Hardware

The New 12″ Powerbook

by

So knowing I was getting a tax return I went out and ordered myself a new 12″ Powerbook. I probibly didn’t “need” it, but I wanted one. It is in addition to my iMac. I wanted the Powerbook for the commute, and around the house. I find that I do like to write away from my desk. Since I had “found” money I splerged and got the new 1gighertz Powerbook. It is almost like the one I had before but faster. I also think it runs a bit cooler. that was a problem with the old one.

I didn’t get the DVD burner since I have the super drive on my imac.

The only problem is that out of the box the dam hindge that locks the screen in place when you close it is broken. Apple wont exchange it for a new one, so I have to get it fixed. That may mean up to a week of not having the laptop. I am not happy, but lets just hope they fix it. I am hoping to take it to the apple store in SoHo and see if they can fix it onsite.

More on my support issues as they develop.

Projects Updates

by

Finally put into service our first Windows 2003 Active Directory server. I demoted an old 2000 box and transfered its roles to the new server.

Started redirecting call center users in NYC to our new mail server we are using for our Kingston office. The end goal is to have the entire call center on that mail system. Once I get all the alias’s and accounts done I can just delete the old mail accounts and tell everyone they have a new email address. It is a slow process since I need to edit everyones profile when they are not at work. I did about 10 people in 2 days. this rate it will take me a month to get everyone cut over.

We upgrade our Pix firewalls next tuesday to enable us to use a VPN tunnel to send large amounts of VOIP calls between offices. when I mean large amounts I mean more than the 2-3 we can now. Probably like 20 at a time on a dedicated internet T-1.

Other things going on are the guys in Kingston are working on Cisco Softphone setup’s to allow remote agents for our call center. Or to allow us to use the phones from outside the office on our laptops. Also in the works is the ability to move your phone number between desk phones if you need to.

Lazy Day And Hardware Upgrades

by

Today was a lazy day. I caught up on what I had on the Tivo. I also did some email and just hung out. I did some food shopping since they say it may snow tomorrow. I had no food left, so I figured it was a good time to do that.

I also installed 512 more megs in my new 20″ iMac. Now I have 768 megs in it. I can put a full gig in it, but apple decided to only include 256 with them machine. If I want to get a full gig, I need to remove that 256 and put a 512 meg chip in its place. The only problem is you cannot get to that memory without going to an authorized repair center. It is sealed within the machine. The other slot is not. So for now I am at 768 megs, it should be enough for now. I also put my airport extreme card into the mac. I don’t have the laptop anymore so I figured I would use it. Since my server is in the closet on wireless, I get no extra speed by leaving the mac wired to my 100megabit switch. I cannot transfer files between the desktop and server any faster than the wifi anyway. Now I just have 1 less wire plugged into the iMac.

In my free time I also imported most of my online photo album into iPhoto. Photos imported allot faster on the iMac then they did on either of my Powerbooks. I need to get photos from my parents to scan and increase my album a bit.

Also today I watched some DVD’s. I just got 2 more shows on DVD. I got Firefly on DVD. It was a scifi show that didn’t last too long on tv. It was actually very good, and I was surprised when it came out on DVD. I didn’t watch too many of them, so I decided to buy it. I also got Buffy season 5. I mocked that show for years, and then Rich gave me season 1 to watch and I actually liked it. Go figure.

This entry was written while listening to Maybe Katie from the album “Everything to Everyone” by Barenaked Ladies

Technology Is Not All Bad

by

Just to show you I don’t gripe about everything, this new iMac rocks. I still cannot get over this huge crisp screen. I was watching the Two Towers on one half of the screen while working on a word document on the other. it is big and I still can see the text even with my less than perfect vision.

The only problem I am having is that I cannot figure out what I am going to do with the free desk space I now have since I moved the other computers out my living room.

