Strategic Developer | Martin Heller » TAG: Systems

April 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Going over to the dark side

TAGS: Books, OS X, Observations, Systems, Windows Vista

A note from daughter #2, who had a choice of a Mac or PC laptop for her Ph.D. program next fall. "SK" is Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and SK largely uses Macs:

I just confirmed with SK that I want a Mac for next year. It's weird, I feel like I am switching over to the dark side or something.

I feel like they should put "Switching from PC to Mac" as one of those huge life changes that you go through that may cause you undue stress when combined with other life changing events.

It's an odd feeling.

I offered to lend her my copy of David Pogue's Switching to the Mac over the summer. Maybe I should also introduce her to Tom Yager. :)

Her decision was influenced by some recent negative experiences with Windows Vista and Word 2007 on her current laptop as well as the institution's obvious preference for Macs.

Posted by Martin Heller on April 24, 2008 02:50 PM

October 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Selkie Rescue

TAGS: Linux, Systems, Windows

One of my favorite techniques for rescuing Windows systems that won't boot normally or in safe mode is to try booting them from a CD-ROM, because what I care about most at this point is the data on the system. Sometimes I use a Windows CD, especially when I think the problem is corrupted system software that can be repaired with a reinstall without affecting the data files; sometimes I use one of the Linux Live CDs I keep around. Depending on how badly the system has been hosed, I can often boot from a CD and read the data from the hard disk, even though I can't boot from the hard disk. This isn't always easy, though.

For $100 you can buy Selkie Rescue, which is basically a stripped-down Linux Live CD that has been tailored for the purpose of creating readable Samba shares to the system's hard disks. How is it better than a free Linux Live CD? I asked that very question and got this answer from Jonathan Lyster, CTO of Tugboat Enterprises.

Linux live CDs are designed to demo Linux on a functioning computer; they are not meant to work on a computer that has begun to fail. As such, they have limitations:

• They use the full resources of a video card; if a video card has begun to fail, for example the components which enable the full color set and high resolution, a typical live CD will fail.
• Selkie was deliberately built to avoid using any components which don't have a direct bearing on copying files safely to a recovery computer. This means a computer failure caused by a bad audio chip on the motherboard will not affect Selkie. (Selkie doesn't include audio components.)
• Most live CDs can be booted to a command prompt -- but at this point the user requires technical knowledge of Linux in order to use the disc.

Selkie was designed with ultimate simplicity in mind. The user doesn't need any knowledge of computers or networking -- Selkie handles all of it. Selkie can literally be brought from boot-up being making all files available to the network in as little as three taps of the ENTER key.

I tried booting a Selkie CD in the oldest machine that still lives in my office, a 333 MHz Celeron box with 64 MB of RAM that runs Windows NT 4.0 Workstation SP6. I rarely bother to boot it up: it's only still here for an occasional software compatibility test. The Selkie CD came right up, and as Jonathan said it took 3 taps of the Enter key and a couple of minutes, and then I had shares on my network, in the correct workgroup, that showed me the files on the box from my other computers. I could also see a log of the hardware detected by Selkie, and a log of Selkie system messages.

Very impressive. In fact, there was nothing wrong with that box: I had no trouble rebooting it to Windows NT, and seeing the same disks on the network. But it's still nice to know that I have an easy way to get at the data on any of my systems if they ever become unbootable.

I didn't use it, but the Selkie Rescue box also contains a Cat 5 crossover cable. That's handy if you don't have a network hub, but do have another computer with an Ethernet port. There's also a manual in the box, but I didn't use that, either. Even I can press Enter three times.

Posted by Martin Heller on October 12, 2007 02:20 PM

May 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)

64-Bit Compatibility

TAGS: Systems, Technologies, Windows

It turns out that one of the requirements for software to earn either the Works with Windows Vista Logo or the stricter Certified for Windows Vista Logo is that the software support x64 versions as well as 32-bit versions of Windows Vista. You would think from Microsoft's documentation that avoiding 16-bit components would be enough for most applications to run in the WOW64 emulator, but that doesn't seem to be the case in real life.

I'm responsible for getting an application certified as Vista compatible, and our lead tester has found that just running this 32-bit application on 64-bit Vista causes weird things to happen on the desktop. Double-clicking on desktop icons opens their page properties instead of launching their applications. Some keyboard functions get reassigned. It all goes back to normal after a reboot, fortunately.

Unless someone can set me on the right path, I'm going to have to debug the application on a 64-bit Vista system to diagnose the problem. I wouldn't be at all surprised if I had to rebuild the application as 64-bit to fix all the problems.

Unfortunately, I don't have even one 64-bit CPU in my office or at home: I have six desktop systems, but the newest is a three-year-old system with a 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 with HT, and the oldest is a ten-year-old system with a 450 MHz Pentium III. My oldest daughter has a Turion 64 X2-based laptop, but she lives 40 minutes away, and uses the machine heavily.

I have no real choice but to get a new machine in here, one way or another. Ideally, the machine would come with 64-bit Windows Vista already installed by the manufacturer. Ideally, it would be a laptop powerful enough to run Visual Studio.

There are two issues to think about for 64-bit compatibility in a PC. The big issue is of course whether the CPU supports 64-bit operation. Newer AMD CPUs that do have x64 support typically have "64" in their name. Intel CPUs aren't that clearly marked, but the newest higher-end chips do support 64-bit operation. For example, in the Centrino processor family, CPUs numbered T5000 or greater support 64-bit operation; the T2000-series processors you typically see in low-end laptops do not.

The second issue, and one that's much harder to answer unless the manufacturer has done the testing, is whether all the other equipment on the PC has signed 64-bit Vista drivers. Imagine trying to use Windows on a computer that didn't have a working driver for its pointing device. Even better, imagine trying to use a computer that didn't have a working driver for its disk controller, or its networking controller. It's a nightmare.

I went to my friendly local CompUSA store, and the salesman who helped me didn't know what x64 meant. When I asked again, this time saying "64-bit Vista" instead of "Vista for x64," he knew what I meant, but didn't know if any of the machines they had on display supported it. When I pointed to the laptop right in front of us and asked if it supported 64-bit Vista, he didn't know, and went to the back of the store to find out.

In his absence, I brought up the system information, and discovered that it was already running 64-bit Vista Ultimate. Another somewhat more knowledgeable salesman said that, oh yes, all of the Ultimate systems on display were running 64-bit.

Unfortunately, the system I wanted, an HP dv9225us, on sale for $1,399, was out of stock. Would they call me when they got one in? No, but I could check their stock online. The other notebook systems running Ultimate in the store were over $2,000, out of my price range. No sale.

I'm still looking, but now I'm looking online. If you have suggestions, please let me know.

Posted by Martin Heller on May 23, 2007 06:00 AM