Ramblings of Squiggle the Gamer

Heading Towards Windows 7

2009-11-08T17:25:00.001-08:00

I've been ready to ditch vista since I first booted up my aleinware to find 33% of my ram used by a clean and fresh OS. Since that horrifying reality check, Vista has proven itself bloated and buggy at every turn. Its unresponsive when few tasks are running. Tweaking with msconfig and the running services hasn't alleviated the issue. Even reformatting hasn't helped.

Since Windows 7 was announced I've had a chance to try the beta and I was very impressed with the level of detail that had gone into it. Now that Win 7 has been officially released its been enforced by many end users - from common users to techno geeks - and its quickly becoming the de facto operating system for PC's (41% of lifehacker readers report Win 7 is their primary operating system).

Thankfully I have been able to download a full (and legal) version of Windows 7 via Microsoft's MSDN Academic Alliance; which allows participating schools (and their students) to download free Microsoft software. I have to give kudos to Microsoft not only for MSDN, but also for offering copies of Win 7 to students for $30. If I didn't have MSDN I would have jumped on that deal - but being a college student free is better than $30, sorry Microsoft.

At any rate, I'm starting to get all my data backed up in anticipation of the reformat (I plan to format the HD while installing Win 7 so as to get a fresh start on everything).

Just like previous posts, I'll be using this blog as a 'note to self' so I'll be able to quickly get to links for all the programs I'll be installing on the new OS. I'll outline them below so anyone reading can understand what each program does.

_________________________________________________________

Many of these programs can be found on CNETs Windows Starter Kit

Some can also be found on Lifehackers Essential Free Windows Downloads

Most can also be bulk installed via Ninite Bulk Installer
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Firefox
Actually, I'm not sure if I need to say much about this. If your not using firefox go get it. Now. There is no choice involved.
Add ons for firefox: Download Status bar; xMarks; WOT; Tab Mix Plus; Colorful Tabs; 1-Click Youtube Downloader; Flashblock; Stumble Upon and Brief.
Firefox Maybes: FoxyMeter; OPML Support; Site Launcher; Splash; Tweak Network; Fasterfox and Universal Print.

Opera
Though I love firefox dearly, Opera also has a place on my computer. Its a browser just like firefox, but its a very stripped down no hassel browser. That isn't to say you couldnt use it as your primary browser - alot of people do - but it isnt feature packed enough to keep my interest day to day. Its a useful tool to have though.

VLC Player
Its like windows media player - okay its nothing like windows media player. It plays ANY video format (I am yet to find one it wont open) it has all the basic features you'd expect from a video player and it doesn't get in your way.

Open Office
Microsoft really skewed up with the latest version of office. Alot of people have gotten used to it and truth be told I have found it usable after I tweak some of the menus and where this and that is. My biggest issue is: I can get open office, which runs and works perfectly out of the box or I can pay an arm and a leg for office - which works after I fight with it for half a day.

Rainmeter
This nifty little app is something I've been using only recently. It has all the functionality you'd find in Vista Gadgets, Yahoo Widgets and Google Gadgets...and I can get it all running one single program. Rainmeters been around for awhile but it wasn't under active development until recently. In many ways its not a program for the weak hearted, since setting up exactly what you want still requires messing with config files and other such things. Its well on its way to becoming as user friendly as it needs to be (the lastest 1.1 release sports a host of useful features) but its quickly becoming as useful to me as object dock is.

Objectdock
I've reviewed this stardock application before and I cant imagine using a computer without it. It creates an OS X like dock for windows - and after setting it up with my most used shortcuts there's little use for the start menu.

Digsby
I've been a digsby fan for awhile now. I prefer it over pidgen, adium and trillian because Digsby allows me to sign onto my IM accounts, email accounts and social networks all in one application. I'm yet to see this amount of functionality in ANY app. Its a really practical and productive 'hub' for quick access to all my online social accounts.

Myspace im
Sadly, the only thing Digsby does not do that I desperately wish it would is myspace im. I still need to run a separate app to login to the myspace im network.

