Warrentheo

My boot time is all over the place on 7.7100, sometimes I will boot straight to desktop in about 10 seconds flat, and other times it has a massive identity crisis and takes literally 3-4 Minutes to boot. When this happens, I can roll the dice again by rebooting the computer and it usually fixes the problem, but then I am rebooting the computer durring the boot process, and that can't be a good thing to be doing all the time. Full Wipe and reinstall has not fixed it. Does anyone else have this issue? Or is it just me... Trying to figure if I need to look into this or if other people have the same problem. A few odd things about my computer that may be a factor: Bios doesn't strictly support my processor, and the UCODE doesn't load for my processor. I use the Mcafee Total protection beta with just AV and firewall and anti-apam installed. I use a SSD as my OS drive.

Project proposal (Please read the WHOLE thing before replying, I apologize for how long it is). Problem as I see it: Human Interface Devices, as their name suggests, have to deal with human beings, and all their personal tastes and expectations for those devices, and as such are best setup on a per-user basis. The current methods in all three of the major OS's are insufficient for this. Third party methods are currently limited to using macro programs, and moving those files around with you (tend to be architecture defendant, not very convenient), or using one of the very-few devices out there that have storage memory on the device itself, for storing those settings (Razor brand makes a few of these, but they are the only ones I have found), and taking the device with you, but you still have to re-install proprietary, architecture defendant software for this also. Inspiration: There have been several devices that I have used that I personally have really liked. One of them was the “Nostromo n50” from Belkin, later upgraded to the “n52” and the new version which is a collaboration between Belkin and Razor, the “n52te” (www.n52te.com). This is not meant as an advertisement for this device, but rather a beginning look at the way a H.I.D should be configurable, and as a list of reasons why other devices that have lots of buttons fall so very short of the mark. This device has a page that shows an above view of the device to be configured, and each button/axis has several ways it can be configured. (When a button/axis is pressed, it lights up on this picture) 1.One-button-press = One-keyboard-or-mouse-or-joystick-button-press: Button can pressed, held down, or taped as needed. Button becomes like a normal button on the keyboard or mouse. 2.One-button-press = Multiple-keyboard-or-mouse-or-joystick-buttons-streaming-out: You tap the button, and it sends a string of presses to the device buffer, at a configurable speed (for compatibility with certain programs). Basic keyboard/mouse/joystick macro functionality. (eg. One-Button-Press = (shift key down)+h+(shift up)+e+l+l+o+(space)+(shift down)+w+(shift up)+o+r+l+d+! = Hello World! ) 3.One-button-press/One-button-hold = Layout Modification: One button can be assigned to one of three color's of shift (with corresponding lights on the device itself). This allows one button to be used as a “shift-key” for the device. When this shift state is set (either momentarily or sticky), then every other button on the device can either be set to do either the same thing or a completely different button designation or a completely new macro. Main issues to be resolved: 1.This has to work, and be compatible with Linux/xFree86, Mac OS, and Windows, and with any language, with as few cross-platform issues as possible. Because of this, this will not be intended to replace the more serious macro programs that have to be able to have a lot more in-depth compatibility with the OS or the back-end of specific programs. This will just be a way of changing how your H.I.D. acts under different conditions. 2.Create a Unified H.I.D. Experience, where your Keyboard(s), Mice(s), and Joystick(s) and even other devices that have buttons or axis that pass the state of that button or axis to the CPU are all managed from the same location. (obvious exceptions are buttons and axis that are not passed on to the CPU, such as monitor menu buttons, etc.). This would have default pictures/layouts for the main style's of keyboards/mice/and joysticks, but would have the ability to upload user-created pictures/layouts of the devices I. Device neutrality: There will be no difference between a keyboard button, a mouse button, or a joystick button. Any button/axis can be any other button or axis. Obviously, there would have to be a limit to this neutrality due to a mouse axis not acting the same as a joystick axis. Therefore, there will be these types of user actions: Button-press (if the device supports it, button-down and button-up will be separate events.), Mouse-style-infinite-axis (a mouse can, given an infinite surface to use, move forever in any direction, this axis style should reflect that, this would be the same axis for the mouse-style scroll-wheel), Joystick-style-limited-axis (Joysticks can only be moved a limited amount before they run out of room to move, this axis style should reflect that) II. There will be a common pool of actions to assign to different buttons/axis. In this pool will be all the Keyboard keys