The ideal situation would be to have the SBS 2008 server act like a domain member, which is not exactly what SBS 2008 was intended to do, but theoretically it’s possible. So there’s a couple of options:

Option 1 – say fuggedaboutit, erase and install Windows Server 2008 on the new server.

Option 2 – save a bunch of time and play Jedi Mind Tricks on the SBS 2008 install and make it act like a normal server instead of this big behemoth of software that I’ll never use.

Sure, I’ve heard that you can manually uninstall everything after you’re set up, but are you truly ahead of the game if you do that? Might as well go for option 1, then!

Well, I like a challenge and didn’t see any procedure for this documented on the web, so I decided to opt for the second (more nutso) option. Why not? I have all the requisite licenses for both SBS 2008 as well as for Windows Server 2008, so I should be golden from a compliance standpoint, right?

So here’s how I did it:

When installing SBS 2008 you are forced to go through a setup procedure where you define items like domain name, computer name, timezone, etc.

You’re at a crossroads here. If you cancel this process, the computer shuts down and ultimately you have to re-initiate this process again. If you go through the motions, you then have a server that promotes itself to a domain controller and installs a ton of software that you may or may not need.

At this point I decided to hit control-alt-escape and brought up the task manager.  From there, I opened up the registry editor (regedit) and edited the default shell registry entry  (this is the same registry entry some nasty viruses use to take over a computer) to be c:\windows\explorer.exe as it is in most other normal Windows Machines.

The exact registry entry was:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

With the registry entry originally being:

C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Bin\WSSGShell.exe

After that and a log off/log on, the server acted like a normal Windows 2008 server with a few extra components installed. DHCP Server, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Network Policy and Access Services roles were subsequently uninstalled and I set the computer to acquire it’s own IP address.

I was able to add the server to my domain and set it up as the intended test server I needed.

The server says that Exchange 2007 is installed but no services are installed at this point and I’m sure it’s un-installable if required. Voila! I probably saved myself a couple of hours.

With the recent dismantling of S60.com, N-Gage.com, Widsets.com and other websites, plus the lacklustre performance of the E75, one’s gotta wonder if someone who picks up this phone isn’t some mindless automaton who buys whatever shit Nokia slings.

What’s worse is that if you look at history, the E61 was a pretty good phone, the E61i was an even better phone, the E71 rocked. The E62 was introduced by companies like Fido and Cingular and was essentially carrier branded garbage (sort of like the E71x which was released by AT&T). Nokia would have been smart to stick with the name E71i or the N71i as previously whispered through the blogosphere but they dropped the ball when they let AT&T release the carrier-branded FP2 variant of the E71 as the E71x.

Well (after a rocky start), I can report with great certainty that I probably won’t be smashing my E72 and thus far I’m pretty happy. Or at least, perhaps my time with the E75 has taught me to cope.

I’m not the average user and my needs are directly correlated with my business interests, but keeping that tall list aside, stability and responsiveness should rate really high on the scale what makes or breaks any phone, right? Right!

The E72 is a responsive phone. The hosted Nokia Email solution actually loads up quickly (not in the blink of an eye but still tolerable) and transitioning and loading other software isn’t so bad.

My setup (aka the testbed):

• Nokia E-Mail with Mail for Exchange

My primary mail client – the new ‘Mail for Exchange’ is Nokia’s attempt at shoving bloatware down peoples throats. Thankfully the fast processor in the E72 can cope and synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Servers is pretty tolerable. Nokia E-mail also uses FP2’s network destinations feature which replaces access point groups that was available in the E61i.

Shamefully, Nokia E-mail doesn’t give you the ability to select folders for synchronization and doesn’t give you access to all of your top level folders.  Instead, Nokia E-mail syncs all the folders within its grasp based on a single setting – if you ask for it to sync all of your email, you’ll fill up your phone’s memory (imagine a million sent items) and will have to use the three-finger salute to wipe out and reset to factory settings.

The older (downloadable) version of Mail for Exchange (available in the E71 and previous) strikes me as a more stable and mature product.

• DataViz RoadSync

RoadSync is another mail client that syncs with Microsoft Exchange. Setting it up is a bit of a pain since it takes control of your email key, sets itself to the default email program, etc. and whch all has to be undone. Once it’s going, it’s solid and responsive.