Play On
This program creates a media server on my computer which lets me stream Hulu, youtube, CBS and other sites to my xbox. This way I can catch TV episodes off Hulu on my TV. This is one of the few paid programs I'll have on my computer - but its been a real joy to have at my disposal.

JCreator LE
A program that makes programming in java easy since it helps color coat the code your typing. You can also have it check your code for errors and you can run your program via JC.

iTunes
Music music MUSIC!
My largest concern with iTunes is moving my library (ratings ,play count and playlists) from one OS to the next.

XFIRE
An im Program specifically for gamers.

Steam
The big brother of computer games. It has alot of uses and advantages - but it tends to become obtrusive. I'll be transferring the game data on a hard drive so I don't re-download the large files. My current game list is: Counter Strike Source; Day of Defeat Source; EVE Online Demo; Half Life 2: Death Match; Trackmania Nations Forever and Left 4 Dead.

Impulse
Stardocks version of Steam for stardock apps. Fences, Objectdock, Logon Studio

Google Chrome
Another browser. I'm not a big fan, but its nice to have around.

Thunderbird
From the same people who create firefox, its an email program (much like outlook). I have it sync with my gMail. Since the email files get stored locally I can search my emails via google desktop easily.

Evernote
Basically, its a digital version of sticky notes. I can text notes to myself and they go straight to this program.

Google Desktop
This will index ALL the files on my computer (text, .doc, PDF, music...ETC) so I can quickly search everything on my computer. The same functionality can be found in the windows search built into the start menu, but I prefer to keep start focused on the programs themselves and use Google desktop for my actual data.

Simplify Media
Lets me stream music to my friends who have simplify media running. All of those who are 'friends' can have access to all my music and visa versa. It doesn't let us transfer files, just listen. Using the iPhone app I can also have access to my entire music library via my iPod (or android phone if they have an app).

Picasa
Awesome photo utility. Its really become useful now that the latest version has facial recognition so I can search my photo library by someones name and get all the pictures of them.

DVD Flick
Useful for burning video on my computer onto a playable DVD.

media Monkey
I find the interface cluttered, so I cant use this media jukebox all the time. Its auto tag feature lets me import metadata from the internet directly into the ID3 tags of my music - which is something iTunes doesn't do.

AVG Free Antivirus
In the past I've had issues with AVG being hoggy, but recent releases have worked really well for me. I use it as my primary antivirus program and ave it running in the background.

Smart Defrag
Vistas defrag was a mess. Smart defrag is a good replacement for windows built in defrag program and it also offers some extra features.

CCleaner
Clears your browsing history, cookies and much more. It pretty much wipes all the data regarding your internet surfing (except bookmarks and such).

EVGA Precision
A utility for my video card, lets me pump up the fan speed so it doesn't overheat.

Speedfan
A utility that lets me monitor the temperature of various parts of my computer.

Spybot S&D
An anti-spyware program. The scan always turns up a tracking cookie or two so its useful to have around.

SuperAntiSpyware
Though this isnt a HUGE name in the antivirus industry, I once had a sticky virus on a friends computer and this program killed it off quick.

uTorrent
A simple, no hassle torrent program. I use it to download linux distributions since I can turn a torrent on and off whereas direct download eats up my bandwidth until it finishes.

CD Art Display
Displays track into (song name, artist, album artwork) on my desktop. Also allows me to control iTunes via keyboard shortcuts.

Gadwin Print Screen
This app starts with my computer and most of the time I never notice its existence even though I use it all the time. It take s a full resolution screen shot of whatever on my screen, auto names it and stores it whenever I hit the 'prt scrn' botton on my keyboard. Its really a useful app to have around. The only features its lacking it automatically tagging photos wit metadata (like the program open, or simply with my name). Even so, its an awesome app.

Keyscrambler
Encrypts what I type into my web browser so any nasty keyloggers get gibberish rather than my credit card number.

7-Zip
Program lets me open all sorts of archive formats (.zip, .rar, ETC)

Active ISO Burner
The only windows ISO burning program I trust.

