Windows Sysadmin

Windows XP Support End Date is April 8, 2014

The official Windows XP support end date is April 8, 2014. Less than two years from today.

According to this report from Netmarketshare, 47% of all desktop computers are still running Windows XP. In the realm of all Windows operating systems, Windows XP still claims a whopping 51% of computers as it’s home. With Windows 8 looming and security holes that will no longer be patched in less than 24 months time, it’s time for corporate IT teams to get cracking and choose your next OS. What is your next operating system? Even the normally thought to be secure Mac OS has recently shown security vulnerability. Every operating system has security vulnerabilities, especially when left unpatched and unmanaged. Take care of your OS and it will take care of you. Leave an OS alone for years after an install and you are asking for painful headaches down the road. If you are still running Windows XP after the Windows XP support end date of April 8, 2014, then you’re asking for PC trouble. The ageing Microsoft Windows XP OS end of life may spell the  end of corporate relic and home user computers. Time to try linux?

Linux Sysadmin, Random Tech

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Install Errors

Some errors that came up during a Red Hat Enterprise Linux install:

 

Unable to read package metadata. This may be due

to a missing repodata directory. Please ensure that

your install tree has been correctly generated.

Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml)

for repository:  anaconda-base-201003220802.x86_64.

Please verify its path and try again

 

So I ran the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Media Check and received the result below.

What you don’t want to see:

—————–| Media Check Result |—————–

The media check FAILED for the image:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5.5 DVD

The image which was just tested has errors. This could

be due to a corrupt download or a bad disc. If

applicable, please clean the disc and try again. If

this test continues to fail you should not continue

the install.

Red_Hat_Linux_Install_OK_Button

I cleaned the disk and ran the Media Check again—Still failed.

Sometimes just cleaning the disc resolves the problem. Sometimes it’s because the DVD drive on the system you are installing on won’t read some discs correctly that were burned on other DVD drives.

Or your media could just be suffering from bit rot.

What you want to see:

—————–| Media Check Result |—————–

The media check PASSED for the image:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5.5 DVD

It is OK to install from this media.

Red_Hat_Linux_Install_OK_Button

If you are still getting errors on your burned iso image for your Red Hat linux install, you may need to re-download the image and burn it again to a fresh DVD.

Bay Area Travel, Random Tech

Does your flight simulator let you do this?

Does Southwest fly from here? I don’t think so.

Enjoy! Have a great weekend!

Random Tech, Windows Sysadmin

Correcting Daylight Savings Time on Windows

Correcting Daylight Savings Time on Windows XP

Why is your Windows computer setting the wrong time? It could be a failing CMOS battery, which keeps the time in your computer case. The battery is usually a CR2032 or similar. Otherwise, If you don’t have automatic updates turned on or you have a non-internet connected Windows PC, it may be setting the time according to the old daylight savings rules.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed the official start and end dates for daylight savings time in most of the United States. This also extended daylight savings (i.e. fake time) through November instead of ending in October as it had previously.  One reason given for the change was to allow more daylight for Halloween trick-or-treating. Yet another example of ruining a long held tradition through legislation. It’s Halloween. It’s supposed to be dark and spooky. Why not require portable floodlights to be placed on every neighborhood street to offer more light for trick-or-treaters?

Of course the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was meant to save energy as well. Weather any actual energy was saved is debatable. Starting in 2007, the bill amended the Uniform Time Act of 1966 by changing the start and end dates of daylight saving time. Clocks were set ahead one hour on the second Sunday of March (March 11, 2007) instead of on the first Sunday of April (April 1, 2007). Clocks were set back one hour on the first Sunday in November (November 4, 2007), instead of the last Sunday of October (October 28, 2007).

To cope with these changes and the effect it has had on computer operating systems, Microsoft has come up with some updates for the different Windows versions.

Installing the correct update for your OS will enable your computer to automatically adjust the computer clock on the correct date due to the revised Daylight Saving Time.

For Windows XP Service Pack 3:

Download the Update for Windows XP SP3 (KB2570791) package.

Microsoft Knowledge Base page:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2570791

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME START AND END DATES FOR THE UNITED STATES

Year Date DST Begins Date DST Ends
2012 March 11 November 4
2013 March 10 November 3
2014 March 9 November 2
2015 March 8 November 1
2016 March 13 November 6
2017 March 12 November 5
2018 March 11 November 4
2019 March 10 November 3
2020 March 8 November 1
2021 March 14 November 7
2022 March 13 November 6
2023 March 12 November 5
2024 March 10 November 3
2025 March 9 November 2
Random Tech

Mega Millions Lottery Record Jackpot and the Odds

Tonight’s Mega Millions Lottery record jackpot currently sits at an estimated $640 million dollars. Well over half a billion bucks. Or $462 million for the cash option. Still definitely big money. If you have enough extreme good luck to beat the 1 in 176 million odds of getting all 5 numbers plus the Mega Ball in a single draw on your ticket.

