So today I took delivery of my shiny new XPS M1330, here is my thoughts so far [end of day 1]

Background:

For years (and years…) I have been using a Dell Inspiron 1100.  I think of it as the little laptop that could.  I had a P4 and 1Gb of RAM but it didn’t take much to bring it to a halt.  It also generated enough heat that I had global warming protesters picketed outside for a month… I tried Vista on it and it had a WEI of 1, and to top it off I cannot live in 1024x768 for one more day!

So trying to run the latest hotness like Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 betas was completely out of the question.

It would also blue screen switching between screen and VGA out.  OK, enough space spent on the old, bring on the new!

The new hotness

So I bit the bullet and went in for a new laptop.  After much research I chose the Dell XPS M1330.  In red.  Pillar box red.  Sexy lingerie red.  Very very red.

While the 64Gb Solid State hard drive would have been an awesome inclusion, for the extra $1000 I just couldn’t do it.

Out of Box experience.

It comes in an XPS sleeve that is actually pretty good quality, down to magnetic fasteners and neoprene sides.

Further investigation revealed a folder to keep the CDs and manuals.  It looked something like an executive folder you might take to a meeting.  A nice surprise in there was an XPS microfibre cloth.

The first thing I noticed was the weight.  This is one very light machine.  Thin, small and light. 

Upon plugging it in, the screen struck me as being exactly what the doctor ordered for the 1024x768 blues.  It is clear, bright and crisp.  Also very thin!

Design, design, design

It’s the details. 

If you search for pictures of the M1330 you will always come up with a side profile but the coolness of the hinge design for the lid didn’t dawn on me until I saw it – no, until I felt it.

At the top of the keyboard are a set of controls to eject the CD/DVD, control the audio & playback etc.  These are not buttons per se, but little touch sensitive spots that glow when you touch them.  Very cool.

The XPS M1330 comes with Creative EP-630 Noise Isolation earphones that compare quite favourably to my standard work wear – Philips SHP805.  They have 3 sizes of rubber seal for your ear, dunno how they feel when used for extended periods yet.  This was a nice surprise.

...and there are other little supprises all throughout this machine.  Someone, somewhere put thought into the design of this machine and it shows.

Now, to uninstall the crapware…

Having had a bit to do with Dell over the years, first thing I always do is open Control Panel and uninstall the bloat.  I was pleased to see so little preinstalled on my machine.

I removed:

• Google Desktop
• Google IE Toolbar
• Microsoft Works  (I have Office and didn’t want to pay for a redundant CAL, so Works is the only choice when ordering)

Things that may go if they show me the first sign of trouble, but can stay for now:

• Dell Browser Address Error Redirection (whatever that is!)
• Roxio Creator Home

So, what’s not to like:

There are a couple of minor things – so minor I only list them for completeness.  None of these are an obstacle to being very happy with this machine:

1. When you eject a CD the sound is like strangling a pigeon. Don’t ask me how I know what that sounds like, it just does.
2. Chipset does not support Intel VT.  I use Virtual PC a lot, but VMs run fine without it.
3. The system comes with a 10Gb recovery partition.  This isn’t a worry to me with 250Gb but if I had gone for the 64Gb Solid State drive for the extra thou’ I would be nuking this straight away
4. The battery in the media remote is tricky to seat properly. 

The Essential Stats:

Dell XPS M1330

CPU: Intel Core2 Duo @ T7500 2.2Ghz

OS: Windows Vista Business 32 Bit

RAM: 4Gb RAM installed – 3.5Gb Visible to 32bit OS

WEI:  4.0, broken down as follows

• processor: 5.1
• RAM: 4.8
• Graphics: 4.0
• Gaming Graphics: 4.5
• Primary Hard Disk: 5.2
  

Video: NVidia 8400M GS w/ 128Mb RAM – 1280 x 800 x 32 on 13.3”

HDD: 250Gb WD SATA

Overall

Since it is only day 1 I can't be definitive, but this machine shows every sign of being a great developer PC.  Recommended. 

The SQL Server 2008 ("Katmai") CTP 4 VHD that was published to MSDN Subscriber Downloads last week is made available as a 4-part self-extracting RAR archive. 

It can seem to have an issue in while self-extracting.  As shown in the screen cap below is it looking for en_sql_server_2008_ctp_4_vhd_part_1_of_5_.rar: 

 

This is obviously wrong because a) part 1 is not a rar - it is in the exe, and b) the download is in 4 parts not 5.  So if you see this prompt, browse for en_sql_server_2008_ctp_4_vhd_part_2_of_4_.rar.

