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Was on vacation the last week and as I was leaving, left my Kindle on top of the roof of the car while I drove away.  I got off of Queen Anne, and onto Highway 99 before it came off of the roof, and landed in traffic.  After doing a U-turn, which required quite a bit given where it fell off, I was able to retrieve it.

I had a Waterfield Designs Kindle case protecting it, and even though the Kindle wasn’t usable after the fall, it was surprisingly in good shape.  You can see in the photo below that the screen has what looks to be a tire track on it.  Several of the buttons around the screen didn’t work very well, and there were some cracks in various places, but it was all in once piece.

Kindle tire tracks

It wouldn’t unlock – apparently the last image on the screen stays even if there is no power – I suppose given the way eInk works, that makes sense…

I ended up sending this one to it’s grave, and getting a new Kindle rev 2.  I read a lot on my Kindle, and was really disappointed that I broke the old one.

The new one is much thinner, which I’m not sure that I like yet.  The buttons are also really hard to actuate which is annoying when you’re reading with one hand.

The screen and keyboard are setup much better, and it does seem to be much faster dealing with downloads and such.  I also really like that the power connector is more standardized and not something proprietary.  I really don’t like the power switch unlock/lock – it was so much easier to press the two bottom keys instead of having to reach to the top of the unit and mess around with the switch.

I’m glad I have a Kindle to read from again – in the interim I used the Amazon Kindle app for my iPhone, but it just wasn’t the same.  We’ll see how long I can keep this one before I destroy it

steve Computers kindle

In the last few weeks I’ve had to find an alternate solution for storing and serving VMware images to a big ESX cluster at work. I looked at a lot of open source tools and options, and some commercial ones, and have settled on the NexentaStor

Our original solution is about 2 years old, and is a Dell NX1950 system running Windows Unified Storage Services 2003.  It had a single MD3000 head unit connected to the NX1950, and two MD1000’s chained off of the MD3000.  The MD3000 and one MD1000 each had 15 400GB 15K SAS drives in them for a total of 30 drives, and the remaining MD1000 had 15 1TB 7500RPM SATAu drives in it.

The first two trays were setup to serve out virtual disks via the iSCSI target provided in Windows Unified Storage Services.  The last tray of drives was for file shares and backups.

Suffice to say, there were many, many problems with performance, reliability, and interoperability.  We had at least 3 major outages attributed to the iSCSI target freezing or becoming overwhelmed.  Several other situations arose when drives failed in the array, and the horrible PERC+MD3000 combo tried to use a spare drive, which drug the usability of the array to a crawl.  In general, my experiences with Windows Unified Storage Services has proven to me that it’s definitely not worth the money at all, especially given that you can only get it (AFAIK) from OEMs.

The iSCSI piece is absolutely horrible in it – slower than anything else I benchmarked, and really quite buggy.  NFS is not even worth deploying as it’s at least twice as slow as iSCSI, and not even on the charts compared to traditional NFS.  Plus it has so many odd quirks about configuring it, that it makes it a big barrier to actually use with ESX.

We have several other solutions at work already – NetApp, EqualLogic, and various types of NFS/iSCSI hybrids.  I went about testing the following solutions before making my decision:

• Windows Unified Storage Services 2003 – iSCSI only
• NetApp - NFS
• EqualLogic - iSCSI
• OpenFiler - iSCSI and NFS
• NexentaStor - iSCSI (2 different versions) and nFS
• OpenSolaris - iSCSI and NFS

In the end, NexentaStor was the fastest, most reliable, and had all of the options I needed for my environment.  It’s based on OpenSolaris with a bit of Debian, but what I really was impressed with is ZFS and all of the benefits it provides.  By far, it’s NFS and iSCSI implementations were faster than any of the other vendors, even the purpose built EqualLogic array.

EqualLogic was the fastest next to Nexenta, but it’s really expensive, and only iSCSI.  I wanted the option to do NFS too.  NetApp is slightly slower than EqualLogic, and well, is by far highway robbery in terms of cost.  OpenSolaris is unstable as all get out, unless you go back far enough, and then there are missing pieces of functionality, such as iSCSI.  OpenFiler is really nice, and we use it in some other areas already, but it’s RAID technology is just as slow as Dell PERC or other crappy controllers.  It’s NFS and iSCSI implementations are fast, but not as fast as NetApp/EqualLogic and nowhere near NexentaStor.

