- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

Dell PE 840 woes
by Frank Ventura 10 Mar '10

10 Mar '10

Hi all, I need to do a reinstall/rebuild ofa Dell PE 840 with Win 2k8. After the first build DVD it asks me for a second update DVD. I found the image on Dell's site but it needs a service tag to download it. The pair of eyes I borrowed couldn't find a service tag anywhere on the outside of the server. Does anyone know where the service tag may be or is there anyway to obtain it from the BIOS? Really appreciated Frank

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Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments
by Frank Ventura 09 Mar '10

09 Mar '10

Here is another interesting link: http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-create-live-usbcddvd-of-vistaxp/ Not sure how this can be done given the licensing issues. Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 10:14 AM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments I actually read something very interesting on this topic last night. Apparently, Windows 7 has the ability to create a live DVD based on the currently running environment. I don't have any Windows 7 machines at home, so this will have to wait until I get into work to play with this on one of the Windows 7 machines there. I have no idea if the OS on the live environment is just PE or is a real Windows 7, what drivers are available, and if its just meant to boot your existing computer or can be taken to other machines and booted there, but this looks like a very interesting possibility assuming the post I read about it wasn't exaggerating. Anyone on the list with Windows 7 want to try this and see how well it really works? You can get to it from the recovery control panel applet. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Barry Toner Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 6:39 AM To: 'Blind sysadmins list' Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Exact same experiences as Ryan. Barry -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 8:17 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hi Ben: I, along with a lot of people I'm sure, would be very interested in this. I'm not sure how easy it'd be to take Windows and turn it into a live CD, its just not ment to run that way. However, there are two options I can think of off the top of my head. Microsoft actually makes a bootable Windows environment called Windows PE. It is freely downloadable, just download the Windows Automated Instalation Kit and PE comes with that. I tried at one point to get NVDA to work under that but was unsuccessful. I couldn't get sound to work at all, but that might have been because I wasn't sure how to include drivers at the time. Also, I don't know if PE has accessibility support. The other option, Microsoft makes a version of windows called Windows Embeded. I think the latest version is based on XP, with a Windows 7 version soon to follow. This is designed for things like settop boxes, thin clients, etc. Quite a few of the thin clients where I work use this. I know for a fact, Window-Eyes at least, will run in that environment just as it would normally so I'dimagine NVDA would as well, or SAtoGO or something like that. I don't know how you get your hands on this though. But as I said, it's a great idea and should have been done a long time ago. Thanks. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ben Mustill-Rose Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:53 AM To: blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hey all, I'm sorry for the ot but I thought that since my question is fairly technical someone here might have a solution. I've been getting a few machines lately with infections. Pretty bad 100000 icon type infections. The problem here is that most of the removal tools that I use won't run due to things stopping them. One option would be to just format the machines and start fresh, but thats not an option in every situation and if I could get something like malware bytes to run then cleaning the box out may actually be quicker than formatting. Sighted people are able to go into safemode and remove a handfull of nasties, boot into the os normally and continue the removal process but thats not an option for totals due to the lack of sound. What I've currently been doing is removing the drive and slaving it in another box and running tools on the drive that way but thats far from ideal and not always effective. Because of all of these issues, lately I've been thinking about windows based live cd environments and how usefull it would be if they were accessible. If anyone has done, has thoughts on or wants to work with me on any of the below then I would be very interested: Does nvda coupled with brltty and a display work under safemode? if so, how well does it cope with things like malware bytes and super antyspyware? How about creating a live cd based on bart pe with a xpe pluggin to allow audio support and slipstreaming nvda along with the sound driver packs from driverpacks.net? would nvda like the gui since its not strictly like windows? As of v2 of win pe which is microsofts answer to bart pe sound is supported. Whilst pe is commandline, how about hacking a premade gui onto it and again, including nvda and sound drivers? Ubcd4win doesn't have sound support, but its a very complete boot cd full of handy tools based on bart pe. Perhaps it would be nice to get nvda with brltty working on this? As a last resort, whilst its not strictly allowed under the eula, windows xp embedded has built in audio support and the same gui found in xp, so I'm guessing that this might be a good one to play with. What would be nice is if some of us who had knolige about these sorts of things got together and worked on one of the above solutions; I think its something that technicly minded blind computer users as a hole would really benefit from since its nonexistant at the moment. All thoughts are welcome and once again, sorry for the off topic. Chears, Ben. _______________________________________________ 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 4921 (20100306) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4924 (20100308) __________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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] ot: live cd windows based environments
by Frank Ventura 09 Mar '10