currently in the keyboard layout (any buttons on your standard keyboard, NOT language specific, minus OS hard coded combinations, eg. power/sleep buttons, Ctrl-Alt-Del, etc.). OS-specific events, such as “E-Mail” button/”Internet” button pressed,, your mouse buttons (left, right, middle, browser forward/back, scroll wheel), and any joystick buttons/axis (made complicated by the number of devices out there that are considered “joysticks”, but the joystick added to the system by this program should have at least 8 axis (joy look left, right + joy look up, down + joy move forward, back + joy turn left, right), 2 8-position “Hat” switches, and a large number of “Buttons” (25+)) III. A link to change how the OS handles OS style events (what email program is launched when the “Launch E-Mail” button is pressed). The button could be assigned to do anything like normal, but an attempt should be made to make things like the “Launch e-Mail” event only launch email programs. This will cut down on confusion for the device. 3.Create a method for storing settings for those devices. I. A master folder for the current user. This folder would store default settings for each device for every situation, a list of applications with settings that have been changed from the default, a separate list of macro's (separated by each program), and a list of which button/axis has a macro assigned to it. (Files would be stored in an Application master file (for the macros) and an Application + Devicename style, for the settings for that particular device, with multiple files for each application and each device that application has settings for. This will make disabling settings for a device that is currently not connected as simple as just not loading a particular file. Preferably editable with a standard Unicode text editor) II. An export settings format. This would be a method of exporting any number of macro(s) III. No way to store a cross-user file that can be changed by one user and affects another (for security reasons) 4. Macro editor: This macro editor would be able to string together, at configurable speeds, only what H.I.D.'s do currently, namely press buttons, scroll wheels, and move axis. I. You should have the ability string together both the (Ctrl key down)+”some random letter”+(Ctrl key up) and the “Ctrl-some random letter” version of the events. The first would stream out of the keyboard buffer like normal, the second would be sent as a single event and not multiple key presses. There are various compatibility reasons for doing this. II. This should also have the ability when ever possible to assign a method for converting between the three styles of buttons/axis. This is aimed at bringing devices such as “joysticks” that don't normally do much outside of games to be able to be part of the normal desktop user experience. (eg. An joystick axis can be set to act as a mouse axis, where the further from center the faster the pointer moves, or a joystick-style-limited-axis can be set to have 10 equal “regions” that are assigned to a keyboard button press/release, region one assigned to the one on the keyboard, region two for the keyboard two, etc. this would allow the joystick-style-limited-axis to be used as a throttle in a game that didn't support a joystick throttle) III. The ability to run programs at the press of a button, this would only have the ability to assign a button press to one program launch, and not run any other macro's before or after (this is to cut down on macro-viruses) IV. No method for snapping the mouse pointer to specific places on the screen. This is mainly for compatibility reasons (programs are never in the same locations between user-sessions/reboots or different screen resolutions/sizes or different OS's). Also mouse pointer movement macro's, because of their storing pointer locations many times per-second, grow very very large in a short amount of time. There are also security concerns as well. V. Need's to be set to recommend that users NOT store password/CC #'s/personal info/etc. in a macro. There will be no security/encryption implemented, and so this would be a very un-wise place to store this info. 5. “Load out” editor: This window would have the ability to set a current program being worked on (eg. Your favorite word processing program, movie editor, or game), the process that that program should be using (possibility of setting multiple processes for this “Load out” which would then show a list of currently configurable devices, and their current settings. Buttons/axis would have their default settings currently displayed, and would have ability to change anything any button/axis did and storing it. I. This “Load out” would change be currently active process sensitive, and would automatically change based on which program/process was active. II. The ability to export a “Load out” either as a full set of a single device's settings, or just the macro's created. III. The ability to set such as pointer speed, double click speed IV. Auto device layout setup. This means the ability to detect what is being pressed and assigning a name to it. (eg. Check the detect only button presses, press and release a keyboard/mouse/joystick button, and assign it a name “Button #3”), And the ability to upload a picture/layout for the device (button is pressed, it lights up on the picture of the layout.) V. Device should be port independent (your mouse is still the same mouse, even if you move it from one USB port to another). Even if the OS wants to think of it as a new device, this program should be able to tell when a device gets moved, but still be able to tell if you plug in two of the same device, and assign them a #1 and #2. 