I saw an article on slashdot yesterday about a group of guys (half are Canadian…awesome) who are playing a Final Fantasy marathon over a week for the autism charity ACT Today. The group from http://www.thespeedgamers.com/ is rotating players and randomly playing all Final Fantasy games up to 12 (excluding the XI MMO I believe). The 3 live streams lets viewers watch the game feed, the “couch” where the gamer is seated along with the others gamers stretching for their game, and the color commentary via a laptop webcam. The commentator reads the live chat and banters back while telling funny gaming stories and making bets with the charity contributers such as:

• for every $5 donated during a set period of time, one of the waiting gamers will complete a barrel roll. They got up to 113 rolls, the first half being quite impressive while the later half of them was a sleep depraved gamer laying on the floor barely moving.
• a single $100 donation dare had one gamer drink…ahem…a mana potion, mixed with a health potion, mixed with a spoonful of 2 day old vegemite, and a menthol cough drop.  The gamer actually vomited BEFORE drinking it due to the foul smell and having been awake for 40 hours. Funny stuff.

At this moment, they are at $33 000 which blew away their previous goal of $20 000. They have reset the bar to $50 000 and will probably clear that before the deadline of July 24th. They are getting a lot of news coverage and I encourage people to go check out the site and watch for abit. Drop some money on a great charity too if you feel inclined!

I have been hooked up to the social networks of the interwebs! I can not stress the importance of social networking sites not only for personal use but for business use as well. It is by far the cheapest and easiest route for an organization to get their information to their customers. The viral effect at work in its purist form.

http://www.facebook.com/tpinet

http://tpinet.wordpress.com

http://twitter.com/timpinet (damn the man that took tpinet)

Now to socialize….someone….anyone?

Well…I reached the ripe age of 27 last weekend on May 23rd. It was probably the best birthday I have had. My lovely wife bought me a fantastic Toshiba laptop from BestBuy (that I helped her pick out ) and got me GTA4 for PC AND a big bottle of Baileys to boot. Yes she went overboard…I love her for it.

Family and friends met up to eat at Scores and then head over to Kanata AMC 24 to check out the new Terminator Salvation movie. Ummm….it wasnt the best action movie of the summer that is for sure. For a war between humans and machines it certainly didnt feel like much of a war. I pictured in myhead  thousands of humans duking it out with futuristic weapons against thousands of machines. I think that I saw maybe 15-20 machines in the whole movie. The only saving grace was Arnie’s image (albeit CGI’d from Terminator 1) beating on Bale for a whole minute and a half. This movie is 2/5 stars in my opinion.

Keep in mind that my Dell Mini 9 does NOT have Bluetooth or Webcam so I removed those components. Copy the contents below into a file called “Last Session.ini” and load it into nLite to use my config.

