software

I was expecting to have a nice relaxing Sunday, but after a friend dropped off his new super-duper-SATA machine for me to load XP onto for him, I was dropped into a spiral of despair.

The drivers for the SATA RAID controller on the motherboard needed to be installed from floppy disk during the XP installation, but the machine did not even have a floppy drive. XP was also being anal enough to insist that the drivers came from the A: Drive and did not allow me to obtain them from anywhere else!

I spent a little time trying to fool the BIOS into thinking that the A Drive was actually one of the memory card reader slots on the front panel - but this did not work at all.

In the end, I had to download the driver files to my PC and slipstream them into my installation of XP for the system to use them. At the same time, I made the installation totally “unattended” by entering the licence number, regional settings and options. I also slipstreamed in a copy of XP SP2 for good measure!

To do all of this I used an application called NLite which allows you to add all of the previously mentioned features plus extra patches, software and settings. It copies down your XP install disk, makes the changes you asked for and then burns direct back to a bootable CD!

Excellent!

Thanks NLite, you saved my sanity!

It’s official. I am a new man.

Yesterday - I bought some computer software - that wasn’t a game!

If you know me, you might think that this is a little odd and it may give you the impression that I never buy stuff for my computer (which I hardly ever do - working in the IT industry does have some benefits) - but this was almost too good to turn down.

Each year, Macheist sell bundles of Mac OS X software which would usually cost in excess of several hundred dollars - but under their offer, only costs around $40. Also, a portion of the profit from the sales goes to charity!

Simply put, this is the best Mac software deal in history.

This year, the bundle includes 12 applications for $49 (£25):

1Password - an application for storing your secure information - not just your web based passwords and information.

CoverSutra - a desktop based app for iTunes control and alot more!

Cha-Ching - a money/finance management application

iStopMotion - for recording stop-frame animations to the Mac. Something for me and the kids to do one rainy sunday afternoon.

Awaken - an alarm clock which starts up your mac and plays you sweet music from your iTunes library - or Barry Mannilow - which ever..

Speed Download - if you go anywhere near Rapidshare and you use a mac - this is really invaluable.

AppZapper - kills apps and associated settings/preference files with drag-and-drop efficiency

TaskPaper - a Mac based application for Getting Things Done. Something I definitely need!

CSSEdit - an application that provides a visual take on CSS file editing.

Snapz Pro X - a screen recording application for when you want to demo how to hack into something to all the other spotty kids on YouTube

PixelMator - A new(ish) image editing application

Wingnuts 2 - a fighter plane style game

So, whist not all of these are “must have applications” the majority such as CSSEdit, Pixelmator and Speed Download are worth the $49 alone!

I have been quite inspired by this act of “giving back” rather than taking. I am writing this post from the 21 day trial of Ecto - the best Mac based blogging application. With a new blog based project in the pipeline - I think I will be buying a license for this too!

Does OS X get any cooler than this?

Ok.  I admit it.  After bitching about Vista the other day, I have installed it tonight.

The main reason was that as people around me are getting it and asking me for help, I thought I had better get it too.

The version that I bought was the Vista Home Premium edition, but it came with that annoying UAC turned off by default, but also came without most of the desktop wallpapers, sounds and games.  Who ever made the ISO obviously stripped it down to fit on a single CD.  So I will be looking for another version somewhere else and maybe using that now that I know it works.
Seems ok at the moment.  Certainly fast enough on my p4 2.8 with gb of RAM and an on-board Intel graphics card.  It failed to get the drivers for the onboard network card which is a bog standard Intel one, the onboard soundcard and my Belkin PCI Wireless Card.  I used an XP driver for the wireless card and then updated the rest direct off the internet.

One good freakin excellent thing is that my Samsung TV now works in widescreen mode!  I spent a few hours the other night trying to force XP from 1024×768 to 1366×768 but it would not play.  But Vista seems to allow the screen to work at 1280×768!  Odd.

So, at the moment I am happier than I was the other day with Vista.  The interface still seems very odd and feels a little like the bastard son of OS X and Linux but I am getting used to it already.  Plus, as my MacBook is my primary machine, its not so much of an issue.

Today I had my first hands on experience with Windows Vista - and it left me with rather a bad taste in my mouth.

I was installing a nice new 2.8ghz Core Duo Dell PC with 1gb or RAM which came shipped with Windows Vista Home Premium installed. The persons old PC was a gnarly, 1990s pentium brick running Windows 2000 which had developed a hard disk fault. Luckily it would still boot and the person managed to get all her critical stuff off it before I arrived.

My first impressions of Vista were quite good but I soon got bogged down with the much slated User Account Control (UAC) interrupting my every move with a “did you really want to go into that control panel item?” type message that you have to click through every time you go anywhere near something configurable. I can see why people are saying that although this is “good security” it is the weakest point as people will just turn it off!

Even though the machine was brand new and pre-loaded with the typical stuff you get on an OEM PC, it soon gave a few error messages and application crashes along with nice new “fwips and dings” instead of the old windows “gnnnnn!” error. Its all just glitz really. Not much appears to have changed from XP. Even when using Vista you notice that although the folder icons in explorer look different and no longer have the + and - next to them, and instead show you a little arrow in the bottom corner of the expanded folder, other parts of the OS still have the XP and Windows 2000 style icons. To me it looks like the retarded bastard son of Linux and XP running some sort of shell replacement like WindowBlinds.

