Solo Technology

Tech - As a rule of thumb, if I need an extra machine for a task, such as documenting an install process or doing some quick software testing or regression, I’ll often cobble together a quick Virtual PC image and do the work there. Virtual PC is slick, it basically allows you to run multiple isolated machines on one computer. They can all participate on the network and do all the things that a ‘normal’ hardware machine can do, but they’re using your main (aka the host) machine’s resources (such as CPU, memory, disk). If nothing else, it saves on buying hardware for my purposes.

So, today I have a task of documenting an install of several packages of software (including configuring IIS) for a business partner overseas. He’s doing it on a tablet, so I toss on a MSDN install of XP Pro (Tablet OS is essentially a superset of Pro). Yet I can’t boot the thing - I get an error message saying I don’t have enough memory to start the virtual machine. I check the machine’s settings - it’s only asking for 512MB. My workstation has 2GB so this should not be an issue…. I check and see that I have 1.4GB unused. Hmm… odd. The obligatory “well, it’s windows, let’s reboot” thing doesn’t get me anywhere, so I hie myself off to Google. Where I learn, oddly enough, that countless other people have similar problems and the typical response is along the lines of “I bet you have Ahead’s InCD installed. Try uninstalling it.” Ok, this baffles me, but I do indeed have the packet-writer installed. I check to see if it is using gobs of memory. Nope. Ok, I shrug and uninstall it. Don’t really use it anyways (I still fear packet-writing after some heartbreaking losses of data due to my ignorance on closing disks…). Reboot and hey presto - it all works.

How weird.

The funniest part is someone asked, “Well who’s problem is it? Microsoft’s or Aheads?” The response? “Depends on which one of those two companies you work for…”

Work - Aside from the above, I reckon it best that I don’t vent my spleen about work.

Gaming - Played good ol’ EQ last night. Things have changed a bit. The bazaar prices are quite wonky (but I did score a nice sword for my little ShadowKnight. Some zones are completely empty, others seem about the same, but there’s no doubt there’s currently fewer people playing EQ now. Framerates were nice though.. LOL.. My other game machine is now hosting web sites, so 2-boxing the druid bot isn’t much of an option any more. Kind of a bummer, but I can adapt. Overall, it was a good night with shades of melancholy.

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