09 Mar '10

With a USB sound card or USB headset yes. Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Angelo Sonnesso Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 11:37 AM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Importance: High Can they get sound with the thumb drive? -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Frank Ventura Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 6:01 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments I have seen folks get XP to run off of a Thumb drive. I wonder if a live DVD could be made based on one of those projects? -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 3:17 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hi Ben: I, along with a lot of people I'm sure, would be very interested in this. I'm not sure how easy it'd be to take Windows and turn it into a live CD, its just not ment to run that way. However, there are two options I can think of off the top of my head. Microsoft actually makes a bootable Windows environment called Windows PE. It is freely downloadable, just download the Windows Automated Instalation Kit and PE comes with that. I tried at one point to get NVDA to work under that but was unsuccessful. I couldn't get sound to work at all, but that might have been because I wasn't sure how to include drivers at the time. Also, I don't know if PE has accessibility support. The other option, Microsoft makes a version of windows called Windows Embeded. I think the latest version is based on XP, with a Windows 7 version soon to follow. This is designed for things like settop boxes, thin clients, etc. Quite a few of the thin clients where I work use this. I know for a fact, Window-Eyes at least, will run in that environment just as it would normally so I'dimagine NVDA would as well, or SAtoGO or something like that. I don't know how you get your hands on this though. But as I said, it's a great idea and should have been done a long time ago. Thanks. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ben Mustill-Rose Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:53 AM To: blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hey all, I'm sorry for the ot but I thought that since my question is fairly technical someone here might have a solution. I've been getting a few machines lately with infections. Pretty bad 100000 icon type infections. The problem here is that most of the removal tools that I use won't run due to things stopping them. One option would be to just format the machines and start fresh, but thats not an option in every situation and if I could get something like malware bytes to run then cleaning the box out may actually be quicker than formatting. Sighted people are able to go into safemode and remove a handfull of nasties, boot into the os normally and continue the removal process but thats not an option for totals due to the lack of sound. What I've currently been doing is removing the drive and slaving it in another box and running tools on the drive that way but thats far from ideal and not always effective. Because of all of these issues, lately I've been thinking about windows based live cd environments and how usefull it would be if they were accessible. If anyone has done, has thoughts on or wants to work with me on any of the below then I would be very interested: Does nvda coupled with brltty and a display work under safemode? if so, how well does it cope with things like malware bytes and super antyspyware? How about creating a live cd based on bart pe with a xpe pluggin to allow audio support and slipstreaming nvda along with the sound driver packs from driverpacks.net? would nvda like the gui since its not strictly like windows? As of v2 of win pe which is microsofts answer to bart pe sound is supported. Whilst pe is commandline, how about hacking a premade gui onto it and again, including nvda and sound drivers? Ubcd4win doesn't have sound support, but its a very complete boot cd full of handy tools based on bart pe. Perhaps it would be nice to get nvda with brltty working on this? As a last resort, whilst its not strictly allowed under the eula, windows xp embedded has built in audio support and the same gui found in xp, so I'm guessing that this might be a good one to play with. What would be nice is if some of us who had knolige about these sorts of things got together and worked on one of the above solutions; I think its something that technicly minded blind computer users as a hole would really benefit from since its nonexistant at the moment. All thoughts are welcome and once again, sorry for the off topic. Chears, Ben. _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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] ot: live cd windows based environments
by Frank Ventura 07 Mar '10

