the computer. Then I run Ad-aware and SpyBot to get rid of the baddies. Akamai references seem to keep showing up. Any ideas on how to get rid of those? Start Here to Find It Fast! - http://www.US-Webmasters.com/best-start-page/ $8.77 Domain Names - http://domains.us-webmasters.com/
Re: [H] ghost 12 ?
If a mainboard isn't a native SATA controller (Intel, nVidia, SIS, etc.) most boards seem to utilize jmicron or silicon image chipsets. So, far I haven't had any problem using Ghost 7.5 on any SATA drives but I may have just been lucky. Be sure to go in the BIOS/CMOS Setup menu and see if you can change the mode that the Serial ATA controller is in. You should be able to toggle through at least two or three modes with names such as IDE, SATA, AHCI, RAID, Enhanced. 'IDE' is normally what you would need to set it on but try the other modes as well. -Tharin O. FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: my guess too, the MB it has problem with has a silicon image raid but the drives were not on the raid controller but the onboard sata ide headers. Meant to put them on the raid controller and see if it sees them there ( still may test this when I get a chance ) fp At 08:39 AM 10/1/2007, Anthony Q. Martin Poked the stick with: What chipset do you have that provides the SATA ports? Is it the same across the various mobo? My mobo has two SATA controllers, one is a Gigabyte controller and the other is a ICHR9 (p35 chipset). Perhaps Ghost has problems with certain controllers. Just a guess, though. FORC5 wrote: yes from windows no problem even though it did not let me clone both partitions at once. I figure if I pre partitioned the drive it would let me do them one at a time but the extra partition on C is basically a temp drive and I have it backed up elsewhere. I need a cd I can boot to for updating drives in customer boxes. Acronis true image works but is slow, at least the time I have used it. Took 7 hours to clone this drive that ghost took less then a hour. Must be a way to make what they might call a recovery disk but at this point I suspect collusion. :-D What I do not understand is why my dos based ghost sees some sata controllers and not others. Understand not seeing raid but raid is disabled. Works on my newer MB no problem. (ghost8) fp At 07:37 AM 10/1/2007, Anthony Q. Martin Poked the stick with: It won't let you clone the drive from within windows? I did one last night with Acronis, even though it was a bit squirrelly to get the drive to finally boot. Still not sure what I did to get it working. Probably didn't let Acronis confirm or finish the process all the way. FORC5 wrote: Because my version of ghost has problems not seeing SOME SATA conttrollers I installed 12. Other then from windows I see no way to make a boot able cd from which to clone drives ? What am I missing ? fp thanks -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- Golly, Yogi, I don't think Mr. Ranger's gonna like this.
Re: [H] code purple error ?
I would suggest resetting the cmos/bios to defaults as a start. I've only seen the error on systems from HP that didn't have the tattoo applied to the bios. My business often does sub-contract work for extended warranty companies and when replacing motherboards in HP/Compaq systems we have to go through a process of running a special application that tags the mainboard's bios with information like the serial number, model number, etc. If a board were replaced and system recovery was run before going through the tattoo procedure you might encounter the code purple error. I think it stems from the OEM copy of Windows XP that are catered made for HP when it comes to the licensing/activation stuff. What sort of restore did you do? FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Anyone run into this after a restore ? I'm pretty sure it is because of a HW change, just do not see where anything has been changed. Any pointers appreciated fp -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- Difficult? I wish it had been impossible!
Re: [H] Vista, dumb question, maybe
I've read online articles that pretty much all say the same thing about OEM versions of Windows Vista. You are allowed to change any component but the motherboard. Microsoft has made the motherboard the core component of the PC and if you change it with a different one it counts as a new machine. Your Vista installation would require relicensing and a new product key. Apparently you are allowed to change the motherboard for a new one if it is a replacement of a defective board and it is the same make/model of the existing board. Now as a system builder and service/repair shop I think this sucks. It's not often that I can obtain exact make/model mainboards to repair systems. Tier-1 systems like Dell, HP, Sony, etc. who are past their warranty, sometimes 90 days on the cheapo units, have replacement motherboards listing online for $100-$400. In the past I would just pull the cpu and ram and drop in a factory new board from MSI, Asrock, ECS, etc. for $50. Then all I would need to do is phone up Microsoft whilst stuck on the XP product activation box and explain the reason for reactivation was to replace a defective mainboard with a new one. Not once have they not authorized an activation. Hopefully, they will continue to do so with these sort of circumstances. As to the folks who are simply switching boards because they need the extra expansion slots, more ram than their two dimm board would allow, etc. I think they shouldn't have to pay but like a reactivation fee of 2 cents or something. Why? Because it isnt a second computer! The end user would still have only one machine running Windows. Perhaps a break in pricing to convert their OEM license to a full retail license. Go halfsies on it. -Tharin O. FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: OEM license states can not be transfered to another machine once installed, would a major HW change ( motherboard ) be construed as a different machine ? I would think not but not my sandbox. :'( deeper and deeper fp -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- Future looks spotty. You will spill soup in late evening.
