25. March 2010 by admin.

Microsoft removes “hardware virtualization” requirement for XP Mode in: Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions of Windows 7

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/191938/windows_7_xp_mode_loses_hardware_requirement.html

http://windowsteamblog.com/

A new functionality that came with certain versions of Windows 7 (not all of them?) includes an “XP Mode” which comes with a full rendition of Windows XP. This was great for those that still like Windows XP or have a real reason to run XP because of Legacy Applications (Programs) that won’t run in Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Now grant it there are some persons, like myself, Alan Spicer, that require Operating Systems Virtualization not for legacy applications purposes, but for being able to “run” many different OS’s for educational and support (of my customers) purposes.

Anyway this XP Mode of Windows 7 only worked on hardware that could perform the “hardware assisted virtualization” which lots of PC Hardware (computers, laptops, desktops) does not have. I’m not even sure how you would shop for that. I don’t think it’s one of the “features” on a lot of the web sites or price / features sheets in stores. You’d almost have to be a geek (not that there’s anything wrong with that) to recognize that you would need that and know how to ask for it while computer shopping. Here’s a link that explains what this is all about.

http://www.desktop-virtualization.com/2008/05/14/what-hardware-virtualization-really-means/

Anyway, I for one, wanted to try the XP Mode out in Windows 7 - but I didn’t have hardware VT in any of my CPU’s in any of my computers. I was happy for a few seconds when I read the above linked post that the hardware requirement would be gone… only to be saddened a few seconds later when I realized that it was only for a few versions of Windows 7 … and definately not for Windows Home Premium, which I run on my main Windows 7 Desktop machine.

Now grant I have another machine around here (somewhere) that I think is running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, I’d sure like to be able to do this on my main PC that’s hooked up to the big screen all of the time. I could get another Windows 7 Pro 64-bit at a discount … but I ‘ve already done upgrade on this machine from Windows Vista 64-bit to Windows 7 64-bit (it was a free upgrade) and going to Pro wasn’t supported in that free upgrade. Well at least I’m in the 64-bit class which lets me test 64-bit and 32-bit “stuff” on this class and see how well things work. And in general it has been working out *rather well* - thank you.

Soooo I’d like to see Microsoft bring this XP mode, with hardware VT requirement removed, brought down one more level to Windows 7 Home Premium. So we can all get a taste of it. Maybe the XP Mode wasn’t even in this version at all anyway? So maybe we’re asking for more than Microsoft is willing to give? But hey, we’re singing your song … we’re praising your Windows 7 OS release, how about throwing us a bone? ehhh?

* What’s all the fuss over XP Mode?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=896 

—

Alan Spicer (Radio Amateur KA4UDX)

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net - http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954 683 3426

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

Posted in General Computer onboard Sail and Motor Yachts | No Comments »

24. March 2010 by admin.

http://14300.net/

You don’t even have to be a license amateur radio operator to “listen” to this one…

There is streaming audio available to anyone with an Internet connection on that web page. I would like to encourage more larger vessels (sail and motor yachts) on 14.300 Mhz SSB … you have to get an Amateur Radio License, General Class, to transmit on there. But it is easier than ever to do so. Morse Code is no longer a requirment for the basic level of Amateur Radio License, these days that is Technician Class. And upgrading past that to General is certainly not rocket science either.

* The Intercon Net

* The Maritime Mobile Service Network

* The Pacific Seafarers Net

* USCG Amateur Radio Net

Get more information at http://14300.net

*Break*

In the movie Top Gun it was mentioned that Fighter Pilots go to Miramar, because Pilots recently have lost their Dogfighting Skils …

On marine vessels some may have lost their *Radio Skills*. And Amateur Radio and the Waterway Net, and the 14300.net nets are a good place to stop in for some practice. A lot of boats these days have Satellite Phone, Internet, and all that. But it is possible that one day that will be “down” and you will in the *thick* of problems. It would be nice to remember 14300.net is there to help. It would be even nicer if you had obtained your amateur radio license and checked in and were familiar with the net… Before it became a necessity that you got on the air and called for help.