07 Mar '10

Ryan, according to the MS site it is based on Windows 7. Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 8:43 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Frank: I don't know about Embeded. Windows PE I know is flexible enough to handle different hardware platforms, at least on a basic level. Different networking, display, etc. I don't know about sound as I've not got that working. PE is designed to be used in a live CD environment like this, I don't know enough about XP Embeded to say how flexible it can be. If its still based on XP I would be nervice, but I thought the latest version was based on Windows 7. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Frank Ventura Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 6:02 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Ryan, the flash drive option may be better, because as you said Windows will want a reactivation as it moves from hardware to hardware. Is PE or the Embedded versions not as closely tied to a hardware profile as the retail versions? I don't know that may take some experimentation. Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 6:29 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments I'm sure you could, especially if you used the Windows Embeded version. The one problem I'm curious as to how they got around is that Windows XP at least doesn't necessarily like being moved from hardware platform to hardware platform. An ideal Windows live environment should be able to run equally as well on an old P4 box with 512MB ram and an old soundblaster card, to the most modern laptop that's dual core and 64-bit and all. I realize that's not 100% possible, but I gues what I'm saying is the environment should be reasonably flexible, and my understing is XP just isn't. Vista's better, and Win7's supposed to be much better. I'm not sure the media matters, most modern machines can boot from USB, so if USB is easier than CD I say go for it. Of course there's the matter of independently configuring the boot options of a machine, but that's another thread. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Frank Ventura Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 4:01 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments I have seen folks get XP to run off of a Thumb drive. I wonder if a live DVD could be made based on one of those projects? -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 3:17 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hi Ben: I, along with a lot of people I'm sure, would be very interested in this. I'm not sure how easy it'd be to take Windows and turn it into a live CD, its just not ment to run that way. However, there are two options I can think of off the top of my head. Microsoft actually makes a bootable Windows environment called Windows PE. It is freely downloadable, just download the Windows Automated Instalation Kit and PE comes with that. I tried at one point to get NVDA to work under that but was unsuccessful. I couldn't get sound to work at all, but that might have been because I wasn't sure how to include drivers at the time. Also, I don't know if PE has accessibility support. The other option, Microsoft makes a version of windows called Windows Embeded. I think the latest version is based on XP, with a Windows 7 version soon to follow. This is designed for things like settop boxes, thin clients, etc. Quite a few of the thin clients where I work use this. I know for a fact, Window-Eyes at least, will run in that environment just as it would normally so I'dimagine NVDA would as well, or SAtoGO or something like that. I don't know how you get your hands on this though. But as I said, it's a great idea and should have been done a long time ago. Thanks. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ben Mustill-Rose Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:53 AM To: blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hey all, I'm sorry for the ot but I thought that since my question is fairly technical someone here might have a solution. I've been getting a few machines lately with infections. Pretty bad 100000 icon type infections. The problem here is that most of the removal tools that I use won't run due to things stopping them. One option would be to just format the machines and start fresh, but thats not an option in every situation and if I could get something like malware bytes to run then cleaning the box out may actually be quicker than formatting. Sighted people are able to go into safemode and remove a handfull of nasties, boot into the os normally and continue the removal process but thats not an option for totals due to the lack of sound. What I've currently been doing is removing the drive and slaving it in another box and running tools on the drive that way but thats far from ideal and not always effective. Because of all of these issues, lately I've been thinking about windows based live cd environments and how usefull it would be if they were accessible. If anyone has done, has thoughts on or wants to work with me on any of the below then I would be very interested: Does nvda coupled with brltty and a display work under safemode? if so, how well does it cope with things like malware bytes and super antyspyware? How about creating a live cd based on bart pe with a xpe pluggin to allow audio support and slipstreaming nvda along with the sound driver packs from driverpacks.net? would nvda like the gui since its not strictly like windows? As of v2 of win pe which is microsofts answer to bart pe sound is supported. Whilst pe is commandline, how about hacking a premade gui onto it and again, including nvda and sound drivers? Ubcd4win doesn't have sound support, but its a very complete boot cd full of handy tools based on bart pe. Perhaps it would be nice to get nvda with brltty working on this? As a last resort, whilst its not strictly allowed under the eula, windows xp embedded has built in audio support and the same gui found in xp, so I'm guessing that this might be a good one to play with. What would be nice is if some of us who had knolige about these sorts of things got together and worked on one of the above solutions; I think its something that technicly minded blind computer users as a hole would really benefit from since its nonexistant at the moment. All thoughts are welcome and once again, sorry for the off topic. Chears, Ben. _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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

