Gadgets

I work for Microsoft now

David Vidmar — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:00:27 GMT

It’s been quiet around here and for a good reason. As I hinted before there has been many changes in my life recently. In same week I became father for second time (father of three boys now, twins and a new baby!), finally finished my engineer’s degree and finally, I joined the ranks of best company in the world to work for – Microsoft.

I’ll be working as I consultant for Biztalk Server and Forefront Identity Manager and from time to time a Dynamics CRM consultant.

So, what can you expect? Occasional dry stints, lots of BTS and FIM links, Windows Phone 7, Azure and Windows 8 and other cool Microsoft stuff.

If you are fellow Microsoftie, please look me up and drop me a note – let’s connect!

Windows Homer Server 2011 is finally available on MSDN and TechNet!

David Vidmar — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 21:57:49 GMT

If you haven’t noticed, WHS 2011 is finally available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers!

Gentlemen, start your downloads and clear your schedule for the big reinstall!

HitriSMS

David Vidmar — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 22:51:11 GMT

[For Slovenian / Mobitel users only]

HitriSMS je minimalističen program za pošiljanje SMS sporočil. Deluje podobno kot M:Namiznik, vendar hitreje, enostavneje in bolj elegantno.

Namestitev in uporaba

Prenesi ga in shrani na poljubno mesto. Razpakiraj in si že gotov/a - namestitev ni potrebna!

Ko ga boš prvič pognal/a, te bo vprašal za prijavo. Zavij na https://moj.mobitel.si in se prijavi. Kot uporabniško ime vpiši svojo GSM številko, geslo pa ti Mobitel pošlje po SMS.

Za nekaj namigov kako ga lahko program učinkovito uporabiš, klikni na "'?". Jaz ga uporabljam tako, da ga poženem s kombinacijo tipko Win+F12 in tako ga lahko prikličem res hitro. Uporabljam AutoHotKey, lahko pa podobno narediš na veliko načinov.

Še dve opozorili

deluje samo, če si naročnik Mobitela;
pošiljanje ni brezplačno, ampak ima sporočilo enako ceno, kot če SMS pošlješ s telefona, saj pošiljaš preko svojega računa pri Mobitelu.

Prenesi HitriSMS 1.0

Site troubles

David Vidmar — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 06:50:31 GMT

This site has been experiencing technical difficulties in last couple of days. As far as I can see, it’s been some hackers playground. Things are returning to normal.

Thank you all for your patience.

Logitech Harmony One tips, tricks and hack

David Vidmar — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:06:45 GMT

Here is a list of sites, downloads, tips, tricks and hacks for Logitech Harmony universal remote controls, mostly for Harmony One.

Don't use the software that came with remote. Download last version from Logitech.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/440/3742&hub=1&cl=roeu,en?section=downloads&tabs=1,3,2,5

Print this worksheet when you go hunting for model numbers of your devices.
http://myremotesetup.com/easyzapper/New/ProcAddDevices/DeviceWorksheet.asp?OEMName=logitech

Check if your devices are compatible with the remote.
http://myremotesetup.com

Great database of channel icons for use with “favorite channels” feature.
http://www.iconharmony.com

Some more tips and tricks.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=967841

Use some models on Linux (but not One).
http://www.phildev.net/harmony/

Windows Home Server 2.0

David Vidmar — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:53:52 GMT

My good old home server died. This 7 years old machine that I stacked with hard drives was happily running Windows Home Server and few more things on the top for little more than a year.

But just last week some capacitors on main board blew and it was time to find a substitute.

I quickly decided I need brand new machine I could trust. This were requirements for components:

Case with enough space for 3.5” drives that can be mounted without screws, can be ugly, nobody will see it.
Low energy consumption CPU, possibly dual core for extra power for occasionally building of my software, network video rendering and some light web hosting-
Motherboard with onboard graphics card and gigabit Ethernet, since I rewired home network with gigabit lan (man, it flies!).
Heat and loudness is not something I’m concerned about, since machine will be in the basement - far from anyone to hear it and where is cold enough.
2 GB RAM so I can start extra virtual machine if needed-
1 TB of disk space to add to my current ~2 TB array of drives-
Cheap.
On stock.

This is what I came up with:

Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-331 – 31.90 EUR

Simple and cheap, but with quite intelligent system for locking drives.

