jaclaz

@dencorso You do understand some Italian, don't you? Here is a classic piece of comedy of the '60's (the background is that it is a parody of a known series of documentaries of the early times of Italian TV where the author traveled across Italy particularly small villages and remote zones to interview people and learn about typical crafts, food, habits, traditions, dialects, etc.) Here: jaclaz

@NoelC Well it's still the same disagreement, which is not at all a disagreement , it's just a difference in the metrics used, I judge a product as it is delivered by the manufacturer, then - only later - I consider the potentiality it has once tweaked properly, which in the case of Windows 8/8.1 is more a matter of completely turning the OS upside down and rebuild it. In a perfect world your books (how many pages it is now the 8/8.1 version? 123 pages? ) would have no relevance whatsoever, as well as many of the third party software that is vital to make it work and look the way it should, the OS would be already fully functional (or almost so) and the end user would need to make only minor adjustments. @JorgeA Well, if you think about it the technology in itself is nice, though applied to the "wrong" use. I will give you an example of a "right" use (when and if a similar technology will be actually available to all) and of course in my perverted mind, let's use it to replace the images of disappeared children on milk cartons, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/04/etan_patz_case_why_did_dairies_put_missing_children_on_their_milk_cartons_.html or to broadcast to population TORs and similar high priority advice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_warning jaclaz

You really don't think your life is a bit empty without a connected coffee mug? http://www.pauligmuki.com/index.php?lang=en I guess a lot of people miss gross images and pranks very early in the morning.... ... or maybe the friends and colleagues I ever had are actually (much) worse than average . jaclaz

The same in which the instructions below are required... Incredibly , I have by pure chance found an even better example (of course without even thinking of downgrade Douglas Adams' masterpiece A culture where some people actually buy these: http://daneson.com/ (the good guys that manufacturer and sell them are actually an example of pure genius IMHO) The further very good news is that the enterprise is environment friendly: http://daneson.com/pages/about-daneson and will replant ALL the birches (all fifteen of them ) used in the manufacture of their products . No, seriously, I had never (but I believe a lot of people did the same mistake) considered the deforestation risks derived by toothpick manufacturing in all it's amplitude. I will have to work some math to calculate the number of gazillion toothpicks that can come out from a birch. jaclaz

@JorgeA (re:Windows Marketing) Well, that's only because the SEC does not use MY (actually MS original) version naming conventions, NT 6.x remains a NT 6.x: http://www.gaijin.at/en/lstwinver.php Version 6.0: Vista=NT 6 (non working OS) Vista SP1=NT 6 SP1 (partially working OS) Vista SP2=NT 6 SP2 (finally working) ---------------------------------------------------purely commercial division line --------------------------------------------------- Version 6.1: 7=NT 6 SP3 (still working fine), changing a number of trivial things in the UI AND the minor version allowed them to charge money for this 7 SP1=NT 6 SP4 (still working fine) version is 6.1.7601 Several years of 7 KB/Windows Update=NT 6 SP5 (still working fine) -------------------------------------------------this line represent descent into madness ----------------------------------------- Version 6.2: 8=NT 6 SP6 (suddenly not working anymore in a number of situations) completely revolutionizing the UI (for the worse) AND changing the minor version allowed them to charge money for this, though very few people, exception made for OEM's that were forced to at gunpoint, actually decided to get it and pay for it. -------------------------------------this line represents a failed attempt to regain some sanity -------------------------------- Version 6.3: 8.1=NT 6 SP7 (still completely failing to work productively) partially reverting the UI to the earlier status AND changing the minor version would have normally allowed them to charge money for this, but NOONE in his/her right mind would have actually payed for it --------------------------------this line represents a further failed attempt to regain some sanity -------------------------------- Version 6.4 later changed to 10: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10#Version_history So, not only they changed the minor version, but also the major one, making it not anymore a NT 6, but rather a completely alien OS which they have NO OTHER choice than provide for free (as last one before) but they have additionally to force down the throat of all users of previous NT 6 versions. If I was in the SEC I would have fined the good MS guys having twice mis-represented the nature of the changes, sneakily escaping the need to defer some earnings, but this is just "finance", just moving the dates, not real "money", the point is that while they managed to trick a (small) number of Windows 7 users into paying US$ 15 to upgrade to 8 , they would not be able to do the same now for an upgrade to Windows 10. It still remains a mistery how they managed to provide for free Windows 8/8.1 (with Bing) to OEM's for small sized tablets (that is not an upgrade or an update, it is a brand new OS), and (same source of the above) it seems like also the Nokia Windows Phone business isn't going that well : http://www.computerworld.com/article/2945371/smartphones/microsoft-writes-off-76b-admits-failure-of-nokia-acquisition.html jaclaz

