Readyboost more than 4GB?

Image via Wikipedia
24-Oct-2011, 8.30am:

Today I discovered that Readyboost size can be extended to more than 4GB!

I was actually not expecting this, as much of the articles found on the web sets the limit of Readyboost cache memory size to 4GB, no more than that. But as I have tried today on my laptop (Probook 4430s) and 2 others desktop PCs (GX280 and GX520 models), the size is no longer limited to 4GB.

I plugged in one 8GB thumb drive on the GX280 machine, and dedicated the whole drive to Readyboost, and it was accepted. The amount recognized is about 7584MB (7.47GB).

On the GX520 machine, I put in two: a 4GB drive, and one that is 8GB. The 4GB drive came up with about 3804GB (3.76GB), while the 8GB drive reserved about 7562MB (7.45GB) space.

On my laptop, I employed an 8GB thumb drive, and a 16GB Sd card. Both being dedicated to Readyboost, the 8GB drive gave a 7562MB (7.45GB) available size, while the 16GB SD card came up with about 15196MB (14.9GB) available space.

If what I'm thinking is correct, this is indicating that we no longer need a very huge RAM size. Just the baseline 4GB fitting will do. And if you need to jack that up, then buy one 16GB SD card, plug it in, set it to dedicated Readyboost usage, and you have a very huge cache memory to play with!

Of course, this is all that I am seeing right now, but before 64-bit, or even Windows 7 or Vista, RAM size was limited to 2/3GB, and the 'extra' that you may have physically isn't used! That is no longer the case these days. And while 32-bit memory addressing is causing the limitation of using up to 4GB RAM only, with 64-bit, that is not the case.

And we are no longer talking about RAM being expensive, but between adding RAM and using SD card or thumb drive, I would be avoiding RAM-adding when I already have 4GB, which could mean dismantling the laptop casing or opening the desktop chassis, when I could just simply plug in an alternative thumb drive or SD card. We actually should be talking about which is cheaper and faster to employ, with less hassle and less opportunity for error and mishandling, etc., etc., etc.

So how's that? Where will this Readyboost technology lead us?

 

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Domino 6.5 ain't runnin' in Windows 7 (Laptop)

Image by Annie Mole via FlickrImage by HP PSG APJ via Flickr
I basically stopped posting articles on my blogs for a variety of reasons.

Sometime in early September, I was issued a laptop, an HP ProBook 4430s, so that they can take away my old desktop - hey, that what I was told!

And I was in the heat of installing and tweaking and customizing things, when after so many tries, I have given up: Domino 6.5 breaks in Windows 7 (laptop).

I know, a couple of weeks earlier to my getting a laptop, I was bragging about making Domino 6.5 work in Windows 7 (Windows 7 and Lotus Domino 6.5) - which is althemore, on an old Dell desktop PC. I didn't knew that it would all be completely different with a laptop. Took me almost a week of doing with the laptop what I did with the desktop to make Domino 6.5 work, but success eluded me everytime.

When I reached the end of my rope, after about 2 weeks, even trying out Domino 8.xx, I told my boss - the laptop I have no use for it, since the major programs I am maintaining is running with Domino 6.5 - which doesn't run.

Basically, Domino 6.5 is "seen" by Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2010. It can be called in. It can be referenced. But when I run the code, I get "null" errors, indicating that the object has not been instantiated.

Now in our company, we are issued either an HP machine, or a Dell counterpart. Another member of our team also got a laptop, and it was getting ready for deployment (meaning, to be used by the user, whose old desktop will also be taken away...), so my boss made a proposal.

Can I try it out on the other laptop? Maybe it was brand-sensitive, or maybe.... what?

Anyway, I yielded - that is what I was already thinking of doing a week after the unsuccessful tests - and the would-be owner agreed.

I tried, and guess what? The same error I got! So whether it is an HP ProBook 4430s, or a Dell Latitude E5420, if it is running in Windows 7, Domino 6.5 can't run. That's for my case.

As for the old Dell desktop PC, a dying GX280, which I got to reformat and reinstall Windows 7 Enterprise edition, 32-bit OS, I was able to apply the whole fix that I documented weeks back, and Domino 6.5 is able to run. So it's all on the laptops, I suppose... eh?

These are the specs, to be more precise:
Windows 7 Enterprise edition, 32-bit (64-bit ain't the right fit yet, dude!)
> desktops, laptops, they all get the same OS

And the very reason why we can't use 64-bit OS, is that we are still running Oracle 8i systems! And the upgrade isn't a time within reach, my man.

Finally, 64-bit ain't no use, since we only have 4GB RAM in our machines. I just made a good alternative to Windows 7, speeding up my processes by employing Readyboost - 2 pieces of 8GB thumbdrives plugged into my new laptop - now that's something!

The grapes are not so sour after all...

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I'm hit! - Windows 7 bi-hourly shutdown has begun

Image via Wikipedia

My Windows 7 experience may have come to an end!


Last night, as I would usually do, I turned on my laptop after coming home, then leave it alone to run some tasks. This I did after coming in about 7pm.

As usual, the computer would go to screensaver mode, which, in my case, is a totally black screen.

I was completely unsuspecting anything... until...

I tried to wake up the laptop so I can check on the progress of the tasks, but instead, what I saw was a quick blink on the screen, then a reboot!

I'm still unaware of what is happening. I wasn't reading the news lately...

But what I already noticed is that the wallpaper was removed, so that I have a black screen background, and the lower right notice, aside from the notification balloon area...

"This copy of Windows is not genuine."

I checked from my control panel the System info, and true enough, I need to activate my copy of Windows 7.

As I've checked the web today, I found that this bi-hourly shutdown is given a timeframe 3 months, from 1-Mar-2010 to 1-Jun-2010. Before June, only the bi-hourly shutdown happens. When June comes, you won't be able to save your work, with the bi-hourly shutdown still happening, and some other things that you wouldn't like at all.

There is a temporary fallback, which is to install the 90-day trial version of Windows 7 Enterprise edition, if you need to really do further evaluation, then that's it.

I found 2 webpages that told me everything I needed to know at the moment, not including the pricing of Windows 7, of course. That is available at the web as well.


What should I do if I'm running the Release Candidate (RC) version of Windows 7?

Bi-hourly Windows 7 RC shutdown begins: Microsoft giveth and it taketh away


I don't think I'm able to cough up around S$500 dollars to get this OS.

I may go back to snail-pace Vista.

Or my rusty-but-trusty XP OS.

Only time can tell...

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On Windows 7

I’ve put my hand on Windows 7, and I was fortunate to be able to install the 32-bit version in my old desktop machine, purchased last 2003. Then, with my newer (1 1/2 yr or so) laptop, I was able to test the 64-bit version. These are both Windows 7 Ultimate OSes.

So with those 2 versions come problems that are uniquely their own, specific to the 64-bit OS: though basically breaking the 3GB RAM barrier, I immediately faced the problem of Zonealarm firewall not being able to install, so I searched, and sure enough, we have PC Tools Firewall Plus free edition to take its place. AVG 9 has a free version for Win 7.

The rest, they work. The main precaution when thinking of installing 64b Win7 is antivirus and firewall softwares. The rest of the softwares, they usually work – I was able to install back my old softwares (Harmony Assistant, Noteworthy Composer, CCleaner, Defraggler, etc) without a single issue being encountered.

So I’m now on Windows 7.

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