Nexenta is still small compared to some of the other solutions, but it’s very well thought out.  I am looking forward to a lot more interesting things from their product line.  I’ll write more about the specifics later…

steve Computers dell, equallogic, esx, iscsi, netapp, nexenta, nexentastor, storage, vmware

Have been thinking about a netbook for a while, and ended up getting a Dell Mini 9 a few days ago.   It’s a really amazing piece of hardware in a tiny package.

I ended up getting the Linux model with 32GB SDD drive, 1GB of RAM, and the Timbuk2 carrying case.  I ran Linux on it for a day or so, and then loaded Windows XP.  The eventual use for this system will be light email and web browsing, and using Coastal Explorer on my sailboat and elsewhere to plan trips.

I also added a 16GB SD card for some additional storage for charts and other data.  Even after reloading it with XP, loading all of my favorite programs and files, and then Coastal Explorer and all of my local maps, I still have ~20GB free on the main SDD drive.  I haven’t moved anything to the SD card yet.

The keyboard is quite small, but that was expected.  There are some odd key placements to accomodate the small keyboard size, but they’re workable.  The mouse touchpad is really nice.  It’s molded into the body and has a scroll area on the right hand side.

The screen is really nice – extremely easy to see and clearer than I thought it’d be.

Performance wise it’s pretty good.  I expected a bit slower response and performance because of the Atom CPU, and that is the case.  Opening multiple applications with existing things running can result in some slowness or choppiness.  It’s completely workable, however.

The system gets warm when you’re using it, which is expected from other reviews.  The battery lasts a long time even with wireless on.  So far I’ve had it up and running for just shy of 4 hours on one battery charge while doing a decent amount of surfing and such.

The best part of the whole system is how fast it resumes from hibernation/sleep, and how silent and small the whole package is.  Typically, it will resume and find the wireless network in less than 10 seconds, usually faster.  Very nice for casual use when needed, and it can be closed and placed somewhere when you’re done.  Very convenient.

Overall, I’m really happy with it and I predict it will be used for a lot of surfing and boat related work given it’s size, convenience, and battery life.  More details when I get Coastal Explorer setup with my Bluetooth interface on the boat.

steve Computers dell mini 9, netbook

I’ve been struggling for a while finding something that I can put all of my passwords in for online stuff that doesn’t have limitations or security holes.

For a while, I used Splash ID on my PC and phone, which was convenient.  But it was a piece of software I had to have on one computer, and I couldn’t find my passwords when I didn’t have that computer.  I used it on a BlackBerry, iPhone, and Windows Mobile phone in conjunction with the PC app, but it wasn’t that terribly useful to have it on the phone, except when I was away from my normal computer and needed one of the passwords.  It also was somewhat buggy and crashed at the most inopportune times.

I was somewhat worried about the data being secured enough – these apps claim they use good encryption, etc. but I also didn’t think it was a good idea to have all of this on my phone and on my PC.  I was afraid of my phone being stolen and then the passwords being retrieved from it.

So I began using common passwords for things by adding numbers and other items in front and in the middle.  That resulted in forgetting a bunch of the passwords, and making me feel less secure because the passwords weren’t that good.

Recently I looked again at options and found Passpack.  The difference with this solution is that it’s all online.  While that might sound like a worse idea because the passwords are stored somewhere out online, it’s important to understand their security model to know that it’s not possible for them to even read your passwords.

I also like the idea of disposable logins, or one time passwords, as well as their multiple levels of login and authentication security.  I’ve set up all of the features, and it is very clear every time I login to the site that I’ve gotten the right site, right place and nothing strange is going on.

I generally use these sorts of tools for storing things that are medium security, like logins to online stores and such.  I never use them to store bank account, email, or other critical services like that.  Those passwords are unique and I never even write them down.  It’s a must, though for the hundred or so online places that I have accounts with, and I much prefer using something like this for a number of reasons.