[Main]
Env = 1.4.9.1 - 2.0.50727.3074.Microsoft Windows NT 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1
Target = Windows XP Professional SP3 - 5.1.2600.5512 - English (United States)
[Tasks]
Remove Components
Tweaks
Options
[Components]
;# Applications #
Accessibility Options
Briefcase
Calculator
Charmap
ClipBook Viewer
Defragmenter
Games
Internet Games
NT Backup
Paint
Pinball
Screensavers
WordPad
;# Drivers #
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
Cameras and Camcorders
Display Adapters
Display Adapters (old)
Ethernet (LAN)
IBM PS/2 TrackPoint
IBM ThinkPad
ISDN
Logitech WingMan
Microsoft SideWinder
Modems
Multifunctional
Portable Audio
Printers
Scanners
SCSI/RAID
Serial Pen Tablet
Sony Jog Dial
Sound Controllers
Tape drives
Toshiba DVD decoder card
Wireless Ethernet (WLAN)
;# Hardware Support #
ALI 1535 SMBus Host Controller
ALI IDE Controller
ATM Support
Bluetooth Support
Brother Devices
CMD PCI IDE Controller
CPU AMD
CPU Transmeta Crusoe
Firewire (1394) Support
Firewire Network support
Floppy Support
Gravis Digital GamePort
Iomega Zip drive
Joystick Support
Modem Support
Multi-port serial adapters
PCMCIA
Ramdisk
Smart Cards
Sony Memory Stick
Teletext codec
Toshiba PCI IDE Controller
USB Video Capture devices
VIA PCI IDE Controller
Video Capture
Windows CE USB Host
;# Keyboards #
Albanian keyboard
Arabic (101) keyboard
Arabic (102) AZERTY keyboard
Arabic (102) keyboard
Armenian Eastern keyboard
Armenian Western keyboard
Azeri Cyrillic keyboard
Azeri Latin keyboard
Belarusian keyboard
Belgian (Comma) keyboard
Belgian (Period) keyboard
Belgian French keyboard
Bengali (Inscript) keyboard
Bengali keyboard
Bosnian Cyrillic keyboard
Bosnian keyboard
Bulgarian (Latin) keyboard
Bulgarian keyboard
Canadian French (Legacy) keyboard
Canadian French keyboard
Canadian Multilingual Standard keyboard
Chinese (Simplified) - Microsoft Pinyin IME 3.0 keyboard
Chinese (Simplified) - NeiMa keyboard
Chinese (Simplified) - QuanPin keyboard
Chinese (Simplified) - ShuangPin keyboard
Chinese (Simplified) - US Keyboard keyboard
Chinese (Simplified) - ZhengMa keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - Alphanumeric keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - Array keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - Big5 Code keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - ChangJie keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - DaYi keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - New ChangJie keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - New Phonetic keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - Phonetic keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - Quick keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - Unicode keyboard
Chinese (Traditional) - US Keyboard keyboard
Croatian keyboard
Czech (QWERTY) keyboard
Czech keyboard
Czech Programmers keyboard
Danish keyboard
Devanagari - INSCRIPT keyboard
Divehi Phonetic keyboard
Divehi Typewriter keyboard
Dutch keyboard
Estonian keyboard
Faeroese keyboard
Farsi keyboard
Finnish keyboard
Finnish with Sami keyboard
French keyboard
FYRO Macedonian keyboard
Gaelic keyboard
Georgian keyboard
German (IBM) keyboard
German keyboard
Greek (220) keyboard
Greek (220) Latin keyboard
Greek (319) keyboard
Greek (319) Latin keyboard
Greek keyboard
Greek Latin keyboard
Greek Polytonic keyboard
Gujarati keyboard
Hebrew keyboard
Hindi Traditional keyboard
Hungarian 101-key keyboard
Hungarian keyboard
Icelandic keyboard
Inuktitut Latin keyboard
Irish keyboard
Italian (142) keyboard
Italian keyboard
Japanese Input System (MS-IME2002) keyboard
Japanese keyboard
Kannada keyboard
Kazakh keyboard
Korean Input System (IME 2000) keyboard
Korean keyboard
Kyrgyz Cyrillic keyboard
Latin American keyboard
Latvian (QWERTY) keyboard
Latvian keyboard
Lithuanian IBM keyboard
Lithuanian keyboard
Luxembourgish keyboard
Malayalam keyboard
Maltese 47-key keyboard
Maltese 48-key keyboard
Maori keyboard
Marathi keyboard
Mongolian Cyrillic keyboard
Nepali keyboard
Norwegian keyboard
Norwegian with Sami keyboard
Pashto keyboard
Polish (214) keyboard
Polish (Programmers) keyboard
Portuguese (Brazilian ABNT) keyboard
Portuguese (Brazilian ABNT2) keyboard
Portuguese keyboard
Punjabi keyboard
Romanian keyboard
