XP outperforms Vista

半年前寫下《手提電腦的禁買期》和《 XP vs. Vista》，至今用XP還是比用Vista要爽。最近看到一篇比較兩者的文章：《Windows XP Significantly Outperforms Vista, Tests Show》，又一再力證XP比Vista好。到底事實是否如此？真的如文章所說：

"Windows XP trounced Windows Vista in all tests -- regardless of the versions used or the amount of memory running on the computer. In fact, XP proved to be roughly twice as fast as Vista in most of the tests."

當年初初推出XP時（大約2000-2001年），而我的電腦購入於2000年春，用上當時最快的CPU：Pentium III 600MHz，拿來跑XP其實有點兒慢，如今我用來跑XP很爽的是一台小黑，是Centrino 1.7G（效能約莫等於Pentium 4 3.4GHz）。Vista推出時高階的CPU是Core2Duo 2GHz，前後對比，那即是說，只要Core2Duo再多出兩代、內頻提升至3.8GHz以上而L2 Cache有16MB左右時，跑Vista應該會暢順了吧！？只是若要用上這種速度／價錢來跑XP，效能應該會似火箭吧。

無獨有偶，Apple最近終於推出了Leopard，我由Tiger升級到Leopard，沒有performance的損失，因為我用兩者時都不覺得系統特別地快，但最少不會令用家呼叫要求downgrade回水。

Apple的新廣告又串Microsoft："Ask not what Vista can do for you, but what you can do for Vista"，真抵死。

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz w/ 4 MB L2 Cache
2GB DDR-2 667 MHz memory
ATI Radeon X1600 128MB VRAM
同一個configure，跑什麼好？

- Vista? 勉強吧，多開幾個程序就死掉，而且又分幾廿款版本，騙錢的東西
- XP Pro? 沒錯，應該有點「快到曉飛」，但隨便一台Centrino 1.8G以上的電腦已綽綽有餘

最好嘛，還用說：Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard啦！

（會有人踩場說Ubunto或者Linux嗎？）

Smultron - editor for programming

"Smultron is a free text editor for Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 which is both easy to use and powerful. It is designed to not confuse newcomers nor disappoint advanced users. It has all the advantages of an Cocoa application and some of its features are tabs, line numbers, support for syntax colouring for many different languages, functions list, support for text encodings, snippets, a toolbar, a status bar, preview, split window, multi-document find and replace with regular expressions, possibility to show invisible characters, authenticated open and saves, command-line utility, full screen editing and running commands and scripts from within the application."

It supports coloring syntax for different languages, and a default one (says C++) so that it will able to work with Symbian C++ where many non .cpp files are in fact in C++ syntax. Also, one may create a new syntax definition to suit his needs.

This application is a must-have, because besides of its powerful feature, it's free after all!

Direct download Smultron v3.2.1 here.

DVI KVMP Switch

IOGEAR GCS1764 - 4-Port DVI KVMP Switch USB Console, USB Peripherals, Audio
官方網站索價US$350，但某些販賣網站標價一百六十餘元（折合約一千三百港元），與市面一般的VGA KVM比較，這價錢尚算合理（如果考慮擺放空間和操作）至偏高（若只考慮功能），因為它除了是DVI KVM外（註一），也可以分流audio和USB設備（如scanner和printer）。

可以把GCS1764當作為三個分流器合一的產品：KVM Switch、Audio和Switch USB Switch，因為使用鍵盤來控制時，各switch可獨立操作，能隨意調動KVM、audio或USB至不同的port位而互不影響；使用面板上的按鈕可簡易地只調動KVM或調動全組設備至下一個port。詳細的操作，可參閱官方的說明書。

理想中的設定：

Share: 20" LCD (DVI-D), USB KB MS, 2.1 speaker, printer
Port 1: iMac
Port 2: PS3
Port 3: TV Box (VGA->DVI-I)
Port 4: notebook/old PC

