Needless to say, I’ve had some SERIOUS problems lately.

If you’ve been following me at all over the past few months…I’ve been hitting Vista, OSX, and Ubuntu. Well…over the past few weeks I’ve been having issues, and it all came to a head last night.

Unfortunately, I’ve been having some odd problems in each OS, and I didn’t have a good storage partition set up yet. Yes I know…stupid rookie mistake. ALWAYS keep a backup partition, or external hiard drive handy for such an occasion.

Anyway, last night I tried to remove Ubuntu to make space for Vista’s backup files, but I made the mistake of not doing it from within Windows.

The “proper” way to remove a linux installation is to run the Windows disk from CD, and repair the Master Boot Record (mbr) so that the Linux bootloader is overwritten. Afterwards, Log into windows and use the Disk Management panel to remove/rename the linux partition and away you go. I didn’t do this…

I ended up removing the linux partitions and resizing using a LiveCD before fixing the mbr. Fail.

The Vista 32, 64 and Windows 7 disks could NOT find the broken Vista partition. Every bit of data lost. Music, pictures, videos, my scanned military records, VA stuff, resumes…all lost. That will be the LAST time I do crap like that.

If you are thinking of every reloading your computer, or trying a new OS…BACK UP!

From now on, 1/3 of my disk is for my main storage of documents, videos, pics, music, etc. I did this in the past, and for some odd reason I stopped doing it. Why? The world may never know…

Wow…what a week it has been.

I had the chance to take my blackberry with me on a trip for an interview. Wow!!! I had instant e-mail notification between myself and the company I was being interviewed by, and along the way I also had the chance to use my GPS for fun.

I have 5 GPS programs installed: BBMaps (stock), Sprint Nav (stock), Google Maps, Blackstar, and GPSed.

-BBMaps and Sprint Nav are basically used to the same purpose…navigation.
-Google Maps is a great program like it’s desktop/web equivalent, except it doesn’t recognize my GPS chip (8330m’s have a different chip that Google hasn’t fixed yet), so it only does vague locating for my position, but it’s great for finding stuff.
-Blackstar is a simple program that has Geocaching tools.
-GPSed is a free/pay program that in it’s free form, gives me a nice readout of my speed and coordinate location.

Other than playing with these all week, and browsing/texting/messaging/facebooking/twittering…the week has been pretty uneventful. The device works as advertised. My only problem thus far, has been trying to keep my hands off of it. :)

The only other programs I have installed have been ÜberTwitter and BerryWeather, with the latter being the only paid program so far. Both are excellent programs.

Now…what am I going to do this week….bah…back to the blackberry…

Well, this week has been fun. The end of the week is here and the phone is still working.

I’ve had no problems with voice (thanks to the Airave) and no problems with data. The only real issue with the phone has been the signal bar, and my lack of experience with the device itself.

The signal indicator likes to fluctuate around from full signal to nothing, and between 1x (basic voice) and 1xEV (full 3g speed). After doing some research at www.crackberry.com, I’ve found out that my phone, a 8330, is actually an 8330m…an upgraded model with slightly different circuitry than what’s been sold over the past year. With this change, came a new operating system… 4.5.0.131

Another carrier’s model has version 138, and I tried it. It made the signal much more steady, but I had something against running a different OS that is neither stock, nor tested by others. There is a Hybrid OS in the works at Crackberry, but 54 pages of text made me decide against trying it as there are 4 carriers and 2 versions of difference that I have to contend with.

The connection changes between 1xEV are due to Sprint’s network. They say that voice and data cannot be done simultaneously as AT&T does with the iPhone (from what folks have told me), therfore the phone is constantly checking data, then checking voice, checking data, checking voice, and so on. It’s kind of backwards though considering that it’s a Blackberry…a data device that should have access all the time. lol Sprint has said that they are working to improve the way data and voice work to allow both, but there isn’t a time-line on when they will change it.

