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  1. Mercutio

    Something Random

    No, it would go to 10.9 on everything except one category where you would inexplicably be a 10.7. RAID10 of PCIe SSDs? Too bad. Your disk subsystem is a 10.7.
  2. Mercutio

    Mount Nexus 7 in Dash?

    You might want to check laws in your state to make sure that you can in fact mount a computer screen in your car in the driver's field of view. I really, really wish someone made a head unit that had functional controls for Android. I played with something with an Android logo on the box but it...
  3. Mercutio

    question Which Tablets

    Oh never mind. The Nexus PHONE is Samsung.
  4. Mercutio

    question Which Tablets

    That's what the Nexus is. Including the made by Samsung bit.
  5. Mercutio

    The obligatory Blackberry thread

    CEOs can't really say things like that, but they have no realistic chance of topping either Google or Apple and to think otherwise would be at least as dangerous a break with reality.
  6. Mercutio

    Windows 8

    Windows 8 has Hyper-V, just like Server 2008 and Server 2012. The problem is, XP Mode was a de-facto free Windows XP license and that's what is missing. Virtual PC also used some aspects of Remote Desktop to make it appear that installed apps were running natively on the desktop where Windows...
  7. Mercutio

    Windows 8

    Windows 8 does not have XP Mode. Weak.
  8. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    The people I work with have a very different perspective on this stuff. They want the facilities to most closely resemble what people are going to use at home and/or at work. I'm having to expend all my efforts at the moment justifying the use of VMs for older versions of Windows so that I don't...
  9. Mercutio

    Windows 8

    Stardock is now offering Start8 for Windows 8. It appears to be free.
  10. Mercutio

    This is the thread for the discussion of interesting apps.

    I use it so that I can use my larger tablets as GPSes without needing a full-time data connection. It works very well for that purpose. Just like reviews on Amazon or Newegg, people will give bad reviews for stupid shit, so I'd take those reviews with a very large grain of salt.
  11. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    I'm not really arguing with anyone. I'd far rather have flash drives. The problem is that I know full well the other people in my office won't change what they're doing or willing to do in classes if they think it might somehow create a different environment than what a typical home or office...
  12. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I use Go Launcher on my Fire.
  13. Mercutio

    question PC may have died-need some feedback on MB/CPU/RAM

    Your DOS-based software may yet run properly. 16-bit Windows apps and programs that depend on a 98/2000/XP driver are the only things that I can absolutely assure you will not work. Also, I had problems setting up dual boot configurations with 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows, where the boot...
  14. Mercutio

    This is the thread for the discussion of interesting apps.

    Have you not heard of CoPilot?
  15. Mercutio

    question Which Tablets

    I don't know about the Fire HD, but I had a different launcher running on my Fire about 90 seconds after I took it out of the box.
  16. Mercutio

    question Which Tablets

    Yes. This is the huge drawback that kept me from fully recommending the Fire as well. It doesn't include Google's apps and in fact the Fire has to be rooted to install anything from the Play Store and certain .APKs even if you do take the time to collect them and try to sideload them. I hate the...
  17. Mercutio

    My 2nd laptop, a Lenovo Thinkpad or a Toshiba Tecra?

    As far as I know, they were made by Lenovo since at least the mid-90s. It's just that up until 2005 or so, they still said IBM on them.
  18. Mercutio

    question PC may have died-need some feedback on MB/CPU/RAM

    Upgrading old Windows installs is a tremendously bad idea. I know it's a pain to reinstall applications, but I've noted that XP -> Vista was a particularly buggy change. Upgrade installs are not well tested by Microsoft and because of the sheer number of variables, there's no telling where or...
  19. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    CD-Rs are $.15.
  20. Mercutio

    question PC may have died-need some feedback on MB/CPU/RAM

    jtr, OS installs are not a thing you need to be worried about.
  21. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    Apparently it's SOP when teaching rooms full of secretaries and mid-level managers Microsoft Office to save the files they make in class on CDs that they can take with them when they leave. I already suggested putting that crap on the web instead, but it's one of those things where we can't...
  22. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    In the end, it doesn't matter, because any setup that does not work EXACTLY LIKE an dedicated individual workstation is going to be rejected, no matter how well it works.
  23. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    There's a further budgetary allocation for spare parts. I'll probably wind up with about 50 grand all told, pending approval of the customers for which we maintain off-site classrooms. Considering the amount of shit I got for wanting to have clients without CD burners, I'm not even going to try...
  24. Mercutio

    While in use, wireless connection suddenly reverts back to default settings!

    I'm assuming this is for Windows so... many vendor-provided wireless clients have decent monitor features as well. My standard practice is to uninstall Lenovo's because it annoys me, but if you're looking the Wireless Zero Config Client instead of the one from Toshiba/Dell/Lenovo/Intel/Linksys...
  25. Mercutio

    question PC may have died-need some feedback on MB/CPU/RAM

    If we're taking up a collection to hook jtr with some decent hardware, I'm more than willing to contribute. And no, normal people do not need 400W PSUs, let alone 500W. Monster PSUs are the reserved domain of people who buy $150+ graphics cards or actually manage fill a mid-tower with hard drives.
  26. Mercutio

    While in use, wireless connection suddenly reverts back to default settings!

