tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81845381912929385412024-03-29T18:24:19.476+13:00(Inside The Brackets)Yeah, it's a blogJonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-31763308245415118382010-04-15T17:43:00.000+12:002010-04-15T17:43:46.479+12:00I hate Flash<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibJiWuyfAcS8_fNssif29hPO8nAK5gk0q77-KyjiIm56p-XYa7f3ZiE9LmmU9fTh3MWg7KQ10C76okGkxIm-QAlMZhYIsgd4FTIsOCXojiTgcu2FB8fn01jlZBfOnUI1vwUP7b7kuB1Bnb/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-04-15+at+5.40.05+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibJiWuyfAcS8_fNssif29hPO8nAK5gk0q77-KyjiIm56p-XYa7f3ZiE9LmmU9fTh3MWg7KQ10C76okGkxIm-QAlMZhYIsgd4FTIsOCXojiTgcu2FB8fn01jlZBfOnUI1vwUP7b7kuB1Bnb/s320/Screen+shot+2010-04-15+at+5.40.05+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimZopRfj3MPShtTM8SXo-XSag4RNEVYRrVScoP24_Mvf7WjvDhOo1QyqzwlPxYDiK7Jq-b24Rw22P-FWx2OeD5AflYkT5IM77xqbEg5izFXPQitNfDG8QFxkvsqcspgjslY8ZSuDCqIXdr/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-04-15+at+5.40.18+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimZopRfj3MPShtTM8SXo-XSag4RNEVYRrVScoP24_Mvf7WjvDhOo1QyqzwlPxYDiK7Jq-b24Rw22P-FWx2OeD5AflYkT5IM77xqbEg5izFXPQitNfDG8QFxkvsqcspgjslY8ZSuDCqIXdr/s320/Screen+shot+2010-04-15+at+5.40.18+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>Especially when it's used for static text!<br />
Yeah, I know, designers like to use it for its embedded fonts. But I'm an engineer and I hate it.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192418487057164085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-50955607224826810142009-04-26T20:52:00.000+12:002009-04-26T20:52:22.679+12:00Install Windows on Macbook Air with no external driveNormally to install Windows on a Macbook Air through Boot Camp, you <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2298">require an external SuperDrive</a>. What a pain - I'm not prepared to pay for something I won't use for any other purpose. Of course I could (and have) installed Windows in a VM but it just isn't as speedy; sometimes I need good performance for my Windows apps.<br />
<br />
The "normal" way to install apps on a Macbook Air is to use downloaded versions or Remote Disc. Neither will work for your Windows install. However after much experimentation I have come with a solution that will work.<br />
<br />
<i>Disclaimer: The solution I am proposing requires you to be both technically literate and careful. You could completely destroy your data if you are not careful so create full backups of everything before you begin. I'm not responsible for anything you do. Additionally, you shouldn't assume that I've done anything the "right" way - this process was created through trial and error, not an expert knowledge of the software or processes in question.<br />
</i><br />
<br />
Here's what you need:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>A Macbook Air with plenty of free hard drive space.</li>
<li>A full, legal copy of Windows Vista or Windows 7 (I haven't tried this with XP).</li>
<li>Parallels Desktop (A trial version should be enough).</li>
<li>A USB drive of any size. <br />
</li>
<li>Another computer with a DVD drive and Remote Disc software.</li>
<li>Your Macbook Air OS X install disc.</li>
</ul>To clarify the above, I believe this is more likely to be a success with Vista or 7 because of their image based install process - a generic image is copied to the hard drive and then customised for your system. This process <i>might</i> work with Windows XP but I haven't tried it. If you do feel adventurous enough to try it then let me know how you got on. Additionally, I'll note that although Apple states that only 32-bit operating systems are supported, I have used 64-bit Windows 7 with no problems.<br />
<br />
Let's begin.<br />
<br />
If you don't have it already, you should <a href="http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/">download and install Parallels</a> now. If you already have Parallels, be sure to get the latest Parallels updates. Earlier releases don't work with Windows 7, for example.<br />
<br />
Now we need to get our Windows installation files onto the Mac. Use another computer to create an ISO disc image of your Windows DVD (unless your Windows is an ISO already). I like <a href="http://www.imgburn.com/">ImgBurn</a> (a Windows app) for these purposes. Copy the ISO to your Mac in your favourite way (network, usb drive etc).<br />
<br />
Now it's time to launch the Boot Camp Assistant. Follow the process as normal, right up to the point where it's time to start the Windows installation.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUxuHLhpxFpnO_ZjZSKqTGWSHHGPbzIwwjTPzCz81Wv257zOCEpaI3g0bhEb6ubE6ejUt9Cr70dv0Dxs6qM8JDNq9b6sKMND18KSbGM5RBUbvOkU7NHpflf9bnQJdPOyEZXZuMnmrqVv7P/s1600-h/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUxuHLhpxFpnO_ZjZSKqTGWSHHGPbzIwwjTPzCz81Wv257zOCEpaI3g0bhEb6ubE6ejUt9Cr70dv0Dxs6qM8JDNq9b6sKMND18KSbGM5RBUbvOkU7NHpflf9bnQJdPOyEZXZuMnmrqVv7P/s400/Picture+1.png" /></a></div>At this stage, just quit the installer (⌘+Q).<br />
<br />
<i>Hint: Check now that your Boot Camp partition has not decided to mount itself, otherwise Parallels sometimes gets upset. You can unmount it from Disk Utility if needed.</i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>Start up Parallels and create a new virtual machine.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJJ98aDggC38btaHuj-nX0f5reOTwcdhmPeo5PoBL20hSPluNWYOhBzqHh2K0A39bie35w4oV_yI0lagNnIILSp5vaO9LtCUy4XBXZI-DXOE0VtPPUAPUzuefB6IilWM6yIFCxSvpRJRG/s1600-h/Picture+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJJ98aDggC38btaHuj-nX0f5reOTwcdhmPeo5PoBL20hSPluNWYOhBzqHh2K0A39bie35w4oV_yI0lagNnIILSp5vaO9LtCUy4XBXZI-DXOE0VtPPUAPUzuefB6IilWM6yIFCxSvpRJRG/s400/Picture+2.png" /></a></div>Skip Detection and select your version of Windows. Be sure to choose the Custom option.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg10I3GHDZAi9W1O87dz6bGx3SULLc2Moolm9PHqZBqfnA9BwflwfNcXsG8x4cK6xk0GveGqn0OYBj0qG_K88sgKWX03yoHZzlKiV7CdI1aycRkFDLtjSjyIoBh9ewDZXHaQd4Ergkf9iUM/s1600-h/Picture+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg10I3GHDZAi9W1O87dz6bGx3SULLc2Moolm9PHqZBqfnA9BwflwfNcXsG8x4cK6xk0GveGqn0OYBj0qG_K88sgKWX03yoHZzlKiV7CdI1aycRkFDLtjSjyIoBh9ewDZXHaQd4Ergkf9iUM/s400/Picture+3.png" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The defaults are fine until you get to the Hard Disk Options.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Nlzmgfp7bLrtGcAaWx9AJrptVJdSd6U5oHFmfsmyIXXrZnAwl9UxdSxC-myUKmU9jaIgzIBqGpMOpntrdYTsbSfRL2coT8UWNFs5JvtzbTdWIihjF92DPP8P_25tpkpoIxaRUp3PZKfy/s1600-h/Picture+7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Nlzmgfp7bLrtGcAaWx9AJrptVJdSd6U5oHFmfsmyIXXrZnAwl9UxdSxC-myUKmU9jaIgzIBqGpMOpntrdYTsbSfRL2coT8UWNFs5JvtzbTdWIihjF92DPP8P_25tpkpoIxaRUp3PZKfy/s400/Picture+7.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">As tempting as it is to select Boot Camp Partition, don't do that. Instead, choose No hard disk. Sometimes Parallels seems to set things up wrong when you choose the Boot Camp Partition option here.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Open the configuration for the virtual machine and configure the CD/DVD-ROM. Choose the Windows ISO file you copied over earlier.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8766zQMkoftq75cGr3pnkTNIQP-R5hg5RYy4aYUAEHy4B830B_eNAQR_5pe713dbCbSKpGyK7rl3dC6349VviHwP5WqGkKP93ucmvzw_1g8fQHxJwf8xdqGxXVtD-1iW4t9y9Oj3F-Ann/s1600-h/Picture+6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8766zQMkoftq75cGr3pnkTNIQP-R5hg5RYy4aYUAEHy4B830B_eNAQR_5pe713dbCbSKpGyK7rl3dC6349VviHwP5WqGkKP93ucmvzw_1g8fQHxJwf8xdqGxXVtD-1iW4t9y9Oj3F-Ann/s400/Picture+6.png" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Click the + button and add a Hard Disk. Now you can choose the Boot Camp Partition option.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXqF3OEZeIahaJv6z5AeJfdQC4dgiYfYhasna4zTSwsIO1WnCYH9V-JYzlZR-81qwPCF1oCGZZuf4iB7MAHnSb5mVUw9jRiABsXYG69QHL_OjtPj7G0BdQ-6fcFebqK2ikvAKhXwPqZD5/s1600-h/Picture+9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXqF3OEZeIahaJv6z5AeJfdQC4dgiYfYhasna4zTSwsIO1WnCYH9V-JYzlZR-81qwPCF1oCGZZuf4iB7MAHnSb5mVUw9jRiABsXYG69QHL_OjtPj7G0BdQ-6fcFebqK2ikvAKhXwPqZD5/s400/Picture+9.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Last thing to check - choose the Boot Order option and make sure the CD/DVD-ROM is top of the list.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBEvV0JxB8fltjqdX7Q-eRR-i-8nlm4z4YV1YmYATU3DcigBFXa7WuhfKjwh4_FusnWS8F_mLYPqvia7xYewlAN8_eOtLuia6YLTtVWQhjb3hYkkW9rhGBV4DKKBj6ir3jdKT9P1AgToqv/s1600-h/Picture+10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBEvV0JxB8fltjqdX7Q-eRR-i-8nlm4z4YV1YmYATU3DcigBFXa7WuhfKjwh4_FusnWS8F_mLYPqvia7xYewlAN8_eOtLuia6YLTtVWQhjb3hYkkW9rhGBV4DKKBj6ir3jdKT9P1AgToqv/s400/Picture+10.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Time to begin! Start your virtual machine.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Hint: Parallels can be really fussy about Boot Camp partitions sometimes. If you get an error when you try to save your configuration or start the VM, a fix that often works is to close Parallels and then run this command in your terminal: mv "/Library/Parallels/Parallels Service.app/Contents/MacOS/BootcampConfigurator" "/Library/Parallels/Parallels Service.app/Contents/MacOS/BootcampConfigurator.old"</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Good ol' Windows installer.</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilcykXJC-cgQSkkCpZ1DXHMJO00KxL6O4GT8ha4NKjC5ImEDiyvhZD4lC2i_tPTDTJBzumB9VdhyphenhyphenenDXQFAj1Z0EPNER0bbvmJWmARDUWAAHxAAECkjiWP5gc3QCjScoV_XsF4Ox515hEi/s1600-h/Picture+11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilcykXJC-cgQSkkCpZ1DXHMJO00KxL6O4GT8ha4NKjC5ImEDiyvhZD4lC2i_tPTDTJBzumB9VdhyphenhyphenenDXQFAj1Z0EPNER0bbvmJWmARDUWAAHxAAECkjiWP5gc3QCjScoV_XsF4Ox515hEi/s400/Picture+11.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Make sure you choose your BOOTCAMP partition. You might find you need to click the Drive Options link then Format your BOOTCAMP partition, depending on the version of Windows your are installing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Follow the typical installation process but keep your eyes on it. You want it to keep on installing until the first time it tries to reboot. Just as it shuts itself down to reboot, <b>stop the VM</b>!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxeRyDgNcSX561hcLFC9TC4_nqPK8AT7ehE5NYctTQ05sYSNQrAceCmv8JnPjDnQrU9mOACJ-CbS5fC4I7dbGbhWKPocyLid-Xvq95W65jXLDHe_ljZmjBIYE1JNzy20P0brj6Hccd28Lf/s1600-h/Picture+13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxeRyDgNcSX561hcLFC9TC4_nqPK8AT7ehE5NYctTQ05sYSNQrAceCmv8JnPjDnQrU9mOACJ-CbS5fC4I7dbGbhWKPocyLid-Xvq95W65jXLDHe_ljZmjBIYE1JNzy20P0brj6Hccd28Lf/s400/Picture+13.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Quit Parallels.</div><br />
Here comes the tough part. If you were to reboot now and try to force your Mac to boot Windows it won't work. A typical PC's hard disk has code right at the beginning of the disk which tells it where to find crucial operating system files - the MBR. Windows has gone ahead and installed the MBR but it's installed in its VM, not to the real hard disk. We have to copy this MBR to the real hard disk and at the same time be careful not to mess up the Mac install.<br />
