WinNT is WinNT is WinNT

Home > My Lists > Technical Notes > WinNT is WinNT is WinNT

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Buried in my old e-mails are golden nuggets of geek nostalgia. One such nugget is a snippet of an O’Reilly article that was sent to me by a friend in October of 1998, published two years prior, revealing that the Differences Between NT Server and Workstation Are Minimal. This came at a time when I was a devout NT user who was becoming increasingly-curious about Linux. This may actually have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, giving me a reason to ditch Microsoft altogether.

In a nutshell, Microsoft claimed publically that the kernels of the two products shared a common “structure” and that different kernels were the result of decisions in the compilation process (i.e. ‘ifdef’ statements). In reality, the kernels were identical, as were all of the packaged libraries – only about 100 extra files were shipped with NT Server. All other differences hinged on registry entries.

The only registry entry change needed in NT 3.51 is to the “ProductType” key (“WinNT” for Workstation vs. “ServerNT” or “LanmanNT” for Server). NT 4.0 requires a second entry change to the “SystemPrefix” key, which holds a binary value in the high-order DWORD bit 0×04000000 (on for Server, off for Workstation). There was also a security mechanism added in NT 4.0 to prevent tampering with these entries, though it is reportedly possible to override them.

Microsoft attorney, David Heiner, is quoted in the article “Microsoft has every right to put conditions on how its software is used” and the author of the article agrees (as do I). The real issues are that Microsoft (a) blatantly lied to customers to (b) artificially inflate prices on the OS while (c) low-balling the price on its IIS webserver to (d) unfairly undercut the competition.

Ahhh, the good ol’ days!

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WordPress User Guidance

Home > My Lists > Technical Notes > WordPress User Guidance

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Since I seem to be using it fairly heavily these days, it struck me as a good idea to have a list of resources handy that explain how to use WordPress. I hope to avoid those nasty Catch-22 situations using the power of Google of course.

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Resources

• The WordPress.org Codex
• The WordPress How-To Site

Notes & Tips

• Here is the how-to on posting by e-mail, including the ever-important short codes.
• Thanks to this post in the WordPress.com forum, I now know that the Category ID number must be used to exclude Categories from the Category Cloud widget.

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Linux & Mobile Phones

At the time of this writing, I use a Motorola KRZR K1m for my personal mobile phone. Needless to say, the phone comes with software that runs on Windows, not Linux, so I have a 1GB Micro SD card for transferring pictures to my PC. I’ve done a little research on how to make the phone interact with Linux and my findings are as follows.

A program called moto4lin is available on Sourceforge and is based on the P2K platform. It allows you to view the phone’s file system and edit files. While the app isn’t ancient, there doesn’t appear to be any active development at the time of this writing. I first made note of this app in July 2007, the site was last updated in mid-September 2008 and the last comment on the Main Page was added in May 2006.

This page by Stephen Evanchik details adding ringtones to a RAZR V3, and I suspect the same method can be used with the K1m. The basic steps are:

1. Convert a sound/music file to a 20 second MP3 file (44.1kHz, 64kbps, <200kb).
2. Copy the MP3 file to /a/mobile/audio on the phone.
3. Set phone to silent mode.
4. Delete the MyToneDB.db & TempToneDB.db files.
5. Reboot the phone, remove from silent mode and browse for the new ringtone.

Finally, here are a few links on setting up Bluetooth on Ubuntu:

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BluetoothSetup
• http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=94713

Great Books

Back to My Lists

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The title for this list is overly-simplistic. It should read “Books I’ve Read, Mostly Novels, Probably Not Read Actually But Listened To On Audiobook, Most Of Which Were Checked Out At The Library, For Which I Want To Keep A Running Tally”…but that would be too long. Titles struck indicate the books I’ve already “read”.

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Incarnations of Immortality
Note: popular in my youth, but I did not read them – maybe someday
In order of publication:
On a Pale Horse (1983)
Bearing an Hourglass (1984)
With a Tangled Skein (1985)
Wielding a Red Sword (1986)
Being a Green Mother (1987)
For Love of Evil (1988)
And Eternity (1990)
Under a Velvet Cloak (2007)

Isaac Asimov Novels
Foundation Series
Robot Series
Empire Series

Jack Higgins Novels
Note: more to come…
Bad Company

Jack Ryan / John Clark Series (Tom Clancy)
In order of plot chronology:
Without Remorse (1993)
Patriot Games (1987)
Red Rabbit (2002)
The Hunt for Red October (1984)
The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988)
Clear and Present Danger (1989)
The Sum of All Fears (1991)
Debt of Honor (1994)
Executive Orders (1996)
Rainbow Six (1998)
The Bear and the Dragon (2000)
The Teeth of the Tiger (2003)

Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Series (Tony Hillerman)
In order of publication:
The Blessing Way (1970)
Dance Hall of the Dead (1973)
Listening Woman (1978)
People Of Darkness (1980)
The Dark Wind (1982)
The Ghostway (1984)
Skinwalkers (1986)
A Thief of Time (1988)
Talking God (1989)
Coyote Waits (1990)
Sacred Clowns (1993)
The Fallen Man (1996)
The First Eagle (1998)
Hunting Badger (1999)
The Wailing Wind (2002)
The Sinister Pig (2003)
Skeleton Man (2004)
The Shape Shifter (2006)

Judge Dee Series (Robert van Gulik)
In order of plot chronology:
Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (not part of the later continuity)
The Chinese Gold Murders (663)
Five Auspicious Clouds (663; from “Judge Dee at Work”)
The Red Tape Murders (663; from “Judge Dee at Work”)
He came with the Rain (663; from “Judge Dee at Work”)
The Lacquer Screen (663)
The Chinese Lake Murders (666)
The Morning of the Monkey (666; from “The Monkey and the Tiger”)
The Haunted Monastery (666)
The Murder on the Lotus Pond (666; from “Judge Dee at Work”)
The Chinese Bell Murders (668)
The Two Beggers (668; from “Judge Dee at Work”)
The Wrong Sword (668; from “Judge Dee at Work”)
The Red Pavilion (668)
The Emperor’s Pearl (668)
Necklace and Calabash (668)
Poets and Murder (668)
The Chinese Maze Murders (670)
The Phantom of the Temple (670)
The Coffins of the Emperor (670; from “Judge Dee at Work”)
Murder on New Year’s Eve (670; from “Judge Dee at Work”)
The Chinese Nail Murders (676)
The Night of the Tiger (676; from “The Monkey and the Tiger”)
The Willow Pattern (677)
Murder in Canton (681)

Maeve Binchy Novels
In order of publication:
Light a Penny Candle (1982)
The Lilac Bus (1984)
Echoes (1985)
Firefly Summer (1987)
Silver Wedding (1988)
Circle of Friends (1990)
The Copper Beech (1992)
The Glass Lake (1994)
Evening Class (1996)
Tara Road (1998)
Return Journey (1998)
Scarlet Feather (2000)
Quentins (2002)
Nights of Rain and Stars (2004)
Whitethorn Woods (2006)
Heart and Soul (2008)

Pern Novels (Anne McCaffrey)
Dragonflight (Dragonriders I)
Dragonquest (Dragonriders II)
The White Dragon (Dragonriders III)
Dragonsong (Harper Hall I)
Dragonsinger (Harper Hall II)
Dragondrums (Harper Hall III)

Scot Harvath Series (Brad Thor)
In order of publication:
The Lions of Lucerne (2002)
Path of the Assassin (2003)
State of the Union (2004)
Blowback (2005)
Takedown (2006)
The First Commandment (2007)
The Last Patriot (2008)
The Apostle (2009)

Star Trek: TNG Series

Steven King Novels
Partial list of King’s novels – probably won’t read all of his works.
The Breathing Method
Carrie
Pet Cemetary
Skeleton Crew
The Stand

The Cat Who… Series (Lilian Jackson Braun)
In order of publication:
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (1966)
The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern (1967)
The Cat Who Turned On and Off (1968)
The Cat Who Saw Red (1986)
The Cat Who Played Brahms (1987)
The Cat Who Played Post Office (1987)
The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare (1988)
The Cat Who Sniffed Glue (1988)
The Cat Who Went Underground (1989)
The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts (1990)
The Cat Who Lived High (1990)
The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal (1991)
The Cat Who Moved a Mountain (1992)
The Cat Who Wasn’t There (1992)
The Cat Who Went into the Closet (1993)
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast (1994)
The Cat Who Blew the Whistle (1995)
The Cat Who Said Cheese (1996)
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief (1997)
The Cat Who Sang for the Birds (1999)
The Cat Who Saw Stars (copyright, 1998; published, 1999)
The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (2000)
The Cat Who Smelled a Rat (2001)
The Cat Who Went up the Creek (2002)
The Cat Who Brought Down the House (2003)
The Cat Who Talked Turkey (2004)
The Cat Who Went Bananas (2005)
The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell (2006)
The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers (2007)
The Cat Who Smelled Smoke (will not be published)

The Time Quartet (Madeline L’Engle)
In order of publication:
A Wrinkle in Time (1962)
A Wind in the Door (1973)
A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978)
Many Waters (1986)

Miscellaneous
In alphabetic order by title:
Atticus by Ron Hansen
Code to Zero by Ken Follett
Critical Mass by Steve Martini
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
Enchanted Night by Steven Millhauser
Finn by Jon Clinch
The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams
Father Joe by Tony Hendra
The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Misalliance by Anita Brookner
No Safe Place by Richard North Patterson
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Personal Injuries by Scott Turow
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
Something About a Soldier by Mark Harris
Southern Cross by Patricia Cornwell (not great)
The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry
Violin by Anne Rice
Virtual Light by William Gibson

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