Computing

Resurrecting a dead OS with KernelEx

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I’ve come across KernelEx – it’s an open source compatibility layer for Windows 98 and Me which allows programs designed for Windows 2000 and XP to run on the older operating systems. I came by it on the VLC forums, where there are screenshots of VLC 1.0.1 and Firefox 3.5.2 running even though these programs normally wouldn’t run on such an old copy of Windows.

I can’t test KernelEx because I don’t have a copy of Windows 98 or Me to hand. In any case, both operating systems have been long abandoned by Microsoft and are probably full of unpatched security holes now. But if you’re feeling nostalgic, or just like the geeky satisfaction of getting something to work that shouldn’t normally work, give it a shot.

New laptop

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I’m spending the weekend at my parents’ house in York and so my duties as the person who knows about computers come into play. This usually involves ensuring that all the software on my parents’ computers (a shared desktop and my dad’s laptop) are up-to-date, and fixing any problems that have arisen since my last visit.

This time, my dad has a new laptop.

I helped him buy it from Amazon. A Mac laptop was ruled out early on, since Apple don’t do an affordable MacBook with a reasonably large screen (this is something Microsoft touched on in a recent TV advertising campaign). He wanted something bigger than the 13″ screen that the MacBook comes without paying £1299 for the 15″ MacBook Pro, which would also have been overkill for what he needs it for.

So we were looking for something running Windows. I suggested waiting until Windows 7 had come out, so we did. I also suggested going for a computer with a 64-bit processor and the 64-bit edition of Windows 7. While it may result in some incompatibilities with very old software, I believe that we’re now at the tipping point where 32-bit computers and software will go out of fashion and only serve the low end of the market, with 64-bit machines taking over the mid-range. It also means that the computer would be upgradable beyond the 3 GB of RAM that it ships with.

Ultimately, he settled for a HP laptop from Amazon, costing £450. It has an AMD Turion II dual-core processor, 320 GB hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, DVD Rewriter drive and a few other bells and whistles like a remote control for Windows Media Centre, an HDMI port and an eSATA port which also doubles up as a fourth USB port. In terms of ‘crapware’ it wasn’t too badly inflicted – an AOL toolbar and 60-day trials of Norton and Office 2007 – all swiftly removed.

For the anti-virus I gave Microsoft Security Essentials a go, and it seems to work well as a simple, unobtrusive anti-virus program. It may not have the fancy features that Norton and McAfee offer, or even some of the features of the likes of AVG and Avast!, but it seems to do the basics very well, without monopolising a significant amount of computer resources.

Buying a computer with Windows 7 pre-installed ensured that we avoided most of the potential driver faults, though it still seemed remarkably stable (so far). The refinements over Windows Vista are subtle, but welcome, and it’s definitely a leap forward over Windows XP. Installing a printer connected to another machine running Windows XP was as painless as it is on a Mac – all you have to do is tell Windows you want to add a printer, say it’s on the network and it’ll present it to you in a few seconds – and then it’ll download and install the drivers for you automatically. That’s how easy it should be.

Speed-wise it’s very fast. Obviously it’s fresh out of the box so no doubt it’ll slow down over time, but installing software and indexing photos have all been very quick, even when running 32-bit programs. I’ve not noticed any incompatibilities when running 32-bit software on it either.

I have to say I’m quite impressed at how good the machine is, considering the price, and Windows 7 is living up to some of the more glowing reviews I’ve seen of it. Still…. I think my next computer will be a Mac. As much as I like this laptop and Windows 7, I’ll stick with Apple build quality and design, which is still ahead of HP and Microsoft in my view. Not by as much, but still ahead.

Things I have done to fix the ‘Bluetooth: Not Available’ error on Mac OS X

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These are all the things that I have tried to fix the ‘Bluetooth: Not Available’ error on my MacBook:

  1. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
  2. Reset the PRAM and NVRAM
  3. Repaired disk permissions
  4. Deleted Bluetooth preference files from my Home and System Library folders

And none of them have worked. Looks like my MacBook’s Bluetooth controller is dead. Great.

Update: It’s working again. Apparently all I needed to do was turn the computer off (at the plug), leave it overnight and turn it on again the following morning. How bizarre.

The RealPlayer Expirement

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n light of the news that the BBC is abandoning RealMedia for its live streaming and listen again services, I’ve decided to uninstall RealPlayer from my Mac. Because, as far as I can remember, the only web site that I visit that still uses RealMedia was the BBC’s site and all of the streams that I used to listen to or watch have been replaced with Flash or Windows Media.

