HD-DVD Launches Tomorrow
HD-DVD is set to launch with fanfare tomorrow (Tuesday). Some Best Buy outlets have violated the mandated release date by selling Toshiba players to customers as many as four days earlier than allowed. A few threads are available on AVS Forum discussing first impressions of the technology. I won’t be contributing to the sales or hype because of draconian DRM measures built into the format. Hopefully enthusiasts have done their homework and will continue to boycott the format.
Google Calendar Launches
In the coming days, every tech pundit to amateur fanboy will be heralding tonight’s Google Calendar launch as the second coming of Chr-st. I’m skeptical. Google’s latest foray into web applications can do calendar sharing amongst a group of people, event invitations and RSVP management (think evite), mobile device event reminders, and integration with its webmail but then again so does Yahoo! Calendar. However, Yahoo! Calendar goes a step further by allowing users to locally sync with Outlook, Outlook Express, Palm OS handhelds, Pocket PC handhelds, and more. Google doesn’t.
For people in my field, it is a necessity to have access to our schedules throughout the day on our PDA/smartphones. To facilitate this, our appointments and meetings are all sent to Microsoft Outlook via Exchange which then syncs with our handheld devices. Then again, if a field requires this sort of calendaring, then solutions have already been in place long before Google Calendar ever came to be. Therefore it remains to be seen how important this feature is with the target audience of online calendars. In the mean time, users can manually export calendars from Outlook in CSV format and then import into Google Calendar. I tested this feature and it worked fine although it was a rather cumbersome process that I would abhor repeating regularly. This product is not for a serious PIM user so I’m going to reserve judgement for now until I get honest feedback from the casual webmail using masses. Regardless, we should all be prepared for lots of uninformed cheerleading over the next few days.
Firewire is slow on Windows XP SP2
Recently I dusted off my Firewire external hard drives previously hidden away in a secure closet to organize and backup about half a terabyte of data across my various computers. Spring cleaning for the binary world can be a tedious process but the end result of having clean systems is well worth it. Data transfers of this size usually take a long time to complete so I was dismayed by the realization of everything progressing slower than usual. I fired up Rainmeter and clearly saw data lumbering around 6 to 7 megabytes per second. Normally Firewire 400 and Firewire 800 drives operate in the range of 26 to 39 megabytes per second on file copy operations. I needed a solution quickly because the tedium of file transfers running many times slower than normal was unacceptable.
The problem is caused by a driver design choice introduced by Microsoft in Windows XP Service Pack 2 when dealing with Firewire 800 devices. Instead of operating at S800 speed, Firewire 800 devices incorrectly run at S100 or about 100 megabits per second. This explains the slow down so what is the solution? RME, a German firm specializing in high-end Firewire audio devices, posted a lengthy workaround involving a reversion to the SP1 Firewire driver on SP2 machines. Although this solution works, it still limited Firewire 800 devices to S400 speeds instead of S800. As of December 2004, Microsoft has released a hotfix described in Knowledge Base article KB885222 that corrects this issue. This is a very old issue and unless a consumer is actively using Firewire devices, this problem may escape new users. The hotfix worked perfectly and I successfully completed my spring cleaning.
2007 Audi TT Coupe
After an almost eight year run, Audi has redesigned the TT coupe. They’ve incorporated many of the stylistic elements from the first generation TT and combined them with the new design direction of Audi’s other model lines. As with any new German car, there are various technology upgrades that can be read about below. My overall impression of the design is elation and relief. It seems like the Germans have followed the Japanese in recent years by making their cars excessively ugly. In contrast to this trend, Audi has updated its style with moderation. I’m going to reserve the rest of my judgement until I have the opportunity to test drive one. Click the image above to see the 2007 Audi TT gallery. The Audi press release is below.
How-To: Windows 2003 VPN Server
Using Windows 2003 Server as a VPN server is one of the better (read: overkill) remote access solutions for a SOHO network. This how-to will show how to create a simple yet effective VPN solution with certain limitations. Mainly, it assumes the Windows 2003 server has only one network card and sites behind a router/firewall. Make sure you have administrator privileges before continuing.
Main configuration:
- Open Routing and Remote Access by going to
Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Routing and Remote Access. - Right-click on the server name.
- In the context menu, select Configure and Enable Routing and Remote Access. Click Next on the wizard.