The New Mac

by

So I sold the Powerbook like I said. Now what? It is not like I didn’t have another computer to use. In fact I have 1 desktop at home, a server and my Dad’s old desktop that can be built into anything I want it to be. I also have my work laptop and countless desktops to work off of when there. So why did I feel compelled to buy a computer? I missed my Mac. I sort of didn’t want to part with it, but I got a decent deal and I was thinking about a mac desktop for a while. I did the math and figured out what I wanted. I wanted a huge flat pannel monitor at home and a decently powered machine. To get another top of the line powerbook and a 20″ flat pannel would have been super expencive. To get a low end G4 Powermac and a 20″ flat pannel would have been in the mid $2500 range. Then Tuesday Apple came out with the 20″ flat screen Imac. I always said I was not a fan of the all in one computer, but this machine had some nice features. it was also several hundred less than doing a powermac and a large flat screen. Another major selling poing was the fact that it took up very little space (it really does) and it is not loud. The G4 towers are know for the noise they put out.

I tried to goto the Apple store thursday and friday but work would not permit it. I went Saturday and was instantly sold on the imac. the screen is beatiful, it is so small, and it is not a slouch when it comes to power. I think this will do me well for a desktop for the next 2 years. I know they say desktops last 3 years, but I am a realist. I used to go through desktops every year. I am averaging 2 years now, or actually 23 months since I last got my Atholon XP desktop. I go through laptops quicker.

So far the iMac is great. I got most of my software on it. I just plugged in my Lacie firewire drive into it and all my stuff was restored. I also got the Apple bluetooth keyboard. it is nice. I think the usb keyboard that I had before felt better to type on, but this is pretty good also. Now all I need is a wireless mouse. I didn’t like the mac mouse so I need a logitech one.

The jury is still out on if I want a laptop also. I like the thinkpad, but I may at some point in the future get my own small laptop that I can kick around. I will see how things go with the iMac only and my ThinkPad. The iMac purchase revolves around my desire to write when not at my desk, and I don’t like doing it on the thinkpad. I have issues with its keyboard. I know I am nitpicking, but I have to be realy cofmy when I write, especially when my hands react poorly to bad keyboards.

With the new iMac also comes more space at/on my desk. I had a 4 port KVM with 2 desktops setup, along with a space for my powerbook and Thinkpad when I brought it home. That makes for tons of cables and a mess. I ripped out the KVM. I put my desktop in my closet near my server. It is now connected via 802.11g. If I need a windows xp box, all I do is remote destkop into it. It is faster than setting up virtual pc on the mac. I still have some cleaning up of some cables but the desk looks much better now.

My living room is a mess with all the old cables thrown around. I need to put them away neatly, and store my old 17″ flat pannel.

Updateathon

by

I reinstalled the OS on my ThinkPad last week. I was having some weird issues so I felt it was time to do a refresh. I like to do that every few months. Another advantage of the mac. I never felt compelled to do that on my powerbook unless I was upgrading the OS to a newer version.

With my powerbook gone, and both my home computer and work computer’s just receiving new OS’s I don’t have a single machine that is configured with all my stuff on it. My data is backed up on a firewire hard drive I cannot access since I don’t have a mac. My mail is only on my laptop and almost nothing is on my desktop at home.

Slow Posting

by

It’s been almost a week since my last post. I have been busy, but I don’t think that is an excuse anymore since I am always busy. I am on the train, my most popular spot to write blogs these days. I am doing this blog from my ThinkPad. The reason is I sold my Powerbook yesterday to a friend, nelson. He had been nagging me to buy it for months. I kept pushing him away since I said I would wait until it was a year old and then upgrade. Well I didn’t make it. Not sure what I want to get to replace it yet. I really liked it, but I don’t know if I need 2 laptops. The company one I have (the ThinkPad) I a great machine, it is just not MY Powerbook. I can type faster on the Powerbook. But the ThinkPad has more battery life and a bigger screen. I am conflicted between another upgraded Powerbook or a new 20” imac. I want another Mac, but not sure if the portable is what I need.

