Archive for the 'Tech Review' Category

Small Business Server 2008

Published on May 10, 2010 in Microsoft and Tech Review. 0 Comments

Right… Im gonna summarise this for you into a brief but accurate sentance “NOT WORTH THE EFFORT !!!”

Thats it, job done…. You can hang around for the small print, but i wouldnt bother….

Long story short, iv been running SBS 2003 for the last 4 years as the main infrastructure behind my home network, its served me well and for all its little annoyances, it keeps ticking on with the absolute minimum of tweaking by its administrator (AKA : Me)… But, i (Me) have fallen (as many of you have) in love with the iPhone, that little gadget that keeps on giving (and taking battery life)…

iPhone supports exchange server… Exchange server 2003 is compatable with this (but a nightmare to get working reliably)… Exchange 2007 has funky features designed to allow mobile devices (iPhone <- for those not paying attention) to connect with the least ammount of effort (yay)….

Alas, all the effort microsoft took out of setting up the mobile device support, they imported into the setup and usage of Server 2008. Everything has moved, nothing is centralised, there are more wizards/consoles and widgets than you can shake a 3.5″ floppy at, and to top it all of, it sucks more RAM than a disturbed zoo keeper !

Suffice to say, the benefits of SBS2008 come no where near the costs you will have to endure (least of which is the fact its entire look and feel comes from windows 7, yes thats the one that your nephew helped Microsoft design with that pack of crayons you stopped him eating last year).

Okay, details.

  • Installation process provides NO interactivity, all options are preset and cannot be altered during install (without configuring some answers file which is ‘beyond’ stupid for an installation…)
  • Installation process disabled administrator account immediatly after installation… its nice to have it around for a while (i mean common, if were installing a server operating system, its nice to be given the benefit of the doubt and trusted with our own admin accounts)
  • Look and feel is windows 7 (whaaa!)
  • Active directory Users and Computers has no exchange features built into it (meaning all exchange functionality has to be done from exchange console, no more right clicking on a user and doing exchange tasks)
  • Exchange console is painfully wizard based… Every-dam-thing does not have to a wizard microsoft…
  • SBS Console is about the only way to create users with full attributes (aka, if you want them to have a PC assigned, Mailbox creating, etc) creating a user in ADUC does not create a mailbox, and does NOT give you the option to add one !
  • Operating system grabs way too much RAM (granted i was running this in VM, so some of that could of been dedicated allocation… but i feel its maybe not)
  • POP3 Connector finally allows sheduling to happen more often than 15 mins (despite microsofts desperate warning that this would cause the end of the world), BUT does not allow advanced schedules to be created (aka, acc1, 2, 3 check every 5 mins, acc4, 5, 6  every 10 mins… So still kinda limited (but now supports SSL)… Do yourself a favour, go grab a copy of POPCON (brilliant little app)
  • Exporting of 2003 pst files do NOT  import correctly into 2008, my test import of my mailbox ended up with dozens of strange calendar entries which were not reccuring, but now are… my contacts have no pictures, my tasks list is all ‘not done’ (pretty sure i did some of those things), etc, etc, etc….
  • Outlook web access still only runs in light access mode for Firefox, and IE really doesnt have any additional features that 2003 didnt have… (looks a little better, but nothing to get excited about :(

Im sure there are more annoying things going on, and some good features too… But im still playing around with it, and no where near ready to format my 2003 box to update just yet…

ASUS: Eee Keyboard to launch in October

Published on September 14, 2009 in Media Center, Tech Review and Tech World. 1 Comment

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Looks like those DigiTimes sources were right: the ASUS Eee Keyboard will officially launch in North America and Europe in October. And while CEO Jerry Shen is keeping quiet on pricing, the original $400 to $500 estimates should hold-up. The Commodore 64-esque keyboard PC originally announced at CES in January features an integrated 5-inch display, 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of memory, either 16GB or 32GB of SSD storage, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Blutooth, HDMI and wireless UWB HDMI. And given the October launch, we’re expecting this thing to run Windows 7 unlike the XP prototypes we’ve seen so far. Maybe Moblin too, if you want to save a nickle.

Media Center Backup Utility

Published on July 9, 2009 in Gadgets, Media Center, Microsoft, Tech Lessons, Tech Review and Utilities. 0 Comments

Right O… Iv been looking for this god like application for some time now. As an avid lover my my Microsoft (Sigh) Windows (Sigh) Vista (Sigh) Media Center machine, im often in a position where i need a quick reinstall, or im creating a new build for another house machine, family machine, test machine etc etc..

If you’ve ever been in this position too, then its obvious that microsoft has missed out on a great opportunity to throw out one of their leogondary (usually buggy) powertools to create backups of all your scheduled recordings, channel listings, etc !

well, the days of dreaming are finally over, and here we go…

Ian Dixon over at The Digital Lifestyle has created and released (some time ago, 2007, sigh) a beta of a program which does all the following ;

Features:

  • Backs up TV channel assignment
  • Backs up Scheduled recordings and series recordings
  • Backs up recorded TV to local drives, or networked drives (via UNC paths)
  • Backup up an additional folder
  • Has its own schedule engine for automating backups
  • Displays the status of critical Media Center services
  • Command line and GUI version available, 10 foot version coming soon
  • Works with Vista and XP
  • Can be used to transfer settings from one Media Center PC to another

Get over there and download it now !

