THEN WHAT HAPPENED?

What Ubuntu Needs

2011-11-29T17:35:00.000-08:00

A few thoughts on what Ubuntu needs. As I've previously mentioned, I'm a fan of 11.10, mainly because it takes very little work to get it to where it ought to be.

But you still have to perform that work. Now some of that is going to be inevitable. Encrypted DVD playback, for instance, will never be included out of the box for legal reasons. But some of the other things should really not have to be done. Ubuntu 11.10 is pretty damn good. but if it had the following changes it would really be great, right out of the box.

So here is my bitch list:

Dump Unity
This is the first thing on my list, because Unity is simply an awful interface. It takes some of the ideas of Gnome 3 shell (which I really like) but in the end is really just an annoying hindrance. It should be replaced wth Gnome 3 shell, and that is the first thing I do with a new install.

Integrated Config Tools
This is on both Ubuntu and Gnome 3. Ubuntu has no integrated GUI tool to modify Grub, or the logon splash screen. The aren't even in the repos. I think this is a major oversight. Part of the appeal of Linux is the customization options. Ubuntu should be leveraging this, not trying to crank down the user's options.

Same for Gnome 3. No built in tools to rotate wallpapers - this is simply dumb. Gnom3 shell is one of the slickest interfaces out there today, but glaring oversights like this (and the lack of ANY screensaver) are just dumbfounding.

Chrome
Chrome should be easily installable right out of the box. I know it isn't open source. I'm pretty sure that dropbox isn't either, but there it is in the partner repos (I think - don't quote me!) I know you can get Dropbox right there in the software center. Chromium is in there, but no Chrome. Installing it from google's site isn't hard. I know this. But does my Mom? This is one of those things that make your OS appealing to the masses. Chrome should be a no-brainer. Ditto for Adobe Acrobat Reader (even if you think it sucks)

Stop "Change For Change Sake, Like It Or Not"
A few iterations back the folks at Canonical decided to move the windows control buttons (minimize, maximize, and close) from the right to the left side of the window's title bar. Why make this change? Near as I can tell, because that is the way Macs have it. Is there any other reason? I can't think of it. Oh, and we decided we aren't going to include any (easily accessible) settings control to undo this. One of my best read posts on here are instructions on how to change it back to how it had been since the origin of Ubuntu. Now this isn't really a component of this release that I would like to see changed, but Canonical needs to break themselves of the habit of making wholesale changes, without any go backs. It is a philosophical change. Microsoft takes a lot of heat for many things (deservedly so) but they do this right. When XP came out, it was easy to make it look like the 2000 interface. When Vista, ditto for the XP look. Windows 7... you get the idea. Giving your users what they like and are familiar with is a good idea. At least give them the option.

Actually a pretty short list. I REALLY like 11.10 with Gnome 3 shell. A LOT. But nothing is perfect. These items would really take it to the next level.

How To Side Load HBO Go On Kindle Fire

2011-11-16T10:14:00.001-08:00

**** NOTE An update to HBO Go has apparently caused the HBO Go app to no longer function on the Fire - I'm leaving this post up as instructions for side-loading other apps

Update... It apparently is still possible to get HBO Go working. see comments ****

The Kindle Fire is a great little tablet. It has polish and sturdiness that you wouldn't expect for a $199 device.

For most people, I think it would more than take care of their tablet needs. iPad killer? Probably not, it lacks a few things that will probably prevent it from ever taking down the king.

So what is it missing? The obvious answers are screen size, camera, mic, and storage. The less obvious is apps. By default you can only get apps on the Fire from the amazon app store. And while there are tons of apps on there, it pales in comparison to the Google Android Market.

One thing missing from the Amazon app store HBO Go, which is a great streaming service for HBO subscribers. While you can get HBO Go in the android market, the Fire apparently is out of luck.

One other nice feature of the Fire is that you can "side-load" apps - meaning you can install programs without using the Amazon App Store. So here is how to install HBO Go on the Kindle Fire.

A couple of things to note. First, HBO Go displays at a rather crappy resolution. Don't expect the sharp awesome picture of an iPad's native HBO Go app. It isn't perfect but still beats the jitter fest that is HBO Go's flash site.

Second, this process requires you to have an android device that has access to Google's android market, and can run HBO Go.

Third, I use Astro, ES File Explorer, and a computer to perform this task. If you are savvy and want to use other methods, you probably don't need this "how to", and you already know that there are other ways to do this.

So now the process:

On the Fire: tap the settings gear (upper right corner of the display) and then click more. Select devices, then on "Allow Installation of Applications from unknown sources" select ON

Now, you will need to go to your android phone/device that has Android Market on it.

You will need to have both HBO Go, and another app: Astro installed on this device. Both should be available in the Android Market. If you don't see HBO Go there, it means your device is not capable of running it.

Once both are installed on your device, run Astro. This is a file browsing/backup utility. Tap the menu button on your device, and then select tools, then application backup. You will then be presented with a list of apps installed on the device. Select HBO Go, then press the menu button, then Backup.

Once completed, you now have an .apk file that you can install on another android device (like the Fire).

We now need to get this to the fire. I found the following way to be the simplest, but there are many ways to do this.

Connect your phone/device to your computer, and attach it as mass storage. Browse to the backups folder, then apps. inside you will see your .apk file copy this to your computer. The desktop or other scratch space should work.