In FP2, RoadSync really shines. The same software installed on an FP1 phone can’t see most of the top-level folders and brings up an annoying send dialog if you send immediately (when installed as the secondary e-mail client). Once you’re on FP2, the send dialog has been hidden and RoadSync magically has access to all of the top-level folders.

DataViz – I apologise for all the mean things I said to you in the past, all this time it’s been a limitation of the operating system.

• emoze

emoze is another push email account. It’s a hosted solution that can interface with your POP3, IMAP4 or can also connect to an Exchange Server using Outlook Web Access. emoze also brings view as HTML support to users running the older version of Microsoft Exchange Server (2003) but still has some viewer kinks to be worked out.

In fairness, Nokia E-mail does allow you to set up multiple accounts (one Mail for Exchange account and multiple POP3 and IMAP4 accounts) but falls flat in the ease of setup and stability department. After beating my head against the wall over intermittently receiving emails, I said fuggetaboutit and installed emoze. emoze is lightweight, uses Nokia’s old mail interface and simply works. Thumbs up emoze people for making a stable and lightweight product!

• Killer Mobile TotalRecall

In my E71, I used VoxTalk to record all my incoming and outgoing phone calls. I bill for my time, so it’s important to keep track of phone calls. Well, VoxTalk doesn’t work on the E72 so I’ve installed TotalRecall which is a similar application and thus far, it works like a charm.

• Birdstep SmartConnect

I’m using the European version of the E72 which means the fastest Internet speed I’m going to get is whatever EDGE is capable of. I’m surfing in the kilobits not the megabits (until I purchase an E72-2 which comes out in a few days). To make things worse, most S60 software isn’t aware of network destinations, so I’m stuck using simple access points.

Birdstep launched SmartRoaming in the era of the E61 which allowed for seamless Wifi roaming. Smartconnect is the same software for the E71 and thus far it works perfectly for me E72, too! So now I can have third party programs (like RoadSync and emoze) automatically switch between my various Wifi access points I have at home and in the offices and also roam onto Fido’s GPRS/EDGE network when I’m away. I get to save battery power and improve performance automatically.

• Google Gmail, Google Maps, Google S60 App

The new Google App for the S60 has voice recognition built in and it’s pretty accurate. Kudos to Google.

• Nokia Conversation

Threaded SMSes strike me as a must for any smartphone nowadays. It’s odd that this piece of software has to be installed like a third party product. Rather, it should be installed by default. It’s been a graduate from Nokia’s Beta Labs for some time.

• Gravity

Twitter and facebook status update program that doesn’t suck.

• Escarpod

Okay, I’m fine if Nokia doesn’t want to include N-Gage in the E72. Really, I’m fine with the fact that they want to force all game makers to publish their games to the Ovi store. I’m fine with being penalized for having purchased games in prior iterations of my Nokia phones staring with the N95. I won’t talk about how useless the Ovi store is either. What’s baffling, though, is that Nokia ripped out the Podcasting client that’s been built in their E-series phones for at least three years. Instead, we have t install ‘in-development’ software like Escarpod.

Overall, the E72 does what I need it to do. I’m not craving any additional features and I’m no longer excited about what’s next from Nokia. I’m happy with this phone and its stability but I’ve been beat up too many times. Maemo and S60v5 just don’t turn my crank anymore.

Side note, I hear the Palm Pre will support multiple Exchange accounts.

The other day, while trying to figure out where the HD channels on my TV came from (thinking that I was receiving ATSC over-the-air digital programming coming from Mount Seymour), I unplugged the cable from the TV and momentarily lost service.

So what’s the deal? In the end, after some experimentation and long channel scans and some handy work with the help of Peter Near (HERE), I was able to get free SD and HD content for a few channels via ClearQAM from my Novus cable feed without a digital cable box. Here’s the list – happy HDing:

QAM 112-2 or 112.2 – Global BC HD – CHAN – Analog 11
QAM 123-121 or 123.121 – KVOS SD – KVOS – Analog 12
QAM 126-4 or 126.4 – KSTW SD – KSTW – Analog 14
QAM 126-5 or 126.5 – CityTV SD – CKVU – Analog 13
QAM 126-5 or 126.5 – KING DT – NBC Affiliate
QAM 126-8 or 126.8 – CBS SD – KIRO – Analog 15
QAM 127-11 or 127.11 – CBC French SD – CBUFT – Analog 7
QAM 127-12 or 127.12 – OMNI SD – CHNM – Analog 8

All of the above appear to be modulated with QAM256.

