The practice tests really kicked my ass and the actual exam wasn't easy either, so I didn't think that I would pass.  Test King is the bomb - I should have bought their study materials sooner.  I would recommend them to just about anybody who's already familiar with an exam's subject material.  The only hassle is the slightly buggy Java-based test engine.  (It would also be nice if they gave up the PDFs for their study materials, but I understand why they don't.  Will have to remember to hack the iPad viewer to allow me to print to PDF or MDI.)

The manual is titled Prosecuting Computer Crimes.

My Windows Vista Business Edition upgrade DVD arrived with my latest Action Pack shipment.  I've been looking forward to Vista primarily for its user interface improvements (love the new Start menu), promises of performance gains (e.g., boot-time speed-ups), and updated tablet PC support (better handwriting recognition, performance fixes, etc).  I tried it out on a Dell Latitude D410, because I had too much stuff sitting on my tablet that needed to be backed up.  Of course, the laptop's video card precluded the new Aero interface, but I don't care a lot about Mac-like eye candy.

On Wednesday, I re-installed Windows XP on the laptop.  Several of the applications on which I depend for work either malfunctioned (VCON vPoint HD could send audio/video but not receive) or crashed (the Cisco VPN Client would stop responding, then blue-screen Vista upon shutdown/reboot).  I spent an excessive amount of time searching for updated Bluetooth drivers, DVD playing software, and so forth, and I was unable to find compatible drivers for my old IBM webcam (which I replaced) and my PC5740 EVDO wireless card (though Smith Micro says that updated drivers should be available some time in the next few months).  (I also had to upgrade several older applications and utilities, including anti-virus software, but that's to be expected.)

I'm also not as impressed with the user interface.  The new Start menu is about the only thing that I like.  The rest of the navigation and UI changes make me feel like I'm in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.  For example, the Control Panel offers a lot of different functionality, but it feels very cluttered to me.  Folder views were also unnecessarily complicated.  I like the basic "list" and "details/sort by name/arrange in groups" views in Windows 2000, XP, and 2003, but re-creating them in Vista took a little too much fiddling (and even then, the "arrange in groups" views didn't quite do what I wanted).  I can tell that I've been using Plone for too long, because I have been thinking about a file system browser where a savvy user could code up various custom views as page templates in DTML or TAL.  :)

If I didn't depend on this laptop for work, I probably would have stuck with it - UI bloat included.  As it is, I think that I'll wait at least until the summer before revisiting Vista.  I didn't expect so many significant compatibility problems, given my generally positive experience during the Windows 2000-to-XP transition.  I might give Vista another try sooner, assuming I can find time to image my tablet.  I am really, REALLY interested in the new Tablet PC features, but my tablet has even more arcane hardware than the Dell Lattitude (e.g., a fingerprint sensor, the digitizer).  I'm not looking forward to the inevitable device driver hunt.  :(

OpenWRT uses dnsmasq for its DHCP server, by default.  Assuming that you've already made the necessary firewall changes, OpenVPN configuration, etc., you can instruct your PXE clients to download Microsoft's RIS client software by adding the following line to /etc/dnsmasq.conf:

dhcp-boot=\OSChooser\i386\startrom.com,<SERVERNAME>,<IPADDRESS>

where <SERVERNAME> is the fully-qualified domain name of your RIS server, and <IPADDRESS> is the IPv4 address of the RIS server (which seems to be required for some unknown reason).  This is no different than booting any other PXE client via TFTP, where you would specify the file to be downloaded, the TFTP server name, and the TFTP server address.

(The documentation that I reviewed mentioned DHCP options 60, 66, and 67, but my attempts to configure dnsmasq using these options failed when the client tried to contact the ProxyDHCP service on port 4011.)

An actual RIS installation from a remote site is pretty slow, but that's to be expected.

In addition to the customary suggestions for alleviating jet lag (i.e., drink lots of water, avoid alcohol), I'm trying out the following:

• Sleep early in my flight and force myself to stay awake after about 9:00 AM (in my destination's time zone).
• Rigorously use sleeping aids while in country, instead of trying to tough it out.  Over-the-counter Sominex works just as well as prescription Ambien, in my experience.
• Use light exposure in order to update my body clock (see also http://www.bodyclock.com/, http://www.circadian.co.jp/midnightsun/).

The idea of seeking out light during specific times is an interesting one.  The Midnight Sun applet has a graphical display that is a little confusing, so be sure to click the "Get Jetlag Advice" button for written instructions.  And so far, so good.  Even though I was woken up by two calls last night, I went right back to sleep after each, and I even overslept my wake-up alarm.  I'm going to caffeinate myself this afternoon and try to make it to 9 or 10 PM before going to bed.