Long lines have been forming today at lottery sales agents all over the country. Mega Millions is played in nearly every state in the United States now. Only Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi are the lone holdout states that have yet to join the Mega Millions bandwagon. They’re missing out on the Mega Millions Lottery Record Jackpot tonight. This is the largest lottery jackpot ever in the history of lotteries on the entire planet.

Everyone waiting in line with their cash and favorite numbers in hand believes they can beat the odds. The odds are of course astronomical, but someone eventually wins. Tonight with so many tickets being purchased by people who normally don’t play, lured in by the Mega Millions Lottery Record Jackpot, the odds are that the at least one ticket with the winning numbers is out there. Which brings the real reason many people have bought into this extremely thin chance of turning a single dollar into 640 million dollars. Hope. Hope of being able to buy a home in America again. Hope of getting off the daily rat race of the 9 to 6 workday, if you are lucky enough to be employed in this economy. Hope of being financially free. But all the hope you can muster will only bring you a 1 in 40 chance of winning anything at all in the Mega Millions drawing. You have a 1 in 75 chance of doubling your dollar to 2 dollars. Long odds for another dollar.

You can wear your lucky socks and pick your “lucky” numbers, but the Mega Millions Lottery Record Jackpot will be influenced by no such superstitions. The winner or winners will be chosen at MegaRandom. With odds of winning the record Mega Millions jackpot at 1 in 176 million, you have better odds of surviving a ride down Iguazu Falls!

Happy Lottery Games! May the odds be ever in your favor!

Update: Mega Millions Lottery Record Jackpot winning numbers for 3/30/2012 are:

2-4-23-38-46 Mega Ball 23

Results are still pending, check the Mega Millions site or check back here soon!

Looks like at least one winning Mega Millions ticket was bought in Maryland. They’re still counting tickets…

And it’s official, Mega Millions jackpot winners in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois. $640 million split 3 ways. Obviously the odds are NOT ever in your favor.

Random Tech, Silicon Cali Travel

UFO or Lens Flare? You Decide!

Awesome view from the snowy summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii with a glowing orb floating among the high tech telescopes. What is that glowing orb floating around? A UFO? Or an artifact easily explained by the science of optics and light?

Android, Random Tech

Mauna Kea Observatory at Sunset

Panoramic view of sunset from the Mauna Kea Astronomical Observatory using the Samsung Nexus panoramic image capture function of the built in camera. With high winds and well below freezing wind chill biting at my fingers, I wasn’t as smooth as I would like panning the phone across the horizon. The phone still managed to capture a decent panoramic photo of an amazing sunset from over 13,000 feet with some of the worlds most advanced ground based telescopes in the foreground.

Panoramic-Mauna-Kea-sunset-photo
Panoramic shot of sunset from the summit of Mauna Kea using the panoramic image capture function of the Google Nexus phone.
Mauna-Kea-Observatories-Subaru-Keck-NASA-IRTF.jpg
Sunset near the observatories on Mauna Kea. Telescopes from left to right: Japan's Subaru Telescope, the twin Keck I and II scopes, and NASA's Infrared Telescope (IRTF)
Random Tech

View from Hawaiian Volcano Observatory at Night

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has been keeping a careful watch of the volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawaii for 100 years now. From here you can peer out to the edge of the Halema`uma`u crater which currently has lava a few hundred feet below the crater rim.

Temple of Doom or Hawaiian Volcano?
Temple of Doom or Hawaiian Volcano?

SiliconCali.com is back to work on Monday! Check out the resources at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Random Tech

Akira Yoshizawa Gets His Own Origami Inspired Google Doodle

Akira-Yoshizawa-google-doodle-Nexus-Screenshot

Akira Yoshizawa’s birthday is honored by a Google doodle celebrating his origami skill. Why is origami important? From parachutes to solar panels to high gain radio antennas, all of these must be folded to fit in a small space capsule before getting shot into space. The process of folding these delicate parts so that they deploy smoothly in space is both an art and a science.

Bay Area Travel, Random Tech, Silicon Cali Travel

Squishable Androids Party on the Couch

Why yes, even giant Squishable Androids need a break from all that flying around the circuits of your smartphones and tablets.

squishable androids

SiliconCali.com will be taking a break this week. Many more posts coming that will cover Unix, Linux and Windows sysadmin as well as tech and travel. Have a good week!

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Living and working in Silicon Valley