This is more of a photo blog, the image below is IE6 & IE8 running on the same machine (OptiPlex 740 with Windows 7 RC and VirtualXP) at the same time.  If only 7 was actually gold and deployed to my desktops…  I wouldn’t have to worry about running another machine just for IE6.  Someday…  Someday…

So I joined up to beta test Windows 7, more for the fun and distraction of it than anything.  I downloaded both the 32 and 64 bit ISOs and burned em’ to DVD for installation.  Below is a basic walkthrough of the installer and a fix for a problem that occurs on my test hardware (Dell Optiplex 740)

7’s install is as straight forward as Vista’s.  You choose your language, time and currency format and your keyboard layout and then accept the license.  Next you choose your install type (I chose custom, not upgrade).  Following that, you select your destination partition (I’m installing on a dual boot system and I created the partition in advance) and let it go.  The installer copies the files to the hard disk and reboots the machine for the first time.

This is where the fun begins!  The machine boots and you get the fancy Windows particle animation, some notifications of reg and system updates, a message reading that Windows is completing the installation and then… a black screen with just a hint of color in the top row of pixels.  The installer is still working as indicated by DVD and hard disk drive access.  Eventually, the machine will reboot again and attempt to load Windows, you’ll be left at the same black screen.

The problem is that there’s a driver update required for the video chipset to work properly, here’s how I got into Windows in order to install the update.

Note: I was able to get higher resolutions working as long as I didn’t select 1280×1024.  Since that’s what I (and the OS) wanted, I went for the updated driver.

1. Restart
2. Press F8 to pull up advanced boot menu
3. Select Enable low-resolution video (640×480)
   
4. Setup will continue… (albeit in a low resolution)
5. Give Setup the information it needs (account, PC name, password and so on)
6. Run Windows Update and install anything required
7. Restart when prompted, be sure to select low-resolution mode during boot..
8. Run Windows Update again
9. Install the optional NVIDIA updates (there’s only 1 update if you installed w7 64bit)
10. Post install, Windows will set the res to 1280×1024 and you’re done.

That’s all folks, start installing your apps and see what works

Amusing video…  http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1886349

… and other than that, I’ve got nothing else to say at the moment

This summer, the Uni moved to a new mail system.  We left behind the customized IMAP over TLS/SMTP over SSL setup for a newer, supported and more advanced setup.  The new back-end is Zimbra Collaboration Suite.  Being that this isn’t only a mail system, but a collaboration suite (hence the nifty title) it’ll also support calendaring and IM.

Pre-migration, my group used Thunderbird to access their mail via IMAP over SSL.  When there weren’t server problems (of which there were a few) this was a fast, easy and slick method of managing email.  We had access to an LDAP server for campus addresses and Thunderbird was especially apt at narrowing down your list of addresses as you filled in a To:/From: field (this is something I miss on a daily basis).  For personal and collected addresses there was the Thunderbird address book.  TB provides strong searching utils (quick search and advanced), tagging (custom tags, not just colored, nameless flags) and threading (something I used for lists, came in VERY handy).  That’s just out of the box, with add-ons, applying notes to messages and working with PGP messages is trivial.

For years, TB served us and did it well.  The only complaints I got, were about missing features, of course, the features weren’t missing, it was always a lack of know-how on the part of the complainant.  Well, that’s almost true, TB was lacking in some respects, and it was lacking in our infrastructure as much as in TB.  Obviously, the lack of calendar integration was an issue.  Our calendar system was proprietary and TB (even with the Lightning plugin) wasn’t going to work with it.  You also had the personal address book and other configuration options stored on the desktop instead of the server.  For me, that was always less than ideal.

Enter the new hope, Zimbra.  Zimbra has been dubbed an Exchange killer and as such is supposed to allow you to do everything Exchange can do (and more) without having to run Exchange.  I like this idea (it’s the love of F/OSS that pleases me here) and for the most part, Zimbra fits the bill (this isn’t going to be a review of Zimbra).

Now that we have back-end software that supports MAPI (Exchange protocol), I decided to give Outlook (OL) a shot.  As a matter of fact (and to save time and whining) I’ll just tell you, I recommended that we move to Outlook, got the approval and did the deed.  We’re all using it now and will be for the foreseeable future.

We use OL for a single reason, integrated mail, address book and calendar.  I had a difficult time opting to go with OL, it IS a weak mail client.  I have lists of annoyances, but this is because I like software that works, makes working with it easy and generally doesn’t suck.  That said, I’m betting that the integration will make the lives of my people easier.  In the end, that’s my job.  Find what’s best for them, show them how it’s best for them and make it work.

Time will tell what happens.  Today we’re still using the old calendar and client to access it.  Essentially all we’ve done is change mail clients.  Once the calendar service is rolled out, perhaps my dislike for outlook will ease up a bit.  I’m hoping so.

Oh and the results…  For the most part, people are completely indifferent to pretty OK.  To them it’s just email, click new, add address, add subject (sometimes), fill in the body and click send.  If it works, it’s good.  I have a few folks (more technical people) who realize that in the email department, we did downgrade, but they understand why and we’re changing how we do things to fit the OL way.

I hope to do some playing with folder sharing (something we couldn’t do with IMAP and TB) I’ll post about it and hopefully have some nice things to say

Stay tuned for Summer in Review, Episode 2: Attack of Dell Image Direct (note: titles are subject to change without notice).

Heya,

Check it out, the Christmas 2008 tree.  We went out and pre-selected it before the snow and cold arrived.  This is all Nat’s doing btw, good call.  We can go and cut it down anytime after Thanksgiving.  The good news is that they have plenty of tall trees here and we can keep going back for a while (the place we’ve been going to has run out of tall fatties).  The photo quality is pretty lame (cell cam) but you can see that it’s a tree amongst trees.  It’s 12ft tall and ~8ft around and works for us