First, it allows me to generate a unique password of varying lengths for every site I login to.  No duplication.  Second, it allows me to get to them from anywhere – since all of these passwords are for online resources, I’ll already be online when I’m trying to login.  And finally, the auto-login functionality is very helpful for those really long, 20+ character passwords – typing those can be a pain.

So far Passpack has really impressed me with their UI, feature set, and reliablity, and especially their security model.

steve Computers, Uncategorized online password storage, passpack, security

I bought a JBL On Stage IIIp for my iPhone in the hopes that I had finally found a good docking solution that actually worked with the iPhone.  So far, my experiences have not been that good.

The product has been reviewed for it’s feature set in many other places – I was attracted to it by the fact that it was a speaker set that supported the iPhone, and had a small amount of menu control via a small remote.

I mainly use it at work so I can have music while working, and not have to contort my hand to get to the menus while it’s in the dock – hence the remote requirement.

So far, the following is happening, and I can’t find any resolution:

• No matter what album/artist/playlist I select, it only ever plays one song in an endless loop.  I have to hit the next button on the remote, or on the iPhone.
• 80% of the time when I dock the iPhone, it spits out the usual “this accessory is not compatible with this iPhone – would you like to go into airplane mode”.  Power cycling the JBL usually gets rid of this.

I’m going to keep searching for a solution, but I’m not confident I will find anything based on my initial results…

steve Computers iphone, jbl, jbl on stage iii, on stage, onstage

In the last few weeks I have been investigating ASP.NET to fulfill a project at work.  I haven’t looked at it in a long time, and am really impressed with the ease of being able to publish a fairly complex web site with minimal effort.

In particular, I’m working on a project to represent data in grids and tables, as well as graphs.  A lot of the built in controls in Visual Studio 2008 (we’re using that with ASP.NET 3.5) don’t really look all that great, and lack functionality.

I found a great set of tools from Developer Express that we’re using for grids and graphs.  They are very powerful, and look great.  I’ll post more on them after we have used them, and maybe even some screen shots.

steve Computers asp.net, developer express, devexpress

I’ve had some time to play with the EVDO options out there – I ended up getting a Sprint card in addition to the Verizon one I had as well. The Sprint card is a Novatel Wireless EX720, and I have the usual 5GB monthly plan.

Both Verizon and Sprint have similar UI’s for their management applications.  I like Verizon’s statistics graphing capabilities, but I much prefer the Sprint application for everything else – it seems to be better adapted to deal with Windows Vista.

The actual service is far better on the Sprint network than Verizon.  Based on my testing thus far, here’s some comparisons:

Verizon

Latency: 138ms
Download: 756Kbps
Upload: 182Kbps

Sprint

Latency: 101ms
Download: 1094Kbps
Upload: 435Kbps

This is from the same location, the same night.  The Verizon towers seem to be pretty consistently slower than Sprint.  I’ll do some additional testing over the next week or two to see if things stay the same.  Thus far, I’m going to stay with Sprint.

Here are the speedtest.net results:

Sprint

Verizon

steve Computers evdo, evdo rev a, sprint, sprint broadband, verizon, verizon broadband

So, with my new Dell laptop, there’s an option to have a WWAN, or wireless WAN card, also known as wireless broadband, EVDO, etc. I didn’t order the laptop with that option, and happened to be working on a work project with Verizon Wireless, and started chatting with their engineers about it.

EVDO Rev A sounded interesting enough to me to explore – 1-3Mbps of download, and 600-1200Kbps upload – as good or better than my old Clearwire service.

The first hurdle was ordering the add on card for the Dell. Since it is “embedded”, it was supposed to have been added at the time I ordered the laptop, and Dell support said I couldn’t add it after the fact.  After a little digging, I got the correct card, I believe, and installed it.

Then came activation – it was a nightmare.  I was on the phone to both Dell and Verizon who didn’t know what to do or who owned what part of the activation.  I eventually went to 3GStore.com and activated it through them.  They were extremely helpful, and the business day after I ordered, they had activated it for me.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work very well.  The software that comes with the Dell re-branded Novatel Wireless card is a Dell front end application, with Verizon’s VZAccess code being reused in the back end.  All of the advanced options are completely gone.

