Firstly (this is more for the event the laptop ends up going to someone else) I ran the create recovery media wizard so it can if needs be get back to it’s factory installed state. You ought to do this too just in case.

Second, completely wiped the harddisk by deleting all the partitions, creating a new one and formatting. Quickest way to accomplish this is with a good boot disc – I used the Ultimate Boot CD for this.

First problem – XP isn’t going to recognise the hard disk controller as it’s not in it’s driver section. You could go for the F6 option during the XP install and load the drivers from a floppy disc, but of course this machine doesn’t have a floppy and I’m not about to buy a piece of 90′s hardware to fix this 2010 machine. Find your driver then slipstream your XP installation disc using nLite. It’s not nearly as hard as it sounds, and nLite is a free download. You’ll just need access to a machine running Windows, your Windows Disc, a copy of your Drive Controller Driver and a blank CD.

Then you can install XP. On a side note, I installed XP Pro using OEM media, but the license key from my old VAIO that this one replaced. Didn’t seem to cause any issue at all, and activated online without a hitch. Once you’re up & running you’ll need to find drivers for all the hardware so you end up with a device manager that looks like mine does:

Everything as it should be. Wireless networking, ethernet, bluetooth, camera, media keys, card reader etc all functioning. It’s a pig of a job to find drivers that will work though, so be warned. Here are some links that may, or may not help:

Modding ATI Catalyst. Basically, you probably won’t get the right driver from ATI for a laptop – they will tell you to go to your Laptop Manufacturer (Sony in my case). Sony haven’t made an XP driver for any of my hardware as they don’t support it, so modding the Catalyst is the only option. It works and it’s free.

Sony Vaio FTP Driver Archive. Basically, Sony may not have written XP drivers for my machine, but they have for plenty of others and the hardware in them is all the same stuff. I just used drivers from similar models.

HP (for the Ricoh Card Reader) This was the last one I had trouble locating. In device manager it was simply listed as “Base System Device” so finding out what it actually was was the first trick before I could start trying to find a driver.

There are other places on the web purporting to have XP drivers for Sony VAIOs, but treat them with caution and virus scan anything and everything you download.

Good luck.

This didn’t help.

Turns out that whoever had filled it last had allowed to bottom sheet of the ream they inserted to curl over the sensor at the front of the tray. The only way to see this is to remove all the paper from the tray. To fix it, just refill the tray PROPERLY.

The best way to stop this from happening is probably to stop people filling the paper trays and just do it yourself. This little mystery cost me 20 minutes whereas just refilling the printer myself (I tend to do it properly!) would have taken a few seconds.

Cool!

Oddly, I didn’t want it because I want to use it away from home (although the option is now a practical one if I do). I just wanted to save space and boy does this ever fit the bill. Looks cool too. Get one.

One word of caution – doesn’t work well with VPN – still working on that.

The “others” are a collection of scientists (this won’t surprise anyone watching). My conclusion is that they’re working on the idea of a utopian dream on the Island with a view that OFF the Island mankind is doomed (for whatever reason – I damn well hope it’s not going to be carbon emissions since that particular debacle has been shown for the fallacy it is). They’ve been trying to understand the Island’s seemingly magical properties, but ran into a major snag when it turned out the Island won’t allow conception of children to take place within It’s boundaries. Hence the need for Juliana to join them to “fix” the conception issue. They “replaced” the Dharma corporation who left the island having “run out of money” (more support for capitalism).

The “others” have been stealing children as a reaction to the fact they cannot conceive safely (or more importantly, effectively).

The “others” cannot tolerate the plane crash victims because they are not “perfect”. IE the plane crash crowd contains psychotics, killers, criminals, conmen etc. In a brave new world these characters are removed from society, hence the “others” intolerence of them. The “irony” being that the “others” by necessicty have to become killers themselves in order to protect their dream of utopia and in that process become that which they most despise.

The conclusion is going to be a pretty good endorsement of capitalism. The utopian dream will fail (utopia is not part of the ideals of capitalism – capitalism is about the few controlling the many, whereas in a Utopia democracy really exists – despite what the supporters of capitalism may say – a capitalist, like the “others” will tell you what they want you to hear). Not only that, but the opposer’s of the dream will also fail. The winner will be the company that funds the scientists on the island. Corporate power is shown to be the true and lasting strength in the modern world (let’s not forget ABC is a corporation!). In the end we will be given a typical “American” response extolling the virtues of “Freedom” and “Tolerance” whereby the likes of James (the conman), Kate (the murderer) and Said (the torturer) are shown to have a good side and ultimately the ability to contribute to Society. The tongue in cheek aspect being that the corporations that control America outwardly support such ideals, while in practise have little or no interest in them.

Just as a footnote, no, I am not a Communist. I’m certainly not a Capitalist. If you understand the term Socialist as being someone who believes we all make society the way it is, and have a responsibility to understand that our own actions to affect the lives of others, then by all means label me as such.