Windows Server 2003 RELEASED

[jimeney]

You asked about problems with the VHD way of doing things. Are there instructions for OS X users? I can't find a way of imaging a VHD to usb on my mac?

[danfoshizzle]

i couldnt find an answer to that, all that google comes up with is parallels can open vhd files, but surely they mean parallels will install to a vhd file?

[danfoshizzle]

Still no luck, thinking i have lost my brain somewhere and its been replaced with a useless one lol

[danfoshizzle]

think it may be windows installing a driver that is not needed, thus causing the system to hang just as it redraws teh screen on second boot, weird!

[pete]

I did a quick search also and noticed that it appears "just to be" relating to using OS X VHD files. That said now there is an image file posted; so no worries about the VHD files.

Personally it was faster to download the VHD file at only 500 or so mb's versus the over 1Gb download. AND now the freebees (except for rapidshare) are starting to limit free uploading sizes. Next though I guess would be a multipart upload and download.

Dan, looking here on the other side of the big pond; can't find it; bet you its there somewhere...lol

BTW I had no issues with your W2003 build boot, reboot, etc. Just that it needed some stuff I couldn't install and it would only boot from the side port.

Your first XPSP3 build so far has had the least amount of issues with the last EFI stuff posted. It just works. The little icons don't bug me cuz I don't utilize them. The screen overlay has buttons about 1/8 the size of the screen and there are only a few buttons on each of the 35 overlay screens. The only adds were really only VLC for multimedia. The way though I run it is doing VB scripting on the oversized buttons on the overlay screens.

I am having boot, reboot, warm boot concerns with the Mevi XPSP3 build. I left one Joggler with your first XPSp3 build / some propietary software running now for over a week connected at 1Gb; running just fine with the USB SSD on the inside USB port. Second Joggler has the USB SSD build on the side USB port with the WLAN Nic left inside. 3rd Joggler with the newest Mevi build on my desk right now utilizing the ZIF 40Gb drive for testing.

[danfoshizzle]

Yeah i think a highly compressed img file could be that small, maybe i will use 7 zip instead of winrar might make a tad smaller

[BuZz]

when you create the images do you clear the free space ? for example by making a large file that contains nothing and then removing. for linux it's much simpler and i generate the image files from scratch so there is no free space containing old data etc.

[pete]

On the Mevi VHD to IMG creation I initially wrote it to a 4GB stick. Booted up the image and deleted the networked links to Mevi's laptop there were left over. Though before I did this there was stuff in the "trash" container. I emptied the trash. I have seen where there are left over network links slow down stuff where the links are not present. Then I did a quick cleanup. Booted a couple of times then imaged the stick. It still came out to over 3.5 Gb of data. Using 7z I used the highest compression and it still only compressed down to over one Gb.

[pete]

I also noticed and just relating to using the memory sticks; that while it seems fast at times; it does some wierd bursting thing. I see this with my screen overlays where I switch one screen for another one that's behind it. I have 35 screens and I am seeing like cached stuff coming up before its being updated. I don't see this as much with the ZIF or USB SSD setup. Mostly noted though in security streaming video screens. But I think its more of an issue with the application and just more evident with the bursting of the memory stick. The application though is bouncing thru three (if IP cams and two servers on analogue cams) different servers before it gets to the screen; so I kind of get a jittery of sorts 30FPS video.

Zoneminder ==> Mothership = = > build of screen with video overlay on Joggler (But too I am doing a 10 cam mini video live view cam screens overlay); which is kind of pushing it. From here though you just touch one of the 10 cams and get a full size screen security cam view. I still overlay it with PIR variables, temperature etc addition live data variables on top of the video.

[danfoshizzle]

Just had another retry, crossed fingers lol

[danfoshizzle]

damn it, retry failed still hung at redrawing the screen on second boot, i reaaly dont get this.

[pete]

It the "flux capacitor" Dan.

I have mine adjusted to .0000199 specifications as quoted in the "flux capacitor" manual. lol

I watch the little flashing LED. It'll continue to flash either fast or slow depending on the USB stick. If it just stops or stays on it indicates to me that it will no no longer boot. Originally for whatever reason my boot flag got shut off during the VHD image. You wouldn't get to the redrawing piece though if it wasn't working. My only hanging at this part is when I left the network cable plugged in; if I do remove it it'll boot. When the pagefile thing was messed it; it would come to a MS error and not proceed to next step until I acknowledged the error.

[danfoshizzle]

yeah i don't know what's happening, think i blew a fuse or something lol

So now im just gonna keep creating images until one works lol could take a while!

Mevis build is awesome, but for me 2003 rune much faster in use due to the way it handles physical memory, so i am going to get this going for sure

[pete]

I am looking forward to your W2003 build; as historically W2003 has been better for me here.

Still playing with the new XPSP3 on one of the three Jogglers. Works fine right now; except if I do a warm boot; but typically I do not.

My wife's computer is running W2003 for the desktop and she really doesn't even know it.

Drifting a bit here; I put a software switch on the Chumby's such that they will boot into native Chumby mode or tweaked Linux mode with a warm boot. The software switch works via SSH or XPL (with a python script always running). The script also talks to the hardware such that I can control the screen brightness or dimness remotely.

[danfoshizzle]

yeah should be awesome pete, i cant wait to try it myself lol.

and i found a guy in england selling chumby's but he wants 98 uk pounds for one, around 140 in dollars. semms a tad exspensive lol

[danfoshizzle]

nvm

[Mevi]

I deleted as much stuff as I could from the XP3 build and wiped the free space with ccleaner. Made a 7z file with the highest compression which took aaaaages, but resulted in a v small file to distribute. I was actually surprised it squashed down so small. If you note, the .img file that I created from the Vhd compressed down to only 1K more.

I will check to see if making a public folder in a s3 bucket is a security concern, as I could do that to allow you to upload there. They warned me about making files public like I have, so I will let you know.

Dropbox have free 2gb accounts and you can make files or folders public, too. As I have my own email domain, I can set up multiple accounts for different tasks. Naughty.

[pete]

Yeah the Chumby's were being literally "given away" here last year around this time for $39 USD for the little one and $59 USD for the big one; new from Best Buy. They are a bit slow at 500Mhz or 800Mhz Arm CPUs. My Seagate Dockstar running at 1.2Ghz was faster; even connected to a USB Touchscreen; not as fast though as the Joggler. I do now though have the Dockstar running ArchLinux mounted inside of the sprinkler "box" controlling two 8 zone relay boxes and it is doing well. I do though have it shut down for the season (even though the application is still running).

Mevi, I've left your XP rendition running on one Joggler. Its doing well relating to the application running connected at the 1Gb speeds. I did switch from the USB ZIF to the USB SSD device last week. Yeah I took a look at the VHD to USB Stick image; without the static page file it was 3.5Gb. When I imaged it and compressed it; it came out to a bit over 1Gb.

[Mevi]

Here's a link to the disk image conversion app. I had to register to get it, but here it is in my S3 Bucket for all. (I will also add it to my first XPSP3 post)

https://s3.amazonaws.com/mevi_joggler/S ... verter.exe

I've only used it to convert from VHD to IMG, but I think it can do the other way. Other disk image formats supported too. It's a free tool.

[pete]

Wow great Mevi!

That's faster than creating an image with the VHD; then doing the IMG file from the stick.