Russian (Typewriter) keyboard
Russian keyboard
Sami Extended Finland-Sweden keyboard
Sami Extended Norway keyboard
Serbian (Cyrillic) keyboard
Serbian (Latin) keyboard
Slovak (QWERTY) keyboard
Slovak keyboard
Slovenian keyboard
Spanish keyboard
Spanish Variation keyboard
Swedish keyboard
Swedish with Sami keyboard
Swiss French keyboard
Swiss German keyboard
Syriac keyboard
Syriac Phonetic keyboard
Tamil keyboard
Tatar keyboard
Telugu keyboard
Thai Kedmanee (non-ShiftLock) keyboard
Thai Kedmanee keyboard
Thai Pattachote (non-ShiftLock) keyboard
Thai Pattachote keyboard
Turkish F keyboard
Turkish Q keyboard
Ukrainian keyboard
United Kingdom Extended keyboard
United Kingdom keyboard
United States-Dvorak for left hand keyboard
United States-Dvorak for right hand keyboard
United States-Dvorak keyboard
United States-International keyboard
Urdu keyboard
US English Table for IBM Arabic 238_L keyboard
Uzbek Cyrillic keyboard
Vietnamese keyboard
;# Languages #
;Arabic
Arabic (Algeria)
Arabic (Bahrain)
Arabic (Egypt)
Arabic (Iraq)
Arabic (Jordan)
Arabic (Kuwait)
Arabic (Lebanon)
Arabic (Libya)
Arabic (Morocco)
Arabic (Oman)
Arabic (Qatar)
Arabic (Saudi Arabia)
Arabic (Syria)
Arabic (Tunisia)
Arabic (U.A.E.)
Arabic (Yemen)
Divehi (Maldives)
Pashto
Syriac (Syria)
Urdu
;Armenian
Armenian
;Baltic
Estonian
Latvian
Lithuanian
;Central Europe
Albanian
Bosnian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Croatian
Croatian (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Czech
Hungarian
Polish
Romanian
Serbian (Latin)
Serbian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Slovak
Slovenian
;Cyrillic
Azeri (Cyrillic)
Belarusian
Bosnian (Cyrillic, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Bulgarian
FYRO Macedonian
Kazakh
Kyrgyz (Kyrgyzstan)
Mongolian (Mongolia)
Russian
Serbian (Cyrillic)
Serbian (Cyrillic, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Tatar
Ukrainian
Uzbek (Cyrillic)
;Georgian
Georgian
;Greek
Greek
;Hebrew
Hebrew
;Indic
Bengali (India)
Gujarati (India)
Hindi
Kannada (India)
Konkani
Malayalam (India)
Marathi
Nepali (Nepal)
Punjabi (India)
Sanskrit
Tamil
Telugu (India)
;Japanese
Japanese
;Korean
Korean
;Simplified Chinese
Chinese (PRC)
Chinese (Singapore)
;Thai
Farsi
Thai
;Traditional Chinese
Chinese (Hong Kong S.A.R.)
Chinese (Macau S.A.R.)
Chinese (Taiwan)
;Turkic
Azeri (Latin)
Turkish
Uzbek (Latin)
;Vietnamese
Vietnamese
;Western Europe and United States
Afrikaans
Basque
Catalan
Danish
Dutch (Belgium)
Dutch (Netherlands)
English (Australia)
English (Belize)
English (Caribbean)
English (Ireland)
English (Jamaica)
English (New Zealand)
English (Philippines)
English (South Africa)
English (Trinidad)
English (United Kingdom)
English (Zimbabwe)
Faeroese
Filipino
Finnish
French (Belgium)
French (Canada)
French (France)
French (Luxembourg)
French (Monaco)
French (Switzerland)
Frisian
Galician (Spain)
German (Austria)
German (Germany)
German (Liechtenstein)
German (Luxembourg)
German (Switzerland)
Icelandic
Indonesian
Inuktitut (Latin)
Irish
Italian (Italy)
Italian (Switzerland)
Luxembourgish
Malay (Brunei Darussalam)
Malay (Malaysia)
Maltese
Maori
Mapudungun
Mohawk
Northern Sotho
Norwegian (Bokmal)
Norwegian (Nynorsk)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Portugal)
Quechua (Bolivia)
Quechua (Ecuador)
Quechua (Peru)
Romansh
Sami, Inari (Finland)
Sami, Lule (Norway)
Sami, Lule (Sweden)
Sami, Northern (Finland)
Sami, Northern (Norway)
Sami, Northern (Sweden)
Sami, Skolt (Finland)
Sami, Southern (Norway)
Sami, Southern (Sweden)
Spanish (Argentina)
Spanish (Bolivia)
Spanish (Chile)
Spanish (Colombia)
Spanish (Costa Rica)
Spanish (Dominican Republic)
Spanish (Ecuador)
Spanish (El Salvador)
Spanish (Guatemala)
Spanish (Honduras)
Spanish (International Sort)
Spanish (Mexico)
Spanish (Nicaragua)
Spanish (Panama)
Spanish (Paraguay)
Spanish (Peru)
Spanish (Puerto Rico)
Spanish (Traditional Sort)
Spanish (Uruguay)
Spanish (Venezuela)
Swahili
Swedish
Swedish (Finland)
Tswana
Welsh
Xhosa
Zulu
;# Multimedia #
AOL ART Image Format Support
DirectX diagnostic tool
Images and Backgrounds
Media Center
Mouse Cursors
Movie Maker
Music Samples
Old CDPlayer and Sound Recorder
Tablet PC
Windows Sounds
;# Network #
Client for Netware Networks
Communication tools
Comtrol Test Terminal Program
Connection Manager