Power Supply Unit: be quite! Straight power 350W – 41.90 EUR

It’s rated “80 plus”, has lots of power cables for drives and I don’t need anything more than 300W.

Motherboard: ASUS M3N78 motherboard – 62.90 EUR

Probably little over the top, but I it was on sale.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5050e – 59.90 EUR

As suggested by coworker, low consumption, more than enough performance.

RAM: 2x1GB Kingston ValueRAM DDR2-800 – 30.20 EUR

Trustworthy brand, but cheap-

Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar 1TB – 89.90 EUR

What a price for 1 TB of space! I want more! :)

Cooling: none

Stock fan that came with CPU, no need for anything more.

Optical drive: none

I’ll just pull SATA DVD-ROM from my main machine to do install, from then on I don’t need it.

Total cost: ~320 EUR

I’ll add 2 x 500GB WD and 2 x 240 WD ATA drives joined in RAID0 on FastTrack TX2000 controller from old machine and drop other smaller disks.

I’ll reuse Windows Home Server OEM from old machine.

Update: It’s up and running. I’ll move data from old drives over the night and it’s all set!

(Almost completely) silent Radeon 3650 graphics card

David Vidmar — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:58:41 GMT

I needed a second DVI connector on my desktop computer for attaching LCD TV so I went with Gigabit Radeon 3650, removed stock cooler and attached Scythe Musashi aftermarket cooler.

When assembled it looked and worked so good I had to share this picture with the world.

With it’s massive fans and speed controls I can run this on slowest possible speed, cooler is completely cool and it’s completely silent. Cool & cool!

Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Released

David Vidmar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:15:09 GMT

Today we saw a release of Windows Home Server Power Pack 1.

So, what’s new?

Windows Vista x64 bit client,
option to repair backup database,
backup of home server Shared Folders (I don’t need, I prefer Jungle Disk for off-site backup),
and, of course, fixed dreaded data corruption bug that everyone feared but no-one got bitten by,
plus better performance, lower power consumption and other things we can’t really see.

If you were putting off getting WHS for your home, now is the time! It’s the best solution for home storage & backup by far. I use it for a while now and I still love it. If you can’t buy it off-shelf, head to eBay.com.

So, what happens when you upgrade?

You have to install new version of connector software on all computers. Simple, fast, semi-automatic.
You’ll have to update remote access setting. Simply reconfigure with wizard and it’s done in a snap.
You’ll probably have to change users password for remote access, since now they have to be (very strong).

All in all 10 minutes of your time.

Download: Windows Home Server Power Pack 1

More info: Description of the Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 update, Windows Home Server Release Documentation

My Dell laptop is running loud, fan is almost always on full speed

David Vidmar — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:11:10 GMT

Lately my Dell Latitude D820 has been running very hot and loud. I tried to help it cool with various desk and lap positions, but things went from bad to worse. Google search confirmed my suspicion that dust has killed it’s cooling capabilities.

I could take it to repairs, but that’s no fun. And since times at Vidmar family are very stressful, what better way to take mind off troubles that some“screwdriver fun!?

First, I ran I8kfan GUI, a free tool to monitor temperature and change fan speed of Dell laptops. My CPU was hot, and speeding or slowing down didn’t do nothing to the temperature. Another proof, that dust is was in the way.

Getting to the fan is not easy, as one has to:

unscrew every screw you find on the bottom and back of the laptop,
remove battery,
remove keyboard,
remove hinge,
remove display.

Luckily Dell provides instructions, so it’s not that hard as it seems. Instructions also tell that you should also remove hard drive, wireless card and RAM, but it’s not true.

After opening my laptop, this is what I found.

This is how it will look after you take your laptop apart (glasses optional).

After cleaning laptop is running 15-20°C cooler than before.

One more piece of advice before doing what I just did – there are three kinds of screws. Black, fat and short for hard drive, silver for display and black and longer for everything else. Keep that in mind when putting machine back together.

Free software for Nokia Symbian phones

David Vidmar — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:07:36 GMT

Following one of most popular posts on this blog about Free Software for Nokia 6600, this is some more free titles, collected by Robert:

Tools

Calcium - Slick calculator.
S60SpotOn - Handheld torch.
Tasky - Task manager.
Y-Browser - File manager.

Information

Mobile Weather - Weather forecast application.
Papyrus - Time management. ($19.95!)

Games

S-Tris 2 - Tetris.

You can find a more software in lists on N95 blog and Lifehacker.