Pretty interesting stuff : http://silverline.librato.com/ that’s in open beta right now.

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Now playing: The Doors – Love Her Madly
via FoxyTunes

Accessing Ext3 and Ext2 partitions from Windows can be accomplished using a few different methods, as previously noted in (How to access a Linux partition from Windows). However, one of the easiest methods is by using a tool called Ext2Fsd. This tool ships with the drivers necessary for windows to detect and mount an Ext2 or Ext3 filesystem as read only or read/write. Additionally, Ext2Fsd comes with a Volume Manager and many other useful tools like mke2fs.exe (allowing you to actually create an ext2 formatted partition from windows). Installation is simple and straight forward.

Ext2Fsd – Ext2 Ex3 Volume Manager Screenshot

More at http://www.pendrivelinux.com/access-ext2-and-ext3-from-windows/

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Now playing: Rush – Tom Sawyer
via FoxyTunes

Normally unstymied by upgrading / fresh installs in the MS Windows world, today has been less than fun.

Trying to fit Win7 64 bit enterprise onto my laptop has been fraught with pain.  32 bit? Same error : the infamous

“required CD/DVD drive device driver missing”

gahhhh.  Still working through it, after removing 2g of RAM, and using the USB key install method. (since this system has no built-in DVD / Blu-Ray drive)

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Now playing: Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science
via FoxyTunes

Thanks to Tom’s hardware. I’ve been exceptionally pleased with Windows 7 (x64) from the closed beta, through launch . . .

Windows 7 And Windows Vista: Performance Compared

How Much Better Is Windows 7?

Despite lots of innovation with SuperFetch and ReadyBoost, Windows Vista wasn’t popular. In fact, many users avoided upgrading from Windows XP to Vista altogether. Though the operating system was the first version of Windows with 3D animation, and it offered many new features, it didn’t deliver enough compelling reasons to replace XP, which can now be considered really mature (if not over the hill).

Indexing updates could be retrofitted to Windows XP, and Vista turned out to be more hungry for resources than previous Windows versions. Windows 7, however, has been out for a few weeks, and feedback has generally been great. We decided to revisit our first look at testing these two operating systems head-to-head and directly compare Windows Vista and Windows 7, to see if the reported benefits are really noticeable.

What is Performance at the OS Level?

Most people think of application performance when they talk about performance in general. However, the operating system plays a major role in the process chain that creates everyday computing experiences. The OS is what switches a processor between power-saving and fast operating states (or even intermediate active states that determine performance in Intel’s Turbo Boost mode via P-states). The OS, or to be more precise its dispatcher, distributes threads across available processor resources, and Windows 7 is more aggressive about using thread headroom for the sake of performance.

However, performance also has to be defined by the user experience during ordinary operating system actions, such as system bootup, standby, application launching, hibernation, or shutdown. If the OS were a bit quicker on applications but consumed several minutes during start-up or shutdown, you’d probably want to ditch it. Hence our second round of testing not only includes benchmarks and application tests but also a look at these everyday operations.

(for much more, head on over to http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-7-performance,2476.html )

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Now playing: Patsy Cline – In Care Of The Blues
via FoxyTunes

This has come up again often enough : for those of you running Win7 Enterprise (not N, just Enterprise) against your corporate KMS or with a MAK :

Yes, you are running the “same” code, functionality wise, as “Ultimate”. Things have changed since Vista

http://superuser.com/questions/20669/windows-7-ultimate-vs-enterprise

Weekend on compadres !

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Now playing: Jimmy Buffett – Margaritaville
via FoxyTunes

Crass commercialism lead in for Black Friday, starting Monday the 23rd at Amazon :

(yes, it’s already that time of year again!)

Pretty interesting designs : http://www.earthshelteredtech.com/ I think this would let me run more computing power at home, right?

64 bit Windows? Try 128 bit, coming soon.

