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476
General Software Discussion / Re: run the same program twice
« Last post by cthorpe on May 04, 2007, 07:39 PM »
you could always install VNC on computer B, remote into it from computer A, and then chat from the two computers at the same time.
477
I'm glad that I can help out.   :D
478
General Software Discussion / Re: Movie Collector 5 released
« Last post by cthorpe on May 04, 2007, 08:51 AM »
Well, I finally got a brief reply back on my lengthy email.  All it said is:

I have informed Mark-Jan about your mail, since you are asking for a formal statement.

kind regards,
Henk-Jan van der Kamp

I'll keep you informed.

479
In the event that they send you a different machine back (even if it seems only slightly different), I'd recommend getting on another computer, getting on Dell's website, and downloading all of the drivers you can find for the new system.  Even if something looks the same as what you had before, you should still download all the drivers there.  Burn all the drivers onto a CD, and you should be ready to restore the image to the new machine.  Everything should boot ok (though you might have to reactivate Windows with MS if there is enough of a hardware change), and you should be able to install any new drivers.

Good luck!

Carl Thorpe
480
General Software Discussion / Re: Movie Collector 5 released
« Last post by cthorpe on May 02, 2007, 03:06 PM »
I just sent Collectorz a lengthy message regarding this issue.  I have asked them to clearly lay out their new licensing model, including how future upgrades of all products will be handled.  I have also asked for them to honor the lifetime license for all users who purchased their products prior to their announced changes to their license terms.  I pointed out, as did Carol, that they are proudly displaying reviews and testimonials on their site that state they have a lifetime license, and as such should abide by that.  If they don't want to be held to it, they shouldn't be using those reviews as promotional materials.  Finally, I asked that they make an effort to refund all users who were charged in error for the upgrade.  I stated that it is not acceptable to expect users to learn from their forum that they are entitled to a refund.

Carl
481
Well, we won't tell her that RAM isn't an issue with Wubi  ;)
482
Living Room / Re: The Shopping Bags (tv show)
« Last post by cthorpe on May 02, 2007, 01:06 PM »
Looks like the show could be interesting, but the website is a pain.  In the review section, for instance, you have to click on multiple links to read small blurbs of text that probably add up to a page or less of information.  Also, there are a lot of errors throughout the reviews.  For example, in the coffee beans review, I found this sentence:
For the freshest espresso, buy whole beans. That means you'll either have to buy a grinder.

Carl
483
Living Room / Science a Go Go
« Last post by cthorpe on May 02, 2007, 10:59 AM »
Site promises "Interesting science news, research tidbits and science discussion"

http://www.scienceagogo.com/

Even more a Go Go Stories

           Eye Of The Beholder Redux
   Ewww!
   Publish AND Perish
   Is Evolutionary Development Like Flat-Pack Furniture?
   Going Gaga Over Gaia
   The Universe As Magic Roundabout
   String Theory – KNOT!
   Fear And Loathing At The Patent Office
   Bow To Your Insect Overlords!
   Martian Dreaming
   Did Civilization Emerge Thanks To A Change In The Weather?
   The Greatest Space Blunders
   Sex And The Schizoid Factor


Current news stories include:

Gloomy Prognosis For Amphibians

Synthetic Snot Enhances Artificial Nose

Plant-Methane Brouhaha Put To Bed

Race On To Increase Biofuel Yields

Chromosomal Changes Show Effects Of Climate Change

An Exoplanet With Liquid Water?

Laughing Gas Levels From Biodiesel Crops Not Funny

Monkeys Demonstrate Metacognitive Skills

Green Tea Suppresses Inflammatory Autoimmune Response

Mites Re-Evolve Sexual Reproduction
484
This thread: http://ubuntuforums....wthread.php?t=305109 on the Ubuntu forums may answer your questions.

Apparently, there is stable kernel mode NTFS writing that can be used to write to a statically sized img file.  The disk images Wubi creates are static in size (they are a lot bigger than the basic Ubuntu install needs, so you have plenty of room to grow).

As for writing outside of the statically sized ntfs partitions, you will need to enable a less stable ntfs writing.
485
To use a PC well and to do things right, you need to know a lot about computers and be sort of a geek.  If you don't, your pc will inevitibatly be overrun by spam and spyware, virus, etc. 

My mother is a school administrator.  She uses Windows XP machine at home.  She does extensive reseach on the web, sends and receives hundreds of emails a day, and does all of her administrative paperwork on the computer.  She is far from a geek, and regularly has to ask for help with seeminly minor tasks.  She has never been infected by a virus, or any significant spyware infection.  As for spam, she gets an average amount.