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Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments
by Frank Ventura 07 Mar '10

07 Mar '10

Ryan, the flash drive option may be better, because as you said Windows will want a reactivation as it moves from hardware to hardware. Is PE or the Embedded versions not as closely tied to a hardware profile as the retail versions? I don't know that may take some experimentation. Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 6:29 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments I'm sure you could, especially if you used the Windows Embeded version. The one problem I'm curious as to how they got around is that Windows XP at least doesn't necessarily like being moved from hardware platform to hardware platform. An ideal Windows live environment should be able to run equally as well on an old P4 box with 512MB ram and an old soundblaster card, to the most modern laptop that's dual core and 64-bit and all. I realize that's not 100% possible, but I gues what I'm saying is the environment should be reasonably flexible, and my understing is XP just isn't. Vista's better, and Win7's supposed to be much better. I'm not sure the media matters, most modern machines can boot from USB, so if USB is easier than CD I say go for it. Of course there's the matter of independently configuring the boot options of a machine, but that's another thread. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Frank Ventura Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 4:01 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments I have seen folks get XP to run off of a Thumb drive. I wonder if a live DVD could be made based on one of those projects? -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 3:17 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hi Ben: I, along with a lot of people I'm sure, would be very interested in this. I'm not sure how easy it'd be to take Windows and turn it into a live CD, its just not ment to run that way. However, there are two options I can think of off the top of my head. Microsoft actually makes a bootable Windows environment called Windows PE. It is freely downloadable, just download the Windows Automated Instalation Kit and PE comes with that. I tried at one point to get NVDA to work under that but was unsuccessful. I couldn't get sound to work at all, but that might have been because I wasn't sure how to include drivers at the time. Also, I don't know if PE has accessibility support. The other option, Microsoft makes a version of windows called Windows Embeded. I think the latest version is based on XP, with a Windows 7 version soon to follow. This is designed for things like settop boxes, thin clients, etc. Quite a few of the thin clients where I work use this. I know for a fact, Window-Eyes at least, will run in that environment just as it would normally so I'dimagine NVDA would as well, or SAtoGO or something like that. I don't know how you get your hands on this though. But as I said, it's a great idea and should have been done a long time ago. Thanks. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ben Mustill-Rose Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:53 AM To: blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hey all, I'm sorry for the ot but I thought that since my question is fairly technical someone here might have a solution. I've been getting a few machines lately with infections. Pretty bad 100000 icon type infections. The problem here is that most of the removal tools that I use won't run due to things stopping them. One option would be to just format the machines and start fresh, but thats not an option in every situation and if I could get something like malware bytes to run then cleaning the box out may actually be quicker than formatting. Sighted people are able to go into safemode and remove a handfull of nasties, boot into the os normally and continue the removal process but thats not an option for totals due to the lack of sound. What I've currently been doing is removing the drive and slaving it in another box and running tools on the drive that way but thats far from ideal and not always effective. Because of all of these issues, lately I've been thinking about windows based live cd environments and how usefull it would be if they were accessible. If anyone has done, has thoughts on or wants to work with me on any of the below then I would be very interested: Does nvda coupled with brltty and a display work under safemode? if so, how well does it cope with things like malware bytes and super antyspyware? How about creating a live cd based on bart pe with a xpe pluggin to allow audio support and slipstreaming nvda along with the sound driver packs from driverpacks.net? would nvda like the gui since its not strictly like windows? As of v2 of win pe which is microsofts answer to bart pe sound is supported. Whilst pe is commandline, how about hacking a premade gui onto it and again, including nvda and sound drivers? Ubcd4win doesn't have sound support, but its a very complete boot cd full of handy tools based on bart pe. Perhaps it would be nice to get nvda with brltty working on this? As a last resort, whilst its not strictly allowed under the eula, windows xp embedded has built in audio support and the same gui found in xp, so I'm guessing that this might be a good one to play with. What would be nice is if some of us who had knolige about these sorts of things got together and worked on one of the above solutions; I think its something that technicly minded blind computer users as a hole would really benefit from since its nonexistant at the moment. All thoughts are welcome and once again, sorry for the off topic. Chears, Ben. _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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] ot: live cd windows based environments
by Frank Ventura 07 Mar '10

