A Leslie Wong Blog

Why do I still have this computer? Why am I still able to find the DOS 3.2 boot disk? Why does it still boot? Why did I carry this computer around 25 years ago?

The NEC Multispeed EL wasn’t my first computer, but IIRC, it may have been my first portable computer. Portable in that the computer and case with the shoulder strap weighed 12 pounds (5.4 kg). I don’t remember what I was doing with it.

I just powered it on and wondered if the makers of Microsoft DOS thought anyone would ever be entering a date 25 years in the future when it asked for the current date.

My NEC Multispeed EL has a NEC 16 bit, 9.554 MHz V30 CPU (a reverse engineered Intel 8086), 640K RAM, dual 720K 3.5 inch floppy drives, a backlight monochrome LCD display and an optional Hayes compatible 2400 bps modem (CompuServe: GO NECTECH). It booted to DOS 3.2 and had a couple of applications (Telcom, Notepad, Outliner, Filer, Dialer) that loaded into RAM from the boot floppy. The boot floppy also setup a RAMDISK as drive C:.

Unfortunately, in a few days, it will go to the electronic waste at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District.

I’ve been trying several builds of Windows 7 x64 on my Macbook that uses the Intel 945 Express Chipset. Recently, I did a clean install of Windows 7 build 7100. The display driver that is installed is a Prerelease WDDM 1.0 Driver (8.15.10.1620).

When I tried to play a DVD with Windows Media Player, I received the message “Cannot play DVD video.” Microsoft gives several possible reasons for this message:

1. Your video card driver is out-of-date.
2. Your computer is missing a compatible DVD decoder.
3. Your computer hardware is not powerful enough to play DVDs.

Since build 7 is Windows 7 Ultimate, I assumed a decoder was built in to the OS. I was indignant that suggestion 3 was questioning the manhood of my Macintrash.

Then I remembered the OpenGL problem I had with one of my programs. After I installed the Intel Vista 64 bit drivers 7.14.10.1504 for the 945GM Chipset from downloadcenter.intel.com, WMP was able to play DVDs. I’m not sure why the Prerelease WDDM 1.0 Driver didn’t allow the decoding, but the released Vista driver works – just be sure to run the installer in the compatibility mode for Windows Vista.

My Windows Experience Index also went up a tad compared to build 7068; compared to build 7000, the WEI from 2.0 to 3.0. So my computer is getting faster as it ages or Microsoft is improving Windows 7.

I did an upgrade installation of Window 7 build 7068 (x64) over build 7000 that I installed in January on my Macbook (13-inch Late 2006 with an Intel Core2 Duo Mobile Processor T7200, 3GB RAM). Winver gives: 7068.0.amd64fre.winmain.090321-1322

I ran the Windows Experience Index assessment again, and the base score went up from 2.0 (build 7000 64-bit) to 2.8 (build 7068 64-bit).

With build 7000, my Macbook’s low score was because of the 2.0 subscore of the disk data transfer rate of the primary hard disk, a 120 GB Toshiba MK1234GSX. With build 7068, the subscore of disk data transfer rate of the same primary hard disk went up to 4.3.

With build 7000, the Processor and Memory (RAM) subscores were 5.0, while the Graphics and Gaming Graphics subscores were 3.1. With build 7068, the Processor and Memory (RAM) subscores were 4.8, while the Graphics and Gaming Graphics subscore was 3.1. The Desktop Performance for Windows Aero dropped from 3.1 (build 7000) to 2.8 (build 7068).

The main problem I’ve been experiencing with build 7000 is that Windows Explorer will get sluggish or hang after waking from sleep. Trying to switch directories or file copying, even locally, will trigger the problem. Ending the explorer.exe process and restarting the process doesn’t always solve the problem. A reboot does.

I installed Windows 7 (Build 6801) on my MacBook “Core 2 Duo” 2.0 13″ (Black) with 3GB RAM.

To manage the boot menu for my Vista and Leopard partitions, I use rEFIt instead of Boot Camp. After I made a backup disk image of the Vista partition, I booted the Windows 7 DVD, reformatted the Vista partition and began the installation. It went a lot faster than the Vista install.

The Boot Camp drivers from the Leopard DVD installed without any problems in Windows 7 – the Apple Built-in Bluetooth, the Apple Built-in iSight, the Apple Trackpad Enabler, the Apple Keyboard, the Apple IR Receiver, the Atheros AR5008X Wireless Network Adapter, the Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller, the SigmaTel High Definition Audio Codec and the Boot Camp Control Panel. Windows 7 installed the Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family (Prerelease WDDM 1.0 Driver) for the display adapter.

I used Randy’s SharpKeys 2.1.1 (a registry hack) to remap the Apple enter key (on the bottom row) to a forward delete key so I don’t have to hold down the fn key and delete for that function. I also mapped F8 to Prtscr – another Windows key that’s missing on the MacBook keyboard.

