2008 March « Burace17’s Weblog

Computer Upgrade March 22, 2008

Posted by burace17 in computer upgrade.
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well i think it’s time to upgrade my old computer and make it a file server. for those who don’t know, a file server is a computer that stores files across a network. since it is on all the time, users can map network drives and not have to worry about reconnection errors.

here are the current specs:

eMachines (i don’t know the model)
Intel Celeron D 2.8 GHZ with 512MB of RAM
80GB hardrive with 60GB of free space
Windows XP Home SP2
300W Power Supply
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive

it’s 3 years old but still runs great

here’s what i plan to do to it:
Upgrade the hardrive to 500GB or 320GB either one would be OK
Clone the current drive for a backup then remove it and store it somewhere
Maybe upgrade the Power Supply to 400W
Maybe upgrade the RAM to 1GB

the last two may not get done any time soon.
the only thing i’m worried about is the Power Supply going out since it will be on all the time but i’ve got an extra one just in case

Windows Vista SP1 Released to the Public March 18, 2008

Posted by burace17 in windows.
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a while ago, i posted about the RTM of Vista SP1 but this time, you can download it.

it should be on windows update any time but if you don’t want to wait, here are the standalone installers:

x64: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=874a414b-32b2-41cc-bd8b-d71eda5ec07c&DisplayLang=en – 725MB

x86: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b0c7136d-5ebb-413b-89c9-cb3d06d12674&DisplayLang=en – 340MB

the standalone installers are big, but you can burn them to a CD or DVD and use them on different computers with no download

the 32-bit standalone installer takes about 2 hours to download on a DSL connection and a about 1.5 days on dial-up (if you’re on dial-up, i’d wait until they release CD’s that you can order) the 64-bit standalone installer takes about 5 hours to download on a DSL connection and about 2.2 days on dial-up

windows update installer sizes:

x86: 66MB

x64: 125MB

that’s why you should use windows update and not the standalone installers

Microsoft Expression Blend 2.5 March Preview March 16, 2008

Posted by burace17 in Visual Studio.
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microsoft released the march preview of expression blend 2.5. it’s kind of surprising since they haven’t even released version 2 (it’s in beta 1). anyway, here’s some screenshots:

as always, it has it’s great looking interface. it’s VERY user friendly, the only thing you will need to make that into a webpage is visual studio 2005 or 2008 standard or better. i don’t think it will work with the express editions but it’s worth a try.

you can download all versions here: http://www.microsoft.com/expression