FrontPage Extensions
Internet Connection Wizard
Internet Information Services (IIS)
MSN Explorer
Netmeeting
NetShell Cmd-Tool
Network Diagnostic
Network Monitor Driver and Tools
Network Setup Wizard
NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Protocol
Outlook Express
Peer-to-Peer
Share Creation Wizard
Synchronization Manager
Web Folders
Windows Messenger
;# Operating System Options #
.NET Framework
Administrative Templates
Administrator VB scripts
Blaster/Nachi removal tool
Color Schemes
Desktop Cleanup Wizard
Disk and Profile Quota
Document Templates
DR Watson
Extensible Storage Engine (Esent97)
Extra Fonts
FAT to NTFS converter
File and Settings Wizard
Help and Support
IExpress Wizard
Input Method Editor
MS Agent
MS XML 2.0
Private Character Editor
Remote Installation Services (RIS)
Search Assistant
Security Center
Service Pack Messages
Symbolic Debugger (NTSD)
Tour
User account pictures
Web View
Zip Folders
;# Services #
Alerter
Beep Driver
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Error Reporting
Fax Service
IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service
Indexing Service
IPSEC Policy Agent
Messenger
Remote Registry
Removable Storage
Secondary Logon
Service Advertising Protocol
System Restore Service
Task Scheduler
Telnet
Uninterruptible Power Supply
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Volume Shadow Copy
WebClient
;# Directories #
DOCS
SUPPORT
VALUEADD
;# Compatibility #
[KeepFiles]
msconfig.exe
[RemoveFiles]
clock.avi
yahoo.bmp
swtchbrd.bmp
[Options]
ClassicSetup
BlackSetupBack
DisableFreereq
DisableMinMem
ProfilesDir = "%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings"
TargetPath = "WINDOWS"
temp_dir = %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temp
RemoveMUI
[Patches]
DoUxTheme
DoSFC
[Services2]
[Tweaks]
Boot and Shutdown-Do not Parse Autoexec.bat
Boot and Shutdown-Logon Page-Welcome screen
Desktop-Internet Explorer icon-Hide
Desktop-My Documents icon-Hide
Desktop-My Network Places icon-Hide
Explorer-Add 'Command Prompt' to folder context menu
Explorer-Advanced Search: preconfigure options
Explorer-Classic Control Panel
Explorer-Disable Autorun
Explorer-Disable Beep on errors
Explorer-Disable Prefix: Shortcut to
Explorer-Disable shortcut arrow
Explorer-Remove Send To on context menu
Explorer-Show extensions of known file-types
Explorer-Show hidden files and folders
Explorer-Show protected operating system files
Explorer-Show Statusbar in all windows
Explorer-Show the full path in the Address Bar
My Computer-Add Device Manager to Context Menu
My Computer-Add Registry Editor to Context Menu
My Computer-Add Services to Context Menu
My Computer-Remove Shared Documents
Network-Disable automatic search for network folders and printers
Performance-Disable Info Tips on Files and Folders
Performance-Disable Last accessed Timestamp on files
Performance-Disable Optimize harddisk when idle
Performance-Disable Tracking of Broken Shortcut Links
Performance-Disable Warn on low disk space
Performance-Disable WBEM logging
Performance-Do not cache thumbnails
Performance-Minimal Power Management
Performance-Processor scheduling-Programs
Performance-Use Windows classic folders / No Tasks Sidepanel
Privacy-Remove Alexa
Start Menu-Disable and remove Documents list from the Start Menu
Start Menu-Disable Highlight newly installed programs
Start Menu-Do not use Personalized Menus
Start Menu-Reduce popup delay
Start Menu-Remove Pinned Apps List from Start Panel
Start Menu-Remove Search the Internet from Search
Start Menu-Remove Set Program Access and Defaults
Start Menu-Remove Windows Catalog shortcut
Start Menu-Scroll Programs
Taskbar-Disable Balloon Tips
Taskbar-Disable Hide inactive icons
[Unattended]
ComputerType = Automatic
HibernationNo
CustomLocales
Resolution = 1024x600
BitsPerPel = 32 bit (True Color)
Vrefresh = 60 Hz
MaximumDataStorePercentOfDisk = 12
RestorePointLife = 30
DesktopTheme = Default||
AutoUpdates = 4
AutoUDay = 5
AutoUHour = 15
ProgFilesPath = "\Program Files"
[NetAdapter1]
connname = ""
macaddress = ""
ipaddress = "192.168.0.1"
subnetmask = "255.255.255.0"
defaultgateway = ""
dnsserver1 = ""
dnsserver2 = ""
winsserver = ""
netbiossetting = "0"
ipxnetworknumber = "00000000"
ipxnetworkframetype = "0xFF"
[GuiRunOnce]
[Drivers]
[Hotfixes]