07 Mar '10

Andrew, do you by any chance remember how it was activated? Was it tied to a specific CPU? Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Hodgson Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 6:40 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hi, As someone who has used XP embedded I am not sure how it will work on a live system either, it was pretty much just like XP Pro to me with bits removed. Andrew. -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: 06 March 2010 23:29 To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments I'm sure you could, especially if you used the Windows Embeded version. The one problem I'm curious as to how they got around is that Windows XP at least doesn't necessarily like being moved from hardware platform to hardware platform. An ideal Windows live environment should be able to run equally as well on an old P4 box with 512MB ram and an old soundblaster card, to the most modern laptop that's dual core and 64-bit and all. I realize that's not 100% possible, but I gues what I'm saying is the environment should be reasonably flexible, and my understing is XP just isn't. Vista's better, and Win7's supposed to be much better. I'm not sure the media matters, most modern machines can boot from USB, so if USB is easier than CD I say go for it. Of course there's the matter of independently configuring the boot options of a machine, but that's another thread. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Frank Ventura Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 4:01 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments I have seen folks get XP to run off of a Thumb drive. I wonder if a live DVD could be made based on one of those projects? -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 3:17 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hi Ben: I, along with a lot of people I'm sure, would be very interested in this. I'm not sure how easy it'd be to take Windows and turn it into a live CD, its just not ment to run that way. However, there are two options I can think of off the top of my head. Microsoft actually makes a bootable Windows environment called Windows PE. It is freely downloadable, just download the Windows Automated Instalation Kit and PE comes with that. I tried at one point to get NVDA to work under that but was unsuccessful. I couldn't get sound to work at all, but that might have been because I wasn't sure how to include drivers at the time. Also, I don't know if PE has accessibility support. The other option, Microsoft makes a version of windows called Windows Embeded. I think the latest version is based on XP, with a Windows 7 version soon to follow. This is designed for things like settop boxes, thin clients, etc. Quite a few of the thin clients where I work use this. I know for a fact, Window-Eyes at least, will run in that environment just as it would normally so I'dimagine NVDA would as well, or SAtoGO or something like that. I don't know how you get your hands on this though. But as I said, it's a great idea and should have been done a long time ago. Thanks. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ben Mustill-Rose Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:53 AM To: blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hey all, I'm sorry for the ot but I thought that since my question is fairly technical someone here might have a solution. I've been getting a few machines lately with infections. Pretty bad 100000 icon type infections. The problem here is that most of the removal tools that I use won't run due to things stopping them. One option would be to just format the machines and start fresh, but thats not an option in every situation and if I could get something like malware bytes to run then cleaning the box out may actually be quicker than formatting. Sighted people are able to go into safemode and remove a handfull of nasties, boot into the os normally and continue the removal process but thats not an option for totals due to the lack of sound. What I've currently been doing is removing the drive and slaving it in another box and running tools on the drive that way but thats far from ideal and not always effective. Because of all of these issues, lately I've been thinking about windows based live cd environments and how usefull it would be if they were accessible. If anyone has done, has thoughts on or wants to work with me on any of the below then I would be very interested: Does nvda coupled with brltty and a display work under safemode? if so, how well does it cope with things like malware bytes and super antyspyware? How about creating a live cd based on bart pe with a xpe pluggin to allow audio support and slipstreaming nvda along with the sound driver packs from driverpacks.net? would nvda like the gui since its not strictly like windows? As of v2 of win pe which is microsofts answer to bart pe sound is supported. Whilst pe is commandline, how about hacking a premade gui onto it and again, including nvda and sound drivers? Ubcd4win doesn't have sound support, but its a very complete boot cd full of handy tools based on bart pe. Perhaps it would be nice to get nvda with brltty working on this? As a last resort, whilst its not strictly allowed under the eula, windows xp embedded has built in audio support and the same gui found in xp, so I'm guessing that this might be a good one to play with. What would be nice is if some of us who had knolige about these sorts of things got together and worked on one of the above solutions; I think its something that technicly minded blind computer users as a hole would really benefit from since its nonexistant at the moment. All thoughts are welcome and once again, sorry for the off topic. Chears, Ben. _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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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vmware workstation virtual machine on wireless network
by David Mehler 06 Mar '10