Other than these issues, I’ve had no problems at all. I’ve downloaded programs, games, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and they all work great. It’s nice when I’m browsing the web and I get a Tweet and Facebook message. I’ve got a Star Trek communicator sound that notifies me, and teh screen shows a red star on the icon of the notifying application.

For missed calls, messages (SMS and MMS) and e-mail, the star shows on a general Messaging icon that has everything under one “hood”. I open the app and there is a list of each item: an envelope for e-mail, an italicized envelope for texts, and a little phone for missed calls.

As a Blackberry exclusive, they include the Blackberry Messenger. Think of it as an IM client for Blackberry-only communication. Each blackberry has a unique PIN number. When someone gives you this number, you put it in here and you can contact them at any time (with delivery and read notification.) It works just like AIM or Yahoo. Any messages also show in the Messaging icon, but as a smiley that includes the entire conversation.

It’s really a unique device, and after being with mine for less than a week, I think I will have one from now on…it really is addicting. Now I know why Obama didn’t want to let his go. LOL

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On the other front…I haven’t been able to sleep very well.

Right now, it’s 2am and I’m not even sleepy. I took Tylenol PM. It usually takes about an hour for it to start affecting me, so I should be ready for bed by the time I’m done here.

I’ve started to realize that without a job, Life sucks. lol For the past 11 years (23 including school), my days have been spend either at school, or working. My time has been worth something. But now, nothing.

I have spent the past few weeks putting in job applications, sending correspondence to the VA, doing chores around the house, and playing with the blackberry. Up until now, I’ve spent my days trying to keep myself occupied. But at night, that is when my mind has been free to wander. And wander it has…

I’ve thought about my future. The future of my family. Where will we be in 1 year? 5 years? 10 years? What will happen if the VA shafts me as the military had? What if I keep getting rejected for jobs? I know that I have a skill-set that is useful for military contractors and/or the government. The problem I run into is this:

I have 11 years experience as an aviation electrician. I can’t get a low-paying job because the potential employer thinks I’ll run away. I’m over-qualified to them. I can’t get a job doing what I did in the military, because I don’t have a degree. I’m stuck between a rock, and a hard place. On one hand they are afraid to hire me even though they want me, and on the other hand I’m not qualified.

Right now I have an accepted application as a “Helper/Support-Trainee” at Tinker AFB. They haven’t done interviews yet for any of the accepted, so we are all waiting for them to call. This is an entry-level job that can place me anywhere as a full-time employee where they will train me in the job they select for me…just like a brand-new military recruit. They could also place me in a position that is suited to my qualifications too, so I’m hoping for that.

I was contacted by a company in Greenville, TX this week. Once that I found at the career fair a couple of weeks ago. They have me set for an interview on Monday, and are assisting my financial needs to get me there for it. They sound interested, and after my research in the company and the area down there, I’m actually optimistic. The company does research/development for new military and civilian avionics systems, and that is what I am looking for.

My early years as an airman were spent working in a cage on new and innovative systems for C-130s, and MH-53s. It was mainly for the new satellite communication systems, but I also worked on normal communication and navigation units as well. I spent 2 weeks in Las Vegas for the testing of a glass-cockpit and satellite upgrade, and was also involved in the upgrade of the satellite system on the 53. the latter was supposed to be a 1 week ordeal, but problems arose in the first week and they called me in during the second week. I volunteered to do the troubleshooting of the system, and after 1 day I found the problem (with the help of my coworkers experience of course). I resolved it, made a checklist for it and explained it to the civilian company that owned the system. They pretty much let me have my way in repairing it and writing the checklist. After the fix was verified, we took the resolution to the base commander and he signed my application to have it installed in the entire MH-53 fleet. I got the Commander’s COin and an Achievement Medal for that one. I loved that job.

OK…I made it sound like I was the only one that could fix this thing, but honestly if it weren’t for my coworkers and my civilian counterparts, the problem would probably still be an issue. They all gave me a lot of latitude, and I owe it to my boss for trusting me to get the job done. I’m glad he did. He gave me a chance, and I wasn’t going to let him down. He knew my experience, but he knew what I was capable of.

