Lomcevak

There were two main reasons to build this computer. Damian’s laptop, a hand-me-down almost 8 years old, had been showing signs of impending failure for some time. No surprise, he runs it 24×7 and the heat has physically damaged the finish on his desktop. And Pam, who plays Sims2 on her relatively recent desktop-replacement laptop, had been grumbling for a little more oomph. A plan was laid and by Christmas each would have their upgrades.

The Core i7 CPUs were just hitting the shelves and I briefly considered going that route. The on-board memory controller, new for Intel, meant new motherboard designs and chipsets. With reliability (not to mention my wallet – the i7s are kinda pricey today) in mind I chose the Core 2 Quad Q9550 instead. Well-supported, I’ve heard of folks pushing the 2.83 GHz part to 4 GHz and beyond. Cooling is always an issue but I didn’t want the hassle of liquid systems so an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro was added to the list.

The Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R motherboard has been getting excellent reviews for its tweakability and DDR3 memory support so it was added to the list. Everyone knows that memory is king. I started with two sticks (4 GB) of Corsair 1333 Mhz DDR3. It’s an easy no-loss jump from there to 8 GB. And if swapped for 4 GB parts, this board will hold 16 GB so there would be some headroom left for the future.

The next choice was the GPU. Wow, things had come a long way since I last paid attention! After an evening of digesting reviews a choice was made: the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 from EVGA. The 896 GB NVIDIA-based unit turns in solid performance for the price and also has some potential for tweaking later.

Key to user satisfaction is a good monitor choice and one in particular has always stood out: the HP w2408h. 24 inches of HDMI, 5 ms, high-contrast saturated colors with a native 1920×1200 resolution. Sometimes you’ve got to just swallow hard and go for it, and this was one of those times. Pam would be delighted with this monitor, and that’s what I was aiming for.

The rest of the component choices were rather pedestrian. A DVD-RW drive for loading stuff, a Western Digital SATA drive for holding stuff, a Microsoft wireless laser mouse for pointing at stuff, and a WLAN card to avoid a new cable run. A nice-looking, well-built Antec P182 case would hold all this nicely with plenty of room for expansion. Oh, yeah, and an OEM 64-bit Vista Home Premium. Y’know, buying a copy of Windows always leaves my stomach a bit unsettled and this was no exception – not to mention that this would be the first Vista box in the house. Well, at least it shipped with SP1…

A bit of back-of-the-envelope power analysis called a power supply of 650-700 watts, so a BFG Tech ES-800 was added to the list. (This PSU would end up failed in less than a month, hmmm, more on that in a future entry.)

The final order was placed with Newegg and soon the components were coming in. Between these and other Christmas shipments our UPS driver was becoming a daily visitor! 

Physically, the build went quite uneventfully, easily even, thanks to component standardization and that well-designed Antec case. Oh, there were the usual share of driver issues, a BIOS change or two, a few ‘trial’ Windows installs, stuff like that, but nothing that couldn’t be handled. Vista reported a base score of 5.9 for every subsystem, the highest available as this is written.

Pam named her new rig Thor. Then the machine-shuffling got started in earnest.

Overall I’m pleased with the result, but there have been a number of… interesting… things that I’ll talk about in subsequent entries. Like that failed power supply, for one. Stay tuned.

Well, VMware Server 2’s been out long enough without panic-updates so I finally got around to upgrading one of the servers.

There were only five VMs on the target box; the backups – about 250GB worth – went quick enough, disk-to-disk. The VMware software on the Win2K host also went rather uneventfully. Then the fun began.

There’s no standalone management console now, all that stuff is done through a Web interface. I like the Web as much as the next guy, but let’s face it: it’s slower. I haven’t had any trouble with it – yet – but I’m waiting. Next, the remote consoles to the VMs are implemented as a browser plug-in. Fair enough, but try as I might I’ve been unable to get the plug-in to be called by Chrome. I thought I’d have to use IE (it installs fine on IE7) but then I found that one can generate a shortcut that calls the plug-in exe file (my laptop runs XP). The end result is that I can manage the host with Chrome and call VM consoles up as needed. Well, the Windows VMs, anyway. The Linux VMs are fine, as usual with SSH.