Disconnect your phone. Now connect your Fire to the computer. Copy your .apk to the "Downloads" folder.

Once completed, you can disconnect the Fire. Go to the Amazon market and install the app "ES File Explorer"

Once that is done installing, open it, and browse to your "Downloads" folder. You should see your .apk file. touch it and install.

You can use this same process to install other apps not found in the Amazon App Store, For example I used it to install ESPN's Fantasy Football 2011 app. But not all apps will work on all devices, so you may have mixed results.

Fix Ubuntu 11.10

2011-10-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

11.10 is a must-go-to for one reason, stupid easy Gnome 3 shell.

As I posted before, 11.04 was a loser for me, largely due to Unity.

11.10 makes it VERY simple to get with Gnome 3 shell, instead of Unity hell (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?)

after a fresh install, simply run terminal:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

reboot, and when logging in choose the user you want, then select  "GNOME" From the menu.
Enter your password, and you should be  in Gnome 3 land.

You will probably want to go to system settings, and then appearance to choose the Adwaita theme, which plays with Gnome 3 shell better.


You may also want to get the gnome-tweak-tool:

sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool

Which shows up as "advanced settings" in the GUI, or can be launched from command line.

This gives you even more control of the environment, allowing you to do things like:

Under Desktop, set "have file manager handle the desktop" to OFF.
This gives smoother transitions, and to prevents showing files on the desktop.
Of course if you want it, you can leave it on, and also show other icons as well.

Under Shell, you can have the date show on the clock.
This is a big deal for me.
This is also where you can also choose to show all the buttons (X min and max).

When you've done these two simple things, you will have an Ubuntu install you can live with!

BONUS:  you may want to change the logon screen background OR use this app to do it

BONUS BONUS:  use this app to rotate wallpapers - or even better wallch, which is easier to install and get working.

BONUS X3: disable ubuntu overlay scrollbars - if you prefer the Gnome style

Bonus (?): as always, commercial DVD playback must be added:
install medibuntu repos,
then install DVD components via terminal:
  sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
  sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Pretty important:  Fix Chrome.
It fails with an error in software center when you download the .deb from google.
open terminal, and navigate to the directory containing the .deb

sudo dpkg -i package-name

sudo apt-get -f

install

And that should install it.

Yet another nice thing to have is the "Microsoft True Type Fonts"

   sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Find Remote Windows Serial Number

2011-08-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

I both love and hate remote support.

Back in the day we had to send techs out for most computer issues, which SUCKED for obvious reasons.

Remote control/access has made that largely a thing of the past.

But some for some things, you still just need to be there. Power issues, non-booting machines, etc. still are damn near impossible to handle remotely. If you don't know the serial of a machine, and don't have it in inventory, it can similarly suck.

Luckily, in windows we can usually pull the serial by issuing the following in a command prompt:

"wmic bios get serialnumber"

(no quotes)

Similarly, you can get the model number by entering:

"wmic csproduct get name"

This can really save the day, or a least a car trip or difficult phone call with a user.

Top 5 Podcasts - Revisited

2011-08-11T09:19:00.001-07:00

Last year I wrote a piece on my "Top 5 Podcasts". That list is OK, but outdated. My scope has expanded. My podcast listening habits have changed.

So, I've decided to update the list. As with my last list, I'm ethically bound to disqualify my podcast (sci-guys) even though it is better than all these put together! (And again, that is sarcasm just in case I was unclear)

5: Judge John Hodgman PC from the Mac/PC Apple commercials is John Hodgman. Unfortunately that is how most people know him. He should be most known for his amazing books, or his great podcast, where he resolves disputes with his swift but sure comedic hand of justice.

4: Kevin Pollak's Chat Show Suck it Charlie Rose. Kevin Pollak, best known as a comedian and actor, owns your shtick. Pollak is funny at times, but the star of the show is his interviewing - where he will at turns deliver insightful questions and observations, and not be afraid to show his appreciation of the guest and their work. It's long, most shows go over 2 hours, but worth it.

3: Security Now! I'm torn on this one. Part of me says that non-technical people should ignore this hard-core podcast about computer/internet security. And part of me thinks that those are the people who need it the most. The good news is that, technical or not, Steve Gibson delivers security information in a way that almost anyone can understand. I consider this podcast part of my "work" research each week. But would listen even if I didn't have an IT job.

2: My Brother, My Brother and Me The Brothers McElroy deliver a weekly advice show for the modern era. If you don't get a few laughs out of this, I think you must be dead inside.

1: Planet Money Last time I did the list this came in at number 2, with a disclaimer that it might not be for everyone. If I had a time machine I would send a terminator back in time to prevent me from saying that. Twice a week Planet Money delivers fascinating stories about how economics, finance, and policy impact our world - And they do it in a way that everyone can understand. A true "must listen" for both personal enlightenment and straight-up entertainment value.

There you go. The top five podcasts available today. Now go subscribe to the Sci-Guys podcast.

Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal

2011-08-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

Unity. I hate you.

That is all I can say. I don't like it. Don't bother trying to convince me that I'm "wrong" - I've heard it all.

I've been running the "classic" Ubuntu desktop in 11.04

But, Gnome 2.x is dead. So the "classic" Gnome shell will be dead in the next rev of Ubuntu.