6. A method for the use of these settings to easily and as seamlessly as possible, be able to move their personal settings with them, this should include, but not be limited to, A network file that is profile dependent, or a “USB key” mode where you just plug in your own USB key and the settings as automatically as possible install themselves I. Possibly a service that supports storeing this info on web sites (your own, or a paid service), this would allow your profile to move with you, even accross platforms II. Maybe have the ability to store your profile on devices that happen to have storage memory on them. III. An online repository of pictures/layouts for devices, that automatically install when a device is plugged in, or a user profile with that device is loaded. What it will NOT be: 1. This will not be a way for viruses to be transmitted, this program should be as security profile neutral as possible for this type of program. Attempts should be made to prevent people from being able to automatically launch programs/change settings without user interaction as possible. 2. This will not grow into a major macro program, there are several out there that are much better, and it would be impossible to get it to work correctly across platforms. 3. Password/CC #/Personal info storing program. The files will be stored in un-encrypted open source formats, and so would be easily readable by anyone with a text reader. 4. An OS command line script engine. There should be no way to launch macro's directly from the command line, This is for security reasons. 5. A way to write a macro-bot for video games. This program should bring additional balance to the gaming field by making ALL players able to get maximum use out of their H.I.D.'s, and not remove any fairness by making it so that players have the ability to do what the rest of the gaming community considers to be a “Cheat” How will this be accomplished?: (I have decent programming skills/computer knowledge, but admittedly I only recently switched to Linux, and this is the first time I have attempted to do anything related to device drivers. So if I have a serious issue in my understanding of the situation, I request some patience and understanding) All platforms: 1. Device drivers will need to be moved from their current locations, to some other innocuous location that the OS doesn't automatically directly associate with being a keyboard/mouse/joystick, this is because you can't have one key press and have it processed by both this program and the OS (crazy double-action-for-every-button-press insanity must be avoided). 2. Even if there are multiple keyboards or mice or joysticks, there would only be one “fake” deice aliased for easy (one fake keyboard, one fake mouse, and one fake joystick). The “fake” joystick should have enough buttons/axis to be able to encompass as many joystick manufacturers as possible. 3. There shouldn't be many of these out there, but some attempt to deal with programs that read directly from the device (skipping the OS approved method for talking to the device) should be made. 4. Once the OS-specific back-end for each of the OS's is written and working, the files for the devices/macros/load outs should be common across platforms 5.At least two different versions, Full version for the average user, and a control panel configuration only version for corporate/high security environments. 6.This will be an open source project, but one that will enable this program being added as a permanent part of the OS if Apple or Microsoft should eventually choose to do so. (We are looking for UNIVERSAL adoption with this project!) Linux/xFree86: Currently devices are already assigned to individual files in the /dev/ directory. So this would entail just renaming those devices to something else, then listening to those devices only with this program, and installing a “fake” device in the original location, one for the keyboard, one for the mouse, and one keyboard, that would act as a buffer place to dump the actions of the “Load out”. As far as I know, there would not need to be any modification of the kernel to enable this, but I may be wrong (I hope not). The editors will be GUI based for the all three OS's, and so would be difficult to write an editor version just for command line only distributions (not impossible, just improbable). Mac OS 10+: As far as my limited knowledge of Mac goes, I believe that OS 10+ is based on Unix, and so would be very similar in nature to getting this to work under Linux (again, I hope very little modification of the kernel will be necessary.) Windows XP: Windows will be the hardest one of all because of the way that windows works. But there has to be a way to shunt H.I.D. Input from the normal read path, out to only this program, and then output the events as they come. I don't know the easiest and most compatible method for this. I hope it doesn't require re-writing device drivers to work exclusively with this program. Probably will entail finding the way the