Robert Accettura's
Fun With Wordage

This bug annoys me to no end. There are quite a few of us out there who need more than 1GB of RAM to get by these days, especially those on a laptop (trying to minimize use of that paging file because it’s on a 5400RPM Hard Drive). Officially it diagnoses the cause as:

This problem occurs because the Windows kernel power manager cannot obtain the memory resources that are required to prepare the computer to hibernate.

It seems to be something related to memory fragmentation, as many people have noted. I really hope Microsoft doesn’t wait until SP3 to release a hotfix for this. There’s more discussion of this problem here.

Oh come on Microsoft. Get us a decent patch. I really don’t want to be using something that you consider so experimental you won’t even post on your website. Especially when one of the files involved is Ntoskrnl.exe. Please take care of us. Us large memory users are Power Users, and do represent a fair amount of your business (especially since many Power Users work in corporate IT departments). Keep us happy.

Get downloading.

And I’m still looking for news articles, so if you run across Firefox 1.5 articles, especially if they make any reference to the reporter/broken website tool… leave me a comment there.

BTW: While your downloading, thank the sysadmin’s who have been working constantly to keep the servers up, and will likely be lacking sleep for the next few days so you can download.

This is being posted slightly early, as I’ve got class for part of the evening. The webpages should be updating sooner than later.

I definitely like my new IBM Thinkpad (made by Lenovo). I did have a few complaints of things that weren’t quite ideal, so I though I’d do a quick little post on how they have been resolved (or if I adjusted to them):

• PATA->SATA Bridge - This little chip was causing problems prohibiting you from using a third party hard drive in a T43 without an annoying error on boot. While still not officially supported, IBM did release a new BIOS to disable the error. This makes it easier to upgrade. So I consider this fixed. A major setback, as I really want a 100GB Hard Drive in this beast.
• Fan Noise
• Web Navigation Keys - I got used to not having these anymore. Still liked the feature though.
• IBM Backup Software Stinks - This wasn’t a big deal, I got Acronis True Image, and I’m thrilled with it.
• No 2nd hard drive - Now that I can get a 100GB Hard Drive, I could partition. Now I have a lighter computer, and the storage. Very cool

In addition to these mainly minor complains, the Keyboard is a little strange. Still better than many other brands, it doesn’t feel “right”. Especially compared to my old A31. The response isn’t always there, causing missed keys, and it occasionally squeaks (mainly the trackpoint scroll button). There’s slight flex on the right side. After a little research, I found out that some T43 keyboards are made in China (Alps brand), and others are made in Thailand (NMB). A simple call to IBM today and the support rep had no problem sending me a new keyboard. This type of stuff typically ships same day (and arrives the next). Now that’s service!

So yes, I’m very satisfied now. I was satisfied, now I feel very satisfied. The keyboard was the last thing that got on my nerves. Once you miss a few keys, and know your finger touched them, you get a little frustrated. At first I blamed it on myself, and that I just need to get used to the new laptop, but I’m convinced it’s the way the keyboard is. I hear the NMB are vastly preferred.

A few weeks ago, I decided to make backup CD’s for my Thinkpad (restores to factory defaults should the HD die or I replace the HD). I made them, but the last one failed. I tried again, and couldn’t do it (in retrospect, it appears that uninstalling the backup software may have broke a shortcut or two in the whole Access IBM deal. I found a few dead ones, fixed them, and everything was fine). Called IBM, and they sent me the CD’s ASAP. Hopefully no need for them, but it’s good to have in case there is a problem.

So IBM service just rocks. They make stuff like this so easy to resolve. When I asked the rep just said “sure, I can do that for you”, and got my information. My last real complaint on the replacement computer is resolved. I guess I’m once again a completely satisfied customer. They screwed up my A31’s repair pretty bad, and the replacement process was way to slow. But I feel that I’ve been taken care of very well again.

So for anyone out there that just doesn’t understand why their Thinkpad keyboard feels inferior compared to other Thinkpads they have used, check the part number and see what model it is. The NMB’s (made in Thailand) are considered to be the better made ones.

So yes, the Thinkpad T43 gets a 5/5. It’s a fantastic laptop.

With the pending release of Firefox 1.5 said to be really soon , I’m getting ready to see what the press has to say, and ultimately the users.

So if you notice any news articles, feel free to leave a comment, or send me an email. I’m especially interested in anything that references the new reporter tool (aka “that broken website thing”). So if you find any of those, be sure to leave a comment or email me.

This really is the fun part of the release cycle. I’ll leave this post with a great quote from this Browser Face-Off Article:

Regardless, just having a choice is a great thing for consumers. Vive la différence.

After seeing Doug’s post on the new Nokia 770, I totally want one. $350 is a little steep for 3hr battery life, though still extremely cool. Being Mozilla based makes it even cooler.

Checking out Maemo Planet shows some really interesting stuff is going on in the Maemo Platform. There’s already quite a few things ported. I think there is serious potential here. I imagine it’s only a matter of time until Skype ports it’s software to this device as well.

Everything but that price, and the battery life sounds perfect. I think I want one.

As usual Engadget has some pretty pictures.

Unfortunately it’s not done yet. The big issue remaining is to ensure the Thunderbird UI doesn’t completely freeze up (which many people apparently don’t like). I just don’t feel it’s right to release like this, since it’s annoying and problematic. My first stab at it was unsuccessful, so I’m taking it on from another angle, but need some solid time to sit down and really dig into it. I’ve been hoping to also handle non-ASCII characters as well, but that might get pushed out to the next release. My plan was to have done this already, but real life interferes with my plans at times. This week is Thanksgiving (read: I’m not coding when I can be eating, as I’m sure most of you can relate with), and I’ve got finals rapidly approaching (read: less coding time). I’ve also got a few other projects that I’m balancing here. There’s lots of great announcements coming up on this blog in coming months, so keep an eye on that RSS feed.

So how much longer?
The correct answer is “when it’s done”. My true hope is by the end of the year at the latest (which is only a couple weeks). Hopefully earlier than that (I’d really like to have it by early December). It all depends how much time I get to work on it.

I guess that’s just life… everything takes a little longer than you want.

Daniel Glazman is sitting on two really sweet extensions (CaScadeS II and OpenWengo), and hacking away at them ever so diligently. So I’m not the only one making people crazy by not going fast enough (seriously, check out some of those screenshots on his blog. Really cool stuff he’s been working on).

While your waiting, check out the Mozilla Quality Blog for ways you can help ensure 1.5 totally rocks. There’s no such thing as too much testing.

Update [12-26-2005]: It’s out, and available here.

I don’t pitch software to much, but I do review things that I buy, or download from time to time. This is one worth reviewing briefly. CCleaner really kicks some A**. I did a scan of just a few key areas, and turned up almost 2 GB of garbage. Most of it being a few key files in Windows Temp, likely left over from an installer. Lots of garbage that I really have no need for, and didn’t even know was there. I didn’t clean Firefox simply because I like my profile just the way it is.

Still not quite comfortable with a Registry Cleaning just yet, so I haven’t done that.

Overall, I’d say it’s a must download for any Windows user. Just a few minutes cleaned up my laptop quite a bit. Very nice for a free utility. I think it’s a keeper on my Hard Drive.