*Break*

14.300 MHz has become a very well known frequency in the Amatuer Radio world. There are three major nets in the Western Hemisphere that operate on 14.300 MHz. From early morning until late evening the frequency is busy with traffiic of one form or another. Begining at 0700 ET daily, The Intercon Net, formally know as The Intercontinental Amatuer Traffic Net, starts out the day. Intercon runs until 1200 ET before handing the frequency over to The Maritime Mobile Service Network. The MMSN, which also runs daily, operates from 1200 ET until 9 PM EST / 10 PM EDT or 0200 UTC. After The MMSN raps up The Pacific Seafarers Net begins operation at 10 PM EST / 11PM EDT or 0300 UTC and runs various lengths of time, depending on traffic load, but usually about 2 hours or less.

Let’s take a brief look at each net.

The Intercon Net According to Intercon’s website, the nets mission is threefold:

The Maritime Mobile Service Network The primary purpose of the net is for handling traffic from maritime mobiles and overseas deployed service personnel. MMSN also assists missionaries and persons working abroad. The MMSN has a more formal or structured format than Intercon. Since vessels at sea generally have barefoot or less rigs, running on battery power with wire or vertical antennas, their signals may be hard to copy at times. The Net Control Stations frequently ask all stations to standby while calling for maritimes only that may wish to check in. Also, offshore weather information is usually read at about 30 minutes past the hour. Ragchewing is considered a no-no during MMSN. Any station can check into the MMSN when the NCS is asking for general check-in’s. If you would like a signal report, audio report or just to say you are “riding along”, this is the time to check-in.

The Pacific Seafarer’s Net Pacsea handles traffic with vessles mainly in the Pacific Ocean. Utilizing stations from North America to New Zeland / Austrailia and across the Pacific, Pacsea takes position reports and weather observations from vessels. Pacsea NCS’s use special software to post positions on the internet and send observed weather conditions to the weather forecasters for the Pacific. Friends and family may then track their vessel of interest online. The first 25 minutes of the net is open to general check-in’s. After that, the roll call portion of the net begins and it is very structured from that point. Any station is welcome to assist as a relay for Pacsea. If your area of interest is The Pacific, check out The Pacific Seafarer’s Net.

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24. March 2010 by admin.

Anyone Marine Mobile make sure you check out:

http://www.waterwayradio.net/ 7245 Khz (7.245 Mhz) at 0745 hours Eastern Time Daily - Valid Amateur Radio Operators License Needed.

Special thanks to the operators of the waterway net for helping so many vessels (some in trouble(s)) such as KF5CLM trying to get to Fort Myers, Florida on 3-23 / 3-24-2010. I am offerring free (best effort, my time *as available*) computer advice for Navigation or Communications use Computers to Waterway Net qualified Amateur Radio Operators. I’ll extend that to Internet onboard such vessels including onboard wired or wireless networking. You need to check into the Waterway Radio and Cruising Club Net on 7268 Khz LSB with a valid Amateur Radio Operators License to qualify. Contact can be via SSB radio, Telephone, or Email. Also if you are coming into Fort Lauderdale and need small items picked up and dropped to you (reasonable amounts transportable by a small car) - I also offer best-effort assistance with that as well. Both Sail and Motor Marine Vessels qualify if you meet the above requirements as well. I may waive the SSB check in if you show me a radio and it’s broken on any given day in question.

See also: http://www.eqsl.cc/Member.cfm?KA4UDX

See also: http://www.qrz.com/db/KA4UDX

The Waterway Radio and Cruising Club is an association of amateur radio operators who also share an interest in recreational boating.