It doesn't take being a geek to avoid those things.  It just takes common sense.

Carl Thorpe
486
When you boot Ubuntu, you will have quite a bit of room formatted in the linux fs.  This space is actually contained within the virtual disk files that Wubi creates for you.  These files are mounted through loopback when you boot.  Everything you do that changes the linux fs is retained in these files.  I mentioned NTFS writiting above meaning that if you want to be able to modify data outside of the linux fs, you will need to enable writing.
487
General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu Linux vs. Windows Vista
« Last post by cthorpe on May 01, 2007, 10:17 PM »
Well.....  :-[ I'm posting this message from Ubuntu....  Ain't that a kick in the pants?

https://www.donation...?topic=8326.msg59787

488
Wubi - Painless, partion-free WindowsXP/Ubuntu dual booting

Basic Info

App NameWubi
App URLhttp://cutlersoftware.com/ubuntusetup
App Version ReviewedWubi 7.04 minefield2
Test System Specs
866 mhz PIII
512 mb ram
32 mb Ge-Force 2-MX
Windows XP SP2
Supported OSesWindows XP, Windows 2000.  Vista is NOT supported at this time.
Support MethodsWubi Guide at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
Wubi FAQ at http://ubuntuforums....wthread.php?t=396526
Wubi forums at http://ubuntuforums....rumdisplay.php?f=234
PricingGPL
Upgrade PolicyGPL
Trial Version Available?GPL
Author Donation LinkUnknown
Reviewer Donation Linkcthorpe
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product REVIEWER: I have no relationship whatsoever with the project and developers of Wubi or Ubuntu.


Intro:

accountcreation.png downloadslowly.png

Wubi is an Ubuntu installer that you run from inside Windows.  It installs Ubuntu to a virtual disk file without making any changes to your partitions or doing any formats.  As such, it should be completely safe to install.  Since it is utilizing a virtual disk file on your hard drive, it has the advantage over live cds of retaining changes, installations, etc through rebooting of the system and allowing you to install as much as you want as long as you have the hard drive space to spare.  It also boots considerably faster than a live cd, and is almost as fast as a regular installation.  Unlike live cds, however, it does take up hard drive space and obviously leaves traces behind.

The Wubi program is a mere 9.9mb, but you will need the most recent ubuntu alternate iso.  You can either download it youself and put it in the same directory as Wubi before you run it, or you can have the program download it for you.  I chose to download it myself from a close mirror rather than letting the program download it.

The Wubi program will ask you for a usename and password for the initial Ubuntu account (the usename field will prefill with your Windows usename).  At this point, the program will extract the iso into three virtual disk files in C:\wubi, which are mounted using a loopback when you boot into Ubuntu.  These three disks took +7gigs on my computer.  It will also modify your boot.ini file and drop some grub files into C:\.

At this point, Wubi is done with the Windows part of the job, so you need to reboot to let linux take care of the rest.  Reboot the computer, and get ready for the magic.  You will see the Microsoft bootloader come up with Windows and Ubuntu listed (and anything else you have in your boot.ni).  Select Ubuntu and sit back as Grub takes over and boots.  The text-based installer will kick in and install your linux system.  Once it is done installing, you have a working Ubuntu that you can boot to whenever you want.

Everything is just like it would be with a standard install.  Straight away, you will have read access to all of your data on your NTFS partitions, and the Wubi Guide gives instructions for enabling write access.  All changes made to the linux installation are retained in the virtual disk files that Wubi created.  The Wubi Guide gives instructions for adding more virtual space.

Screenshot.png  DC.png

My PC is pretty old, so it's no surprise that all my hardware worked right away (your milage may vary).  Gnome is a little slow on my old clunker, so I fired up the package manager and installed xfce.  Also, I was getting Opera withdrawal within minutes, so I installed that as well.

xubuntuoperaoo.png

At this point, everything seems to be just like a standard Ubuntu install.  From here, you would refer to your friendly neighborhood linux guru for assistance.

Just to check, I rebooted my computer, and after selecting Windows on the initial boot menu, I was right back into XP without a hitch.  Finally, I booted back into Ubuntu, and found xfce, Opera, and everything else just as I had left it.

Who is this app designed for:

This application is for people who want to dual-boot Ubuntu and Windows without the messy repartitioning and without booting from a CD all the time.

The Good

It works as advertised, Ubuntu is a highly regarded linux distro, and this gives you the most recent version with all the bells and whistles.

No need to repartition your hard drive.