<br />
First we need to find the VM's MBR. To do this, locate your Windows VM on your Mac hard drive. Typically this will be in your Documents/Parallels folder. To get to the MBR, right click your VM and choose Show package contents. Repeat this for your VM hard drive which will share the name of your real hard drive (mine is called SAMSUNG HS082HB.hdd). The PhysicalMbr.hds file is what we need. Copy this to your USB drive.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHwk_rac7z6Di-sdDbogE-XkLgJH-s7RVZZqGD9AZzRe6UC1ju6HVKWwPBPU5w_E15d4GPEo5BHATW5MxdlLoFbna0di3wln72KwxZZd4lHjVzKDLNVU_8Wsq8W7ekKDWpC5II2Pi5Yl-/s1600-h/Picture+12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyHwk_rac7z6Di-sdDbogE-XkLgJH-s7RVZZqGD9AZzRe6UC1ju6HVKWwPBPU5w_E15d4GPEo5BHATW5MxdlLoFbna0di3wln72KwxZZd4lHjVzKDLNVU_8Wsq8W7ekKDWpC5II2Pi5Yl-/s400/Picture+12.png" /></a></div>Now start up Terminal.<br />
<br />
We'll use Fdisk to view and modify our MBR as necessary. Let's start by running <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0</span>. Enter your password.<br />
<br />
Type <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">print</span> followed by pressing return to view your current MBR information. <br />
<br />
It's important now to note this information, just in case. Note specifically the id column - notice how there's an EE? That's for the GUID Partition Table the Mac uses. You might want to read up about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table">GPT</a>. The takeaway point is that the first sector of the drive is reserved for the MBR, even though we've also got a GPT partition. Note that the Boot Camp partition is listed as Fat-32 despite the fact that I used NTFS on my Windows partition. This is because the real MBR has not been updated with the new partition information.<br />
<br />
Type <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">exit</span> and return.<br />
<br />
Now we're going to write the new MBR. This part is <i>very</i> dangerous if done incorrectly. Additionally, Mac OS does not allow you to write a new MBR from within the OS. If you try, you will find that access is denied (even for the super user). Instead, we need to boot the Mac OS X Installer and write the MBR from there. So reboot your Mac and use Remote Disc to start the Mac OS X Installer<br />
<br />
<i>Hint: Sorry, you can't use your wired ethernet here, only wireless. This is because we have to keep our one USB port free for the USB flash drive. A hub might work if you have one though.<br />
</i><br />
<br />
When the OS X installer is ready to go, do not proceed with it. Instead, go to the Utilities menu and open Disk Utility. Click each of your hard drive's partition and unmount each.<br />
<br />
Now we will open the Terminal. Make sure your USB drive is plugged in.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRiFCLCPn_2fAymRq78cOOeeRiYQTE4F7o0tYbJwagFkGu0G4OUlf-CaqqtYbTIMTvRPjZSf6DdyEw4Q9VN7Er2-8DVp2QMCdbGRIOtjlqr2mthFKB98E1DZN2-XmLONO4ICOSf0HnchE3/s1600-h/26042009113.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRiFCLCPn_2fAymRq78cOOeeRiYQTE4F7o0tYbJwagFkGu0G4OUlf-CaqqtYbTIMTvRPjZSf6DdyEw4Q9VN7Er2-8DVp2QMCdbGRIOtjlqr2mthFKB98E1DZN2-XmLONO4ICOSf0HnchE3/s320/26042009113.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>Hint: In case you don't know, you must press return after every command in the terminal.</i><br />
<br />
Navigate to your flash drive. To do this, first type<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">cd /Volumes</div><br />
Type <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">ls</span> and identify which is your flash drive. Type<br />
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">cd <your drive="" flash="" here=""></your></div><br />
The first thing to do is back up your old MBR.<br />
<br />
<i>Be very careful entering these commands.</i><br />
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">dd if=/dev/disk0 of=backup.mbr bs=512 count=1</div><br />
This will back up the MBR to a file called backup.mbr on your USB drive.<br />
<br />
Now we replace the physical MBR with the one copied from the VM.<br />
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">dd if=PhysicalMbr.hds of=/dev/disk0 bs=512 count=1</div><i><br />
</i><br />
This assumes you didn't rename the VM MBR when you copied it to your USB drive.<i> <br />
</i><br />
<br />
<i>Hint: If something bad happens and you need to restore your MBR, type the same command as directly above, but substitute PhysicalMbr.hds for backup.mbr. </i><br />
<br />
Now that we've replace the MBR we need to check it looks ok. Type<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">fdisk -e /dev/disk0</div><br />
Type print to view your MBR. The most important thing to check which Windows may have stuffed up is the id of each partition. Your first partition must have an id of EE, your Mac Partition must have an id of AF. If either of these is wrong you must change them (don't worry, this doesn't modify the data on these partitions). For each that is wrong, type <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">setpid <i>n</i></span> where <i style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">n</i> is the number of the partition whose id you are changing. Then, when prompted, type the correct id.<br />
<br />
When you are done with fdisk, type <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">write</span> and then <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">exit</span>.<br />
<br />
You can quit the Mac OS X Installer now.<br />
<br />
As the computer boots, just after you hear the chime, hold down the option key on the keyboard. Windows should now be one of the options in your boot menu, so choose it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1S-FbwJEghjp0bSrY8b0fhsU4XuUbuqYdV0I7hZpYSL52GywoW6vX3W4N9R0JDbGSc8z1aLy6Eh8MdA08Ta7xhysAEo77Qm9YCwP54mvN7h__nkijtP8nGnxVqNooR4NR8xLVl2wcRTi/s1600-h/26042009114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1S-FbwJEghjp0bSrY8b0fhsU4XuUbuqYdV0I7hZpYSL52GywoW6vX3W4N9R0JDbGSc8z1aLy6Eh8MdA08Ta7xhysAEo77Qm9YCwP54mvN7h__nkijtP8nGnxVqNooR4NR8xLVl2wcRTi/s320/26042009114.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Windows should start and continue with installation.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjqpx4ALyCx_LrtllSVUAGrojUBJezzLUF6E5AJtVfOwBeRCHLNQZMAtQdBFmNTPQUifps3B3-UIQb8FLN_Y52aqXuPq0BFT-syv04KIK0cMrJqGBX-qr_bKPeFWjQGtJablMK9LLTPI5/s1600-h/26042009118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjqpx4ALyCx_LrtllSVUAGrojUBJezzLUF6E5AJtVfOwBeRCHLNQZMAtQdBFmNTPQUifps3B3-UIQb8FLN_Y52aqXuPq0BFT-syv04KIK0cMrJqGBX-qr_bKPeFWjQGtJablMK9LLTPI5/s320/26042009118.jpg" /></a></div><br />
When Windows restarts, remember that you will have to hold down the option key again and choose Windows.<br />
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And finally...<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2Q3Atx_oI_OU1w8BsmRN1VGizzpQp6pUidYxZ18AuWnLMTRRFigVGmEcjOp12A95CAnNwkSy0XXRsy5K2v9Dioa-3rSm9BtHTkHelyCHR8QbCjJabttve7Hy9elwY5_3hS53pGM4nuOB/s1600-h/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2Q3Atx_oI_OU1w8BsmRN1VGizzpQp6pUidYxZ18AuWnLMTRRFigVGmEcjOp12A95CAnNwkSy0XXRsy5K2v9Dioa-3rSm9BtHTkHelyCHR8QbCjJabttve7Hy9elwY5_3hS53pGM4nuOB/s400/Capture.PNG" /></a></div><br />
Hello Windows.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192418487057164085noreply@blogger.com227tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-40197148228403860302009-03-01T00:25:00.000+13:002009-03-01T00:25:30.591+13:00Drivers reinstalling after a cold bootRecently I've been using a PC with Windows 7 on it, mainly to try it out. I'm, in general, very happy with the operating system itself but have been having an issue which I only recently identified. Occasionally after the system was booted I would find that the system was reinstalling a whole lot of device drivers.<br />
<br />
This caused particular problems with the sound driver as Windows would install the Microsoft driver rather than the Realtek driver, and the Microsoft driver does not provide any output devices. This would mean I would have to reintall the Realtek driver before I was able to use sound again.<br />
<br />
I finally noticed under what conditions this occured - after a cold boot. If I powered the machine down fully and then started it up again, the issue was triggered. It's actually quite rare that I do this on any of my computers; normally I would simply send them to sleep.<br />
<br />
Some research shows that the issue is a faulty VIA chipset (see <a href="http://www.tkarena.com/forums/windows-vista-arena/33063-pci-pci-bridge-re-install-every-cold-boot.html">this forum thread</a> for details, but basically the chipset appears to randomise device IDs on boot), an issue which motherboard manufacturers can fix through a BIOS update. Almost every manufacturer mentioned in the thread has issued an update <b>with the exception of ASUS</b>. This is annoying because the issue I am having is on an ASUS motherboard.<br />
<br />
I've had a number of problems with ASUS in the past. For example, a laptop with a hinge that broke much too quickly and a great deal of difficulty obtaining drivers for their products. Additionally, their drivers and crapware installed on their PCs tend to be, well, crap.<br />
<br />
This is the issue that has pushed me over the top. <b>I will never buy another ASUS product</b>.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, I had previously had Linux installed on the affected PC and had a similar problem of devices randomly stopping working in similar situations. I had put it down to some eccentricity of the way Linux operates but had been able to fix it using udev (in a nutshell I was able to provide some unique identifiers for my devices and tell it to load certain drivers).<br />
<br />
