Unto the pure, all things are pure

I have often clean install HP/Compaq notebooks from scratch, using my own Windows CDs/DVDs, and downloading each driver from HP one by one. This is because when I go for the recovery CDs, they are not useable for whatever reasons: lousy media, scratches, mould, et cetera. Lately, some HP/Compaq notebooks provide the option to create ISO images instead of writing directly to CDs/DVDs. With abundant cheap storage nowadays, you should always use this option. Make sure you back up the images on more than one disks. Burn them onto DVDs only when you need to recover a system. I have just bought a refurbished Compaq 8710p with the original HP 3-year warranty from a HP reseller. When I tried to make a set of recovery DVDs, unfortunately it tells me a set has already created from the system. According to the Help info, this obstruction is because of the Windows Vista license and not the HP drivers. What I actually need is the HP drivers and not the Vista DVD. Notwithstanding that the notebook c...

As I have said earlier, the sealing capability to block out external sounds is zero. In a quiet place, I can hear the different parts of the orchestra clearly. Unless I compare it with a reference source, I cannot say for certain that I can hear all parts of the orchestra that were recorded. But in a quiet place it sounds really good. In a noisy place, nothing is heard. Turning up the volume is suicidal of course and hence is something I do not try. Listening while jogging is out as the ear pieces do not stay in place. If I hold with both hands, I hear the whole orchestra. When I let go, I just hear a weak melody, losing the identity of the instruments. Also, it seems to forget the pairing with my Nokia E-71. I think the problem is in the Motorola as my phone works fine with another Nokia mono headset in the past. So, everytime I power on the Motorola, it connects automatically. After about three seconds, it disconnects. I have to manually pair it from the phone and enter the...

I just found this celebration of the 40th anniversary of the System/360 at the Computer History Museum. Another presentation at the museum said that the S/360 project is like Google today pouring $32 billion into a new product which might or might not work to replace search. I found a video of the presentation here . For the few who have the opportunity to write their programs on punched cards, paper tape, teletypes, CRTs, and now Visual Studio 2008, perhaps we should be more prepared to celebrate the 50th anniversary in 2014.

I am very pleased with the audio performance of this mobile concert hall . Anywhere (almost) or anytime, this headset turns my Nokia E-71 into a very nice piano concerto machine . At Nokia volume level 1 (one notch above mute) and Motorola minimum volume level (double beeps), I can hear the klavier keys crisp and sharp, almost like sitting next to it. The cellos and double basses stun as they reverberate through my nervous system. ppp passages drown me in a stupor, and as the orchestra crescendos in the final bars, I have to hold back from clapping and making a fool of myself. I said almost anywhere as the sealing capability of the "ear buds" is zero. Other than in a quiet environment, I have to push the "ear buds" with both hands into my ears and hold them there. So while it's cord-free, it's definitely not hands-free. The "ear buds" are no ear buds. They are gigantic speakers that perhaps only Shrek can call them ear buds.

There are at least three identities that I know of when you run an ASP.Net page on an IIS server. They are: At the page level: Page.User.Identity At the thread level: System.Threading.Thread.CurrentPrincipal.Identity At the process level: System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent() Then there are authentication and impersonation modes to set. In Vista, the Computer Management configuration is not as neat as XP or Server 2003, as follows: The different identities have values as follows (the IIS server is mozart and the web browser user is UserA): Authentication Mode ASP.Net Impersonation Process Thread Page Anonymous False NT AUTHORITY\ NETWORK SERVICE - - Anonymous True NT AUTHORITY\ IUSR - - Windows False NT AUTHORITY\ NETWORK SERVICE mozart\UserA mozart\UserA Windows True mozart\UserA mozart\UserA mozart\UserA References: Process and Thread Identity in ASP.Net - A Practical Approach

.... WORK IN PROGRESS ... This is a long blog entry, as the matter is serious and it cannot be trivialized by a few sound bites. I started using Windows Vista only in January 2008. I didn't believe all the negative reviews out there. After jumping into it, I still do not accept all the comments that I have read previously. But Windows Vista is more than a disaster , it is alarming. It looks like the first step of a Microsoft decline, unless Microsoft takes drastic steps to get out of this complacency. Speedwise, Vista is not slow, it is just fatally flawed. Features-wise, Vista is a retrograde, a big step backward. Things which we could previously do in Windows XP and Windows 2000 are now missing. Microsoft does not give information on how Windows Vista is done. So I can only try and reconstruct by deducing from what I can see. First, it is a very different team that worked on Vista. This is a team of Generation Xers , iPod- totting, and who use Windows XP without ventur...

Remember Apollo 11? Apollo 11 took men to the moon and back safely. There were some computers on the rocket, the command module and the lunar module, vintage perhaps, but still capable computing power to take men to the moon and back no less. Working on the Apollo program were about 10,000 or more people: NASA employees and contractors. There were also a number of mainframe computers supporting the program, and to let all those 10,000 interact. In those days, there were no personal computers. Maybe a few leading edge engineers had electronic calculators . Nevertheless, they still sent men to the moon and back with all the stuff they had. Freely call any electronics that is capable of holding some charge RAM.  Call anything that is capable of doing some work on a clock cycle computing power.  Now, if you add up all the computing power in all the electronics, all the mainframes and whatever computers that were used, in mission control, launch control, the comman...

Passing on the baton ... @1995 @ 2008