My solution is to go to Gnome 3. It is a big change to be sure, and actually the design is in some ways similar to Unity. But I still vastly prefer it to Unity.

So, how do you get Gnome 3 in Ubuntu 11.04? First you gots to recognize that you are going to be in for a big ol' pain in the butt change here. Second, don't do this unless you are sure you want to do this, you know?

Then, open a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

reboot, and when logging in choose the user you want, then select "GNOME" From the dropdown menu. Enter your password, and you should be in Gnome 3 land.

after you get logged in, you may have some theme weirdness, like windows having an ugly orange title bar. Not a problem, get out your terminal:

sudo apt-get remove gnome-accessibility-themes

sudo apt-get install gnome-themes-standard

sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool

Reboot, and you should be good to go. If not, go ahead and launch the gnome-tweak-tool.

Under "Interface", Gtk+ Theme, choose Adwaita.
Under "Windows", Current theme, choose Adwaita.
(Adwaita is the default theme for Gnome 3)

You will probably need to reboot again to get the settings to stick.

Thanks to Ubuntu Geek for making this so clear.

Slow Logon With Windows 7 and Winlogon Events 6005 6006

2011-04-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

One of our users recently complained that loging in to his Windows 7 laptop could take over two minutes.

While my first instinct said, "well that isn't that bad" we did look into it a bit. This user works remotely exclusively. So even though their machine is a domain member, they are never on our physical network.

Their machine would produce 2 application event log warnings:

Event 6005, Winlogon:
The winlogon notification subscriber is taking a long time to handle the notification event (Logon).

AND

Event 6006, Winlogon:
The winlogon notification subscriber took XXX second(s) to handle the notification event (Logon).

We were able to reproduce this on test machines, but only on networks other than our production LAN. Booting the machine with NO network (no ethernet and wifi disabled) did not produce the issue. Booting on our production LAN the systems booted quickly and warning free.

It turns out the problem was that our domain user accounts are set with a home folder map (in our case H:\) to a network share.

Going in to AD Users and Computers on a DC, user properties, profile tab, and setting the "Home folder" option to "local path" (which is blank) resolved the issue for us.

Of course, we are not doing this for everyone, as most users appreciate having a mapped H: drive, And while there are other ways to get this done, this way works best for us.

Sprint u300 4G Wimax Card In Ubuntu

2011-01-05T21:48:00.000-08:00

Well, this just plain doesn't work. At least in Ubuntu 10.10
I have a Sprint U300 3G/4G card - which simply doesn't work for 4G yet.

Natively it won't work even for 3G, but over here is the solution for that!

Enter this:

sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x16d8 product=0x6002

Then create a new file:

/etc/udev/rules.d/50-u300modem.rules

with the following text:
ACTION!="add", GOTO="3G_End" 
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6002", ATTRS{idVendor}=="16d8", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe usbserial vendor=0x16d8 product=0x6002" LABEL="3G_End"


Save it, and then:

sudo restart udev
to get it running.

Mail Enabled Groups In Exchange 2007 Not Working From Outside Senders

2010-11-03T12:37:00.001-07:00

We recently ran in to this problem, and it took us a bit of time to track down.

We created a mail enabled group in exchange 2007, which worked great internally, but would reject messages sent from external senders with a "550 5.1.1 User unknown" error.

The fix? go to the group properties, "mail flow settings" tab, "message delivery restrictions"

un-check the box "require that all senders are authenticated"

Really, it should be obvious, but it took us a while to figure out, and certainly any exchange admin should know it...

Use The Most Recent Wine In Ubuntu

2010-08-06T10:26:00.001-07:00

One thing that is great about Ubuntu is the software repos. They make installation of applications easy, and keep them running pretty well up to date.

BUT

Sometimes the software in the repos isn't what you want or need. For example, Ubuntu 10.4 doesn't have the most recent version of WINE. It may be the most recent version that you should expect to run reliably, but it won't run the current version of Steam, for example.

So how do you get a more recent version?

add this to your software sources (system, administration, software sources. Select the other software tab)

ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa

Close the Software Sources window, and this will force a reload of the sources. You can then install WINE via synaptic, and you should be good to go for Steam installation.

Either Set WINE to function as Windows 7 as the default, or specify that Steam will run as Windows 7, and you should be all set.

Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx Post Install Guide

2010-08-05T14:54:00.000-07:00

Every time I do a fresh Ubuntu install, I end up needing to do some fix up. Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.4) is no different.

This is a nice working guide for a lot of what needs to be done. It's nice to have most of the steps in one place, rather than having to scour google.

Enjoy.

How To Listen To Podcasts: A Primer

2010-06-24T17:04:00.001-07:00

I had a discussion with my brother the other day about podcasts. Not how to record, edit, publish, etc. (like we do for the sci-guys podcast), but he had some fundamental questions on how to use/listen to them. He is extremely technically competent, so it became clear to me that I need a nice little primer on how to listen to podcasts, since it may be hard to find all this info right in one place.

Just a note: For my example today we will the sci-guys podcast, for 4 reasons:

1: It's awesome.

2: I'm one of the hosts

3: We can use the publicity

4: There is no reason for me not to.

So here we go.

A Podcast: What Is It?

As you probably know, a podcast is essentially an audio or video file that is made available over the internet.