06 Mar '10

Hi, Is anyone using vmware workstation 7.0? I've got a vm, a gentoo vm specifically, but i suppose any kind would work, that has a single virtual nic on it. This one is in nat mode. It connects to my wired network. There are times when i want this vm to connect wirelessly, i've added another nic and here i'm stuck. If anyone has a vm, linux prefered, windows if not, connecting to a wireless network only i'd be very interested. Thanks. Dave.

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Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments
by Frank Ventura 06 Mar '10

06 Mar '10

I have seen folks get XP to run off of a Thumb drive. I wonder if a live DVD could be made based on one of those projects? -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Shugart Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 3:17 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hi Ben: I, along with a lot of people I'm sure, would be very interested in this. I'm not sure how easy it'd be to take Windows and turn it into a live CD, its just not ment to run that way. However, there are two options I can think of off the top of my head. Microsoft actually makes a bootable Windows environment called Windows PE. It is freely downloadable, just download the Windows Automated Instalation Kit and PE comes with that. I tried at one point to get NVDA to work under that but was unsuccessful. I couldn't get sound to work at all, but that might have been because I wasn't sure how to include drivers at the time. Also, I don't know if PE has accessibility support. The other option, Microsoft makes a version of windows called Windows Embeded. I think the latest version is based on XP, with a Windows 7 version soon to follow. This is designed for things like settop boxes, thin clients, etc. Quite a few of the thin clients where I work use this. I know for a fact, Window-Eyes at least, will run in that environment just as it would normally so I'dimagine NVDA would as well, or SAtoGO or something like that. I don't know how you get your hands on this though. But as I said, it's a great idea and should have been done a long time ago. Thanks. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ben Mustill-Rose Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:53 AM To: blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments Hey all, I'm sorry for the ot but I thought that since my question is fairly technical someone here might have a solution. I've been getting a few machines lately with infections. Pretty bad 100000 icon type infections. The problem here is that most of the removal tools that I use won't run due to things stopping them. One option would be to just format the machines and start fresh, but thats not an option in every situation and if I could get something like malware bytes to run then cleaning the box out may actually be quicker than formatting. Sighted people are able to go into safemode and remove a handfull of nasties, boot into the os normally and continue the removal process but thats not an option for totals due to the lack of sound. What I've currently been doing is removing the drive and slaving it in another box and running tools on the drive that way but thats far from ideal and not always effective. Because of all of these issues, lately I've been thinking about windows based live cd environments and how usefull it would be if they were accessible. If anyone has done, has thoughts on or wants to work with me on any of the below then I would be very interested: Does nvda coupled with brltty and a display work under safemode? if so, how well does it cope with things like malware bytes and super antyspyware? How about creating a live cd based on bart pe with a xpe pluggin to allow audio support and slipstreaming nvda along with the sound driver packs from driverpacks.net? would nvda like the gui since its not strictly like windows? As of v2 of win pe which is microsofts answer to bart pe sound is supported. Whilst pe is commandline, how about hacking a premade gui onto it and again, including nvda and sound drivers? Ubcd4win doesn't have sound support, but its a very complete boot cd full of handy tools based on bart pe. Perhaps it would be nice to get nvda with brltty working on this? As a last resort, whilst its not strictly allowed under the eula, windows xp embedded has built in audio support and the same gui found in xp, so I'm guessing that this might be a good one to play with. What would be nice is if some of us who had knolige about these sorts of things got together and worked on one of the above solutions; I think its something that technicly minded blind computer users as a hole would really benefit from since its nonexistant at the moment. All thoughts are welcome and once again, sorry for the off topic. Chears, Ben. _______________________________________________ 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] ot: live cd windows based environments
by Frank Ventura 06 Mar '10

