VM - Back to the plan

I now have a pair of Windows 10 VM's ("Insider Preview" - Build 10041, aka "Palisades"; and "Technical Preview" - Build 10074, aka - "Englewood") loaded and running along with two identical Linux VM's (Ubunutu 14.x).

 
While the Linux VM's will probably be on the back burner for now, I would like to have one of these act as a utility machine for external IP reporting to be used when I am remote (more on this plan later).

Back on the Windows plan, a set of standard apps will be installed onto Palisades and an attempt will be made to live inside Windows 10 (via RDP) this coming week, including connections to my work VM Desktop. The short list of apps:

• Citrix Receiver
• Firefox
• Thunderbird
• Adobe Reader
• Paint Shop Pro
• Office 2007
• Skype
• Host machine access (USB port replicator; External backup drive)
• HP OfficeJet printer

Before this is usable, I need to add more than the 4GB of memory to my ESX box. I think I can push this to at least 16GB. This server may be underpowered as far as the CPU is concerned (pretty old Dell Optiplex 780) but memory first.


Netscaler Appliance

As an aside, I also loaded  a Netsclaer VPX VM to play with. Just one more thank on my list.....

Vintage Audio - Preamp Recon #1

As with all vintage electronic equipment, the capacitors are most likely bad and require replacement. This equipment will be no different, with a number of paper, plastic, film, and electrolytic caps in each component.

Since I have a factory schematic for the Power Amp, all of those caps have been cataloged and some replacements have even been ordered.


On to the Preamp

From those initial pictures and the live view, some kind of mold had been growing on the front panels. After removing the electronics from its wood enclosure, I figured out how to separate the front panel from the chassis by removing the knobs and the chassis screws.

Similar to the power amp, the internal electronics is in fairly good condition since the housing was sealed tightly. Below is the top view. Notice the dust on the 3 tubes on the left (these are exposed in the rear of the unit).

Bottom view shows more of the wiring.

Next is the front view exposing the control shafts. On the bottom left is one of those capacitors that needs to go. Check out that rectifier (in blue): that is a classic!

Finally, the rear view showing the input/output connectors and the 3 tubes.

Notice the plastic container holding up the preamp...this is where I put the filthy knobs. After a failed attempt at trying to remove the white mold-like "substance" from the knobs with water and a toothbrush, I determined that a good soaking or more industrial cleaning would be needed.

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With no wiring diagram to follow, it will take some time to "Reverse engineer" the wiring and put it into a schematic. This is something I did often back in the olden days when I was a Ham Radio guy and was always trying to understand circuits from existing equipment. Don't worry, once complete, I will post it here so you can build your own!!

Windows 10 Preview

After getting VMware ESXi 6.0 installed and configured, I placed the server in my dining room with only the network connection to my router (Headless). With the vSphere client installed on my laptop, I can access the console of ESX easily.

Once Win10 Build 10041 (named "Palisades") ISO was downloaded, the ISO was uploaded to the storage on ESX and two VM's were created and built (seen above). As of today, the first VM has been upgraded to Win10 Build 10074 (now called "Englewood") and the Citrix Receiver is installed to allow access to my VM's at work.


Here is a screenshot of Englewood via RDP:

It took some googling but VMware Tools is now installed on Englewood, which speeds up video, keyboard, and mouse response. Next will be to install some additional apps and attempt to use this as my primary.

Palisades will be updated to the next build once it comes out, but I need to start reading the release notes to understand what is being fixed.