- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

Hi
by chris hallsworth 03 May '10

03 May '10

Hello all, I've just joined this list. As I hope to be a professional technician when I graduate from a computing course at my university I thought I'd see what this list is like and try to learn or even help out. Thanks for having me on here. From Chris. -- Chris Hallsworth E-mail and Facebook: christopherh40(a)googlemail.com MSN: ch9675(a)hotmail.com Skype: chrishallsworth7266 Twitter: http://twitter.com/christopherh40

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Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Apollo speech synthesizer & DOS
by John G. Heim 25 Apr '10

25 Apr '10

There's a thing called a PC Weasel that looks like a VGA card to the bios but instead of a VGA signal it puts out a serial signal. So you can connect a terminal emulator to this thing with a null modem cable and get POST messages and run the BIOS setup progrtam in some cases. A lot of BIOS setup programs put the VGA card into graphics mode and then it doesn't work. But I have a Dell 8100 and a PC I built myself with an ASUS mobo and it works in both of those. One time I connected my serial synth to it and was able to hear the POST messages.I'm not sure that would work with all hardware synths because I have a doubletalk LT and it has a really basic protocol. It pretty much just says anything it reads from the serial port. You can also use the PC Weasel after boot as long as the display is in character mode. So it works with DOS, freeDOS, and linux. I am not sure they're making these PC Weasel cards anymore. But you might be able to find one on ebay. -----Original Message----- .From: "Ben Mustill-Rose"<bmustillrose(a)gmail.com> .Sent: 4/24/10 5:43:40 AM .To: "Blind sysadmins list"<blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org> .Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Apollo speech synthesizer & DOS . .You have to remember that you would need some form of screenreader to .work with the synthersizer before it would be able to read anything. . .The only thing that has ever been able to read the information that is .displayed just after post is the speaqualizer to my knolige. This .would be next to useless today since it connects using a isa slot on .your motherboard. . .On 24/04/2010, Darren Brewer <darren.m.brewer(a)blueyonder.co.uk> wrote: .> Hi All .> .> I am thinking of buying a second hand Apollo speech synthesizer and was .> wondering how useful it might be in a DOS environment? .> .> For instance would it work in the recovery console without drivers? Might it .> also be capable of reading the POST information? .> .> Also if I were to use a DOS based programme such as spinrite, would it read .> out the various pages? .> .> Having never used a hardware speech synthesizer before any advice you could .> give me would be most welcome. .> .> Cheers .> .> Darren. .> _______________________________________________ .> Blind-sysadmins mailing list .> Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org .> http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins .> . ._______________________________________________ .Blind-sysadmins mailing list .Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org .http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins .

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Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Problems with a size of the C partition
by Frank Ventura 25 Apr '10