The Waterway Net, which is sponsored by the Waterway Radio and Cruising Club, meets on the air every morning of the year for about an hour starting at 0745 ET on a frequency of 7.268 MHz LSB. The main purpose of the Waterway Net is to encourage amateur radio communications to and from boats with an emphasis on safety and weather information. Position Reports help keep live-aboards and cruising boats in touch with families and friends and Float Plans provide a strong measure of safety for off-shore passage makers.

Begun in the early sixties, the Waterway Net is one of the oldest, continuously operating nets in amateur radio. Today the WRCC has around eight hundred dues paying members and anyone holding an Amateur Radio License of any class is eligible to join. Membership in the WRCC is not a prerequisite for participation in the Waterway Net, but a general class or higher license is required.

The Waterway Net is a controlled net. It is recommended that one listen for a while to learn the Net Procedures, but anyone with a general class license or above is invited to check in at the appropriate time or to join in on the special interest nets that often follow.

In an emergency, FCC rules permit anyone, licensed or not, to use any frequency to summon help. All boaters with high frequency SSB radios aboard should know that the 20 meter amateur frequency of 14.300 MHz is active for about eighteen hours a day and is always available for emergency assistance.

—

73 de KA4UDX (Alan Spicer - General Class Radio Amateur)

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net

+1 954 683 3426

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

Posted in Main | 1 Comment »

22. March 2010 by admin.

According to this post:

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/192000/bad_bitdefender_update_clobbers_windows_pcs.html?tk=nl_dnx_h_crawl

Bit Defender software gave 64-bit Windows users “Pure Hell” after an Update on Saturday … Windows Files were eaten, Bit Defender Files were eaten. The thing was just *hungry* I guess. Read the article at the link above for more. I posted a comment in the comments section below the article myself … and I’m having a look on a 64-bit Windows 7 Machine, at the Microsoft Security Essentials. I am doing an install and will be testing it over the next few days to see how it works, how heavy or light it is on system resources, and generally how well I like it as a solution for protecting my computer. If I like it - it might be another candidate for recommendation to my friends and customers. I have been using versions of AVG for a few years … and it has been doing Pretty Ok Too.

A noteable quote from the above article:

“Users of the BitDefender antivirus software started flooding the company’s support forums Saturday, apparently after a faulty antivirus update caused 64-bit Windows machines to stop working.”

Notable comment quotes:

“WinTard posted Sun Mar 21 11:52:31 PDT 2010

I can honestly state I’ve virtually tried them all. IMHO, one of the simplest, cost-effective (entirely free), and low-overhead anti-virus is Microsoft Security Essentials.
It really works like a charm and is for all purposes invisible. It found stuff deep into metadata files (MP3 and WMV) files that Panda, Avast, and others had missed for years! It also warned me of vulnerabilities in VNC, prompting me to update to the latest fixed versions, all automatically.
http://www.google.com/search?q=microsoftsecurityessentials: Results 1 - 10 of about 12,000,000 for microsoft security essentials. (0.10 seconds)
I must say kudos to Microsoft for generously giving us http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/! That’s what I use and would recommend to anybody using Windows.
It’s free, and updates sometimes multiple times per day. And I trust Microsoft for knowing what they’re doing.
~~~~~~~~~~~
You know, feeling a lot of gratitude actually makes things taste better…
~ Bridgett Walther”

“chevrolet1994 posted Sun Mar 21 12:59:45 PDT 2010

I had Browser Hijack Retaliator installed in my computer (32 bit PC).
I had it installed in the computer for several months and then yesterday (3/20) the computer started running slow, I installed BHR and then then reinstalled it,the computer was still running slow. I went to Major Geeks.com and downloaded Spy ware Terminator and THAT really screwed up the computer!
I installed Spy ware Terminator and I am just running AVG 9.0 Free along with Windows Defender, the computer works great now.”

* * * * And now finally … This one was me, Alan Spicer:

“aspicer posted Sun Mar 21 22:11:43 PDT 2010

Oh, God, did we really have to have the “Mac” comment in here? Chevrolet1994 and Wintard have made the best comment posts so far. At least not bitching but helpful, perhaps. Although Chevrolet didn’t say how they fixed the computer once it was screwed up, I imagine it was a wayback machine maneuver such as System Restore.
I’m going to test the Microsoft Security Essentials package on a 64-bit 7 installation here … and see if that’s something I might want to recommend for my sail and motor yacht customers. I have been using various versions of AVG without any problems for several years. I have been recommending it as well. Typically, IMHO, any of the so-called “Security Suites” are just too much for the average user to manage. And they usually add additional firewalling that makes making anthing work a PITA even for someone that does it for a living.
I did recently have to do a System Restore on a Windows XP PRo Machine. Because of installing several Amateur Radio audio and radio remote control software demo packages. I lost my outbound audio from my sound card. I yanked all of the recently installed softwares, and rebooted, and still didn’t fix the problem. System Restore to a date when I knew that my soundcard was doing PSK31 (for Amateur Radio) just fine, and it came back like a champ. I have sneaking suspicion this had something to do with an old Microsoft C/C+ library package. I remember one of the softwares installing that. Whenever I see a “redistributable” such as that dated more than a year or two old, I have to wonder. What the Freak are they doing? I mean there’s gotta be a newer version than 2005 or such, right? And the software installation should have looked for an existing version and see if it is a working option already in place. If not their damn software needs to be updated to a current version. I still think I get some error, with something, related to that MS C/C+ library package around. So something else probably got mucked up by that as well.
I know this has nothing to do with BitDefender. I feel sorry for them … And Toyota as well … We won’t screw up again, We Promise! And the other US car companies that just screwed up (Their WHOLE BUSINESS) and the country, the tax payers (now and future) have to pay for it. Cool. Nice one. Where’s my bailout????”

… That’s all for now, we return you to your LIFE, ALREADY IN PROGRESS …

—

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net

communications (at) marinetelecom.net

+1 954 683 3426

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21. March 2010 by admin.

Mobile Broadband Router - 3G - Ericsson W35

—

Alan Spicer Telecom / Marine Telecom
http://www.marinetelecom.net
+1 954-683-3426

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »

21. March 2010 by admin.

Inmarsat FleetBroadband Case Study - Maltese Falcon

—

Alan Spicer Telecom / Marine Telecom
http://www.marinetelecom.net
+1 954-683-3426

Posted in Satellite Voice and Internet, Uncategorized | No Comments »

21. March 2010 by admin.

KVH TracVision TracPhone Marine Presentation - incl. FleetBroadband

—

Alan Spicer Telecom / Marine Telecom
http://www.marinetelecom.net
+1 954-683-3426

Posted in Satellite Voice and Internet | No Comments »

21. March 2010 by admin.

The Tracphone V7 - Mini VSAT Broadband - Satellite System

—
Alan Spicer Telecom / Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net
+1 954-683-3426

Posted in Satellite Voice and Internet, Uncategorized | No Comments »

20. March 2010 by admin.

I have a minor hobby, I guess, and I’ve had it for awhile I guess. But there are a lot of phrases used in common American and British English that sound weird… I have to often ask “Where did that word or phrase come from? Tonight on CQ100, a virtual amateur radio “ionosphere”, which means virtual radio world - a question was posed to a particular regularly meeting group - Where does “Turnpike” come from? A lot of us travel fairly regularly on highways called a “Turnpike” so what does that mean, really? I gave the winning answer … but I cheated (All is fair in love and war) by using Google.com, a popular search engine. I found:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-tur2.htm

