UK based Computer Active has reviewed the Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo 1900 home server and have given it 4 out of 5. Although they call it bulky and quite ugly, they conclude that it is a well-balanced home server with great performance and features.
Read the review here.
Analyst firm Forrester Research expects Apple will focus on a home server amongst other things over the next five years.
By 2013 the company could reinvent itself as a digital home provider with the “hub” of the Apple-powered digital home being a server. The computer, which will be the center of the network, will share and stream video, music, and photos throughout the home, Forrester said. Don’t expect Apple to use the word server like Microsoft does in its Windows Home Server. The company is more likely to use a naming strategy much like it did in choosing “Time Capsule” for network attached storage backup within Leopard, the latest version of the Mac OS X operating system.
Read details of the report at InformationWeek.
The Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Beta forum has opened within the Windows Home Server Forums for those of you who will need help preparing your WHS for Power Pack 1 (PP1). Details on how to use this forum are also there.
After my post yesterday Public Beta PP1 – Microsoft Needs You!, Microsoft have started to send out the emails requesting users to sign up to the Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 public beta.
As well as including the fix for the data corruption bug, PP1 will also include a host of other bug fixes and new capabilities.
The public beta will start in early June and the email states that in order to deliver a fix of the highest quality a sufficient time for feedback is required. The timeline for a final release will depend on this feedback and testing.
The email also explains how to prepare for the public beta and guidelines on how to prepare a home server for testing are also available from Microsoft’s connect site.
Mini ITX motherboards are the ones that come with low energy CPU’s onboard from the likes the VIA. Intel joined the band wagon last year with the D201 mainboard comprising the SIS chipset, which came complete with a 1.2Ghz Celeron CPU. This year Intel introduced the Atom CPU with its HT technology, ultra low energy and state of the art performance.
As why this info? Well, Tranquil PC will be shipping an Atom powered mainboard known as the Intel D945GCLF. This Mini ITX board comes complete with a 1.6GHz Atom 230 CPU, with 512K of L2 cache, based on Intel’s latest low power (TDP = 4W) 45nM process.
The onboard chipset is the Intel 945GC + ICH7 and Intel high definition audio, 10/100 LAN, PCI, SATA2 (3GB/s) DDR2 533/667 are all included as well.
So for your next Windows Home Server build project or upgrade check the Intel D945GCLF mainboard, and get a huge performance boost (typically 3-4x benchmark improvement, when compared to a VIA C7 1.5GHz / CN700 system).
Available from the end of May/first week of June for £42.00 (EU 52, $82) from the following location.
The public beta for Power Pack 1 (PP1) will be released to Microsoft’s Connect site for beta testing within the next weeks with the primary focus on getting the Server Storage component tested. The public beta which will include the data corruption fix will be there for your testing pleasure, but only if you sign up for the public beta on Connect now. Doing so will mean that you will be notified once it becomes available.
Choosing the right shared storage is an article on the enthusiasts technology website ExtremeTech. The article takes a look at consumer NAS hardware and software solutions like the RaidSonic Icy Box 4220, FreeNAS and the Mirra Personal Server. Under the HomeServers category the HP MediaSmart Server and the Norco DS-520G are mentioned as well as Windows Home Server (off course!)
Version 0.0.0.4 of WHS Mobile has just been released. The add-in which enables you to Remote Server configuration from anywhere in the world from your Pocket PC (PPC) or Smartphone includes the following changes:
The download and instructions are located here.
How-To: Install phpMyAdmin on your Windows Home Server is a new tutorial posted on We Got Served. phpMyAdmin allows you to easily manage your databases for your websites, including creating new databases, tables, entries and even deleting or editing them.
If you missed the story over at We Got Served regarding XP SP3 and remote desktop, here’s the details.
Some users cannot get RDP connected through Internet Explorer after installing Service Pack 3 (SP3) on Windows XP machines due to the ActiveX control being disabled by default in the Service Pack. Luckily the Terminal Services can be re-enabled by the following method:
Click on Tools -> Manage Add-Ons -> Enable or Disable Add-Ons in IE to enable the Terminal Services ActiveX control. If you are unable to see/enable the Terminal Services ActiveX control in IE7 on XPSP3 as a workaround can you try deleting the following registry keys:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{7390f3d8-0439-4c05-91e3-cf5cb290c3d0} HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{4eb89ff4-7f78-4a0f-8b8d-2bf02e94e4b2)
Once you delete these keys, the activeX control should be enabled in IE7.