Now I'm going to have to buy a new motherboard I guess...Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192418487057164085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-31937528925142656462009-02-18T22:33:00.002+13:002009-02-18T22:40:21.040+13:00Blackout! Repeal Section 92A!If you're seeing this before or on the 23rd of February 2009, you should find that everything has gone black. I'm doing this in support of the <a href="http://creativefreedom.org.nz/index.html">Creative Freedom Foundation</a>'s <a href="http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html">Internet Blackout campaign</a>.<br /><br />The campaign's purpose is to raise awareness about the abomination that is the new Section 92A of New Zealand's Copyright Act. The section requires that ISP's disconnect users who are <i>alleged</i> to have infringed someone else's copyright.<br /><br />There are a number of large problems with the section:<br /><br />1.<br />Fundamentally, the law goes against the freedoms that New Zealanders (and many other world citizens) enjoy; specifically, the right to be innocent until proven guilty. This law does not state that there must be <i>proven</i> copyright infringement on the part of an internet user, rather just an <i>allegation</i> of infringement. Are <i>accused</i> murders handed out their punishment before being found guilty? No! They have the right to a fair trial after which they are found innocent or guilty.<br /><br />2.<br />There is no penalty for false accusations. Potentially, a copyright holder (i.e. almost anyone who creates anything) could accuse someone else of copyright infringement with no way to discourage them continuing to make false accusations.<br /><br /><br />3.<br />The law itself is very poorly worded without adequate guidance as to when an ISP should disconnect someone, nor what constitutes a "disconnectable" offence. Quoting the act:<br /><blockquote><h5 class="prov labelled"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(1)</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">An Internet service provider must adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the account with that Internet service provider of a repeat infringer.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br />(2)</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">In subsection (1), </span><dfn class="def-term" id="DLM1230404" style="font-weight: normal;">repeat infringer</dfn><span style="font-weight: normal;"> means a person who repeatedly infringes the copyright in a work by using 1 or more of the Internet services of the Internet service provider to do a restricted act without the consent of the copyright owner.</span></h5></blockquote>What does <i>resonably implement </i>mean? What about <i>appropriate circumstances</i>? Or <i>repeatedly infringes</i>? This is far too general. (Full text <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2008/0027/latest/DLM1122643.html">here</a>.)<br /><br />4.<br />The definition of ISP is very broad and includes almost anyone who provides internet access (such as libraries or universities). Should these institutions really be responsible for policing such usage?<br /><br />There are plenty of other problems with the law. I would encourage you to visit the <a href="http://creativefreedom.org.nz/index.html">Creative Freedom Foundation</a> to <a href="http://creativefreedom.org.nz/s92.html">learn more</a>. If you are a New Zealander, please <a href="http://creativefreedom.org.nz/s92.html#signup">sign their petition</a> and learn more about <a href="http://creativefreedom.org.nz/s92.html#whattodo">what you can do</a>.<br /><br />Repeal Section 92A!Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192418487057164085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-75094930812266051672009-02-17T17:15:00.001+13:002009-02-17T23:08:01.116+13:00Hi AnchorFree!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2Y39DeyFS9eI0o4wlpF2uk_epBq-THHOntsuUiZlZ_CS4b16OP-UgRRXUnQUTCARh6dstqyLo1PgOAjoWL6aNSa1vU5EuG4xZ8uIfHFW8fGDUbtssCMsW5PkUuhBKBOV04YjXjFYYWcC/s1600-h/anchorfreegraph.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2Y39DeyFS9eI0o4wlpF2uk_epBq-THHOntsuUiZlZ_CS4b16OP-UgRRXUnQUTCARh6dstqyLo1PgOAjoWL6aNSa1vU5EuG4xZ8uIfHFW8fGDUbtssCMsW5PkUuhBKBOV04YjXjFYYWcC/s400/anchorfreegraph.png" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div>According to my <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/">Analytics </a>stats, I've recently received some visits from <a href="http://www.anchorfree.com/">AnchorFree</a>, the makers of <a href="http://www.hotspotshield.com/">Hotspot Shield</a>, probably checking the source of some of the traffic to their iPhone page (i.e. my post about <a href="http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2008/12/use-hotspot-shield-in-vista-64-bit-no.html">using Hotspot Shield in 64-bit Windows</a>).<br />
<br />
Great! Hopefully this will let them think about compatibility with 64-bit operating systems. There are difficulties around driver signing issues in 64-bit versions, however, so I don't expect anything in the short term. Meanwhile, I don't expect them to be concerned about people using my method of connecting to Hotspot Shield as they still show their advertisements.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192418487057164085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-46637155715109377972008-12-19T15:38:00.009+13:002009-03-18T10:23:22.487+13:00Use Hotspot Shield in Vista 64-bit (no software required)<i>Update 18/03/2009: Sorry everyone, it looks like this is not currently working. The entire Hotspot Shield for iPhone service seems to be down as it's not working on my iPod Touch right now either. Let's hope it's temporary.</i> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.hotspotshield.com/">Hotspot Shield</a> is software that encrypts your internet traffic between your PC and their servers, purportedly to avoid snooping at open WiFi hotspots (a purpose for which it works great). My main use of it (being outside the US) is to access the multitude of US only sites and services (Hulu, Lala and Pandora to name only a few).<br />
<br />
Unfortunately it comes bundled with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TUN/TAP">TUN/TAP</a> driver that is not 64-bit compatible - it doesn't even fail gracefully during installation, rather you end up with this error:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCTks3N5GV1q0o9t2z3sog1uE9wFD1ELwiFhOluVf23fpZKrPU1qTmFMtOSd4bYMs0W7D8WPw5PLtnwKUnrJOZOy6SQtpXnWlbJtelkJzBYRrtRht8JfK7_3_01t4rwegKlDMLiKhdA2RR/s1600-h/hotspotfail.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="An error occured installing the TAP VPN driver." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCTks3N5GV1q0o9t2z3sog1uE9wFD1ELwiFhOluVf23fpZKrPU1qTmFMtOSd4bYMs0W7D8WPw5PLtnwKUnrJOZOy6SQtpXnWlbJtelkJzBYRrtRht8JfK7_3_01t4rwegKlDMLiKhdA2RR/s320/hotspotfail.PNG" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The application continues to install and even prompts to run at the end, but then immediately dies. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But there's another way. Hotspot Shield offers a service for the iPhone (and iPod Touch) which uses L2TP to create the VPN connection. You can use the same connection within Windows Vista (and any other operating system which supports L2TP) to use the same service. Here's how I did it:</div><ul><li>Create a new VPN connection (<b>Start > Network > Network and Sharing Center > Set up a connection or network > Connect to a workplace</b> <b>> Use my Internet Connection (VPN)</b>).<br />
</li>
</ul><ul><li>Now visit <a href="http://www.hotspotshield.com/clientless/iphone/get_started.php">http://www.hotspotshield.com/clientless/iphone/get_started.php</a> - this is where you will get the required connection information.<br />
</li>
</ul><ul><li>Click the giant <b>Get Account ID</b> button.<br />
</li>
</ul><ul><li>The instructions given are obviously for the iPhone, but there's some important information we need:</li>
</ul><blockquote>Server: <b>64.55.144.10</b><br />
Account: <b>abc123 </b>(I'm pretending abc123 is mine - yours will be unique)<br />
Password: <b>abc123 </b>(ditto as above)<br />
Secret: <b>password</b></blockquote><ul><li>Enter <b>64.55.144.10</b> for the Internet Address. For Destination Name, put whatever you want. I put HotspotShield. Be sure that <b>Don't connect now; just set it up so I can connect later </b>is ticked, because we need to change some advanced settings later.</li>
</ul><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzoADM3hEgHarVYLbVH5nfcz6sfBW5WTsCa0q_wEjTff8E7negJFtoeED_7FpcTQoxMqu-Hp8FNu_V6KannaIUQOrLMGcIKkjm9dyqGC5Byasfr3GaPZLWcMq4f_3gvO2fnJU5FGJIUxkJ/s1600-h/vpn1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzoADM3hEgHarVYLbVH5nfcz6sfBW5WTsCa0q_wEjTff8E7negJFtoeED_7FpcTQoxMqu-Hp8FNu_V6KannaIUQOrLMGcIKkjm9dyqGC5Byasfr3GaPZLWcMq4f_3gvO2fnJU5FGJIUxkJ/s320/vpn1.PNG" /></a></div></blockquote><ul><li>For username and password, enter what you were given by the Hotspot Shield website. Tick <b>Remember this password</b>. You don't need anything for Domain. Close the window when you finish.<br />
</li>
</ul><ul><li>Now go to <b>Start > Connect To</b>. Right click on the connection you created and choose <b>Properties.</b></li>
</ul><ul><li>On the <b>Networking</b> tab, change <b>Type of VPN </b>to <b>L2TP IPsec VPN</b> and then click <b>IPsec Settings</b>.</li>
</ul><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhtL6DIZx8TFXM-gN_nftKvHEyadD_BFEXU92ymlmyAosjQcEpiZXzacK2FZAzhbOJe4nsofiQVWIxYAjNLRL9oRWieAJSCcI3amw56ba93MopaLO7iHYRro7bG5ySjLziTqHvQabAdUd3/s1600-h/vpn2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhtL6DIZx8TFXM-gN_nftKvHEyadD_BFEXU92ymlmyAosjQcEpiZXzacK2FZAzhbOJe4nsofiQVWIxYAjNLRL9oRWieAJSCcI3amw56ba93MopaLO7iHYRro7bG5ySjLziTqHvQabAdUd3/s320/vpn2.PNG" /></a></div></blockquote><ul><li>Choose the <b>Use preshared key for authentication </b>option and type in <i>password</i> for the <b>Key</b> (this is what the iPhone calls <i>Secret</i>).</li>
</ul><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlpz6vW336wCNU5e61ll-JS7HxZTCmJGSrcu1ZCeWtV6tp1hBt-DCByhPLaNOQhmyNneDNqqXQxL5ytgMIzwOcp6WERn0CMtaSLFNkd5HukcH7W1oy_LqXrmlxof0Qo7DLHZcqekbk8YFQ/s1600-h/vpn3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlpz6vW336wCNU5e61ll-JS7HxZTCmJGSrcu1ZCeWtV6tp1hBt-DCByhPLaNOQhmyNneDNqqXQxL5ytgMIzwOcp6WERn0CMtaSLFNkd5HukcH7W1oy_LqXrmlxof0Qo7DLHZcqekbk8YFQ/s320/vpn3.PNG" /></a> </div></blockquote><br />
That's it! You can now connect to HotSpot Shield through the <b>Connect To</b> option on the Start menu - that's even easier than using the software from my point of view. I guess it would be possible to install a 64-bit TUN/TAP driver but I haven't investigated whether one exists for Vista because this way just seems so clean.<br />
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Just remember to disconnect after you're finished!<br />
<blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update: </span><strike>Some folks seem to be having trouble connecting, or with keeping their connection to their ISP. As I haven't experienced such issues myself, it's not something I can help you with - but maybe other commenters can!</strike> Thanks to an anonymous commenter who pointed out a possible fix for those who find they lose their connection upon connecting to Hotspot Shield - try the instructions at<a href="http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070915162716AAnufYZ"> this Yahoo! Answer post</a>. If it works for you, let everyone know here by leaving a comment. <br />
Some have found their problems resolved by following the instructions carefully or fiddling with their settings.<br />
Thanks also to the anonymous commenter who pointed out that these instructions will help those who run Windows XP 64 bit.<br />
<br />
<b>Update 2:</b> Some commenters are worried about a redirect to rss2search.com, some even worried they are infected with malware. First note that there's no way I could infect you with malware - I haven't offered you anything to install and you are only using settings from Hotspot Shied's iPhone page. In case you haven't noticed, Hotspot Shield is funded by advertising and the rss2search.com page is part of this - you would be getting the same thing if you installed the Hotspot Shield software itself on a supported operating system.<cite></cite><br />
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<b>Update 3:</b> <strike>Bad news right now I'm afraid - Hotspot Shield's site appears to be returning an error when an Account ID is requested. Nothing I can do about that obviously - let's hope that it's temporary and they fix it soon!</strike> Ok, it's working again.<br />
<strike></strike><br />
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</strike><br />