Verizon Droid

2009-11-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

For me the initial hype about Verizons new Droid phone has subsided. Even so, I still want one pretty badly. Having access to my google calendar and remember the milk in my pocket available to me at all times is just too darn good to pass by.
The more I read reviews (PC Mag, Boy Genious Report) and watch walkthroughs the more I think this phone would be a nifty and productive gadget for me to have. Below are two such video reviews from youtube.

gCal to iPhone

2009-10-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

Though I am anxiously awaiting the release of verizons new Droid phone (based off the google ANDROID 2.0 os) I still use my iPod Touch for quick access to my calendar, social networks (facebook, myspace, twitter) and weather.

Though I can check all this on my computer, its nice to have snappy access to it at my fingertips so I can quickly browse the newest updates without logging in, opening a browser, ETC.

I use google calendar to keep track of all my appointments, my school/work schedule and pretty much anything and everything. Sadly, both Microsoft's outlook and apples iTunes seem to pretty much ignore gCals existence. I know iTunes is a music player - but lets face it, the program transcended that a long time ago. If apple integrated a "wizard" into iTunes to help users set up their iPhone/iPod where they could enter their email info and get access to their contacts, calendars and mail automatically it could give a boost to the kinda-but-not-really-technical people and let them use the device to its full potential. But I digress....

Google has made it fairly easy to access their services on mobile platforms (a winning business strategy it would seem). Google has set up a website to walk users though sync'ing their iPhones directly to their google accounts. This allows users to sync their calendars, contacts and email directly from their handset to the google server - so there is no need for a computer in the equation. The google support page for this feature has step by step instructions that are helpful and straight forward.

My Desktop October 18, 2009

2009-10-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Testing Rainmeter

2009-10-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

Well, most of my afternoon was taken up by downloading the EVE Online trial and trying to figure out how rainmeter works. Rainmeter is a small program that lets users run widgets. There are alot of widget programs out there; from yahoo widgets to google gadgets - with conky, rainmeter, and OS X's dashboard in between. The major difference is that rainmeter is VERY small since it runs on .txt files. The most unfortunate part about it is that theres a major learning curve required before a basic user can start to understand and use rainmeters full potential.

I wont go into more detail right now, but heres a screenshot of my cluttered desktop.

UPDATE:

I've continued playing with Rainmeter this morning. Heres a new screenshot of all the different configs I've found and downloaded. I'm still trying to figure out whats staying and whats going.

9-11-01

2009-09-11T09:53:00.001-07:00

I don't blog about politics or world events much but I feel that 9-11-01 will be considered an important date in history.

I think its important to really look at what happened in the way that it did. We don't need to watch montages set to "Requiem of a Dream" or some heart wrenching sound track, we need to go back and understand how it affected us; how it felt while it was happening.

So Summer is Pretty Much Here

2009-06-10T15:43:00.001-07:00

So Summer is Pretty Much Here, which means its time to overhaul my desktop.

Not that I need an excuse.

Desktop June 10, 2009 by ~squigglethecow on deviant ART

File Sharing News

2009-05-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

Recently alot has been going on in the realm of file sharing. Its always a hot topic but lately it seems to have stolen the spotlight.

On April 17, 2009 four leaders of thepiratebay.org (currently one of the largest torrent sites out there) were sentenced to one year in prison and a $3,620,000 fine each (original news article here)
This verdict has been met with a great deal of hostility by most Internet consumers (even those who do not pirate material) and has even been slammed by content providers. Torrent Freak reports that "Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol...criticized the sentences received by the crew of The Pirate Bay, branding them as “way over the top”. The band’s frontman also says if you’re a file-sharer and you know how to get music for free, “f**king go for it.”

Since then, Charles Nesson, a Harvard Law Professor, has announced that he will be representing Joel Tenenbaum, an accused file sharer, in court and plans to prove that file sharing is "fair use". This defense is far more simplistic than what usually ends up in the courtroom, but in many ways it represents the opinions of people online. I remember a digg article once about a man being caught for selling software he had pirated, and nearly all of the comments expressed happiness that he was being brought to justice. Many commenter's said that even though they themselves used P2P networks to download material, they would never use it for profit. Rather than claim that Mr. Tenenbaum did not steal the material, Mr. Nesson is claiming that he did not necessarily steal it since he did not seek to profit from the material.

