Channel 9 - Discussions by ckozlowski

Coffeehouse - Open Source Software

ckozlowski — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:56:50 GMT

The Network Visualizer was a really neat app I saw posted on sans.org once. Been meaning to give it a try.
http://tnv.sourceforge.net/

Coffeehouse - Current driver state in Vista and glitch-free experience?

ckozlowski — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:28:44 GMT

The drivers have saddened me as well. ATI only reciently added OpenGL support, and while Vista recovers nicely after a GPU crash, it is still annoying. Creative's driver support has always been crappy, and I am surprised that it's taken this long for them to get their stuff in order. But I see it getting better as time goes on. Intel seemed to have been on the ball with their drivers from the start, even with their wireless offerings. Kudos to them.

Aside from the games though, I do find it to be rather soild. I run the 64bit version with 4GB of RAM doing testing and evaluations in VMWare. Being able to run 5-6 virtual machines simultaneously with reasonable performance is just fantastic.

I also notice that I rarely reboot as often. My laptop hibernates quickly, (much more so than XP) and my desktop rarely needs to restart for much.

Oh, and the must debated UAC is justified in my mind. I installed the new game Supreme Commander, which played fine for a few days. Installed the released patch, and suddenly I'm being prompted to run a SecurROM Shell Extension signed by Sony. UAC prompted me asking if I wanted to give it rights, and I replied with a "hell no." On Windows XP, it would have run without my knowladge. Thanks Vista!

Coffeehouse - FSF Urges Computer Makers To Replace Windows Vista With Linux

ckozlowski — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 15:52:06 GMT

Ars Technica had a good write up on the problems Dell or another OEM might face when trying to put linux on a desktop.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070228-8941.html

One thing that I noticed wasn't mentioned was the political issues that sometimes come up amongst the different linux distros, especially in regards to open drivers. Since Dell would want a distro that's 100% compatable with it's hardware (I presume) then they might run into some problems along that front.

Coffeehouse - What's a "geek"?

ckozlowski — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 15:48:49 GMT

Yeah, I'm drawing a blank. I must not be a geek. =)

Coffeehouse - Anyone know any Vista x64 compatible sound cards?

ckozlowski — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:17:46 GMT

Creative released a new set of X-Fi drivers for Vista x64 today (v 2.13.0001.) I'll give them a try when I get home and let you know how they work.

Coffeehouse - Anyone know any Vista x64 compatible sound cards?

ckozlowski — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 22:01:21 GMT

I know creative has some inexpensive versions of the X-Fi coming out, which is a very capable sound card. Unfortunitally, the drivers are still in beta. They work ok for the most part, and I have sound using my X-Fi on Vista x64. I have had no serious issues that I can tell. But I cannot get my music to play over 4 channels, just 2 channels only. =( Games play in 4 channel though, so I'm not sure what's going on.

Coffeehouse - Taiwan quake cuts off much of Asia Internet

ckozlowski — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 21:53:23 GMT

Who's "we"?

It's much more complicated than that...=)

Coffeehouse - Ack! I think my computer's motherboard is overheating.

ckozlowski — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 21:51:18 GMT

Richard,

Nice find! The CAG were actual requirements case manufacturers had to adhere to for Intel systems. We had to upgrade our entire line of chassis to meet Intel CAG requirements, and it did make a difference. Before we recieved our new chassis, I was burining up Prescotts on my test bench because they ran so hot. Putting any sort of high load on them instantly send them throttling.

Of course, as "eagle" pointed out, Intel's chips shutdown after hitting a certain temp (I still believe it's 75C) so there's little risk of burning up a chip. I was very critical of AMD for many years for lacking this feature, including losing one mission critical mail server after a heatsink fell off the socket and fried the chip in the process. Fortunitally the new A64s added this feature.

I wonder how critical this is nowadays that AMD and Intel are both using very power efficient designs. The Core2 only displaces a little over 60w peak, and I believe the AM2 is in the same range.

I asked an Intel rep once if this meant that the BTX chassis design was no longer needed. "No comment" was the reply...=)

Still, as "eagle" mentioned, the memory and graphics card put out alot of heat, the latter increacingly so, much to my alarm. I read on The Inquirer a few months ago that ATI and Nvidia have seen this and will be working on their own power efficient designs in '07. But until then I see a real problem in cooling some of these massive graphics cards, especially with the heavy coolers required, which puts added stresses on the slot.

Coffeehouse - Ack! I think my computer's motherboard is overheating.

ckozlowski — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 15:14:32 GMT

I would be very wary of using hardware temperature monitoring. Most use a sort of diode to measure temperature which needs to be placed as close to the part as possible. For processors, this can be tricky, as placing it between the heatsink and the chip's heatspreader will break even contact with the heatsink and actually cause temperatures to rise. Placing it on the outside will give you an idea of the surrounding temperature, but count on the actual core temp being 10-15C higher. If there's a sudden cooling failure, your chip will shut off long before the bay solution picks it up.

When I was working for an OEM we discussed thermal issues with our Intel rep often. Starting with the Prescott core the intel motherboards and software would measure directly from the onboard thermal diode built into the chip. This is really as close as you can get, and we found it to be very reliable.

The other solution would be to use a thermal diode, but with some variations. To ensure we were still geting optimal contact with the CPU, we would carve a channel into the heat spreader deep enough for the diode to sit flush with the heat spreader. This would run from the edge of the chip to the core. We'd then epoxy the diode in place and hook it up to our monitor for thermal validation. This was a very tricky and dangerous process, as there was a very high risk of drilling too deep into the heat spreader and damaging the core.

I'm guessing this is a little overboard for your needs (and certainly mine!) but I would give a utility such as Intel's Active Monitor a try.

Hope this helps!

Coffeehouse - How old were you when you finished studying?

ckozlowski — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 16:13:07 GMT

I'm 23, still attending George Mason University and working towards my undergrad.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about a schedule other than the one you set for yourself. So long as you stay focused and continue to chip away at it, I think you'll be alright.

As for other approaches to learning, I started working full-time in IT after high school and have been working on my degree part time ever since. (I've been continually enrolled) I think this helps in a number of ways. I've been continually pleased in how much my job has helped my school work and vice versa, and I've noticed my career has progressed much farther already than my other friends who have graduated ahead of me. (That being said, a degree will go a long way to advancing your career.)

It's really whatever works for you best. But being thrown into the enviroment teaches you in a way school won't. If you can leverage the two then you'll really learn a ton.

And that's what it's all about, really...=)