Episode 110 - Google Wave Preview, HTC HD2 Crushes iPhone, DIY Windows Home Server, Automated Driver Tools, ODROID vs. Zune! [Discussion]

[serafina]

Tekzilla On The Roku, HTC Phones: HTC Sense Makes Windows Mobile 6.5 Wonderful! Build Yourself a Windows Home Server: it's not just backing up! Automated Driver Tool Recommendation, Maximum PC's Will Smith is in the house! ODROID vs. Zune HD for 720p video. Feeling ill? Try WebMD Symptom Checker!

Watch or download this episode here

In ten years of doing an mswindows admin and client support for thousands of machines less than ten times was defragging ever needed, Unless you are adding and deleting files incessantly, there is no need for it. Defragging only puts unneeded wear and tear on the drive. In fact we could always tell an amateur tech support person, because they would recommend defragging as the all cure.

Secondly it is very easy to use winrsync (as well as other programs) with freenas (as well as Llnux/unux backup boxes) to backup mswindows clients either totally or piecemeal. Normally I leave my backup server turned off unless I know I am going to do some data backup. So the power issue is not that critical. With linux and mswindows you can start and shut down a server either manually or with batch files very easily. You can have the server (with hardware that supports it) turn on at night when backups can be done at a low peak usage period. Large files are burned to dvd to conserve server space. I have no problem using 200 to 500 megabyte storage for a server since media and other large data files and etc are offloaded to dvd. If I want to look at a dvd it is just easy as picking up a dvd and throwing into a machine.

Lastly, I did spend quite a bit of time with Windows home server with the disk media I was sent directly from Microsoft. The un-upgraded version ran pretty well, for a mswindows os, but once I upgraded nothing worked, anymore including our tv card. It was a piece of crap. There has been documented multiple issues with it security wise for windows home server. Our linux server box could do twice as much with half the horsepower that mswindows home server requires and not be limited to ten users. You could do the same thing with os/x 4.8 on a ppc box and still be better than whs.

More msfud.

[ghelyar]

Veronica likes cocktail.

Didn't they bleep that out a couple of weeks ago just to avoid "I love cock" edits?

[mikemcculley]

I thought Wave seemed rather mundane for the amount of attention it's been receiving. Communication on the internet is only beginning to evolve, and while Google's newest thing is a step in the right direction, I don't see it bringing about a new paradigm. I'll save full judgment, however until I use it myself. It is nice to see a more chatroom-like interface - definitely underused in professional environments.

[fee]

Cool episode! Very cool to see Will smith on the show, Maximum PC rocks

[nav13eh]

Great episode! They didn't answer any of my questions from dimdim, but is was still a good episode! Finally, there going to talk about windows 7!!!!

[davmoo]

Anybody who buys any kind of Google invite on eBay is a pathetic idiot with more money than intelligence. I just had to say that right off.

Moving on...

I agree with Computoman. Defragging a modern PC is more hype than anything else. I usually defrag every 6 months or so, just because. But in extensive benchmarking with my own systems I have yet to see any real improvement in speed that is worth the hype. And if you're having trouble with corrupt files on your system defragging sure as hell isn't going to fix it...I always get a kick when I hear tech buttheads recommend defragging as a cure for Damned Near Everything.

Since Windows 7 came out, both in RC and final release form, I've installed it probably a hundred times on 20 or so systems in multiple configurations in order to get familiar with it. Unless you have hardware so new that the design was not finalized until a couple of weeks ago, Windows 7 will handle it. The only problem I've had on any machine is with a network card that, because of idiocy at Linksys (and I blame Cisco, because stuff like this didn't happen before they bought Linksys), the card improperly tells Windows 7 what kind of network card it is. After each install I have to go in and manually tell this particular machine that no, it isn't that kind of card, its this kind of card, use this driver because I say so. Other than that, Windows 7 has done fine identifying hardware and installing drivers on every machine I've thrown it at, from 5 year old laptops to a machine that isn't more than a month old.

That said, after you install Windows 7 you will want to immediately go to your video card maker's web site and update your video drivers. Intel, Nvidia, and ATI have all released upgraded Windows 7 drivers since Windows 7 went to manufacturing.

[mikec]

Originally Posted by davmoo

Anybody who buys any kind of Google invite on eBay is a pathetic idiot with more money than intelligence. I just had to say that right off.

I would agree but I also never heard of buying an invite either.

Sounds like the type of person who would wait in line, at night, to be the first to buy a new cell phone or computer.

I saw a full demo of google wave. It seemed interesting. I have not seen the software that Veronica recommended, so I can not compare. In the demo of Google wave I saw, it was mentioned that they might have a local version for free that you could install on a local area network but they were still working out security issues. I wonder if that is also true on the Google hosted version since there is so much delay in bringing out the product.

As for Windows 7, it does not seem to like via chipsets with integrated video and etc, That may have changed by now. I have installed W7rc on several name brand dual core machines that were vista ready without a hitch except for the extremely long time it took to install the os and all the basic software. Personally have used osx, linux, bsd, and microsoft windows XP, I saw no real advantage of using mswindows 7 over the others except for emptying the bank account for having to upgrade to get new hardware to run w7. Even Microsoft now admits you really need a 64 bit machine with honking memory to run it right. MS allegedly just came out with a bunch of security and other updates for w7. If you have W7 be sure and get them. I do agree with Daymoo about updating hardware drivers directly from the vendor. Microsoft update is just a quick fix. Getting the drivers from the vendor is true for all operating systems. Unless you get a qualified tech to do it for you. there is no easy way around it. When Microsoft is already touting mswindows 8, it makes me wonder how much faith they really have in their own product.

http://windows8center.com/
http://gizmodo.com/5377132/steve-bal...all-over-again
http://www.softsecurity.com/news/hig...ssentials.html

[nav13eh]

Originally Posted by davmoo

I agree with Computoman. Defragging a modern PC is more hype than anything else. I usually defrag every 6 months or so, just because. But in extensive benchmarking with my own systems I have yet to see any real improvement in speed that is worth the hype. And if you're having trouble with corrupt files on your system defragging sure as hell isn't going to fix it...I always get a kick when I hear tech buttheads recommend defragging as a cure for Damned Near Everything.

I agree, a defrag is not going to bring down a magical fairy and fix everything in your computer. I have in fact had very bad experiences with system defrag in Windows XP and 3rd party defraging tools. lets say at your next boot you get a lovely black and white message that says windows cannot boot. It really makes your day.