jaclaz

I was around when we installed a Telex machine. Besides the cost of the machine (which I don't remember but that surely was astronomical) we had (in Italy) to file a request for Government Authorization , the actual cables had to go through special (reinforced/tamperproof tubing), the path of them had to be declared and detailed on a plan, as well as the physical location of the apparatus, that had to be a "dedicated" room, access to his room was reserved to the operators (that needed a special license/course), before connecting the machine a Government Inspector came to verify that everything was fine and in accordance with the licence, we had to keep a log not only of the transmitted (and received) messages, but also of the people that actually made access to the room, including the janitor. Some years later (but not that many) I also installed a few of the very first Fax machines. I remember buying one (very basic, thermal paper) fax for a mere ITL 5,000,000 (i.e. roughly 5 salaries of a middle career employee) in 1984 or 1985. The former was a (slow, complicated) alternative to other forms of communication (mainly telegrams), the latter was a revolution, easy, fast (relatively) and allowing to transmit and receive copies of actual documents. Some ten years later, 1994/1995 I had a Tablet with touchscreen : http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/155290-windows-8-deeper-impressions/?p=1008812 http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/155290-windows-8-deeper-impressions/?p=1008822 http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/155290-windows-8-deeper-impressions/?p=1055477 and a modem that allowed me to transmit and receive data at "high speed" (around 1/4 hour for a floppy image 1.44 Mb), besides faxes. That was another revolution for my workflow, I had a (working) spreadsheet, a GANTT program, an (almost working) CAD program (besides a word processor) and we could cooperate remotely on the actual files. About the same time 1993/1994 we started having mobile phones, those changed some of the workflow, we could communicate everywhere and at anytime. In the years 1994-1996 (or so) CAD programs became usable (thanks also to Windows NT) on non-dedicated workstations and affordable, that changed again a part of the workflow, we moved from paper to files for *everything* (or almost everything), we had (relatively) fast (laser) printers and (not-so-fast) plotters. And every night we connected via modem to synchronize remotely, but we could communicate - still via modem - during the day also (if needed), and we started having access to the Internet (and FTP sites to exchange data). Soon after came more affordable internet and e-mails, that changed again a part of the workflow, we could communicate easily not only "within" the firm, but also with third parties, yet another revolution. Five years later, let's say 2001/2003, I had a later version of Windows (Windows 2000), a later version of Excel (which did the SAME things as the earlier versions), a later version (much better/much more usable) of AutoCAD (that did the SAME things as the early versions, only faster), a later version of MS Project (which did the SAME things as the earlier versions, but more easily), an almost unchanged (for all practical uses) version of Word. Each of these apps were faster (thanks also to hardware progress) more capable (but within limits) but did not change the way we worked. Now I am doing more or less the same things I did 10 years ago, I have obviously faster tools, some are actually "better", but nothing has changed substantially. If I really have to find something that partially changed my way of working in the last ten years, I would probably have to mention the increase of speed of printers (much, much faster), of scanners and of plotters (less increase of speed than printers, but still faster than before). jaclaz

It seems to me like there are two main issues (which DO NOT apply to this nice "experiment", as long as it is an "experiment"). The good MS guys that developed this filesystem seem to imply (like it is being written EVERYWHERE) how this filesystem is intended for "storage spaces" (whatever they are) ONLY and not for "single" disks/drives (being them internal or external) there is seemingly NO visible advantage to ReFS (not speed, not reliability, nothing really) when compared against NTFS, but of course you can access with it 262,144 Exabytes or maybe 1 Yottabyte (as opposed to the mere 16 Exabytes of NTFS)http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2013/01/02/windows-server-2012-does-refs-replace-ntfs-when-should-i-use-it.aspx http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithmayer/archive/2012/10/15/refs-in-windows-server-2012.aspx While the whole idea of "storage spaces" is in itself nice in theory, it seems like not particularly appealing practically: http://helgeklein.com/blog/2012/03/windows-8-storage-spaces-bugs-and-design-flaws/ and, if I may, it is not really revolutionary, in the sense that good bad ol' Dynamic Disks were not that much different and they never went "mainstream", and as well the "previous attempt" with the drive pools or Drive Externder (or whatever) in Windows Home Server 2011: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/windows-home-server-is-dead-but-we-shouldnt-mourn-it/ was far from being as good as it seemed in theory. Of course ReFS has its fans, like: http://www.petri.com/4-reasons-refs-is-better-than-ntfs.htm the fact that at least two out of the four reasons provided make no sense whatever is not IMHO a good sign, however[1]. Very nice thing to play with , but at the moment very little beyond that . jaclaz [1] Guess which ones?