Thankfully, my two year old MacBook still feels responsive in Windows 7 (and in Vista). I’ve never had any major problems with Vista, and so far, Windows 7 seems to be an improvement.

I don’t get it.

Randy Alfred over at Wired writes: “Bill Gates and Paul Allen create a partnership called Micro-soft. It will grow into one of the largest U.S. corporations and place them among the world’s richest people. Allen was 22; Gates was 19.“

read more | digg story

I signed up on Microsoft Connect to beta test Windows Home Server RC1 (WHS). For what it does, it’s a great piece of software. It’s based on Windows Server 2003 but with a very simple user interface for home users. Each PC (Vista or XP SP2) on the network gets the Windows Home Server Connector installed. The software finds the server and automates the backup of each PC.

The front-end on each client is Windows Home Server Console. It displays the computers on the network and their backup status, User Accounts, Shared Folders, Server Storage and Network Status.

During installation, WHS destructively formats all the disks used on the server and creates network shares, e.g., video, photos and music, that are all available to each client. Each user account has their own personal folder and basic permissions – Full, Read and None can be set on each folder. With at least two hard disks in the server, the ability to have redundancy for shared folders is available.

WHS also has the ability to share stored media with an Xbox 360, and does this very well also.

Remote access via the web is also available, and the WHS software will automatically configure PNP 2.0 routers.

The one application that’s missing in WHS that would make it a killer home app is Windows Media Center. The media hub software is built into Vista Home Premium and Ultimate Editions and XP Media Center Edition (MCE) but not in WHS. I have the WHS PC hooked up to our Sony KV-36FV1, so I want to use it as a Media Center. Unfortunately that means I can’t use Windows Home Server.

I have been experiencing the slow file copy problem on the Vista installation on my Shuttle SB51G, which is my “media center” PC – it is connected to our Sony KV-36FV1 television.

My network topology looks like this: I have a Linksys WRT54G ver.2 running DD-WRT v23 SP2 (09/15/06) vpn and a Linksys EZXS55W 5 port switch. Connected to the router and switch are the Shuttle, a Sony laptop running Windows 2003 Server SP2 (the domain controller), a Toshiba Portege connected via WiFi, a Dell Inspiron 700m connected by Ethernet, an Apple Powerbook G4 12″ (rev. A) connected via WiFi, a Bootcamp (really, rEFIt) Apple Macbook (Late 2006 – MA701LL/A) connected by Ethernet and WiFi and an Xbox 360 connected by Ethernet.

The main symptom for me was the Calculating remaining time dialog box that would not indicate the remaining time for a file copy. I tried the solutions I found by searching for “Vista slow file copy”. Microsoft has a Support Knowledge Base article, KB931770 that describes their solution and offers a Hotfix, which did not work for me.

I ticked the setting (in the Folder Options/View/Advanced Settings) Always show icons, never thumbnails. As Monty Hall and Keith Linford always said, “No Deal!”

I tried turning off Remote Differential Compression, in Control Panel/Programs and Features/Turn Windows Features On and Off/clear check on Remote Differential Compression. No deal.

It did not seem like a PATA controller problem, where a second device (such as DVD drive) was on the same channel as a hard disk. My second hard disk was on its own channel and I still had the slow file copy problem to that disk.

Since I was sometimes getting an error -36, copying files from OSX to Vista booted on the Shuttle, I tried changing the Vista Security Settings/Local Policies/Security Options/ to:

Domain member: Digitally encrypt secure channel data (always) – Enable
Domain member: Digitally sign secure channel data (when possible) – Enable
Microsoft network client: Digitally sign communications (always) – Disable
Microsoft network client: Digitally sign communications (if server agrees) – Enable
Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (always) – Disable
Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (if client agrees) – Enable

All these settings did not resolve the problem.

What solved the problem? Updating the Realtek (RTL8139/810x) Ethernet Driver from Realtek to version 6.104 for Vista.

You may be thinking, “Why didn’t he try that first?” – I did. But in early June, the Realtek driver was only up to version 6.103, which did not solve the slow file copy problem.

I downloaded Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 from the Microsoft Customer Preview Program and just finished installing it on my Shuttle. Back in June, I had downloaded Beta 2, but never got around to installing it.

RC1 installed easily on an empty partition and also installed a boot manager that allowed me to boot to my “Earlier Version of Windows,” XP. I used my Beta 2 product key and activation worked without any problems.

After logging in, the desktop presents the “Windows Welcome Center” a place to start jerking the settings around.

Viewing the computer details displays a hardware and network overview and the resulting calculation gives the Windows System Performance Rating, in my case 1.0. I guess I should be happy it actually runs on my computer.