There’s also music channels 84-12, 84-17, 84-18 and 84-32.

For further reading check out an old thread on the topic HERE, Peter Near’s blog post on enabling ATSC and QAM (you still need a QAM capable tuner) HERE and an FAQ HERE.

Keith Ferrazzi, author of  “never eat alone” and “who’s got your back” cites one of his mentors in the latter, defining what elegant means: “Elegance is putting the least amount of energy for the greatest return! What could you relax and perhaps do better?” – via twitter.

So what about elegance? Well if you look at major brands (well, all brands) you’ll see sometimes that the brands themselves have multiple twitter accounts for different reasons. Starbucks has their standard twitter account but then they have the StarbucksLive account to convey up to the minute updates of Bumbershoot.

One opportunity I see with twitter, being a web service means that the limitations just don’t stop at twitter.com/username. Imagine sub-usernames and the opportunities they could create for both brands and the revenue they could create for individual users. Example… My name is Raj Taneja. The twitter username “raj” is taken but if twitter would allow sub-usernames, I could negotiate with the owner of “raj” (maybe some cash involved) for the sub-username “taneja” so ideally, twitter.com/raj/taneja could come into existence. Starbucks wouldn’t have to own both the Starbucks and StarbucksLive accounts anymore, live could reside under the main Starbucks account as twitter.com/starbucks/live and that could definitely be elegant.

On that thought, there could be a bunch of options for aggregating statuses upwards etc. but that’s for the future.

Twitter. Thoughts?

Wish Nokia had done the same in the release of their most recent E-Series flagship, after all, isn’t the E-Series set of phones supposed to be made for efficiency? They did drop the ‘enterprise’ label for ‘efficiency’ recently but with the E75, they fall squarely on their face.

So, I’m three phones in now… the first E75 was smashed in frustration, the second and third, gifts from contacts that live in the dark underworld of mobile phones. Third time’s a charm, right? Well, I’ve certainly learned to cope, that’s for sure. (more after the jump)

For the many that may be reading this for the first time, I’m not necessarily the average user – I rely heavily on two seperate Microsoft Exchange Servers on different networks to do what I need to do. I prefer push mail and have found that through the years, the Nokia E61, E61i, E51 and E71 have all given me exactly what I need – fast and productive access to two Exchange mailboxes via push.

How, on earth, do I do it? Well, simply put, both Nokia and DataViz have published Exchange connectivity software (Mail for Exchange and RoadSync respectively) for Nokia’s S60v3 phones including the E-Series, N-Series and Communicators. Both programs coexist to a certain extent (I only sync one calendar, tasks, contacts – the other Exchange client is specifically for mail and that’s it) and as a result, I’m a happy camper.

So, back to the E75.

The specs are great – E-Series phone, slider with full keyboard, runs N-Gage, Nokia’s gaming platform, S60v3 feature pack 2 and all the bells and whistles.

I truly think there’s a couple of great features that feature pack 2 phones offer – destinations instead of access points allows you to switch between Wi-Fi and 3G seamlessly for apps that support it (like Nokia Mail and the built in browser), location tagging built into the camera application, user data preservation on firmware updates (not totally stable) and a suite of cool ringtones.

…. but there’s the other side too – the Nokia Mail (which replaces the standard mail app and Mail for Exchange) is slick but it’s slower than molasses running uphill and downright frustrating. The amount of RAM memory to install software is extremely limited and in two cases, I’ve filled the memory of the phone up to the point where mail and SMSes ceased to be received – not cool! The phone isn’t ever eager to respond and the form factor is better fit for a purse than a suit jacket or front pocket on the jeans.

I’ve had much to say about Nokia Mail … simply put, it’s slow, clunky and stinks… more on that, HERE.

In the end, I’ve been far more productive with the E71. It fits better in your pocket, the feature pack 1 software isn’t buggy and there’s plenty of room in the phone’s local memory to install applications.

For that, I give the E75 a 0 out of 10.

