Categories
Hardware Technology

FAQ: Should I install the 32bit or 64bit version of Windows 7?

… or, indeed, on a system with modern 64bit-capable processor(s) is it better to run the 32bit or 64bit version of any given OS?

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Technology Video

Interesting & geeky stuff on YouTube

Cool videos from times past after the break…

Categories
Technology Thoughts UNIX

Debian abandons GNU-libc for Embedded fork

I’ve hosed systems in the past by inadvertently downgrading the C-library, which breaks… everything. Luckily, this is why I have test machines before updates are rolled out to all of our servers.

Even so, this makes upgrading glibc to a newer version a somewhat fraught experience – especially when it can’t pass its own test-suite (when enquiring about this, I was told that the test suite “is only intended for glibc developers, not end users“… great – an absolutely system-critical component with almost no possibility of roll-back and a broken test-suite. <sigh>

The Debian project isn’t happy with things either, and just a couple of days ago Aurélien Jarno announced initial moves to abandon glibc for the eglibc (Embedded GNU libc) code-base. This was quickly picked up and seem to have been met with approval.

Categories
Technology Thoughts

Windows Vista Installation Experience…

We now have a fair collection of both 32bit and 64bit Windows Vista installations at work, with Vista Home Premium and Vista Business on laptops, and Vista Business on desktops. However today, for the first time, I came to install Vista from scratch onto a pre-existing machine which had been shipped with Windows XP.

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Internet Technology Thoughts

Wide-spread exploitation of security hole in Windows Live Mail

Yesterday, April 5th 2009 at approximately 4:30pm (BST), several messages were sent from my HoTMaiL account to every single one of my MSN contacts. Luckily, this account is long-dormant – but unfortunately, Windows Live operates a shared list of contacts between Mail and Messenger (which I do still use, for my sins).

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Technology Thoughts

Thoughts on Windows 7

I’ve now been using Windows 7 Beta on-and-off for a few weeks. In all honesty, I’ve spent most of the small amount of time I’ve had with it playing games, so I can only reflect on my initial impressions. However, there are some observations I have as a (broadly) neutral observer which may be generalised across 64bit editions of Windows, or may be specific to Windows 7.

Categories
Hardware

Foxconn A79A-S BIOS update fixes some issues

Foxconn recently announced a firmware update to BIOS 782F1P06 for the A79A-S.

Categories
Apple

Safari 4 breaks GrowlMail :(

The two current solutions are to remove ‘GrowlMail.bundle‘ from “~/Library/Mail/Bundles” (or wherever it is installed), or to execute the command:

defaults write com.apple.mail GMSummaryMode -int 2

… to disable the Detailed Summary mode, which misinteracts with the Safari 4 version of WebKit.

Categories
Internet Work

Gentoo Linux ebuild for SilverStripe 2.2.3

We’ve recently been working on remodelling our corporate website, and the decision has been made to make use of the SilverStripe CMS.

Categories
Hardware Technology Work

Fix problems with Vodafone 3G USB modems on Sony laptops

At work we have several Sony laptops and have recently upgraded to the latest Vodafone-branded Huawei 3G/HSDPA modems… and on all laptops we’ve experienced intermittent connectivity and constant errors.

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