Local news : Columbia, MO – UMC campus solar house designs

Google Wave : I’ve been there for a while now, by all means shoot me a wave to LeveronJ if you’d like to play with the capabilities some. As well, there’s a good bit of explanation here (along with a heavy-duty video), and a nice general (aka short) video below :

Hope everyone has a grand weekend!

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Now playing: Rush – Anthem
via FoxyTunes

Handy for those wanting to upgrade / rebuild (or wiping a new machine of bloatware)

via Tom’s Hardware

I’ve been using Windows 7 on my home PC for several weeks now, and recently installed the 64-bit release version. I must say that Microsoft has done a very good job with Windows 7. From major changes to minor changes, I can confidently say that installing Windows 7 on your XP or Vista computer will give you a strong feeling of rejuvenation. Booting is fast, apps are managed better, and the overall OS is very slick.

But before you upgrade to Windows 7, take a look into a utility called Ninite. The little tool lets you customize all your favorite apps into one monolithic installer. You then download the package, and run the install. Ninite will install all the apps you picked without fuss. Walk away. Enjoy some coffee, and when you come back, all your apps are ready to go. There’s no need to manually hunt for them again.

Ninite currently supports all the popular browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc., and includes utility apps such as VLC, Skype, Thunderbird, Adobe PDF Reader, Flash, bit-torrent tools, RealVNC, WinRAR, PuTTY, and other common apps. You can suggest your own.

Hit up the Ninite website. Pick your apps, download the installer, copy to a USB-stick so that you’ll have it ready to go before moving to a fresh Windows 7 install. Best of all, it’s free and grabs you the latest version of the apps!

You’re free to suggest apps that should be included too. One utility that I did find missing is Daemon Tools.

Check it out here.

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Now playing: Metallica – Whiskey In The Jar
via FoxyTunes

One of the Windows 7 features many aren’t aware of is how the new OS can use the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU, or simple video cards / subsystems) to do other work than video display, speeding up the user experience.

Windows 7 includes GPGPU / DirectX 11 / the Direct Computing API

I’m more grounded in Windows than I am in OS X, so again I will highlight that, though I’m agnostic when it comes to getting the work done . . .

AMD’s ATI division supports this work via several new cards that directly support DirectX 11 via their “Stream” technology, and Nvidia supports this with their current DX10 / 10.1 cards via CUDA; Nvidia also will continue to support this in upcoming DX11 cards. Both manufacturers have quality drivers (32 and 64 bit mode) for Windows 7; I am just using the default Microsoft WHQL drivers, and have had no issues.

DirectCompute is essentially Microsoft’s answer to Khronos’ OpenCL for Windows. It is intended to be used in games and other consumer software to speed up multimedia algorithms via the considerable computational prowess of on-board GPUs. This leaves the CPU free to do other tasks, or just to increase the number of effective cores / CPU’s that you are throwing against that 1080p movie rendering project.

These days even non-business users want to speed up everything they can in their computing worlds; since most applications do not even activate the hugely powerful 3D  engine of the two most common higher-end GPU makers, there’s a lot of room here to significantly increase system functionality.

One of the many manufacturers lists the following benefits for Windows 7 with their cards :

DirectX Compute: The most significant addition to Windows 7 is the DirectX Compute API for GPU-accelerated compute applications. This API will enable great visual and interactive experiences such as new high-quality video and photo enhancements, simplified ways to interact with your devices, faster, more responsive PCs, and even new realistic gaming effects. One example is a cool new drag and drop feature built directly into Window 7. This feature allows quick and easy copy and conversion of media files from your PC directly to your portable media player. With GPU-acceleration built-in, you can perform this conversion up to 5X faster, so that you spend less time waiting and more time enjoying your movie. DirectX Compute runs on NVIDIA’s 100Mu+ CUDA-enabled GPUs. For a truly Premium Experience for Windows 7 equip your PC with an EVGA GeForce® DirectX 10 GPU with built-in NVIDIA CUDA technology.