Part of doing this blog entry is to see how I like typing on the train using the ThinkPad. My hands do cramp up, but I am still undecided on what to do. Gus and I will goto the Apple store today so I can browse the selection.

It is also important to note that Cell phone number portability is only 4 days away. Monday is the big day. I will go against what experts are saying and attempt to change my number first thing Monday.

New Servers

by

I may have mentioned a project I am working on to build the hardware for our new fulfillment system. Our design calls for 3 servers. We finally got the 3rd one in today. One of the first 2 had a bad drive so keith was working on that today, while I was building out the newest one we received. I have to say the serial ATA RAID 5 setup is just as sweet as serial ata mirroring we did on a previous machine.

Hopefully all 3 machines will be built and ready to goto our datacenter on friday. then we can create a domain and finish configuring them.

I also got thrown some security documentation that I have to do. it was a last minute thing that is going to be a pain to write. I am told I do documentation well, but I don’t like doing it all that much.

A VMWare World

by

I have spoken often about the wonders of VMWare. I will keep doing so. I finally got my desktop at work configured with a larger hard drive and have been busy setting up Virtual Machines. I have several deployment projects that are benefiting from VMWare. I can take 2 physical machines and make them into many virtual machines.

Howard finally started using VMWare with Red Hat 9 on his laptop. It is funny that I am getting him to use it more, when my cousin and howard were the people that got me hooked on the idea of virtual machines in the first place.

I am using VMWare on numerous projects currently. I have a test domain controller running windows 2003. That is a physical server. I then take my desktop and attach servers and client machines running VMWare to it to test all sorts of things. Today I created a sub domain on my test domain using a windows 2000 server virtual machine. I then was able to test destroying active directory without worrying about rebuilding a server. I just saved the Win 2000 virtual machine and I can restore it if I have problems.

I have done the same thing with SMS 2003. I am busy now and cannot work on it so I just backed up the virtual machine I was trying it on. I don’t have to take up a server testing with it. it is just 5 gigs on a hard drive.

I was also able to test some security changes we made to my companies active directory without affecting anyone. I just added a windows XP virtual machine to our domain and ran tests on it. I just restored from backup if I messed up the virtual machine. it is great technology.

Keith and I also used a virtual machine of XP to test windows update services we are deploying. that also saved us from creating ghost images of desktops and tying up several in this test.

My next challenge is getting a working FreeBSD 5.1 workstation as a virtual machine.

Microsoft just announced a new version Virtual PC. I will see if it is anywhere near as good as VMWare.

Family Things

by

It took me most of Saturday afternoon, but I was able to install all the programs on my dad’s new computer. Then it took me 5 hours to move all his stuff off his old machine and finish setting up the new one on sunday. It didn’t realize he only had a 10megabit network card in his old computer. It took forever to move his 3 gigs of data off the old computer. It took 20 minutes to move it onto the new computer from my laptop.

I was able to setup all his new gadgets to the new computer. he has his new 512 meg flash drive to bring stuff to work on. I also got his Treo 300 to sync up to the new computer.

With all that work done, we went to my sisters for dinner. I got to see Morgan crawl. I helped my sister move some stuff to my parents house for storage. I also burned myself a new CD of morgan from last month. I will update the website soon.

I am cleaning up my place so I can figure out where the furniture is going to go. My sister gave me the number of the movers they used. I will call them this week.

In my spare time I was also messing around with some video editing. I am playing with Final Cut Express. I imported an old family video I had and I am trying to figure out how to do editing. My dad said he has a bunch of 8mm reels that we could get converted to DVD also. I am going to see how much that will cost. Getting a VCR tape into a DV format that Final Cut can edit is a time consuming process. Granted I don’t have the best tools to do that, but it does work after you follow all the steps. I didn’t have much time to work on that project this weekend.