Mike Says Meh|The blog of Mike Kauspedas

Pretty interesting little PC from Dell. If only it came with blu-ray it would make a killer media PC, same with Apple.

The Dell Zino HD sporting options like a dual core AMD CPU, up to 8GB RAM, 1TB hard drive (7200rpm as well) and a Radeon 4330 with 512MB RAM, surely at least WoW capable. This would make an excellent media PC and they start at just $249. Dell should also go with a slot loading DVDRW.

Dell Zino HD

Whereas the Mac Mini here starts at $599, but it does feature slightly better hardware. Intel Core 2 Duo, DDR3, etc. I know the Mac mini is WoW capable because my Macbook is. And that is always important. Apple store reps response when I asked if I could get a blu-ray player for my Macbook “everyone streams everything now.” Yes we all stream, but no one streams f’n blu-ray, jesus. I just want to be able to bring my BD’s with me on trips, or to school

Apple Mac Mini

I wonder what awesome small form factor cases are available. Maybe I can finally make a tiny inconspicuous media PC/Mac. I wonder if my old macbook can handle 720p?

I recently moved my site over to a Windows 2008 server running IIS 7 with PHP running in FastCGI. Decent speed improvement but I have some more work to do, more on that later. Maybe I’ll even include an install guide for PHP in FastCGI with IIS7. In the move I forgot to setup ISAPI_Rewrite which re-writes my URL’s into more friendly and readable text. Great for search engines and people alike. Since I had to setup ISAPI_Rewrite all over again I decided to run through a brand new install. Here is a quick and easy guide to get you started with ISAPI_Rewrite on IIS 7  for Windows Server 2008.

1. Download and install ISAPI_Rewrite from Helicon. http://www.helicontech.com/download-isapi_rewrite3.htm. You can use the lite version but this means your rules will need to be written in the global httpd.conf / .htaccess file, you will not be able to setup per site rules. I suggest buying a license and using the full version with the 45 day trial if you have multiple websites you will be using this with. Download the manual install version since its easiest.

2. After downloading run the installer and extract the files to C:\Objects\ISAPI_Rewrite3. If you purchased a license your license info will go into C:\Objects\ISAPI_Rewrite3\httpd.conf file.

3. Open IIS (Start Menu –> Administrative Tools –> Internet Information Services.

4. Navigate to the site you wish to use ISAPI_Rewrite with and double click on the ISAPI Filters module. Click on add on the upper right hand side.

Filter Name: ISAPI_Rewrite
Executable: C:\Objects\ISAPI_Rewrite_3\ISAPI_Rewrite.dll

5. Now you need to create a .htaccess file in the root of your domain. The root is the content location for the domain, where all of the web files are.

Find the webroot of your site in IIS by clicking on basic settings.

You can easily create a .htaccess file with an FTP client since Windows Explorer doesn’t like files without a name. I use Filezilla and so should you. Connect to your site with filezilla and upload a simple text document. Right click on the doc and click on rename. Type in “.htaccess” for the file name.

6. Back on the Windows 2008 server navigate to the root of your website and open the .htaccess file with notepad. Insert the following rules.What this will do is allow you to post a custom permalink as well as make sure that all visitors are directed to “www” dot your domain name. Basic search engine friendly stuff, good for SEO. You can of course customize this to your heart’s desire, I am just including the most basic rules right now.

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} (on)?
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Host} ^(?!www\.)(.+)$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (.+)
RewriteRule .? http(?%1s)://www.%2%3 [R=301,L]
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(\d+)/[^/]+/?$ index.php?p=$1 [NC,L]

The rules you need to add to the .htaccess file in notepad

7. After you save the file login to your wordpress admin and navigate to Settings –> Permalinks. Click on custom and type in /%postname% this will make all your post URL’s look like “http://www.your-domain-name.com/title-of-your-blog-post. You can also add in other custom tags like %post_id% but I like just having my domain name followed by my blog title. Call me a minimalist. Permalink tags here.

Permalinks in your Wordpress admin settings

8. Make sure to save your settings and your done. To see this in action click on one of your blogs. Here is an example of mine.

http://www.mikesaysmeh.com/how-to-dump-transaction-log-in-mssql-2008

Notice my domain name includes “www” and the blog title is directly after the domain with dashes. Looks nice huh? Leave a comment with a link to your own blog and begin some track backs. Maybe more on that later …

The old command “DUMP TRANSACTION [db_name] WITH NO_LOG;” no longer works in SQL 2008 to dump the transaction log. Instead I found a GUI work around. I don’t like it as much but it works for now until I find something better. If I do, I’m not a DBA anyway.

1. Open SQL Management Studio and right click on the database you need to dump the trans log and click on properties.

2. Click on option from the left hand side and then click the drop down next to “recovery model” and set it to simple. Click ok.

3. Right click on the database again and go to Tasks –> Shrink –> Database and click ok on the popup window. You can also read it and change some options but the defaults work fine. Do that for files as well (Tasks –> Shrink –> Files).