Works much faster than booting from a live cd.

Changes persist through reboots, booting into Windows, etc unlike many live cds.

The needs improvement section

The only version available from the website is called a "minefield" build.  The Wubi forum states
Minefields are experimental builds to test new prerelease features, if you want something that is supposed to work then forget about minefield builds and use the latest official wubi version. If you do not mind a bumpy ride and want to help us debugging, by all means try the latest minefield build (you will see it announced in a dedicated thread).
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a non-minefield build in an easily found location.  To be fair, the minefield build is what allows the final version of Ubuntu 7.04 to work.

According to the website, you can install Xubuntu or Kubuntu using Wubi (and it even has screenshots showing that), but the minefield release doesn't give those options when installing.  I don't know if it would work if you manually downloaded the isos.

When installing, Wubi asks you for a usename and password for the initial Ubuntu account.  The field is automatically filled with your Windows username (and according to the bug list below, it doesn't matter if you try to change it).  My username is my first and last name (Carl Thorpe).  When Ubuntu had booted and was installing, it told me that Carl Thorpe was not a valid usename.  It would be better if the installer caught that and asked me for a different usename.

The Wubi FAQ lists 4 known bugs, but the FAQ was last modified a month ago, so I don't know if they are still issues with the "minefield" release
* If you change the username in Wubi, it has no effect, and the current Windows username is always used (fixed will be up in next releases)
* USB drives are not supported
* Some SATA Hard Disks are not supported (you will experience an extremely slow installation and it may look like the installation is stalled)
* Wubi does not work with MS Vista (yet)

Why I think you should use this product

If you want to try out linux without having to make major system modifications or boot from a cd, it is a great option.  Also, uninstalling it is a simple matter of using Add/Remove in the control panel or manually deleting the directory, grub loader, and making a minor edit to the boot.ini file.

How does it compare to similar apps

I think the closest approximations to this program are the many live cds that are available.  I haven't really spent a lot of time with them, but I can say that the Ubuntu live cd is much slower than this method of booting linux on my computer.


Conclusions

It does what it says it does, and it works better than a live cd on my computer.  While I still maintain that XP is my OS of choice, Wubi will let me spend a little more time with Ubuntu.  I love that there was little to no risk of trashing my XP installation in the process of setting up the Ubuntu dual-boot.  I built a Ubuntu print server some time ago with a spare PC, and I spend quite a bit of time ssh'ing (or whatever the verb of ssh would be) into a 'nix environment on my webhost, so I can see the benefits of being able to boot into a similar OS for testing and the like.  There are a few little issues that keep it from being perfect.  I haven't had a chance to really put Ubuntu through its paces to see if there are any issues to be found later, but at this point it seems identical to normal installation methods.  I'll give it a 4 out of 5.

Links to other reviews of this application
A mention of Wubi and some user comments on FreewareWiki http://freewarewiki.pbwiki.com/WubiLinux
A forum post reviewing Wubi http://www.mpcforum....5556&postcount=1
489
General Software Discussion / Re: Free wordpress installation service
« Last post by cthorpe on May 01, 2007, 03:12 PM »
Only problem I see with this kind of service, is that it keeps those inexperienced people inexperienced.

Carl
490
General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu Linux vs. Windows Vista
« Last post by cthorpe on May 01, 2007, 11:16 AM »
I know that it's something of a fopah to say, but I actually like XP.  Before XP, I actually liked 2000.  Before 2000, I actually liked 98... well, maybe that's exaggerating, but I never had any major problems with 98.

Vista, Ubuntu, and OSX don't offer anything that is compelling enough to make me switch from XP for my day o day computing tasks.  I don't care to jump through all the hoops that a linux system requires, Vista seems like little more than eye candy, and I am turned off by the Apple mentality.

Carl
491
1) 105 of 5549 fonts.
2) 162 fonts supported. 78 alphabetic. 78 new. 241 scanned.
492
General Software Discussion / Re: Opera 9.2 annoyance... any ideas?
« Last post by cthorpe on April 30, 2007, 09:34 AM »
Huzzah!!!

Thanks for the fix.  Credits coming your way!

Carl
493
General Software Discussion / Opera 9.2 annoyance... any ideas?
« Last post by cthorpe on April 29, 2007, 11:22 PM »
In the last version of Opera, I could right click on a completed transfer and select Open Folder to automatically open the folder where the file was downloaded.  9.2 seems to have taken that away.  Is there an option that I am missing somewhere?

