Technology

Windows 98 Basic

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Did you know you can’t even access windows update with the out of the box install of Windows 98? I am downloading the latest IE that you can get. Hopefully I can patch this thing up to make it almost usable.

Not sure what I am going to do when I install Windows 95 and it doesn’t even have IE 4 on it. I think it comes with IE 2.0, but that browser sucked even then. Who knows if I will even be able to get something newer installed. All this classic OS installing brings me back. Not getting that many good memories about dealing with this OS. I am so glad I am writing this from my Mac running OS 10.3 you can’t imagine. To think I was actually excited when Windows 98 first came out. I guess it was “good” back then, but look at what we have now, it was a joke. To be honest by the time 98 came out I was using Windows NT 4.0 Workstation. The only problem was almost no hardware peripherals worked with it, so I would always duel boot with the latest 9x flavor until Windows 2000 came out.

Windows 98 As a VMWare Virtual Machine

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I solved my boot disk issue that stopped me from installing Windows 98 into VMWare. A few months back I tried to put Win 95, and Win 98 into Virtual Machines using EMC’s VMWare. I had to play around with the boot options but I finally got one of my old Windows 98 CD’s to work. I took me a while to find what key code worked with the CD I had decided to use, but everything looks ok now.

Once this is build I plan on taking on Windows 95, and Windows 98 Second Edition. I want a basic Virtual Machine image of all the windows OS’s. You never know they will come in handy. I already used a Windows NT 4 Workstation image I made at work for troubleshooting a problem we were having.

On another Virtual Machine note I convinced Gus to evaluate the cost benefit of having a VMWare server (probably GSX Server) instead of buying hardware for some of the more obscure QA tests we run. It fits into our plan to emulate our production environment as much as possible, but why would we buy hardware for an ftp server in QA if we only use it once every few weeks. If we just built a virtual machine and used it when necessary we could save a bunch on hardware.

New PDA

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I want a new PDA. I know I have my Treo, but I cannot read ebooks on it, and the camera sucks. as a PDA phone it is good, but for other multimedia functions I need something else. I currently have an HP iPaq 1945, but for the life of me I cannot get the wifi card from Sandisk that I bought to work with it. I can’t sync the via bluetooth either. I think it is just Pocket PC being buggy. The wifi card works. it see’s wifi networks, but never authenticates right, or gets ip’s from open networks. the screen is great so I keep it for now and read ebooks on it.

I was all ready to buy a new PalmOne Zire 72, but realized that Palm ussually refreshes their product line in October. I figured I can wait and see what they come out with before I buy. If anything I can get the 72 for a cheaper price.

I figure if I sell the iPaq on Ebay and buy something else it wont cost me that much more. I got the ipaq as a present so it was free for me.

iPaq Vs. Treo 600

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As I mentioned earlier this week I got a look at the new HP iPaq phone. After playing with AJ’s for a while yesterday I decided that I will wait till the new Treo comes out. The HP is just way to big compared to the Treo 600 I have now. The screen was nice, but size is an issue, and the HP is bigger than my old Treo 270. check out the comparison in size between my Treo and the iPaq.

The new HP iPaq GSM Phone

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I checked out the new HP iPaq h6315 GSM Pocket PC mobile phone on friday. I was walking by a T-Mobile store and decided to see if the had it. I was able to get a side by side feel from the new iPaq and my Palmone Treo 600. I didn’t get any pictures but my original assessment seems accurate. The iPaq is allot bigger. It is more the size of the old Treo 270, but a bit taller. It is just as wide. That was what made the 270 not comfortable to hold when talking. The screen was big and nice, but I have doubts about the removable keyboard. I will probably wait for the new Treo to come out. Whenever that may be. My luck it will be another 6 months before it is for T-Mobile. Of course since there is no official release date, it is anyone’s guess how long it will be before the new Treo’s hit the stores.

AJ will be getting the new HP iPaq phone this week, so I will check it out in detail later this week. Hopefully I will get a picture of it with my Treo. It will remind me why I won’t spend $600 (I already have T-Mobile service so it will be more than a new activation) on a larger pone.

