My first 48 hours

If it doesn't fit anywhere else, drop it in here. (not to be used as a chat/nonsense section)

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Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

I'm a big fan of XP, Vista, and 7. In "classic" view, they look nearly identical; and the "classic" view looks more professional than the XP 'nana' theme, Vista / 7 'dizzy' theme, and 8 / 10 'baby's first gadget' theme.

Ease of use begins with populating the start menu. This means no matter how many windows you have open, one tap with your left finger and you have everything you need at a single-click of the mouse.
[ external image ]
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz (Kentsfield) on an ASUS P5KPL-1600 with 2× 2GB of RAM.
Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce GT 440, onboard sound and LAN.
Boot is Crucial M4 SSD 64GB (firmware was originally 0009, but years ago I ISO'd it up to 0309 to avoid the 0002 / 0009 bug).

I have to boot the machine in debug, otherwise BSOD.
I discovered that I can insert a USB flash drive at any time (some don't work), but I must not remove it until the computer has shut down—it is fatal for the install. I tried installing the Nvidia CD and it was fatal for the install. I installed Office 2000 and it turned all system fonts to Times New Roman because it had somehow disappeared Tahoma. I tried installing a whole bunch of fonts I was given in 1998 (including Tahoma) but there were some odd files that screwed it all up. Fatal. Just for fun, I set the Virtual RAM to 4000.

By now, I was noticing that the graphics movements (pulling menus around) was delayed and there was definitely some processing problems. The resource monitor showed only a single core and the System menu info displayed "1 GHz" below the CPU specs (including "2.4 GHz"). Device Manager listed all cores working.

OpenOffice 4.1.1 (on a USB stick) went in a treat but when I close a Writer (word) file, I have to first unmaximise it—Writer doesn't like to open maximized (it remembers how it was when you close it and will open up the same way). Calc (Excel) can open maximized okay, but neither program scrolls very well. Unless maximizing is needed for viewing, these programs are more responsive to use unmaximized.
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Last edited by Kevin Castro on Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

I couldn't get the Num Lock to work on my USB keyboard, but the PS2 keyboard works fine. I created all these screenshots using the "Print Screen" key, then opening Paint and doing a "Ctrl-V". Then I save the file as a .jpg to my "# Stuff General" folder within the "C" drive (I never use "My Documents" in any of my machines).
[ external image ]
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
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dizt3mp3r
Posts: 1874
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:54 pm

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by dizt3mp3r »

I am hoping you do understand that you won't accomplish much but find out what doesn't really work (most of it).

It is a nice test, in itself but as I tell everyone, lower your expectations and you won't be disappointed.
Skillset: VMS,DOS,Windows Sysadmin from 1985, fault-tolerance, VaxCluster, Alpha,Sparc. DCL,QB,VBDOS- VB6,.NET, PHP,NODE.JS, Graphic Design, Project Manager, CMS, Quad Electronics. classic cars & m'bikes. Artist in water & oils. Historian.
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

I have not been able to get the machine ("KATRORA") to read files from an outboard SSD (through a sata cable) whether it's formatted in FAT32 (care of MiniTool Partition Wizard) or NTFS (care of Win 7). But I can outboard a laptop spinner formatted in NTFS and she will happily copy files from it. Unfortunately, she will not copy files to it. Nor is she able to delete any files on the outboard. It's as if she sees it as "read-only". She can move things to and from a flash drive okay. The only three flash drives she will accept (out of ten) are my SanDisk 8GB and my two HP 256MB sticks. Luckily the SanDisk is my full-time software installer so I have been able to install stuff. One of my Kingston 512MB sticks was working (skittishly) for a while.

Meanwhile, I had been figuring a better way to transfer files—a network. I fired up my trusty HP Elitebook (7-Pro 32) and cabled them together. Accepting (though not understanding) the dangers of data collision with short cables, I had a five-metre cable as well as a 15-metre cable. Just in case, I also had a cross-over cable. I set KATRORA's IP to 10.0.0.91 and ELITE-BABY's IP to 10.0.0.92 (it might have been vice-versa). I use this series of addresses because my VDSL modem is 10.0.0.138 (the Telstra norm). Both machines acknowledged the network but I was unable to get an actual connection. I tried mapping both "\\katrora\c" and "\\katrora\d" (the sata outboard) to no avail. I will try again some day.

I relaxed with a game of Solitaire. Here, too, I discovered a quirk. Once I know I can go on to win (it doesn't play out automatically like it does in Windows), I must close the program. It won't let me start another game without playing it out, and if I play it out, it locks the computer. So, I close the program and then reopen it and play another game.
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:43 am, edited 2 times in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

dizt3mp3r wrote:I am hoping you do understand that you won't accomplish much but find out what doesn't really work (most of it).

It is a nice test, in itself but as I tell everyone, lower your expectations and you won't be disappointed.
Yes, that's the lovely part—finding out what won't work. As something bricks the install, I simply install again and don't do the same thing again. It's now got to the point where I am frightened to brick her again because she really is becoming broadly usable and I've put in a lot of time.