That's it. Some people assume that since it is a PODcast it is somehow tied to Apple’s products. While the term “podcast” did replace “webcast” largely due to Apple's dominance in the digital audio player market, you don’t need and iPod to listen to podcasts. In most instances you don't even need a special program to listen/view them - just web access.

When people talk about podcasts, they are typically talking about pre-recorded audio files - although video is now common as well. Many audio and video podcasts can also be streamed live, but that is not what we will discuss today. We are going to talk about how to deal with the pre-recorded variety. And for simplicity we will just refer to audio podcasts moving forward, although unless specified, video podcasts will behave the same.

How to listen to a podcast

If you know what podcast you want to listen to, you probably can just go to their website, and play the file right directly from there. Most podcasters will use a system that allows playing right off the site. Check out this screen shot from sci-guys:

That big bar in the middle with the speaker and arrow icons is actually a player. You can just listen directly from there. That is unless you are trying to access this via an iPhone, iPad, or any other device that doesn't have Flash support. Yep that is one of those Flash apps that Steve Jobs thinks are unimportant.

Luckily, we also have a link right there to "Download in MP3" under most circumstances you can just follow that link, and you will just start playing the podcast, even without the player.

Pretty straight forward, huh? But wait there is so much more!

How To Subscribe To Podcasts

Now, you might be saying "I really don't want to have to go check each and every one of my favorite podcast's web site's every day in the hopes that there might be a new podcast." Totally understandable! Luckily for you there are options that make this much simpler.

First, a quick diversion, let's talk RSS.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a technology used by website publishers that allows end users to know what is happening on sites, without checking them. How does it work?

A website publishes their "RSS feed", and end users can then subscribe to the feed using an RSS reader. RSS makes life on the internet way simpler, but for this discussion, we only care about podcasts. Almost every podcast has an RSS feed. To subscribe to that feed, you need a piece of software called a "podcatcher"

If you use a digital media player/manager like iTunes, Winamp, Amarok, Rhythmbox, or Zune you already have a podcatcher. These apps will watch your podcast RSS feeds for you. The program will notify you when a new podcast is available, and once listened to, it will be shown as “not new” anymore. Pretty slick huh? Now you don’t need to even think about whether or not you have listened to a podcast – the podcatcher keeps track of it for you.

Each podcatcher has its own strengths and weaknesses. For example, iTunes has a fantastic selection of podcasts that can be searched and subscribed to via their "iTunes Store", but you can only use an iPod/iPhone/iPad to take them mobile. (see the sections Finding Podcasts, and Taking Podcasts With You, below). You will have to experiment to find which one works best for you. And from the stats on Sci-Guys.com, it is clear that most of our podcast subscribers use iTunes.

Finding Podcasts

Now that you have the basics down, how can you find podcasts you might like? If you use iTunes, you can search their store. They have a clearly labeled podcast section which showcases various podcasts, and lets you search for more. Ditto for Zune. Obviously you can use Google or Bing to search for podcasts on subjects you are interested in. There are also podcast directories such as Podcast Alley, or Podcast Pickle which can be a good place to look for podcast. These sites can also be used in place of a podcatcher, as they can act as a repository for all of your podcasts.

Taking Podcasts With You

If you have iTunes, and an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, you can easily sync your podcasts to that device, exactly the same as you do for music, video, or apps. Zune works pretty much the same way. This integration is one of the most compelling features of such a setup, at least in my opinion. But what about other types of mobile devices? Well, you will probably need to look at another media manager. Of course you probably already know this, because you aren't using iTunes or Zune to manage your Creative Zen player, or your Android phone.

So what are some of the other options?

A lot of it depends on your device. Winamp supports many devices, as will most media management software (like Rhythmbox in Linux). You probably already have a media management solution that works for you, and that would probably be what you would use for podcasts as well.

But if you have an android device you can do something really cool. (see below)

OK, You've Given Me A Lot Of Options - What Works Best?

That is probably going to depend on what hardware you have, and how you want to work with it.

I have an iPad and an iPod, and their iTunes integration works very well. But you are basically tied to one installation of iTunes to do all your syncing. This can cause some issues if you work on multiple computers, or if you want to get fresh podcasts on the road. Disappointingly, you still need a computer running iTunes to update your podcast subscriptions, and then sync them to your mobile device. By this I mean that while you can pull new podcasts over the air by hand using those devices, but it won't happen automatically based on your subscriptions.

Because I work on multiple computers, and I also want my phone to grab podcasts when not connected to a computer, it can be difficult to keep it all synced up. The solution that works best for me is Google based.

You see, Google has a podcatcher application for the Android OS called "Listen". It is a nice little app that will pull podcasts over your device's data connection. It also syncs up with Google Reader - which is Google’s web based RSS reader/podcatcher.

So you can load Podcast feeds (or any RSS feed for that matter) into Google Reader, and have them available for you at any location you might go to. Work, home, grandma's house, anywhere you can logon to your google account, you would have a current list of what's "new" in your feeds.

And when you want to go mobile, you just fire up Listen, and you will get an up to date list of your podcasts. Once you listen to one of them on your mobile device, it will no longer show as new in your Google Reader. For someone who has a lot of podcast feeds, and works on more than one computer? It is definitely the way to go.