Then there’s the VM updates themselves. It’s a one-way process (another reason to have good backups!) and you get a reasonable warning before you proceed. Of course, when the VM’s OS wakes up quite a bit of the virtualized hardware has changed. That means driver changes and such, it’s as though you changed motherboards or something equally traumatic. In my case it all went okay, with one exception. A Windows Server VM would no longer start SQL Server 2000 for lack of a DLL: msvcp71.dll. As it turns out I had one handy – quite accidentally, I assure you – so I copied it to the VM’s WINNT directly and all was well again.

I generally use the VM Tools, too, so those were next. The updates were intuitive, but different. From the Server management interface, the necessary files are placed on the VM’s CD-R drive. Then, from the VM, you install from there. Now, there’s been one Ubuntu VM that I’ve never been able to install Tools on for some reason. Never could figure out why and it wasn’t important enough to pursue. This time I simply mounted the drive and everything went flawlessly. Go figure.

All the slogging complete it was time for some testing. I’m pleased to report that every VM is showing solid signs of performance increases across the board! Memory management seems significantly improved, as does virtual disk performance. It’s too early to be saying anything about reliability, of course, and I have yet to experiment with other new features. I may even eventually get used to the Web management interface.

So there you have it. Not bad for a couple of hours of work. VMware Server 2.0 is a free download. If you’ve got a spare box hanging around and always wanted to play with virtualization, go give it a try.

My wife’s laptop was getting full. NTFS, as you probably already know, begins to suffer performance-wise when it crosses the half-full line. And the default MFT size is kind of small to begin with. Presently that all-important area was about 98% consumed and the drive itself had only 20% or so free space. Her last install of a Sims2 expansion pack brought another round of complaints.

Easy enough to remedy. Head out to Best Buy for a replacement drive. But how to get the new drive installed and set up as pain-free as possible? Usually it’s a fresh IPL, but I was looking for the easy way out.

I have this neat device from CoolMax. The CD-350-COMBO is a multi-headed cable that plugs into a raw IDE or SATA drive and presents to your system as a USB device. When your laptop is your workbench this device is worth its weight in gold. Soon the new drive was partitioned, formatted, and tested. (For good measure, I allocated a much larger MFT as well.)

With that problem solved I turned to the task of cloning the existing drive. I recently read of something called XXCLONE, which promised a file-by-file copy (including all the locked stuff) from a running Windows system, with the ability to make the destination bootable. This would be a good time to try that out.

The install to the wife’s laptop was easy enough: unzip and copy a file. I used the CoolMax adapter to cable up the new drive, the destination for the copy. I set XXCLONE to task and went away. The copy would take a while. When I returned it was finished. I made the new drive bootable with a couple of clicks, uncabled and shut everything down. It took a few more minutes to physically swap the old drive for the new one.

The first boot took a little longer than usual. Windows was a little confused, I guess, because the drive change triggered the New Hardware Wizard. But soon things settled down. Between these two tools, a usually-tedious job was turned simple!

There’s one other thing I should mention. The XXCLONE documentation claim that because it makes a file-by-file copy, it defragments the destination drive automatically. I run Diskeeper on all of our machines, and it reported the drive as heavily fragmented. I needed to run the boot-time defragmentation job before the new drive delivered its expected performance.

Additional stuff, 17 December 2008: There were a couple of nagging issues following the drive cloning. I’m not sure if it’s XXCLONE or if it’s integral to the cloning process itself, but some applications installed with the MS Installer were no longer accessible through Add/Remove Programs. Instead there would appear a dialogue:

“The patch package could not be opened. Verify that the patch package exists and that you can access it, or contact application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer patch package.”

The solution, while a bit of a pain, is to obtain and install the Windows Install Clean Up utility from Microsoft. Run the utility and select the errant application from the list, then clean it up – which amounts to removing it from the installer’s database. Finally, re-install the application.