問題：往哪兒買呢？

註一：KVM是Keyboard Video Mouse的縮寫，指多台電腦共用一套KVM。

Running XP on iMac (natively)

上回提到，為了讓我的iMac發揮其應有的效能，所以要在iMac上跑Windows來玩遊戲（好好使用它的128MB Radeon X1600）。因為之前無法分割出空間來安裝BootCamp，所以鏟機。鏟機重裝MacOS X 10.4之後立即升級為10.5，之後便安裝BootCamp和Windows XP。看到iMac在跑XP，感覺並不好受，大材小用呢。其實要它跑Vista也應該游刃有餘，只是我沒有Vista的license，而且我也不渴望跑那個龜速的殘廢系統。

搞咁多只為玩PC Game，好似有點兒過火。

WhatSize help to locates large files

"WhatSize is a simple tool that allows the user to quickly measure the size in bytes of a given folder and all subfolders and files within it. You would be surprised at how many useless files might be laying around on your hard disks. The files and folders are automatically sorted by size, with the biggest sizes first." - ID-Design, Inc.

Although Finder allows to display the size of a folder, this feature is not turn on by default to reduce unnecessary I/O access. This software, WhatSize, will do a calculation on whichever folder you select, for one time. It helps me to locate the largest folder, and eventually locate some unnecessary repeated files which take up quite a lot of space. For example, it shows me that I've made several backup copy of my RS-MMC memory card for my Nokia N70 (left figure).

Creating XP SP2 boot disc

With Core2Duo 2.16Ghz, 2GB RAM and ATI X1600 128MB GRAM, my iMac is the most powerful PC at home. For gaming, I need to run Windows natively, not on Parallels. BootCamp is the only solution. To install XP over BootCamp, bootable disc with *XP SP2* is required. Since I only have a XP disc and license without any service pack, I need to create a XP SP2 disc myself. For steps, read "Slipstreaming Windows 2000 /XP SP1,SP1a,SP2 /Server 2003 SP1" from TackTech. Another article from HelpWithWindows.Com also help me alot.

It sounds a lot easier than it actually is. In fact, it took me two days and wasted 3 CD-R to create a workable CD. Slipstreaming part is very easy indeed. The burning part is hard. Nero Burning Rom 5 or 6 is no longer available. I gave up the Nero 8 as it took too long to download. I find Nero 6 (~26MB) from non-official website and I need a serial because the program is "expired" for demo purpose (even though I just need the demo feature).

If you have Nero OEM version, *do not* use it. It cannot take the boot image download from TackTech or extract by IsoBuster (IsoBuster help you to extract the file "Microsoft Corporation.img" from your original boot disc, and this feature is avaiable in its free demo). Two discs created this way are wasted as they cannot be read under Mac OS (Mac OS rejects them and Windows says they're 0byte). You must find the "Nero Burning ROM" from full version. You can run it as trial and still be good enough for you to create the bootable disc. If trial is expired (that's my case), you might have to crack it. May be Nero 8 will work but I can't wait for the long download (>150MB).

To make thing worst, Nero 5.0/6.0 cannot recoginize my CD writer on my IBM ThinkPad T42. So I cannot create the CD directly on my T42. My final step which work the best is:

1. create slipstreamed XP SP2 installation files.
2. prepare the boot image (download or extract from CD).
3. create the bootable ISO image by Nero Burning ROM. Every details as described by TackTech, except I do not burn to CD but to an ISO file.
4. transfer the ISO file to my Mac and test it under Parallels. Make sure it can boot up the Parallels, install and the Windows work well.
5. burn the ISO to CD using my iMac.

I'm now doing a clean install of my iMac from 10.4 and upgrading to 10.5 because BootCamp cannot install due to unmovable files. Next I'll have to create a 50GB NTFS space for Windows. The down side is the XP partition will be read-only under MacOS. I may also upgrade my Parallels 2 to Parallels 3 for advanced feature ($ again). Sigh, using Mac is as cool as Steve Jobs said, if you can afford the cost of money.

Bad Day at the Office