After running out of room on my Dell Mini 9 (that has a tiny 8GB SSD) I figured that something had to be done to make it my great little netbook again. Before anyone comments, yes I have the drive compressed, yes the pagefile and hibernation are turned off, yes I delete temporary internet files on exit from my browser. I have tried everything to maximize the space available but to no avail. And so I started to investigate some solutions to my problem:

• I started using some SDHC cards for data while leaving the programs and OS on the SSD. Not only was that a temporary solution but I found the responsiveness slow on the SDHC cards. After 1 week my SSD was topped up again but I knew that solution was not going to work.
• I investigated getting a Runcore high speed SSD from MyDigitalDiscount (http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com) but I was not eligible for the MS Live Search Cashback program (http://mydellmini.com/forum/modding-your-dell-mini-9-to-utilize-a-70mm-pata-ssd-t6312s0.html#p52484) since I am from Canada and the program is US only (*grrr*). To get a Runcore 32GB SSD it would cost me an approx $119US for the unit, $18US for ship to Canada, and the exchange rate which would cost me about $165CAD or more. This kind of defeats the purpose of the low cost netbook and I might as well have bought a full sized for that price.
• Lastly, I had the Ace up my sleeve. There is a program that I use occasionally to “trim the OS fat” off of some OS installs while making the installation process automated. This little program called nLite (http://www.nliteos.com/) is a great tool for shrinking the footprint of a Windows XP (there is a Vista variant) installation considerably by removing components from an install CD. This was my saviour for my SSD space issue.