DirectX Video Acceleration –High Definition (DXVA-HD): Windows 7 expands the use of the GPU to accelerate video playback and offer a better overall experience for watching high-definition H.264/MPEG-4 video content. DXVA-HD uses the GPU to improve video decode, processing, and presentation. This new hardware-accelerated engine is particularly helpful when dealing with the interactive features of Blu-ray material including the compositing of Picture-in-Picture with fullscreen graphics, a task that is extremely taxing when performed on the CPU.

Direct2D: Aligned to the end-consumer desire for basic applications to be more visually compelling, Microsoft introduced a new 2D API to Windows 7. Direct2D uses the advanced processing power of the GPU to provide hardware acceleration for 2D geometry, bitmaps, and text. Using Direct2D, applications will be able to achieve higher visual quality and better responsiveness.

DirectWrite: Building on the capabilities of Direct2D, DirectWrite offers hardware accelerated fonts, complete with antialiasing for unrivaled visual quality. This API will translate to the best reading experiences ever on a PC.

Microsoft has also made significant changes to the 3D Aero Windows desktop in Windows 7. With the new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) v1.1 built for Windows 7, the Windows desktop is able to leverage the DirectX 10 API to provide a higher-performance experience. In addition, Windows 7 effectively takes advantage of the GPU to reduce by half the amount of memory consumed to draw desktop windows. The result is better windows responsiveness and more system memory available for other applications.

When similar OpenCL support arrived from Apple (when they introduced Snow Leopard / OS X 10.6), you can bet this trend isn’t going away anytime soon. Again, both ATI and Nvidia support OpenCL.

Further references :

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/partner/archive/2009/08/22/gpu-computing-and-windows-7.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/9d6d9ca5-3668-4e46-b038-107535de0be7

http://blogs.pcmag.com/miller/2009/10/windows_7_and_gpu_computing_a.php

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2354336,00.asp

http://www.geeks3d.com/forums/index.php/topic,681.0.html

http://www.ditii.com/2009/08/22/gpu-computing-via-directcompute-in-windows-7/

http://www.hpcwire.com/blogs/A-Pervasive-GPU-Computing-Strategy-65667732.html

http://www.evga.com/articles/00511/

Windows 7 has finally launched! At last, everyone will get to see what I’ve been raving about in past blogs here.

I’ve opted in to a Microsoft promotion for a house party this evening, and am looking forward to that! Here are some of the highlights for that, below :

The full gallery of photos of the party pack contents are above. I will try to get some pix of the party itself here shortly.

I can highly recommend Windows 7, based on my experience as well as many of my colleagues who’ve also been running the MSDN / Technet release code for several months now.

To order a copy shipped to you, as appropriate, please click here. For a comparison of the various version, please see this article. (note : Enterprise is only available via agreement with Microsoft, and Starter and Home Basic are generally not available within the U.S. – the common retail versions for the U.S.A. are Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate).

Thanks for reading!

	Windows® 7 is full of ideas from Windows Live users like you—ideas that help make everyday tasks a little bit easier. Like simplifying the way you use your PC and making it easier to connect to the people, places, and things in your life. Find out more about all the ways Windows 7 helps simplify your PC. Take a look »
	Get the most out of Windows 7 with e-mail, IM, photos, and movies. Windows Live Mail Windows Live Messenger Windows Live Photo Gallery Windows Live Movie Maker

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Howdy folks, sorry I’ve been away for a bit, but you know how life can be unpredictable!

Today I’d like to focus a bit on the upcoming public launch of Microsoft Windows 7, which is certainly their best workstation / desktop / laptop, etc. offering in a good while.

They’ve partnered with House Party to introduce this to folks; c.f. http://www.houseparty.com/windows7usa/

My own party is at http://www.houseparty.com/party/214810 though it’s going to be too tough already to craw that many folks into 750′ of space come the 22nd, hah!

You can download some of the goodies yourself from the public site at http://www.houseparty.com/windows7usa/favors as well.