Sure it does, and the link (in your image): http://www.wdc.com/advformat now redirects to: http://www.wdc.com/global/products/features/?id=7&language=1 (already posted) that CLEARS how that particular make/model of AF disk is FULLY compatible with XP (as long as you "align" it). To recap: 1) there are at least TWO different kinds of AF format disks: "512e" and "Native 4K" 2) Microsoft officially does NOT support either of them (and never supported them) for XP and 2003 3) one "kind" of AF disk is the so-called 512e type that exposes (one way or the other) 512 bytes sectors, these are compatible (as long as they are "aligned") BUT there may be issues (reference posted before), even on "normal" 512 bytes sectored disks with "aligned disks and Disk Manager on XP (in some rare cases where a logical volume inside extended is used AND Disk manager is used to change the Active partition). MS NEVER acknowledged/fixed the mentioned issue (which as said is related to alignment and not to "512e" disks. 4) Unless a specific firmware or driver translation is available (which would make them a kind of 512e), Native 4k won't work on XP NOR on ANY OTHER Windows NT OS before Windows 8: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh848035(v=vs.85).aspx jaclaz

So, a spec sheet is no good, but a picture of a disk is? Come on that is a WD3200BPVT: http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?driveID=802&language=1 a 320 Gb disk with 625,142,448 sectors has a 512 bytes/sector alright. Whether this is "true" or it is obtained through one of the mentioned "non-standard" or "manufacturer specific" own variation is another matter: http://www.wdc.com/global/products/features/?id=7&language=1 That drive (specifically) is fully compatible with XP, WHILE being "tagged" AF. jaclaz

Well, there are only three manufacturers, WD Toshiba and Seagate nowadays, see: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/163189-hard-drive-controller-errors-abound-atapi-event-11/?p=1041845 The issue might be with local unavailability of "small sized" disks, but really I have never seen a 500 Gb or smaller disk that was not 512 bytes (even because it does not make much sense). jaclaz

Since when? I have NEVER seen drives smaller than 500 Gb which were not 512 bytes sectored. As an example the WD Blue specs: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-771436.pdf have AF starting at 750 Gb.... and the Seagate 7200.12 are all 512 bytes. http://www.seagate.com/files/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/barracuda-7200-12-ds1668-6-1101us.pdf jaclaz

Since I am picky, these are three separate things. "Initializing" the disk <- this iswhat Windows calls it, what happens is that the MBR code and the Magic Bytes (and Disk Signature) are written to the MBR Creating a partition entry in the MBR Formatting the volume corresponding to that partition entry The first two ones (please read as connected with "Disk Manager" or diskpart which is not part originally of Windows XP) are the problem, as #2 will default to Cylinder aligned partitioning, but this is in itself is NOT an issue (on 512e drives, see below). The actual FORMAT.COM has no issues by itself, in theory, but any number of tools/programs might "choke" on these. You can manually make a partition entry in the MBR using *any* other suitable tool and later use format alright. If you are going to use Extended partition and Logical volumes inside it be VERY aware of a SERIOUS issue with Disk Management: http://reboot.pro/topic/9897-vistawin7-versus-xp-partitioning-issue/ This said, AF disks are somewhat non-standard and different make/models may behave differently, the exact make/model could make a difference between success and failure... In theory an AF disk http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/171236-seagate-expansion-drive-2tb-is-not-detected/?p=1071081 may be compatible with XP SP3, if it is a "AF 512e" while a "native" 4Kb sectored disk is not (unless it is connected via USB) see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Format http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2010/03/why-new-hard-disks-might-not-be-much-fun-for-xp-users/ but the good MS guys exclude compatibility with them for XP: http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/4k_hdd and there are more than a few issues even with Vista and 7. So, though somewhat sad to admit it, as we are a normally into experimenting and finding workarounds, following dencorso's advice is your best option. jaclaz

Good news , though if you hadn't banned robots.txt from your site (WHY? ), by now it would have been indexed/backed up by the Wayback Machine. If the site is going to evaporate not-so-soon, there may still be time for it to be mirrored/saved. Regards to you (and to the cats of course). JFYI : jaclaz

If, by any chance, it is a 7200.11, it is possible that fixing it will be much cheaper than that. We have "saved" in the past a few hundreds (possibly more) of such disks: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/169-hard-drive-and-removable-media-issues/ with just a few bucks/Euros needed for the TTL adapter. jaclaz

Well, it was you that started "not accepting" ... Sure , technology obviously makes progresses and becomes faster, often (but not always) more reliable, sometimes (with the exclusion of MS UI ) even better looking, these are truisms. What FormFiller expressed (and with which I somehow agree) is that once set apart these improvements in speed (and as I highlighted, unwantingly confronting you ) in availability of this technology, is about the fact that lately there have been less "breakthroughs" or "substantial" changes then in the preceding decade. And BTW, as always, I may well be wrong about this. jaclaz

