We kinda got ourselves in a pickle. Our version of GroupWise (5.5) is too old to have Outlook 2003 connect to it and Exchange 2007 doesn’t like Outlook 2000 connections. The old Office XP cd came in handy (Outlook 2002). We will start converting users to Exchange this week with a minor synchronization on the weekend before the conversion.
Good time, good times.
I also updated the 2.4Ghz Wireless Link page.
Griminal Grim's Ramblings
Satellite Radio
I’m so sick of the radio stations here in Michigan. I have six presets on my car… (I’m not going to go through FM2 or FM3)… and there isn’t shit on! If one of them is in commercial, so are four more. I was going to buy another deck for my car so I could use DVD and USB for music sources. I came up with another idea….
I have Dish Network’s America’s Everything Pack for our TV goodness. This includes all the Sirius radio stations because Dish owns them. Channels 6000-6100ish. I figured I’m already paying for Sirius… I’m not going to give them more money. I asked myself, “Why can’t I just capture the output of Sirius 20 Octane, my favorite metal station, and play it through my iPod in my car?” So that’s what I’ve been doing. I use my PVR to capture the audio out stream of my receiver to MP3 format in real time. A 10~ hour capture at 192k runs around 1GB. I went to BestBuy and bought a GM radio iPod interface for my 2002 Impala. This device lets me use the factory controls for move through tracks and what not. It pretty much sucks for 10 hour long MP3s but I like 95% of the songs Octane plays so I don’t do much fast forwarding. The device does charge the iPod too so that’s a plus. It takes me 5 seconds to plug it in and fire it up… less time than channel surfing Michigan’s shitty airwaves. Oh yeah…. I take these captures to work and listen to them there too. Woohoo!
Wireless Radios
I’ve been a loyal supporter of DD-WRT firmware for my Linksys wireless projects. I love DD-WRT and I’ll continue to use it as long as I can. Unfortunately, Linksys shot themselves in the ass because they proprietary-ized their firmware. You either buy a WRT54GL or find older versions of used WRT54G routers to use customized firmware. Well, it looks like Buffalo Technologies has a new radio that works perfectly with DD-WRT. Screw Linksys… I’ll try one of these units out and see how it flies.
Griminal Grim's Ramblings
We started the migration to a 2003 Active Directory this week. We setup a temp W2K Server virtual machine, dcpromo’ed it up to a DC, and then upgraded that VM to W2K3 Server. We then dcpromo’ed the two domain controller VMs that are taking over the everyday duties. After that, we focused on the first domain controller… installing all the DHCP scopes for the various vlans, configured DNS, setup WINS, Certificates, and IAS over the course of the rest of the week. We’ll be demoting the existing DC next week and taking the new DCs out of compatibility mode… moving them up to a 2003 AD. After that is complete, I’m going to be installing Exchange 2007 this upcoming week. We have a consultant coming in next Friday that has a lot of experience in migrations from GroupWise to Exchange. They’ll be showing us how to use the Quest software and giving us tips and tricks for a smooth transition. The week of July 30th, we’re going to hold a few basic Outlook courses for the employees. The migration is scheduled to occur on August 4th. Our Go-Live of August 6th should be achievable.
Whew! What am I gunna do after we get all that shit done?
Griminal Grim's Ramblings
My dad is sending some pictures to HotRod magazine. We have a professional photographer in the family and I figured I’d post a few of the pictures for everyone to see. Click the 1952 Willys Aero link on the right side of the page.
Griminal Grim's Ramblings
I was going to post my WordPerfect conversion program, but I got too busy using it today. It converted a user’s home directory… probably around 1000+ documents… in an eight hour period.
We finished up the Windows 2003 Server R2 x64 install on the Exchange server and got it mounted in the rack in the server room. We’re going to start with the GroupWise - Exchange - 2003 AD upgrade/migration on Monday.
We bought one of these just to play with it. It has PoE, and enough power to run terminal services. “This will change everything”… yeah, no shit! This thing is awesome!
Griminal Grim's Ramblings
