HDD Madness

Just added a 3TB hard disk drive to my desktop computer...which takes the total online storage attached to it over the 20 terabyte mark. There are around 15 other drives that are not normally plugged in and act as backups. This is just crazy amounts of storage...considering my very first hard disk drive had a capacity of 10 megabytes and cost more than I would like to commit to writing. That 'huge' drive was to replace one of the dual floppy disk drives on an Apricot XI PC and be home to the operating system, leaving the floppy drive free for applications...what a beautiful machine that was.

I really do need to re-evaluate my current storage requirements and RAID setup on my desktop!

Microsoft Developer Environments

So having set up the Windows 8 laptop...now to make it useable. I've downloaded the Visual Studio Development 2012 application and got it up and running. This particular installation went smoothly. Very pleased at having the laptop all set up and ready to go. Having said that...now back to the Mac, Dreamweaver and a PHP/Javascript web application development!

Windows 8 Shop Issues

One really annoying issue that I've found is when buying applications through the Windows 8 shop...click on install and then continue browsing for other applications...when the first application has downloaded and installed, you get thrown back to the home position at the front of the shop. Oops!

It also appears that when the app is downloaded and installed that you can't open it direct from within the shop application.

Microsoft - please fix!

Blogg

Using a new app called Blogg to post something from the Windows 8 test laptop.

Windows 8 Installation

Just finished the Windows 8 installation on the ThinkPad laptop...and I must say...Microsoft, please look at Apple's OS X installation. Windows 8 install is a bit of a mess! I think that you need to look at the whole install/reboot process again and design from the ground up.

Having said that, my first impressions of the OS on the older test laptop is rather positive. I like the clean look and feel of the new system. I would say that the interface is a little inconsistent when you click through to get to some of the configuration options...if you are going to change the interface radically, then go for it! Don't lose your nerve halfway through.

Boot time was quick, but this test laptop is SSD based, so it does generally boot quickly anyway. More thoughts to follow on Windows 8.

As a quick aside, I've just gone through around 40GB of downloads for different operating systems this month! Linux, OS X, iOS, Android, Windows XP, 7 and now 8 is starting to take it's toll!

12.10 Update

A simple setting in preferences and Ubuntu 12.10 downloaded and installed okay. All up to date...but Windows 8 is released on Friday...so at least one PC to update on that day! All I seem to have done since I've been back in the UK is update various operating systems! 

Ubuntu

Appears that I missed one of the office laptops in the mass update...an Ubuntu based test machine. It was on 11.04! I was surprised that the built in software update insisted on installing 11.10 and then 12.04 in two steps...refusing to go straight to the latest version. So it was left updating overnight.

This morning, the software updater is refusing to see the latest 12.10 release...so I need to take a look at that and work out why not...that's todays task.

Netbooks

Just found the netbooks that we bought three years ago...two Samsung N110's. Plugged them in, booted them up and pleasantly surprised at the nippy performance from them. However, since they haven't been switched on in just around two years, they are taking forever to download and install the OS updates!

Not so subtle shift!

I've noticed that since I've been back, this particular blog has had a lot more non-work related posts! Well...I'll try to keep these to a minimum.

Training Run - run4charity.net

 

Out taking some photos to publicise the run4charity.net event that will take place next year. Up on the Yorkshire moors, photographing a cross country training run.

Back to Work

Sitting down in front of a computer to start another mini-project. Firing up the new development environment and the old grey matter!

Leica Moments Blog

Check out one of our affiliate blogs...Leica Moments. http://leicamoments.tumblr.com/

Bliss Charity

Uploaded more pictures of Harrogate XI v Bliss Select XI charity football match held on the 30th September 2013. See them here - http://goo.gl/jtuHy

11 Percent

In the past week, Susie Doherty has been accepted into the 2013 London Marathon and has decided to join with our event in raising money for Neuroblastoma Alliance UK and Sands. We would like to wish Susie all the best for her training and the London Marathon. As a result of Susie linking her fundraising to run4charity's...we've now raised over 11% of our total! A big thank you to everyone who has donated to the charities and supported us so far.

If you want to find out more about us, please visit run4charity.net or visit out fundraising page at http://www.justgiving.com/teams/run4charity

Back to Work

Tomorrow I think will be the first real day of working back in the office...need to get some designs put together for a client.

Charity Work

Updated the run4charity.net site to reflect the latest total raised! Thanks to everyone so far for your continued support with this event! 

Android

People who know me, know I like Apple products - most of my personal eco-system is built around the Apple platform. I have an iPhone, a 15 inch MBP, a 13 inch MBP, an Air, a 27 inch iMac on my office desk, a Mac Mini, an Apple router, a secondary 20 inch Apple Cinema display, an iPad, two Apple TVs...the list goes on a little bit longer than that, but you get the idea! My wife has her own MBP, iPhone and iPad as well! Ironically, I have spent most of my time developing PC applications and my company has a plethora of Windows PCs and laptops...also some of the critical machines we have run Linux (one of which is being upgraded as I type). But until recently, I had resisted touching any Android devices.

This has changed in the last year with the purchase of first a Samsung Galaxy Note phone and more recently the Nexus 7 tablet. Having used both phablet and tablet...I really like the hardware and software. I still feel that Android is a little too unregulated and things don't always work well together - too many things in my honest opinion (in one case, paid for software was so buggy, it crashed the Galaxy note a few times a day before I uninstalled it). Don't get me wrong, I am not bashing Android or trying to say that this doesn't happen on iOS - it does, but seemingly less frequently. The conclusion I have come to is that, Apple's closely managed control of the platform has some benefits...application stability being one. I will say, I don't like the direction Apple seems to be heading in - a completely closed eco system that they control on all their devices (including their laptops). When the only place you can buy an application for an Apple laptop is on the App Store and nowhere else...then I will be leaving the OS X/iOS universe.

The Android platform [at this time] appears to be more innovative than the Apple iOS platform and I both like this and hate it. But if it keeps evolving over the next couple of years and can work out some of the problems inherent of a more open eco system (compatibility between various pieces of software being primarily one of my main concerns) then it could be my next platform of choice! But for now due primarily to their sexy laptops, I am still on the Apple cart.