Archive for November, 2005:

I originally installed Server 2003 a while back, when it was still in the ‘beta’ stages of development. It worked well, but I couldn’t get everything functioning how I wanted. Older codecs weren’t supported, even after extensive ‘tuning’ of the O/S. Games functioned (at a higher fps than XP or 2000 to be truthful!), but several with older codec intros (HL2 for example) weren’t displaying fully. It didn’t bother me too much, but knowing that the O/S would expire after 6 months wasn’t great. So I reverted to XP Professional SP2.

Today, however, I have finally found a need to use it. Our fileserver at work is stupidly running on XP Professional SP2 (not my choice!). This leads to multiple problems when more than 10 users start accessing the fileserver at once. Since service pack 2, XP has been restricted to 10 simultaneous user connections, which Microsoft claims is beneficial to the end-user as it cuts down potential security threats. In reality, many believe they’re just trying to force users to stump up the costs of a fully-fledged Server Operating System - I guess it makes sense.

So, after constant nagging from tutors at work, saying that their students cannot all access their files at once, I decided to look into switching to a Server O/S. Linux isn’t a possibility, as I don’t have much knowledge with it, definately not enough to setup a server!

Then I remembered Windows Server 2003 - perfect for the job, as it allows many simultaneous connections.

What does all this mean? I’ve spent the last couple of days heavily researching Microsoft’s site, MSFN.org, and many forums around the ‘net to get to grips with Server 2003 and what I can do with it in the long run. Afterall, I know how to use it (it’s very similar to 2000) and get the most out of it (see link below), but simply formatting and installing a new O/S isn’t so easy in an active business environment…

I’ve had to draw up an Action Plan (thanks to University and all them essays!), which details what I’m going to do, why I’m going to do it, and how I’m going to implement it. I’ve started informing the members of staff that the fileserver will be ‘offline’ for a day, which will cause problems. Now all that’s left is to allocate the time for me to start.

The main difference between my usual formats and this one, is that this will affect many people, not just myself and my own rig. Everyone needs access to their files 24/7 (well 9-5/M-F), whereas I can live without mine for a day or so. Also, if it goes wrong, it’s not just me who will suffer.

I am finally beginning to understand why my lecturers made us plan and document so much. I never once thought that I’d use it in day-to-day work. How wrong I was.

If you’re thinking about Server 2003 as your O/S of choice, check out the .pdf here.

The third series of the hugely successful Little Britain started a week and a bit ago…

If you’ve not seen it - don’t worry! It’s early days yet, BBC1 Thursdays @ 9pm.

Normally as a TV series matures, it worsens, but I was very surprised with series 3. David and Matt have brought in several new characters with their own seperate sketches, but they’ve also included new characters to enhance existing sketches.

I wont give away too much, but if you thought series 1 and 2 shocked the public, this will blow you away - huge fat ladies wrestling; oaps urinating in post office queues; gays going straight - the list goes on.

I used to shudder at the sound of the two words - Harry Potter. I didn’t want to get sucked into all the hype and the battle between it and LOTR. Afterall, I couldn’t understand how a ‘kids’ film could out-do LOTR, as it was outstanding…

Fast forward to a few months back, Anneka forced me to watch the first 3 Harry Potter films as she is obsessed by them. How wrong I originally was. Harry Potter is very very good, not amazing, but very engrossing. I’ve tried reading the books, but those who know me know that I rarely read books (in fact I’ve only completed 2 from cover-to-cover).

On Saturday I went to see the 4th instalment in the series, the Goblet of Fire. I wont give much away, but all I will say is that it’s worth watching. Whatever opinions you have of Harry Potter (the books, films, actors etc.) you’ll enjoy the film. It’s easily the best of them so far, which is a good thing, as it suggests more great-ness (is there such a word?) is to come…

Today I did some ‘teaching’. My job is primarily to keep the IT system up and running all the time, but I also help ‘facilitate’ with the e-learners (learners who learn via electronic means, in other words the internet, using a computer). Today expanded on that - I had to help teach a small class for 5 hours, on what the internet and e-mail is all about, along with how to use it.

I’ve done some teaching in the past, at my previous work, but this was one step further. I’ve also got to begin a foundation qualification in teaching come February. It’s to backup the ‘facilitating’ side of things I guess…

On a side note, I’ve just finished building and speccing the two new small form factor PCs I was talking about in a previous post. So if you happen to pass through Market Rasen anytime soon, and stop at the Internet Cafe there - the two new PCs were my creation. This time next year I’ll rule the world!!!

Hardly, I’m meant to be a millionaire first…

After watching the gadget show for the first time the other night, I decided to finally sign up to ebay…

Instead of jumping in at the deep end and bidding straight away, me and Anneka sat down and planned the whole ebay process. We signed up for a new hotmail.co.uk address, which will be used purely for ebay. We registered with paypal and ebay itself, and ensured that our online banking was up to speed…

The ‘end game’, well what we’re aiming for, is to actually make money on online auctions. You hear various stories about those that have made their millions on ebay, and the gadget show itself showed an individual who was up on takings after a month of solid ebay action.

I’ve even experienced it first hand, a few mates at work used to ebay their old things to make some money, and my Mum is obsessed with purchasing things on it.

So, the first task, once everything was setup, was to see how it all worked for ourselves. After a few minutes of browsing (we already knew the basics from watching others at ‘work’) we put in a bid of £1.49 on a camera tripod. 15 minutes later and we’d won it…

For £5.49 (£4 postage!) we now have a dedicated tripod for the digital camera - this will enable us to take decent pictures of the items we’ll be selling.

Watch this space for more ebay action - this time next year we’ll be millionaires…