Thanks,
Carl
494
Developer's Corner / Re: Free alternative to Dreamweaver/Expression Web
« Last post by cthorpe on April 29, 2007, 10:08 PM »
Well, there's KompoZer http://kompozer.net/ which is touted as an unofficial bugfix release of NVU.

There appears to be some bad blood between the NVU developer and the KompoZer developer.

no, Kompozer's lead never let me know about it. I just found a post in nvu forums hosted by geckozone he did but he never had the politeness to let me know about it. Since I am busy and rarely dive into fora - whatever the forum - I was not aware of Kompozer. But the guy is not far away, here in France, and we speak the same language. How hard, and well, sorry to say, how lame.
No, I don't think the guy contacted the copyright holder, Linspire Inc., either and that's quite unpolite too even if he has the full right granted by the license to do what he did.
no, I don't really appreciate when he calls Nvu bugs "glazbugs". I take that as an insult.
yes, his work is a good idea, but no, I don't think this is going to be a very useful mid- to long-term investment since the nvu 1.0 codebase is scheduled to die and be replaced by a xulrunner-based application anyway. It's gecko1.7-based and that's too old.
yes, I am working on that new app
Source: http://www.glazman.o.../09/15/2074-kompozer
495
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: IdeaMason to be featured on Bitsdujour
« Last post by cthorpe on April 29, 2007, 12:58 AM »
I tried it and found it slow to the point of being annoying on my machine (see sig for details).

C
496
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Xara X1 for $19 (less than £10)
« Last post by cthorpe on April 28, 2007, 11:19 PM »
I have a copy of Xara XS (from a covermount on a magazine).  Any idea how it compares to X1?
497
General Software Discussion / Re: Directory Opus 9
« Last post by cthorpe on April 27, 2007, 05:30 PM »
Now, if I can just figure out a way to maintain my backup system, I wll be set.  I need to find a way to select a directory and have DO zip or RAR the directory, defaulting to the name of the directory and appending the date.  So, if I am in c:\temp and I want to back up the temp directory, I would like to select it, press a hotkey (or use a context menu) and create an archive named "temp 20070427.zip".  Near as I can tell, it is quite possible, but I am not sure how to do it yet.

Ok, so this is an ugly hack... but here goes...

Create a batch file somewhere on your computer:
rename %1 %2

Then create a button:
Copy ZIP=single HERE
d:\applications\rename.bat {file}.zip {file}_{date|yyyyMMdd}.zip

Change D:\applications\rename.bat to point to wherever the batch file is located.

Carl
498
General Software Discussion / Re: Directory Opus 9
« Last post by cthorpe on April 24, 2007, 10:09 AM »
Abterix,
I think what the Directory Opus web site is telling you is that if you lose your serial number that unlocks USB functionality in the program, be prepared to beg the authors for it to be re-issued to you. (Which doesn't make sense to me. As long as you can prove you purchased it I don't see why you would have to 'beg' for something you legally own).

I don't think it was serious about begging.  Note the little smily face.  I thought it was common knowledge that the smilely implies joking after a statement like that.
499
Living Room / Re: What's your pet's favorite toy?
« Last post by cthorpe on April 24, 2007, 09:05 AM »
A friend of mine has told me that as far as laser pointers go, red is fine, green can damage a dog's eyes just from looking at the point on the wall/floor/whatever over time.  I have no clue if that is true or not, but just something to think about.

Edit...
Mayo Clinic states that green laser pointers can cause visible damage to the retina if directed into the eyes.  Red laser pointers do not cause damage.  http://www.mayoclini...ws2005-rst/2800.html

My dogs love Nylabones.  The only ones that stand up for more than a day are the non-edible ones.  They are made of a hard nylon.  They shred over time, but the pieces that come off while the dogs are chewing are small enough to pass through their system with no problem.

11060_117wh.jpg

Also, Kong toys are great.  They are made of hard rubber with a funny shape and a hole in the middle.  My 20 pound terrier chewed through a red Kong (supposedly almost indestructible) in about 1/2 an hour.  The black Kong has lasted about a year.  I stuff dog biscuits in it or smear peanut butter on the inside.  The dogs will go crazy trying to get it out.  My terrier has learned to carry the kong to the top of the stairs and throw it down so that the biscuit breaks up as it bounces down.

willie_1943_15624634.gif

Finally, a good soft toy made with imitation lambs wool is always fun.

4258311290A.jpg

500
Living Room / Re: Sumotori Dreams - a hilarious 3D sumo game in 87kB
« Last post by cthorpe on April 24, 2007, 08:21 AM »
Screenshot attached... I also put up a mini review  :up:
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