- On the Configuration page, select Custom Configuration. (Note: This particular option is chosen because we are using a single network card.)
- On the next screen, pick VPN Access then click Next. Then hit Finish to close out the wizard.
- A dialog box will appear asking if you want to start the service. Click Yes.
At this point there are a few more items left to configure. In this example, my configuration uses a custom firmware Linksys WRT54G router to handle DHCP, firewall and connection sharing. Regardless of DHCP being available, I’ve assigned a static IP range to VPN clients.
- In Routing and Remote Access, right-click the server name as before.
- In the context menu, select Properties.
- Click the IP tab.
- Select the radio-button next to Static address pool.
- Click the Add button.
- In the New Address Range window, enter the appropriate start and end IP addresses. The addresses should follow the convention of the rest of your network.
- Click Okay and Apply until returning to the Routing and Remote Access window and close that as well.
User accounts must be given VPN access via user properties.
- Open Active Directory Users and Computers and click the Users folder.
- Double-click on a user name to be given VPN access in the right hand window.
- Click the Dial-in tab.
- Select the radio-button next to Allow access in the Remote Access Permission (Dial-in or VPN) section. (Note: If you have multiple users, then it might be easier to create a new user group with VPN access. Then the add user profiles to the group as necessary.)
- Close out the window. Repeat as necessary for any other users.
Since my test server sits behind a router/firewall, the next step involves forwarding ports on the router/firewall to the local IP address of the VPN server. My Linksys WRT54G router requires PPTP Passthrough being enabled. Port listing:
- PPTP: 1723.
- IPSec: 500, 50-51.
Realize that once the ports are opened to the VPN server, the local network is open to the possibility of malicious attacks. Make sure users comply with a good password policy and monitor access logs. I highly doubt home users will be running out to purchase a copy of Window Server 2003 any time soon but if, like me, you happen to be tinkering with a free 120-day trial version then it is prudent to be vigilant.
Configuring an XP client is straight forward. The only caveat is knowing the IP address of the server. If you are on a static IP, then there is no problem. If you happen to be on a dynamic IP address (i.e. an IP that changes regularly), then a service like DynDNS will give you a resolvable host name.
These are the steps to configure the XP machine for VPN access:
- Go to
Start -> Settings -> Network Connections. - Open the New Connection Wizard.
- Pick Connect to the network at my workplace then click Next.
- Pick Virtual Private Network connection then click Next.
- In the text box, provide a connection name then click Next.
- Since I have broadband available from wherever I need to access my network, I have no need to dial an internet provider. If this is the case in your set up, then pick Do not dial the initial connection.
- On the next screen enter the host name or IP address of the VPN server then click Next. Then pick Finish.
To connect to your VPN server, double-click on the connection icon just created on the client machine.
Troubleshooting: Some routers do not function properly in a VPN over NAT environment. Consult this list of affected routers.
Crucial’s “Bad to the Bone” Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes. The very word conjures up thoughts of a white-haired guy in a suit running up to your front door to give you a check for some large sum of money. Unfortunately, the problem with this situation is that it never happens to anyone I know. Wait, scratch that. When I was in high school, my English teacher had won a few million dollars in the lottery and she continued to come to work out of her own volition. Still, the lottery is not a sweepstakes but its close enough. Just to make one thing clear: I would never participate in those mailers with the funny little stamp things, but I’ve wondered if it could be me that wins.
Enter Crucial’s “Bad to the Bone” Sweepstakes.
Apple Bootcamp now available
Apple Bootcamp is a tool that will allow users of Intel Macs to install Windows XP without going through the lengthy process discussed in a previous post. This process requires OS X 10.4.6 and a blank CD onto which the necessary software and drivers are burned. The full instructions are here.
Microsoft giving away Virtual Server 2005 R2 for free
In an obvious move to grab some of VMWare’s marketshare, Microsoft is giving away Virtual Server 2005 R2 for free (requires free registration). To the surprise of many, Microsoft is offering full support for running standard and enterprise versions of Linux from Red Hat and Novell. It gets better. Microsoft will be releasing tools very soon to make running Linux a little easier under their virtualization software (think something along the lines of VMWare Tools). This move represents a complete 180 degree turn for Microsoft in terms of supporting Linux under Virtual Server. Before this announcement, customers could install Linux under Virtual Server but could not get any support or tools for Linux VMs.
-
-
Google Ads
-
Links
-
Blogroll