4. Right click on the database one last time and go to properties then options and set the recovery model back to full. Because if you leave it on simple and your SQL server crashes you would loose any transactions not flushed back into the DB.

Compared with Comcast high speed the download and upload rates of DSL are drastically slower. You don’t notice it as much in web page loading but you do when downloading music, games, movies, patches, updates, etc. However it was easy for me to simply time large downloads during the night or at points when I was willing to wait. My only annoyance was when I was updating my mp3 player from Napster and was waiting on the MP3’s to download before a bike ride. Poor planning on my part but it took twice as long as with Comcast.

Before making the commitment to Comcast I tested download speed with Qwest and Comcast active at my apartment at the same time. Both times I tested were on the same computer with a wired connection with a test to the same location. Comcast got down speeds around 20Mbs and up at 4Mbs. Qwest was consistently 4Mbs down and less than 1Mbs up. This is obviously a gigantic difference in speed. The higher speed lines from Qwest are unavailable in my area, the plan I have is the 7Mbs. My Comcast plan is the normal one with powerboost.

In more practical testing I tried a download from ati.com which I always get great speeds from. The rate with Comcast was a steady 1MB/s with burst sometimes reaching over 2MB/s. That’s MB/s with a capital B meaning Byte instead of bit. I used Internet Explorer for the download which measures bandwidth in Bytes per second. I then tested the same file with Qwest and got a steady download rate of 500KB/s with a burst up to 1MB/s.

Despite the difference in speed Qwest has superior service and is much less expensive. Without special deals Comcast is $70 per month just for the internet. Qwest is $45. Suddenly learning patience and planning downloads at night isn’t such a big problem. Add tot hat they offer DirecTV for another $40 per month with a better channel lineup and you have a winner. Except the service at DirecTV is absolutely horrible. SO for a time I even had a combination of Comcast TV and Qwest DSL. It wasn’t the best way to spend my money but I was getting what I wanted.

With that said I called Comcast and got a deal. I told them what I could get with Qwest and they basically matched it. Internet + TV for $80 a month and I get HBO (that I never watch). All in all I was very satisfied with Qwest and if it weren’t for the deal Comcast gave me I would still be with them. Especially if DirecTV had better customer service.

You can also find some actual test results on my previous blog post.

http://www.mikesaysmeh.com/index.php/2009/10/comcast-vs-qwest-speed-test/

My love for Simcity began in the early 90’s with Simcity Classic. My family had just moved to Colorado from Omaha and we were staying with my uncle while they finished work on the house. I was first introduced to it when my uncle let me use his super fast 486 PC. I would sit for hours playing, and then let the game run by itself while my budget went up. I engrossed myself in every aspect trying to figure out the perfect measure of industrial, residential, and commercial lots. When Simcity 2000 came out my family’s PC was too slow to run it. I saved up every penny from babysitting and mowing lawns so I could buy a Sega Saturn, then I bought Simcity 2000. What followed were more countless hours building massive cities and trying to populate them with the Arcologies which were cities within cities. All this was followed by Simcity 3000, Simcity 4, then Simcity 4 with the Rush Hour expansion pack. A game I still play today more than any other. In fact you can now download hundreds of custom buildings and add-ons making the game even more incredible and realistic.I even have Simcity on my iphone.

Custom mods, add-ons, buildings, and maps for Simcity 4 Rush Hour / Deluxe can be found on these sites.

http://sc4devotion.com/

http://www.simtropolis.com/

But I’m not writing about the newer version of Simcity today. Because I recently fell back in love with Simcity 2000 and I can still play it on Mac OS X, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 with DOSBox. (Even in Win7 x64!)

Anyone who hasn’t used DOS before are going to need to know a few commands first. DOSbox is a DOS emulator so all the commands work just the same but DOSbox also comes with some new ones for mounting CD’s, folders, etc. DOSbox for me has worked great with SC2k out of the box, so to speak. I haven’t had to change anything with the settings or setup a config file. Here are some simple instructions.

1. Download DOSbox for whatever OS you are using (http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1) and install it.

2. Downloads Simcity 2000 (http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/82/SimCity+2000.html its free!) After you have downloaded it extract the files into a folder called SC2000 and put that on the root of your C: drive.

3. Run DOSbox and type int he following command at the Z:\ prompt. “mount c c:\sc2000″ (without the “”). This will mount the sc2000 folder as the C: drive so you can navigate to it in dosbox. Another option is to create a folder on C: called DOSgames and put all your games in there within separate directories. I currently have one with Simcity Classic, Simcity 2000, and Simant.

4. After the game folder is mounted you can navigate into it by typing “c:” at the z:\ prompt. This will automatically move you into the c mount. You can then type “dir” to get a directory listing and find the exe you need to run. Or just type “sc2000″ to run the game.

A few other commands for browsing DOS:
cd is change directory. Example would be “cd C:\sc2000″
cd \ will take you to the root.
cd.. will go up one directory

I leave you with some wonderful images of Simcity 2000 in action.

But what about Mac? Follow the instructions above, download DOSbox for Mac OS.