Now, since I’ve been stuck with the phone for reviewing purposes, I’ve had to cope – so here’s what I’ve done:

1 – formatted the phone and got rid of N-Gage

2 – installed every possible application to the phone’s external memory – in my case, a reputable 16GB SDHC micro card

3 – installed RoadSync v4 as my primary mail client – even though it has it’s shortcomings, it’s still better than Nokia Mail

4 – used Nokia Mail for my secondary mail client – I don’t have to be as responsive on the phone

5 – upgraded to Ovi Maps and Quickoffice v6

6 – moved the message store of the phone to the external memory

That’s it…  trim the fat and bear with the slowness… and try not to smash yet another phone.

In upcoming Nokia phones, I’ll be sure to be weary of the Nokia Mail application – it’s a piece of garbage. Failing that, I might have to actually carry two phones again, a quick and responsive BlackBerry and maybe something else. As for Nokia, f#%k that!

Well, I guess the worst part is that a recent software package (in this case, likely a Windows update) seemed to be interfering with the install, so I got the following message:

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS
Volume label is OS.

One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency. You may cancel the disk check, but it is strongly reccomended that you continue.
Windows will now check the disk.
Cannot open volume for direct access.
Autochk cannot run due to an error caused by a recently installed software package.
Use the system restore feature from the control panel to restore the system to a point prior to the recent software package installation.
An unspecified error occurred (766f6c756d652e63 3f1)

SO… I tried using system restore but sadly it wouldn’t run due to a corrupt disk, so I was trapped in a circular issue.

At this point, I figured my options were limited – recover data off the hdd and reformat and/or try to use an offline version of chkdsk. I chose the later, since it presented the best opportunity for getting back to work.

RESOLUTION: I insterted the Windows 7 installation DVD and booted from it. Went through the repair system motions, opened up a command prompt and ran:

chkdsk /f /r c:

Five hours later (yup – a super slow process), the chkdsk completed and Windows was stable again. After that, I removed some of the most recent packages on the computer with system restore (just to be safe) and voila, I was back at it.

Fret no more, ‘lil camper. Here’s a guide on how to get the firmware update you always wanted.

Background: I own both an E71-1 (European E71) and the E71-2 (North American E71). In October, I was notified that there was an update to the E71’s firmware. Some fixes, some enhancements, all good stuff (see the Nokia E71 blog, HERE for more details), so I embarked on updating my phones.

Model: E71-1, Type: RM-346, Product Code: 0560654 – success
Model: E71-2, Type: RM-357, Product Code: 0569371 – no dice

To date, there still isn’t an update available for the E71-2 above via Nokia Software Update (NSU).

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon a thread on Symbian Guru, HERE, that covered a successful flash update of the Nokia E71-2. The Guru was kind enough to disclose his product code, 0559585.

I recall using a piece of software called NSS or the Nemesis Service Suite, HERE, to change the product code of an older Nokia phone of mine. In this case, all I did was download the software, plug in my phone via USB and go through the steps below.

Step 1 – open up NSS, plug in your phone

Step 2 – hit the magnifying glass in the top right

Step 3- switch to the Phone Info tab

Step 4 – Check the Product Code box and hit Read to read the data from the phone

In this case, my product code is 0569371

Step 5 – type in the product code you want to change in the phone

I typed in 0559585 which is reported to be an E71-2 product code that has an upgrade available on NSU.

Step 6 – hit Write to write the new data to the phone and you’re done!

After that, it’s smooth sailing  on NSU.

You’re golden! A Nokia E71-2 has been upgraded from firmware 100.07.76 to 110.07.127! I’ve been testing the updated phone for a day without any issues – the 3G service hasn’t been impacted at all and it’s totally stable. Good luck with your updates!

According to Mobile Industry Review, Nokia’s UK MD, Simon Ainslie, said:

RIM are a competitor and have done a reasonable job in a space that is traditionally ours, so it’s no great surprise that we see this as an opportunity to give consumers a proper choice on what email solution they want.

‘Our approach is to make email a mass-market proposition for everybody, not just for the corporate boardroom group of individuals where BlackBerry has established itself.’

I’ve got a perfectly good E61i connected to a Blackberry Enterprise on Exchange server via Blackberry Connect – I can see subfolders and take advantage of the features and functionality of BES which is pretty extensive. It runs smoothly and outside of not being able to send PIN messages to others or being able to use BB Messenger, it’s pretty robust. In short, it’s a pretty good push email solution for a hardcore roadwarrior (like me). With the features of the E61i, I can have a couple of Exchange accounts, a BlackBerry BES account, WIFI connectivity, VOIP telephony and even Push to Talk.