In my case it was Office 2003, which called for finding the license number and install media as well as a few rounds of patches and service packs. There were a few other applications as well, but that was the most substantial.

I was talking with some folks the other day about, um, blogs. A meta-discussion, if you will. The upshot of the thing is they convinced me to give tagging a try. It would work especially well for me, they reasoned, because I use so few categories.

So this morning I spent some time going back through the posts and applying tags. My eyes hurt. Did I really write that drivel? [shrug] I grew a ‘tag cloud’ – not the most attractive thing in the world – and lost the original edit dates on the affected posts. So, on the off chance that you’re wondering what changed, the reality is that no text of any substance has changed. Just the tags.

—Added 5-Nov-2008: Okay, so I got tired of seeing the ‘tag cloud’ in the sidebar. It was just too big and intrusive! (I thought so, and others have said as much in email.) Besides, it showed up in a summary of this URL and I’m not so sure that’s good food for the search engines – it looks like spam. So, bye-bye tag cloud – for now at least – although I’ll keep adding tags to the new entries as I write.

Verizon Wireless, my mobile carrier, has been pestering me lately. An equipment upgrade offer was pending. My pair of old Motorola RAZR V3c handsets serve me quite well so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to add a third number and a new handset for my son, something we’ve been talking about for a while. Yesterday we stopped at one of their local brick-and-mortar facilities to get that done. I don’t know about you, but every time I have to physically show up to do something with my mobile phones there is trouble of one sort or another…

I’m an unusual wireless customer. I use my phone to make and receive voice calls. For email, Web, music, pictures, videos, ad nauseum, I’ll reach for a more appropriate piece of equipment. I’m not thrilled with Verizon Wireless’ closed network, either, or the way they nickel-and-dime you for every little thing. But their performance – at least where I use it – is second to none. I cannot recall the last time I had a call drop or not go through. Each ‘line’ (an archaic term in the wireless world) draws from a single pool of enough minutes that we use it without thinking and never need to buy extra, thanks to a reasonably priced grandfathered contract, sans enhanced services, that they haven’t offered in years. I’ve been a steady customer for better than a decade and a half. I’m an unusual customer.

We found a handset my son liked and made our way to the counter only to learn that the upgrade offer applied only to my V3c. But nothing’s carved in stone and after some discussion we found a way: a temporary upgrade. I buy a new handset (an LG VX9100, free after the promotion) and move my number to it. I buy an additional ‘line’ for my son, and assign the new number to my old V3c. Finally, the next day, we would swap the numbers between the two handsets, under the auspices that I’m unhappy with the new handset. Normally that swap would be $20 a pop, but there would be no charge. And everybody would be happy.

A while later we discovered that my V3c didn’t respond on the new number. Things went downhill fast from there. Tech Support reported that the new number belonged to a Blackberry belonging to Merrill Lynch, that my contract shows only two numbers, and that my V3c ESN no longer exists. Oops.

Back at the store they tried to get me to just replace the handset, “Just take the best we’ve got, no charge!” No thanks, I want the one I’ve got, please fix it. They finally managed to install a dummy ESN onto it and assign the new number, and get my contract to recognize them both. But because of the dummy ESN the handset doesn’t do anything, it’s a brick. Tomorrow, they say, they will be able to finish straightening it out.

I need to digress with some history… Verizon Wireless was probably the last carrier on Earth to add the incredibly popular – and profitable – Motorola RAZR handsets. The reasons were two-fold. First, the CDMA chipset was physically larger, and Motorola had some difficulty making it fit into the small package. Second, all Verizon Wireless phones (at the time) sported an external antenna, which helped them to provide their outstanding network performance. The RAZR’s antenna is internal. As for me, I wanted the small size but I was unwilling to switch carriers. So I waited it out. Eventually Motorola got the hardware into the handset and got the antenna performance good enough to pass Verizon Wireless’ performance testing (it took several rounds of testing which led to yet more delays). Finally they were set to roll ‘em out. Just in time for Christmas! Well, sort of.

