Category covering Microsoft topics. I've followed Microsoft closely, originally as a competitor, then as an employee, and always as an admirer. I heavily depend on Microsoft products, and currently fully exploit the productivity benefits of both Vista and Office 2007.
After brain augmentation surgery becomes commonplace in about 30 years, I'll be directly connected to my Microsoft Surface computer and will be able to process information in multiple dimensions across multiple virtual processes. The future DrivingEnthusiast.net will be created on Microsoft Sphere by simply dragging images from the new Multi-Dimensional Explorer Version 16 via the power of thought and dropping them onto my site, attaching long diatribes and numerous arcane details automatically copied directly from my enhanced memory. My blog posting number 82,535,894 of April 1, 2054 will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Mustang SVO and feature 20 pages of discussion about whether the radiator brackets were painted flat black or were unpainted on the first version of the car. It will be illustrated by a spectral analysis of original brackets that my un-enhanced minions will be ordered to restore to perfection. I'm shown in this photo creating a new posting:
Or, maybe I should just stay off the coke in the evenings... it does bad things to my head.
The future's not set. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves.. Talk amongst yourselves....
A question for your consideration: do Driving Enthusiasts also have to be computer geeks?
Why do I ask? As we proceed in this hobby, we come across thousands of images and videos, hundreds of URLs, documents describing technical details of your favorite cars, downloaded videos of WRC events and Top Gear, and much more. On top of that we're taking photos and making videos at our own events. How can we possibly organize and protect all of these files? Even if we didn't begin this hobby as a computer geek, we could be forced to become one just to keep track of all the cool stuff that we accumulate in this hobby.
If disaster strikes the majority of these files would be irreplaceable: photos and videos of events can't be recreated, many others can't be downloaded again. Having them sitting on a disk drive or two spinning under our desk inevitably makes for a disaster: disk drives wear out (a realistically safe lifespan seems to be about 5 years, after that you are taking a big risk), your computer could be damaged (even a lightning strike is possible), dust and animal fur accelerate wear, or there could be a file corruption. And chances are there is more than 1 computer in your home which also have masses of files on them.
I've got about 40,000 files related to this hobby which I've accumulated over the years. And on top of that I've got the network of websites and blogs under the banner of DrivingEnthusiast.net: this is another 20,000 files of various types. And then there is my Outlook file, with every single personal email I've written since 1997.
What can you do to backup all these files? In my case, they are spread across many different folders on my main PC, and there are also several other PCs in the house. And some of the files are enormous - especially the videos (of which there are often 2 or more copies as they are edited). I've got one video of an open road race event that is over 150 gig in size. Backup is a serious issue for me. I used to backup to an externally connected 500gig drive, but that very quickly ran out of space. Something much larger was needed, and something much better was needed to organize and manage this enormous mass of data.
And how easy can the backup process be made? The extent of the "geekiness" we have to develop is the big question. We don't have time in our lives to develop or maintain a large degree of geekiness.
So we need smart and easy-to-use tools. As an example, I've said all along that the only way I could possibly create and manage these enormous websites with my limited time is to leverage powerful but easy to use tools such as Microsoft FrontPage (now Expression Web). And now, thanks to the HP MediaSmart Server, there is an easy and infallible way to backup any number of files.
Here's what the industry experts have to say:
And as you see in the video, there's even more here that can be done beyond just backing up files (although that's well worth the cost by itself). If you've got several computers, and/or need to access them from other places in your house such as your media room, you can use the HP MediaSmart Server as a central repository of your files - a "home server". You can even access them while you are on the road (great for business travel), and you can setup access for friends and relatives to access selected files from their own homes. The HP MediaSmart Server will do all of this for you via an easy to use and highly graphical user interface. In my experience with this product, it's an extraordinarily easy thing to do.
I've had my HP MediaSmart Server for 8 months and it's been flawless. When I bought it, I followed the simple picture-type instructions that came in the box to set it up and it worked the first time.
