I think Apple has gotten flooded with tons of Apps that you don’t really know the good from the bad and which one exactly fits your need and the rating system is too simple for how complex some of these applications can be. I have managed to find some apps that I will be downloading, some are games which I really want to try and some are useful apps for my use, this isn’t even including the ones I currently have, I wish they would get Google Latitude already loaded as an app.
- NFL Mobile (Down side is you have to be a Direct TV subscriber with the sport package, but I want an NFL App so I’m gonna try it out)
- Need for Speed: Undercover
- Blades of Fury
- Madden NFL 10
- Modern Combat: Sandstorm
I have had this server case sitting on my floor for months on end now and not really getting around to it except a couple of days ago. 4U Rackmount case, the plan was to install two drives, and have a simple setup to use it as a fileserver for all the downloads, sort of a distribution center and on top of that I didn’t mind putting the machine together.
I took the graphics card, one Seagate 750GB HD, one Seagate 1TB HD, a CD-Rom Drive, and two 2GB DDR2 sticks from my old Bunker Server. There are only two new items which I had to purchase:
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Quad-Core Processor, 2.66 GHz, 12M L2 Cache
- ASUS P5Q WS (Same Motherboard as my main WHS Server, HAZMAT)
- Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit
Putting it together didn’t take too long, but I just found out that my rack is a little smaller then expected. I knew it was network rack because I managed to get a cheap one but instead of being 800mm deep it turned out to be 600mm, that was my mistake but the server is still rack mountable since its really short but the rack kit for it won’t really fit so its just going to sit on of the rack mounted UPS.
We put it together and installed the OS, didn’t take too long but the configuration was going to take some time since I had to download all the different software and make sure it all works together. Then I faced a problem of the machine not starting up, I tried everything but it would only power on and not show anything on the screen, I check the error code on the board which said FF and that means the motherboard is fried. I was stumped, I couldn’t figure out what happened, next day K took a look and saw a loose screw which was touching the board and the PSU so it was shorting it out and when that was removed it booted normally which was fantastic. So its now mounted to the rack, ready to go for all my needs, nothing better then building a new machine.
Apple will be making an announcement about their iPods on 9th of September. Now we will see if they will be making the 64 GB rumored iPod Touch and whats going to happen to the classic. Apple always have to leave something up their sleeve with their product line, they never like being out of the lime light or out of the rumor mill for too long.
It just takes one thing for a domino effect to take place when it comes to hardware, I had a failure with one of the tower raids so only half of it was working. So four drives were missing from the WHS and it was issuing warnings left right and center to my computers. I wasn’t sure what was going on but luckily I was able to isolate the location of the drives because that’s another issue and I transferred them to the new TowerRaid, but only three out of the four available were working so one drive was still out. Luckily I had duplication running and everything was safe and dandy in the WHS, at least I didn’t lose any data with a port multiplier failure resulting in four hard drives going missing. That took a little time but I managed to unravel the issue but coming to a full solution is a little bit a head when I butcher the Bunker Server, and that deadline is coming closer and closer.
After that I went ahead and trying to configure my APC 5000 XLI UPS with a network address but turns out it was having issues. But luckily at the end I managed to configure it correctly and access the wed control panel to see what makes it tick, and it has so many features to mess around with but I will make full use of that when I install the servers over the next two weeks.
- Mounting, wiring, and configuring 5KVa APC UPS
- Cleaning out the rack and rearranging the hardware and wiring
- Preparing for server install
That simply put doesn’t really cover all that we did, that UPS weighed over 60 KGs which is a hell of a lot when your trying to mount it inside a rack so we took out the batteries first and proceeded to install the mounting kit. After cleaning out the last 8 months of dust inside that cabinet we proceeded to rewire the network cables and power cables to be a little bit more organized. This major UPS will be supporting three to four servers easily with a few other items, it has a nice feature being manageable through the network and doesn’t have to be connected to a specific machine. The next step over this coming week will be to install and configure the first rack server which will be a testing bed and ftp control server, meaning I will dump all my downloads into that for organization purposes. Then the WHS server will be coming along the week after that, and that will be a hell of an install with so many things at stake with this crazy install. The best part is when you complete an install, and everything goes smoothly which is very rare, now just a few more steps to complete the setup.
On another note Seagate just released their new 2TB drive which seems to be faster then WD, but I think I will stick with WD for now.
Netgear announced the addition of a new, high-density network storage system to its award-winning family of ReadyNAS products for SMBs.Netgear 24TB network storage system for SMBs with the ReadyNAS 3200 is a 2U 12-bay unified storage platform that provides up to 24 terabytes in a single system.
I have always been a fan of the ReadyNAS product line and that was even before Netgear purchased the company, and luckily Netgear has only improved on the product but I still think there is some room for improvement. They mention that this is a new 24 TB 2U 12-bay storage platform, meaning that they are using 2TB Hard Drives to reach this amount but on their Hard Drive support page they do not support the 2TB drives, and when you look to purchase it, it isn’t available yet but the other units are but I’m looking forward to their solution because it will apply to all their product lines. Now for this machine, I think that it is one amazing product and looking forward to seeing some of the reviews, but you don’t get all this techi goodness without a nice juicy starting price of $4000 and thats for the 6 TB unit. As you know you can buy the low end one and buy the hard drives separately and perform the upgrade as you know can be a lot cheaper. As I said before, you can never have too much storage space.
