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Installing Windows 7 with Boot Camp on an unsupported iMac

I’ve spent the latter part of this week at work migrating to a new to me Late 2009 21.5 inch iMac. That means my old Early 2009 20 inch iMac was without purpose. Since I didn’t want it getting depressed or anything I decided to use it as a Windows 7 machine. Why you ask? Because I’m the Sharepoint admin for the library and sometimes using Sharepoint on a Mac is unpleasant.

So I formatted the iMac, reinstalled 10.6 and updated it. Then I started up Boot Camp and popped in Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit DVD.

“Wait!”you say, “that iMac doesn’t support 64-bit Windows 7!” Well, I didn’t realize that at the time. So I happily installed Windows 7, restarted it and proceeded to install the Boot Camp drivers. Then I got a “Boot Camp x64 is unsupported on this computer model” message. Great, now what?

Turns out the solution is pretty simple.

1. Go to Start > Computer. Then right click on your cd/dvd rom drive where the Snow Leopard DVD appears and click open.

2. From there, move to Boot Camp > Drivers > Apple and right click on the file with the name BootCamp64.msi. From the list of options appeared, select Troubleshoot compatibility.

3. Wait a few seconds, and a screen like the following will appear. From this screen click on the “Start the program…” button and the installation process will begin.

4. When the drivers are installed, you’ll need to restart the computer.

5. Enjoy!

You’ll need to run Apple Software update a few times to get to the latest version of Boot Camp but after that everything will work just fine.

I found these instructions at Michael Anastasiou’s site. He also has screen shots. Thanks Michael!

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Testing Dragon app on the iPad

I haven’t posted anything in a long time just because I haven’t really had the time. But I got an iPad from work to test out and I decided to test out dictation software. I thought the best place to try that was on my blog so we’ll see how it works. Maybe I’ll post more often. I’m still amazed that Dragon software for the iPad is free. The app is very limited compared to what the full software on the Mac or PC would be but when all you really want to do is get some text into a computer this is a great way to do it.

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IT 566 is over

My IT 566 class is over. I got an A in case anyone is curious. I haven’t decided if I’m going to take any more classes or not. There don’t seem to be any online classes this summer or fall.

The two classes I’ve taken in the Instructional Technology program so far have been interesting but not especially challenging. At least IT 566 was an excuse to tinker and play.

The server I was running for the class is no more. I reformatted the drive and set it up as a computer for my daughter . It’s running Edubuntu and has some good kid’s software on it.

I took Windows XP off my desktop machine and it’s running Ubuntu now. I really don’t like the new Unity interface in 11.04. So I’m using the nornal Gnome interface, called Ubuntu Classic. Unity is Ubuntu’s New Coke, and we know how well that turned out.

As a side note, I’m not longer running a server 24/7 So the links to librarymonk.zapto.org in older IT 566 posts will no longer work.

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July jobs update

The paperwork for my job upgrade was been sent to HR, but it will be October before I see any salary increase. But the increase in pay will be retroactive until July 1, so it could be a nice payday. It doesn’t appear as though I’ve made it to the final interview stages of either of the jobs I applied for, although I could still be surprised.

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Jobs update

Well I didn’t get a librarian job, if you hadn’t gathered that from Twitter. They hired someone for the User Education Technologies job but the Digital Media Technologies job was called a failed search and they’ll re-advertise it in the future. Better luck next time I guess.

On the brighter side my current position here at the library is being reviewed for an upgrade, and I’m in the pools for 2 other jobs elsewhere at UT and I’ve made it into the second round for both I think. Not that I want to leave the library really but in a money crunch you do what you have to.

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Update on Cable, Interviews etc.

If you’ve looked at the recent posts here, you’d see that I’ve had issues with Comcast. I’m happy to report all is well. Setting up the Tivo again was a bit complicated, since this is the first time I’ve had a digital cable box. Having the Internet at home again is great, I was having withdrawal problems on the weekends.

Interviewed for a new job yesterday. Actually two, it was a combined search. Instructional Services Librarian for User Education Technologies/Digital Media Technologies. It went well, we’ll see what happens.

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Comcast update – progress

Update 11:53 a.m. Cable will be installed tomorrow. Line run in the morning, cable installed in the house between 3 and 5 p.m. 🙂

Update 11:14 a.m It looks like we’ll be getting cable tomorrow! 🙂

Stephanie got a call from Comcast last night. Apparently all the phone calls Monday and anger associated with those calls didn’t go unnoticed. We should be on the road to solving our cable problems. If they haven’t called us back by tonight we have the direct lines of a couple of the higher ups in Knoxville. Thank you Comcast. Hopefully this will all be straightened out soon.

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Comcast doesn’t have the best command structure

Update: it’s in interesting tale, so feel free to read. Issues resolved, thanks Benny and Kirk and whoever else was involved for their quick work on this. Hopefully this situation won’t happen to anybody else.

So Stephanie and I got our new house built and we finally moved in in April. Our new house is a little over 500 feet away from where the cable line stops. We understood this might take Comcast some time to do so we first told them about it in February. At that point we didn’t think there would be any problems.

In March we call to check in. Comcast sends out a technician who runs a line from the closest electric pole to the house. He says he doesn’t know why they haven’t run the line yet and resubmits the request.

When we move into the house in the beginning of April we call Comcast and they send out the install tech again. Of course there is no line so there is nothing to install.

A bit later we go to Comcast’s local office in Knoxville and find out that our request has been moved into the second quarter budget which started April 1. We are told at that we should have cable in 4 to 6 weeks and we should cancel our service and re sign up when the new cable is installed.

May 12, which is 4 to 6 weeks after we were told 4 to 6 weeks, we go to Comcast’s office again and they say someone should be at your house today. No one was. We start calling. We are always told, after much time on hold, that “We have emailed the construction department, someone will call you back”. No one ever calls us back. Last week we were told that we missed several appointments for an install. Which is odd because no one has ever called us.

We are told that our cable would be installed yesterday, Monday June 2. I take that day off work and wait. and wait. and wait. Stephanie calls and is told our appointment was moved to an all day timeframe, someone should be there by 4 p.m. So I wait. No-one comes.

So Stephanie calls again and talks to a supervisor. The supervisor says that our request has been moved to the 3rd quarter of 2008 and we might get cable by October. They also say that the people have been scheduling things and saying people will show up are wrong and this should never have happened.

So Comcast never had any intention of giving us cable. And AT&T doesn’t offer DSL where we are. So satellite internet is our only remaining option.

Anybody have any opinions on HughesNet or WildBlue?

Stephanie and I really didn’t like getting jerked around by Comcast. Comcast if you’re listening we really want cable, just tell us what animals to sacrifice or who to bribe.

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On Twitter

I’m realizing that Twitter has given my blog a new lease on life. Making my tweets display on the front page definitely keeps the blog more on my mind since I use twitter and twitterific heavily these days. Pondering a Library Monk redesign now, but I have lots of other projects on the to-do list ahead of that.

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Amazon vs iTunes

On a whim today I went looking for this album Spaced Out – The Best of Leonard Nimoy & William Shatner. Amazon has it in 256 kbps variable bit rate mp3, which is what I usually import CDs in. It’s $8.99 and DRM free.

iTunes also has the album but not in the iTunes Plus DRM free variety. It’s also $11.99. So while I own an iPod and have bought several hundred tracks from the iTunes store in the past, I’m taking the plunge and going with Amazon on this one. Competition is good.