...which was not - last time I checked - anything available to a "final user" unless he/she is a subscriber of "Software Assurance": http://stealthpuppy.com/app-v-faq-3-how-is-app-v-licensed/ as it is unlikely that saud "final user" has an agreement for a Volume License: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/bb899442 I am pretty sure that the result of going here with Internet Explorer 7 or higher (aren't the good MS guys real geniuses in making a way for possible new customers only accessible through their own browser? ): http://mla.microsoft.com/default.aspx will result in several (many) bucks changing hands, provided that the final user is "eligible" for this form of license. jaclaz

Well, that's the good thing about exchanging ideas/opinions , personally I would not even think of running anything else but VLC exactly because it needs not (or however manages much better) codecs, as in my experience the number of machines with "botched" or conflicting codecs is comparable to that of stars in the sky. I never took the time to actually analyze why exactly the codec packs invariably manage to be messed up (incompetence of the user, some "rogue" codec pack, sheer stupidity of the mechanism, whatever) but the usual phone call goes more or less: Friend: Hi, I cannot view <put here name of some video file>/I cannot play <put here name of some audio file>, I have tried installing <put here the name of a codec pack> and <put here name of another codec pack> jaclaz: Do yourself a favour, get VLC and try using it instead: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/ Friend (after a few minutes): Hey, it works with VLC, thanks! It is very possible that people that are so crazy as to ask help with video/audio to me are also on average more demented than the ordinary, of course. jaclaz

@bhplt To be fair, it is only too normal that someone that starts a thread titled: How Do I Enable Windows XP Internet Games in Windows 8.1 is expecting (of course if it is actually possible) to have answers related to "Windows XP Internet Games in Windows 8.1" and not to "Windows 7 NON-Internet games on Windows 8.1" And, still to be fair, had the thread been titled "How to run XP Reversi (internet game) on Windows 8.1 natively " it would have been much less likely that someone, in good faith and by mistake would have posted "Here is how I make Solitaire from Windows 7 on 8.1" or "What about setting up a virtualization environment"? But everyone here is trying to help some other member to solve this or that problem, one way or the other, sometimes a misunderstanding happens, and there is really no need of making a mountain out a of a molehill. jaclaz

@NoelC There are known ways to have the Windows 7 games (local or Internet) working in 8/8.1, as andreaborman posted just above your post. The issue here are XP Internet Games (that can be made to work on Windows 7) that seemingly cannot be made to work on Windows 8/8.1. jaclaz

http://www.oldapps.com/VLC_Player.php?system=Windows_2000 jaclaz

No. jaclaz

On a side note (and apparently now the branding is public) Microsoft has officially grabbed onto the Internet of Things and will be using it as part of a new Embedded product line. You can see their use of the term here: https://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/community-blog.aspx Well, they seem like designers dreaming of the future, nice, wishful thinking, but come on: http://blogs.microsoft.com/iot/2015/06/17/room-service-how-iot-creates-a-custom-hotel-experience/ I have built hotels with "smart technology" starting some 20 (twenty) years ago, and though admittedly people (average customer) were at the time less "technologically advanced" the end result has always been to have the customer pass much more than 12 minutes on the "smart" control panel, and all in all what was running was a dedicated RTOS embedded (historically proven to be slightly less prone then common Windows OSes to BSOD's ) and everything was cabled (and shielded and - within limits - tamper proof) and OBVIOUSLY completely detached from any external connections. Now, what could happen when you depend on IoT for utilities (given that the "system admin" is your average little hotel manager and there is no end of exploits due to any number of mis-configurations and/or bugs in the actual protocols (let alone the actual software), and additionally all this under the risk of a "forced" update that can, even if "planned" bring down the whole stuff for - say - 4 hours (due to loss of connection to the internet, intervention time of the IT specialist (if any knowledgeable enough actually can intervene and he/she is within 1 hour driving distance) or *whatever* else? Heck, even SCADA systems (usually devised and maintained by someone on average more educated than the average hotel manager) have been hacked, and you are telling me that I should rely for vital things like security (door latches), temperature of hot water, lighting, conditioning system etc. on something that can be jammed by - say - a modified garage door remote and a bunch of AV trasmitters? jaclaz

