I suppose it is inevitable. I started my Prius hybrid yesterday, and the dash and display lit up like a Christmas tree, with several unsettling lights including a red one with a giant exclamation point stabbing through an outline of the car. Called the dealer. They said “We’ve seen several of these. Try driving it and if something is really wrong, we’ll come down and tow it to our service center.” So today I started it and only one light came on, the “Check Engine” light. I drove it a couple of miles to the convenience store to buy wine. Picked out an Austrian Gruener Veltliner. Restarted the car. The lights were gone.
This is the first time since owning the car for two and a half years that I have had to reboot the car. But can you imagine if the car computer was running Windows?

I can’t quite understand it when vendors make it difficult to give them money. Consider the following sequence of events that I went through to order a $3,000 server with Dell.
1. Go to Dell academic web site
2. Configure server online. This presents points of interest, because several items have a stated price of $ABC, then in red, a special offer price of $XYZ, good for a limited time, or free, or whatnot.
3. Save configuration as an ‘eQuote’
4. Attempt to retrieve eQuote for printing, which failed.
5. Called Betsy, the Dell rep that I used for previous two purchases. (name changed to protect the possibility that the reps themselves are mere cogs in this labyrinth.)
6. After listening to a five minute recording of ‘marketing speak’, she says she is unavailable and I should contact her backup rep.
7. Leave message for backup rep
8. Wait two days for callback
8. Send eMail to backup rep
9. Wait 1 day
10. Backup rep “Jean” finally calls. I tell her I have an eQuote with my fully configured server that she should pull up, so that we can verify the hardware and go ahead with the purchase.
11. She can’t pull up the quote.
12. She then says…’Oh…it is a file server…you need to talk to our file server technical folks…I can’t handle this. Let me put you through to them…
13. Hands me off to “Thomas”.
13. Thomas can’t pull up the eQuote. The quote was saved on the academic web site, not the “small business” web site. (where it is called a shopping cart, but you have to be logged in with your “premier login”. (We qualify for academic pricing, always…as we are an educational facility of out-of-school youth, among other things…)
14. I recite the specs from memory and he types them into his quote software. I also spcify an HP tape drive which was offered on the academic web site…he says he can’t “source” that drive…would I accept another? I want Windows 2003 Server academic….he can’t provide that either. So I tell him, not to include software in the quote.
15. He asks if I want an HP switch. (This is the equivalent of “you want fries with that?”) I say I’m ordering a server. He says, what kind of switches to you have? I say 3 Hewlett Packard switches and we’ve got a dozen free ports and I DON’T BLOODY NEED A SWITCH I’M TRYING TO GET A SERVER WITH A TAPE DRIVE.
16. He says “Oh…, its just that we’re offering a free switch right now”.
17. He sends me the quote via eMail. It includes Windows 2003 Server software and a keyboard, neither of which I ordered.
18. I eMail back, asking to delete the Win 2003 software.
19. He sends another quote for the server (without the tape drive).
20. He sends a quote for the tape drive. Note that both quotations include obscure part numbers, and almost no description for the items, nor do they show the line-item pricing for the items. If I attempt to go back on the web site to see what I’m ordering….do a search on PV100T, for example, it doesn’t come up. So for comparison purposes, the quotes are useless.
21. Both quotes include a links for completing the orders online. I do this.
22. I then eMail him confirming that I completed the orders, and I wanted to make sure that even though there were two quotes that it was clear that it was a single order and I wanted the hardware for the tape drive connected to the server.
23. He called back, some hours later and said he would try to make this happen.
24. I also mentioned the difficulty of this purchase and he said I should call him directly next time.

Isn’t that what the last person said?

Welcome to Tech for Non Profits. As the banner says, Non-profit organizations need technology as much as for-profit businesses. As a consultant for mostly non-profit organizations, I am interested in finding hardware and software for office networks that provides outstanding value.

Comments and suggestions are appreciated. Drop by the Microdesign Consulting web site.

Somewhere, wandering around I found a setting in my Windows XP monitor setup. Right click on the desktop and go to ‘Properties’. Choose the ‘Appearence’ tab. Click on the ‘Effects’ button. You’ll see the following screen:

Be sure that “Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts” is checked, and that the drop down list shows “ClearType”. It is like getting a new pair of bifocals.

Network Magic is a new management program for home networks. It diagrams the network, helps you share files between machines, shows the status of all the components, etc. You load and run this on each workstation on a peer-to-peer network.

There is no support for servers, or Linux, other than identifying the machines on the network.

If you have a peer-to-peer network at home or in a small office, this is a neat program that makes Windows networking tools look clunky by comparison. You can get a free beta version.

Here’s a screen shot

So, it still is a good idea to stay out of the hardware business. My new homebuilt Pundit-R won’t load Windows. It won’t load Novell Suse Desktop 9.0 , or rather it will load the Suse, but Suse doesn’t recognize the embedded network controller.