P.S. <a href="http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2009/02/hi-anchorfree.html">Hi AnchorFree!</a><br />
<blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></blockquote>Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192418487057164085noreply@blogger.com234tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-43789320923299877332008-11-24T13:02:00.000+13:002008-11-24T13:25:01.134+13:00Modifying multiple motion paths in PowerPointor <i>Why having human readable file formats is a Good Thing.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
Recently I was creating a PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate a web site I had been developing. As I've discovered over the years, it's a wise thing to use PowerPoint, or rather screenshots of some sort, because it minimises the chance of something crashing or doing something equally as nasty.<br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
What I wanted PowerPoint to do was to scroll everything up, like scrolling a page on a website. So I selected everything and then added a motion path. What I ended up with is something like this:<br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghPhYxTRgB9GMEthvbH_SRJ7zJzKmmqeTjoZInA5m6eCrGQez-h1YBNUHGrJT2lroBKAFV0Ain3qcPr-q6CjtVdE2QKdzX_1xVF868ThGdaafFKfFx8N1BH2Qhg2dHFRUvpvuVEw1TwOI/s1600-h/powerpoint.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghPhYxTRgB9GMEthvbH_SRJ7zJzKmmqeTjoZInA5m6eCrGQez-h1YBNUHGrJT2lroBKAFV0Ain3qcPr-q6CjtVdE2QKdzX_1xVF868ThGdaafFKfFx8N1BH2Qhg2dHFRUvpvuVEw1TwOI/s320/powerpoint.png" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Each slide element has its own motion path. What I wanted was for each motion path to be exactly the same length, so that the scroll effect would look real - and the default length was not long enough. I tried shift-selecting all the paths and then extending each one by one but it didn't work.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So naturally, being who I am, I decided to try playing with the PresentationML (or "pptx" if you like) file format to see if there was anything I could do there. I started by saving the presentation and renaming it to have a .zip extension and then extracted it to see what I could find.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Basically I looked around the folder structure, trying to find some XML that might be describing the motion paths - and I found it. Inside the <b>ppt\slides</b> folder there are a number of XML files, each of which describes a slide in the presentation. I opened up my slide and looked around.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's something interesting:</div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><p:animmotion> origin="layout"<br />
path="M 0 0 L 0 -0.33333 E"<br />
pathEditMode="relative"<br />
ptsTypes=""></p:animmotion></span></div></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">This was present a number of times, and seems to be relatively self explanotory. It would make sense that -0.33333 would indicate the path was to go up (negative) by 0.33333 (whatever that represents). So I did a find replace for the path, replacing -0.33333 with -0.5 and re-zipped up the pptx contents. Sure enough, I find that all of my motion paths have grown in length and for me, -0.5 happened to be just right:</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrDxNEtc2DeU4D9vfTVfr9DlAr-qjn1wTZwNqLMDi2-A0712U8OpNm0ZBeZpSnGvrOmiejZK4vn-4geZlRct4C5eRTTKiyyaTLB9auNT05BHNeHnDA7p0o9LLu_XKddGGHm5PNFzNj4VM/s1600-h/powerpoint2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrDxNEtc2DeU4D9vfTVfr9DlAr-qjn1wTZwNqLMDi2-A0712U8OpNm0ZBeZpSnGvrOmiejZK4vn-4geZlRct4C5eRTTKiyyaTLB9auNT05BHNeHnDA7p0o9LLu_XKddGGHm5PNFzNj4VM/s320/powerpoint2.png" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
Just goes to show, human readable file formats can work wonders. Maybe there was a better way to do it within the UI, I don't know. But really, <a href="http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=%22xml+is+fun%22">XML is Fun</a>.<br />
<i><br />
</i>Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-18435169156063964652008-06-30T17:07:00.007+12:002008-06-30T23:35:11.604+12:00Automatically switching on the firewall by location on Mac OS XThere is something that Windows Vista actually does rather well. When you connect to a network to which you have not previously connected, Vista will prompt you to say whether it is Home, Work or Public. Naturally when you connect to some sort of unencrypted network at a Cafe, University or wherever you are going to want to select Public - basically this puts the firewall up to full strength to stop services like file and printer sharing from telling the world what it is you have on your laptop. (I'm simplifying things here - if you unblock services while Public for example you could still be opening yourself to a world of pain because it will be unblocked for all public places).<br />
<div class="separator" style="text-align: center; clear: both;"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/jpl.hill/SGhtF4s3AmI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/Mds_OUiwXkU/None.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="border: 0pt none ; background-color: transparent; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img height="163" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/jpl.hill/SGhtF4s3AmI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/Mds_OUiwXkU/None.jpg" style="border: 0pt none ;" width="200" /></a></div>
I assume people are mostly still using XP because it seems no matter where I go in public (well maybe not everywhere) there's someone who has neglected to lock down their system, even to the extent that they have write access open to their OS / data partition.<br />
<br />
Mac OS X doesn't seem to have this feature at all. Yes, it has network locations but they don't cover the firewall, nor can they be set to automatically switch. But there is a way.<br />
<br />
First, we need to do how to programmatically change the network settings. The <a href="http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080110103812947">answer</a> comes from (the really rather useful) <a href="http://macosxhints.com/">macosxhints.com</a>.<br />
<blockquote><br />
<pre><code>sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf globalstate -int 1</code></pre>
The last value represents the state of the firewall, where:<br />
<ul>
<li><tt>0</tt> = off</li>
<li><tt>1</tt> = on for specific services</li>
<li><tt>2</tt> = on for essential services</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Note that actually the 'sudo' isn't required for this if you have an administrator account. So I created two very simple shell scripts based on this command, one which turns on the firewall and one which turns it off.<br />
<br />
The second part of this is the great <a href="http://www.symonds.id.au/marcopolo/">MarcoPolo</a>. In a nutshell, MarcoPolo can automatically do whatever you want whenever you want based on various physical attributes like the Wifi access points it can see, bluetooth devices and even ambient light (among other things). Unfortunately it hasn't been properly updated for Leopard, so it can't switch the firewall itself - but it can be set to run shell scripts.<br />
<br />
So this is what I have going. When I'm at home, MarcoPolo automatically sees my home WiFi and switches the firewall into a low paranoia state (so I can access my files etc). When I leave home, MarcoPolo battens down the hatches to prepare me from those people interested in my SSH, my files or my Apache server.<br />
<br />
It's a great thing really - but it should be easier. Here's hoping Apple considers some sort of Vista style automatic switching at some stage.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-59470524536173060962008-05-05T23:01:00.001+12:002008-05-05T23:04:14.054+12:00Democratic Delegate CounterCNN has a rather interesting <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/29/delegate.counter/index.html">delegate counter</a> for the democratic nomination race on their site. It's quite fun to play with the sliders and see what's going on at the moment.<br /><br />There are problems though. It's written in Flash - nothing wrong with that in theory but the Flash seems to be referencing a bunch of non existent variables - all I get is a page full of <span style="font-style: italic;">NaN</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">undefined</span> (except sometimes).<br /><br />Anyway, instead I thought I'd create my own (requires javascript; opens in a new window):<br /><br /><a href="http://jfilestore.googlepages.com/delegates.html" target="_blank">Click here</a><br /><br />Sure, it doesn't have a map and the sliders aren't as fancy but yes, it works in every browser.<br /><br />Some notes:<br />- Use the editable text boxes to change the current number of delegates / superdelegates who are pledged.<br />- You may find you need to adjust a slider (any slider) to get new calculations after you manually update one of the text boxes.<br />- Works in all modern browsers (that I've tested!)<br />- Let me know of any bugs (and if I can be bothered I'll fix them).Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-88770213407411343902008-03-22T13:25:00.005+13:002008-03-22T16:48:49.775+13:00Using Unsion to sync iTunes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGIrgiN4EtUwcxF4NsisNv0MzNv0IltoewrWpxmgdCwbZksTZ8wPUwSkKFH3I4gFKRBeTIM0_AJbNIXSe7biGM8mNdCL1a6LwVG9gnz42WmUbPVTabFfCgAWFMMff366wCLYfmDX9zv0/s1600-h/Untitled2.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGIrgiN4EtUwcxF4NsisNv0MzNv0IltoewrWpxmgdCwbZksTZ8wPUwSkKFH3I4gFKRBeTIM0_AJbNIXSe7biGM8mNdCL1a6LwVG9gnz42WmUbPVTabFfCgAWFMMff366wCLYfmDX9zv0/s320/Untitled2.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5180366613899380642" /></a><br /><br />Update: I accidentally used forward slashes instead of back slashes for the backup dir, preventing the iTunes Library file from being synchonised. I did warn you!<br /><br />I recently purchased a new Mac laptop to replace my rather aging Ubuntu laptop. Ubuntu's a great operating system but of course the Mac is often considered the best of both worlds. It's got the Unix and (somewhat) open source foundations but it's packaged into a great looking and widely supported interface.<br /><br />Part of the advantage of this is that many of the most popular software applications are available natively. iTunes, for example, is the app I have been using to manage my music on my Windows machine for years now. Everyone knows iTunes (love it or hate it) but generally it's a great app for managing playlists etc. It sort of works on Ubuntu through Wine but now that I've got the Mac it's native - the same app using the same folder structure on two different computers running two different operating systems.<br /><br />The obvious next question is why can't these two be in sync? What a pain to have to manage playlists on two separate computers and have to watch as my play counts get further and further apart and podcasts get infinitely downloaded again and again. I've been evaluating solutions to get this working. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerFolder">PowerFolder</a> is a free app that synchronises stuff but it's java and only is really integrated into Windows (by the way even though it's open source they seem to have implemented a stupid 3 folder / 10 GB limit. What? Someone fork that sucker!). At the proprietary end of the spectrum we've got <a href="http://www.sugarsync.com/">SugarSync</a>. This is a very nice sounding service (which I haven't tried yet - it's brand new) and it has the advantage of storing your stuff online too. But it costs quite a bit, especially for the quantity of stuff I want to sync.<br /><br />So in the end it's Unix to the rescue! Unison is a tool born in the Unix world that does one thing and does it well - sync! Unison can be used directly on the command line or by creating so called 'profile' files which contain all the information. Here's the profile I've created for iTunes. You only need to create it on one end.<br /><br /><blockquote><br /># Synchronise iTunes library<br /># roots<br />root = D:/My Music/iTunes<br />root = ssh://192.168.0.30/Music/iTunes<br /><br />#Ignore funny mac files<br />ignore = Name .DS_Store<br />ignore = Name ._*<br /><br /># Keep backups of the iTunes library (itl) file<br />backuplocation = central<br />backupdir = D:\My Music\iTunes\Library Backup<br />backup = Name *.itl<br />backupprefix = $VERSION.<br />backupsuffix =<br />maxbackups = 20<br /><br /># ask no questions<br />auto = true<br />batch = true<br /><br /># favour newer files<br />times = true<br />force = newer<br /><br /># there are a lot of files here so we need it quick<br />fastcheck = true<br /></blockquote><br /><br />I saved this as C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\.unison\itunes.prf and I can run it from my Windows pc by running 'unison itunes'.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Warning! Warning!</span><br />So far this seems to work. But I still need to test it. I wouldn't recommend running this yourself until either I've tested it or you've tested it. You have been warned.<br /><br />Let's step through from the beginning. <br />We want to synchronise the iTunes music folder on the Windows PC at D:/My Music/iTunes/Library Backup (this is probably different for you. Think C:/Documents and Settings/<username>/My Documents/My Music/iTunes/Library Backup). On the mac (which has a static IP of 192.168.0.30 we want to synchonise to ~/Music/iTunes.<br />We want to ignore those files the Mac likes to store.<br />We want to keep backups of the itl iTunes Library file - the delicate file that stores everything about your library. I'm going to keep 20 backups because I don't want to lose this. Consider having other backups of your library as well through an external drive or something like <a href="http://www.mozy.com/">Mozy</a>.<br />We want Unison to run without bothering us with questions.<br />We want newer versions of files to replace old automatically.<br />And we want Unsion to compare files by looking at their modified dates. Doing checksums would take a *long* time with so many files. After comparing times and finding a difference, Unison checksums first anyway to be safe.<br /><br />There are issues though.<br />- We need to have SSH successfully set up so the PC can talk to the Mac.<br />- Perhaps we should make sure iTunes is closed at both ends before doing anything.<br />- It would be good to have an easy way to initiate the sync at either end.<br />- Automatic sync every few hours or so would be good too.<br /><br />I'm going to try to work through all of these as I get the time. Stay tuned.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-77212576090661293162008-02-25T21:37:00.003+13:002008-02-25T22:04:14.496+13:00Mythbox: The mythological cardboard computer<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/jpl.hill/R8KDc_Pio5I/AAAAAAAAAQA/Rk39ZSAznr0/s400/04022008156.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/jpl.hill/R8KDc_Pio5I/AAAAAAAAAQA/Rk39ZSAznr0/s400/04022008156.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />So I got tired of waiting for the computer case which I ordered to arrive for my Mythbox.<br /><br />Behold instead the cardboard computer! Fully operational with easy access to the power switch. Small risk of fire but otherwise reliable. Could probably do with a few more air holes.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fjpl.hill%2Falbumid%2F5170839791786435457%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss%26authkey%3DDHOgt-3E138" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" height="267" width="400"></embed>Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-77843597440782303362008-02-21T01:02:00.004+13:002008-02-21T01:35:36.155+13:00Mythbox: Software<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-gH25mipN8yGkCUgy6cgvJ95UxvseSWA_td_mrRl4X8XbEEX3Mi84nU6Gokgd2PDaQR6u5VVltpGXmBMeRS4PQFrJQuZkuUgZNLA8qPFzbKkyqdo0ze103r0ZubuI_Fje_V93GVgI19c/s1600-h/tverror.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-gH25mipN8yGkCUgy6cgvJ95UxvseSWA_td_mrRl4X8XbEEX3Mi84nU6Gokgd2PDaQR6u5VVltpGXmBMeRS4PQFrJQuZkuUgZNLA8qPFzbKkyqdo0ze103r0ZubuI_Fje_V93GVgI19c/s320/tverror.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169038972128764770" border="0" /></a><br />I remember when I initially considered building a media PC, I had thought that I would base it on <a href="http://www.team-mediaportal.com/">Mediaportal</a>. Mediaportal runs on Windows and does pretty much all that you'd want a media center application to do. The only problem with it is that it crashes like hell for me there - I don't want to take the risk for the main TV.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gbpvr.com/">GB-PVR</a>, also for Windows is another very similar, though mush lighter weight contender. I strongly considered GB-PVR, partly for its ability to run on Windows 2000. Plus, it's fairly easy to set up and stable.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/details/mediacenter.mspx">Windows Media Center</a> is the other oft-used option. However the limitations here are artificial and infuriating. For example, the way Media Center restricts you to two tuners or that it doesn't support DVB-S natively, nor does it support any HD options outside of the US. This somehow seems unacceptable for such a product. On the plus side, Media Center has probably the best user interface of the bunch.<br /><br />This leaves <a href="http://www.mythtv.org/">MythTV</a>, the relatively stable (if impossibly difficult to configure) usually Linux based DVR software. MythTV sure has the features and it has the advantage of being itself completely free along with the operating system on which it usually runs. I chose <a href="http://www.mythbuntu.org/">mythbuntu </a>as my flavour of choice. Given that cost is my primary driver for this mythbox, I felt that MythTV presented the only real option (all others discussed would have required a Windows license - and product activation on a DVR. That sure doesn't feel right.)<br /><br />The pros and cons:<br /><br />MediaPortal<br /><br />+ Lots of features<br />+ Itself free and open source<br />- Requires a Windows license<br />- A little crash happy<br /><br />GB-PVR<br /><br />+ Stable and snappy<br />+ Nice and lightweight<br />+ Able to run on Windows 2000<br />- Requires a Windows license<br /><br />Windows Media Center<br /><br />+ Nice, intuitive user interface<br />+ Relatively easy to set up<br />+ Media extenders available<br />- Requires a Windows license, Windows Vista to get newest version<br />- Stupid tuner number limitations<br />- Lack of DVB compatibility<br /><br />MythTV<br /><br />+ Features galore<br />+ Highly configurable<br />+ Relatively stable<br />+ Completely free<br />+ Media extenders easy to build or buy<br />- Hellishly difficult to configure<br />- Notoriously bad support and documentation<br /><br />MythTV's definitely got what I need, I'm just hoping I'm up to the set-up task.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-73595056178386649482008-02-18T19:25:00.003+13:002008-02-18T19:49:56.960+13:00Mythbox: Hardware<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9zVqnBam_gc3iak7iWGRO6osmaaOT_yZQQb0diJmwzCFHbaoI-Trbl73SEGIYJA9uPHUTOozhwnqB9pNZEVg9fy94gma687V92hzUvDbiNp7MhuG3BggKGatBqVbIMja3nXUjPYKGe2A/s1600-h/satellite.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9zVqnBam_gc3iak7iWGRO6osmaaOT_yZQQb0diJmwzCFHbaoI-Trbl73SEGIYJA9uPHUTOozhwnqB9pNZEVg9fy94gma687V92hzUvDbiNp7MhuG3BggKGatBqVbIMja3nXUjPYKGe2A/s320/satellite.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168208763540382546" border="0" /></a><br />When deciding to put my mythbox together I didn't want to spend very much at all. Nor should I have to: I've got components lying around for Africa. I have a bad habit of upgrading my main PC more frequently than is probably necessary (meanwhile my laptop chugs along on 4 or 5 year old technology, I forget how long it's been) and so this means I've got a spare CPU, motherboard and memory and even a 120 GB hard drive.<br /><br />120 GB isn't very much when it comes to video so I'll upgrade this at some point. For now, though, I'm making cutting costs my main priority. These are the things that I still think I'll need:<br /><br /><ul><li>A TV tuner card<br /></li><li>A case.</li><li>A remote control of some kind.</li><li>A DVD burner.</li></ul>The DVD burner is the only thing I consider optional currently. For now I'm just going to "borrow" a DVD drive from another PC. Seriously, it's pretty rare that these optical drives are used for much these days.<br /><br />The TV card must be able to receive DVB-S. DVB-S2, the newer standard which enables HD reception, is not a necessity for me because the broadcasters have no plans to upgrade to it yet. Their current satellite has no DVB-S2 transponders. I could get a second card if I wanted to but this isn't a priority. Most DVB-S cards also have an analogue input and this will do for me to plug in my Pay TV decoder. Sure, the video will be analogue (meaning the CPU will have to do a little work) but at least it should work.<br /><br />The case will have to be fairly high quality and preferably with optical bays oriented to allow horizontal positioning. I'm not a fan of these expensive $400 "media center" cases you see about the place. I don't need metal, nor fancy lights, nor LCD displays. Just a decent black box.<br /><br />The remote doesn't need too many requirements. However the standard <a href="http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/images/c/c1/MCE-Remote-2.jpg">Windows MCE remote</a> should do the trick nicely. Partly this is because it includes IR blasters which allow the PC to change the channel on the Pay TV decoder.<br /><br />All in all the mythbox should do enough to be useful. My old CPU isn't quite HD video ready probably but given I have practically no hope of getting HD reception this isn't really a concern.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Cheers to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/fazen/">fazen </a>for the image. Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">CC</a>.</span>Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-37099364981738352572008-02-16T17:35:00.003+13:002009-06-12T16:51:57.271+12:00Acerhk and Ubuntu update<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsuBppa6eaIXLcl0lwzOj7SstsYJH4sAdGBqaV_p-PQm-Ej6oXn95aJ4Lgn0u3P8NmOLO-mGcDTn_3N_MxMe1GGpSW2w91kFKOu9hIdrzVISht7eLRmwef8-hIbSXwWB363_6UWf2ZUZA/s1600-h/ubuntulaptop.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167161238196757314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsuBppa6eaIXLcl0lwzOj7SstsYJH4sAdGBqaV_p-PQm-Ej6oXn95aJ4Lgn0u3P8NmOLO-mGcDTn_3N_MxMe1GGpSW2w91kFKOu9hIdrzVISht7eLRmwef8-hIbSXwWB363_6UWf2ZUZA/s320/ubuntulaptop.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" /></a><br />
