LAPTOP i7

Ditching Ubuntu 64 bit

Since upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit my PC became unstable. Most of the time it was just innconveinent minor things. The clock on the top panel wouldnt display properly. However occasionally the whole PC would freeze. Especially when under a heavy work load. Couple this with the fact that Adobe Flash and Adobe Air have never worked to satisfactory degree. I decided it was time to go back to a 32-bit world.

What I had to consider was what I was losing and what I was gaining. My PC has 8GB of RAM. Normally on a 32-bit system 3.75GB is as much as you get. So Id potentially be losing half of my RAM. But that was it. None of the software I use is exclusively 64-bit. Some of it is however exclusively 32-bit and there are ways around the 4GB memory cap in 32-bit operating systems.

What I stood to gain was a simpler installation procedure for my 32-bit only software and a more stable operating system. I use the 32-bit version of Ubuntu 10.04 on my laptop with no problems. So I already knew it was more stable.

To get past the 4GB memory cap, I intended to install the server kernel which has PAE technology enabled by default. However I found this was totally unnecessary. The desktop kernel in Ubuntu 10.04 comes with PAE support.

In the end up I now have a more stable PC. A simpler installation procedure for my 32-bit software. I still get to use 7.9GB of the total 8GB of RAM in my PC. Which is actually an improvement over the 64-bit version of Ubuntu. The PC does however feel a little sluggish at times. Particularly when launching applications. But thats a small price to pay for simplicity and stability.

Digital Persona for Windows 7 64 bits

Many of us have had troubles trying to install correctly a fingerprint reader on a computer. Ill show you all how easy it is and it WILL work fine! Even with Firefox!

1) First UNINSTALL all software and DDK (validity drivers)....

Make sure you also go to Control Panel => Device Manager => Validity Sensor

UNINSTALL the sensor and check "delete the driver software for this device"



2) Then make sure you REBOOT



3) Download and Install Validity drivers from HP

1-sp48509.exe



4) REBOOT AGAIN ... it is important



5) Download Digital Persona ver 4.11.3805 from link below

http://d11tvxmfjhi64o.cloudfront.net/X64/Setup.exe



6) RUN the Setup.exe

When it asks to install driver for finger print reader (the first dialog you get when you run the setup.exe)

DO NOT click INSTALL

Leave the installation window as it is...



7) Open windows explorer by pressing win+E



8) Go to



C:UsersUsername AppDataLocalTemp

click the column "Date Modified" to sort the last modified files first in the list

You will have a folder with {05B54AFA-28C6-4FED-A0E6-3F235641DA1D } <==== EXAMPLE only it will be different on your computer

Go in the folder and you will see some ini files with a file named "fingerprint reader drivers.prq"

open "fingerprint reader drivers.prq" in notepad.exe

Delete all the lines of text in the file "fingerprint reader drivers.prq" and save the empty file.



9) return to Digital Persona setup dialog mentioned in point 6

Now click INSTALL and let it install the software

It will open the same folder again and then continue install...

When it asks to REBOOT click YES



10) After REBOOT the finger print reader is working without a hitch.