    It's actually possible that your router got re-flashed from your ISP. That does happen. Though I expect that would impact your neighbor as well, were it the case. I normally monitor 802.11 signals with a program on my phone called Wifi Analyzer.The simple graph mode normally tells as much of...
  27. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    80 machines total.
  28. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    It's kind of a PHB thing. I start talking about techie things and she tunes it out because she can't be bothered to be interested by any of it and oh hey her kids are sending her text messages and did she hear that Vickie at her country club said bitchy things about Jennifer? So she'll ask me a...
  29. Mercutio

    External RAID enclosure recommendations

    I'm about 98% sure that unit is the same as the Rosewill one. They're cosmetically identical.
  30. Mercutio

    External RAID enclosure recommendations

    It's not my favorite thing in the world either. I've had it for a while and it's barely been used, but that thing is one of the reasons I'm not fond of SiL's SATA chipsets. eSATA has some of the same sorts of arcane nonsense associated with it as external SCSI. Sometimes the enclosure has to be...
  31. Mercutio

    External RAID enclosure recommendations

    I've got a Rosewill 8 bay enclosure I'll sell you.
  32. Mercutio

    Something Random

    Digg got sold not that long ago for a pittance as well. To me, Slashdot is still far and away the best place to learn about IT issues outside my immediate needs and interests. I pick up so much random, useful stuff in discussions there. I can't believe it's only worth some fraction of $20M...
  33. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    "Yeah, sure, Mr. VMware guy. I'd love to help you, but David is the one with the real purchase authority. You're gonna have to talk to him..."
  34. Mercutio

    Android phones: Tips, tricks?

    One of my stripper pals showed me something odd today: a 320x200 Android 2.3 phone with a TOTAL of 175MB(?) RAM and 256MB internal storage, and so many carrier-loaded apps that it was not possible to update basic preloaded software. I couldn't see who made it (strip clubs be dark, yo), but...
  35. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    Next time they call I'll be sure to pass them your phone number.
  36. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    I get sales calls from VMware sales once or twice a week, even though I've never paid for anything but VMware worstation and my IT budget doesn't even make a blip on their radar.
  37. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    I'd love to do some kind of thin client system. It would make my life a zillion times easier. But no, it's not happening. Too much of our training works from the assumption that everyone has a local machine where they can store data and make individual, persistent changes. Plus my boss doesn't...
  38. Mercutio

    VMWare Workstation 9 in production?

    I know I can auto-start a Virtual PC image and I normally handle backups natively within the VM rather than backing up the VM file itself, especially on VMs that need to be running full time. Are you sure this is a case where you need to be virtual? If you don't have any kind of worthwhile...
  39. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    Actually that could very well be a winner. I hadn't even looked at Silverstone. Most of its products would be well out of my price range. Thanks for suggestions all.
  40. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    That's certainly a nice box, Coug, but the case is far too large for most of my classrooms. Antec doesn't offer any well made and inexpensive minitowers. If I went the mITX route, there's the ISK110, but that gets back to the very real possibility that I won't be able to source a power supply in...
  41. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    I have a bothersome mix of first and second generation Antec NSK38xx cases. The first generation models use an obnoxiously-hard-to-source PSU and nothing else looks right with them. I want to ditch those chassis at least, and I might do that by just replacing the the 40% or so of my systems that...
  42. Mercutio

    Windows 8

    Sadly, I've not invested much time in learning Powershell, which is supposed to be a vastly better alternative. I can slip in to bash if I need to do something that I don't immediately know how to do with DOS-style scripting, and I have workalikes for *nix commands for times when I forget what...
  43. Mercutio

    Mozilla Thunderbird

    Sometime in the last couple of releases, Thunderbird has gained support for several IM protocols, most notably Gchat and XMPP. I've also found an add-on that allows me to load the web interface for Google Calendar in a Thunderbird Tab. I can do the same thing locally with Lightning, but the web...
  44. Mercutio

    Windows 8

    I'm in the habit of hitting Win-R and/or starting things from a cmd.exe Window, which is more or less the same way I interact with a *nix system. What I wound up doing to make things easier for myself was to toss a bunch of batch files for the relevant apps in a folder called c:\bin where I...
  45. Mercutio

    Windows 8

    I haven't managed to dig as deeply in management tools with Server 2012 as I wanted, but I will say that overall I approve. I don't think the install even took five minutes (USB3 thumb drive to SSD), and adding/installing roles is simple and well-organized. A lot of my criticisms about Windows 8...
  46. Mercutio

    Another mass build and some hardware thoughts

    I finally got the go-ahead to do new classroom systems. My older machines are nearly six now. Surprisingly, the C2D E6300s I bought all that time ago are still perfectly adequate for everything that happens in our classrooms. At the time, I felt like I might have over-specified just for buying...
  47. Mercutio

    question No more computers

    I'd link to Microsoft's articles about it, but their site is all fucked up because of Server 2012 stuff now, but here's the article from wikipedia.
  48. Mercutio

    Something Random

    He said he thought he was taking a computer class, not an internet class, and that the internet is where all the filth in the world comes from. Which, granted, is kind of why I like it.
  49. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I tried to teach a class tonight that included a student who was so completely opposed to using the internet that I had to ask him to leave.
  50. Mercutio

    question No more computers

    Server 2008 manages that for Windows client systems, Handy.
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