Just to fill you in on my Mini 9 specs:
Dell Mini 9 – Inspiron 910 netbook (White) with 8GB SSD hard drive (the rest is standard) http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9?c=ca&cs=cadhs1&l=en&ref=lthp&s=dhs
No bluetooth or webcam 
2GB of Kingston PC2-5300 667MHz SODIMM {KVR667D2S5} that I got from a local dealer for $25CAD and installed in 5 mins (highly recommended)

I have an old Windows XP Pro CD around that hasnt been installed on any of my computers since they are all on Vista now, so I decided to use that instead of the stock Dell Windows XP Home CD that came with the unit. My Windows XP Pro CD is so old (how old is it, Tim?), it is so old that that it did not have any service packs preinstalled. No problem. I downloaded the newest XP service pack (SP3 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?familyid=5B33B5A8-5E76-401F-BE08-1E1555D4F3D4&displaylang=en) and will now slipstream it onto the XP disk. Using nLite, I copied the XP disc to my hard drive (to C:\nlite\WinXP) and then used the Integrate > Service Pack feature on the nLite main screen. nLite will then prompt you for the SP3 exe location and then slipstream SP3 into your XP disk. Once completed the C:\nLite\WinXP location is now, for our use, a Win XP Pro SP3 CD! What I did at this point was to make a copy of C:\nLite\WinXP to C:\nLite\WinXP_working since we will be modifying the install and it is always nice to have the baseline files ready in case you tweak your nLite settings over multiple tries like I did If you feel inclined, you could have added more patches/addons/drivers to the slipstream operation such as Internet Explorer 8, the .Net framework, or the Mini 9 drivers. I did not do this as I have taken the “install em if I need em” approach.

Next we are on to the more time consuming (yet rewarding) part which involves trimming the fat and optimizing configuration options. Exit out of nLite and come back in, but this time switch the Windows installation folder to be C:\nLite\WinXP_working so that we can break this one and keep the original intact. On the nLite main window, select the Remove > Components, Setup > Options, Setup > Tweaks features and press next. The Components section is where you can select items (using the check boxes) for removal. The Options and Tweaks sections are to put in configuration options for Windows before you even get to the login screen. Since this section can take multiple iterations and multiple hours to get right, I have linked my “Last Session.ini” configuration that I used for my nLite build here: http://tpinet.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/nlite-config-for-slim-windows-xp-install-on-dell-mini-9 . Keep in mind that I dont have Bluetooth or a Webcam on my Dell Mini 9 so I have removed those components. You should be able to use my configuration and then add/remove components from there. For more information on what to keep and remove trying googling “nlite dell mini 9” or “nlite eee“.

At this point C:\nLite\WinXP_working could be converted to an iso (via nLite as well), burned to a CD, and installed with an external CD/DVD drive….but I dont have one of those. I do have lots of USB sticks laying around and lucky for me the Mini 9 can boot from a USB stick. It took me 4 nights of sifting through procedures online with different ways of making the USB bootable that all failed, but I eventually fell on one way that worked flawlessly. Since the article is written so well and the instructions are so clear, I will not re-write them. Please follow all steps http://www.scartech.net/2008/08/22/installing-win-xp-pro-via-ufd-universal-flash-device/ BUT when asked for the Windows XP Setup Source path CD drive (Step 20 of the guide) select the C:\nLite\WinXP_working directory. Note that the last couple steps can take about 20 minutes so you can walk away from the computer and come back every 5 minutes to check if there is a prompt. Also, there are some additional steps at the end that I would add from the point where you put the USB into the target computer:

