Digitalopia

I recently went through the fun (and the pain) of re-building my main Windows desktop with Vista 64-bit. It was previously used as a ‘jack of all trades’ desktop (as my primary desktop is a Mac), running XP, Vista and Linux. However, it was time I put it to a more stable use, so I decided to re-install Vista and use it as my main gaming and Windows desktop. Also, as some of its components were used to build my new Media Center (I will be writing about that build in another story), it was a good time for a full re-build with some updated parts (I also removed over 3TB of storage !)

As I had removed the memory for my Media Center build, I needed to replace it with some more. With 4GB previously, the performance of Vista was very good, but as memory pricing has reduced significantly over the last year and I wanted to start using VMware more, I decided to go for 8GB. For full support of more than 8GB, Vista 64-bit is required. Also, the AMD FX-62 chip I was using is 64-bit. Now the fun begins …

When attempting to install Vista with my original 64-bit install disk, the install would blue screen when it was completing the installation. After some google’ing, I found it was a known problem where Vista would not install with more than 3GB of memory. It seems that a patch is required to allow the Vista kernel to boot with more than 3GB RAM. I have previously only installed Vista on 2GB machines, so the error had not occurred before. Considering I have 4 x 2GB SIMMS (dual channel) it was not possible for me to only install 2GB. I could remove 2GB from another computer, install Vista and the patch and then re-install the 8GB. However, this is less than satisfactory, so I looked for an alternative.

As this issue is fixed in Vista Service Pack 1, I decided to look at creating a SP1 install disk. This required me to slipstream the Vista install disk with SP1 and burn a new disk. I will be including details of this process in another article. It is interesting that such a fundamental flaw would have been present in the official release of Vista. With Vista 64-bit, its primary use is for users with more than 3GB of RAM. As Vista it cannot be installed on these computers (without first patching the install) it seems a very big omission by Microsoft.

Vista SP1 64-bit installed with the full 8GB and so far (fingers-crossed) I have had no problems.

At the recent WWDC conference Apple released details (and an early developer build to attendees) of Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the next planned release of the OS X operating system.

Apple have also added a page to their Web site, giving some initial details of the new features of Snow Leopard.

• Microsoft Exchange Support - Snow Leopard will include support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 in the Mail, Address Book, and iCal applications. This is an interesting move and an important announcement as Apple is looking at the Mac moving more into the corporate enterprise,
• Multicore - With the advent of newer multicore processors, efficiently supporting multiple cores is becoming increasingly important for operating systems. Apple is including a new feature called ‘Grand Central’ that looks like a form of OS scheduler that can manage how applications leverage multiple cores. This may reduce the complexity for developers to write code specifically for multiple cores, leaving the complex task to the operating system,
• 64-bit - Whilst Leopard does provides 64-bit support, it looks like Apple will be added additional features to take full advantage of 64-bit computing,
• Media and Internet - Both QuickTime X (the iPhone implementation of QuickTime) and an update to JavaScript performance in Safari have been announced (note that it is expected that the Safari update may be released earlier than Snow Leopard),
• OpenCL - OpenCL is an interesting announcement. It was originally rumored that Apple would be supporting NVidia Cuda, a development API for tapping into the capabilities of modern GPUs (that are largely unused). However, Apple has announced OpenCL that appears to offer the same type of functionality. Perhaps this is because Apple wishes to support both NVidia and ATI graphics processors, and not be locked into a vendors’ proprietary technology.

At first glance this may seem to be a pretty limited set of features for a new OS X release, but there are a few clues and pointers as to where Apple may be heading with Snow Leopard.

The move from Leopard to Snow Leopard indicates a minor advance for OS X. Unless they have run out of wild cat names, by simply tagging Snow to the front of Leopard, Apple are hinting about the ‘minor’ update this release may represent. In fairness, I think they are saying it will be a minor update from a users perspective, in regards its appearance and feature set. However, most of the changes seem to be aimed at the core of OS X operating system.

With the release of the iPhone, Apple are starting to use the OS X platform on a wider range of devices. Microsoft previously tried this with Windows CE, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, etc. However, Microsoft basically re-wrote the operating system to support these devices, causing a fork in their ongoing development strategy. Apple seem to be tackling the problem in a cleverer way. If they are looking at reducing the footprint of OS X Snow Leopard, allowing it to be run on lower powered devices (perhaps tablet or hand held computers) they will be able to have a single code base that can be deployed across a wider range of devices. This can represent a significant cost saving for Apple, allowing them to streamline their core OS X development and allow them to concentrate on adding functionality, rather than having to manage multiple operating systems. Microsoft is struggling with multiple versions of the Windows platforms, and with the increased size (read bloat) of Vista, you can see that unless Microsoft pulls off a miracle with Windows 7, they will continue to struggle to keep up with the faster release strategies of Apple and the open source Linux platform.

It will also be interesting how much Apple will charge for Snow Leopard. If the feature set is limited, many people may not see the value in upgrading.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard is currently scheduled for release in ‘about a year’, so we can expect a Q2/Q3 release in 2009.

Over the last few months I have tried to ensure that Digitalopia remains true to its original direction of ‘Digital Photography with the Apple Mac, from Amateur to Professional’. However, my interest, experience and work goes well beyond digital photography and the Mac platform.

I have decided to expand the scope of Digitalopia to include all aspects of my involvement with computing and digital technology, not just being limited to digital photography and the Mac platform. Whilst I can say that a large part of my personal computing is with digital photography, I would also like to share my experiences and thoughts with regards other areas of computing, from the trials and tribulations of using Vista Media Center to building a Linux NAS server from scratch. I will also be expanding beyond the Mac platform, including my adventures with Microsoft, Linux and the occasional foray into Unix.

Note that I will be continuing to share my passion for digital photography and the Mac platform, including my journey into Aperture 2 and the new Aperture plug-in architecture.

I hope that you continue to enjoy the articles that we put together.