Technology archive
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
2009-04-30 00:32
I've personally, for the most part lived a Windows-free life since 2005. Only occasionally, I've used a Windows machine, for mundane tasks such as looking at some web page without having brought my own laptop, or had a brief look at my dad's machine to fix some trivial problem, and I had a brief intermission with Vista, when I got this laptop in 2007.
A few days ago, my girlfriend's kids' laptop broke down, an aging Toshiba, broke down, and had to be reinstalled - I was fortunate enough not to do that installation myself, but just got the laptop back, and needed to get it online. This is where the horror starts:
- It can't connect to wireless, which is fair enough, given that WPA2 (or WPA) wasn't around when XP was released, and the machine hadn't touched a network during or after installation, and was installed from the original Toshiba rescue disk.
- So, I set forth trying to update it, and Windows needs to update Windows Update, and reboot before continuing installation.
- After having installed updates for Windows Update, it needs to update Windows Update again - this time the ActiveX control. There's a "Yo dawg" hidden inside here somewhere, but I'll leave that to the educated reader.
- So, now Windows Update is actually ready to start. My previous experience with Windows taught me that it's most of the time a good idea to go for the custom update, instead of the simple update, because there's usually hardware drivers missing, and a few other components missing. It's missing an extended mouse driver, Media Player and a bunch of stuff. Windows Update finds this, and 91 other updates, and installs them
- Reboot. This works.
- Still no network. Let's see what Windows Update says.
- Oh, that's right, this update did not pick up Service Pack 2. Install.
- Wait, wait. Listen to disk grinding. Wait some more.
- (Intertwined in all of the previous points, there are times where disk activity is low enough to warrant a check, to find out that a dialog needs to be handled).
- Roughly two and a half hours into this ordeal, Service pack 2 claims to be installed.
- Reboot
- IRQLNOTLESSOREQUAL
- What the flying fuck‽
- Try to reboot in safe mode
- IRQLNOTLESSOREQUAL.
- What the flying fuck‽
- IRQLNOTLESSOREQUAL
- Try to reboot in safe mode with command line.
- IRQLNOTLESSOREQUAL
- Consider boarding flight to Redmond to force Steve Ballmer to eat the fucking laptop.
- Suddenly remember that amidst all dialogs answered, there was one about a mouse driver, served from Windows update, not having undergone Windows Logo testing
- Unplug mouse
- Reboot
- (There have been points through this where I've done some pretty liberal swearing on IRC over this ordeal, not included, because it would make this text unsafe for any viewing. 25.
- Discover that XP SP2 did not solve the problem described in the very first point of this list. Namely that the wireless network didn't work. The difference being that now it pretended to be able to connect, whereas it didn't in the first case, and it didn't give a sensible error message.
- Go to Windows update, get Service pack 3.
- Be a tad amused, alternatively annoyed, that Windows was able to go directly to SP2, while skipping SP1, while being unable to skip SP2 in favor of SP3.
- Install XP SP3.
- Wait 30 minutes for installation to finish.
- Reboot
- Pray to whatever deity that there are no critical updates to install before wireless works
- Try plugging in mouse, because using the touchpad sucks.
- IRQLNOTLESSOREQUAL
- Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
- Reboot
- Pray to whatever deity that there are no critical updates to install before wireless works, because I am now three hours and fucking forty minutes into this ordeal and I've really had it.
- ???
- Profit
My last list, about a Vista in a similar state to this one, when I took it over, was sixty-three items in before it involved installing a different OS. This XP experience was 37 items in before the system was in some semi-usable state. Despite fanboy marketing, and the discovery two days ago that Windows can't delete files named "..." (Including Windows Se7en, thankyouverymuch), I really have no hopes at all that Windows will ever get to some manageable or usable state.
File I/O in widgets and the browser
2008-05-07 20:28
Ok, so I had a somewhat mystically titled presentation at XTech, titled Going full circle: Giving Web Applications and Widgets access to device and user data. The slides are here (Should work reasonably well in Firefox, WebKit and Opera — does not work in IE. Navigate with PageUp/PageDown or the mouse wheel)
What the presentation was actually about was File I/O in the context of the browser, or more specifically, in widgets. We produced an input paper to be picked up for standardization.