Because of Jerry Smith, I was a more confident airman…a better team-worker…a better person. That week I learned that I was capable of anything.

Now, I sit here, typing this blog wondering what I will be doing next. Sweeping floors, passing out hamburgers, or just being a dead-end blue-collar worker doing the same job for days on end for the next 30 years. I could be doing these things, but I have higher standards for myself.

It is correct that beggars can’t be choosers, but I’m not begging yet, and I’m still choosing. I choose to get the job I want, and choose to enjoy it. It’s just a matter of time until I find that job, that employer, who is willing to trust me and give me a chance to not let them down.

Well…lets just say that this phone is more complicated than any phone I have EVER used. I’ve found settings for settings, shortcuts for shortcuts, and after it’s all been said and done, I still haven’t even scratched the surface of this device’s capabilities.

One of the neat functions, for geeks anyway, is pressing “alt+NMLL”. This trick changes your signal strength from bars to actual the actual signal numbers.

I’ve had one issue. The signal strength jumps drastically…even when I know I have a full signal. Supposedly, Sprint and RIM are aware of this, and something in the OS got glitched. Your actual connection is fine. Someone said that it was because the phone is changing the way it determines the strength between data use and voice use. It’s most noticeable after quitting a data application. Regardless of what causes it, your strength is perfectly fine.

I’ve also had fun digging through and cleaning up some of the programs that I’ll never use. They say that as long as you have more than 20MB free memory you’ll be fine. I personally keep everything closed unless needed, and I sit around 41MB free. Nice and zippy.

I also found out that there are 2 versions of this phone: an 8330, and 8330m. The new version has an updated OS with a different way of working internally…a hardware difference.

There have been a couple of glitches with this, such as Google Maps. It hasn’t been updated with altered code, and instead of pinpointing your location, it shows a big circle that you “could” be in. Kind of bad, but the preinstalled maps program gets you right where you should be.

That’s all I’ve got for today. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been playing constantly for a good portion of the day, but this is all I can think of for today.

This is a post about my first impressions with the blackberry world and my new device.

Well, I got it home and was instantly overwhelmed. The display is BEAUTIFUL. The thing itself is sleek, and just about the size and weight of a deck of cards (just about half as thin.)

The phone is a bit odd compared to what I’m used to. When I answer a call, I feel a small lag in the OS from the time I press the button and the display changes. But it seems that it does answer instantly as far as the voice connection goes.

The internet is FAST! In Sprint’s 3G area, it pretty much downloads the whole page as soon as I select the link. Nice.

The camera works with a small bit of lag, but this is a camera phone…not a SLR. It also seems to process for about 5 seconds before displaying the capture, but once it does. WOW! Compared to my previous phones, this one has great pics…the kind I’m not ashamed to keep. (I might have a few examples up in a day or two)

OH NO!

The OS just became sluggish. OK…the OS keeps applications open if you hit the back or end key. I had almost every single application open before I found this out. I am now closing the applications when I’m done. I can deal with the lag to open or close, but I want everything else to be fast. Like Windows Mobile, it defaults to just minimizing your applications. I’ll see if I can change that somewhere. (Nope…can’t be done. Closing manually it is.)

A trick: hold the mute button to “lock” the device, then press to unlock. You can still answer the phone without unlocking. Nice. (It keeps the display off and locks the keys. Great for pockets!)

With Vista 64, the Desktop manager is EXTREMELY slow. I’m not sure what is going on, but I’m not the only one. It works, but I have to be extremely patient with it. Click and wait. The media transfer seems to work OK, but I prefer the “Folder” view rather than the “My Media” view. I like to keep my media libraries separate from everything else.

I did have a slight problem getting it to update the device, but it finally updated. Man these things take forever to boot up. A battery-pull causes it to fully boot up. Just turning it off puts it into some kind of standby mode. A quick 10sec boot and it was up, otherwise a full boot takes a couple of minutes. Yes…minutes.