Put the sc2000 folder in your user directory. For example \users\mkauspe\sc2000. (Above the doucments and downloads folder).

Use the command “mount c ~\sc2000″ instead, it will mount that sc2000 folder in the users directory as C:\.

Game plays the same with music and sound!

This is one of the coolest things I have seen online. This site builds an installer that will combine multiple other application installers into one. It downloads and installs everything for you, no clicking next. I accidentally stumbled this but what a find. I just reloaded my PC with Windows 7 Pro ($30 student edition). Most of these apps I had installed but I made an installer with the following.

• VLC
• Winamp
• Hulu Desktop
• Paint.NET
• Picasa
• Gimp
• OpenOffice
• Microsoft Security Essentials
• Flash FF and IE
• Silverlight
• asp.net
• uTorrent
• Steam
• Google Earth
• IMGBurn
• Ccleaner
• Defragler

Ninite.com also has apps for x64 (64-bit) which I happen to be running now.

Ninite installer screen

Ninite installer screen

Grab your installer here. http://ninite.com/

I switched over to Qwest DSL a few months ago because Comcast kept dropping my connection. I’d been so satisfied with Qwest’s reliability that I kept them when I moved as well. Especially since I was moving to a highrise building. I figured the line would be saturated. But since DirectTV has the worst customer service ever and I still have Comcast cable I decided to give high speed another shot. I called them up and asked for a deal to match qwest. $80 a month with Science channel HD + high speed. I got it, Digital Preferred + High Speed for $80 a month. I got the modem and new channels the same day. Hooked everything up and ran some speedtests.

Comcast with Linksys WRT54G v8 Router - Speed of the beast!

My first test wasn’t very impressive but it was running through my router. A Linksys WRT54G v8. I thought the router might be the issue so I tried it without the router.

Speed test without router, PC direct through modem

Wow, much better. I only get 5mbs tops on Qwest. So I knew the router was a problem. I gave it the latest firmware update and reset it to factory defaults.

Speed test after upgrading firmware and resetting to factory defaults

Yay, because I really need a router and didn’t want to have to buy one. How does this compare with Qwest?

Qwest speed test

Honestly, DSL is slower than cable but there are some pros. You get your own dedicated line so no other user can affect your connection. The customer service with Qwest is amazing. I’ve used billing and technical support and they are great, even the people over in India. With that said I won’t be switching back. the deal I am getting with Comcast is too good and the speed is fantastic. Unless Comcast royally screws up again and my connection starts dropping I’ll stick with them long term.

All of my tests were using hard wired connections and to the same location each time. The Qwest modem/router combo I have is the Motorola Netopia 3347. Modem with Comcast is the Scientific Atlanta DPC2100. Router I use with Comcast high speed is a Linksys WRT54G v8. I have Comcast with power boost and Qwest 7mbs packages.

“Nameserver [ns1.domain-name.com] doesn’t exist at the registry”

When you are configuring a domain name with custom name servers they need to be registered. It’s free and has to be done with the registrar of the domain name. To discover your registrar use this web site www.who.is and type in your domain name then look at the registrar entry. If you are a reseller with Tucows or your hosting provider is ask them to do the following.

1. Login to their reseller control panel and locate the option to “Add Nameserver to All Foreign Registries”.
2. Type in the custom name server address and click on add nameserver.

You will need to wait a few hours for the addition to propagate before you can change the name servers on your domain name. I usually just wait a day.

For some reason in Windows 7 and with the ATI driver you get this crappy image scaling even at native res on the LCD. It makes things look a little off and not as crisp. I found the fix.

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=279&threadid=115903&enterthread=y

What that pompous prick meant to say was.

1. Open ATI CCC (catalyst Control Center).

2. Go to Desktops and Displays and on the bottom click on the triangle in the LCD then click on configure. You’ll notice image scaling is greyed out.

3. Leave the window open and right click on your desktop then click on screen resolution. Change the resolution to one below your LCD native (my native is 1680×1050 so I chose 1440×900) click on apply after choosing. Click on keep changes prompt, then click on the ATI CCC window.

4. At this point you should be able to adjust the scaling. Click the check box to enable image scaling and then click the bubble for Use Centered Timings. Click apply, go back to resolution and set back to native.

Voila, crispiness.

My PC:
Phenom X3 720
Radeon 4870 1GB
4GB OCZ 1066
I can play Simcity and Eve at the same time, yay!

Re-did security at GearHost with some better sandbox configurations and stronger security. Of course this broke weird stuff like the cf tag for PDFs. I think its just cfpdf. Here’s the error.

Security: The requested template has been denied access to applications\GearHost.pdf.
The following is the internal exception message: access denied (java.io.FilePermission applications\GearHost.pdf read)

I did a lot of searching and tried this: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/000/f2fbaac6.html

Plus found this: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/358/8eb3581a.html

Eventually I figured out I had to add C:\ColdFusion8\runtime\bin\- with read only access to sandbox security. It doesn’t resolve every issue but fixed this one.