No. Meaning that you "collaborate across the world in real time, etc." with a restricted number of people that have like you such a fast fiber optics internet access AND that have the same kind of "top hardware" you have. Some people like (say) CIA or NASA, had ALREADY that kind of technology 10 years ago. The difference is that now it is available to you and to a restricted number of your friends/colleagues etc. I.e. you seem (to me) like confusing (a bit) the evolution in technology with the availability (or affordability) of technology (to you personally, to a restricted group of people or to a wider one). jaclaz

Images of WTF's are rare, but not a real issue for The Finder : jaclaz

The even more peculiar thing about Ippo is that it is not (like most zebroids around): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebroid an "intended" hybrid/breed, simply Martin (the zebra father) managed to open the gate or jump over the fence where Giada (the donkey mother) was... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/zonkey-zebra-donkey-hybrid-born-italy-article-1.1407688 jaclaz

To be fair, there has traditionally been a strong psychological pressure on aardvarks as they somehow are always the first item in any published article and in all lists, always first in the attention of any reader. Traditionally football (what you living across the pond call soccer) teams of zonkeys have thus a not-so-trifling advantage . BTW, also when it comes to zonkeys, Italians do it better , see the beauty of this newborn : http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/ippo-the-zonkey jaclaz

What do you mean cannot access? What do you get? Like a 404, a suffusion of yellow, your PC shuts down or explodes , what? The links: http://www.donationcoder.com/ http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/index.html http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/index.html#NoClose all work here, the direct link to the download is: http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/NoClose/NoClose.exe but if the above ones don't work, possibly this one would not also. jaclaz

Yep, but you are (or should be) allowed to change the password on your account. Just login, change your password (that, even if different from the ones you use on all other site, might have a "pattern" in common with them, and as such help the malicious intruder in guessing some of them) and replace it with a completely random and very strong/long one. You write it on a piece of paper, change it on the site, and then destroy the piece of paper. (if you have a particularly good memory you could go for a lobotomy , but usually it is not necessary ). <- NO WAY BACK A bigger risk of having an account left open on a forum, just for the record, could be that someone "on your side" of the equation (and that has a reason for doing this, hate, envy, whatever) gets hold of the password and then impersonates you, posting false or incorrect statements, in such a way to discredit you. jaclaz

...and a cup of coffee.... too. Mine should be hot, strong, black, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, please. Not so casually the parallel thread on 911CD: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=25697&hl= was renamed to: jaclaz

It was intentional. Bastards. After the hex edit... Naah, meaning that while most probably they are bastards , that is a "warning" or a "recommendation", as I read it, it amounts more or less to a waiver of responsibility, a lot like: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/158485-international-translations-of-common-signs/ Good. jaclaz

Maybe you were confused by the wording. This would mean, if I get this right, replace: 52 65 67 44 65 6C 65 74 65 4B 65 79 45 78 41with: 52 65 67 44 65 6C 65 74 65 4B 65 79 41 00 00is the above what you tried? jaclaz

Very, very nice! jaclaz

For those like me without a sound card, or not interested in the talking the real action takes place around 1:14. The text version is : Throw yourself at the ground and fail to miss it. MUCH easier than learning to fly . jaclaz

Yep, but the point here is that technick did not provide any meaningful detail. You can PXE boot DOS, Linux, a Windows system or a PE (or other OS) through PXE, the message : "No device drivers were found for the current network adapter" can be coming from *whatever*, i.e. the PXE BIOS part, the actual PXE loader, the actual boot image and/or it's bootmanager or OS loader. Since the PXE BIOS part does recognize the NIC (otherwise it wouldn't even start the PXE booting) this is the only thing that can be excluded, all the other ones are a possibility. jaclaz

Yep, if you check the bottom right corner of your screenshot, you would see how the Explorer "Open File" window is set to only open *.inf files. (which is correct, as the .inf file is the "settings" or "installation directive" files). If you click on the bottom right corner and change *.inf to *.*, you will see all files in the folder, including the .sys, but still you need to select ONLY the .inf in nLite. See the top "Choose any INF file from a driver folder you wish to integrate", the idea is that inside the .inf file one (or more) driver files are listed, these files are in the same folder as the .INF and nlite will find and manage them correctly jaclaz

Yep, my bad , actually it's bphlpt's fault he tricked me into POSReady talk, however things don't change much, the corresponding FAQ is just after the one in the given link, and the EULA is here: http://msembedded.biz/en/windows-embedded-standard-2009/standard-2009-license-terms-eula.html but the quoted parts are very similar: So, the good news are that you can use with Embedded networking/internet browsing which is not allowed on POSReady. Forget anyway to run: OutlookWordExcelAccessMicrosoft Money or any corresponding alternative third party tools jaclaz

And - additionally - there is the slight difference between: "Will it work with my programs?" and: "Are my programs allowed to run on it?" Like: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee406170(v=winembedded.0).aspx#Q4 And: http://msembedded.biz/en/windows-embedded-posready-2009/posready-2009-license-terms-eula.html Particularly, these parts of the EULA: Do pose a few limits.... jaclaz