25 Apr '10

Thanks, I did download the demo and it will not install on Server 2003. I also tried reinstalling the OS in a RAID 1 configuration, as opposed to the RAID 0 I tried last time. The same thing happened. There are two 250gb drives in the array. Disk management reports the C partition as being 231.8gb, which would be correct (this being the "DM disk view in disk management). The properties of the C drive as reported by Windows Explorer shows the capacity as 5gb and I cannot use any of the rest of the space (226 or so GB). I found the drivers for the Dell 5ir controller on the support.dell.com site. I installed them with no difference. I could not find the ISO image of the latest Dell setup disk. After identifying it as a SC440 and a 5IR controller I don't see any links to disk images. I was thinking of installing the drivers onto a floppy and hitting F6 after booting from the Windows disk. How can I set up the drivers on the floppy or can I just copy the .exe files onto the floppy? Thanks for all of your suggestions. Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Hodgson Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 5:41 AM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Problems with a size of the C partition Hi, It used to only work with desktop OS versions because they sold a server version, but I think the later ones should work. Download a demo and see. However, I will send another message, as this is not expected behaviour. Thanks. Andrew. ________________________________________ From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart [rshugart(a)pcisys.net] Sent: 05 January 2009 02:21 To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Problems with a size of the C partition Frank: As a general rule, if it runs on XP it should work on Server 2003 as well. There are acceptions for things like high end video and gaming hardware, but I would imagine Partition Magic wouldn't have a problem on 2003. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Frank Ventura Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:05 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Problems with a size of the C partition Thanks, I tried to reinstall it again this afternoon with the same results. This time I used RAID 1 instead of RAID 0. Properties of the C: drive as shown by Windows Explorer shows 5GB. Disk manager reports the C: partition correctly as 231.8 GB. Disk manager also reports the Utility partition correctly as a 39mb ISA configuration partition. The Dell set up utility only seems to give me disk options to change from RAID 1 or 0 and the type of file system which I have selected NTFS both times. I wanted to try partion magic, however I went to www.partitionmagic.com and it said it only was for XP and Windows 2000. Is there a version that can be purchased for Windows 2003? I am really out of ideas on this and any would be appreciated. Thanks Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Barry Toner Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 11:07 AM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Problems with a size of the C partition Hi Frank, Partition Magic will resize active partitions. It'll batch the process and reboot to perform it and then auto reboot back into Windows once complete. Partition Magic I always found was one of those products that worked better with Jaws than Window Eyes. Rare but it happens. smiles Barry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andrew Hodgson" <andrew(a)hodgsonfamily.org> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 2:56 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Problems with a size of the C partition > Hi, > > Not diskpart, Partition Magic or try again with the latest Dell utilities, > these give you the later driver versions as well. > > Do you know which version of the Dell utilities you were using? > > The other thing is just live with it - most servers I build have two > partitions - one for OS, and one for data, though I think 5GB may be a bit > tight for W2k3. > > Andrew. > > -----Original Message----- > From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org > [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of > Frank Ventura > Sent: 04 January 2009 13:15 > To: Blind sysadmins list > Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Problems with a size of the C partition > > Thanks, is there a diskpart.exe command to expand the partition? Here is > the results of CHKDSK, the size of the allocation units seems incorrect > me but I don't think the Dell utility gives me an option to change that. > Frank > Microsoft Windows [Version 5.2.3790] > (C) Copyright 1985-2003 Microsoft Corp. > > C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>chkdsk > The type of the file system is NTFS. > Volume label is . > > WARNING! F parameter not specified. > Running CHKDSK in read-only mode. > > CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)... > 28096 file records processed. > File verification completed. > 1584 large file records processed. > 0 bad file records processed. > 0 EA records processed. > 0 reparse records processed. > CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)... > 91069 index entries processed. > Index verification completed. > 5 unindexed files processed. > CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)... > 28096 security descriptors processed. > Security descriptor verification completed. > 1824 data files processed. > CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal... > 8401456 USN bytes processed. > Usn Journal verification completed. > > 5004215 KB total disk space. > 3061291 KB in 24657 files. > 7156 KB in 1825 indexes. > 0 KB in bad sectors. > 66118 KB in use by the system. > 27072 KB occupied by the log file. > 1869649 KB available on disk. > > 512 bytes in each allocation unit. > 10008431 total allocation units on disk. > 3739299 allocation units available on disk. > > C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ch > > -----Original Message----- > From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org > [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of > Andrew Hodgson > Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:33 AM > To: Blind sysadmins list > Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Problems with a size of the C partition > > Hi, > > Buy default, the Dell management software will create an initial > partition for the OS, but leave the remainder of the disk blank. Older > versions of the software (up to 4.5 I think) used to allocate 5GB by > default, whereas from 4.5 that went up to 12GB. > > Thanks. > Andrew. > > -----Original Message----- > From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org > [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of > Frank Ventura > Sent: 04 January 2009 01:50 > To: Blind sysadmins list > Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] Problems with a size of the C partition > > Hi all, I am currently rebuilding a Dell SC440 with a RAID controller > and two attached SAS 250gb drives. Originally we had these configured as > a mirrored pair. Now that we are reinstalling we ran the Dell setup > utility (with a borrowed pair of eyes) and configured it as a stripped > pair of drives. We installed Windows Server 2003 and the install went > well. We now have a huge problem that I can't seem to find a cure for > with Google. In either Disk manager or Diskpart.exe the size of the > drive is reported at around 470GB, all allocated to the C partition, > which is what I would expect to see. Howegver, the properties of the C > drive as reported in Windows Explorer show the C drive with only a > capacity of 5gb! I tried converting from Basic to Dynamic with no > change. When trying to install anything I get an out of disk space error > since it is only recognizing the first 5gb of the C partition. Does > anyone have any ideas on what to go so that Windows 2003 will see the > entire size of the C partition? > Thanks > Frank > > _______________________________________________ > Blind-sysadmins mailing list > Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org > http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins > > _______________________________________________ > Blind-sysadmins mailing list > Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org > http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com > Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.2/1873 - Release Date: > 1/3/2009 2:14 PM > > _______________________________________________ > Blind-sysadmins mailing list > Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org > http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins > > _______________________________________________ > Blind-sysadmins mailing list > Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org > http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins > > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus > signature database 3735 (20090104) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. > > http://www.eset.com > > > _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.2/1873 - Release Date: 1/3/2009 2:14 PM _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.2/1874 - Release Date: 1/4/2009 4:32 PM