DirSync Pro Keeps Your Files Synchronized

Published on May 19, 2009 in Networking, Tech Review and Utilities. 0 Comments

2009-05-18_090912Windows/Mac/Linux: Java-based DirSync Pro provides cross-platform file synchronization with an easy to use interface, incremental backup, and a profile system.

DirSync Pro is a robust and open-source file synchronizing tool. Thanks to its Java-based construction it has cross-platform support and a self-contained directory for easy portability.

You can use DirSync to perform bidirectional and unidirectional syncs, making it easy to only update files on one side of the transfer or sync both locations to each other. There are numerous variables you can tweak to control the transfers including only syncing new, larger, or modified files. You can set filters to include or exclude sub-directories, create backups of the synced and changed files, and create configuration files for your most frequently used locations and settings.

The configuration files are handy feature, especially if you’re running the application in multiple environments off your USB drive. You can create unique setups and execute them independently making it super easy to create a specific routine for backing up files at work, syncing files at home, or whatever situation you find yourself in. DirSync Pro is open source and works wherever Java does.

DirSync Pro [via MakeUseOf]

iPhone 3G Stuck Pixel Solution

Published on April 7, 2009 in Apple, Tech Lessons and Tech Review. 10 Comments

Well, we all new this day would come… I have re-invested in another black, sleak and sexy 8GB iPhone…

Thus far this is my 3rd iPhone, dating back to my original purchase back in 2008, where i discovered that the iPhone was a slight dissapointment, part apples fault for extremlypoor software and part O2 (UK) for having such a piss poor network around my area (3G, Yea where !). Well that one went back, i had no intention of paying out £35 a month for a phone which hardly worked and a network which hardly delivered…

Introduce 2nd iPhone, purchased on the 4th April 2008 (yea, i know what you thinking… eh?)… Well, this one was purchased with the 100% intention of cracking the hell out of it and running it on Orange (who my current contract is with and who have a dam fine network everywhere iv ever been)… Alas a wrench was thrown into these works by Apple’s new modem firmware (Baseband) update which was rolled out in 2.2.1, rendering the Yell0wSnow cracking application useless… so this one was reduced to being a very expencive paperweight, but served a good use, in that I could play around with the phone again, see if the original software bugs had been ironed out.

Alas this unit suffered a fate worse than the simple ‘return within 14 days’ i had planned for it, after a bit of a cleaning session with the ‘Apple supplied cleaning rag’ part of the screen has completly stopped working. Apparently this is quite a common problem, and apple are very kind in their replacement of defective units. But, given i was planning on returning it anyways, I cant really say i care hehe !

Well, onto number 3… After being dissapointed with number 2 (I know it wasnt its fault, how could it resist the giant imaging machine giving birth to its 2.2.1 firmware update)… I looked to where I purchase all my goodies these days, eBay !

And what did I find, a kind soul selling unlocked iPhones for £20 less than O2 were selling them instore, the chap had loads ! well, that was settled, ‘BUY IT NOW’ and off I went ! The new unit arrived this morning, orange sim inserted 10 seconds later and away i went hehe !

After about an hour of constant gadget playing and downloading app’s music and other stuff I returned to the springboard to be confrunted with a very annoying red pixel… NOT GOOD…

It was kinda like fate telling me to give up, 3 iPhones, 2 faults in 2 days… not good, but i wasnt gonna give up that easily, after a little google searching i found this little website which promised the earth (alas didnt deliver). Simply load up the site on your iPhone and run the fix screen link… I wouldnt suggest watching it for too long, else you might be tempted to start donating all your money to strange religions.. The idea is that with the pixel only being ‘Stuck’ it might be possible to break it free by brute furce. Give it a run for anout an hour or so, and see if it works for you… from all the reviews found, this works for about 50% of people, the others are stuck with a blue, green or red dot for the rest of time hehe !

But, as said, this approach did not work for me, hence why i took to a more physical option, (Note, be very careful). load up an application which will allow you to touch the part of the screen with the stuck pixel without messing up too much, then gently massage that part of the screen. Its important to apply quite a bit of pressure, but not so much that you increase your stuck pixel into a cracked screen. After doing this for about 10 seconds, i returned to the springboard and noticed that the pixel was fading in and out (black to red to black… etc) so i went back in and kept at it for another 20 seconds… Presto FIXED !

Im pretty sure that this does not fix the problem permanantly, but so far its stayed working perfectly all day without a sign of my little red friend… So, of you got a stuck dot, give it a rub !

UPDATE : The pixel did return about two more times, but another quick rub got rid of it, and it havent seen it now for well over a month !