On top of that, PC Magazine writer John C. Dvorak brought my attention to another Ars Technica article regarding a study done by the Norwegian School of Management. The study claims to have proven that "illegal music connoisseurs are significantly more likely to purchase music than the average, non-P2P-loving user". So, if true file sharing does not rob the record industry of profits but stimulates profits. Of course, the RIAA are not convinced and it will be interesting to see if this study will inspire others like it.

So its been a very interesting time. On one hand, the legal side of things has gone very badly with the pirate bay (and through them, for file sharing in general) and on the other hand the defense for file sharing seems to have gotten much stronger than it has been in the past.

I'm not sure which side I would like to be victorious. I am not sure how "legalizing" file sharing would affect the entire media industry. Certainly such an extreme ruling would change the entire landscape of things. At the same time, the equally extreme extermination of file sharing does not seem to be the answer. Perhaps the balance is perfect right where it is, perhaps perfection is in the struggle.
Then again, I do not know for sure and I am exited to see how all of this turns out.

My Photography

2009-04-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

I have decided this blog should serve as more of a blog than a constant flow of badly written how to guides; so below a re a few samples of my photography.

I must admit, I am also curious as to weather posting the pictures on here will get them listed in google under my alias.

Please note, these pictures were taken by me and I have the right to post them. If you wish to link to this blog, or to the original submission on my deviantart, please credit me.

For some reason, blogger makes the pictures HUGE even though I set it to 'small image size' when importing. Odd.

Windows 7 Beta: First Impressions

2009-03-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

After the fiasco with my windows MBR earlier I have finally installed Wndows 7 on a clean partition.
I must say....I'm impressed.

Overall the system seems far more responsive, the font and other setup feels a bit blocky whereas OS X and Vista go for a more natural curve sort of look, you can see an example below. I have no preference between the two, both look good in their respective environments.

Microsoft seems to really be open to suggestions (weather or not they adapt them it yet to be seen). At the top of every explorer window there is a little like saying 'Send Feedback' which loads a small program installed with the system. A small window loads with a drop down menu for you to choose what your critiquing, basic ratings (from love to hate) and a comment box.

Right clicking the desktop reviels 3 new options for quickly playing with your resolution, gadgets and wallpaper/color scheme. Out of everything in Win7 the inverted options under the resolution menus have impressed me the most. They do literally what they say they will, they invert the screen. In reality, this is useless to most (probably all) users....but its potential use for April Fools day tricks and such makes up for its lack of usefulness.

The personalization menu comes equipt with ready to go themes with a basic array of backgrounds and a matching window color. Below these selections you can also adjust each setting individually according to your taste.

As you see in the third picture over, you can also choose multiple backgrounds (ctrl + click) and set a timer for them to change. This feature is overdue and a rip off of mac OS X (kinda like the search feature introduced in Vista) but its nice to have around.

Well as much as I could talk about Windows 7 I should stop writing this. Any critiques of my writing would be appreciated, it seems that since I dont write often my skill has diminished. Below are a few pictures of my Windows 7 desktop.

Vista Sucks.....more

2009-03-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

I hate to hate things. Anything. Really I do.

Yet microsofts abomination of an operating system can never let me be happy with it. The other week, upon installing a few updates my MBR went bad.
How? I haven't a clue. So I popped in my recovery CD (not on the actual Vista disk, it is on a separate disk just for alien wear computers) to try to recover the startup options. Once or twice I have had to do this since my ever changing combination of OS's can skrew up my boot record (ie: Grub takes over and doesn't want to leave).

To my unhappiness, Vista gave me an error reading: "Windows cannot repair this computer automatically. If you have recently attached a device to this computer, such as a camera or a portable music player, remove it and restart your computer. If you continue to see this message, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance."