I’m therefore going to see how long I can survive without RealPlayer. Hopefully, it’ll be 50 MB of program files which I’ll never need to re-install. While the Mac version is far less annoying than its Windows counterpart, it feels strangely liberating to be rid of it.

LG Flatron W2353V review

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LG Flatron W2353V

This is the second of 3 entries about the LG Flatron W2353V (sponsored link), a 23″ flat screen TFT monitor that LG have asked me to review. In my previous post, I went over the basics. Meanwhile, in this entry, I’ll go into a little more detail about the screen and what it is like to use.

Compared to my previous monitor, a 17″ ViewSonic VX715 which I bought in 2005, the Flatron comes in a relatively small box. This is partly due to the detachable base and less polystyrene, so there’s less waste. In the box is the monitor (obviously…), the base, power lead, DVI cable, VGA cable, quick start guide and a CD-ROM. The CD-ROM disc presumably contains the manual and drivers but oddly my MacBook couldn’t read it.

1920x1080 desktop

In any case, the screen works fine on Mac OS X without any extra drivers. Despite me having a first generation MacBook with Intel GMA 950 onboard graphics, it can still manage the screen’s native resolution of 1920×1080. This provides a huge amount of screen space. The screenshot above should give some indication of just how much window space you get. It’s enough to show a 2 megapixel image at actual size.

Instead of using buttons, you simply touch labels on the bottom of the screen. The ‘Smart’ button is used to activate features such as auto-contrast, and the ‘Fun’ button lets you apply a sepia or black and white filter to the screen. There’s also the standard menu and a button to switch between multiple input sources.

If I had any complaints it would be the plastic-y feel of the construction. It feels a little cheap – especially the thin transparent strip at the bottom of the screen. This does, however, make the screen very light and easy to carry as there’s very little metal in the construction. The touch areas aren’t very sensitive so sometimes you have to touch more than once for it to register the action.

Overall I’m really happy with it. The size means it’s fantastic for watching films and television programmes on BBC iPlayer, even from a distance. I don’t have any Blu-Ray discs but I’m sure they would look good too thanks to its full HD support.

If this all sounds convincing, watch out for a competition that I’ll be holding in the coming days to win your very own model!

LG Flatron W2353V

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This post is coming to you via my new LG Flatron W2353V TFT monitor!

I’ll be posting one or two entries about this screen as LG have asked me to review it for them. There will also be a chance to win your very own monitor as well, details of which will be posted in the coming days.

Since I know may of you are techie people, here are the technical details:

  • Features LG’s SMART technology, which automatically adjusts the screen brightness depending on how much light is around the monitor – this is to help reduce eye strain, and also reduces power consumption by up to 25% in well-lit rooms.
  • Cinema mode, designed for sites like YouTube – when activated, the non-movie part of the screen is dimmed, so that you can focus on the movie.
  • 2 millisecond response time and no after-image
  • 50:000 to 1 dynamic contrast ratio, to ensure that images are still bright and detailed even in high-light conditions.
  • Has VGA, DVI and HDMI ports, so you can connect your XBox 360, PlayStation 3 or a Sky+ HD box to it without needing any special adaptors. Comes with VGA and DVI cables in the box.
  • Native 1920×1080 resolution.
  • And it’s a whopping 23 inches across!

I’m really pleased with it so far, even it is rather large, but that’s because I’m mostly used to a 13-inch MacBook screen – this is almost twice the size. The resolution is also mind-blowing – you can have many more windows open on the same desktop.

Part 2 of my review, where I go a little beyond my initial observations, will follow tomorrow.

There’s no leopard like Snow Leopard…

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If you’re at all interested in all things Apple you’ll know that Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, was released yesterday. I haven’t got my copy yet but it is on order from Amazon (sponsored link), so hopefully I’ll have my paws on it next week. I’ve only ordered the single license copy this time and not the Family Pack, as Apple have decided that my 4-year-old PowerPC Mac Mini is too decrepit to run Snow Leopard. A shame, but that’s the price of progress I suppose.

It will, however, run on my 3-year-old MacBook, as it has an Intel processor. I won’t be able to take advantage of some of the new features, such as OpenCL or H.264 hardware acceleration in QuickTime X. And the processor is 32-bit so none of the 64-bit code will be used. But it does have a dual-core processor so Grand Central Dispatch will be able to make both cores work harder, and based on various first-hand reviews I should expect faster startup and shutdown.

In terms of new features, full support for my HP DeskJet F2100 series printer is provided out of the box (partly due to a new version of CUPS) so I won’t need HP’s drivers – this includes scanning and copying support built-in to the OS. Mac OS X will also now remove printer drivers for any printers that I don’t use, freeing up a few gigabytes of space.