I hope this helps! Good Luck, and don't forget to subscribe to sci-guys podcast!

Top 5 Podcasts

2010-06-18T09:58:00.001-07:00

UPDATED - I've produced an even better list HERE

I love talk radio. Almost all my car's presets are set to "more talk, less rock". Back in college, I had a talk radio show with my radio buddies. I've always loved it. I have to say that the way "popular" talk radio has devolved in the last decade is much less interesting. However, something else has picked up the slack.

Podcasts.

I listen to hours of podcasts every week, and so I figured I should crank out a top 5 list of podcasts. Let's be clear; this is MY top 5, not anyone else's, not based on listenership, or anything else.

Of course, I'm ethically bound to disqualify my podcast (sci-guys) even though it is better than all these put together! (That's sarcasm just in case I was unclear)

And, you'll probably notice something about my top 5 - some of them are actually radio programs. So I guess talk radio really isn't dead, just the stuff that is on when I'm in my car...

Honorable mentions: Out of the Game, A Life Well Wasted, and the Official Lost Podcast. These only make the honorable mention list because they are basically defunct. I guess "A Life Well Wasted" may still be going, but the updates are so damn infrequent it may as well be done. Robert Ashley's take on gaming culture is always awesome, when it actually turns up.

"Out of the Game" was basically the "Computer Gaming World" / "Games for Windows" magazines podcasting crew's attempt to keep it going after they all moved on to "better" things. I guess they have all really moved on by now, because they haven't done one since the end of 2009.

And since the TV show "Lost" is done, it is unlikely that the producers of that show will do more of their podcast. But when it was running, it was insightful, informative, and above, all funny. The gold standard for this type of podcast.

SO here are the top 5:

5: Radio Lab Documentary radio at its finest. Hosts JAd Abumrad and Robert Krulwich always deliver a thought provoking show with the highest possible audio production values. They tend to focus on scientific or psychological topics, but they do mix in all sorts of stuff.

4: The Moth True stories told live without notes. The Moth is a group that is dedicated to the art of storytelling. They host numerous events where all sorts of people get together to tell and listen to stories. The podcast showcase some of the best ones. This is a short one, normally around 15 minutes or so. Recently they have launched a public radio show.

3: Maximum PC No BS Podcast Maximum PC is a tech magazine that caters to hard-core PC users/modders/fans. But don't let that drive you away. The No BS Podcast is a weekly take on the tech news across the spectrum, and is damn funny. Gordon Mah Ung's rants are a must listen.

2: Planet Money I will admit this one isn't for everyone. How do CDOs work, and how did they cause the financial crisis? How is Haiti's economy doing post earthquake? Why is it so hard to do business in India? Sound interesting? If you answered no, then you must not be listening to the Planet Money Podcast, because they can break down complex financial and/or economic issues in a way that is both accessible an entertaining.

1: This American Life I almost feel bad putting this at number one. For one thing, it is a radio show first, with the podcast being just another way to get it. Another issue for me is that TAL often showcases the great work of others (like Planet Money, or Radio Lab) to produce their show. Full disclosure, I was turned on to some of the other podcasts on this list by TAL. And the big reason to feel bad at putting this number one? It is expected. It is the New York Yankees of Podcasts - it always wins. Everyone expects it. Oh well, sometimes the "best" is the best for a reason...

But those really aren't knocks. This American Life is the one hour of Podcasting each week that is "can't miss". Always entertaining, riveting, horrifying, depressing, or hilarious, WHATEVER they try to do with their podcast that week is always on the mark. There is a reason that it is that 400,000 people a week download this Podcast, and you should be one of them.

There you go. The top five podcasts available today. Now go subscribe to the Sci-Guys podcast.

EDIT: Of course, as soon as I actually get around to posting this "A Life Well Wasted" gets around to putting up a new podcast

http://alifewellwasted.com/

enjoy!

Why The iPad?

2010-05-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

I just bought my wife an iPad. I have to admit I've been very skeptical of this device, especially once it became clear what its limitations are; no multi-tasking, no flash, restricted to app-store programs.

But I still went out and bought it for her, because in the end, I was blown away with how smooth the UI is. For folks who have seen an iphone, I'll just say this - it is not the same. On a small scale, I don't think multitouch is all that important. It is one of the reasons I have an Android phone, not an iPhone.

But on a large hand held screen? Smooth as glass zooming with mutitouch is a revelation.

I still don't like the restrictions apple imposes, and I don't like the lack of several key features (USB ports, Camera, SD Ram) but this thing still impresses.

Here are the reasons why:

Kindle/iBooks/(probably soon) Barnes and Noble ereader. I think I would still rather read page after page on the kindle, because of its eink screen. But the iPad's screen is damn big, and with multiple options for ereading, a very nice solution. I haven't read any PDFs on it yet, but I'm guessing this will be a joy for technical documentation.

iTunes integration. I cited Apple's lock-in as a downside, but at least this negative has one good upside. Media from iTunes is right there. You can buy (and I assume rent) from the device, without using a computer. The amount of content on the iTunes store is unparalleled. Perfect for a traveler or mass transit commuter...

Comic Zeal 4 is the iPad comic reader. Now, to be fair, there are better comic readers on Linux, Windows, Mac, you name it. BUT with the form factor of the iPad, and a comic book reader that lets you read your own CBR/CBZ files? Sold. And I do mean "sold". This app currently costs $7.99. Which honestly feels pretty steep. But what are you going to do? This is an apple product after all. You will be spending money...

