New Toys: Latitude 2100

 

Sadly not mine… but some interesting internal pictures of the new Dell Latitude 2100. Check out Gulilaume’s Blog.

Project MacinDell is GO!

Finally got 50% of what I need to start *that* project…

Dell Mini 9 in white.

…just off to PCWorld to purchase a copy of MacOS X.

Eco-Terrorism

I have a suspicion an ecological aware friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, dresses like this when he “works from home”…

http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-02-22/

MacinDell

Dell Mini9

The Dell Mini9 is an awesome piece of kit…I have used it extensively with WinXP & Canonical’s Ubuntu, but it seems that itis also right at home with OSX. I’ve seen that it can be done before, but this is an extremely nice full guide to hacking your Mini9 to run OSX.

Maybe I need to get myself an “Arctic White” Mini9 to test this on

Dell Mini-9 ESX Server

No, really. Discovered entirely unintentionally. But this can be added to the list of why the Mini9 is a great piece of kit.

This has got to be the most portable quickest implemented ESX Server ever.
Ingredients:

• Dell Mini9
• ESXi (v3) on a bootable USB stick

Instructions:

• Insert USB stick into Mini9
• Boot from USB stick

Instant ESX Server!

Clearly the 2Gb of installed memory and Intel Atom processor might severly limit the capabilities of this new ESX Server, but I’m sure someone will find a use for it… maybe to physically move live VMs from one building to another, as long as you don’t loose your Wi-fi connection

Windows7 Take 1

I finally got around to downloading and burning a DVD of Windows7 beta.
It was a close run thing, as I was also busily downloading openSUSE 11.1; that’s next

The first machine that came to hand was a splendid Dell Latitude D610, with the following spec.:

• Pentium M 1.8GHz
• 1.5Gb RAM
• Intel 915GM integrated graphics
• Broadcom BCM 4309 a/b/g wireless
• 14″ XGA (1024×768) LCD
• 40Gb 2.5″ IDE hard disk

No exotic hardware… so there were no driver issues

Observations during/post the install:

1. At the very first “Get ready to install” screen, the helpful “Guide to installation” makes copious references to Windows Vista installation
2. Once you press the “Go install” button you have the option to choose a partition on which to install Windows7.
3. Windows does like its restarts
4. I don’t mind, as I like the Win7 logo… I’m a sucker for the shiny lights, and cylon-like flashing bar.
5. Having to enter a license key is still weird for me… as I’ve only ever used corporately pre-activated Windows builds and Linux.
6. Faultless detection of wireless hardware, slick connection to the access point, smooth instant download of new patches. An altogether reassuring experience.
7. The D610 scores a 1.0 out 7.9 on the Windows Experience Index…all due to the rather poor performance of the integrated video card. Doesn’t matter – I wasn’t expecting a killer gaming machine!

Altogether, a nice first pass.

Next up for the Windows7 treatment will be the Latitude XT (first generation) tablet.

[Edit: for handy Latitude XT installation notes, please see the comment from Andy. Nice one, thanks for sharing!]

New (to me) Social Media: Twitter

I have resisted the draw of engaging in yet more/new/exciting social media opportunities… as, let’s face it, I’m sure no-one is really interested in what I may be doing at any given time, and I don’t feel a burning desire to tell everyone about the most tiny minuitae of my life.

However, I have succumbed to Twitter to support some work events. For those who care, you can follow me on:

@DrDanAtDell
http://www.twitter.com/DrDanAtDell

I will endeavour to do my best to send updates from VMWorld Europe in Cannes at the end of this month (February 24-26).
For this event we are planning on using the hashtags: #vmworld and #dell probably.

You can also follow my colleague Guillaume Field on:

@GuillaumeAtDell
htpp://www.twitter.com/GuillaumeAtDell

Between us, we should probably generate some passable content.

Windows 7 & Dell Latitude XT

Windows 7 is heading the way of my Latitude XT. News as it comes in… I’m really just trying this to see how well multi-touch really works on the XT. It already has the BIOS & driver update (under Vista) that allows multi-touch to work in a limited capacity… scrolling etc. but Windows 7 promises so much more!

Someone who’s already well ahead of that curve, is Guillaume, who already has Windows 7 on a Latitude XT2.

Microsoft and Virtualization

I have a varied selection of Operating Systems installed on various systems that I use. However one thing is quite clear (to me at least), each OS is there for a reason, and usually that is down to the fact that I need it for a particular application (personal preference), or that’s what policy dictates is on the machine

To the point… I have in the recent past defaulted to “install a Linux distro.” on any machine that I have to use for myself… this is likely due to three things:

1. I generally have a DVD of a Linux distro. to hand
2. I know (somewhat) what I am doing with Linux
3. Linux is free (as in beer, as well as freedom), so I can legally install it anywhere I so choose. ¹

However, lately, I get the feeling I’ve been too Linux-centric, and have been missing out on what Windows has to offer. For example, my work laptop, has Vista installed, which, you know, isn’t so bad [gasp!]. My usage for that system is pretty straightforward – I need to *get my job done*, and that usually means E-mail (our corporate standard is Exchange, and Outlook 2007 works well enough), and a selection of Office 2007 applications – for interoperability reasons, I don’t have much choice there, and frankly the applications are very good, but for the price, they should be!

The bottom line is that I’m probably too focused on the mono-culture that is Linux and perhaps I should broaden my horizons to include some of those Microsoft Operating Systems too. So I will make a New Year’s Resolution to try installing some Windows OS on machines that need a new OS for a change.

Perhaps I’ll even try a Beta of the new Windows 7. A handy install guide is on Guillaume Field’s blog. In fact maybe I’ll even go so far as trying it out on my rather nice Dell Mini-9, according to Guillaume’s Guide to Installing Windows 7 on a Dell Mini-9.

Full disclosure: I work with Guillaume, and frankly he generally knows what he is doing with Microsoft products, so I would bookmark that blog if you ever think you might want to hear about Microsoft’s latest toys!

¹ I probably have  enough COA stickers attached to the back/underside of various systems for me to legally install Windows everywhere too

It lives…

New Year, new resolve!