With my shiny new E71, I can have almost every feature listed above but I can’t download Blackberry Connect. It won’t install and as per the above, there’s no planned support. The current prescribed alternatives to BlackBerry Connect (without throwing the baby out with the bathwater) include Mail for Exchange 2.7 and RoadSync 4. Neither appear to let me file messages the way I would want to and both are licensed ActiveSync (inferior) clients. ActiveSync ain’t bad except for the fact that Microsoft appears to have kept the good stuff to themselves which is evidenced by how Microsoft Smartphones and Nokia Smartphones (with either MFE or RoadSync) perform differently. The Nokia solution is simply OK for the job. Meanwhile, I’m either better off owning Windows Mobile or getting a BlackBerry Handheld.

Oh.. and then there’s Nokia Mail – it’s supposed to be some form of BlackBerry BIS alternative. I’ve got the latest and greatest from Nokia – the E71 yet the mail application runs like shit. It’s slow, it sometimes doesn’t work (usually due to an outage on the Nokia network) and it’s basically a glorified Nokia Intellisync client. Speaking of Intellisync, Nokia likely wants you to throw out your BES and install the Intellisync server to get ‘BlackBerry like’ functionality.

So, if EVERYBODY is able to throw out current infrastructure, perhaps Nokia will be able to ‘make email a mass-market proposition for everybody’. While you’re at it, murder your family too since the prescribed Nokia solution will replace them. It’s the Nokia way. Yay Nokia.

Recently, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase the North American E71-2 which can take advantage of high-speed 3G internet here in Canada. I was impressed but I also noticed some interesting differences between the first phone I got and the second one. Apparently, the E71-2 I received has an additional feature – quickdial. On the standby screen, you can start typing your intended victim’s name and voila – the E71-2 will try to discern who you’re trying to reach and wil pop up a list of potential callees. No such luck with the E71-1. This, of course, is pre-firmware upgrade. I’ll report once I actually get to that.

For reference, my E71-1 bears a product ID of RM-346. The E71-2 bears a product ID of RM-357. Other than that, they’re both firmware 100.07.76 dated 08-06-2008.

BTW – I also discovered a new shortcut for the phone. If you want to toggle between predictive text and standard entry, hit ALT then press CTRL then hit SPACE. If you’re looking for other shortcuts, check out the E71fanatics page on the topic, HERE.

The graphical user interface (GUI) for Fedora worked properly – no real issues but the console, while booting would always be garbled as follows:

Garbled Fedora Text Mode

Apparently this issue is caused by the boot loader, GRUB, which displays a splash screen and changes the console from a text console to a framebuffer console.

Well, with the bloat of the GUI, we decided to disable it, setting the server to boot to runlevel 3 (text mode, only) as opposed to runlevel 5 which boots the GUI. For some time, I was patient with the use of SSH via VPN into the back-end of the server. After a fatal error (and subsequent restor from backup) after a botched YUM update, I decided console access was important.

In my research, I came accross numerous dead threads save for one, HERE. Well, after one small change to the GRUB menu, we have the original console back thanks to a user called ‘SaGS.’

No need to reinstall, try the following:

At the GRUB screen, press a key to cancel the timeout, and edit the kernel command line to add the option ‘fbcon=map:9’. Then boot. This gives you a usable text console.

Once booted in text mode, you can edit 2 essential config files.

One is /boot/grub/menu.lst, where you add kernel options ‘fbcon=map:9 i8042.noloop psmouse.proto=imps clocksource=pit’ (the 1st restores your text console, the 2nd makes the mouse functional, the 3rd allows using the mouse wheel, the 4th is for timekeeping, it’s absence sometimes even produces weird effects like repeating keys or lockouts).

The other file is /etc/X11/xorg.conf, where you change the driver from s3 to vesa. Some people keep the s3 driver, but change the colour depth from 24 to 16. The vesa driver works correctly with both 16 and 24bpp, so it’s more flexible.

You may also need to change the initial runlevel to boot directly to the GUI interface (a text-mode install sets it to 3, right?).

So, now our menu.lst file looks similar to:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (kernel)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-(kernel)  ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet noreplace-paravirt fbcon=map:9 i8042.noloop psmouse.proto=imps clocksource=pit
initrd /initrd-(kernel)

Cheers to anyone who finds this useful as we did.