I can choose ANY mp3 as a ringtone. Nice. I also transferred a 700MB xVid AVI file to it, using the desktop software to convert it as it saw fit. It converted the video to an mp4, and plays just great!

I also found out that there is a change to the sound profiles when you place the blackberry in the holster. Each profile has options that usually make it vibrate (or get louder) when in the holster. A little magnet in the holster (just under the spot for the trackball) makes it go to sleep (turning off the display and locking the keys) while in the holster. Quite the ingenious thing it is!

So far, I’ve had NO problems with it, and I’m finding that it is getting more comfortable to use as I play with it. I’ve taken to www.crackberry.com to help and learn. Great site if you like your blackberry.

I was also warned of the “push” nature of the device…and my sleeping. Unless I want to listen to the thing go off all night, I should put it into the PHONE ONLY profile when I go to bed. This profile only lets the phone ring, and silences everything else. Just need to remember to put it back to NORMAL when I wake up.

Sorry about the weird nature of this post. It’s late and I’m tired. I’ll have more up in a few days. :)

Well…the time was right, and the pricing was even better.

Since I’ve been reading up on the iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android and Palm, I’ve found some interesting bits of information.

The iPhone has become more of a status symbol. One that says, “I have an iPhone. Look how cool I am.” I know folks with them that don’t act that way in the slightest, but the stereotype has already been applied. I don’t want a part of that, and I don’t want to spend the next 2 years browsing the largest app store looking for more and more useless applications. Plus I don’t like how much Apple has locked down the store. Plus, they’re locked to AT&T…another bad thing. Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone is sexy looking, and a wonderful device…it’s just not for me.

Windows Mobile is OLD. It’s still CE wrapped in a new skin, and in HTC’s case, a skin on a skin. My Dell Axim has a legally hacked ROM with 6.1 on it, and 6.5 is in the works, but it’s still the same, old, tired OS. Every time I play with my Axim, I get bored within minutes. Another OS that isn’t for me.

Android. It’s still new, but the hype has worn off. There are still bugs with it, and it’s still only on T-Mobile. It may eventually become a great and powerful OS for smartphones, just not right now.

The new Palm OS (WebOS). Now there is a nice OS. But yet another problem…it’s too new. I like being on the edge of technology, just not the bleeding edge. I like reading about future technologies and applications, but I want something that is stable and proven….which leads me to my purchase:

Blackberry. A Blackberry Curve 8330 to be precise. Research in Motion has been around since 1995 (as a 2-way pager), and gradually became a business communication device. Since then, they’ve put the whole instant communication thing on it’s head, and since texting, twittering, and blogging are things that keep me sane (plus they have a nice application catalog) I decided on the Curve. The Pre was my #1 choice, but it was too far out of my budget range. The Curve is on sale right now for $49 (plus $100 mail in rebate) and I bit.

I’ve heard great things about it, and even today it’s been a wonderful experience to mess with. We’ll just see how things work out over the next few days, and I’ll try to keep my opinions up to date.

PLAYONLINUX UPDATE: OK…well, I had a prior post concerning “PlayOnLinux” that didn’t go too well. A few more of the programs that I tried, did start the installation process, however they didn’t work too well. I knew that I should have checked them on winehq.com I keep forgetting that WINE is the process translating the programs, not this new one. lol

Well…the triplebooting of Ubuntu, Vista and W7 is working pretty good. I’ve noticed that 7 is using the same registry keys as Vista, or something else is going on. I’ve got programs installed under Vista, and when I play them (browsing to the correct location and executing them) they run just fine. Faster, in fact, than in Vista. How is this possible? Supposedly, reviewers of the new OS say that they streamlines the statup/shutdown procedure, but the core is built from Vista (hence the version 6.5) But then again, my Vista has had programs installed and removed many times. Oh well. The programs start and stop faster, but they run just as they did in Vista.

