A True Workaround For My Games

 When we last posted, there were no clear workarounds for my gaming dilemma. Well, sevral days later, I couldn't get my laptop to read a CD that I had burned myself about a year ago. Alas, I was thinking my optical drive had lunched itself. I was right.

It was cheap enough so I ordered a replacement drive from Amazon the seller was ECOMPUTER SYS. Took all of 10 minutes to change out the drive and put my bezel on it. Now I was able to install a program that would not read in my old drive. I'm happy, $33.00 USD later.

That's all for now,

Kel

New Chapter of "Scribe" and My DRM Workaround Failure

 To begin with, here's the new chapter of "Scribe" for your reading pleasure. We all hope things are falling together for Jeffrey and Na'Krista but you know how that goes . . .

"Chapter 41of Scribe"

So the DRM workaround, using VirtualBox on Windows 10 and in that box, Win XP Pro SP3 to run my games. Well, all was fine and dandy until the Virtualbox version of Windows went "POOF" so when it booted, it took down the whole computer. Might have been something in configuration but I'll be darned if I could figure it out. Now I'm messing around with Ubuntu 20.04 and Wine to run these games but I believe one issue I'm having is a failing CD/DVD-RW internal drive.

When the drive starts reading a disk that it can read, it spins at top speed constantly. Firmware upgrade did nothing for it. If it can't read the disk, is just stops trying after a few attempts. Sometimes, it just keeps trying forever, even making it hard to get the disk out.

So, if any of you have any answers on this, leave it in the comments section below.

That's all for now,

Kel

My Workaround For DRM Game Issues

 I had mentioned in a previous post about having issues with DRM on Windows 10. Well, I found a workaround that works well. VirtualBox and Windows XP Pro SP3. So yeah, it's not supported anymore but it works. In fact Windows XP Pro runs like a scalded dog on a 2.5Ghz machine.

To do this, first install VirtualBox. I used the one from Oracle and it works just fine. I then downloaded a Windows .iso that I installed on VirtualBox. That install (guest) will read the CD/DVD drive and a USB stick so software installs are a snap. XP Pro running on the right display, 800 x 600 at 150% scaling. Looks better than the old CTR tube displays of yesteryear.

 

So far, I've not had any problems with the install and I also loaded Linux Mint-Cinnamon 20 and Ubuntu 20.04 as virtual machines. The Linux Mint runs very smoothly but the Ubuntu has issues. I might want to try Ubuntu 18 to see if it runs any better. Have not been able to install Wine on either distro due to not giving them enough 'virtual' hdd space.

To load the USB stick with an .iso, I have been using Rufus portable 3.12 for the loader. There are numerous sites on the Intarwebs to tell you how to do the deed and the one YouTube video that shows how to load XP Pro has a link to an .iso and the key for it.

Well, that's all for now.

Kel

The Aftermath of The Upgrade

 The upgrade was completed but there was some confusion as to which verion was being installed. It turns out it was version 1909 that was dropped on my new SSD hard drive. Yeah. Not what I was expecting but ya know, it works. All except running games, that is.

It would seem Windows 10 considers Secure Loc and other types of DRM on CD/DVD not secure, a major security hole. As if Edge isn't? Anyway, going to try to install VirtualBox, then Linux Mint-Cinnamon with Wine + DirectX 9 and see if I can run a few games under a Virtual Machine. Man, this has really been an eye-opener as I have two productivity pieces of software that are now obsolete and a number of games that will not run under Windows 10 build 1909.

Still  would like the Linux Mint to get used to running a *unix type program again. That's for the day the 'tards at Redmond, Washington decide to stick their hands out, telling me Windows is now a subscription based product. Get my drift?

Anyway, that's all for now.

Kel

Window$ 10 Ver 20H2 Update

 You will remember that update I performed on my Dell 17R N7110 laptop. Well, it took about 8 (eight!) hours to get through the update without any torn out hair or thrown heavy objects.  The upgrade did get rid of the restarting problem but you know what? It's no faster than it was to begin with.

So, what does that mean? That means I will have to buy a new drive, probably a 1Tb SSD and shove it home. That also means it will be a clean install, which should be faster to boot than ever before. I hope.

Anyway, been fooling around with Ubuntu 19.04.3 LTS for a while, I'm trying to get it to run on a 16Gb USB stick with persistence so the programs Iinstall are available from any computer Irun that stick on. We shall see.

That's it for now, be safe.

Kel

Windows 10 Update 20H2

 So, I decided to do an update for my Windows 10 powered Dell 17R laptop. Probably not the wisest thing to do but I thought it might get rid of a few niggling problems with it. Such as restarting instead of shutting down like it should. I'm sure the problem was a hung update becasue on occasion it would act as if it were configuring an update. Well, if things don't get any better, iI'll put a new SSD in it and reinstall some operating system like Ubuntu. Good thing my tablet works for doing my blog. The Dell has been working on this update for four hours now. It might finish soon, though. We will see.

Anyway, I'll let y'all know tomorrow what comes of the update.

Kel

Some Rambling Thoughts

 I'm still working on the site to a degree, kind of torn as to deleting the "news" section from the index page. That's what this blog section was for so, if it stays, not sure right now.

The weather has turned here in Central Indiana so that means no more guitar painting until spring. That's a bad thing, since I have a guitar kit arriving in a few days. Guess that one will have to wait until Spring for color.

I did finish the kitchen cabinet installation by adding a bracket up top and using a method to get the screws further into the wall. The cabinet seems secure now. That means it's on to another project.

That's it for now, 

Kel