Did I mention Apps? Yeah, there are a ton of em. For pretty much anything you might want. Of course a lot of those things probably should come in the web browser (youtube, abc.com and netflix for example) but at least those apps are free. Coming from the (relatively) limited selection of apps for Android, the amount of options in the app store is nice to see.

At the end of the day, this is a very nice unit. I have every faith that there will be a comparable Android based tablet in the very near future, and I may even get that for myself. But even if that device were to have a comparable screen with smooth multitouch, the lack of ready to go software could be a problem. Right now there is no Kindle app for Android. No Netflix app. No movie rental service (that I'm aware of). You get the idea.

I still prefer my android phone to the iphone, but for tablets, Android may be fighting an uphill battle for me. Right now there are very few android tablets on the market, and yes, I have worked with some. But these devices are not in the same class as the iPad, so comparisons aren't fair, at least not yet. Once the Android competition enters the ring this summer, then we will see.

Printing Multiple Photos On One Sheet From Vista / Windows 7

2010-05-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

In XP, if you opened a picture in the native viewer, and then told it to print, you could easily select which photos (in that folder) that you wanted to print in the same batch.

Vista and Windows 7 make this much more counter intuitive. But luckily not impossible.

To achieve the same in the newer Windows, first navigate to the folder your photos are in, then select all the photos you want to print. Next hit the alt key, which will open the inconveniently hidden menus in that window. Select print.

Then you get the same sort of multi-photo printing that you know and love from XP.

Wallpapers

2010-04-30T07:13:00.001-07:00

I'm always looking for good desktop backgrounds, but in the end, I'm always finding them at the same sites.

Rather than google them all the time, I'm just going to link the ones I use and like here.

http://blogs.msdn.com/mswanson/articles/wallpaper.aspx

http://www.flickr.com/groups/10003140@N00/pool/

http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/downloads/date/any/

Default "Java" Implementation On Ubuntu 10.4 Breaks Sonicwall SSL Links

2010-04-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

The default Java implementation on Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx is now openJDK. Which may or may not be a good thing, since Sun's official Java is now sort of banished.

This is a problem for me, as a user/admin of a Sonicwall SSL VPN 2000. The SSL VPN devices have a great portal, which allow you to create all sorts of Java enabled links to do things like remote desktop, and browse file share. However it appears that none of these work with the open sourced java components that ship with Ubuntu 10.4.

So, to resolve this, I first removed openjdk (and all associated stuff) using synaptic package manager

then do the following at a command prompt

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-plugin

then you should be all set.
Thanks BeezNest

Fixing the Buttons in Ubuntu 10.4 Lucid Lynx

2010-04-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

They moved my damn buttons.

In a move that can only be described as "mac envy" Canonical has has changed the position of the window control buttons from the right side of a window to the left in Ubuntu. You are probably reading this because, like me, you are none to psyched about this change.

after trying several suggestions part of the instructions here tipped me off.

What you want to do is run gconf-editor (just press alt + F2, type it in, and click OK) then navigate down to the entry for apps / metacity /general / button_layout.

If you are like me, you will want that key to say: menu:minimize,maximize,close

However try as I might, simply clicking and modifying the existing contents of that field never worked for me.

The trick? right click on button_layout, and select edit key. Edit the key there, and click OK. that should change it immediately and you will be all set.

That Time Of Year

2010-04-12T17:58:00.001-07:00

Well, it really happens two times a year, a new Ubuntu release.

The big change that a lot of folks will notice in 10.4 Lucid Lynx is a new look and feel, which you can preview here.

I like it, it looks like Ubuntu Studio. But it is always tough to gauge the success of visual GUI changes until you work with them, so the jury's still out on this for me.

Perhaps more important are the other new features of this release.

Oh.

Well, that is where we sort of have a little problem.

This is LTS - long term support. So we aren't getting a bunch of brand new gee-whiz features (IMO of course).

Here is the official new feature list. Nothing to write home about in my opinion. I've been thinking about rebuilding my computer anyway, so I will be doing a fresh install of this. But if I were cruising along happily with my current distro? Well, since it is me, I would be upgrading. But for the rank and file user? You could probably stick with what you've got.

Live By The Sword...

2009-12-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

A federal appeals court has ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word.

Apparently the issue is a tool that handles XML editing. The court ordered the halt of sales, and a $290 million dollar fine for willful infringement of the software patent.

Live by the sword...

CRM 4: The caller id does not match the subscription owner id.

2009-12-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

In CRM 4, I've been seeing this error a lot lately:

"The caller id does not match the subscription owner id. Only subscription owners may perform subscription operations."

when trying to open the options in the Outlook CRM Client

This forum has the fix.

just exit outlook, open regedit, remove this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSCRMClient\OutlookSyncSubscriptionId

and restart Outlook.

Modifying Send/Recieve Limits in Exchange 2007

2009-11-19T15:57:00.000-08:00

In their further efforts to make exchange 2007 completely unusable, Microsoft has also screwed up their send/receive limits management.

please see this link for a clear guide:

http://exchangepedia.com/blog/2007/09/exchange-server-2007-setting-message-size.html

Bottom line:

limits must be set in multiple places...

