HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Windows 95 Networking SOLVED!

Well, trying to make Windows 95/98 work with the new network was clearly about as successful as Healthcare.gov but at 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999% less cost to figure out plus my resolution actually works!

To the rescue Vmware! I knew I could do this from the get go but who wants a security risk on the network? Not me but since this is Windows 95/98 that risk is there no matter what, so deal with it and move on damn the torpedoes!

I created a new virtual machine on the new server, installed Windows XP Pro onto a 20gig partition, throw 2 cores and 1gig of memory at it and then turn on file sharing which in XP is basically setting up a “home style” network, it’s available to all and it worked perfectly and file access is so fast you can’t tell the machine copied a file! It averaged 100 Megabytes per second, simply awesome.  Both Windows 95 and 98 see it perfectly, of course and since this is on the virtual machine I can mask it in the login script.

The full transition from 1999 IBM Pentium II relic to 2012, 12 cores, 48gigs of memory DL380 G6 is like going from a 10 speed bike to a 750hp Shelby Mustang. I’m stoked to get this completed and I know my friend is as well. The next problem is figuring out how to transition the Windows 95/98 machines to Windows XP or Windows 7, that parts easy but they also have to control a Beam Saw and a CNC so I have a call out to the company that made the software, we’ll see what they say.

Big Matt Comment Response

I was just kidding about the 0_o face   I appreciate any help and your responses did give me an idea or 3 or 4. I’m not using Server 2012 Standard, I’m using Server 2012 “Essentials” so no Hyper-V for me. The computers are old Dell’s from 1997 and 1999 so run Windows 95 and 98 and neither have software compatible with Win2k or Wind XP. I have written the company which is in Europe and they take weeks to respond but they say they do have newer software but the company will have to wait until they have the financial resources to upgrade. So it’s 95/98 for now.

I didn’t want them to be actual members, they both log onto a Windows 2000 Small Office Edition which is an AD server and runs an NT Login script which handles the mapping to the one share they both need to get to. What I was trying to do was the same thing on 2012 Essentials and in the Domain config there is a security setting….. I just realized I never added this security group to the file permissions on the share itself! I just logged on remotely to the server and made the change and I’ll go there tonight and check it out.

My only worry right now is Windows 95/98 can’t authenticate to the new domain or even just enough to run a script so this still may not work. Since they don’t have a budget for a NAS box that could do a simple windows share I am going to go through building the Windows 2003 box (if tonight's test doesn’t work)  with just the basics plus this one share for the two machines to go to. I’ll also toss a Windows XP machine on the network (or maybe a virtual machine) and create a share off of it and they should be able to access that share but of course this is not how it should be done, that ship has sailed at this point I just need a working solution so the rest of the migration can be completed.

Thanks for responding while you’re sick, I hope you get better soon!

Windows 95/98 On A Windows Server 2012 Domain

First, the laptop came, it’s awesome and I’m using it to migrate a network for a friend who has had the same setup for going on 14 years. The server is an IBM RAID5 on a 3 drive array, for those of you that understood that you’re probably thinking right now WHAT?? Yeah me as well. It’s running Windows Server 2000 Small Business Edition and has been running the entire 14 years with NO hardware or hard drive failures. It does almost nothing, there are only a few users so the system has lasted that long on luck and a prayer, oh yeah and DNS works but isn’t set up properly, it’s very strange.

I have probably put more strain on that server in one day than it has seen in 14 years. Anyway, aside from the worry that a drive will die mid migration I have a quandary… There are two machines, a Beam Saw and a CNC that run Windows 98 and Windows 95 and they are very happy connecting to the Windows 2000 Server. They are clueless on how to log onto anything above Windows Server 2003 (and even 2003 is sketchy but doable). I have installed the Windows 2000 DSCLIENT (makes 95/98 site aware) and tried everything else in my bag of tricks and can only get them to see the Domain, they refuse to participate in it and that was a minor miracle.

I’m blogging this because I’m hoping that while writing this blog I might think of something and also that maybe during the day Big Matt or somebody like him might see this and have an idea as well. Here is what I can’t do, upgrade the 95 or 98 machines to Windows XP or higher, the software that runs those machines is designed for 98/95 and both have serial port dongles that aren’t supported above these versions.

I have tried lowering security on 2012, tried SMB modifications and a host of other things only to get nowhere so this is what I’m going to try and do today. Install VMware on the 2012 Server, then install Windows Advanced Server 2000 and put it in workgroup mode with a share on one of the 4 NIC cards so it will have it’s own IP and configuration and then I’m going to pray and see if that works. Server 2012 requires all servers be at minimum 2003 for full participation but this might work… if not then I for the very first time in my 24 years of doing this have no idea what to do next, find a way to get those machines on XP or something else not supported…

I think, stay tuned I’ll post back later…

Dell Precision M4700 Purchase

I needed a laptop for business use and figured I may as well go with the best. Just bought a new Dell M4700. Dell’s latest is the M4800 but the wait time is unreal and at $1,000 more than this one which I got on sale negates the slight (if any) performance advantage.

I’ll be replacing the 320gig mechanical drive with an Intel 520 240gig SSD, (some time in the future I’ll be adding an MSATA Intel 525 240gig drive so I can go RAID0) & removing the Dell Wireless/Bluetooth in favor of an Intel 6300 solution. The memory will be upgraded to 32gigs and Windows 8.1 Pro will finish it off along with Office 2013, Visio 2010, Microsoft Live Writer, Hamachi VPN and a host of other software. For Anti-Virus I’ll stick with Microsoft Defender (used to be called Security Essentials) along with Malwarebytes Pro.

Dell’s workstation class laptops won’t win any beauty contests but they are built like tanks and military specs. This should last a long long time. The fans are removable and the graphics and CPU can be upgraded down the line plus it comes standard with a 3 year warranty as well. The seller sent me these pictures of the unit, it should be here next week, woot woot!