One thing that some folks may not understand….
Even though 7 is a new OS, and many folks still have a bad tast in the mouth from all the initial Vista problems, it is still built from Vista. If your PC runs like crap with Vista now, it may still run like crap on 7. The drivers are the same, therefore the hardware issues are the same. They made have made minor code changes to let it be more forgiving of hardware, but if you refuse to upgrade your hardware, you’ll still have problems with 7.

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/rant <on>

OK…so I’m in a retail store the other day, and I hear a customer asking for a new “digital antenna”. Wow…can people not understand the way TV works? Wow… The person came in a few days prior to buy a converter box because of the transition (which is today by the way). No big deal. plenty of folks have bought one. Anyway, they are asking for a digital antenna because their smart-ass geeky teenage neighbor told them it was needed, so here they are. The employee explained to them that it is not necessary as their existing antenna will work (they have an external roof type). They then went on how their neighbor was smarter than the employee and they wanted a “digital antenna”. I had to intercede.

Out of the blue, I gently asked the customer if he needed help (yes, I work there too.) He asked, I answered:

“Sir, there is no special digital antenna that is used for the new broadcasts. What we do have, is an antenna amplifier that will strengthen the broadcast signal that your existing antenna is already picking up, and allow the converter box’s receiver to properly decode the signal.”

He then goes into asking my how I got my information. Well…I am a HAM radio operator, I worked with digital and analog electronics for the military for 11 years, and electronics is one of my hobbies. He pretty much shut up at that point, and then decided to learn more about the technology, which I was GLAD to tell.

/rant <off>

The thing that most folks of his…(demographic, era, age, whatever) seem to misunderstand, is that the frequency of the new broadcasts is damn-near identical to the old ones. However, instead of having 1 frequency per channel, they can put two or 3…all digitally transposed on top of one another and easy for the box to separate.  This changes nothing in respect to the antenna…

The antenna shouldn’t be thought of as a separate device, but rather as an extension of the receiver. The receiver is what receives the signals, IT is what decodes the signals, not the antenna. All the antenna does is pass the signals TO the receiver.

Yes, the antenna is important; without one the receiver won’t have anything to decode, but the only thing about the antenna that is important is the tuning of which signals it will pass.

***WARNING!!! ELECTRICAL THEORY AHEAD!!!***

A basic antenna is a wire. The length of that wire is the key. A long wire will receive low frequencies, a small wire, high ones. FM radio: the frequency in the middle of the band is 98MHz…and the wavelength is just over 10 feet. AM radio has an average frequency of a much lower 1117kHz and a wavelength of 880 feet!! MUCH longer! An antenna of those sizes will pass those frequencies through to the receiver with very little loss. Obviously we don’t have 10 foot antennas on our cars, instead we have one that is 2.5 feet…1/4 of the wavelength. Multiples of 2 usually work well for frequencies. 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc. They become less effective as you go shorter, but they work better than nothing at all. If the size is not on one of these multiples, it doesn’t get rejected, just attenuated and lost as wasted energy. You can have multiple sizes on one antenna too…like the ones on a roof antenna. That allows multiple frequencies to be tuned, but it also does a special thing…it amplifies signals coming from one direction! Well…not really, but it does pay much more attention to the signals coming from one direction…a passive amplification. That means that the receiver can have more signal to decode. But what signals get passed along? All of them.

Every signal in the world. Digital, analog, Wifi, Bluetooth, space transmissions, aviation conversation, cellular phones… every frequency, every modulation of signal. EVERYTHING! Any device that has transmitted a signal. That signal goes through space/air and is picked up by the antenna. The AM frequency from a state away. The FM signal from the city TV station. Your neighbor’s Wifi. Your cell phone. They are all being picked up by your TV antenna.  If they happen to be near or on one of the tuned frequencies, they aren’t attenuated and your receiver receives them.

Then IT…the receiver…filters out the ones it doesn’t want and decodes the signal. If it is an AM signal, it processes it as AM. FM, FM. Digital? It sends the signal to a processor to be decoded, translated, then sends that information to your TV or radio. BAM…now your watching 24, or Lost.