First:
organizational configuration: hub transport, global settings tab, transport settings properties

Second :
for recieve:
Server configuration, hub transport, select your recieve connectors, and select properties, and modify the Max message size field.

for send:
organizational configuration: hub transport, send connectors tab, select your connectors, properties, modify the Max message size field.

Lastly for individual mailboxes:
Recipient Configuration, select your mailbox, properties, mail flow settings tab, message size restrictions, properties, and set them as you like.

Here is the thing, an individual user's limits can exceed the global limits, but ONLY FOR INTERNAL MESSAGES. For external use, you can not.

Karmic Koala Ubuntu OWA Font Issues

2009-11-05T18:07:00.000-08:00

I just did a fresh install of Karmic Koala, and had a very unexpected issue.

When using Outlook Web Access Light 2007 new items were not showing ion bold text.

Even though I had installed the Microsoft True Type Core Fonts (installable via synaptec as ttf-mscorefonts-installer) I was still seeing the issue.

It turns out that even though I did have the font "Tahoma" which is used by OWA light, it was not displaying Tahoma Bold correctly. this was true in other apps as well, not just Firefox. I reinstalled the corefonts, and refreshed the font cache, no dice.

I guess that MSCorefonts does not include a bolded version of tahoma, which normally gets created on the fly by the OS.

Well this was not working for me.

so I did the following:

downloaded the fonts in cab format:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/ie6sp1/finrel/6_sp1/W98NT42KMeXP/EN-US/IELPKTH.CAB

put it in a NEW folder your home folder. open the terminal, and then enter:

cd (new folder you just made's name)

then

cabextract *.CAB

(this will extract all the file into that folder.)

then

sudo mkdir /usr/share/fonts/truetype/tahoma

then

sudo cp *.ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype/tahoma

then rebuild your font cache

sudo fc-cache -f -v

you should be all set at this point (and please let me know if any of my commands are wrong, I'm going from memory here)

Virtual Box XP Bluescreen On New Install

2009-11-03T16:36:00.000-08:00

I have an XP installation on a virtual hard disk that I have been dragging around since I first started using Ubuntu.

For vitalization, I use VirtualBox OSE in Ubuntu, and it rocks. I love it. It's easy to use, with great features, and it is platform independent, so I've used it on Macs too.

But building new Virtual Machine on VirtualBox now sets the IDE HD interface as a PIIX4. This causes me a bluescreen error when booting my old Virtual HD.

Simply changing it to PIIX3 resolves this issue.

How To Directly Subscribe To Podcasts In Rhythmbox From Firefox In Ubuntu

2009-10-30T09:16:00.001-07:00

Ubuntu uses Rhythmbox as the default music player / podcast app. I used to use Amarok, but the new version is just bad - Laggy Buggy, Ugly, and generally lame. So I've gone back to Rhythmbox, which actually is pretty good.

There is one thing that is sort of a pain with it though. When you are using Firefox, and you stumble across a podcast you want to subscribe to, it is not one of the default options to use.

No problem. when you hit that firefox subscription screen, make sure that Rhythmbox is running. Hit the drop down menu, and select "Choose Application" and drop in:

/usr/bin/rhythmbox

you should only have to do it once, and then you can choose Rhythmbox from the drop down menu in the future.

Just a side note, Rhythmbox doesn't appear to like all feeds that much. sometimes you need to dig around a site to find one that works well for it. I think it may have a problem with Atom feeds but I'm not sure on that.

Ubuntu Backups

2009-10-28T17:29:00.001-07:00

Ubuntu is a great solution for a desktop OS. But it still lacks in some key areas.

For example, it doesn't ship with a nice GUI backup util.

While Windows honks will point out that Apple's time machine simply puts a pretty face on the shadow copy tools that had been in place since Vista and Server 2003, Linux honks will remind you that rsync has been doing basically the same thing for like forever.

The problem is that rsync is not a nice GUI app.

But Back In Time is. And I think it is a great solution for backups on Ubuntu. While not in the default repos, it can be installed with a .deb from their site.
Check it out.

Windows 7 Annoyances / Fixes

2009-10-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Today I installed Windows 7 on my work PC. I have been running it on other machines for a while now, but now I will be using it every day.

Which of course leads to a litany of annoyances, nitpicks, and other issues while I get accustomed to it.

Annoyance: the windows keep resizing when I try to move them
Fix: go to control panel, ease of access center, check the, select make mouse easier to use. Check the "Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen"

Annoyance: Windows Live messagener no longer minimizes to the system tray, rather keeping a slot on the taskbar.
Fix: exit windows live messager. search for it in the taskbar. right click on "Windows Live Messenger" and select properties. Choose the compatability tab, and set it to run in vista SP2 compatibility mode.

That is all for now. I will update this as needed.

Full Screen Flash Performance On Ubuntu Netbook Remix

2009-09-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

This isn't news, except to me, and I guess you, otherwise why would you be reading this?

Full screen flash video sucks on my eeePC with ubuntu (again not news)

but Mike Melanson at Penguin.SWF pointed out that if you have/create a /etc/adobe/mms.cfg file, you can enter the following line:

OverrideGPUValidation=true

and then you can effectively use GPU acceleration which makes full screen flash run much better.