Further, we will release builds on labs.opera.com shortly, so you can get to play with it shortly, and hopefully also with some example code, so you can get your heads wrapped around this.
Edit: There are now public builds for you to play with here — have fun
Hey, ISO, April Fools was *yesterday*
2008-04-02 13:30
Words fail me when ISO approves OOXML
Hereafter, I shall refuse to refer to you as a standards body. Accepting an ill-thought-out set of documentation for Microsoft quirky and proprietary technology in a process that has been widely regarded as suspicious with allegations of corruption, co-opting and buying of votes is a cruel and horrible joke. Thank you so much for nothing.
Here’s an interesting factoid for you (via):
Norway ended up “supporting” OOXML, while 80% of the members of The SN/K 185 subcomittee of Standards Norway were opposed to the proposal.
There has been allegations of “comittee-stuffing” to get a particular view through, so it’s rather interesting to see what the original members of the comittee has to say on the matter (those who were members of SN/K 185 prior to the OOXML process started). For reference, these members were:
- Lars Marius Garshol
- Erlend Øverby
- Thomas Flemming
- Keld Simonsen
- Steve Pepper (chairman of SN/K 185)
And, they have all signed an open letter to Standards Norway (the letter is in Norwegian — I’ll try to find an English translation) , opposing OOXML as an ISO standard.
Again, ISO, thanks for exactly nothing.
My iPod is dead
2008-03-31 14:02
Some time ago, I said that my iPod was dying — well, it’s now thoroughly dead. A round in the washing machine at 40°C took care of that.
I am not sorry. But I am looking for another player. The same requirements as last still apply:
- Must support any OS
- Must work as a regular mass-storage device
- Must be flash-based. 8GB or above
- Should have decent multi-format support
- Should be small
- Should have upgradable firmware
- Should sound better than the iPod
- May have radio
- May have video playback capabilities, but this is not important
So, what should I pick?
I have shortlisted a few candidates:
- The Meizu M6SL — likable as this device seems to be, I’m a bit unsure about build and sound quality. I would appreciate input from someone who owns one.
- The Sony NWZ-S618 — It seems reasonably compatible with Linux, has good battery life, and allegedly good sound.
- The Samsung YP-P2 — seems like a really nice alternative, but it seems to be quite a bit more expensive than the alternatives, and while it supports replacing the firmware, I find it a bit worrying that people have reported bricking of devices just to switch between MTP and UMS modes, I am sceptical.
Are there any other alternatives I absolutely must look at?
ACID3: Strike ninety-eight. Make that 100
2008-03-26 21:20
Below is a screenshot of the Acid3, taken straight from one of our developer's machines. It's a screenshot of the builds we use to test core functionality in Opera (cue the weird, minimalistic user interface).
Yes, it says 100/100. I'm not going to say too much about it right now, other than send some Kudos in the general direction of the developers responsible (whom for some reason always seem to keep a low profile), and point to what Anne said earlier when we reached 98.
Note that there is a small rendering glitch left, but we will fix that too in due time. If you want to follow what happens in the future, visit the desktop team blog
Microsoft to acquire FAST Search & Transfer
2008-01-08 10:30 – Two comments
Microsoft is set to acquire FAST Search & Transfer at a price of NOK 6.6 billion (approx. USD 1.2 billion)
Radiohead: In Rainbows
2007-10-11 12:03 – Leave a comment
I'm not a big fan of Radiohead, but I bought their album, regardless.
Why Apple will gladly relock your iPhone
2007-10-08 12:22 – Two comments
Why exactly is it that Apple won't guarantee that they won't turn your hacked iPhone into an iBrick, and why is it that they won't relock it for you, should you ever upgrade it?
My experience with Windows Vista, in n simple steps
2007-09-18 19:31 – 14 comments
I just got my work computer replaced with a bright and shiny Lenovo X61s. It came preinstalled with Windows Vista. Here is my mini-review.
