MESSAGE BOARD

IBM Lotus Domino vs Microsoft Exchange

I wanted to share that we are in the middle of a migration from Exchange to
Lotus Domino. I am amazed of the difference in cost. The Lotus product licenses
are so much easier to understand and are significantly cheaper. I would also
like to mention for those of you looking at each platform that we always had to
hire consultants to do Exchange upgrades but with Domino, its so easy. We were
able to do them ourselves. This also was a money saver.

Karen, PCQuest.com

The memory hole puzzle

A 32-bit OS can access  4 GB RAM but Intel machines having 4GB RAM show only
3 gigs as usable when you see sys info by right clicking on Computer whereas AMD
shows 3.5 gigs. No memory is shared for graphics. I went to a HP showroom
recently and when I asked the same to the salesman, he said, 32bit OS can use
3GB memory. If he is correct, then how does AMD running the same OS use 3.5GB?

Atavistic, PCQ Forum

pp_pcq, PCQ Forum:  You are correct about 4GB RAM.
Yes, "most" 32-bit OSs can access up to 4GB of RAM, Windows XP for example can,
and so can Windows Vista. There are a few though, which can't, because of
artificial limits set by Microsoft, like Windows 7 Starter (limited to 2GB), or
Windows XP & Vista Starter (limited to 512MB and 1GB).So, what happened to the
rest of memory from 4GB and why are you only seeing 3.5GB? That's because, other
devices (your IO stuff) like video cards, BIOS are using some of that space,
often referred to as a memory hole.

Remember, it ain't a Windows issue, it's an x86
architecture issue. So, if you need to use all that 4GB, you need to use a
64-bit OS and a BIOS, which is  64-bit capable (which basically removes the
memory hole), or just get yourself 3GB.  In either case, if you are using more
than 2GB of memory, it's always advisable to get yourself a 64-bit OS.

Moving to 64-bit OS

My system specs is as follows;, Intel Core2Duo with DG965RY MB and 2 x 1GB
DDR2/800MHz populated symmetrically on one pair of DIMM channel. I want to know
what precisely causes and contributes to the Memory Hole? My PC's hardware
profile/properties shows 1.97GB RAM (instead of 2GB). I don't have a separate
graphics/ video cards. Will adding 2GB more be useful? Can this hardware
support 64-bit OSes, in FOSS, if not Windows based systems?

NSK8700, PCQ Forum

vinod_unny, PCQ forum: For your first question,
please refer to the answer given by pp_pcq in the previous query. For your
second question, a Core2Duo, Pentium-D and above are all 64-bit capable CPUs.
You will need a 64-bit OS like Windows XP/Vista/7/20 03/2008(R2) x64 version to
take advantage of this. You will also need to use 64-bit software on the OS to
get full advantage. For example, 64-bit SQL Server, Office 2010, WinRAR etc.
will  show massive performance boosts.

Right Wi-Fi for my campus

We are planning to implement a campus wide Wi-Fi network for an engineering
college. Can you suggest a suitable brand & model number to go for? It must be
802.11b/g compatible (PowerOverEthernet) & must have security features like -
MAC Filtering,WPA+WEP etc.

gnunifier, PCQ Forum

PCQ Edit: There are Wi-Fi access points available
from D-Link and Cisco. Number of APs and model number will depend upon how big
is your campus, and how many users are expected to use the Wi-Fi network?

Modem teaming & bonding

Can you  advise me how to club/bond two Reliance data cards on same PC to
givehigher speed?

kasimani, PCQ Forum

Amrit22, PCQ forum: Yes this can be done, but I am not sure
in your case. Basically there are two techniques; one is modem teaming and other
is modem bonding. Modem teaming splits the download into two parts and sends
each part over a different modem. Thus, teaming is not good for streaming or
isochronous media. Modem teaming differs from modem bonding (channel bonding),
in which the same stream is multiplexed over two modems. Increasing transmission
speed by spreading the data over two or more lines. Bonded analog modems use two
analog telephone lines to double transmission capacity, splitting data into two
streams of 56 Kbps.

 In addition, if one modem fails, the transmission
continues with the other modem. This "dual analog" method, also known as "modem
bonding," uses the Multilink PPP protocol and must be supported by the ISP.

Windows permission mgmt

I need help  to set DACL on removable drives like USB mass storage device
using SetSecurityInfo in VB.NET or C#?

bharath145, PCQ Forum

pp_pcq, PCQ forum: Please refer to the following
link for our answer: http://tinyurl.com/ygfqkef

Getting Zimbra to work

A company wants to run Zimbra Collaboration Suite 6.0 (OpenSource Edition)
on own premises with dedicated server, static IP & leased line. Just want to
know how to get  it working? (I know it needs DNS server with valid FQDN

 + MX Records). What else should be done & what security
precautions need to be taken to run ZCS on-site? The mail server will be used in
a college campus, by  students, faculties & administrative persons.

gnunifier, PCQ Forum

PCQ Edit: Suggest you  go through the following two
articles that we've covered in PCQuest on Zimbra:
http://tinyurl.com/yldlsrs http://tinyurl.com/yzup83m

Solving abrupt system hangs

A friend of mine is using an assembled system with config - P4 2.4GHz, Intel
original 845GVSR, 160GB PATA HDD, 512MB DDR1 RAM. I have installed CentOS
5.2,Ubuntu 9.04/9.10,Fedora 12 on the system. The system hangs abruptly. I have
tried with new HDD,changed IDE cables,  the RAM Sticks, SMPS,   and the
motherboard. Only thing constant is the processor. But the problem seems to
remain thesame. However, same distros work fine on other systems. I think it's a
hardware problem. What do you think?

gnunifier, PCQ Forum

pp_pcq, PCQ forum: Does it hang randomly, or after a
certain time duration, or when you run some program? Does the keyboard freeze as
well? Linux logs all current messages to /var/log/messages and that's where I
would look first. Most common culprits for Linux hangs are ACPI, or power
management. Did you get the same brand/motherboard? You might be hitting a BIOS
bug.

I have changed a Intel Original 845GVSR with Zebronics
Intel 845 chipset board, but experienced a crash today 9:31am.When it hangs, the
keyboard also freezes, cant go to any text terminals. I have also changed the
IDE cable for HDD. /var/log/messages & other files are empty (am i missing some
services, which are not running to log??)

gnunifier on PCQ forum