10% failure rate of Windows Phone 7 device
If I buy a WP7 phone, it must already have copy-paste capability.
This roll-out is the first one, too, so everyone is a beta tester, whether they intended to be or not.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
AT&T, iPhone, and Verizon
I used to use a Windows smartphone. It did everything I wanted, from spreadsheet creation, cell formulas, Word docs, Internet, texting, and had great service.
Problem was it was analog and analog services were being turned off nationwide. I was forced to switch. Add to that, Cingular got bought by AT&T.
AT&T has always been good at marketing. Grab that customer. The problem was as soon as they have you under contract, they don't give a rats ass about you. They started turning off the digital network for my 1st-gen iPhone.
That's another story... I shopped a LOT! I saw so many posts claiming the iPhone was the "perfect phone". I couldn't do spreadsheets, I never could use the 8GB drive space. "Oh, just jailbreak it." Get real. I don't have time to dink with my phone all the time. Apple fanboys are the most disconnected-from-practical-reality of any creatures on earth. Take reviews with a grain of salt.
Add to the list, AT&T had a monopoly on the iPhone. They could treat you like a floormat, and then say, "Upgrade your phone! Just sign here to renew your contract for another three years."
How's that saying go? Fool me once, shame on you Fool me twice...
So I refused to upgrade, sign, jailbreak, etc. Instead, I've eagerly anticipated the new Windows Phone 7. Unfortunately, it's no better than an iPhone! (I'm not a Windows fanboy, either.) At least it'll do my Office apps, but it's locked-down and restrictive just like an iPhone. Can't carriers just give us what we want without [explitive omitted] with us? WP7 was supposed to be out in September. Then by Thanksgiving. Then before year-end. Then the copy&paste update was supposed to follow early January. Then late Jan. Then Feb. Now March...
Geez.
This whole time, I'm limping by with my crappy iPhone, cuz why replace my current crap with new crap? If I can't get what I want, why bother changing?
Now I'm noticing, since Verizon now offers the iPhone, and Verizon got SWAMPED with buyers (not AT&T), I've noticed that the dead-spots here in Denver are getting service again! AT&T is now caring about customers! See what a little competition does? Exclusive phone offerings should be illegal. Corporate monopolies are illegal. Product monopolies should also be illegal.
Problem was it was analog and analog services were being turned off nationwide. I was forced to switch. Add to that, Cingular got bought by AT&T.
AT&T has always been good at marketing. Grab that customer. The problem was as soon as they have you under contract, they don't give a rats ass about you. They started turning off the digital network for my 1st-gen iPhone.
That's another story... I shopped a LOT! I saw so many posts claiming the iPhone was the "perfect phone". I couldn't do spreadsheets, I never could use the 8GB drive space. "Oh, just jailbreak it." Get real. I don't have time to dink with my phone all the time. Apple fanboys are the most disconnected-from-practical-reality of any creatures on earth. Take reviews with a grain of salt.
Add to the list, AT&T had a monopoly on the iPhone. They could treat you like a floormat, and then say, "Upgrade your phone! Just sign here to renew your contract for another three years."
How's that saying go? Fool me once, shame on you Fool me twice...
So I refused to upgrade, sign, jailbreak, etc. Instead, I've eagerly anticipated the new Windows Phone 7. Unfortunately, it's no better than an iPhone! (I'm not a Windows fanboy, either.) At least it'll do my Office apps, but it's locked-down and restrictive just like an iPhone. Can't carriers just give us what we want without [explitive omitted] with us? WP7 was supposed to be out in September. Then by Thanksgiving. Then before year-end. Then the copy&paste update was supposed to follow early January. Then late Jan. Then Feb. Now March...
Geez.
This whole time, I'm limping by with my crappy iPhone, cuz why replace my current crap with new crap? If I can't get what I want, why bother changing?