Likewise when asked for en_sql_server_2008_ctp_4_vhd_part_2_of_5_.rar browse for en_sql_server_2008_ctp_4_vhd_part_3_of_4_.rar. 

Finally when prompted for en_sql_server_2008_ctp_4_vhd_part_3_of_5_.rar browse for en_sql_server_2008_ctp_4_vhd_part_4_of_4_.rar.  You will not be prompted for a part 5.

Once you have done that, fire up VPC or Virtual Server 2005 and enjoy!

Also, don't forget:  You can check out the LiveMeeting events on the new features in SQL Server 2008 available through the Connect site.

Listening to: Aphex Twin, Selected Ambient Works, Volume II

I have a ColorPlus monitor profiling spyder by what was formally marketed as Pantone and is now Datacolor and I profile my monitors regularly.

Today was the first time I have tried to profile it since I built my new dev workstation.  It turns out the (circa 2004) ColorPlus spider that has served me well so far is now in the legacy bin.  While it works great on Vista x32 with the XP driver it has not had signed drivers released for Vista x64.

This lead me to look at what was the latest news for loading unsigned drivers into Vista x64, since I only need the thing to run for 5 minutes once every couple of months I was hoping to see that there would be some BCDEdit trickery that may let me reboot into a non-standard config, generate an ICC profile and then boot back into "real" Windows.  Seems that option was supported on Vista RC2 and removed for the RTM.

What has this to do with Linchpin Labs?

Further investigation showed up the case of Linchpin Labs (who have a Willoughby NSW address, as well as Ottawa CA).   Linchpin released a widget called Atsiv that was itself signed and would let you load unsigned drivers through it. 

Things got interesting when Microsoft categorized Atsiv as malware. 

The Microsoft position on this is detailed in the Windows Vista Security blog, and the equally detailed response by Linchpin Labs is detailed on their site.  It's unfortunate that Linchpin do not have a blog because it would be interesting to contrast the comments on the MSDN blog to any they attract.

As for the comments it seems lots of folks think their obligation ends with complaining.  It may be fun to type crap on a message board, but my respect is reserved for the folks who put time into finding the solutions.

But, what seems missing in the discussion to me is that (depending on how you count the numbers) between 40 and 60 million copies of Vista have been shipped in 19 languages to 70 countries.  Only a slim slice of that huge number of users are the tech savvy / tech professional community who, generally speaking, keep technology and the internet working and profitable for the rest of the world.  I think it is right that security decisions favor the great unwashed masses rather than the techno-elite, who should be able to look after themselves.  A bit of perspective please people.

If you get to the bottom of the Linchpin Labs announcement you find the following:

  Linchpin Labs would like to suggest that Microsoft spend less time using debatable policy as a security mechanism, and spend more time actually tightening its operating systems.

Wha??  Isn't that what this is all about?  Driver Signing Policy is tightening the OS.  Other examples of Vista security enhancements include:

• Restricted Services (service hardening)
• DEP and NX, including supporting hardware-based DEP 
• User Account Control (UAC)
• Windows Defender / Windows Firewall / Windows Security Center (techies:  think of the 98% of the world; they need hand holding, OK)
• Network Access Protection (NAP) 
• Bitlocker and EFS
• ActiveX Opt-In, support for EV Certs and anti-phishing filter support in IE7
• ...

...and probabbly others.  Yeah I'd call this tightening the OS.

Back to my ColorPlus Spyder...

So, looking at my options:

• Get a Mac.  Oh yes would I love to get a Mac.  hmmmm :)  But, desk space, power and brain cycles are at a premium at the moment.  Also being a entry-level product the ColorPlus is a Windows-only product so it would mean getting a new spider anyway.
  
• Get a new Spider.  These are costly devices and not really top of my spend list right now.  Maybe one day.
• Abandon the DRM-infested evil Microsoft empire, like some of the commenters (e.g. "Joe" et al) on the Vista Security Blog suggest.  Just try and have a 16-bit/channel colour accurate workflow in Linux.  I've been there (not recently, but as far as I can tell things haven't changed much) and it's not fun.  Just go and spend some a couple of weeks setting it up and let me know how you get on.  Send me a postcard.  Really.

Now for some real options:

1. Email Datacolor and let them know that people are interested in Vista drivers.  Done.
2. Install a copy of Vista x86, update to the latest vid drivers, calibrate the monitor, pinch the ICC profile, reboot into my "real" Vista x64.  It'll take 1hr tops.  I'll get to this on the weekend.

um, anyone want to but a second hand ColorPlus Spyder?  One careful owner, still with original box...

