Windows 10 and AMD laptop display drivers

So far Windows 10 is pretty cool.  There are some privacy concerns, but aside from that, it works pretty well.

That is except for the display drivers on my AMD A10 laptop.  But here's how to fix it:

I recommend downloading the most current Catalyst Control Center / drivers from AMD first.

Settings - System - Display - Advanced Display Settings - Display Adapter Properties - Adapter - Properties - Driver - Update Driver

This took a couple minutes to run and install, despite having the latest Catalyst Control Center installed.

Then, back in normal Windows control panel, go to the Device Manager.  My Monitor was called out as being a DISABLED Generic PnP Monitor.  So enable it on the driver page and bingo!  Brightness controls are back!!

Whew, so much for simplified settings controls for Windows 10.  I find that any heavy lifting still has to be done through the older style control panel.

Backing up Windows Home Server 2011

I tried to backup my entire WHS11 to a large external hard drive and found out that backing up to a drive over 2TB is against the rules!

So, a little research later I found this: https://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/c0c0ecb1-7d48-4eb7-8c7f-7abea3794328/client-backups-and-server-backups-over-2tb

Long story short, add a QWORD to the registry in the following place:

To remove the 2TB limit in the backup wizard. 
HKLocalMachine\Software\Microsoft\Windows Server\Server Backup
QWORD MaxVolumeSize = n
N is some number larger than your volume size. 2TB is 0x1FDFFE00000 or 2190431223808 bytes

I used 21904312238080, so that should be good for a 20ish gig drive.

I don't know if it works yet, but I got farther than I did before.  WHS let me setup and begin the backup.  It's running now.  With any luck it should complete successfully, we'll see.

I don't get that if this was identified all the way back in 2011, why do I have to modify my registry in 2015.  Kind of like how WHS2011 still needs the UEFI hotfix run manually.  Can't this be a windows update?

Google-less Update

Almost a month in, and I'm hanging in there. Getting a little antsy for updates. I miss a few things, mostly remote desktop and hangouts.

Updating my contacts is a multi step, multi device process. I'll try to sideload some new apps this week, and maybe update CM (though I read some people had issues with the 3/3/14 nightly build).

We'll see how much longer I can last.

I think the phone is definitely more responsive without all that Google junk on there bogging it down. It's still super snappy.

Life Without GAPPS - or - Android without Google Play Services

I'm giving it a shot.  We'll see how it goes.  A whole day into it now and it's only minorly inconvenient.

That's right, I'm running an android phone without a Google presence.

No Gapps, no Play store, no Google Play Services, no Google Account.

To be more specific, I'm running a nightly build of Cyanogenmod CM12 (Android 5.0.2 [Lollipop]) for the Nexus 4.  It's stable and relatively bug free.

In CM 11, I could use Privacy Guard to turn off some of the Google annoyances.  But so far in CM12, blocking location reporting to the Play store, or disabling even the smallest privilege to Play Services causes it to force-close uncontrollably.

I'm just getting tired of the Play store and Play Services waking my phone literally HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TIMES.  The same with my location.  There is absolutely no reason for the Play Store to query my exact location on the planet HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TIMES.  I'm not exaggerating.  This is not hyperbole.  That's how close of an eye Google is keeping on you.

So I'm doing something about it.

I switched from:
Browser: Chrome to Firefox
App Store: Play to Amazon and F-Droid
Email: Gmail app to IMAP email app
Maps: Google Maps to Sideloaded Google Maps (not attached to my Google account)
Messaging: Hangouts to built in Messaging app
Calendar: Google Calendar to GooCal (a few bucks from the Amazon App Store)
Contacts: Google Contacts to vCard export (my contacts change little enough to not be synced)

As you can see, I'm still using Google services.  I haven't cut that cord and probably won't.

But I'm probably less monitizable and trackable.

The biggest thing I'm going to miss (in order of pining):

• Chrome Remote Desktop
• Hangouts
• Google Maps linked to my account
• Google Music
• Google Keep
• Probably some other stuff that hasn't come up yet

These Google apps run fine without Google Play Services (albeit without account integration)

• Chrome
• Google Maps
• Nest (no Google account necessary)

I can always run some of the stuff I miss in a browser anyway.  Also, I'll probably start leaning on Microsoft services more since they've (finally) got their act together in a good way.  We'll see how long I last, and if I go back.

Windows Media Center

Windows Media Center is a mystical mysterious mystery.  It barely exists.  It's hiding, laying in wait on all Windows 7 computers.

All you need is:

• A reasonable, used even, quad core PC
• 4 Gig of RAM minimum
• 1 TB of disc minimum
• 1 TV tuner minimum, official support for 4
• 1 Antenna, higher in the air the better
• Some type of remote

You'll also need a bunch of wires, depending on your setup

• VGA or HDMI to your HDTV
• Audio if necessary
• Coax for the antenna, preferably RG6 for less signal loss
• Network cables

All this stuff may cost a couple hundred dollars if you're starting from scratch.  But how much to you pay for cable per month?  Though lots more people have dropped cable.  It's fun in any event.  Does take some maintenance, but it runs WAY better for watching live or recorded TV than any third party program I've ever used.

The software setup can be a little tricky, but that's for another day.

Kindle Fire CM11

Amazon finally allows prime video streaming on a standard android device! I'm pumped!

That means that I can run CM11 M10 on my first generation Kindle Fire with impunity!

I might still be a little restricted with the Kindle lending library, but most of those books aren't that great. It was the streaming video keeping me on MoDaCo.

Part of the problem with that setup was that it looked like the stock carousel rom, was still a little locked down. Also, it couldn't run Chrome. Also, also, it would crash sometimes because I had an old dual boot FireFireFire bootloader and TWRP recovery on there that would wakelock my battery into oblivion.

So now, it's a fresh start, I redid the thing right. From the ground up! It's awesome so far!

Though I did have to sideload an older version of Chrome due to some recently developed bug.

Windows Home Server 2011 and Windows 8

Getting my windows 8.1 laptop to backup to the WHS11 computer was a puzzle.  It turns out that the solution is a two parter:

1. Apply this hotfix to the Windows Home Server 2011: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2781272/en-us

2. Enable all ".NET Framework 3.5" options in the "Turn Windows Features On or Off" on the client PC

Probably restart everything and tada!  Enjoy all the things!  Because "all the things" is a catchy phrase right now.