Now I'm noticing, since Verizon now offers the iPhone, and Verizon got SWAMPED with buyers (not AT&T), I've noticed that the dead-spots here in Denver are getting service again! AT&T is now caring about customers! See what a little competition does? Exclusive phone offerings should be illegal. Corporate monopolies are illegal. Product monopolies should also be illegal.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Check for Caps-Lock in Batch Script
For years, I've had to access restricted network shares, most often when logged on with either local-computer credentials, or as an end-user who doesn't have permission to access the share. So I fire off a script that passes my credentials.
It really sucks when they have caps-lock on, and I don't know it, and lock myself out. Scripts are good about doing that. Since a script can store your credentials and pass it to several different shares, you can get locked out in a split second. You don't have to type your password wrong manually three times.
With 32-bit Windows, there is an old 16-bit executable that can check this. It's called debug.exe, and Microsoft stores it in the wrong place (they do that a lot).
C:\Windows\system is supposed to hold legacy 16-bit files. C:\Windows\System32 holds 32-bit files. So guess where they stuck it? They stuck the 16-bit debug into System32. (It's the Microsoft way.)
Debug.exe won't function on a 64-bit computer, no matter how you try to trick WOW (Windows-On-Windows) into handling it.
Copy the code below and save it in a text file and name it anything ending in .bat or .cmd. Then fire it off with caps-lock either on or off to see the difference.
I've tried it successfully on Windows XP and Windows 7 32-bit. (Beware line-wrapping.)
For x64 Windows, I resort to using Powershell instead of debug.exe. This has the added advantage of working on both 32-bit and 64-bit.
The following code should work, even if a bit slower. (Note that I like to leave Powershell script security on "Restricted", and drop it just-in-time for my command, then raise security back up immediately afterward.)
It really sucks when they have caps-lock on, and I don't know it, and lock myself out. Scripts are good about doing that. Since a script can store your credentials and pass it to several different shares, you can get locked out in a split second. You don't have to type your password wrong manually three times.
With 32-bit Windows, there is an old 16-bit executable that can check this. It's called debug.exe, and Microsoft stores it in the wrong place (they do that a lot).
C:\Windows\system is supposed to hold legacy 16-bit files. C:\Windows\System32 holds 32-bit files. So guess where they stuck it? They stuck the 16-bit debug into System32. (It's the Microsoft way.)
Debug.exe won't function on a 64-bit computer, no matter how you try to trick WOW (Windows-On-Windows) into handling it.
Copy the code below and save it in a text file and name it anything ending in .bat or .cmd. Then fire it off with caps-lock either on or off to see the difference.
I've tried it successfully on Windows XP and Windows 7 32-bit. (Beware line-wrapping.)
TITLE DOMAINAPPS tech-share
echo off
:: Check for caps-lock on...
set capslock=0
for /f "skip=1 tokens=2" %%a in ('(echo d0:417,417 ^&echo q^) ^|debug') do IF %%a GEQ 40 SET capslock=1
if %capslock% == 1 cls&echo.& echo CAPSLOCK IS ON!!& color cf& echo.& pause
:: Prompt for username...
cls&echo.&color 1f
set /p useris=Type Your Username:
:: Now pass your credentials...
color 9f
net use \\OurDomain.net\DOMAINAPPS /user:%useris%OurDomain.net
:: And open the share...
explorer \\OurDomain.net\DOMAINAPPS
For x64 Windows, I resort to using Powershell instead of debug.exe. This has the added advantage of working on both 32-bit and 64-bit.
The following code should work, even if a bit slower. (Note that I like to leave Powershell script security on "Restricted", and drop it just-in-time for my command, then raise security back up immediately afterward.)
