So there I am, trying to get my laptop virtualised.  I've been trying for 2 years now and it's failed every time.  Blue screen pfutt.  However I have persevered because I now need to move to what is basically a new machine.  So what did I have to do?  Lots of pain in the neck stuff but here we go.

 

I used xxclone to create an image of the machine to a USB partition.  Then I created a new vmdk using a VM, formatted it and exited.  I used the vmdk mounter to mount the drive into windows and I found that DriveImage XML will work with windows up.  I used DriveImage XML to image the USB partition to the vmdk.

 

Then I ran the virtual machine importer on the vmdk file and booted it.

 

Failed, the drive as not initialising.  So I did what I always do and ran up the repair console with the windows CD and went to repair it.  Failed, told me it did not have a valid OS on it.  Hmmm.  So I booted to the install CD again and started a new parallel install.  that worked and I could choose the correct boot option from the boot menu.  Which I did.

 

Booted into windows blue screened out.  As usual so I ran the winodws install CD repair routine which failed with zillions of "can't find file" when the file was clearly there.  A result of the updates that I have been done I think, or IE7.  Anyway, I skipped everything and rebooted.  However I rebooted into safe mode.  Took ages but it actually came up.  I let it do all the installing it was going to do and then I ripped out all programs I didn't want whilst in safre mode.  Well not all because SP2 doesn't install installer 3.1 and Norton won't uninstall without it.

 

Rebooted again and hey presto, it started.  That's a first.  It took ages to recognise all the new hardware and then I installed the VM tools.  but not the mouse driver as I've had problems with that locking out the keyboard input.  Reboot again and I could winodwsupdate for the first block of updates, including Installer 3.1.  Another reboot and I could remove the 360 add on pack.  Another reboot and I could remove 360.  Another reboot and I did the liveupdate to get the main fixes in.

 

Several reboots later and I have a VM with all the apps I want on my laptop and I have modified the VM display settings to give me 1280x768.  Nice, it's all working now.

 

All I need now is the new base station, swap over the hardware, track down the cracks for the Bluetooth hardware so that I can install the vista driver on my hardware.  Snip snip and bobs your Auntie.....

 

Well, we'll see how it goes anyway.

 

If I recollect properly, VMWare provides the hardware to the VM below the level of windows so I should be able to get a VM to work even if the host is having issues.  We shall see.  I'll be interested to see how the graphics hold up when in a VM.  Reviews show them performing between 50% and 300% better than M9 graphics depending on the app.

So there I am with a repaired (ok bodged back together) laptop which seems to be OK.  But do I trust it to work well for the next 2 years?  Not a chance.  So I go on ebay to see what can be done and what do I see?  A D470V with a physically smashed screen.  It has a dvd burner, the internal wifi, ATI M10 graphics with 128 meg, a card reader and a functioning firewire socket (mine broke about 3 years ago).  So I bid, I win and I have a donor for my display.  I can use the old base as a desktop which is not so bad.

 

What more could I want'.  So what did it cost me?  £103 + £12.5 for delivery.

 

I recon I'll get 2 more years out of it.

 

Result!

 

OK, but ask yourself this.  Why when I have never seen one on ebay before (and I look quite often), but when mine breaks there is exactly what I need sitting their waiting for me to buy it???

 

Do you believe in fate and predestination?  Have you ever gone to a vending machine, put your money in and have it serve you what you want without you asking for it?  Have you lived in a hotel where you didn't need to push the lift button for a week because every time you approached the lift it arrived, empty and the doors opened for you?

 

Fate?  Don't think so, perhaps conincidence.  But there are rather a lot of them.

So I blog about how my 4 year old laptop is soooo much better with teh new ram. Great it suspends and resumes, I can put the power plug in or pull it out at will etc.  Pretty much what you would expect from a Laptop you would think?

 

So I get into work on Monday, open up the laptop and hey presto......  There is no monitor!  Well to be precise, the monitor is there but the backlight is not.  Bummer.  3 days, 3 soldering attempts with different wire to get a resilient connection and a tube of araldite to resurrect the crumbling case and it is all back to life again.....  But do I trust it?  Not a chance.

 

So it's off to ebay and go see if anyone is selling something I can renewe it with.  What do you know, someone is selling a spares-reparable model with a physically broken monitor.  So long as no-one goes mad I will get a new base with M10 graphics, a card reader and the internal wireless LAN module I have been looking for which I can place my monitor onto teh new laptops cables.  Plug my ram in and I am also there.

 

I'm already in the process of virtualising my machine, however it really doesn't like the VMWare setup.  I'll be trying virtual PC and then an import into Vmware.  Done that for my wife's pc and it worked a charm.

 

What's really hacking me off is I had to buy Yet Another damned soldering iron to get the job done.  Now I have 6.  Ahhhh!!!

 

Better not to tempt fate really.

I have been watching the Arctic this winter and was somewhat confused by what was going on.  Clearly the main arctic ice mass is melting and badly at that.  However further south there is persistent patches of ice which seem to be hanging on constantly when, theoretically, they should be melting given the very high temperatures.

 

Then I came across an article which was talking about icebreakers not being able to get into areas around Labrador and that the ice there was multi year ( up to 5M thick).

 

Now that would make sense.  The fishermen who were suddenly caught short as ice drifted into shore and defied the icebreakers attempts to get to them fit into this picture well.

 

Now the interesting thing about this is that these huge swathes of multi year ice Will melt this year as they are at a lattitude which will warm well above freezing and the ice Will melt!  So if it took 10 years for these very large swathes of Ice to form, what exactly is up there in the Arctic?

 

One would have to assume very thin ice which has only been there for a year or two.

 

Which beggs the question; what's going to happen this year??

 

My guess would be lots of open water.

 

However that's not that much of a guess given the satellite overheads which have been showing ice warming over 80% of the cover (the warming moves around) and open leads with melting edges in areas never before seen on staellite.

 

It seems to be continually opening and closing right now, but it is definately happening and it's still spring there.  When it gets to Summer it should be an interesting watch.

 

Ah well I never was very good at that patience thing anyway.....