I was looking through the stats today when I discovered that my most popular post is about acerhk and Ubuntu. I'm not surprised in many ways because it was the one thing that caused hell when I was first trying to install it on my laptop. Incidentally, that laptop is still running Ubuntu very nicely (although I'm about to retire it - it's getting a little old).<br />
<br />
Anyway, I commented in the first post that I was hoping Ubuntu might one day have acerhk installed by default. Lo and behold this is the case now which significantly simplifies the steps we have to take to get the wireless working. We can skip all the stuff about module assistant and jump straight to configuration.<br />
<br />
So skipping the first part of the installation, here's what actually needs doing (quoted from the old post):<br />
<br />
---------<br />
<br />
We'll need to:<br />
<ul><li>Ensure the module is loaded when Ubuntu boots.</li>
<li>Tell the acerhk module to enable the wireless both when the laptop is turned on and when it is resumed.</li>
</ul>The easiest way to have the module load when Ubuntu loads is to add it to /etc/modules:<br />
<blockquote>sudo sh -c "echo acerhk >> /etc/modules"</blockquote>Now we're going to make a little script for turning on the wireless. Open up the text editor at <span style="font-weight: bold;">Applications > Accessories > Text Editor</span>. Create your script as follows:<br />
<blockquote>#!/bin/bash<br />
echo 1 > /proc/driver/acerhk/wirelessled</blockquote>Save it into a useful location with an appropriate name. I'm going to name it <span style="font-weight: bold;">wifi</span> and save it into my home directory.<br />
<br />
Now ensure that the script is executable:<br />
<blockquote>cd ~<br />
chmod +x wifi</blockquote>Then we need to copy the script to the two locations that will have it being executed on boot and resume.<br />
<blockquote>sudo cp ~/wifi /etc/acpi/resume.d/<br />
sudo cp ~/wifi /etc/init.d/</blockquote>Finally, activate your startup script with the following command (assuming you are in the same directory as your script):<br />
<blockquote>sudo update-rc.d /etc/init.d/wifi defaults</blockquote> Phew! We're done. Reboot the laptop and hopefully your wireless is working!<br />
<br />
-----Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-52692332035380972952008-02-14T16:17:00.000+13:002008-02-15T16:20:28.021+13:00Mythbox: Debating the choice - build or buyFor ages I thought building a media PC was a stupid idea. Why would you spend all that money on a noisy, ugly PC when you could buy a cheap DVR? The answer came to me after much research and just with the passing of time.<br /><br />Cost became less of an issue simply with time. Computers are cheap. Their components are cheap. This is partly because of reduced costs, partly because the US dollar exchange rate is favourable for me at the moment. Now it's about the same to build as is it is to buy.<br /><br />Flexibility is the thing that really wins. With a PC I can do whatever I want. More tuners? Go ahead! Watch videos from other PCs? You bet! HD upgrade? Why not! Ultimately it was the fact that my country is finally going digital - but there's a huge lack of digital capable DVR's (I have no idea why). The choice is even more dire when it comes to DVB-S which is want I want to use. I have no hope of getting DVB-T coverage. (An aside - see if you can guess which country I'm in). With a PC I just slot in the tuner cards I want an voila! Entertainment gratification.<br /><br />In summary then:<br /><br />Buy:<br /><ul><li>Just works</li></ul><span style="font-style: italic;">But...</span><br /><ul><li>Limited expandability options</li><li>Small range of digital capable DVRs</li></ul>Build<br /><ul><li>Infinite flexibility</li><li>Easy upgradability</li><li>Choose whatever video source you desire!</li></ul><span style="font-style: italic;">But...</span><br /><ul><li>Fiddling required</li></ul>For me the build pros outweight the cons, mostly because I'm good at fiddling.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-8556404474612008092008-02-12T13:05:00.001+13:002008-02-14T19:16:17.232+13:00The Death of DRM: I was right<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUgs9Ssghcl3W2G1zOmWahwefMJ_KkqLE8PThcIDVB4tcsA-o77UQNEMNmRXSx6T_j7GfDdkBEVh8p85v0uxDUkrSBWnhqKcQ1Pd_ET9n2CQsWqidPDGf28RMC8iA85T9ayse2Se579Ko/s1600-h/lock.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUgs9Ssghcl3W2G1zOmWahwefMJ_KkqLE8PThcIDVB4tcsA-o77UQNEMNmRXSx6T_j7GfDdkBEVh8p85v0uxDUkrSBWnhqKcQ1Pd_ET9n2CQsWqidPDGf28RMC8iA85T9ayse2Se579Ko/s320/lock.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165880569143403314" border="0" /></a><br />Not to blow my own horn too much...<br /><br />But looking back over my posts of the past I see that I <a href="http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2007/04/death-of-drm-and-rise-of-market.html">accurately predicted the fall of prices on DRM-free music</a>. A recap - I predicted that because DRM free music is compatible with the iPod, market forces (read: competition) would force Apple to lower the $1.29 premium price back to 99c for their so called iTunes Plus tracks. Well guess what, <a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/10/17itunes.html">it happened</a>. Mostly thanks to <a href="http://www.amazonmp3.com/">Amazon's excellent service</a> I would imagine. (Now Amazon, please make it <a href="http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=7601">available internationally</a> soon? K thnx).Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-21822363271628328662008-02-12T00:33:00.000+13:002008-02-12T13:01:14.605+13:00Vista Sucks: Where's the frickin back button?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0UGJlKgQLW4_aaw6vjYY-1_9UVq_VjGiAxgHwZ5SoJTor-T6BROomNo6GCU3WctXlukzBeMih0a4q_q8jPTBUlW7FhE8kRMgdVdQoSH7ftMZBiMQ5HTFe5nwQ2FC1X7SXhyphenhyphenqfOopJ_M/s1600-h/WinVista-Button_rgb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0UGJlKgQLW4_aaw6vjYY-1_9UVq_VjGiAxgHwZ5SoJTor-T6BROomNo6GCU3WctXlukzBeMih0a4q_q8jPTBUlW7FhE8kRMgdVdQoSH7ftMZBiMQ5HTFe5nwQ2FC1X7SXhyphenhyphenqfOopJ_M/s320/WinVista-Button_rgb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165687364334560034" border="0" /></a><br />Gah! What were they thinking? Hey Microsoft listen to me and repeat - consistency, consistency, consistency. There, how does that feel? Now put it into practice. What you should <span style="font-weight: bold;">not </span>do is have a <span style="font-style: italic;">text-based</span> Next button in the bottom right of a wizard dialogue and a <span style="font-style: italic;">graphical </span>button in the top left.<br /><br />Bad, Microsoft, Bad! Now hang your heads in shame and go work on that next version.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-12858534200199579802008-02-12T00:18:00.000+13:002008-02-12T13:02:04.100+13:00Mythbox: Building a media center PC<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Nv0TOLoR275F2xORTRaI2M99yT7DJjWSWO_5GV7YKI1glKvznAFGRWXBReBrFgH-2oo-5f_njcjdcDdUkYtvApySXOy4r_J2nf-7rK6nMhBA_ZaIsi9H2T0tiFkNtqpOdH2XRjU6Pi0/s1600-h/mythtv.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Nv0TOLoR275F2xORTRaI2M99yT7DJjWSWO_5GV7YKI1glKvznAFGRWXBReBrFgH-2oo-5f_njcjdcDdUkYtvApySXOy4r_J2nf-7rK6nMhBA_ZaIsi9H2T0tiFkNtqpOdH2XRjU6Pi0/s400/mythtv.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165681467344462594" border="0" /></a><br />I've decided to build a media center PC based on Myth TV. Be on the lookout for posts about why I decided to do this in the first place, why Myth and the trials and tribulations along the way.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-90228312045886368022007-09-20T18:55:00.000+12:002007-09-28T21:36:52.695+12:00Batch converting Office 2007 documents to 2003 format<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ZGj8nG0cyDygP0KzlZ5Jz0F6nOGAJZFq6Ap6APlcqpsJIyTn2VMSHW7HtfycH9W7NVJKu2vmW0qwutEe0kCCP7Iz9wspDYgH1POcIxSS3cqn465FhDfFYnTllsSjlQrIn27CydwGlTo/s1600-h/word07to03.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ZGj8nG0cyDygP0KzlZ5Jz0F6nOGAJZFq6Ap6APlcqpsJIyTn2VMSHW7HtfycH9W7NVJKu2vmW0qwutEe0kCCP7Iz9wspDYgH1POcIxSS3cqn465FhDfFYnTllsSjlQrIn27CydwGlTo/s400/word07to03.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5112184882331306530" border="0" /></a><br />I had someone ask me today for a way to convert multiple docx files to plain old doc. Naturally I Googled for a solution (or should that be <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/04/AR2006080401536.html">performed a web search using the Google™ search engine</a>?) but I couldn't find one that I liked or was appropriate for someone a little less technically inclined. So I went ahead and rolled my own.<br /><br />The result is a VBA macro enabled Word 2007 document. I have no idea if it works in any other versions of Word apart from the 2007 version although it might if the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en">Compatibility Pack</a> is installed. I do know that it probably won't work on anything apart from Windows because it expects folder names to end in a trailing backslash.<br /><br />I should probably disclaim that I definitely am not responsible if this somehow messes something up. Use at your own risk! You can use this for whatever you like as long as you don't try to make money from it (not that you'd want to for this thing).<br /><br />I should probably say that I hacked this together in a few minutes today. I've never used VBA before but take a look at the code if you want. You'll need to enable macros for this thing to work at all.<br /><br /><a href="http://jfilestore.googlepages.com/2003convert.docm">Download here!</a>Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-88803707093990342112007-08-19T19:07:00.001+12:002007-08-19T19:15:29.851+12:00This is a joke, right?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTsSX_jUrCMFKzeIRMRE2Wr8LTln5AWF_Y1JQSgzCMi2O4N1rLEdmRjY8UIgYc0K5I-JwWr7Pq83f1N2ZtJUHRjdCc7-3-l7uqADI-VW-gB09U6e2nu8v1xAgXNothanL1ZFH-S6Jh4lI/s1600-h/activate.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTsSX_jUrCMFKzeIRMRE2Wr8LTln5AWF_Y1JQSgzCMi2O4N1rLEdmRjY8UIgYc0K5I-JwWr7Pq83f1N2ZtJUHRjdCc7-3-l7uqADI-VW-gB09U6e2nu8v1xAgXNothanL1ZFH-S6Jh4lI/s400/activate.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5100305052185803586" border="0" /></a><br />I started getting a prompt when I booted saying I had to activate Windows again because I changed the hardware. Of course we all know that the activation system Microsoft uses is ridiculous and treats us all as criminals but my problem is what brought it on.<br /><br />"Changed hardware!", I hear you cry, "You must have really done something drastic to your system!"<br /><br />You'd think that, but no. What did I change then? <span style="font-weight: bold;">The frickin power supply</span>. That's right the power supply and nothing else. I really don't think that changing the power supply is something Windows could even detect so that leads me to the thought that this is probably a bug. A bug that has the ability to piss me off fully and however many other people have encountered it.