I had a customer today ring up about cheap laptops. They were $600 and she wanted to see if I could match the price. The computers were celeron M processors with 512Mb of memory running Vista Home Basic. Hardly the fastest machines, in fact running them would be downright unpleasant.
I think that the minimum for a Vista laptop would be a T2*** cpu with at least 1Gb of memory. I'm writing this in an IBM Thinkpad with a T7250 cpu and 2 Gb of memory and Vista isn't the quickest. We forget how large the operating systems are getting. I have a Pentium III in the workshop running Windows 98 and 256Mb of memory and it starts up within 30 seconds and is extremely quick.
talking about Laptops I didn't like the Thinkpad at first as I have been selling ASUS laptops. The ASUS are extremely stylish while the Thinkpad is very square. However, after using one for a little while, I find I like the keypad and you get the feeling that you could throw the machine across the room and it wouldn't break.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Linux
I've been playing with adwords. One of the advantages is that you can play with keywords and look at the popularity of certain search terms. Getting clicks is a bonus. One of the the most popular search terms was Linux and coincidentally, I have a customer inquiring about Linux as an operating system.
I have been interesting in Linux for quite awhile. I'm still in two minds about the value of Linux to customer as a better value proposition for customers. It would not take much of my time searching for drivers or getting some windows application to work on Linux to make it cheaper to just use Windows. If you throw Microsoft Office into the mix then there is more saving, however, you can just put Open Office on a windows machine.
There may be an opportunity in the future, when XP can not be sold anymore. There could be an option to sell a cheaper machine with Linux versus a computer that can run Vista. Although the Linux community could shoot itself in the foot by insisting on extra glitz in the Linux UI,
I have been interesting in Linux for quite awhile. I'm still in two minds about the value of Linux to customer as a better value proposition for customers. It would not take much of my time searching for drivers or getting some windows application to work on Linux to make it cheaper to just use Windows. If you throw Microsoft Office into the mix then there is more saving, however, you can just put Open Office on a windows machine.
There may be an opportunity in the future, when XP can not be sold anymore. There could be an option to sell a cheaper machine with Linux versus a computer that can run Vista. Although the Linux community could shoot itself in the foot by insisting on extra glitz in the Linux UI,
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Nightmare
The worst thing to happen is when a customer has a problem with a computer but you can't replicate the problem. Worse in this case was that I sold the computer. The customer in this case had a computer that stalled in startup for 15 minutes and then stalled for another 15 minutes during Windows startup. Unfortunately, during visit number 1, the computer worked perfectly for me. I restarted 3 or 4 times and it started up faster than any of my machines.
Called back a week later, same problem. I came back with a spare keyboard as sometimes this causes a problem. This time at least the computer misbehaved for me. I swapped keyboards and it booted okay. Great, problem solved. I tried the old keyboard and the computer booted quickly. Mmmm, well maybe I cleared an issue in the Bios. I have seen this happen a few times with USB keyboards.
Another call a week later. Same problem. I had enough at this stage and was going to change the motherboard. I took it back to the workshop with the keyboard and the mouse and continually rebooted the machine sticking various things into the USB ports. I could get it to fail. Rather than put in a new motherboard, I reflashed the BIOS and updated all of the drivers that I could find and returned to the customers house. We then set to see what device would cause it to fail. I suspected the camera connection. However, when rebooting I noticed there was some delay. Even though it was switched off the only thing plugged in besides the keyboard/mouse was the printer. I pulled out the printer and the system immediately booted. I plugged the printer cable into the computer and XP froze. The problem was a short in the USB cable. A very frustrating time and shows that no matter how many times you seeing a particular symptom, the computer can throw up a new cause.
Called back a week later, same problem. I came back with a spare keyboard as sometimes this causes a problem. This time at least the computer misbehaved for me. I swapped keyboards and it booted okay. Great, problem solved. I tried the old keyboard and the computer booted quickly. Mmmm, well maybe I cleared an issue in the Bios. I have seen this happen a few times with USB keyboards.