Re: [H] Windows 2003 server RAID questions
Software raid has it's advantages because it is cheap and the raid array is no longer controller dependent. As long as you can reinstall the operating system that made it, you should be able to access the raid array. The main con is lower performance than hardware raid and you probably won't be able to boot from a software raid array. Hardware raid is bootable, faster and, arguably, more reliable. However if the raid controller croaks you don't have a spare card you will find yourself screwed, stewed and tattooed. Perhaps a more likely scenario is a system with an onboard raid controller and the motherboard fails or needs to be upgraded. Hardware raid can be costly especially when you do the right thing and buy a spare controller from the get go. There is the pseudo hardware raid often found on the enthusiast motherboards. These are the silicon image, highpoint, and promise controllers. The kind of cards where you get 4 port raid-5 for $45. These are the worst because they have disadvantages of both software and hardware raid arrays. The lower performance, cpu cycle consuming, software based raid control with the added dependence on a piece of hardware. I'd definately take a 3ware or Areca raid controller over a software raid array but to say software raid is without merits isn't true. I could sleep soundly at night as long as I knew I had a decent UPS on my server and a good backup routine. -Tharin O.
Re: [H] Latest version of Java for Ubuntu?
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts -Tharin O. Brian Weeden [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have version 1.42 installed now but I am trying to get GCALDaemon to work so I can sync with Google Calendar and it says I need Java version 1.5 or later. Through all the normal distro channels all I can find is 1.4x. Is there a more recent version for ubuntu (debian) and does someone have a download link? -- Brian Weeden
Re: [H] IBM Thinkpad r50e
As you already guessed, you should be safe with a 120gb drive. Chances are, you would be fine with a 160gb as well. A system bios that does not support 48-bit LBA has a capacity barrier at 137gb. However, as long as the hard drive is recognized in some way by the laptop you should be able to utilize the full capacity of the drive when using an OS that has its own support for 48-bit LBA. Microsoft Windows XP w/ Service Pack 2 and Vista both have this support. Win 2K and earlier Windows XP versions require a patch/registry modification. Richard Kim [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm about to upgrade the hard drive in this laptop and would like to know what the largest capacity drive I can install. Lenovo seems to only offer upto 80GB upgrade drives. And I've heard people stating the 160GB won't be recognized. Logically, I think the largest capacity HDD I would be able to use in this laptop would then be the 120GB ones. Does anyone know for sure? Thanks. -rich
Re: [H] XP Pro asks for password when mapping drive
Specifying a password and username is only for when the currently logged in user can't authenticate with the host system in the first place. Obviously its not advisable to keep super secret usernames and passwords in a plain text file. -Tharin O. j maccraw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'd leave the password part out since windows should use the logged in user password anyway to authenticate. In fact if username is not domain based or an account other than current login, then there is no reason to add it since the current un/pw is sent automatically. At 03:21 PM 7/27/2007, Tharin Olsen Poked the stick with: Yes the prompting about deleting the drive maps would occur on Windows 2000/9x. There are still a lot of Windows 2000 machines in my town it seems. An example of a batch file would be something like the following --- Begin FixDrives.bat @echo off rem A message that is displayed while the script is processed. echo Please wait while your network drives are recreated. rem Our first command deletes any existing drive mappings net use * /delete /y rem Next we recreate the shared drives net use p: \\computer1\public PASSWORD /user:USERNAME net use t: \\computer2\finance PASSWORD /user:USERNAME net use z: \\computer3\admin PASSWORD /user:USERNAME
Re: [H] XP Pro asks for password when mapping drive
Yes the prompting about deleting the drive maps would occur on Windows 2000/9x. There are still a lot of Windows 2000 machines in my town it seems. An example of a batch file would be something like the following --- Begin FixDrives.bat @echo off rem A message that is displayed while the script is processed. echo Please wait while your network drives are recreated. rem Our first command deletes any existing drive mappings net use * /delete /y rem Next we recreate the shared drives net use p: \\computer1\public PASSWORD /user:USERNAME net use t: \\computer2\finance PASSWORD /user:USERNAME net use z: \\computer3\admin PASSWORD /user:USERNAME END OF FILE real simple, right? =] Most of my batch scripts are something like above, others might be more complex containing goto statements that perform certain actions based on certain conditions. FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: be interested in a look at the fixdrives.bat layout. Have no home boxes in shop currently but next time I have one will check it out. Never had a XP box give me that log on message when the mapped drives are offline ( other then a popup from the tray ) W2K did this and WIn98. thanks fp At 08:22 PM 7/26/2007, Tharin