In the mobile phone industry, a hardware manufacturer will develop a new handset and the base software to make it the features work, as well as an SDK. A carrier will take that and develop their own software layer, which in turn becomes the set of services and capabilities that differentiate one carrier from another. In the case of Verizon Wireless, with their closed network, part of their software development is to lock down the handset. The customized RAZR software, due to the Christmas sale deadline, was a rush job.

Watching all that unfold, I bought my handsets a day or two before they became available at the stores. My handsets are not locked down. The best thing about this is my Bluetooth profiles include OBEX. And that means I can add custom rings I make myself, get images and voice recordings on and off, use the crappy little camera (when needed and nothing better is available), use it as a wireless (or wired, via USB) modem with the laptop, and so on, all without incurring Verizon Wireless charges.

And that’s why I don’t want to give up these handsets or upgrade their firmware. Whenever I need to explain this, the representative smiles and understands. [Ed. 6 July 2008: My wife, OTOH, never really understood why I held those capabilities so dear. That is, until the latest bill arrived. My son had bought a ringtone. $2.95, no big deal, but the browsing charges, the megabyte charges, and the fact that he tried the Web browsers on all of our handsets by the time he was through, had brought the cost of that stupid ringtone to near $20. When I explained how billing works, and had real examples to use, the lightbulb went on.]

So today I will see whether they can get this mess straightened out. I’m nervously optimistic.

Wordpress 2.5 has been out for a while now and I’ve been wringing it out offline. There have been lots of complaints about the back-end changes for this release but y’know, I rather like it myself. It’s a rainy Friday, and I’ve been up to my ears in paperwork for much of the morning. What better thing to do than mop up the test stuff and do the darned upgrade already? There, I feel better already.

As usual, if you notice anything gone kerblooey please let me know! And a big THANKS to the Wordpress team for a job well done.

I’m not sure what made today different than any other day. Maybe it started yesterday, in the evening, as I fiddled with the bike. I didn’t do much – just some handlebar adjustments and bleed the rear brake. But it felt good to have a wrench in my hand, something I do less of in the winter. I guess the feeling spilled over into today.

So I burned a Ubuntu 7.10 desktop install CD, hauled one of the old laptops – an HP ze5170 – up from the basement and booted XP on it one last time – just to make sure it still worked. It was destined to get a new lease on life!

I began by yanking the rug out from under Windows and booting from the newly burned CD. It liked the display and keyboard as well as the native pointing device, a Synaptics touchpad. I started the installer and went to hunt up an Ethernet cable. I cabled it to the network. I read the Release Notes. No showstoppers there so I pressed on. I was surprised to find the default location selected was acceptable – New York. Had it figured that out from my network or was it coincidence?

Using my personal laptop I logged onto my DHCP server and found that the target box had acquired an IP address and called itself ‘ubuntu’. I saw that a bit of network configuration would be necessary later on. Machines here get named for life, so this one would need its old name and IP. Eventually I would – I hope – configure the old PCMCIA wireless card, but for now the cable would suffice. I turned to the install.

I decided take the guided entire disk option and banish Windows once and for all. I set my name, my login name and password, and chose the machine name. Ooh, what’s this Advanced button on the confirmation screen? Oh, just the boot loader stuff and a survey checkbox. Maybe later. Let’s get the show on the road!

This is a good time to talk a little about what I’d like to ultimately accomplish. I want some kind of Linux running native on the hardware. And some kind of virtual environment – probably VMware – with XP installed, for those times when I need to use Windows. After all, I’ve got quite an investment in good Windows-based software… And run the whole ball of wax with one of those encryption packages that encrypts the entire disk. If I accomplish all that, then I’ll invest in a new battery and use this as my travel laptop for visiting clients and stuff like that. My personal laptop is overkill for that job, the 10 lb desktop replacement that it is. But if this experiment goes well I may just cut over to something like this full-time…

Since presumably laptop would need to boot the new install it seemed like a good time to prepare the network. Ah, I see that there’s a new rev of router software to deal with at some point, too. I thought for a minute that I’d be surprised by a lack of need for a restart. But no, there it was. The elapsed time? Twenty minutes from jamming in the install CD. Not too shabby.