Here is the current configuration:

320 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Wave Systems Software
Integrated HD video webcam and noise reducing array microphones
Dell Wireless 1504 802.11g/n Single Band Wi-Fi Half Mini-card
15.6 INCH UltraSharp FHD (1920x1080) Wide View Anti-Glare, Premium Panel Guarantee
Internal Swipe Fingerprint Reader, USH and Contactless Smartcard Reader
Internal English Dual Point Backlit Keyboard
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
Processor: Intel Core 3rd Generation i7-3740QM Processor (2.7GHz, 6M cache, Upgradable to Intel vPro technology)
Trend Micro 16.6 PC-cillin 30 Day
Microsoft Office 365 - 1 Month Trial
180W A/C Adapter, 3P
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit w/Operating System DVD
AMD FirePro M4000 Mobility Pro Graphics with 1GB GDDR5
Dell Data Protection Access
6 Cell Lithium-Ion Primary Battery
8X DVD ROM Drive
3 Years Warranty (NBD Onsite Service)

Happy Birthday Ronda!

 

Life Is Too Short

It has taken me a long time to learn this lesson. I don’t hold grudges but I have finally freed myself from those that do.

The time has come to let go of what I can’t change…

Parting Gift From The Campground

Woke up like any other morning, went to take a shower and realized I had this burning sensation in a portion of my left leg. I got out of the shower and since I didn’t have my glasses on I was thinking what the heck is this? Something was attached to my leg! ACK!! ICK!! Talk about gross. I grabbed it and yanked it off and it dawned on me, this thing must be a tick, dagnabit I probably shouldn’t have just yanked it off.

I put what I yanked off on the counter, it was such a tiny thing and a few seconds later it was no longer there! WTH?? I looked around and it had crawled into the sink, oh no you don’t! I’m saving you so I can figure out what the heck you are! I got a lunch baggy and put it in so Ronda could see what it is. I just can’t see anything that small.

So when I got to work this morning I checked out what I should have done by looking online, pretty much everything I did was wrong. They say don’t touch it with your fingers, don’t squeeze it blah blah blah… great. Now it’s night time and I showed the mark it left behind to Ronda and she says “I think the head is still in there”… nuts…

After a few hours of trying to figure it out, we still don’t know if I got it out or not… so we’ll see what happens after a few days. It’s such a small critter I’d need a magnifying glass to see it properly and I don’t have one.

Don’tcha just love it when nature gives a parting gift for visiting? I was going to post a picture of the little bugger but it’s just plain gross looking. Makes you think how this thing fits in the great scheme of things.

The Season Has Ended

It’s amazing how much work it is to break down camp. I met with the dealer driver (this is too long a story to get into) who picked up the rig this morning and then I put everything away and hauled everything from inside the rig home. I filled Ronda’s car to the gills. The campground shuts down tomorrow and then it’s another 6 months before it opens again.

The RV Has Been Picked Up

The dealer picked up the RV today to take care of things we have found since we bought the rig a few months ago. None of the items should be hard to fix accept the roof staples.

Here is our list, considering we bought it without them having to fix anything and took it to our site this is all we have found since we bought it. There was a man in front of me who took 15 minutes to recite his list, wow.

1. There are a few square staples coming loose in the roof. This is of course a huge concern for us, also neither curve has the roof membrane glued down, is that normal? Per Keystone this is normal (boy would I design the roof differently).

2. Kitchen island GFI breaker trips with nothing plugged in, it controls the basement outlets as well? Do all fuses have power, if so why does number 3 from the left not show red when the fuse is removed?

3. Kitchen slide gouges kitchen floor far right under refrigerator. I have a piece of plastic under the section that makes contact to protect it.

4. Drivers side front leveling jack is leaking fluid, has not affected level, leaks from controller and otherwise works perfectly, the rig never went out of level for 3 months.

5. Back window doesn't close properly, one track came off, the arms twist during closing.

6. Bedroom phone charging station doesn’t charge phones. (not a Samsung or Nokia anyway)

7. Bedroom white trim loose above headboard, I pushed it back in but it continues to droop after a few days.

8. Stove has issues lighting one burner on right side

9. Bathroom AC vent has been broken since new, hangs down, it's missing one of the snaps, it mostly stays up, only I notice this of course.

10. Bathroom pocket door veneer has been peeling since day one on bottom corner about 1/4 of an inch.

11. Blue LED strips on front cap, some blink or are burnt out, currently in the middle of both there are burnt out sections.

12. Ceiling fan at times can get a bit wobbly, higher speeds, perhaps mount needs to be tightened a bit.

Blackhawk Halloween 10/5/13

The store is usually more decorated but the weather wasn’t cooperating.

Our site, also not as decorated as we would normally do but the lack of space in Ronda’s car and the weather was bad as well.

I forgot to take pictures of the deluge of kids we initially had, more than at home!

This guy had apple spiced rum shots that were out of this world! I could have stood there and drunk myself into a… well lets just say I had two and stopped there.

The Blackhawk haunted house, I would have taken more pictures but at this point, I didn’t know about it!

I took a lot more pictures but this should suffice. Everybody had a great time, the kids were awesome!

For Big Matt

Dual slide tuck camper! How sweet is this thing Matt? Make it a dually Ford and it would be perfect.

Almost Over

The camping season is almost over at Blackhawk. On Saturday October 5th Blackhawk campground had their Halloween. We decorated the site a little bit but not like we are used to. Weather refused to be nice so we didn’t go all out. We did have a lot of trick or treaters this year though so I will be posting a lot of picture when I can get my cell phone to behave properly. Here are a few pictures of our site, I’ll post the rest this week.