I must admit, I had left my iPod Touch plugged in during this process by accident. Upon detaching the iPod and restarting the computer I got the same error. I then unplugged the computer for a few minutes....
same error.

Then I turned to what used to be the recovery console only to find that in Vista, all the commands that worked in XP do not work for Vista. At that point I decided that Microsoft put the FU back in Fun.

I continued browsing google on my iPod Touch trying to learn the new Vista commands. Apparently they are the same (for example fixboot and fixmbr) but you need to type the directory of them, you cant just type them. Kinda a step backwards I'd say.

After trying multiple commands several times, I gave up and attempted to install a new version of Linux Mint onto some empty partition space in the hopes Grub (the linux bootloader) would somehow allow me onto Vista.

The plan would have worked but when I went down to the Vista entry I received an error about the MBR being corrupt. My best guess is my fiddling with the recovery console commands was the cause of that one.

At around 3 in the morning I finally went to bed an unplugged my computer. When I woke up in the morning I tried the Automatic Recovery again and it repaired the MBR just like it should, and everything worked again.

Today I got the same error and had the same problem (though this time I had not left ANYTHING plugged in, nor did I attempt the recovery commands). I installed Linux Mint on some empty space and the grub bootloader was able to detect Vista and let me boot into it just fine.
While in Vista I installed a program called Easy BCD that allowed me to edit my MBR from within windows.

Finally! Songbird works!

2009-03-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

After trying songbird and being disappointed time after time, they finally make a version that works on my Vista.
Previously, the install would go well and then I was unable to load the program. Ever.

I am yet to try out the add ons (for adding lyrics, recommendations and album art) but thus far I'm just happy the window is up.

I should mention that the program hung for a LONG time before coming up, but once it did it runs fine. Screenshots below.

Operating Systems: In Order of Awesome

2009-02-24T22:55:00.000-08:00

For a school project the other day, I had to type something in word pad.

To add a speck of interesting to the obvious monotony, I typed up a list of Operating Systems ,in the order of awesomeness.

1) OS X Leopard
2) Linux Mint
3) Windows XP
4) Ubuntu
5) OS X Tiger
6) DOS
7) Windows 7
8) Windows Vista

Linux Mint 6 - Windows Installer

2009-02-03T21:18:00.001-08:00

Now that I have got myself all set up with Vista - I seem to be staying put for the better part of the foreseeable future....even though I really hate this operating system.

Recently though gnome do has added a OS X like application tray (gnome do is kinda like launchy for windows) and its gotten alot of attention. Rightfully so I suppose, but I like to use things before I form an opinion.

When I installed Linux Mint on its own partition, I was forced to select windows upon each boot up. This wasnt an issue when linux was my main system, but it became very old when I started switching back to windows.

I know I can adjust the boot ETC ETC but I didnt learn how exactly to do it, and I would rather it be just a basic entry under windows.

Anyway, that coupled with the usuals of creating a partition have turned me off to re-installing linux after I reformated my PC (stupid reasons, I know).

Ubuntu has a installer that runs through windows (called Wubi) that installed it just like it was an application. Performance is supposed to be slightly less but the ease of use will hopefully create more Ubuntu users.

Luckily, the creators of linux mint have included the same thing in their ISO and called it mint4win. Exited to hear about this I mounted my Mint 6 ISO (using magic iso) and tried to burn it. Sadly, the install only got a short way before I encountered an error and had to close it.
My suspicion is that this is due to my using a virtual drive rather than a real one, I'm going to burn and test my theory now.

Until then, here are some screenshots of the install process so far:

Now that I burned the iso to a disk with Active ISO burner it worked fine.

Now off to reboot and mess with things.

iLyrics

2009-01-30T19:49:00.000-08:00

Now that my library's album artwork has been updated (tagged to id3 tags via media monkey) I figured it was time to add lyrics to the mix. Unfortunately, neither iTunes or MediaMonkey have the ability to add lyrics automatically (you have to find them online, copy and paste) which makes managing a large library of music difficult.