The first issue was that even though the card was activated, it still took 2-5 tries to get it to connect.  Various random errors about authentication service unavailable, wrong username or password, and a host of 900 series errors that most people familiar with this stuff will cringe when they see.  2 days wasted.

In addition, once the card actually connected, it only stayed on EVDO Rev A for about 30 seconds, then dropped to 1xRTT, which is, well, dirt slow.

After 4 hours on the phone with Verizon, and a couple with Dell, I was convinced that the card and software were flawed.  I don’t really care what it is – I’m a bit surprised but not overly annoyed.  In reading a lot about embedded EVDO, most of it fails in one way or another because of the finger-pointing of the manufacturer (in this case Dell) and the provider (Verizon).   Dell is only making money on the card itself, and installation, and Verizon makes their money on the plan and monthly costs.

So, I went off to the Verizon store and picked up a Kyocera KPC680 express card, and everything worked flawlessly – I’m actually writing this post directly from it.

Overall, the throughput and latency are manageable, and in most cases, completely acceptable.  To be able to be online from basically anywhere I frequent in the Seattle metro area is well worth it.  I’ll give it about 10 days to make sure there aren’t any major issues, and then cancel my home broadband connection.

FWIW, I’m getting about 600Kbps download / 250Kbps upload here at home, and I have only one bar.  If I move near a window, that goes much further up.

More info as I test it out…

steve Computers dell, evdo, evdo rev a, kpc680, kyocera, verizon

Just thought I’d write a quick update on the new Dell XPS M1330 laptop.

The only two issues I’d report on the laptop thus far:

The “D” key seems to stick if I hit it a particular way.

On resume from suspend, the screen resolution drops to some abysmal level – 1024×768 instead of the default. Nothing I’ve done seems to fix it. I’ve searched in a lot of places online and haven’t found a resolution to the issue.

I’m working on getting my WWAN card activated because I want to try that service out and see if that is an acceptable replacement for my normal cable modem at home, which I don’t use that much. I’ll write more about that soon.

steve Computers dell xps m1330

Just got my new Dell XPS M1330 laptop yesterday. Thus far it is really nice, and exactly what I have been looking for.

I have been a Mac bigot for the last 5 years or so, owning almost every model they came out with. My most recent primary system was the first generation MacBook Pro 15″, which lasted me a little short of 2 years. It by far has been the most reliable system I’ve owned, and had plenty of horsepower to do what I needed. Unfortunately, it was damaged about a year ago in the trunk of a car, inside it’s protective case, and it’s never been the same since. This last week it finally gave up and died.

I had been looking for something new for a few weeks beforehand, knowing that I should start at that point in case my current one died. Apple’s prices on the MacBook Pro, for the features I would want, were quite high. Changing to a plain old MacBook reduced the price, but not by much, and I ended up with a less attractive (IMHO) case, and smaller screen.

Ultimately, I wanted something with dual core processors, at least 3GB of ram, at least a 13″ screen, and a 7200 RPM hard drive. It of course needed to be portable, and have all of the usual features – wifi, bluetooth, good battery life, etc.

After doing some research, I was suprised to find the Dell XPS M1330. I use Dell laptops and desktops at work as they are our corporate standard. None of their products had I considered in the past to purchase for my own personal use because they all looked too bulky, ugly, or built for the masses and not tuned to the performance I would want.

The XPS M1330 is a completely different beast than the usual Dell hardware. I was impressed by the design, the look, and the technical specs, all packed in a sub 4 pound package.

I was also able to get an employee discount added to my purchase, along with some other deals that were ongoing, and ended up getting my M1330 for almost half of what I would have paid for a new MacBook Pro. I ended up with:

• Intel Core 2 Duo T8300(2.4GHz, 800Mhz, 3M L2 Cache)
• 4GB, DDR2, 667MHz RAM
• 160G 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
• 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
• LED Display option
• Bluetooth

Although I will really miss the UI and usability of Mac OSX, there are plenty of concessions I had to make for software I needed to run that I won’t have to do anymore with Windows Vista. And I still have several Macs at home that I’ll continue using as well.

More on the laptop after I’ve used it for a while…

steve Computers dell xps m1330