Well, to be fair to Chester Gould's (right) concept the thingy was actually a phone (or radio): a self-contained communicator, not an extension for another device (the iPhone), that nags you. Speaking of distractions, all it can do - more or less - is to nag you about every tweet, every news, tells you (possibly when you are already speeding 15 miles down the highway) that you forgot the lights on, etc., I would define it "a glorified remote control for your iPhone with astounding nagging capabilities", and no, I don't want to know what my heart beat rate is every ten minutes, I already know that I should most probably exercise more, and firmly believe that words like "photoplethysmography" should be banned outside spelling contests[1]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204666 and yes, I don't see much point in sharing a "haptic" feeling with a friend (or loved one) let alone with a stranger: http://www.imore.com/how-send-someone-your-heartbeat-apple-watch http://www.wired.com/2015/05/lonelyheartbeats-subreddit-for-apple-watch-owners/ jaclaz [1] the word "haptic" is not even good for that and could be banned completely with very few people protesting about it missing from the dictionary, with the exception maybe of the Urban Dictionary : http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=haptic

As often happens I may well be wrong, but I see the Apple watch as a (nice looking ) solution to a non-problem , I am not at all surprised that once the WOW! and Cool! exclamations for the new gadget are over people is puzzled by the lack of any "real" practical use of the features of the thingy. jaclaz

Someone is going against the general trend of awe towards Docker (just for the record): http://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/2v4fqe/docker_is_fundamentally_flawed_useless_hype http://iops.io/blog/docker-hype/ Though both the article and comments are rather technical, the cited comment on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/2v4fqe/docker_is_fundamentally_flawed_useless_hype/coeo7c7 seems to me like a good summing up of the risks of using this kind of technologies (not necessarily and specifically Docker, but the whole idea of containerization) for *everything*: it seems like it is not the one-size-fits-all solution for *any* problem (which is more or less what most techs seem to believe). jaclaz

As often happens, OT , but not much an article from 2001 (yes, 14 - fourteen - years ago) that with just replacing the name of a few new technologies that are currently hyped/marketed/pushed could be re-used fine: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000018.html ... though the good MS guys would need to be really good to keep a straight face when they will say of the upcoming Windows 10 something along the lines of: or: jaclaz

You forgot Windows RT, the brand new, revolutionary environment that never was.... jaclaz

jaclaz

Well, then you may appreciate this: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/137826-what-makes-office-2003-better-than-97/ particularly the article and grapphs here (too bad they haven't been updated ): http://www.oooninja.com/2008/05/openofficeorg-microsoft-office-moores.html I would also check LibreOffice, as last time I compared them it seemed to me a little bit snappier BUT the good guys senselessly removed Windows 2000 support so last version working on 2K should be 3.6.3: http://www.oldapps.com/libreoffice.php?system=Windows_2000 It goes without saying YMMV. jaclaz

You are welcome , though I will throw on the table (and quickly hide my hand behind my back ) how there is seemingly a new kid on the block, the ipxegrldr in grub4dos 0.4.6a (the experimental "branch"), as always details are scarce as there is basically only some chenall's notes about it (in Chinese): http://chenall.net/post/grub4dos_ipxe/ which are not that bad in Google translate: https://translate.google.it/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=it&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fchenall.net%2Fpost%2Fgrub4dos_ipxe%2F&edit-text= As said in one on the threads previously referenced, the 15 seconds you are going to "get used to live with" may be equivalent to 1.5 Gb worth of image downloading with wimboot/http ..... Isn't it all about speed and power? Just in case: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/174002-windows-7-possible-advisable-to-disable-the-page-file/?p=1101586 http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/174002-windows-7-possible-advisable-to-disable-the-page-file/?p=1101616 jaclaz