After 4 hours of transferring files between the old PC (via USB1.1) and the new one I just found the Vista interface to be confusing and complicated. Too many menu items, too many different images representing slightly different types of folders and little inconsistencies all over the place. I even plugged in a Logitech USB webcam only to be told that Vista could not install the drivers. It kindly suggested that I could go to the Logitech website to get some drivers, which I did, only to be told that the Webcam was not Vista compatible. I went into Device Manager (after again telling the UAC robot that I really did want to do this as I clicked on the freakin icon!) and right clicked the device and updated the drivers. It went off and downloaded some drivers off the internet and worked immediately! What the hell was that all about?

I also ran into issues installing Office 2003 from a CD. UAC asked for my permission to run the setup program which I gave. This is normally followed by a menu application where you can choose what to install (Office pro, Visio etc) but this complained when I clicked on the link to Office Pro that it “needed elevation” to run. I thought I have already done that though? It did’nt stop me going into the folder and running the Office Pro setup.exe direct though.

I was thinking of upgrading to Vista Home Premium on my desktop PC but I think I might hold off for now. Coming back home to my MacBook again was like purging my soul and banishing the demons from my brain.

I have just fallen in love with Apple all over again.

Now that Microsft Vista has been launched the usual Mac vs PC campaign has started up again.

Whilst Vista does seem to have some benefits such as better security and other UI improvements it s not a real leap ahead in terms of technology or programming.  Some would also so it borrows alot of its design and new features from OS X anyway!

My personal view is that, at the moment, I do not prefer either operating system.  OS X or XP/Vista!

Don't get me wrong, I love my MacBook and its stability and reliability!  I love the way I can open the lid and be on the internet in seconds or the way it "just works!".  I know that the "it just works" catchphrase is a real cliche, but it is true.  The first time I plugged in my USB scanner I thought it had not detected it, but really it had silently set it all up for me to use and was ready to rock.

I still get the feeling that I am using my MacBook with my hand tied behind my back at times.  Maybe thats just the reality of using a laptop rather than a desktop PC.  After all, I have been using and fixing windows PCs for over 10 years now and know each nook and cranny of the OS.

Its a nice feeling to know that my MacBook will work when I open the lid and not suffer from disk thrashing or spyware crap, but I would'nt say they are the be-all-and-end-all!

In conclusion, and in my opinion, there is no clear winner in the OS X versus Windows row.  Just alot of "my dads bigger than your dad". 

Torrents are all well and good, but grabbing something at 3kb a second for 2 weeks does not really float my boat any more.

Someone in TRL (the real world) told me about a forum called Th3Zone (ThreeZone) where links to “stuff” can be grabbed from sites such as rapidshare.

The benefits of places like Rapidshare is that they are quicker than getting stuff on torrents - normally as fast as your little router will carry it!

The only drawback is that they often impose a download limit or daily quota based on your IP address unless you pay for a premium account. Some people say that they might be able to get round this by using proxies

Th3zone is good because people also post links to other copies of the same content hosted on similar download services - but ones without any limits imposed! Ahh… cool. Sign up is free too, with a valid email address (although I was never asked to validate mine).

I like forums now. I did’nt before. But now I do!

I recently spent some time downloading new episodes of The Simpsons to watch during my lunchbreak at work.  Yes.  I work in front of a screen all day and then at the time I am supposed to be resting my eyes, i sit and stare at another screen for an hour - then go and stare at the first screen again until home time.

I am usually a Torrent FanBoi, but using a combination of these two sites, you can get lots of episodes - and quickly too!

• http://www.keepvid.com
• http://www.dailymotion.com

1.  Go to Keepvid and drag the Keepvid Lite shortcut to your browser toolbar.  This will allow you to click the shortcut when watching a video on YouTube, Google Video, Dailymotion and many more - and then get the option to save the video file to your hard disk for watching later.

2.  Go to Dailymotion and search for Simpsons or any similar cartoon (family guy etc).  When you find an episode or video you want to save, click the Keepvid lite shortcut and right click and Save As on the links provided to store the video on your hard disk!

I came to this method after finding the dailyepisodes.com site where they link to the majority of Simpsons and Family Guy episodes on the Dailymotion site - but I could’nt see how to integrate it with the Keepvid Lite shortcut though.

You might also need to get yourself a .FLV player such as the excellent VLC to watch the content.

Add the DailyEpisodes site to PeekVid.com and you might be sorted for a very long time.  Its a shame that Keepvid support for PornoTube.com has not yet been implemented!  Maybe this firefox extension is the answer…
Not wanting to be too controversial - Is it just me?  Or is Family Guy funnier than the Simpsons?

I went to my local library recently and borrowed some graphic novels I had not seen before.  A Hellblazer special and one called The Preacher.  They were ok.  The Preacher was not too bad and John Constantine in the Hellblazer story was as nasty, grumpy and evil as usual (not at all like the pathetic Constantine movie with Keanu in) - but what it did do was make me get up my ladder into my loft at 11pm last night to bring down my comic collection.  I also have several comics I have downloaded from the internet and read on my laptop.

Since switching to a Mac I decided to see if there were any comic reading applications.  Following closely on the heels of the Delicious Library comes the ComicBookLover application - and it’s ace!
It handles CBZ and CBR formatted comics as well as the usual JPG and PDF formats.  This application is like iTunes for comics and is really good, with a built in reader and thumbnail preview of each comic you have.  Click the thumb for a biggie pic!

Very cool indeed.