1. Put the USB into the Mini 9 and start to boot up. When prompted during boot, Press 0 (zero) for Boot Options. If all of the above steps worked correctly then USB Storage should be an option. Select that.
2. The next screen asks “Please select the operating system to start:” select option “1. TXT Mode” which is second in the list oddly enough. This will take you through the normal Windows XP install procedure. Warning: you need to remove all partitions on the SSD for this to work since this hacked installation is hard coded to exist on partition 1. If you do not remove all partitions before installing Windows then you will get a hal.dll error when installing the next part. Complete the text installation and reboot.
3. When prompted during boot, Press 0 (zero) for Boot Options and USB Storage again. This time choose “2. GUI Mode” and proceed through the GUI part of the install. There will be another reboot here.
4. When prompted during boot, Press 0 (zero) for Boot Options and USB Storage again (last time I swear). Choose “2. GUI Mode” and this time Windows XP will be started. Only when you see the Windows XP desktop should you remove the USB card since it is not needed anymore.
5. When you get into Windows, make a backup copy of C:\boot.ini called C:\boot.ini.bak. Now edit C:\boot.ini and remove the “multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\Windows=”USB Repair NOT to start Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /noexecute=optin /fastdetect” line since this will not be needed. This lets Windows XP start up without asking which OS you want to run at boot (an artifact of the USB install).

That should be it for installing Windows! At this point I went to My Computer > Properties > Advanced tab > Performance Settings > Advanced tab > Virtual memory Change and selected “No paging file” and pressed “Set” (this removes about 2GB for me). Reboot. Once back in Windows XP I can see that my SSD is sitting at about 500MB usage But now to fill that up again with drivers and applications

I downloaded the drivers from the Dell support website from one of my other machines and through them on a USB stick. Luckily the USB ports work on a fresh install without any drivers. The driver name and order used is below:

1. BIOS > Dell BIOS (Windows install) for Inspiron 910 (I installed version A05 and then rebooted…remember to have the netbook plugged in for power or it will not work)
2. Chipset > Intel Driver for Mobile Chipset (motherboard drivers)
3. Chipset > JMicron Driver (for media card slot…SDHC support)
4. Video > Intel Driver for Graphics Media
5. Network > Realtek LAN Driver
6. Network > Broadcom Arcadyn Wireless LAN Driver
7. Audio > Realtek ALC268 HD Audio Driver
8. Input Device Drivers > Synaptics TouchPad Driver
9. Applications > Dell Battery Meter/Wireless Select Switch software (If you have trouble installing the Wireless Select Switch then try ftp.us.dell.com/app/R192570.EXE)

If you would like a quick list with links and the correct order of installation, see http://mydellmini.com/forum/drivers-for-dell-inspiron-mini-9-910–t2827.html but be warned that the links may be out of date.

And now that everything is setup nicely, why not grab a sweet wallpaper from http://mydellmini.com/forum/your-1024×600-desktop%C7%83-t648s10.html, maybe a nice black theme from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=75078, and Open Office suite software http://download.openoffice.org/.

Last but not least, clean up the crap left over. I recommend checking out http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/windows-xp-pro/5486-windows-folder-has-bloated-2-3gb-after-updates.html as it has a post about deleting the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder (saved me ~500MB) and running CCleaner http://www.ccleaner.com/ (which cleared another 160MB). Also, it never hurts to run a DiskCleanup just to compress any old and unused items. My installation with nLite WinXP, SP3, all Dell drivers, all hotfix and application updates (including IE8, WMP11, .Net 3.5, etc), OpenOffice 3.1, Eclipse 3.4.1, 7zip, etc is at 2.35GB of my 8GB drive. Needless to say that I am verrrrry satisfied with this solution

I hope this helps someone!

I was installing SVN on my work PC when I noticed that CollabNet had a video of their SVN submission history. The video demonstrated a moving timeline with a developer’s name surrounded by the files they commit in a sort of firework display. The project called code_swarm (http://code.google.com/p/codeswarm/) is a Java project that parses out source control server history and creates these displays in a processed window. After trying the program out I thought that it would be a fantastic tool to encourage developers to commit small and commit often to “see their name in lights”. As an Agile Programming lover, the concept of continuous integration immediately came to mind and I know that this is a hard concept to get developers to buy into.