Listening To: The Polyphonic Spree, The Fragile Army

Update:  My ColorPlus is no longer for sale

It turns out that in the ColorVision Knowledge Base (under Support Centre) there is an article that says:

ColorPlus users can download Spyder2express software from the colorvision website's support section, and run that software with a ColorPlus serial number and a ColorPlus Spyder. The latest versions of Spyder2express are compatable with Vista32 and Vista64.

I can confirm this works.  Spyder2express is a 120Mb download which is hefty since I only want the driver :-/  The ColorPlus is detected as a Spyder2 after installation and works as advertised.

...and would you believe their is a Mac version of ColorPlus 1.1 in the Knowledge Base that is not listed in the Support downloads.  I'm happy to be wrong anytime it works out for the best :)

Listening to: The Campfire Headphase, Boards of Canada

It was great being able to have the opportunity to elucidate my thoughts on this matter formally at SQL Down Under Code Camp '07.

For completeness, here are my slides: The Zen of T-SQL SDU CC.ppt (128.5 KB)

I really enjoyed meeting so many nice and very clever folks.  Thanks to Greg and all involved in putting on the Code Camp, what a really great event!

For the record, the image is of Kasprowicz catching Pietersen at NatWest Challenge Final, The Oval, 2005.

I'm just catching up on my feeds and saw Nick Hodge's post with his slides from the Australian Blogging Conference. 

Without the benefit of the associated naration they are still worth a look on the topic of business blogging.

I have been looking at company blogs to satisfy a mixture of professional and after-5 curiosities. The example I keep coming back to is 37signals.

The reasons they top my list are:

• They separate their affairs into a product blog and the SvN blog "company" blog.
• They are current 
• They are well written (easy to read) 
• They are frank

The product blog is a great read for hearing how to get the most out of their products. In their own words, Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about design, business, experience, simplicity, the web, culture, and more.

For a tech R&D shop, this is about as good as I have seen.  I'd also welcome comments on other good examples that people like!

An honourable mention goes to Art. Levedev Studio’s Life and Incredible Adventures of Optimus Keyboard blog where you can keep up with the hardware development in what may turn out to be the last word in keyboards!

I came across the following example in Inside T-SQL Programming, which I am digesting at the moment.  Actually it is credited to Steve Kass (technical editor):

SELECT OrderId, OrderDate
FROM dbo.Orders
WHERE DATEDIFF(day, '19000102', OrderDate) % 7 = 0

This query is to answer the question "Which orders were placed on a Tuesday?".  The query isn't particularly magic, but the idea behind it is as close to the zen of T-SQL as I can remember seeing:

There are 7 days between any two Tuesdays.  If we know one Tuesday (like the 2nd Jan 1900) we have all the Tuesdays since.

What a great mindset to take with querying.

Listening To:   Places like this, Architecture In Helsinki

Problem:

Sorry Adobe, parentheses are valid characters in a path.

Solution:

Luckily the work around is quite easy...

Check the 8.3 name of the x86 Program Files path in this listing:

c:\>dir /N /X
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is BA64-04DE

 Directory of c:\

28/08/2007  01:04 PM            30,469 DXCORE~1.LOG DxCoreInsaller.log
27/08/2007  07:24 PM    <DIR>                       inetpub
28/08/2007  01:26 PM    <DIR>                       NVIDIA
28/08/2007  01:44 PM    <DIR>          PROGRA~1     Program Files
28/08/2007  01:42 PM    <DIR>          PROGRA~2     Program Files (x86)
27/08/2007  09:41 PM    <DIR>                       Users
28/08/2007  01:45 PM    <DIR>                       Windows

Creative Suite 2 will install and work if you actually type in the 8.3 name for the x86 Program Files path, like:

C:\Progra~2\Adobe

I wonder who is next...

Listening to: Northern Substructures compilation

First, some breif background:  My motherboard went belly up, electronic burning smell and all.  Power supply was suspect too.

So time to go shopping!

The new motherboard is the ASUS P5K Premium.

For the CPU I went with the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600.

An important goal for me was this build was Virutal PC performance, and I am pleased to report it is doing just fine.

The WEI score is up to 5.3, broken down as follows:

Processor	Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz	5.9
Memory (RAM)	4.00 GB	5.5
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS	5.9
Gaming	graphics 2303 MB Total available graphics memory	5.3
Primary hard disk	107GB Free (149GB Total)	5.6

The most important change for me was installing the 64 bit edition of Windows Vista Ultimate.  So far I've not had any dramas with drivers and only the odd run-in with apps.  For this I have started a new category on my blog:  Who sucks at 64 bit.

It would be remis of me to not mention the great help that Kernel at KNK Professionals was.  He went to great lengths to make sure I had the hardware that I needed.  All while his wife was giving birth to their first baby!  Highly recommended.