More T-Mobile Stuff

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It is ironic that I wrote good things about T-Mobile customer service the other day. Gizmodo wrote very negative things about the same group of T-Mobile Customer Service people. I read that site all the time, and I can totally see what he wrote about happening. I have had bad experiences with plenty of companies. It just goes to show you that two people can have totally different experiences with the same company. It is and will always be the people that make a company good or bad.

I for one had a billing problem for 3 months early this year. After several calls they finally fixed the issue. Twice T-Mobile said it was fixed, and then was not. To my credit I keep dates, customer service rep id #’s and one line summaries of what we discuss. I know it sounds like over kill, but at work I have had problems I was working through and if I didn’t have data like that I would have been screwed. I take that lesson learned and have applied it for personal use. it has worked for me. But even then it took months to fix the problem. The difference was the problem I had was in fact fixed, and during the period of time the billing issue went on, I got credits each month for the mistake.

Windows XP SP-2???

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So I sent out a notice to the employee’s not to install SP-2 on any work computers. We still don’t know what it will do to our desktops. We think we are just going to blow away every computer and re-image them with new builds of XP with SP-2 in it. This of course won’t happen for several months. for now no one will do anything, we hope.

I need to walk my dad through how to turn off automatic updates that I turned on his computer when I gave it to him. He is the perfect person for those automatic updates, but who knows what will happen to his computer if he gets SP-2. I would rather turn off auto-updates and take my chances with virus’s and worms vs. installing sp-2 and have him complain to me all the time.

Hey, SP-2 (for XP) may be completely safe. I am just not taking any chances with anyone I know, or any computer that I have to deal with at work…

T-Mobile Customer Service Is Great (Today)

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I called to unlock my Sony Ericsson T-610 today. They took down some information and are emailing me the unlock instructions. No questions asked. I have been a customer on and off since Sept 2000. I have had my current account since early 2002. You would expect them to treat you right if you have been around for a while? Other carriers I have had for years didn’t, but so far T-Mobile treats me well.

If you have had an account for several months they will unlock the phone if you ask and have a good reason (for me potential travel to somewhere that I will want to put a local SIM card into my phone). Hey, I own the dam phone. They get their money back from the subsidy if I stay with them for a year, or pay the early termination fee. So why then does AT&T Wireless and Cingular not do the same thing? AT&T does not unlock for any reason. Cingular I am not so sure about.

T-Mobile also doesn’t make me extend or setup a contract for changes to my account. I have been running without a contract for over a 1 1/2. I don’t plan on changing carriers, but I would think twice about staying with T-Mobile if I called and asked to change something and they did make me sign a contract. It is the point of the matter that they (Cell phone companies) lock me in for making changes. Verizon, and AT&T were terrible about that. T-Mobile has been good so far.

To sum this post up: If you are a T-Mobile executive, don’t change your relaxed customer service approach. Customers actually do appreciate it. I for one am a loyal customer not because I am locked into a contract (i have paid $175 to break out of other companies contracts because of draconian rules, etc.), but because T-Mobile can keep me without making me sign a contract.

Honestly T-Mobile may not have the best network in NYC, but they make up for it in all the ways I stated above. Verizon in my experience (and I have tried all carriers in NYC except for Cingular) has the best coverage and network. They do, I tell people that when they ask my advice. The problem is they cannot make up for the shitty customer service, and restrictions with good voice quality. They still suck even if they have the best signal strength, because support just sucks.

Pix Is Sold

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It went in less than a day with buy it now. I love ebay. I am bringing it to work to ship tomorrow. Next up is my old T-68i and my Motorola T720. I have to take pictures of them and post them on ebay this week.

Hosting Provider Gone

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So this awesome hosting provider I got is gone. They had a great plan, responsive tech support, etc. The only problem is they didn’t support IMAP4 mail. Their marketing info eluded to them offering it, but in fact support said they didn’t. I canceled my trial account after less than a week. I love that a trial account has your credit card charged right away. At least I got my money back relatively quick.

Right now I am hosting my site on Miguel’s web server. He is in the process of building a new box. Once that is done I can host more of my photo album and move my mail to it. So far it is working out ok, and best of all it is free…