Opera 9.5 alpha, Kestrel, released
2007-09-04 14:44 – Leave a comment
The first alpha of Opera 9.5, codenamed Kestrel, is released. The changelog is so long that I can't possibly get through it this decade, but here's a few highlights of improvements, both to the user experience and standards support.
Opera Mini 4 beta out
2007-06-19 10:16 – Seven comments
The beta of Opera Mini 4 is out. I highly suggest you check it out, because it'll turn your world upside down. Or add another dimension to it.
Three and a half years ago, I was as wrong as it's humanly possible to be
2007-06-05 23:15 – Six comments
Roughly three and a half years ago, I wrote a blog entry titled "Why Linux has failed, and why Linux will fail again". Roughly two years ago, I switched -- to the operating system I claimed had failed, and would fail again. Linux. Ubuntu to be precise. How has my views changed?
Just gimme a good editor, dammit
2007-03-05 16:32 – 15 comments
I'm on the lookout for a new (Linux/Gnome) editor, for mainly working with editing angle brackets, JavaScript and Python. Can you help me?
Apple, iTunes and DRM
2007-02-07 10:15 – Leave a comment
The iPod problem
2007-01-28 10:19 – Three comments
What is the real problem with digital media distribution? Why have the media industry been fighting a losing battle against piracy? The answer is, predictably, their insistence to stick to DRM that just end up limiting their potential market penetration. They have created an enviroment in which piracy offers a better product than the recording industry does.
My iPod is dying
2007-01-11 11:18 – 21 comments
Help me find a replacement player for my dying iPod Nano.
Fuel cells and airport security
2006-12-28 16:44 – One comment
How compatible is fuel cell technology with airport security
Wii more popular than sex
2006-12-16 17:19 – One comment
The Wii is more popular than sex. At least on Wikipedia.
Opera Developer Community site launches
2006-11-01 13:29 – One comment
Opera launches a beta of the new Opera Developer Community site, named Dev.Opera. Here's a quick walkthrough
Event Streaming in Web Browsers
2006-09-01 17:29 – Eight comments
One cool feature we added to Opera 9 is Server-Sent Events from the WHATWG Web Applications 1.0 specification. Using SSE you can push DOM events continously from your web server to the visitor's browser. This creates a lot of exciting opportunities for web application authors.
The Digg effect is overrated
2006-07-03 12:55 – 14 comments
One of my old stories got dugg. Here are some numbers and thoughts: How many visits do you really get from being dugg? Which browsers do diggers use? Does Alexa rankings have any root in reality?
Trusted Computing
2006-04-03 00:38 – Leave a comment
Debitel chooses Opera to drive Mobile Web in Europe
2006-03-14 13:40 – Leave a comment
GooOS, the Google Operating System
2005-01-13 00:58 – Eight comments
The not-so-cheap Mac mini
2005-01-12 12:47 – 15 comments
While the new Mac mini from Apple is dirt-cheap in the US, it turns out to be quite differently priced around the world: The Mac mini is 48% more expensive in Norway than in the U.S. -- in the U.K. it's "only" 30% more expensive.
2004 prediction result list
2004-12-31 11:22 – Seven comments
Last year, I made a list of technology predictions for 2004. Let's see how I did.
Web address converter for dynamic web pages
2004-12-23 19:49 – Two comments
Comment on Microsoft patent that essentially covers mod_rewrite. mod_rewrite is prior art, so they may just as well waste their money on this one.
Standards are standards except when standards are not standards
2004-11-17 22:13 – 22 comments
This is a tale about incompatibilities between DVD+R recorders and media who both claim to conform to the same standards. Problems like these should not exist in 2004.
Hitting the fan
2003-03-09 19:13 – One comment
High-resolution displays are eventually going to force clueless web designers to create fluid layouts instead of being pixel terrorists.
Born-again phone
2003-03-01 18:22 – Leave a comment
The Ericsson phone that unexpectedly rose from the dead