Looking for a high resolution dual output DVI KVM has been a very long process. I have at least found one with Linkskeys’ KVM and I waited a little while for the price to drop too. The best part is that the KVM comes with all the connections for all the computers with Dual Display, so you don’t need to purchase any other wires. I have had this unit for about 10 months now and putting it through its paces, I haven’t done a firmware upgrade to it but I don’t really see the point since its working as need with a few kinks. This is a very heavy duty unit which can take whatever you throw it, 1080p movies, high paced games, and complete multi-tasking on multiple screens across multiple computers, the only problem I really see with it is the price thats the major reason why I only gave it four out of five, but over all its an excellent product.
Pros:
- Can Handle 4 Dual Screen Computers at very high resolutions
- Simple setup
- Boots Mouse and Keyboard in computer so it always detected even if they are connected
- USB Connection for Mouse and Keyboard to Computer and KVM Switch
- All keyboard and mouse features work with Vista which didn’t work with the previous KVM, such as touch pad and volume
- The standard resolution remains at your setting when rebooting and not choosing the specific computer, on my previous KVM it resets to the lowest resolution because you didn’t select it when it was restarting
Cons:
- One Special USB for wireless items
- Hot Key Switching isn’t working with Windows XP (With or WithOut the Software)
- Hot Key Switching only works with software for Windows Vista
- A bit pricey
Price: $739
Link: Amazon
Rating:
Due to the urgency of my hardware capacity expansion I needed increase the amount of space available on my WHS Server. The steps were simple, I ordered the Sans Digital 8 Disk TowerRaid for the fast expansion and I already had a eSata controller in my Hazmat server which had two spare ports, so that worked out perfectly. It just took 10 days to get all the hardware I needed, at first I only ordered two 2TB drives, but then I ordered two more and the replacement to the damage one came as well.
I took some snaps of the Sans Digital TowerRaid which looks great and ready to go, I plugged it in without any hard drives and started it up. No problems with the hardware, everything was working as it should. I tend to be a bit paranoid when it comes to installs such as these, I take things step by step and install one item at a time and I perform a restart every time to make sure nothing goes wrong and if it does I know where the problem originated from, finding the problem is half the issue.
I installed the first 2 TB, and added it to the WHS server storage pool which bumped it another 2 TB, then I added another one. Later on in the evening I got a message saying that the Hazmat server is suffering from a Hard Drive failure and that led me to order a replacement hard drive from Amazon. I took it out, and since I got three more hard drives, one of which was the warrantied drive, which I added to the pool it was working perfectly and I went through the same process of adding one by one. This time I waited about three hours before moving any files and this time it seems to have stabilized.
I got in the box with a three day express DHL delivery which was perfectly on time. For 60 KD I got it the fastest way possible, and I got it out of the shipping box to find this nice HP Box inside. HP 5101 is a nicer then I expected, I think HP learned from their previous editions and improved on it. The laptop feels extremely well built and clean, the keyboard is spacious and the 10.1 inch screen is very nice. At low screen brightness I can get about 6 hours and 23 minutes out of the 6 cell battery and it doesn’t protrude out of the laptop. I went ahead and replaced the ram from a 1GB chip to a 2GB chip which was shipped separately, that was extremely simple with a small panel in the back and its easily replaceable. I currently have XP Home on this little machine, I installed the usual applications to start off with, my intent is to format it and install XP Pro which has a few extra networking features that I usually use but for now I’m going to use it as is and see how it goes.
I have the mobile broadband module installed in the 5101, and I inserted my MTC/Zain chip, I just have to see if it can work with it. I don’t have an Ego subscription and its asking me for a username and password which I do not have, so I’m going to take a sim card from my friend who has an ego subscription and try it out, if not Zain, then wataniya, and if not them then Viva to see if it works. Having a built-in broadband internet into the laptop with access to 3G services of one our providers in Kuwait would be fantastic so thats something I just have to work out. The quality of the laptop is great, a glossy black behind the screen looks very nice but pron to finger print smudges, and the whole laptop is built from a nice rubbery plastic which has a nice feeling to it when you have your hands on it or when your carrying it, just the right amount of friction. It has ports galore, 3 USB, VGA, and SD/MMC slot. Overall I think that HP has built a quality netbook laptop which is on the more powerful side of the netbooks, after using it for a few days now I managed to get a decent 6 hours and 35 minutes out of the laptop which is pretty good for a 6 cell battery that doesn’t protrude. My first impressions is that this is a very good netbook and I’m going to enjoy using it, but I’m going to it through its paces for a longer review.
I ordered the HP 5101 netbook about three weeks ago with some high specifications and at last it has shipping out of HP, it took a little longer because I customized it.
Specs:
- NetBook 5101
- CPU Intel Atom N280
- XP Home
- LCD 10.1 HD Wide Screen
- WEBCAM Integrated 2MP
- Ram: 1G 800DDR2
- HD: SSD 128G 5101
- WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n
- Bluetooth 2.1
- WWAN UNDP
- 6 Cell Battery
After the mistake HP made with the Via chip, I’m happy they went with the Intel Atom chips which are much faster. What I found surprising is that it only comes with XP Home, so I ordered the separate 2 GB ram stick and I will format and install XP Pro right away, then download the necessary drivers to use all the hardware on it. Now I’m getting anxious to get the laptop, nothing better then setting up new hardware.