06 Mar '10

Hmm I took a look at: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/westandard/defau lt.mspx And it looks like they are specifically touting it as being able to fuhction on thin clients. I think a live DVD may be considered a thin client or a "monitoring device", both of which are mentioned. It also touts the ability to connect with server and esktop OS's so using it to repair a desktop OS install probably would be within their boundaries. Looks like a grand for the kit and $90 license for each unit sold if I am reading it correctly. I would buy into any such venture. Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ben Mustill-Rose Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 4:54 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments In actual fact, microsoft seem to have changed the licencing for xpe which is now called windows embedded standard 2009. Your still not meant to put it on a computer, but there offering a trial for download which I'm now downloading and will report back on the result. On 06/03/2010, Ben Mustill-Rose <bmustillrose(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hey all; I'm glad that people are interested. > > I've been doing a bit of research, and one thing that I keep on coming > up against is legal problems. I mean at the end of the day, to be > honest, I don't really care since I really don't see what I'm doing > wrong in a situation like this, but still, it would be nice to find a > platform which we could use with out breaking some form of eula > especially if this gets popula. > > For example, if you use bart pe, your *meant* to have a windows > licence for it for every machine that you put it on even if theres a > windows coa on the case. > This might have changed now, but I remember a while back it was only > oem's that were meant to have access to windows pe for customising the > installation process on machines that they sold. > Xp embedded isn't allowed to be used by consumers; only companies who > make devices such as cash machines and freeview boxes are allowed to > purchase it. > I briefly considdered making a linux distro probably based off > something like vinux, stripping down all the stuff that wouldn't be > needed and putting more helpfull tools on it, but its really not my > area of expertese and I don't kno of any anty malware apps for linux > that fix windows infections and that work with orca. > > Ryan: > > Glad to see that I was wrong about pe; it only started including sound > support since v2.0 which is what the vista install is based off, so > perhaps you were using a older version - at any rate, drivers do need > to be slipstreamed. I plan to use the collections of drivers available > at driverpacks.net so that people would be able to walk up to most > machines and just boot the cd and start using it. > Xp embedded is a really nice option and I'm glad that windoweyes works > under it - that sounds promissing. There are how ever legal problems > (See above) since your not meant to have it if your a consumer > Obtaining it is a bit of a grey area. > > The main problem that I think might be a bit hard to overcome is to > find a gui that nvda or maybe satogo will work with and to make said > screenreader work in a rather stripped down version of windows. This > is why I really want to base it off xp e since it is actually a > propper version of windows that hasn't been hacked to hell and back to > make it boot off a cd - windows code was changed by microsoft to make > it work. > > I'll keep you all posted though; as people have said, it really should > have been done before now and since it would be so helpfull it would > be a shame if it didn't work out. > > As always, any thoughts are welcome. > > Ben. > > On 06/03/2010, Ryan Shugart <rshugart(a)pcisys.net> wrote: >> Hi Ben: >> I, along with a lot of people I'm sure, would be very interested in >> this. >> I'm not sure how easy it'd be to take Windows and turn it into a live CD, >> its just not ment to run that way. However, there are two options I can >> think of off the top of my head. >> Microsoft actually makes a bootable Windows environment called Windows >> PE. >> It is freely downloadable, just download the Windows Automated >> Instalation >> Kit and PE comes with that. I tried at one point to get NVDA to work >> under >> that but was unsuccessful. I couldn't get sound to work at all, but that >> might have been because I wasn't sure how to include drivers at the time. >> Also, I don't know if PE has accessibility support. >> The other option, Microsoft makes a version of windows called Windows >> Embeded. I think the latest version is based on XP, with a Windows 7 >> version soon to follow. This is designed for things like settop boxes, >> thin >> clients, etc. Quite a few of the thin clients where I work use this. I >> know for a fact, Window-Eyes at least, will run in that environment just >> as >> it would normally so I'dimagine NVDA would as well, or SAtoGO or >> something >> like that. I don't know how you get your hands on this though. But as I >> said, it's a great idea and should have been done a long time ago. >> Thanks. >> Ryan >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org >> [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Ben >> Mustill-Rose >> Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:53 AM >> To: blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org >> Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] ot: live cd windows based environments >> >> Hey all, I'm sorry for the ot but I thought that since my question is >> fairly technical someone here might have a solution. >> >> I've been getting a few machines lately with infections. Pretty bad >> 100000 icon type infections. The problem here is that most of the >> removal tools that I use won't run due to things stopping them. One >> option would be to just format the machines and start fresh, but thats >> not an option in every situation and if I could get something like >> malware bytes to run then cleaning the box out may actually be quicker >> than formatting. >> Sighted people are able to go into safemode and remove a handfull of >> nasties, boot into the os normally and continue the removal process >> but thats not an option for totals due to the lack of sound. What I've >> currently been doing is removing the drive and slaving it in another >> box and running tools on the drive that way but thats far from ideal >> and not always effective. >> Because of all of these issues, lately I've been thinking about >> windows based live cd environments and how usefull it would be if they >> were accessible. >> >> If anyone has done, has thoughts on or wants to work with me on any of >> the below then I would be very interested: >> >> Does nvda coupled with brltty and a display work under safemode? if >> so, how well does it cope with things like malware bytes and super >> antyspyware? >> How about creating a live cd based on bart pe with a xpe pluggin to >> allow audio support and slipstreaming nvda along with the sound driver >> packs from driverpacks.net? would nvda like the gui since its not >> strictly like windows? >> As of v2 of win pe which is microsofts answer to bart pe sound is >> supported. Whilst pe is commandline, how about hacking a premade gui >> onto it and again, including nvda and sound drivers? >> Ubcd4win doesn't have sound support, but its a very complete boot cd >> full of handy tools based on bart pe. Perhaps it would be nice to get >> nvda with brltty working on this? >> As a last resort, whilst its not strictly allowed under the eula, >> windows xp embedded has built in audio support and the same gui found >> in xp, so I'm guessing that this might be a good one to play with. >> >> What would be nice is if some of us who had knolige about these sorts >> of things got together and worked on one of the above solutions; I >> think its something that technicly minded blind computer users as a >> hole would really benefit from since its nonexistant at the moment. >> >> All thoughts are welcome and once again, sorry for the off topic. >> >> Chears, Ben. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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

