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Managing Excellence in Information Technology
August 10
Hyper-V on SSDs
by  Chris KeslinNo presence information  on 8/10/2011 2:42 PM

I loved my Hyper-V server with 2 SSDs so much it now has 6.  There is a 64GB boot drive, a 3x256GB Raid0 array and a 2x512GB Raid0 array.  All I have to say is DAMN!!!  These VMs are faster than ANYTHING I've ever had the pleasure to develop on.​

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July 18
Tesla Model S *still waiting*
by  Chris KeslinNo presence information  on 7/18/2011 10:35 AM

It's been a whole year - and still waiting :(​

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July 13
Tesla Model S reserved
by  Chris KeslinNo presence information  on 7/13/2010 7:47 AM
Car reserved...  Should get the production number in a few days.  I'm way to excited about a car *laugh*...
 
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April 01
Linq and a Smile
by  Chris KeslinNo presence information  on 4/1/2010 5:23 AM

I’m a huge fan of being able to write concise self documenting code and every now and then I see a few simple lines that just make me smile.

While working on a proof of concept I wanted to be able to lookup a domain entity’s business manager and wrote the following code:

IDictionary<Type, Type> LobjResult = new Dictionary<Type, Type>();

        GetType().Assembly
            .GetTypes()
            .Where(x => x.BaseType != null)
            .Where(x => x.BaseType.IsGenericType)
            .Where(x => x.BaseType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof (Manager<,>))
            .Select(x => new KeyValuePair<Type, Type>(PobjType.BaseType.GetGenericArguments()[1], PobjType))
            .ForEach(LobjResult.Add);

        return LobjResult;

This didn’t need to be the most optimized loop since it is only run once per application domain (and it is a proof of concept), but the intent is so clear.  The equivalent set of nested loops would just be, well, uncivilized *laugh*

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February 16
Sprint 4G/3G coverage dead zone
by  Chris KeslinNo presence information  on 2/16/2010 1:16 PM

So far the overdrive has really lived up to the hype.  Battery life continues to be fantastic and the 4G coverage in Chicago is unbelievable.

I haven’t found to many dead zones – but one big one was my trip back from NYC to Princeton on the train.  I had to take a local and for the first 20 minutes of the of the trip I had no signal…  Ouch Sprint, working on the train is KEY.

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February 03
Lenovo W700DS
by  Chris KeslinNo presence information  on 2/3/2010 2:24 PM

I’ve been a big fan of IBM laptops since my G40 many moons ago, and have continued on into the Lenovo era.  To date I’ve had a G40, T-60, T-61, and W500.  All are top notch machines.  When it was time to replace my T-61 I gave serious consideration to the W700DS and the W500 and ultimately settled on the W500 since I have to travel a lot.  Fortunately my dad wanted a new laptop and was really looking for a desk top replacement so I had a good excuse to set one of these beasts up.

First Impressions:

  1. This thing is HUGE.  The power supply alone is scary.
  2. The full size keyboard and numeric keypad is fantastic.
  3. The primary display is ridiculously crisp.
  4. The secondary 10.6” display is a little smaller than I hoped, but still does the job.

Setup:

The box came with a 250GB 5400 rpm stock hard drive and 4GB of RAM and I picked up a 256GB Crucial SSD to replace as the primary drive.

I ran through the initial setup using the stock hard drive.  Once Windows 7 was happy I created a system image and system recovery boot CD.  I swapped out the hard drive with the SSD and happily waited for the system to boot up, and no dice.  The DVD-RAM in the W700DS was not recognized as having bootable media.  Next I tried to boot with a Windows 7 install disk, same issue.  On a whim, I pulled the DVD-RAM and plugged in the DVD-RAM drive that came with my W500 and the system booted up without an issue???  (I smell a bios / firmware update coming)

Using the original restore CD burned by the DVD-RAM that wouldn’t boot to it, the system was happily restored to the new SSD and everything worked great.  I put the original DVD-RAM back in the system, installed office and setup my dad’s blackberry without issue.

Once everything was settled I the Windows Experience Test revealed something interesting.  The stock RAM the system came with performs slower than the RAM in my much older W500 picked up from Crucial.  I guess the take away is always get the least RAM and the slowest stock hard drive and replace them both when the rig shows up.

Windows Experience Result

Verdict:

If you are looking for a desktop replacement, I give this rig two thumbs up.  If you have to travel at all on airplanes however, this beast isn’t going to work even in first class *laugh*…

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January 28
Sprint 4G – Overdrive by Sierra Wireless
by  Chris KeslinNo presence information  on 1/28/2010 1:23 PM

Last week I returned the U300 and PH300S.  Overall it was usable but not exactly what I was hoping for after playing with a friends MiFi.  Fortunately I had just picked it up and Sprint was great about taking it back in exchange for picking up the new Overdrive hotspot by Sierra Wireless.