and that page contained the winning answer. So go there and see what I saw. It was an intriguing word puzzle question and I love learning about where word and phrase originations come from. Some cannot be nailed down to a guaranteed answer. But then again, as with everything, it’s all about the journey, right????

—

Alan Spicer Telecom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

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20. March 2010 by admin.

* This is Alan Spicer, of Alan Spicer Telecom / Marine Telecom. I got an interesting email just recently and this is part of what it said:

We really like your site and this is why I’m contacting you. 

Recently, we’ve created a campaign site for the telecommunication company Ericsson called 2020 Shaping Ideas. The site is about how the world could look like in the year 2020.  To imagining this, we’ve got help from 20 different thinkers who does have a great insight about what life will be like ten years from now. 

We will only contact a few sites around the world, besides you, whom we feel are credible, interesting and relevant.  

…

* Here is where it is:

2020 Shaping Ideas - http://www.ericsson.com/campaign/20about2020/index.html

* I’ve visited the site already and watched the videos on there … and I like it! And I think that others will like it as well. A lot of things are changing in the U.S. and around the world and a lot of people have finally got to thinking about what our future is and what we can do to make it better. There very likely is a “time window” where we can miss a “Golden Opportunity” to have a positive effect on how things will be in 2020. A lot of things are changing at a rapid pace, not only technology (especially mobile and portable technology) but economical problems and hardships. No doubt the US has just went through some rough times and we may not be out of the woods yet. But we are playing on a Global Scale these days. Our children are a lot more intelligent, and their minds are different than ours because of the massive availability of information and communications capability. But this is not merely a local thing. This is happening around the world … and other countries such as China and India … and we need to learn to work and play in a global mind game - as well as business and marketing game. That is if we want to continue to be relevant. We might end up importing most of our “mindshare” as well as “hardware” from other countries that do it better. So we better learn how to work with and for a world market. We already get a lot of products from other countries, and a lot of US Businesses have went bankrupt or close to it, not only in Communications (Telecom) but other markets as well. Anyway there are some good videos from that site that I am going to try an embed on here, as they are available for that via Youtube.com. I will say that I’ve learned a lot working in the marine industry with the yachting market, as captains and crews are from many places around the world. I’ve had customers outside of the country, and from several countries and islands in the Carribean. You can’t just be US-centric anymore. Ham Radio, a.k.a., Amateur Radio - in which I had been primarily on VHF (called 2-Meters) and UHF (called 70-centimeters), I have recently become active again on HF (3-30 Mhz) which permits communications worldwide, and trust me I have been doing just that. The reason I bring up Amateur Radio is that it is enlightening to talk to people in other countries around the world, and look them up in Google Earth and see where they are. It makes me feel closer to being a part of the whole globe, to a world of wonderful people, instead of just people from the U.S. Many of my friends and customers that work and live in the Yachting World have an advantage - they get to travel to other parts of the world and deal with the differences in locales and peoples. (Note: That I did several “Med Cruises” in the U.S. Navy so I have been around the world a little bit) Anyway this is a good thing.

Anyway we might need to learn that we don’t know everything, and we certainly don’t *run* everything on a global scale. So we might need to learn to work with the peoples of all of the other countries of the world, learn from them, and let’s all *run* things together.

So check out that site: http://www.ericsson.com/campaign/20about2020/index.html and the content on there and let me know what YOU think? Maybe you can be a part of that site - in one way or another - and have your ideas and opinions about the future heard.

* Here are some videos from there:

(bear with me if you read this post early on as I am working on it. Go to the main 2020 site link above to carry on with watching videos - while I work on this. During editing, video embed links can become broken, and I have to go back and fix them. But I wanted to get this *live* on Friday so you could see it over the weekend!)




2020 Shaping Ideas - Jeffrey Sachs




2020 Shaping Ideas - Ian Pearson




2020 Shaping Ideas - Carlota Perez




2020 Shaping Ideas - Johan Bergendahl




2020 Shaping Ideas - Don Tapscott (Growing Up Digital. See this one!) Their brains are actually different than ours. Those that say the younger generation are the dumbest are wrong - They might just be the smartest generation.
—
Alan Spicer Telecom / Marine Telecom
http://www.marinetelecom.net
Email: communications (at) marinetelecom.net
Telephone: +1 954 683 3426

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