So what happens if your neighbors Wifi breaks and starts transmitting on your TV frequency? Are you going to start seeing his net traffic on your TV?  HA HA no. The converter box will only decode the special signal that it was designed to receive. Wifi uses a different protocol of ones and zeros to transmit it’s data, and your converter box isn’t designed to process those.

However if the new, unwanted signal is stronger than the one you want, you’ll lose your picture, or music. This used to be a problem with AM radio, and still is on AM radio and CB radio. Amplitude Modulation.

Ever notice the HUM of an AM radio station? That’s the sound of the 60Hz AC power running along the power lines…bleeding onto the surrounding frequencies. Yes, its a long way from 60kHz to 1MHz, but if the power is unclean, as it usually was back in those days, the power wires act like a giant antenna, sending that 60Hz signal onto all kinds of frequencies. The style of modulation, amplitude modulation, takes the information and amplifies the signal stronger and weaker to change the power of the signal, based on what is being input. A person talking, music…it all modulates the power of the carrier frequency (the tuned frequency of the radio), and you get your NPR. If something creates a noise, or any signal at all on that frequency, your hear it. A tick, static from lightning, etc.

FM, or frequency modulation, doesn’t change the strength, but the frequency instead. It changes the carrier wave by increasing its frequency very slightly up and down. The louder the music or speech, the more the frequency changes…but the power doesn’t. This feature of FM pretty much got rid of any lightning static and the AC hum from power lines, and even today is a fairly strong way of transmitting information. You can still hear a slight lightning tick if a bolt strikes near because the lightning signal is so powerful, but it takes a LOT to lose the signal or bleed over it. The only time I’ve heard bad static or interference is when you have 2 FM radio stations very close together on the radio. You have to be at the right spot where you’re losing one, and getting the new one. Even at the end of the transmitted range, you might get static because the receiver is receiving a signal so weak that it has a hard time decoding it, but you can still hear or see the signal.

Digital is something brand new and something that has a lot of room to grow. Instead of changing the carrier’s strength or frequency, it transmits in a modulation called PM…pulse modulation. This is an on and off switching of the power (similar to AM), but it’s in a digital format. More of an instant on and instant off, in a special sequence that only a converter box or digital-tuner TV can receive. If lightning strikes right outside your house it won’t change the picture (if it doesnt cause power to go out, or blow up the TV). The converter box sees the new signal and ignores it because it doesn’t fit the sequence of data. Done. Nice touch eh? Plus, since it is a digital format, you get the picture as it is meant to be seen…exactly as it is transmitted. The only problem, as many folks are finding our now, is that it’s all or nothing. There is no static to see through because the data can’t be decoded…like a dropped cell phone call, or the cutting in and out of a cell conversation when you’re in the dead-zone with no bars. All or nothing. That’s why the amplifiers are so popular, and why most of the new antennas have one built in.

Your existing antenna will work fine because it ALSO receives the new signals and passes them on to your new TV or converter box. You just might need to buy a DTV amplifier. That’s all.

OK…Sorry about the theory, but it was necessary for me to vent, and if you learned something, cool! If you do wish to read more, feel free to search the web on AM, FM and PM modulations. If you can leave a comment and I’ll fill in.

Wow…the “after military world” has really been a difference…especially since the economy went down the tubes. As of now, I’m a grocery stocker at Wal-Mart, and living with the in-laws. It’s not too bad though. We are at least able to pay for the bills, eat, sleep and enjoy some of the day. The wife got into home health care and she’s currently taking care of 3 VA guys. Not too bad for a good 40 hours a week, now I just need to hear something from the 3 govt jobs I applied to…that, and get the VA off their butts and complete my disability from my knee and shoulder surgeries.

Lately, I’ve been on my gaming kick again. Because of not having internet until tomorrow, I bought The Sims 3 and I have to say the game is EXCELLENT! They took away a lot of the problems, and added more stuff for your sim to do. That’s all I can say without spoiling the experience…go grab it for yourself.