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Re: [Blind-sysadmins] vmware workstation virtual machine onwireless network
by Frank Ventura 06 Mar '10

06 Mar '10

Dave,I have a similar setup on my laptop with two VMs and all it took to get it to work anywhere was to change the VM's NIC settings to NAT. Frank -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of David Mehler Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 1:35 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] vmware workstation virtual machine onwireless network Hi, Thanks for your reply. I've set the second nic to nat mode as well. So, i've got two nics, both in nat mode, one the original one is connected to the wire, the new one is going to go wireless. My goal is when i take the host box off the wired network the vm's running on it will still be able to connect wirelessly. Thanks. Dave. On 3/6/10, Andrew Hodgson <andrew(a)hodgsonfamily.org> wrote: > Hi, > > If you have a wireless card on the host machine you need to ensure that it > is also in NAT mode since bridging mode is not allowed for wireless network > cards on the host. > > Were you using two network cards on the guest (one going through the wired > and one going through the wireless connection)? > > Andrew. > > -----Original Message----- > From: blind-sysadmins-bounces(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org > [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of David > Mehler > Sent: 06 March 2010 18:10 > To: blind-sysadmins > Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] vmware workstation virtual machine on wireless > network > > Hi, > Is anyone using vmware workstation 7.0? I've got a vm, a gentoo vm > specifically, but i suppose any kind would work, that has a single > virtual nic on it. This one is in nat mode. It connects to my wired > network. There are times when i want this vm to connect wirelessly, > i've added another nic and here i'm stuck. If anyone has a vm, linux > prefered, windows if not, connecting to a wireless network only i'd be > very interested. > Thanks. > Dave. > > _______________________________________________ > 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

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