Handbrake 0.9.3

Handbrake is an application that converts almost any source(just recently) to any other source, it is multiplatform and multithreaded. It is available for Windows, MacOS X, and Linus.

Inputs included are

- any DVD Source: VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD (you have to decrypt your original movies first using 3rd party software)

Outputs supported are

- File Format: MP4, MKV, AVI, or OGM

- Video: MPEG-4, H.264, or Theora

- Audio: AAC, MP3, Vorbis or AC-3 (supports multiple audio tracks)

I’ll provide a couple links to some of the more relevant info required to get started. The Handbrake Guide, and the Windows Walkthrough.

Happy Encoding!

NS

NVIDIA Ion Platform means HD for Notebooks

They call it a Pico-ATX which measure in at a whopping 10 cm x 7.2 cm!

The reference motherboard is very simple; you’ve got an Intel Atom CPU and a GeForce 9400M next to each other, a single SATA connector and a DDR3 SO-DIMM slot on the other side of the board. And this little thing is powerful enough to play HD video (8 – 25Mbps H.264) the CPU has been measured at 27% utilization while doing so. Ion also has full support for 8-channel LPCM over HDMI.

Built into the board is USB 2.0 ports, a dual-link DVI connector, an HDMI Connector, a SATA 3G connector, and a DDR3 SO-DIMM connection.

Nvidia also says that a GeForce 9400 paired with the Atom Processor will net 10 times the graphics and video transcoding, Fulll HD Video Decode and Display, and is half the size but same battery life. The reference board is Vista Premium and Windows 7 Ready.

For more interesting details check this out.

VMFS and Block Sizes

Well i ran into this error today (4:30 am CST, don’t ask me why I am up right now!) “File too large” when trying to create a virtual machine with a 30GB drive and a 300GB drive. I tracked it down to the fact that the block size on my second LUN is 1MB which gives a max file size of 256GB. I will have to change the block size to 2MB which will let me create 512GB files, unfortunately I need to move a couple VMs off there to do so, I will just end up utilizing vmotion to move the VMs then reformat the LUN using a 2MB block size, then vmotion back. Sounds like fun! Well it isn’t, but its an interesting learning experience. Don’t make the same mistake, and you wont have to deal with this issue yourself.

The table below is the Block size in correspondence with the max file size

1MB Block Size: Maximum filesize = 256GB
2MB Block Size: Maximum filesize = 512GB
4MB Block Size: Maximum filesize = 1024GB
8MB Block Size: Maximum filesize = 2048GB

NS

“MSTSC /console” Where did you go?

I just noticed this in the last few days, I guess its because of the fact that I waited so long to update to SP1, but it seems that with Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP SP3, and Server 2008 the /console switch is no longer available…

Running mstsc /? will give you the following screen

As you can see the “/console” switch is gone, and I am running Vista Ultimate SP1. The only way to connect to the console now and ONLY on systems NOT running Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP SP3 or Windows Server 2008 or later installed is to use the “/admin” switch.

Anyways, check this out for more info.

Windows Vista and Server 2008 SP2 Beta

I just read from a TechNet email, Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP2 are out, and its a single update file for both! How you say? Well basically because Windows Vista and Server 2008 share the same code base. You need to already be running Windows Vista SP1 or Windows Server 2008 to install. The update is supposed to add new features like support for Bluetooth 2.1, native Blu-Ray media recording, “Windows Connect Now (WCN)“, ex-FAT file system, and windows search 4.0 integration. The list is not complete but it gives you a taste of whats to come. If you feel adventurous then download the update here

I don’t install Service Packs until they are out of beta phase and have been out for at least a few months, if you are like me and would like to block the service pack updates download the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool

The tool works on Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (valid through March, 2008), Windows XP Service Pack 3 (valid for 12 months following general availability), and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (valid for 12 months following general availability)

NS

HP to use “Green Super Batteries”

Boston Power Inc created these lithium ion batteries, apparently what they do is act like new for up to 3 years. That and they will charge to full capacity in 30 minutes while delivering longer, on average, run-times. The batteries will provide 4.4 amps per hour as apposed to 2.6 amps from the standard lithium ion batteries. These batteries will be manufactured to be backwards compatible with all pre-existing notebooks and laptops. HP has also stated that using an optional ultra-capacity battery in its EliteBook will net you a run-time of up to 24 hours without needing a charge!

If people pickup these batteries it will help out the green movement just because people wont be replacing batteries as often.

You will start to see these batteries on the market in the next little while.

NS

Terminal Services Printing Workaround

Would you like to print to that HP Printer that just wont connect through RDP?

Let me lay out the scenario for you.

You have an USB HP Printer of any type.

No matter what you have done you cannot get it to map.

Well here is a little work-around that I put together a while ago.

Take Printer #1 share it; give it any name you would like.

Add a new printer, I usually use Laserjet 1100, assign it to LPT1.

Open up a command prompt.

Type net use LPT1: \\pcname\printer_share_name /persistent:yes

Once you connect to an RDP or citrix session you will see the Laserjet 1100 as a selectable TS Printer.

Print to it, and the print job gets forwarded to the shared printer and will print.

All HP Printers can be mapped this way(the print engines haven’t changes much since the early 90′s), I have even used it once to be able to print to a Kyocera Printer using HP Drivers…

I usually put a batch file on the users desktop for them to delete and remap to the printer in case the connection gets broken.

Anyways this is to be used as a last ditch effort… USB Printers are NOT recommended for Terminal Services or Citrix, nor are any on the compatibility list.

Here is a good link to a lot of useful information… http://www.ccaheaven.com/citrixPrinting.htm. This page also has some nice information in it on Windows Server 2008 TS Easy Print.

HP iLo doesn’t Connect – Java Error

The specific error im talking about is this one…

java.net.ConnectException: Operation timed out: connect

I noticed that alot of people blame the firmware revision 

Quite an easy fix after doing a little research, turns out I didnt forward port 23 (Telnet) to the IP Address of t he iLO.

Once i did this in the clients router, I could immediately connect to iLO

Symantec Backup Exec – Backup to Disk Issue

By default a backup to disk folder is setup to have a maximum size for backup-to-disk files of 1GB and a maximum of 100 of these. Well what happens if you have a backup of say 265 GB’s? It will eventually have written 100, 1GB files, thus provoking backup exec to ask for another drive(which may confuse many)

What you do is you double check you Backup-to-Disk Folder Settings under the devices tab.

You will notice the points below

- Maximum size for backup-to-disk files was set to 1GB

- Maximum number of backup sets per backup-to-disk file was 100

Change them to these settings

- set Max size to 100GB (if NTFS; if Fat32 max size will only be 4GB; at which point I would set the max number of backup-to-disk files much higher)

- set Max number to 4

These settings will allow up to 400gb backups after compression, thats about 850gb of Data. Set the 2 above settings to whatever your system can handle, just make sure you account for enough space!

You can teach a Young Pup an Old Dog’s Tricks!

Well wouldn’t you know it, an old issue creeps up in Vista and it has the same resolution as before..

“The remote session was disconnected because the local computer’s client access license could not be upgraded or renewed. Please contact the server administrator.”

1 . Use the Registry Editor to navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSLicensing key on the Windows XP client.

2 . Delete the MSLicensing key.

3 . Close the Registry Editor.

It should now be fixed…