TITLE DOMAINAPPS tech-share
echo off
:: Check for caps-lock on...
set capslock=0
powershell -command "& {Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -force}"
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('powershell -command [console]::CapsLock') do set capslock=%%a
:: Return the security policy to default, restricted.
powershell -command "& {Set-ExecutionPolicy Restricted -force}"
if %capslock% == 1 cls&echo.& echo CAPSLOCK IS ON!!& color cf& echo.& pause
:: Prompt for username...
cls&echo.&color 1f
set /p useris=Type Your Username:
:: Now pass your credentials...
color 9f
net use \\OurDomain.net\DOMAINAPPS /user:%useris%OurDomain.net
:: And open the share...
explorer \\OurDomain.net\DOMAINAPPS
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
How to Get eSATA to Work
I've had a hell of a time trying to figure out eSATA. My first post mentioned my 32GB Kanguru flash drive that worked on one computer for two weeks and then stopped.
I bought a new computer - obnoxiously fancy - capable of everything and including three eSATA ports. So far, none of them have worked.
I bought a SATA hard drive dock that had both USB2.0 and eSATA, but only the USB2.0 ever worked.
At work, my 2TB LaCie Firewire drive has been failing. It keeps dropping offline. To keep from Blue-Screening, I have to delete it from Device Manager and then unplug it, then re-plug it and wait for it to reinitialize. It's been happening about six times a day. That gets old!
So I bought a nifty little 5-drive AMS RAID box that uses 2.5" laptop drives.
It has USB3.0 and eSATA interfaces. Since computers mostly don't come with USB3.0 yet, I decided to give eSATA one last chance.
Google showed me that there are tons of techies out there who can't get eSATA working, so it wasn't just me.
Here's the deal... the marketing departments virtually lie. Manufacturers know that if they put eSATA on a motherboard, they'll sell more computers, but they don't tell you you can't have both internal RAID 5 and eSATA.
AHCI is a SATA mode required for hot-swapping SATA drives. This is very desirable if you intend to use an eSATA device like a USB flash drive. Yanking an eSATA device out without hot-swap capability will crash your computer, and can damage the device.
When you buy a fancy motherboard that can do anything, they don't tell you that of all the drive options it allows, you can choose only one. My Asus motherboard has a 4-drive RAID 5 main drive, but if you turn on RAID 5, you can't use AHCI mode, so none of my eSATA ports work.
Allegedly, AHCI isn't required for eSATA to work - only for hot-swapping. So allegedly you can still use eSATA if you turn off your computer, plug in your eSATA device, and boot cold. But in reality-land, hardly anyone can get eSATA to work unless AHCI is turned on. And it never seems to be "on" by default.
At work, to get my 2250C mini to work on a Dell Optiplex 980 with Windows 7 x64, I checked the BIOS. Unfortunately it was set to SATA-RAID-ATA. I changed it to SATA-RAID-AHCI and the computer became unbootable and even a repair wouldn't work. So I put it back to ATA, dis-joined it from the domain, and ran Sysprep. Sysprep ripped the entire hardware and drive configuration out and turned-off the machine. Then I set the BIOS to AHCI and booted. Windows built back up and booted fine.
So if you've tried changing the BIOS SATA settings and failed on an in-place machine, Sysprep can be your salvation.
Next, I downloaded the latest BIOS flash, Intel chipset drivers, and AHCI drivers and installed them all. Previous to getting the BIOS set to AHCI, the AHCI drivers wouldn't install. The attempt only told me "computer does not meet minimum specs". But with the correct BIOS setting, the drivers went right on.
Then I installed the RAID management utility. When I plugged my RAID box in, it was easy to set it to RAID 5 and build the array. Then in Windows Disk Management, I formatted NTFS and was done. Five drives, 2TB, and almost palm-sized. Freakin' cool!
Too bad the 32GB Kanguru still doesn't work on the eSATA end. It has always worked on the USB end, and it's still one of my favorite flash drives. Only thing is, the Kanguru dumps regularly. The partition tables or something keep vanishing and all the data on it goes bye-bye. If I kept vital data on it, this would piss me off, but I just have a backup script that I run to snatch loads of the most important personal work files off my work computer to take home and dump on my 5.5TB Drobo. So the data doesn't have to live long, and the script is backed-up.