Olsen Poked the stick with: I think the mapping method from My Computer that allows you to save the name/password is present in XP Home as well as XP Professional. One problem with the reconnect at logon (persistent drive maps) option is if the host system with the shared folders is offline Windows will show an error box on logon that indicates the path wasnt accessible and something like an ok/cancel choice to delete the mapped drive. The user unknowingly deletes the drive map and then they cant get in at all until the mapped drive is recreated. If you use a logon script with the net use command it will always map the drive at startup and its harder for the end user to mess up something that couldn't be fixed by a reboot. If you'd rather not run the command at startup you could just make a batch file to run the command. Since I do work at a lot of small offices that are just peer-to-peer its common that these sort of quirks will occur. I will type the commands into notepad and save it as FixDrives.bat in the %systemroot% folder of each workstation. Next time the phone rings and I'm troubleshooting I can tell them to enter fixdrive! s in Run or at a command prompt. -Tharin O. FORC5 wrote: any idea if this works in XP Home ? Have never had a problem with pro, seems there is always the little check box to remember which is NOT on home machines. I have had to do the same user/pw on customer boxen to keep them all on their networks and figure there has to be a way to have home remember. Some obscure tool that is not there. Thanks -- Tallyho ! ]:8) Taglines below ! -- Without my ignorance, your knowledge would be meaningless
Re: [H] XP Pro asks for password when mapping drive
Many ways to go about doing this, generally this a permissions issue on the machine hosting the shared directory. Try mapping the drive from My Computer using Tools Map Network Drive. Fill in the appropriate share path then click the text link that reads Connect using a different name you can enter a different username/password there. If you check the box to reconnect at logon it will continue to map the drive after a reboot. The command for creating shares is net use, its good for scripts or autostart stuff. net use [DriveLetter:] [\\ComputerName\ShareName] password /user:username net use N: \\computer-1\thanes warez foobar /user:foo -Tharin O. Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have two XP Pro machines. I'm sharing a folder on one and mapping it on the other and drive N: - it wants a username/password (which has to be entered each time.) I know I've setup XP Pro like this where it just remembered the password and didn' t prompt everytime. How do I do this so it just maps on boot up and doesn't bother me? T
Re: [H] XP Pro asks for password when mapping drive
I think the mapping method from My Computer that allows you to save the name/password is present in XP Home as well as XP Professional. One problem with the reconnect at logon (persistent drive maps) option is if the host system with the shared folders is offline Windows will show an error box on logon that indicates the path wasnt accessible and something like an ok/cancel choice to delete the mapped drive. The user unknowingly deletes the drive map and then they cant get in at all until the mapped drive is recreated. If you use a logon script with the net use command it will always map the drive at startup and its harder for the end user to mess up something that couldn't be fixed by a reboot. If you'd rather not run the command at startup you could just make a batch file to run the command. Since I do work at a lot of small offices that are just peer-to-peer its common that these sort of quirks will occur. I will type the commands into notepad and save it as FixDrives.bat in the %systemroot% folder of each workstation. Next time the phone rings and I'm troubleshooting I can tell them to enter fixdrives in Run or at a command prompt. -Tharin O. FORC5 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: any idea if this works in XP Home ? Have never had a problem with pro, seems there is always the little check box to remember which is NOT on home machines. I have had to do the same user/pw on customer boxen to keep them all on their networks and figure there has to be a way to have home remember. Some obscure tool that is not there. Thanks
Re: [H] XP Pro asks for password when mapping drive
Was the account created from scratch or did you rename an existing account? I've found that if you rename an existing account under XP in the User Accounts control panel it is still uses the original username it only changes the display name. This has been a source of frustration for me on more than one occassion. -Tharin O. Thane Sherrington [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I tried that. I setup a user on the server with username share / password share - and then I setup the default user on the workstation to the same - still asks for username and password or when I click on the mapped drive. Strange. T At 11:59 AM 26/07/2007, Ben Ruset wrote: Have the same user/password on each machine. Thane Sherrington wrote: I have two XP Pro machines. I'm sharing a folder on one and mapping it on the other and drive N: - it wants a username/password (which has to be entered each time.) I know I've setup XP Pro like this where it just remembered the password and didn' t prompt everytime. How do I do this so it just maps on boot up and doesn't bother me? T __ NOD32 2423 (20070726) Information __ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com