But you're quite right, and I have realized the speed restrictions. I'm not disappointed.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

VLC 2.2.1 (on USB) went straight in and I went through and set the Preferences. It opens maximized and plays MP4s reasonably well. Occasionally, the video goes motley grey, but for the most part it is watchable. Obviously, 1920×1080 videos aren't what you would call watchable, but some smaller resolution videos also don't play well but others do. I'm guessing it is a codec thing.
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Last edited by Kevin Castro on Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

Setting up the Start Menu was easy. First, I find each program (within the menu tree) that I need. I right-click it and "Copy". Then I click on the desktop, right-click and "Paste". In the case of ReactOS Explorer, I renamed the desktop shortcut "File Manager".

Then right-click in the taskbar, drag the menu up into view and customize the Start Menu. When I "Browse" for things to "Add", it first looks at the desktop—that's where all the stuff is. Once I've put each item in the Start Menu, I delete it from the desktop (except VLC—at one time she kept creating a new one).
The Start Menu won't reflect the changes until after a reboot.
[ external image ]
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

Unfortunately, File Manager (ReactOS Explorer) doesn't open maximized even if that's how I close it. I like to maximize it, move the division to the right a little bit, and get a good look at the folder tree. There is no need to open "My Computer" or "Control Panel"—they are right here in Explorer. The quickest way I have found to get to Device Manager, is to right-click "My Computer", click "Manage", then double-click "Device Manager".

If I insert a USB flash drive, it shows as "E". If I outboard a spinner through a sata cable and boot the computer, the spinner will show as "D" and the optical drive will be relegated to "E".

Moving files from drive to drive by clicking and dragging sometimes results in them being deleted and moved instead instead of being copied. Sometimes, nothing at all happens. The most reliable way seems to be to highlight the desired files, hit "Ctrl-C" then click on the target folder in the folder tree, then single-click a blank area in the files pane and hit "Ctrl-V". Sometimes I can't even move files from folder-to-folder within the same drive, so I use the above-mentioned method then delete the unwanted ones. Also, it seems that folders can only be deleted if they have no contents.
[ external image ]
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

"Picture and Fax Viewer" is okay to get going with, but it is slow, and it doesn't resize small images to the screen. Also, a white background is not ideal for viewing images against. Although shuttling through the images is possible with the left and right-curse keys, it can't be done with the scroll wheel. Also, the images take a while to load into view. But anyway, it's part of the OS and does the job.

But is there more to this story? What else is on my USB stick?
[ external image ]
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Sun Jan 28, 2018 12:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

I had tried to install Irfanview 4.10 during one of my early installs and a message came up that said no. After the first 24 hours, I decided to revisit the idea. This time, I paid attention to why it was saying no. ReactOS has no "MFC42.dll" so Irfanview won't install. So, I fired up one of my XP rigs and copied the dll from her System 32 folder. I then inserted the dll into the ReactOS System 32 folder and Irfanview went straight in. I went through and set all the preferences, and then put both shortcuts in the Start Menu.

The Thumbnails shortcut launches a file manager (grey, so it's easy on the eyes) that shows thumbnails of all the images, and a full folder tree.
[ external image ]
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

You may already be using Irfanview in your Windows machines. I'm still using the version from 2008 because it still works. There's no baggage (just a little white box to untick google chrome). You can crop images, rotate, flip, etc...

You can also stitch images together (called "Create Panorama Image"), which works best if they are the same dimension at the join.
You can also increase the gamma, sharpen, etc...

It is lightweight, and even ReactOS shuttles through the images very fast indeed, whether with the curse-keys or the scroll wheel. When viewing, "Enter" makes it fullscreen, "Esc" brings it back out, "Esc" again closes the program. It will open maximized, and the preferences should be well explained online if you haven't used it before.

Here is a screenshot from the Windows 7 rig that I am using right now. It is viewing one of the screenshots taken within ReactOS.
[ external image ]
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

And this is Irfanview in ReactOS. As you can see in the bottom-left corner, the image is quite large but she opened it in a flash.

I don't set any file-type associations within Irfanview, I simply have a folder containing one each of bmp, jpg, png, gif, and tif. I right-click each one and select to always open with Irfanview.

These images will open immediately from ReactOS Explorer (or My Computer), or from the Irfanview Thumbnails explorer.

(For some reason, the icons in the bottom-right corner were either blanked out, or didn't get captured in this image.)
[ external image ]
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

I also wanted to see if SSDLife Free 2.2.39 or 2.5.82 would install so I could quiz the health of the SSD.

It installed; but when I went to launch it, this is the message that popped up.
[ external image ]
Last edited by Kevin Castro on Sun Jan 28, 2018 6:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: My first 48 hours

Post by Kevin Castro »

Obviously in ReactOS, the SSD won't have trim enabled.
But contrary to what many people say, the idle-time garbage collection does a great job of looking after the blocks and keeping the drive healthy.

I'm not sure how the blocks are arranged in FAT32 compared to NTFS or if it even makes any difference.

Here is a Samsung SSD in one of my XP rigs. You can see that the trim is not enabled. This, presumably, is also the case in ReactOS.
[ external image ]
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
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