So here I am with another almost built computer sitting on the floor at home and seeing that I want RAID 5, but also want all the eSATA ports to work, I guess the thing to do is use Solid State Drives. They're faster than RAID 5. You can also get SSD's that fit into PCIe slots, and I can attach a RAID 5 box on the outside, via eSATA. As long as the RAID 5 isn't internal, you can still use it.
I bought a new computer - obnoxiously fancy - capable of everything and including three eSATA ports. So far, none of them have worked.
I bought a SATA hard drive dock that had both USB2.0 and eSATA, but only the USB2.0 ever worked.
At work, my 2TB LaCie Firewire drive has been failing. It keeps dropping offline. To keep from Blue-Screening, I have to delete it from Device Manager and then unplug it, then re-plug it and wait for it to reinitialize. It's been happening about six times a day. That gets old!
So I bought a nifty little 5-drive AMS RAID box that uses 2.5" laptop drives.
It has USB3.0 and eSATA interfaces. Since computers mostly don't come with USB3.0 yet, I decided to give eSATA one last chance.
Google showed me that there are tons of techies out there who can't get eSATA working, so it wasn't just me.
Here's the deal... the marketing departments virtually lie. Manufacturers know that if they put eSATA on a motherboard, they'll sell more computers, but they don't tell you you can't have both internal RAID 5 and eSATA.
AHCI is a SATA mode required for hot-swapping SATA drives. This is very desirable if you intend to use an eSATA device like a USB flash drive. Yanking an eSATA device out without hot-swap capability will crash your computer, and can damage the device.
When you buy a fancy motherboard that can do anything, they don't tell you that of all the drive options it allows, you can choose only one. My Asus motherboard has a 4-drive RAID 5 main drive, but if you turn on RAID 5, you can't use AHCI mode, so none of my eSATA ports work.
Allegedly, AHCI isn't required for eSATA to work - only for hot-swapping. So allegedly you can still use eSATA if you turn off your computer, plug in your eSATA device, and boot cold. But in reality-land, hardly anyone can get eSATA to work unless AHCI is turned on. And it never seems to be "on" by default.
At work, to get my 2250C mini to work on a Dell Optiplex 980 with Windows 7 x64, I checked the BIOS. Unfortunately it was set to SATA-RAID-ATA. I changed it to SATA-RAID-AHCI and the computer became unbootable and even a repair wouldn't work. So I put it back to ATA, dis-joined it from the domain, and ran Sysprep. Sysprep ripped the entire hardware and drive configuration out and turned-off the machine. Then I set the BIOS to AHCI and booted. Windows built back up and booted fine.
So if you've tried changing the BIOS SATA settings and failed on an in-place machine, Sysprep can be your salvation.
Next, I downloaded the latest BIOS flash, Intel chipset drivers, and AHCI drivers and installed them all. Previous to getting the BIOS set to AHCI, the AHCI drivers wouldn't install. The attempt only told me "computer does not meet minimum specs". But with the correct BIOS setting, the drivers went right on.
Then I installed the RAID management utility. When I plugged my RAID box in, it was easy to set it to RAID 5 and build the array. Then in Windows Disk Management, I formatted NTFS and was done. Five drives, 2TB, and almost palm-sized. Freakin' cool!
Too bad the 32GB Kanguru still doesn't work on the eSATA end. It has always worked on the USB end, and it's still one of my favorite flash drives. Only thing is, the Kanguru dumps regularly. The partition tables or something keep vanishing and all the data on it goes bye-bye. If I kept vital data on it, this would piss me off, but I just have a backup script that I run to snatch loads of the most important personal work files off my work computer to take home and dump on my 5.5TB Drobo. So the data doesn't have to live long, and the script is backed-up.
So here I am with another almost built computer sitting on the floor at home and seeing that I want RAID 5, but also want all the eSATA ports to work, I guess the thing to do is use Solid State Drives. They're faster than RAID 5. You can also get SSD's that fit into PCIe slots, and I can attach a RAID 5 box on the outside, via eSATA. As long as the RAID 5 isn't internal, you can still use it.
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