Good, which means bad in this case. If you have to use that Cisco thingy as DHCP server you will then need to use one of the alternatives (client side): http://www.0xf8.org/2012/04/the-30-second-delay-in-booting-windows-pes-pxeboot-com-via-pxelinux/ though cannot say exactly how they can be implemented, the referenced post is not fully clear (to me at least). We had a very similar thread here, but it was not finalized/it is not fully clear what works or how exactly: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/158363-slow-pxeboot0-with-3rd-party-tftp/ Personally I would use (as always) grub4dos: http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/files/pxe.htm but really-really I would try (if it suites your needs) as suggested in the other thread the iPxe/http/wimboot booting: http://reboot.pro/topic/17520-booting-winpe-via-http/ jaclaz

Well, IMNSHO you cannot write "Office 2007" in a post declaring that you want your PC "as functional as possible" personally I used to have it installed in offices where productivity was too d@mn high, in order to reduce it by 20-25% . There are valid browsers (please read as "Opera") working on 2K, though it starts to get a little bit outdated on a few sites, but there are recent enough Firefox versions running (I believe with some of the available OS extensions). The Itunes (a recent version) will most probably be the biggest issue. jaclaz

I really don't know. Cisco iOS is often like a black box, a sorcerer (i.e. a "certified Cisco engineer") makes some spells on it and suddenly (correct) packets start flowing out from it, you try the same (but without knowing the exact magic words) and it sits there doing nothing. I have spent more than one sleepless nights to just change a few addresses/options in an already configured router and managed switch, and it took many more to tame it into doing what I wanted to do, the language is clearly powerful and direct /and once properly set and working the thingies are exceptionally robust) but in my experience it is extremely picky on syntax and as seen it has it's own "queer" parsing ways. The Wireshark trace definitely misses the option 252, here is a similar trace with option 252 working (for comparison): http://xyfon.com/tech-tips/how-to-configure-dhcp-custom-options-on-a-fortinet-fortigate/ You can try starting again from scratch, deleting the DHCP pool , this reportedly worked to solve the opposite problem (removing option 252): http://www.airheads.eu/t5/Unified-Wired-Wireless-Access/There-is-probably-a-simple-answer-DHCP-option-252/td-p/87678 jaclaz

I am not familiar on how exactly it is possible to trace what actually happens, maybe Ethereal/Wireshark: http://www.wireshark.org/ would do? See: http://www.intel.com/support/network/sb/CS-028533.htm jaclaz

Well, now that you are pretty sure that your configuration does serve properly the wpad.dat you should try with the same "plain" contents as in the originally cited post: http://www.syslinux.org/archives/2010-March/014174.html or try following this (that provides two possible approaches): http://www.0xf8.org/2012/04/the-30-second-delay-in-booting-windows-pes-pxeboot-com-via-pxelinux/ This latter clarifies that the question was more abut avoiding the need to set the option 252 on the server, I completely missed that. However, as said, the use of WPAD this way is not "standard", the script is for the "browser use" or "canonical" use of WPAD as proxy redirector, the script is to be interpreted by the browser and I don't think that PXE has this capabilities. It is possible that we are (I am) mis-reading the original post, as it is ambiguous : It is possible that you are right, that is you should have: option 252 ascii "\boot\BCD" or: option 252 ascii "http://192.168.1.3:85/boot/BCD" or: option 252 ascii "/boot/BCD" which IF the issue is the CISCO parsing bug will become: option 252 ascii "\boot\BCD " option 252 ascii "http://192.168.1.3:85/boot/BCD " option 252 ascii "/boot/BCD " (with the space at the end). Generally speaking it wouldn't be the first (nor the last) time when the forward slash vs backslash has created issues .... jaclaz