The Overdrive is EXACTLY what I was hoping for.  Setup required no software installation to get on the Sprint Network, the battery life is close to 3 hours with moderate use and 2 devices (laptop and iPhone) and it can recharge directly from the computer's USB (one less power adapter to bring when I travel) and most importantly I’m still getting over 5286Mbps down and 768Mbps up according to www.speakeasy.net/speedtest in Chicago.

Management for the device is through a web 2.0 style UI that updates frequently and fairly intuitive.  My favorite feature though has to be its display on the top of the device.  It shows the wireless network, its WPA2 key (if enabled in the management UI), battery remaining, total up and down since power on and the signal strength of the 4G/3G network you are connected to.

I’ll be giving it a test drive in NJ next week while I’m out there – if it passes the 3G test at the office and Newark airport this one is a keeper!

http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1372135

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January 11
Sprint 4G – U300 + PHS300S = a love story in Chicago
by  Chris KeslinNo presence information  on 1/11/2010 10:10 PM

Friday I picked up a sprint U300 4G/3G modem and the PHS300S personal router.  I fired it up Sunday while waiting for my flight at O’Hare and was blown away by the connection speed.  According to my favorite speed test site at speakeasy I was downloading at 5286kbps down and 684kbps up.  The browsing experience was smooth, ping times where great, and I had no problem hooking up my iPhone to the wireless signal at the same time as my laptop.

For iTouch lovers out there (and iPhone users not thrilled with AT&Ts data network) this rig offers a really interesting alternative to finding a hotspot.  I was using skype to chat on my iPhone and didn’t notice any difference from when using my wireless at home.  Bonus!

The initial setup wasn’t horrible.  Ideally I would have liked to just plug the U300 into the PHS300S and be off to the races.  Unfortunately I had to install the sprint software on one of my computers to activate the U300, but once it was activated the PHS300S found it and connected without issue.

The PHS300S has a TON of features and would hold its own against the latest and greatest home routers.  The only nit picky thing I’ve run into so far is how long it takes to initially power on and then become usable.

I’m also pleased with sprint’s 3G speeds in the areas I’ve tried it out so far.  In my hotel room I’m getting a respectable 155K/s down and 52K/s up.

Throughout the week I’m going to put this rig through its paces.  Hopefully I’ll see the great battery life and stability I’ve been reading about in the blog sphere.  Stay tuned.

** UPDATE **

Dave Bishop just sent me a link to this beauty that just came out - http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1372135

This rig may have to be exchanged for the Overdrive(TM) 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Sierra Wireless before my 30 days are up!

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January 05
Living the boot to VHD lifestyle in Windows 7.
by  Chris KeslinNo presence information  on 1/5/2010 6:52 PM

I’ve been living the boot to VHD lifestyle in Windows 7 now since RC and am thrilled to say the least.  If you aren’t familiar with booting directly to VHD’s I’d recommend reading Scott Hanselman’s post Less Virtual, More More Machine – Windows 7 and the magic of Boot to VHD.

I frequently find myself working with more than one client as well as trying to keep up on the latest and greatest technologies.  Prior to boot to VHD I found myself working constantly in VMs and had even made the leap to installing Windows Server 2008 on my laptop so I could take advantage of the much improved performance Hyper-V offers.  However, getting Bluetooth and WiFi to work in a server OS isn’t for the faint of heart.

Enter boot to VHD.  Now I can take full advantage of my hardware with a minimal performance hit and not have to worry about different configurations and technology stacks interfering with each other.  However, I initially found myself frequently rebooting to use Microsoft Office or scan a document.

If you are considering make the move here is a setup that I’ve found works well for me.

  • I keep my host OS as my primary work area. 
  • Virtual PC is installed on the Host and each VHD.
  • I installed Office, my scanning software, and other common applications on a common virtual PC with the integration feature enabled.  If you want to be able to access the applications from the booted operating systems start menu the virtual pc OS does need to be Enterprise or Ultimate.

StartMenuSnippet

  • I do install Office and other space intensive applications on VHDs I use 4 hours a day or more however.  There is a noticeable performance hit using the vpc integration.
  • Start with SMALL dynamic VHDs as your base.  There has to be at least enough free space on your boot drive to allow the VHD to expand to MAXIMUM size or windows will not allow you to boot to that VHD.  I have a 256GB SSD with 4 VHDs I boot to regularly.  I use dynamic VHDs with a maximum size of 64GB which means I have to keep at least 58GB free on my boot drive at all times (My sysprep’ed VHD is about 8GB)

Virtual PC’s USB integration works great with both my iPhone and ADF Document scanner.  One oddity I’ve found with this configuration is that the common virtual PC does require re-activation occasionally when started from different booted VHDs.

I can’t rave enough about how much the boot to VHD lifestyle has enhanced my productivity.  If you decide to give it a shot, let me know how it goes!

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