OS handles a keyboard, the extra buttons on a keyboard that are not part of the normal keyboard driver, mouse axis and buttons input, and joysticks, and “breaking” the way the OS handles them, and placing our input directly in the corresponding buffers. Windows Vista: This version of windows has an even crazier device driver setup, and probably is not going to like having another program messing with its internals. I must admit Vista is the main reason I am dumping Windows and going to Linux, but this project should still be compatible with Vista and also Windows NEXT Advanced versions much further down the road should include: 1. The ability to download program specific “load outs” automatically. (eg. Download “load out” for GameXYZ, this would have the in game defaults for GameXYZ in it like space = jump, these defaults would be assigned to the buttons/axis as well as added as if they were macros, so you would be able to select for a button/axis “Jump” from the drop down menu without having to have the game manual open or in situations where the manual was not available, keep switching back and forth between the game and this program.) 2. Once this program gets included automatically with the OS's, new programs should have the ability to have events set specific to their program. Things like menu items, in game tools/weapons/spells can have a whole button assigned to them. 3. Once they mature a little more, the OS specific speech recognition programs should be incorporated into this program as though they were any other H.I.D. with things like buttons for push-to-talk with VOIP, or a push-to-type button where everything you say will be typed out of the keyboard buffer for talking in the chat window as if you were typing it directly. And individual words being setup to launch actions like they were a button press. 4. Compatibility with the z-board brand keyboards, where button designations would be able to detect which z-board was attached. As well as other brand specific hardware. 5. Support for 3rd-party technologies, such as Sidewinders “Force Feedback” Technologies Personal background about me: I have programed a number of small to medium sized programs in a number of programming languages, and have the ability to learn others as needed. But I will need help to understand which is the best language for dealing with this cross platform setup (pluses and minuses of one over the other) I have written fairly complicated versions of unattended install disks for WinXP, and am typing this on a Fedora x86_64 install, but have very limited experience with hardware specific coding, but I believe I know much more than the average computer user, and I would understand enough to be able to understand the finished code when it comes out. I consider myself an avid gamer, but every few months I will suddenly get bitten by the programming bug and will dump gaming in favor of solving the worlds issues one software program at a time, and this particular issue has been bugging me for some time (hence the obvious amount of thought that went into this.) This is just a project proposal, I am looking for comments on how this can be best accomplished, and OS specific issues that you see, and volunteers to help. Also this will be my first open source program and need input about which license to use, where to host the project, and graphic artists to do all the pretty pictures in the program (I am just not graphically inclined, but do appreciate a properly Feng Shui'ed program). Questions should be saved for now, or at least have some proper thought put into them and then properly typed out. Also if you are posting just to say that this can't be done, consider your right to post officially revoked :-P

I am trying to get two XP-SP2 systems to be able to talk as if they have a cross over cable connecting them (aka, as few restrictions between them as possible) I have tested the infrared on both systems, both can see each other, and send files to each other using the normal IRDA functions in windows. (proveing the hardware is working) I have used the connection setup feature in windows to setup and "Advanced - Direct Connection" across the infrared port, this works, and makes both computers have a little network icon in the system tray similar to a regular network card. I can then ping both computers from the other (so they do see each other), but can't open any network shares, or run any tcp/ip applications between them. (windows says not found, even when running "\\[oposite-computer-ip-here]" even though that same ip just worked for the ping procedure. (the ip's given to both are of the 169 variaty) I am trying on a basic level to get the computers to just be able to talk to eachother, and hope that after that I can share the internet connection on the host with the client computer. In researching this issue, I have found that XP uses R.A.S. for these all these direct type connections (as if I was useing a modem to make the connection) and that additional security is added into the equation because of this. I don't have a domain (just a peer-to-peer workgroup) and from what little I can find on the internet on the subject, this will prevent this being anything other that just a icon in the system tray. Is there a way to configure RAS to let the connection work as much like a normal network connection as possible?