<br /><br />It creates more food for thought too. What if the year was 2015 and Microsoft was no longer activating XP. Or they may not even exist (come on, it's possible!). Activation is another dirty form of DRM which can only hurt consumers. And today that consumer is me.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-29934604978688258352007-04-22T18:31:00.001+12:002008-02-16T17:38:34.774+13:00Acerhk and Ubuntu<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEFghN87ecBYKVKKpKmu1Bzvzc5PWR3dDBkKlXDXDMKK1unnSL7SVJbLVM0UqKJ8p9NG3nNn7pP90EA1DL31C4vzXnesrGqUlDFAXHvP-M54XFp9N7063YNDqlVICU92w_hSEurKWuGU/s1600-h/ubuntu.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEFghN87ecBYKVKKpKmu1Bzvzc5PWR3dDBkKlXDXDMKK1unnSL7SVJbLVM0UqKJ8p9NG3nNn7pP90EA1DL31C4vzXnesrGqUlDFAXHvP-M54XFp9N7063YNDqlVICU92w_hSEurKWuGU/s200/ubuntu.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5056145867929869442" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">UPDATE: </span>Some of these steps are no longer necessary on newer versions of Ubuntu. <a href="http://insidethebrackets.blogspot.com/2008/02/acerhk-and-ubuntu-update.html">Check out my new post for the info</a>.<br /><br />With the new release of Ubuntu now available I raced ahead and installed it on my laptop. Of course no major upgrade goes without a hiccup and this one was no exception - my wireless networking stopped going. This wasn't entirely unexpected because I had to install a kernel module to get it going under edgy so I did that again under Feisty. Hopefully one day this will be installed by default in Ubuntu but we'll see. For now, if you're one of those unlucky soles with a laptop requiring acerhk to get the wireless going, check out these instructions - once you know and understand it, it's actually not that hard.<br /><br />First you need the sources for the acerhk module<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>. There's a couple of ways and places you can get this, but the easiest by far is to use <a href="http://in.solit.us/archives/download/22705">this deb.</a><br /><br />After you've downloaded the deb, double click to install. This part's easy! You'll just need to make sure you're connected to the net (presumably by wired network) for it to download some required dependencies. What this does is copy the source code for the module over to the required places.<br /><br />Now we're going to use a very convenient program made for Debian called <span style="font-weight: bold;">module-assistant</span>. To install this, you can either use the command line or synaptic package manager. You'll need to have the multiverse enabled. (Not sure what this means or how to do it? Check out the <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu">Ubuntu Help Documentation</a>)<br /><br />Open up a terminal by going to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Applications > Accessories > Terminal.</span> First, make sure your repositories are up to date:<br /><blockquote>sudo apt-get update</blockquote>Enter your password when asked. Now we need to install the module-assistant:<br /><blockquote>sudo apt-get install module-assistant</blockquote>Open up the module-assistant by typing:<br /><blockquote>sudo m-a</blockquote>You'll see a helpful blue and red screen. First, we need to prepare the assistant for installing modules, so select PREPARE and wait for it to finish. After that, select UPDATE.<br /><br />Now we'll tell it to install the module. Select SELECT to see the list of modules, find <span style="font-weight: bold;">acerhk</span> and press space bar. Then tab to <span style="font-weight: bold;">OK</span> and press enter. Select BUILD and then select INSTALL. You've now installed the acerhk module! Exit the module assistant by pressing Esc repeatedly until you're back at the command line.<br /><br />Now we need to make sure the module is loaded at the appropriate time and the wireless network enabled. We'll need to:<br /><ul><li>Ensure the module is loaded when Ubuntu boots.</li><li>Tell the acerhk module to enable the wireless both when the laptop is turned on and when it is resumed.</li></ul>The easiest way to have the module load when Ubuntu loads is to add it to /etc/modules:<br /><blockquote>sudo echo acerhk >> /etc/modules</blockquote>Now we're going to make a little script for turning on the wireless. Open up the text editor at <span style="font-weight: bold;">Applications > Accessories > Text Editor</span>. Create your script as follows:<br /><blockquote>#!/bin/bash<br />echo 1 > /proc/driver/acerhk/wirelessled<br /></blockquote>Save it into a useful location with an appropriate name. I'm going to name it <span style="font-weight: bold;">wifi</span> and save it into my home directory.<br /><br />Now ensure that the script is executable:<br /><blockquote>cd ~<br />chmod +x wifi</blockquote>Then we need to copy the script to the two locations that will have it being executed on boot and resume.<br /><blockquote>sudo cp ~/wifi /etc/acpi/resume.d/<br />sudo cp ~/wifi /etc/init.d/</blockquote>Phew! We're done. Reboot the laptop and hopefully your wireless is working! When the next Ubuntu version roles around all you should need to do is the module assistant build and install for the acerhk module.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-53081114506462505162007-04-12T18:06:00.000+12:002007-04-12T18:44:33.415+12:00The Death of DRM and Rise of Market Economics<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC5EfzFlEw7EBmAYBuBeq5WjAIyNeNdO-Zmg33c3c-RuYrTLYPohA82ScYVn9z4-80_04odYap2sMr19lPImPiD6G0k364zCkLKp_aOJxVRaVekM3TJhwYvzKnI7YGzrURb9_me4XoWCo/s1600-h/ipod.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC5EfzFlEw7EBmAYBuBeq5WjAIyNeNdO-Zmg33c3c-RuYrTLYPohA82ScYVn9z4-80_04odYap2sMr19lPImPiD6G0k364zCkLKp_aOJxVRaVekM3TJhwYvzKnI7YGzrURb9_me4XoWCo/s320/ipod.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5052428833798729938" border="0" /></a><br />As everyone is no doubt all to aware, EMI and Apple have <a href="http://www.emigroup.com/Press/2007/press18.htm">jointly announced</a> that, starting in May, DRM music will be available from the iTunes store - for a price. DRM free tracks will be $1.29 at 256 kbps while the 128 kbps tracks will remain DRM crippled at the old price.<br /><br />Personally I share <a href="http://cellphones.engadget.com/2007/04/02/apple-and-emi-ditching-drm-is-good-but-its-not-good-enough/">Ryan Block's view</a> that this doesn't go far enough. The fact is that if they were committed to this they would have removed DRM from <span style="font-style: italic;">all</span> tracks not just the more expensive ones. The fact is that there are thousands of 128 kbps tracks on the P2P networks already so adding some more will make no difference. Steve Jobs' answer to a reporter's question on the very issue was that he didn't want to make customers pay more unless they wanted too - a pathetic weak answer that dodges the issue; after all if the track is DRM free at the same price then the customer won't pay more, will they?<br /><br />The question for me is who dreamed up this scenario for the 99c tracks? Was it Apple or EMI who decided that the 99c tracks must remain encumbered with encrypted crap? It's hard to tell. EMI's press release refers to "a variety of bit-rates" but still mentions "premium downloads" while Apple's release hardly refers to EMI at all.<br /><br />Let us assume for a moment that EMI is living up to the "a variety of bit-rates" statement in their press release and that, actually, music stores will have the choice of any rate. Presumably the higher rates mean the retailer must pay a premium to EMI so. It also means that stores could offer 128 kbps DRM free tracks for possibly the same price as now.<br /><br />Now, here's where the economics comes in (you were dreading this part weren't you!). Any good economist knows that one of the major hindrances to the smooth operation of the free market is its barriers. Barriers refers to those little things that get in the way of Adam Smith's "invisible hand" from coming in and ensuring the prices are at the appropriate level. It's those barriers that mean that (in most places) there are perhaps only 4 oil companies operating who can then jack up the prices in their oligopolistic market environment. Simply put, they prevent competition through such factors as the cost of entry to market.<br /><br />For online music DRM has always been the entry barrier. Sure, anyone can have DRM - but they can't have <span style="font-style: italic;">the</span> DRM. The FairPlay DRM that works with the ever popular little Apple branded digital music player (you know the one I'm talking about). Removing DRM smashes that barrier immediately. We can have music stores coming in from all over the place and offering DRM free <span style="font-style: italic;">iPod compatible</span> music. This opens the way for much fairer competition.<br /><br />Now to be reasonable we have to remember that one of the barriers still exists in the form of the record companies oligopoly-like contracts and prices. But these have largely already been established since there is a plethora of WMA music stores out there. If these music stores convert to DRM-free MP3s or AACs (which I think they will to make themselves iPod compatible) then we have the economist's ideal situation - monopolistic competition.<br /><br />We will have a true market. Cheaper music? Sure. Higher quality music? You bet! If anyone's unhappy with iTunes' 99c DRM wall then I'm sure other providers will be quite happy to undercut them. In my opinion this is all highly possible. An example: <a href="http://www.buymusic.com/">BuyMusic.com</a> was one of the very first online music stores after iTunes. Ever noticed they offer many tracks cheaper than iTunes <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> they are already at double the bit rate! Now imagine them DRM free.<br /><br />The choices for filling your iPod might just get juicier...Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-43852462046933077842007-04-07T11:12:00.002+12:002009-02-05T12:37:25.510+13:00What's the best cross-platform filesystem?Good question. It's something that I've been thinking about and something that for a while annoyed the hell out of me. Realistically there are three operating systems that someone (or at least a tech-geek) might have on their system - Windows, Linux (of some variety) and Mac OS X (<a href="http://www.apple.com/macbook">apple-labelled</a> or <a href="http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page">otherwise</a>) and the ideal filesystem is one that works properly on all three.<br />
<br />
By doing this it makes it much easier to realistically use your music, documents etc properly and successfully on all three. As an example, I might have 3 primary partitions, - one for each of the operating systems - and then a logical partition for documents (plus another for linux swap). Of course this will work equally well with another drive acting as the documents repository (something that I'm planning to do shortly as a multitude of home videos, photos, music and podcasts threaten to completely fill my current drive).<br />
<br />
So let's survey the contenders.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;">FAT32</span><br />
Advantages:<br />
<ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>Works natively and perfectly in all three operating systems.</li>
</ul>Disadvantages:<br />
<ul><li>No journalling.</li>
<li>Relatively low maximum partition size (2 Terabytes - not attainable yet but will be).</li>
<li>Inefficient at large partition sizes.</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Maximum file size limited at 4GB.</span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: 130%;">NTFS<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Advantages:<br />
</span></span><br />
<ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Works natively and perfectly in Windows.</li>
<li>Other operating systems support read support natively.<br />
</li>
<li>Robust and journalled.</li>
<li>Very high limits on maximum partition size</li>
<li>Very high limits on maximum file size.</li>
<li>Generally efficient at large partition sizes.</li>
</ul>Disadvantages:<br />
<ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Requires third party software to allow for write support on Linux and Mac OS X.</li>
<li>Slower on Linux and Mac OS X because of the use of FUSE.</li>
<li>Proprietary filesystem patented, and at the whim of, Microsoft.<br />
</li>
</ul><span style="font-size: 130%;">Ext3<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Advantages:<br />
</span></span><br />
<ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Works natively and perfectly on Linux.</li>
<li>Generally fast, journalled filesystem.</li>
<li>High file and partition size limits.</li>
</ul>Disadvantages:<br />
<ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Requires third party software to allow for any access under Windows or Mac OS X.</span></li>
<li>Third party software tends only to support ext2 resulting in extra file system checks (and these are slow).</li>
</ul><span style="font-size: large;">HFS+</span><br />
Advantages:<br />
<ul><li><b>Works natively and perfectly on Mac OS X.</b></li>
<li>Works natively and perfectly on Linux (without journalling)<br />
</li>
<li>Generally fast, journalled file system (but journalling must be disabled for Linux)<br />
</li>
<li>High file and partition size limit </li>
</ul>Disadvantages:<br />
<ul><li><b>Requires third party software to allow for any access under Windows.</b></li>
<li><b>Linux access requires disabling journalling.</b></li>
<li>Free <a href="http://hem.bredband.net/catacombae/hfsx.html">HFSExplorer </a>is not integrated into the Windows explorer.</li>
<li>Commercial <a href="http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/">MacDrive </a>(with full Windows explorer integration) is not free of charge.<br />
</li>
</ul><br />
One important point to note is that until not so long ago NTFS write access was just impossible outside of Windows but thanks to the fine <a href="http://www.ntfs-3g.org/">NTFS-3G</a> project that limitation is now not an issue.<br />
<br />
So what's the verdict? Well, only last year I couldn't possibly imagine myself saying this but for me the answer is NTFS. Pretty much all the NTFS features of importance are supported by the aforementioned NTFS-3G project while ext3 features only limited support due to only ext2 support with most options on the other operating systems. Needless to say, FAT32 is something I ruled out because I constantly hit upon the 4GB limit - though I must add that for the longest time (i.e. before NTFS-3G) this was the filesystem of choice for me. HFS+ is ruled out due to its commericial software requirement on Windows (although if you are comfortable using it without Explorer integration or paying for the software, then it may be an option for you, especially if OS X is your primary OS).<br />
<br />
As mentioned Windows of course features native support for NTFS (how could it not!) but for Linux and Mac OS X a little work will be required. The great thing about NTFS-3G and linux of course is that in the future it will probably find its way into the kernel, or if not then at least into many distros. This hopefully will mean that no extra work is required! [Update: As of Ubuntu 7.10, NTFS write support is enabled by default.]<br />
<br />
For now though there is stuff to be done but it's not hard. I followed the <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=217009">instructions over at the Ubuntu Forums.</a> Mac OS X installation instructions may be found at Mac OS X NTFS-3G's <a href="http://shadowofged.blogspot.com/2007/03/ntfs-3g-for-mac-os-x.html">unofficial homepage</a> and is made possible by the fortunate and timely release of Google's <a href="http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/">MacFUSE</a> project.<br />
<br />
The end result? Beautiful cross-platform bliss as I can read, write and modify to my heart's content whichever OS I happened to have booted. The one problem with FUSE hinted at earlier is because it's a user-space system it runs a little slower than a natively supported file system. However given that the solution is (IMHO) so much better than FAT32 and will probably get better in the future I think it's just fine.<br />
<br />
Happy filesysteming!<br />
<br />
P.S. If you read this and find something grossly wrong then let me know.<br />
<br />
<b>Update</b>: Thanks to commenter Derek for suggesting HFS - I have added my thoughts to this post.Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-87472782719763023962007-04-06T17:27:00.000+12:002007-04-06T17:34:34.843+12:00Ubuntu - it's the little things that countI'm a big fan of good usability design. This is something that I think the Ubuntu guys do really well - they take a step back and look at things from the average point of view and try to come up with ways to make things better. Take the <a href="https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/slick-boot">Slick Boot specification</a> that (sadly) won't be making its way into Feisty but will come around eventually I'm sure. An example of the user perspective from the <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SlickBoot">full specification page</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote><i>Matthew's monitor takes a couple of seconds to switch between different<br />modes. The multiple mode switches in the current boot sequence make him<br />nervous.</i></blockquote>Sadly there's one little thing that's been annoying me recently. My laptop has always been notoriously bad at sleeping no matter which operating system is having its go at it. Not to worry, I can just use hibernate instead and back when I used Windows this was fine. It works perfectly on Ubuntu too. But let me pretend for a second that I don't know what's going on here.<br />If you turn on a hibernated computer with Windows, here's what you might get:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS23fetnkq-vaa6oxXB0Y2u1LKqgzJ2fROyWkaOmO9ttZvNBaytMpqzflfsF5vi9UOUchjR1DsVk-vfg_FlxA1A1uHriy27U8VMpMHzEljjYMnAdaoVeq-wZiCGAeCRjG6KRqcXa8J2eI/s1600-h/xp.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 422px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS23fetnkq-vaa6oxXB0Y2u1LKqgzJ2fROyWkaOmO9ttZvNBaytMpqzflfsF5vi9UOUchjR1DsVk-vfg_FlxA1A1uHriy27U8VMpMHzEljjYMnAdaoVeq-wZiCGAeCRjG6KRqcXa8J2eI/s320/xp.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5050183312805154082" border="0" /></a><br />It's a simple screen, sure but effective. It has text that tells the user what is happening. It has a progress bar.<br /><br />Now let's compare that with what I see when I resume my laptop.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNkOHBcZF1uTvavWSDwr0dvDwhe2dF5IgPW-RT1rwZgkQ858gQ3f_NfDmkvVMNeXXU_ERrENYT_CssSO83Tf-jGYia5HV_2l4spyPnvABMP-77p4v5gjcYuYCMbNiUYuButWH8HsGQ0Q4/s1600-h/ubu.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNkOHBcZF1uTvavWSDwr0dvDwhe2dF5IgPW-RT1rwZgkQ858gQ3f_NfDmkvVMNeXXU_ERrENYT_CssSO83Tf-jGYia5HV_2l4spyPnvABMP-77p4v5gjcYuYCMbNiUYuButWH8HsGQ0Q4/s320/ubu.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5050183643517635890" border="0" /></a><br />Hmmm. What's going on here? I've got a progress bar that's not moving at all. And I have an ugly white band across the screen that makes it seem as if something is broken. But no! Suddenly a flash occurs and my desktop is back.<br /><br />Ubuntu did a great job with Usplash of making things look rosy to the average user. Usplash needs to be extended to hibernation too. Admittedly there is a <a href="https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/usplash-hibernation">specification that covers this</a>. I just hope it gets implemented soon!Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8184538191292938541.post-42854266798341537912007-04-05T17:45:00.001+12:002007-04-05T17:55:10.844+12:00Will someone please cut the crap?<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Following on from the fact that my frist ps0t was something that I'm sure has been written before over and over again I thought I'd chat about something that I've also heard mentioned about all over the intertubes.<br /><br />I'm talking about the crap that comes when you buy a new computer.<br /><br />Unfortunately I'm the goto guy for IT around everyone who knows me and this means setting up people's computers for them (for which they pay, and I demand, quite a reasonable amount of money). The one thing that constantly pesters me is the crud that comes on a computer. I'm not even complaining about the usual crap - you know the spyware, trial software and other junk that often comes preloaded (although it is all very complaint worthy). I'm talking about the stuff that is truly unnecessary because it already exists on the computer before whatever OEM has decided to come along and mess with things.<br /><br />Let me give you an example to put this into context. Many laptops I've seen come with a software utility to manage your WiFi connection. Great. Except every major operating system in existence today already includes its own rather decent WiFi manager! I've seen this with HP, Dell and Acer at least and I have to say I just don't understand it. With some of the other crud at least there's a point from the <u>manufacturer's</u> point of view - you know like it earning them more money from trial software - but with this there is no point at all. They've chosen to take their software engineers and actually task them on this. Where's their financial incentive?<br /><br />From the user's point of view this just creates an inconsistent experience. Here I am, Joe User, looking to 'learn' about how one manages a WiFi connection. But instead of learning, for example, the <i>Windows </i>way of doing things I actually have to learn the <i>Dell</i> way of doing it. And the <i>HP</i> way. And the <i>Acer</i> way.<br /><br />At least most software allows you to disable it and properly use the standard way. Not so with some - I saw a Dell laptop where the only option was the Dell WiFi manager. <i>Uninstalling the Dell manager also removed the WiFi driver!</i> This is just plain stupid.<br /><br /><b>Manufacturers this message is to you. Stop spending money on this stuff! Spend it elsewhere - improved support maybe? Better hardware? Better and more reliable drivers perhaps? Let Microsoft handle it. You're definitely paying for it through the OS fees!</b><hints id="hah_hints"></hints></div>Jonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03886193134487849337noreply@blogger.com0