A google search for 'Import lyrics to id3 tags) is riddled with questionable apps, luckily I found one named 'iTunes Lyrics Importer' (with a .exe of iLyrics...making it a program with two names) that works exceptionally well.

The program is amazingly straightforward with only two options: Update Automatically and Overwrite. Each does about what you'd expect. Once you select the songs you want to lyricafy (made up word) in iTunes just hit get lyrics and let it go. If you leave overwrite unchecked it wont import lyrics if you have already put them in, and if you don't check the 'automatic' box the program will display the lyrics and have you approve them before it adds them to the files tag.

Importing went quickly with it only taking a few seconds per song (I assume that says more about my internet connection than the program) and on the automatic setting the program kept going even if it didn't find the lyrics to a particular song.

Now that its run I've been checking the lyrics imported, and so far they are all correct. It didn't find the lyrics to ALL of my songs, but the majority now have them.

Myst Masterpiece Edition

2009-01-27T00:05:00.001-08:00

As is apparent: I have this thing for older games. I love the original Sims, Sim City 3000 is the bomb, and EarthSeige is a 2d textured blast from the past. All have been installed and played on my new Vista machine :-D

My most recent nostalgic obsession is Myst. I had a teacher in middle school who would play it while us nerd watched during lunch time (yes, I hung out in the classroom during lunchtime) and though I bought the anniversary edition with the first 4 games, I haven't ever finished any of them.

The install went well, but once I went to play the game all I got was wind noise and a black screen. After browsing through some forums (which are surprisingly active given this game came out in the 90's) I discovered that quicktime was probably the cause (obviously I had tried computability mode and such, which by the way needs to be set to 95). I had to uninstall the quicktime on my computer and repalce it with quicktime 4 off the Myst disk.
After that, the game works well. Xfire wont take screenshots in game, but it registers that I'm playing it.

Reguarding the quicktime solution, my iTunes will not work now. I will keep looking for a more long term fix.

Tweaking Firefox

2009-01-26T17:44:00.000-08:00

Now that I have Vista all set up, I figured it was time to mess with firefox a little bit. Since I have a very spastic low end DSL connection I need as much power out of my browser as I can get.

Most firefox tweaks involve the about:config file which you type into the URL bar to access. There are tons of well written guides out there so I'll just link the ones I used.

Tweak Friefox using Add On Tweak Network

Tweak Firefox using about:config

Fresh Start....again

2009-01-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

As I write this I'm gearing up to reformat my Alienware....again.
This past week Vista has been going steadily downhill. So far, my issues include:

- No access to control panel
- No access to desktop preferences menu
- Multiple windows processes running several instances of themselves (spread to regular programs)
- Password manager cannot keep hold of passwords
- Certain services that connect to the internet are blocked....sometimes, even when they are listed under 'allow'
- Right clicking takes a very long time to pop up
- Windows does not pass validation even though its a legit copy.

This all came at a bad time. I just finished tweaking Vista as well as setting up Thunderbird, Sunbird, Google Desktop, firefox and objectdock, ETC.

......Why didn't I buy a mac?

Vista Sucks

2009-01-19T08:40:00.001-08:00

I cant access my control panel.

The window appears, hangs (no icons) and then closes all by itself.

Tweaking Vista

2009-01-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Though Linux Mint really got my blood going for awhile two major things have caused me to come back to Vista.

1) Songbird (the only music player I think is worth using in Laue of iTunes) wont work.
2) Digsby will not run on wine.

Perhaps at a future time I will go back, but for now I just need my computer to work without hassle (no offense to linux, I just don't have time to overcome the learning curve right now).

So first things first, I got all my programs and shortcuts organized via ObjectDock and the stacks docklet (after using the OS X dock, I find objectdock to be more customizable).

I put my most used programs (Firefox, Digsby, XFire) on top and worked my way down. Rather than put all my applications on the dock, I created a folder in my Documents entitled ' Shortcuts' and organized my shortcuts there. I then linked those folders to objectdock via the stacks docklet so I can easily access specific types of programs from objectdock (ie: games, utilities).