This should get you started Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center] "UpdatesDisableNotify"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update] "AUOptions"=dword:00000001For the auto-update, and sc config sharedaccess start= disabled at a command prompt for turning off the firewall (Warning, this totally kills it, and perminently, not just the regular part, but the service also, also I think this disables Internet Connection Shareing). Most likely the turn off the security center command is simmilar to the disable updates notification, but I havn't got the correct one (most likely "FirewallDisableNotify"=dword:000000001)

Sorry it took me so long to re-post, but it took me a while to generate my next build. Unfortunatly, I have to report that that also failed, my new winnt.sif file looks like this [Data] AutoPartition=0 MsDosInitiated="0" UnattendedInstall="Yes" AutomaticUpdates=Yes [Unattended] UnattendSwitch=Yes OEMSkipEula=Yes OEMPreinstall=Yes OEMPnPDriversPath="drivers\001\sil3112_sata";"drivers\002\fasttrak_ide";"drivers\009\fasttrak_sata" UnattendMode=ProvideDefault TargetPath=\WINDOWS Repartition=No FileSystem=* DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore ExtendOemPartition=1 [GuiUnattended] AdminPassword=**Removed** EncryptedAdminPassword=Yes OEMSkipRegional=1 TimeZone=010 [TapiLocation] CountryCode=1 AreaCode=801 [UserData] ProductID=**Removed** FullName=**Removed** OrgName="Home" ComputerName=War [Display] BitsPerPel=16 Xresolution=1024 YResolution=768 [RegionalSettings] LanguageGroup=1 Language=00000409 [Identification] JoinWorkgroup=Home [Networking] InstallDefaultComponents=Yes [WindowsFirewall] Profiles = WindowsFirewall.TurnOffFirewall [WindowsFirewall.TurnOffFirewall] Mode = 0 [Components] msnexplr=off msmsgs=off but it still doesn't work..... Thanks for the try, got any other ideas?

When I use my winnt.sif, it doesn't save the time zone (Mountain Standard), but instead defaults to Pacific. I have tried several renditions, includeing my manually created .sif and one generated by setupmgr.exe, both have the same problem. I have also tried the one found on This page of the forum, but it also doesn't work. here is my current manually created winnt.sif, can anyone see where I am missing something? [Data] AutoPartition=0 MsDosInitiated="0" UnattendedInstall="Yes" AutomaticUpdates=Yes [Unattended] UnattendSwitch=Yes OEMSkipEula=Yes OEMPreinstall=Yes OEMPnPDriversPath="drivers\001\sil3112_sata";"drivers\002\fasttrak_ide";"drivers\009\fasttrak_sata" UnattendMode=ProvideDefault TargetPath=\WINDOWS Repartition=No FileSystem=* DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore ExtendOemPartition=1 [GuiUnattended] AdminPassword=***Removed*** EncryptedAdminPassword=Yes OEMSkipRegional=1 TimeZone=10 OEMSkipWelcome=1 [TapiLocation] CountryCode=1 AreaCode=801 [UserData] ProductID=***Removed*** FullName=***Removed*** OrgName="Home" ComputerName=War [Display] BitsPerPel=16 Xresolution=1024 YResolution=768 [RegionalSettings] LanguageGroup=1 Language=00000409 [Identification] JoinWorkgroup=Home [Networking] InstallDefaultComponents=Yes [WindowsFirewall] Profiles = WindowsFirewall.TurnOffFirewall [WindowsFirewall.TurnOffFirewall] Mode = 0 [Components] msnexplr=off msmsgs=off Most of the rest of the file works just fine, but I also have an issue with the [Unattended] ExtendOemPartition=1 part of the code not actually extending the partition to the end, but that is not as important as time zone (I own PM) Thanks ahead of time, this web site has helped alot already!