Turns out Windows XP doesn’t include drivers for the SATA hard disk. These need to be loaded separately on bootup, from a floppy drive. While I don’t have a floppy drive, one needs to be temprarily installed for the purpose.

What does work is Fedora Core 3, and that is what this machine will be for the time being; a Linux Desktop machine.

So, for now, the rule still applies: Stay out of the hardware business.

This book describes the building of several computers:

• Mainstream Desktop
• Small Server
• Game Machine
• Small Form Factor Machine
• Home Theater Machine

The first couple of chapters provide a basic overview of component choices, required tools, and assembly techniques. Then there is a chapter for each of the specific project computers. There are lots of photographs, and thorough discussions about which components and memory to choose. They name names and sources for motherboards, cases, memory, and processors.

Fortunately, I had bought my case before reading their book because the Pundit-R line was not on their recommended list of cases. But there is a lot of very good information in here.

Building the Perfect PC
Robert Bruce Thompson
Barbara Fritchman Thompson
August 2004 O’Reilly and Associates

Well, yesterday I bit the bullet and began assembling the Pundit-R computer. My misgivings about the noise were entirely unfounded, and the little guy is quiet and unobtrusive even before the case is put back on. The machine comes with a massive heat sink and fan for the processor. I installed an Intel Pentium-4 2.4 processor that has a 533Mhz front-side bus, which is less than the capacity of the motherboard, and will perhaps run cooler than the fastest possible chip.

The disk drive, a Maxtor 60gig drive comes with an S-ATA connector. This has a very short, stiff cable which caused some difficulty installing. I also installed a CD-RW drive which serves as the boot drive for loading an operating system. I attempted to install Novell Desktop 9.0 (Suse) which failed to load, and to boot and install Windows XP Professional which started a hardware check and then blanked out the screen. Finally Linux Fedora Core 3 installed without incident. Performance is snappy. It is working fine for the moment, and I’ll pursue the Windows problem later, (or not…)

Costs:
Case = US$170.50
Processor, Hard Drive, and CD-Drive = US$257.91
Memory=157.97

Total: $586.38

Note this is without software… if you add Windows, it would be another $133 or so.

Basic building time was about an hour…but I did spend some time troubleshooting a problem with the drive connections, (master and slave…channels, etc.) If I was building a machine for the first time, I think a small tower case would have been a better choice…it makes it easier to change things around.

But, place this in context. Checking on the Dell site, I see a Dell “workstation” machine with a 2.8Ghz processor, no operating system, 512Megs of RAM, 40 Gigabyte SATA hard drive and 48x CD ROM and a 3 year on-site basic warranty plan for $709 after a rebate, but before shipping, (which is usually $50.00 at least). Add $150.00 to bring up the memory amount, $49.00 for a CDRW and $40.00 to boost the hard drive to 80 megs. This gives a total of $938 before shipping.

Now, I’m not about to reward myself for a savings of $352 and say that I earned $300+ per hour for the assembly… but… if you have more time than money…well…

I think if I had teenagers who needed a new machine, this would be an ideal route. Make ’em build it themselves.

I’m not sure why it went this way this week, but I spent almost half the week trying to clean up a windows mess on several computers. While many of the techniques have been described in earlier posts, there is an excellent book co-authored by a favorite tech writer, Jeff Dunteman. The book: Degunking Windows is written for the novice or non-geek, and describes a systematic approach for practicing personal computer hygiene.

The first page includes “The Quick Degunking 12-Step Program”:

1. Get rid of the files you don’t really need (Chapter 3).
2. Uninstall programs you don’t need (Chapter 4).
3. Organize your files and folders (Chapter 5).
4. Clean up your Desktop and Start menu (Chapter 6).
5. Reduce your e-mail spam, and sort thorugh and organize your Outlook mail (Chapters 7 and 8).
6. Clean and fine-tune the Registry (Chapter 9).
7. Optimize your hard drive (Chapter 10).
8. Install the latest upgrades (Chapter 11).
9. Incorporate Power Toys and good shareware to help keep your machine clean and running efficiently (Chapter 13).
10. Improve security and set up a good firewall (Chapter 14).
11. Back up your system on a regular basis (Chapter 15).
12. Use a smart approach if you think your machine is ready to be retired (Chapter 16).

Degunking is an ongoing process, an attitude…dare I say, a lifestyle. The book includes task lists for those times when you have 10 minutes to degunk, or 30 minutes, or an hour, or three hours, or a half-day.

Degunk. It feels good.

Degunking Windows
Joli Ballew and Jeff Duntemann
ISBN: 1-932111-84-0
Paraglyph Press

Welcome to Tech for Non Profits. As the banner says, Non-profit organizations need technology as much as for-profit businesses. As a consultant for mostly non-profit organizations, I am interested in finding hardware and software for office networks that provides outstanding value.

Comments and suggestions are appreciated. Drop by the Microdesign Consulting web site.