I was so impressed with this project that I decided to join it to contribute any way that I can. Everyone should take a look at the Subversion, Apache, and Eclipse codeswarm videos….really nifty.

I have surived my first week at my new position at the City of Ottawa. My new position is an Intermediate Developer and Integrator for a third party app (Active Network’s CLASS application). I will be receiving support calls from City clients to maintain the system which may involve on-site fixes which is different and nice from my old job.

This week was like any week at a new job….reading! I have 6 textbooks on Oracle, 3 on Business Object’s Crystal Reports 10, and endless online reading for CLASS. My eyes were bleeding by 4:00pm Friday afternoon.

Otherwise all the people seem cool. I have a nice cadillac ergo chair with 5000 settings and a brand new PC which I am also glad about.

Last night Andy received his Canadian Engineering Iron Ring at the secret ceremony at Ottawa University. Now there are 3 ‘geers in the family (dad, me, and Andy). ERTW!

With my week off I decided to catch up on some neglected gaming. First, I got my Valve fix with some Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead (very addictive). Today I went out and bought two Wii Wheels from Futureshop so that Monika and I could get our Mario Kart Wii on. I dont know what it is, but those stupid $10 wheels make the game much more enjoyable.

To keep myself from going game crazy I try to do some things that are productive. I am prepping my computer for a format/reinstall of Vista. I havent done that in about a year and a half which is crazy long for someone like me that enjoys having a fresh install every 6 months. My dad always says that I format as often as I change my shorts I guess that probably isnt too flattering…but the metaphor stands.

Also on my list of things to do is to apply to PEO. I have put this off way too long and now it is time (to start acting professionally?).

I am also wondering if there are any good movies to watch before I have to go back to the grind next week? Suggestions?

It was tough to say goodbye to all of my coworkers yesterday. I was there for such a short time but our team was close. Hopefully I will be working with them in the future at some other job where we are not all fearing being laid off at any time. Ottawa is a small city. Monika took me to a private “farewell” lunch even though I am not saying farewell to her

On a brighter note, my little brother turns 25 today. It is a big year for him: getting married, new house in a couple months (like me), and graduating from university. I’m sure that he will sleep for the entire of Q4 this year from all of the excitement.

So my final day at Nortel will be tomorrow. Our team had a great lunch today at Lonestar and everyone seemed to be in great spirits. It will be hard to say goodbye to all my friends and colleagues but it was a decision that had to be made.

And the story begins…cue violins…

With Monika and I both working at Nortel during this period of bankruptcy protection, the possibility of both of us losing our jobs with only 3 hours notification and $0 severance was quite real. With the new house coming in July and us needing to finalize our mortgage soon, that could be a real problem. If we were to lose our jobs at the same time (which would be uber shitty) then we would not be able to prove our employment to the mortgage agent and thus not getting the mortgage. If we didn’t get the mortgage then we don’t get the home. If we don’t get the home then we forfeit on many thousands of dollars of deposits which we have already put into the house. If we forfeit the deposits then I go mental. I dont want to go mental. And thus the dilemma…

So when Nortel announced in mid Jan, we started looking for new work like our lives depended on it (which it pretty much did since I would have had an aneurysm if i lost all of those deposits). Between January and March I applied to about 80 jobs online, had 4 interviews, and only a solitary letter of offer from my saviour, the City of Ottawa. I accepted right away since the Ottawa market for software engineers (read: entire worldwide economy!) is in the crap buckets right now and this offer was way better than I could have dreamt for. The work is right up my alley, the pay is super, it is nice and close to my new home, it is more stable (!!!!), and I get to pay my dues to my city.

I will take a week off next week before I start on March 30th and I will be rested and mega pumped!