Emergency Backup Power for the Shack

I am currently working on a backup battery system for the shack. I have been looking at many different ways to do this. I am planning on running most of the equipment on 12v dc. I am looking to start with some batteries and an inverter/charger. I would like to get solar working in the future. One thing I have found in researching this, is that there is a lot of information out there, but it can be confusing. If I can get this all working, it would give me a complete station that could be run without power coming into the shack. I am also looking at some generator options also. Stay tuned for more. 73

Windows XP Dying?

Every where I look I see an article talking about Windows XP dying. Could this be true? How could it be true? I have been working with Ubuntu and Windows 7 lately, but I still have some machines running XP. These computers will probably run XP till I can no longer keep the computer alive. This is because they are not really fast enough to use windows 7. These machines are also running radios and radio software, thus I do not have to worry to much about them getting sick with a virus or even a cold. So I guess until I get some faster machines to run the other day to day computing Windows XP will live on in my shack. So I guess Windows XP is not really dying, but a group of people are trying to help it die faster.