Support for Exchange 2007 doesn’t really affect me as I don’t use Apple Mail or Exchange for my email, nor do the iChat changes since I use Adium. The improvement to Services are welcome – until now they’ve been a useful but misaligned feature of the OS.

There are some pitfalls for early adopters, however, as some programs won’t work straight off the bat. The release of Snow Leopard was brought forward with little warning and so some programs are not yet fully compatible – there are issues with Growl, for example, and while a new version is on the way it’s not ready yet. I’ve also heard there’s problems with third-party screensavers. I’d therefore recommend you install AppFresh which is great for notifying you of available software updates for third-party programs. And obviously do a full backup of your system before you upgrade in case you have a power cut while it’s installing, or encounter some other issues.

I may or may not give my own first impressions of Snow Leopard next week, depending on how I’m feeling. Today was my first day off work in 13 days and so I haven’t really had the time or the inclination to think about things to blog about.

Fun with HP Printers

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Do you have an HP printer with an LCD display that is network addressable? Want to have a bit of fun with it? Follow these instructions to get something like this:

Emo printer has feelings too
Emo printer has feelings too by Joe Attardi, used under license

There’s more on the ‘hpinsertcoin’ tag on Flickr.

All the printers we use at work are HP, but if the office was evacuated because I’d made a printer say it had a radiation leak I probably wouldn’t have a job for much longer. Besides, I don’t know their IP addresses.

[Via Utterly Boring]

Mac Mini alive again

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January wasn’t a great month for me and my 2 Macs, as I managed to get both of them to stop working. First of all, the backlight on my MacBook’s screen stopped working, which I managed to fix after about half an hour’s Googling. Then I found my Mac Mini was refusing to boot but alas was not able to fix it.

The good news is that I have now fixed it. The bad news is that I’m not entirely sure what it was I did that got it to work again. Essentially, I took the lid off (easier said than done as it requires using a thin, flexible knife to prize the shell away from the base), poked at it, put the lid back on again and it booted up fine.

I say essentially because there was more to it than that. Because I was receiving the error ‘ALLOC-MEM request too big!’ from OpenFirmware while booting, I first assumed it to be a RAM error, so I took the RAM out and re-seated it, then booted the machine without putting the cover back on. That didn’t work, so I poked at the Bluetooth and Airport aerials to see if that made any difference – again nothing. So I put the lid back on and was about to concede defeat, but decided to see if putting the lid on had made any difference. And it had – the machine booted up, albeit slowly.

The computer is now running, although it does seem slow – that may just be because it always has been slow and I just haven’t used it recently. I haven’t yet restarted it so it may of course be a fluke, but right now all the programs on it seem to be working fine – no unexplained crashes and no grey screens of death as yet.

So if you have the dreaded ‘ALLOC-MEM request too big!’ error, trying taking your Mac apart and check if everything is seated correctly, and then try booting again. It may fix it. Of course, if it doesn’t, it may be indicative of bigger problems so don’t rule out a trip to the Genius Bar or a call to AppleCare.

And now it’s the Mac Mini’s turn

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As many of you will know, as well as my MacBook, which I use as my main computer, I have a Mac Mini as well – this was my first Mac which I bought in 2005. It has spent the past year or so searching for a purpose – I was, and still am, hoping to turn it into a media centre but I’ve neither had the time or money to go ahead with it, and to be honest, I don’t really need to either.

Anyway, after yesterday’s shenanigans with my MacBook, it’s the turn of the Mac Mini to refuse to work. It’s actually not a problem that developed today – I noticed it wasn’t working last week, but as I run it headless I didn’t have a computer monitor to plug it into. All I knew was that it wasn’t registering itself on the network.
Today I had chance to use it with an external monitor. I heard the startup sound, saw the Apple logo on the screen, and then, nothing. No status indicator, just the Apple logo.

So, I zapped the PRAM – Command+Option+P+R. This time, the status indicator appeared for about 10 seconds before the Grey Screen of Death appeared, showing a kernel panic. This happened with subsequent boots.

So, I tried booting from the OS X CDs. Same problem. In fact, after a while, all I could do was access the Open Firmware command prompt.

This therefore means that there’s something wrong with the RAM or another component. Over the Christmas period, I took my Mac Mini with me to my parents in York, rather than leaving it in Bradford as I figured it would be safer. I’m guessing that it may have got jolted in transit and one or more of the components is out of place. It could also be bad RAM, but the RAM was only replaced in November 2006 and it was good-quality Crucial RAM. Plus, it’s a faff trying to get the damn thing apart and will probably require the purchase of another putty knife seeing as my existing one has gone missing.

In the meantime, I have a nice iOrnament.