Linux…what a wonderful OS. I recently upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04 and the changes they made really made the OS easier to use, and more enjoyable to play with. I had just installed WINE to try Sims 3, and I found a wonderful program called PlayOnLinux. http://www.playonlinux.com/en/ Instead of paying for Cedega to help you with installing programs for WINE, this one is free of charge…like anything Linux should be. It’s a basic installation…sudo this and sudo that. It’s all explained on the above page.

When you first install the program and get it running, it will install WINE if you need it, and configure it for you. Then, via the ADD button, you can select which program you are installing. It will download teh necessary files/drivers/etc that it needs to properly run the product, then the installation begins. FOr me, The Sims 3 works without a hitch. It does have the usual slow-down from translation of code, but it works great. I highly suggest you give it a try if you want a better Windows product experience.

Other than that, there isn’t anything else going on. See you in a few more weeks!

OK. So when I was on my Mac products a few years back, I used to run Windows 98 in a virtualization window using a program called Parallels Desktop. Since I’ve came back to Windows, I’ve been playing with Linux, and a few other rarely-known OSes, plus some of my older Windows varieties.

Up until now, it seems that VirtualPC was really my only option. It recently became a free product, but Microsoft added a few…tweaks…to it. For one, you cannot use a mouse in it until you load the VM Additions (windows drivers.) This means that if you manage to get another OS loaded into it, you can’t use the mouse. If you load another WIndows OS though, you aonly have to load the VM Additions and you’ve got a mouse. The second thing I dislike about it is that it takes a TON of work to get the newer Linux releases to even load up. The latest Linux kernel refuses to work properly under it.

Anyway, today I found a product that meets the needs of any OS I’ve thrown at it, and works flawless for me on all of them…plus it’s FREE!

Since I’ve gone to Vista 64, there has been very few programs that don’t run…and those need a 16-bit environment (I’m talking old classic games…Doom, Wolfenstein, etc.) So lately I’ve been loading up my old Windows 98SE and going to town on those programs. Well, I also wanted to run and try more linux programs, and since VirtualPC hated them, this new one fits the bill.

You can find it here: http://www.virtualbox.org/

Have fun!

Well, the 64-bit fun is actually going pretty good. I transferred my user folder and a few other small files to a seperate computer, and within 1 hour I was running my 64-bit Vista.

A few small things pop up here and there.

The 64-bit version of IE works quite well, but flash doesn’t support 64-bit browsers, so I end up using the 32-bit versions. There IS a 64-bit version of Firefox, but it’s not an actual supported product. The folks take a released version, then change the code/recompile the program to use the 64 bit code, then release it as Minefield (the codename for the “true” beta versions of Firefox). It works, but has bugs in it.

The computer recognized all of my RAM now…all 4GB. The 32 bit versions of Windows only recognize up to around 3.5GB depending on your configuration. With the increased memory available, and the fact that I’m using the 64-bit processor architecture, I’ve noticed that the computer doesn bog down near as much as it used to. 3-4 browser windows open with many tabs in each, several files, programs, etc. and no problems at all. I like the increased multitasking ability.

I haven’t found any programs that are blatantly slower or faster, but I do notice that many of my programs don’t have a 64-bit version. Some do though. Gimp has an experimental 64-bit version that is slightly slower than its 32-bit counterpart but just during loading, Paint.NET is running under 64-bits (any program that is NOT 64-bit shows a <program name.exe *32> under the task manager. As of this minute, AVG, Java, Firefox and Magic Disk are 32. Everything else is 64.

I’ve heard that HL2 and its episodes run in 64-bit, but I haven’t re-installed it yet to try…even though Steam is 32.

Other than the few minor differences, there isn’t many things to note. It runs just like it did.

If you are thinking of trying it, you WILL lose all data on the hard disk. The way 64-bit works is written differently than the 32-bit, and you can’t upgrade. It has to be a fresh install. Other than that, you just have to watch out for the 64-bit version of programs. If they’re there, give them a shot.