Don’t you hate that? Playing the hurry up and wait game? I do. It seems like the story of my life sometimes :), but alas sometimes there is nothing you can do about it.
For instance, over the past few years, I’ve become extremely dependent on Multi-Mon. At my previous employers, I had a 3 monitor multimon setup.
On my left monitor, I ran an instance of IE 7 with multiple tabs pointing to an instance of virtual server down in the lab with my VM’s, separate TABS with those instances if needed…etc. It was basically dedicated to IE. :). An extremely cheap video card, and some leftover CRT monitor that someone didn’t want was used here.
On my center monitor was Outlook, the necessary but evil support tools, 20 IM sessions going on, and my task bar, and maybe a terminal server session to someone else’s box where I was assisting them with some kind of SharePoint support issue. This was generally an LCD monitor connected to the machines primary video card. But of course I ran Windows Server 2003 on this box for running SharePoint here as well, so I could never get decent drivers for the monitor to get it to work “Right”, so it was sort of a set back.
On my right monitor, ran a terminal service connection to my dev box, where I would constantly be going back and forth updating code on whatever tool I was working on, or testing code snippets to try to diagnose a problem. Again here, an extremely cheap video card, and some leftover CRT monitor that someone didn’t want was used here.
I loved this setup, and actually wish I had a couple more monitors 🙂 I mean, I did need one for north and south. :).
At home, I only have two monitors right now, but this was fine for what I was using it for. I.e., custom Audio/Video editing etc. I used the left monitor for email, etc, etc. The center monitor for Sonar, Vegas, etc. Sometimes I would switch the use of each around, just for fun :). I would usually hook up a DV device or a NTSC monitor on the right for previewing.
I used an ATI Radeon 9800 all in wonder pro for my primary monitor (The one center), and I had a pretty standard ATI card for the right monitor (It’s wasn’t a 9800, and that plays an important note here in a minute).
Before Vista RTM’ d, I was able to run multi-mon on this setup, albeit without Aero. I really didn’t care about Aero in my multimon setup though. I figured if I wanted to wizbang someone with cool extensive Vista prettiness, I could…but quite honestly, just didn’t see a big need for it. Once Vista RTM’ d, like a good citizen, I purchased my copy of Ultimate. Put it on, and guess what. I can no longer run multimon at all. In fact, the secondary ATI card I had can’t even be enabled.
DO WHAT????
Yep, apparently you can’t even run multimon unless the cards are running the same driver model.
See http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/multimonVista.mspx.
Well, I knew I was going to be dual booting for a while anyway’s, as I can’t afford and I have to wait for all my A/V software to be updated with Vista compatible versions, but I had planned on using Vista as my “Non AV” instance to 1) Continue getting familiar with it and 2) Enhanced security.
I put Office 2007 Ultimate (Activated) on my Vista partition, and use it primarily for “Work” as needed, email etc. But the lack of the secondary monitor is killing me. My 9800 All in wonder is an AGP, and trying to find a PCI 9800 these days for a decent cost is troublesome. I don’t want to spend a fortune on a second card just to get the 9800 chipset, just to get my dual mon back, so I’m still debating. I’m not at home right this moment, but the exact chipset used in my secondary card, turns out to be a chipset that ATI is no longer going to support, nor will their be WDDM drivers released for it.
Also, I spent a huge chunk of money last year on a very recent model HP color laser printer. Guess what, they’ve yet to release updated drivers for it. Of course I can still print to it, but of all the flood of stupid auxiliary software that some devices manufacturers want you to install, the HP software for this puppy was actually pretty groovy, and worth installing.
Obviously I know it takes time for all vendors to get things updated for a new OS, I’ve been down this path many, many times…but it just blows me away, that some of the leading manufacturers are seemingly behind in the game, especially with some pretty popular hardware.
Oh well, I really don’t have a choice but to wait. I’ve hurried up, now I have to wait.
I’ve also got some great blog posts I want to make in regards to SharePoint, describing some VERY interesting Security scenarios that can bite you in the butt if you’re not careful. (No, I don’t mean Security Holes, just things to take into consideration when rolling out you SharePoint Groups, use of Domain Groups/User Accounts, FBA Groups/Accounts, etc), as well as some weird funky OM behavior…but I’m going to have to wait for the time :).
Not to mention tons of things that I’m having to wait for :).
What do I do, when the hurry up and wait game is weighing on me? I take a moment and listen to one of my all time favorite CD’s, Pacific Coast Highway by Christopher Franke. And probably my two favorite tracks on this release are Crystal Tree followed by Purple Waves.
Ok, I’m done complaining..I think my code synch is done, and I have to return to work :).
– Keith
Keith Richie 