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Apollo speech synthesizer & DOS
by Darren Brewer 24 Apr '10

24 Apr '10

Hi All I am thinking of buying a second hand Apollo speech synthesizer and was wondering how useful it might be in a DOS environment? For instance would it work in the recovery console without drivers? Might it also be capable of reading the POST information? Also if I were to use a DOS based programme such as spinrite, would it read out the various pages? Having never used a hardware speech synthesizer before any advice you could give me would be most welcome. Cheers Darren.

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backing up an xp home box
by David Mehler 10 Apr '10

10 Apr '10

Hello, Long shot question, but does anyone have an xp home machine? If so, i need to back one up to external hard drive. If it were a pro machine i'd use windows backup, but that option isn't in home or if it is it's not installed and don't have the media to do so. I'd appreciate any suggestions. The reason i need to backup is i'm having to possibly restore photos, the camera is a fugi camera that comes with a program called FinePixViewer, which the user wants to use. Unfortunately, i don't know where it stores it's photos and the box has had other image programs installed over the years, it's obviously not a new box, dell image solutions, adobe print shop, and i think one other. Some pics have been saved by these other programs, not sure where either, and am wanting to unify them under FinePix Viewer. I figure i'm eventually going to have to backup, if for no other reason than this machine has never been backed up. Thanks. Dave.

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vmware for Windows & ubuntu
by John G. Heim 06 Apr '10

06 Apr '10

I'm trying to create a ubuntu virtual machine with vmware 6.5 for Windows. I have to use 6.5 because that's what my license is for. My problem is that when I boot the virtual machine with a ubuntu live CD, I don't get sound. The google tells me that the problem is that ubuntu uses alsa and vmware expects oss. Is there a solution to this problem or will I have to get sighted assistance to install ubuntu?

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Anyone have any workarounds for the Juniper NSM?
by Scott Granados 05 Apr '10

05 Apr '10

Hi, I'm installing this Juniper NSM device which is a master controler for IDP devices as well as configuration and authentication device. The unix side is fine but when you go to configure the tool itself you are required to use this Java based graphical client thingy. It seems really hostile to JFW. Anyone have one of these working and have a way to make the client accessable or another work around? Thanks Scott

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Re: [Blind-sysadmins] installing applications
by Ben Mustill-Rose 03 Apr '10

03 Apr '10

Whilst we're on the subject of installing applications on new or unprotected machines, a few weeks ago, I started using a service that speeds this process up to the point that you'll be wondering how you coped withinstalling all of the standard apps the old way once you've used this service for a bit. The site in question is www.ninite.com Basicly, all the homepage has on it is checkboxes for popula apps. Go ahead and tick the ones you want and on the next page, ninite will give you a custom installer (Its actually a stub) which will unattendedly download and then install all the applications that you selected. I've got my custom installer on a thumbdrive, so all I have to do is plug the drive in, run the installer and come back in about 10 minutes and its done. I've also used this for friends who to put it nicely might not be able to manage the install of severall applications with out messing it up. I just send them the installer and its done. Hope this helped someone.

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two misc questions on programs and accessibility
by David Mehler 03 Apr '10

03 Apr '10

Hello, I've got to protect a new dell that has come out of the dark days of dialup in to the light of high speed cable. I'm not the primary user of it, but i am the primary supporter. I'm using jfw10 currently, but will be moving possibly to something else which is not certain, assume jfw 10 or 11 for now. I'm wondering this is an xpsp3 box btw, wondering the advantages/disadvantages in terms of accessibility, system performance or sluggishness, features, and for the users' ease of use and false positive detection, Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials. I want to protect against viruses, malware, trojans, rootkits, everything. I'd like to know which is better and less of a system resource holder. Unrelated, is there a way in xp to get the signal strength of a wireless connection or what channel it's on? I've heard suggestions of enabling balloon tips, but that didn't do it. Thanks. Dave.

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avast5 and screen readers?
by David Mehler 02 Apr '10

02 Apr '10

Hello, Is anyone using avast 5 with a screen reader? I've used 4, and like it, i know 5 is out, but have heard both that it is less accessible and that it is great. If anyone has first hand information i'd appreciate it. Thanks. Dave.

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