Now that my hsortcuts were organized I had to tweak the system itself. I began with MSCONFIG to disable which programs start up. I turned almost everything off except for AVG, Windows & NVIDIA stuff and Objectdock of course.

Then it was time to turn on the services. Rather than tell you exactly what I did below I'll link you to some great sites I used to guide me. Please note, do NOT EVER turn off a service in the MSCONFIG menu. It will do more than turn it off, it will disable it so it is unable to run AT ALL.
Use the services.msc program to set them to MANUAL. This way, the computer can start them if need be but they will not start automatically.
ie: If you set the iPod service to manual it will run when you plug your iPod in, but will be turned off until you do.

I used Tweak Vista, Tweak Hound and Black Viper to help decide which services to turn on/off.
For some other random tweaks and general advice I would suggest you look at H Enthusiast's 12 Vista Tweaks Guide and Technospots Vista Performance Guide.

Now that I'm dont with that its time to let Steam update my Left 4 Dead so I can finally play it. As much as I love Steam (and Valve) I'm very VERY annoyed that it wont let me open the game until it updates.
To make it worse it says it'll take 7 hours to finish.
grrrrr

Sync Google Calendar with iPod Touch

2009-01-10T12:57:00.000-08:00

I recently purchased a refurbished iPod Touch from Apple and have been spending my break setting it up.

One of my major peeves so far is that you cannot sync your iPod to Sunbird (or Thunderbird with Lightning) and have to use Microsofts Outlook.
Even after caving and setting up outlook I came to find it would only sync local calendars and not remote calendars.

While searching for a way to sync my iPod touch directly to my google calendar I came across this guide for using a service called NuevaSync to do just that - for free.

The instructions are step by step and easy to follow. Though I have reservations about teh NuevaSync website (it can access my private google calendars somehow) the site is encypted and now that its set up I can edit my appointments via the built in calendar on my iPod (its a 2-way Sync by the way).

I have tested adding and editing appointments from my iPod, Sunbird and web version of google cal - all have Sync'd fine with no issues.

So if your looking for a way to sync you google calendar to your iPod Touch or iPhone, check out this article. Hope it works for you!

Auslogics System Information

2008-12-25T18:10:00.001-08:00

While browsing download.com for programs to install on my family's fresh version of XP (blog on that coming soon) I came across Auslogics System Information. Since my favorite disk defrag program is Auslogics Disk Defrag I decided to give it a go.

The program is designed to show you information about your computer and it preforms that simple task very well. The interface is clean and logically organized and you can view basic to advanced information on anything from your hard drives, current drivers, installed programs and running processes.

This will be especially helpful when I am working on friends computers, so then I can quickly familiarize myself with the computer rather than spend time trying to figure out what kind of video card it has or when it was last updated.

Christmas Tech Woes

2008-12-25T17:08:00.000-08:00

ah Christmas.
A time for food, fun, gifts, celebrations and families....
...and all the tech issues people like me (and anyone with interest in this blog, really) are expected to fix for our families.

I'm very happy to say I received Left 4 Dead for PC and am very happy with it so far.

Both my Mother and youngest brother got the new iPod Nano's and, of course, now need a computer to run them off. My family currently uses a Dell Inspiron 4300 Desktop which is way WAY past its prime. Over time it has fallen into disarray since I now have my own computer, and because my father has a stigma regarding I do anything to it.

Since my family now would have need of the computer on a more regular basis I figured now would be a great time to format it from scratch and get it running smoothly.

First item on the agenda was backing up every ones data - which is pretty much nothing by my standards (a few word documents and two pictures on the entire computer). Once that was secure on my flash drive (which took a very long time due to the computer lagging) I went to reformat the disk and install windows XP.

Immediately (before booting to the disk) the bios was laggy and hung on the opening screen for several minutes. This was followed by an error beep and the computer telling me the disk was not detected (link to forum on similar issue). Usually my family hits F1 and the boot continues onto windows. Knowing this would not get me to the CD I booted back into the bios and adjusted the settings accordingly (cd first, disk second) then tried again. Somehow this did not work the first time, but did the second without any other adjusting.