Another call a week later. Same problem. I had enough at this stage and was going to change the motherboard. I took it back to the workshop with the keyboard and the mouse and continually rebooted the machine sticking various things into the USB ports. I could get it to fail. Rather than put in a new motherboard, I reflashed the BIOS and updated all of the drivers that I could find and returned to the customers house. We then set to see what device would cause it to fail. I suspected the camera connection. However, when rebooting I noticed there was some delay. Even though it was switched off the only thing plugged in besides the keyboard/mouse was the printer. I pulled out the printer and the system immediately booted. I plugged the printer cable into the computer and XP froze. The problem was a short in the USB cable. A very frustrating time and shows that no matter how many times you seeing a particular symptom, the computer can throw up a new cause.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
iPods and Norton's AntiVirus
I remember when Norton's Utilities were the best and we all bought them to make Dos and then Windows usable or save us from deleting files when we shouldn't. It is a shame now, how much trouble this software now causes.
I had a laptop in to add some memory and to install two iPods. It really annoys me how companies can sell computers with not enough memory to run comfortably. This laptop had 256Mb of memory. A good chunk of this was taken by the bios for the video driver. Add to that Norton's Anti-Virus and you can see that the machine must have been page faulting like craxy. I have also seen plenty of Vista machines with 512Mb of memory.
Anyway, I installed a 512Mb memory stick on the computer and went to try and install the iPods. I plugged them in and nothing happened. I checked the specs for the laptop and it only had USB 2.0 ports so this wasn't the problem. I plugged it into my computer and the iPod connected immediately.
I ran MSConfig on the client's computer and turned off anything to do with Symantec (around a dozen services and start-up programs), rebooted and got the iPod to connect. Next problem.
The version of iTunes on the computer was version 4. I tried automatic update and it couldn't find the update server. I then tried to directly download iTunes using IE. It eventually came up with a page not found error. I used winsh to reset the stack. I used ipconfig to flush the DNS cache. No good. I then restarted all of the Norton programs, rebooted and was able to download iTunes (All 50mb). After it downloaded I plugged in the iPod and it was found but needed another 50mb download to upgrade it's software.
I had a laptop in to add some memory and to install two iPods. It really annoys me how companies can sell computers with not enough memory to run comfortably. This laptop had 256Mb of memory. A good chunk of this was taken by the bios for the video driver. Add to that Norton's Anti-Virus and you can see that the machine must have been page faulting like craxy. I have also seen plenty of Vista machines with 512Mb of memory.
Anyway, I installed a 512Mb memory stick on the computer and went to try and install the iPods. I plugged them in and nothing happened. I checked the specs for the laptop and it only had USB 2.0 ports so this wasn't the problem. I plugged it into my computer and the iPod connected immediately.
I ran MSConfig on the client's computer and turned off anything to do with Symantec (around a dozen services and start-up programs), rebooted and got the iPod to connect. Next problem.
The version of iTunes on the computer was version 4. I tried automatic update and it couldn't find the update server. I then tried to directly download iTunes using IE. It eventually came up with a page not found error. I used winsh to reset the stack. I used ipconfig to flush the DNS cache. No good. I then restarted all of the Norton programs, rebooted and was able to download iTunes (All 50mb). After it downloaded I plugged in the iPod and it was found but needed another 50mb download to upgrade it's software.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Realtek Sound Drivers
I just built a new computer and I couldn't the front headphone jacks to work. This was strange because I had the same complaint from a customer that I just sold a computer (I didn't build this one). I spent three hours updating drivers but to no avail. I ripped the cover off the computer to check that it was plugged in and it was. It was a solid plug so it couldn't have been plugged in wrong. I then checked the wires going to the plug and I found that the one that senses something plugged into the jack was missing.
I'd been through the realtek utility before and couldn't find anything to change settings. I went back and looked again and found that there was a tiny almost (to me) invisible button with a spanner on it. Using this I then was able to switch off the sensing. I wonder how many computers are out there that have the same problem.
I'd been through the realtek utility before and couldn't find anything to change settings. I went back and looked again and found that there was a tiny almost (to me) invisible button with a spanner on it. Using this I then was able to switch off the sensing. I wonder how many computers are out there that have the same problem.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
.NET continued
I restarted a project and stayed away from the data designers and have found the experience a lot better. I managed to do in a day what took me weeks to get working using the designers. What finally made me give up when the project decided it couldn't find the sql ce file anymore.
I am going back to hand rolling connections, commands and recordsets. I'm writing a lot more code but it works first time rather than hacking around. Also the examples tend to use manual data connections rather than the designers. I back to a happy chappy. Oh and happy new year.
I am going back to hand rolling connections, commands and recordsets. I'm writing a lot more code but it works first time rather than hacking around. Also the examples tend to use manual data connections rather than the designers. I back to a happy chappy. Oh and happy new year.
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