The install CD wouldn’t eject, perhaps because it’s running the OS from the CD now? Yup, that was it. The blank screen during the restart was a little unnerving and seemed to take a while. I checked the network from my personal laptop and watched the DHCP sever hand out its new address. Turning back to the still-blank screen, I poked at the keyboard and the screen came to life.

Holy guacamole! There were 196 updates to be made. I’d be damned if I’d bother to examine each one, just do ‘em, dammit. And I went to the kitchen and put on another pot of coffee, the second of the day. The quarter gig of updates downloaded fairly quickly. The updater kicked into the install phase and warned, “[…] this can take some time.” And it did. Another twenty-five minutes in total. And then it wanted another restart, which was a little disappointing. Windows does that when you look crooked at it. I was hoping for more, er, less. Well, there were quite a few updates, and it had been a fresh install.

The blank screen while restarting was still unnerving. And again it took a while. I wondered which boots faster, this or Windows? This was three minutes, clock time, to a login prompt, and another three-quarters of a minute to the desktop.

Thus began a couple of fun hours of messing around with Ubuntu 7.10. I didn’t get very far trying to connect to the network printer. I didn’t get too far configuring the wireless card; driver issues, it looked like. It talked nice to a USB thumb drive collecting dust on my desk, but didn’t play the AVI file on it all the way through without losing audio and getting choppy. It still boots slowly, really, on par with XP on that box if I recall correctly, maybe a little slower. And hibernation, an obvious thing to attempt, made for some really interesting looking (but quite useless) stuff on the screen when it attempted to come back to life. The only sign of life besides that and the running the fan was the caps-lock indicator blinking.

I noted my login credentials for future reference, shut it down properly, stuffed it back into the carry-case, shuttled it back to the stack of stuff in the basement. For a rainy day, I figured. It had been a pleasant diversion, but there was real work yet to do.

A host is a host,
From coast to coast
And nobody talks to a host that’s close,
Unless the host that isn’t close
Is busy, hung, or dead.

My goodness, that’s so old it farts dust! Well, timeoff.org has changed hosts and it looks like everything’s running okay again. DNS is an odd beast. I can remember, way back in the dark ages, when change propagation actually did take the week or so that they say it could. The last time I made DNS changes, just a couple of weeks ago, my home ISP seemed to pick up on it in a blistering hour and a half. I had asked friends from around the world (what a small village we live in, eh?) to tell me when they noticed the change and, yep, it was prety snappy. But this time it seemed to take some days. So if you’ve noticed some instability lately, that’s why.

Once I get all of the administrivia out of the way and finish mopping up, I plan to write a little about why this latest set of changes was necessary. It was an odd, unexpected set of circumstances, at least to me, and there just might be some lessons to learn.

I’ve finally gotten around to upgrading Wordpress to version 2.3. The process went very smoothly and I’ve got no gotchas to report. If you notice anything gone wacky then that’s probably the reason why so please drop me a line and I’ll get it straightened out right away. Thanks.

Kudos to the Wordpress development team and all that contributed to this release!

My garage door had been making a little extra noise and seemed to be moving just a little bit slower lately. I did what anyone would do – I checked the log and found that I had neglected my lubrication duties! So I pulled on a pair of latex gloves, grabbed an old towel for the inevitable mess and went to work. I mopped up the old grease from the tracks – the towel collected the gobs of gritty goop nicely. I shot the rollers and the chain with fresh lithium grease. I ran the mechanism several times, paying attention that I’d gotten the grease into all of the moving parts. It appeared that over the years the chain had stretched some and I wondered briefly when it would fail…

And suddenly it stopped, mid-cycle! What’s more, I think I saw wisps of smoke curling from within the motor power head’s housing. Smelled like… and I would later confirm… eau-de-silicon. More precisely, the motor’s startup capacitor was had fried.
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