I formatted the hard drive and installation copied the files as normal. Upon reboot, I got the same 'Hard Disk not Found' error, and was unable to do anything but boot into the CD from there. I stayed in this installation loop for awhile and did some research online.

The symptoms pointed to a bad boot.ini file. I tried to repair the boot file using the recovery console and the fixmbr and fixboot commands. Neither worked and I then needed to wipe the drive clean to do a fresh install - which the XP installation disk couldn't do for me. I attempted to boot into Linux Mint via the live CD, but had no luck since the hard drive wouldn't show up (which I found disappointing).

Since I was completely obliterating the disk I didnt necessarily have to do it on that computer so I took the hard drive out and shoved it into my alienware (yes, I have an ATA cable ^^) and formatted it via the 'disk management' utility. While waiting for the format to finish Im downloading all the programs I'll have to install on the new computer (AVG, keyscrambler, firefox, adobe reader, open office, XP Service Pack 2) and I'm looking at all the updates Dell has put out for that specific system.

After reformatting and using disk check I put the drive back into the Dell computer to try again. Of course, it didn't work. Same errors, same installation loops.

At this point Google became God. Browsing around I found that most people resolved their issue by playing with the cable order and resetting the bios (forum posts here, here and here). Lucky for me the computer only has two cables, one for the HD and one for the CD drives. The HD one wont service both CD Drives. I tried though, and it seems the 'no hard drive' error is gone however installation is taking MUCH longer to load. Even if it had worked I cannot leave the cables like that, my parents would never forgive me for 'breaking' the other CD Drive (since it would have worked before....grrrr). Yet again, installation looped and I cannot boot from the hard drive - only the CD.

I have also played with the bios settings and am disappointed there is no master reset option. Leaving me to guess what the defaults are/should be. I do not believe the motherboard battery is going out since it retains any changes I make to it.

At current, I have posted a question in Tech Support Forum and I am going to attempt a bios update.

Linux MInt 6 - FIrst Boot

2008-12-20T13:53:00.001-08:00

After wasting three disks (thanks Microsoft Vista) I finally booted into LInux MInt 5 and burnt the new ISO to a disk there (amazing how much better that worked).

I am not booted into the newest version of mint via the live CD. Everything looks pretty much the same as last time - except that GNOME Do (a launchy like app for linux) is installed and running by default. SInce this was on my To DO list I am very happy to see it pre-installed. IMplimenting programs directly into the OS is something both OS X and LInux seem to be getting right.

linux Mint 6

2008-12-19T19:43:00.000-08:00

As posted before my preferred linux distro is Linux Mint - a user friendly edition based off the heavily supported Ubuntu project.

Currently I run Linux Mint 5 Elyssa but have been having issues with youtube videos (full screen mode tends to be glitchy) and have tweaked this and that without knowing what the heck I was doing. All part of the learning process, but with the release of this new version its time for a clean install.

As I write this I am direct downloading the new version via firefox (the torrent sat in Vuze for 10 minutes without doing anything......) then I will have to check the MD5SUM againt the listed MD5 on the mint website (which could be problamatic since I have had bad luck with direct downloads and MD5 in the past).

Once I get this installed and up to date I plan to install screenlets (widgets for the gnome desktop), tweak the theme and go through the Compiz Fusion menus to set it all up how I like. I would like to experiment with jackfield - a program currently being designed to allow apples dashboard widgets to run under the gnome desktop but according to the site it is not yet ready for novice linux users.
I also want to try setting up Avant Window manager now that I have gotten better at setting things up in linux. I also need to learn virtual box so I can set it up on my brotehrs computer and let him boot XP for certain programs. I am also looking at trying out Launchy.

After that I plan to try out Songbird (iTunes alternative) and Sunbird (mozilla calendar program - syncs to gcal) to see if I can get either working. If I can find these in the packadge manager I will be more than greatful.

I'll also have to set up firefox with all my add ons (especially foxmarks - how did I ever live without it?).