But there is even more that it can do. Lets say you bought an HDTV and would like to use it to view your videos and photos. Thanks to functionality built into Microsoft Windows, and to HP with it's new HP MediaSmart Connect product, you easily can do that. The HP MediaSmart Connect comes out at the end of July, and it's highly anticipated. You can use it to connect your HDTV to your HP MediaSmart Server, or to any Windows computer (see HP site for specs and requirements). I'll be blogging about my experiences with this new device when I mine arrives at the end of this month.
For your convenience, I've provided a graphical link below to Amazon.com for safe shopping. You don't need the books if you're a typical user: HP has written very clear instructions and the user interface is terrifically easy to use. If you are a full time geek (or worse, a nerd!) and want to use these devices to their max, the books will be helpful. For the Home Server, you need to choose between the 500gb and 1 terabyte model depending on how many files you already have. The Server has 4 disk bays (1 used by the standard 500gig drive), so given currently available off-the-shelf SATA drives (which don't have to be bought from HP) you could put up to 3.5 terabytes of disk into the machine. I have 2.5tb, and I have only filled 13% of it with my backups and other files.
Splitting my time this morning between watcing the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the landing of the Space Shuttle on NASA TV. Interesting to note that their interface for tracking the overall status of the shuttle runs on Windows. Sure, some naysayers will say it's only Windows XP, but fact is that it's Windows not some variant of ye olde UNIX. Seems that NASA understands the value statement of Windows. No point in wasting money on proprietary software for zero return.
Now I'd like to see NASA provide the video feed in HD... this is fascinating stuff and I want to see more!
I have an HP MediaSmart Server (HP EX475, running Windows Home Server) for backing up several systems and sharing various kinds of files across my home network. It's a nice little server, with 2.5 terabytes of disk (4 drives, already upgraded from the standard single drive by me following HP's instructions), 512mg of memory, and 1.8 GHz AMD Sempron 3400+ CPU.
The HP MediaSmart Server as it came out of the box performs very well for home backup and file serving... however being both a performance car enthusiast and a computer nerd I'm of the opinion that you can never have enough power. So, an upgrade is called for. But, which one? Will it run too hot? Can the existing power supply handle it? What about the BIOS?
Enter the Home Server Hacks (http://www.homeserverhacks.com) site. They've already answered all of the questions so I simply followed their lead. Be sure to read the disclaimer - this will void your warranty. However, mine has been running flawlessly for several months, so the warranty was not an issue for me. Your mileage may vary; this is not something you should do unless you have done this type of upgrade before.
As they recommended, I used an AMD 2.66 GHz LE-1640 Orleans 45w CPU. 45% more power... but also an increase in L2 cache from 512kb to 1 MB. The extra cache is a very important part of this upgrade. I also moved up to 2GB of DDR2 667 SDRAM (PC2 5300) memory. Note there is only 1 slot.
I used a corner of my work area to perform the upgrade. That's a Wistron motherboard, BTW. Very small and compact in a conveniently small case.
Be sure to use a static grounding strap so that you don't short your nice new CPU and memory. You'll also note I use an Ott-Lite to clearly light up the area. And of course as the instruction say, be sure to label all the cables as you pull them off.
Results: exactly as the website says. Same temperatures, faster serving of many types of files, and faster backup. A nice cheap upgrade with great results. Here's the CPU-Z (a more updated one than was used in the HopmeServerHacks postings above):
As to the HP MediaSmart Server, it's a great little box. Installation and configuration couldn't have been easier - anybody can do this in their own home. The backups are flawless and I can pull any file off the server at any time. I also have my entire music library on the server and regularly connect to it from any of several systems I own. Kudos to HP, and Microsoft as well for their very easy to use Home Server version of Windows.
Whether you've got a TabletPC or not, this is the killer way to store your notes at the track. Alignments, tire pressures, other setup infirmation, notes on the track, events results, and more. I also use it at my work and on my home PC - everything is stored in OneNote, nothing is written on paper, and everything is searchable (even your handwriting and images).