Hulu is still choppy, which is due to (I suspect) its high quality data intensive stream. But youtube is much better.

Office 2007 Files In SharePoint Show Up As Zips in IE8

2009-09-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

It turns out the Office 2007 files in SharePoint appear to Internet Explorer 8 as zip files, just like in OWA.

The fix is also the same. Add the SharePoint site to your IE8's trusted sites, and you should be all set.

Update Your Wordpress Blog

2009-09-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

If you have a wordpress powered website (like the KICK-ASS www.sci-guys.com) you need to be sure that you are keeping it up to date.

There is a worm running around doing all sorts of nasty things to un-patched wordpress installations. Keeping your stuff up-to-date is part of the responsibilities of everyone who runs a web site (not to mention anyone who runs a computer on the internet - but that is a different discussion)

Matt Mullenweg (wordpress founder) wrote a nice piece on the need to update, which is shockingly enough written in plain old english. That itself is a refreshing change. Compare his notice to this recent one from Microsoft. Now, the audiences for these two items are not the same, but one sure is clearer than the other.

Regardless, the current version (2.8.4) of Wordpress is not vulnerable to this worm, and upgrading is a snap. Get hot, and go update now.

Outlook for the Mac

2009-08-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has announced that they will be (re)releasing a version of Outlook for the Mac.

This might be great news for those of us who need to provide Mac / Exchange interoperability. Entourage works OK, but hopefully this will be a tighter integration.

Vista (Or Windows 7) Installation from USB Drive

2009-08-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

This is by no means new, but Kurt Shiantaku's Blog has instructions to create a USB Drive for Vista installation.

Here is the summary:

Find a 4GB or larger USB drive

put it in your windows computer, note the size and letter of the USB drive.

bring up a command prompt.

enter: diskpart
enter: list disk (make note of what drive number the usb drive is based on size)
enter: select disk 1 (or whatever number your USB drive is)

NOTE: You must be 100% sure you are working with the correct drive here, or you could wipe your hard disk.

enter: clean
enter: create partition primary
enter: select partition 1
enter: active
enter: format fs=fat32
enter: assign
enter: exit

(at this point I needed to remove and re-insert the USB drive, but your mileage may very)

Insert your Vista DVD, and note the drive letter it is using

then you need to enter the following:

copy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\
changing d to the letter of your DVD source and e to the letter of your USB drive (if necessary)

you should then be able use this USB drive to install vista. This should also work for Windows 7.

How To Move Windows Firefox To A New Computer

2009-07-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

I get asked this enough that I guess I should put it in my blog, even though a google search will show you how pretty quickly anyway...

The process is pretty simple. Once you have firefox installed on the new machine, you need to locate your original Firefox profile, then copy it to your new computer, delete your NEW computer's profile, then rename your copied original profile to the new machine's profile name.

So let's clarify those steps:

1: Locate your original profile. It will be in your application data folder for your username. To get there, go to the start menu, run (or on vista, search) enter: %APPDATA% then enter.

then go into the mozilla\firefox\profiles folder

find the folder that ends in .default. If you are NOT using profiles in Firefox, this is what you need. IF you are using profiles, you probably have no need to read this.

2: Copy the folder you just found to your NEW computer's appdata\mozilla\firefox\profiles folder. (at this point you will NOT be doing any more work on the OLD computer)

3: Copy the name of the NEW computer's pre-existing .default folder.

4: Rename that NEW computer's pre-existing .default folder (putting a .OLD on the end of the name works well)

5: Rename the folder you just copied from the OLD computer to the name of the NEW default folder.

6: Start Firefox, and you should be good to go. You can now delete the default.OLD folder if you want, or leave it. Whatever.

Best Video Ever

2009-06-11T10:12:00.001-07:00

Internet Explorer 8 Title Bar Displays Full URL Causing CRM Issues

2009-05-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

One of my users pointed out that IE8 now shows the full URL in the title bar, which should be no big deal, right?

Except that in Microsoft CRM you get about a million windows poping up all over the place, and with the URL showing in the title bar, you can't see what is what by looking at your taskbar.

Here is the fix for this.

1.Click Start, type inetcpl.cpl in the Start Search box and press Enter.
2. Switch to Security tab and click choose the trusted sites. Click the custom level button (the CRM site needs to be listed as a trusted site for this to work, and it should be to resolve other issues)
3. Scroll down to find "Allow script-initiated windows without size or position constraints" under Miscellaneous.
4. Select Enabled and click OK.

You should now have useable title bars.

Facebook For Windows Mobile 6 Official Release

2009-05-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has officially released the Facebook app for Windows Mobile 6.

you can get it here.

Internet Explorer 8 with Outlook Web Access Saves 2007 Formats as Zip

2009-05-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

Today we noticed that when accessing our OWA with IE8, Office 2007 file types (xlsx, docx, etc) are not being downloaded correctly.

IE8 wants to save them as .zip files.

At first, I thought this might be a IIS server, not having the Office 2007 file types MIME Types setup correctly. But that turned out not to fix it.

The fix? Add your OWA's URL to your IE8's trusted sites list.

UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, the same is true for SharePoint, or at least SharePoint 2003. Same fix.

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope: Impressions

2009-04-29T05:59:00.000-07:00

Less than a week after the release of Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope I am now running it on 2 machines. The first, a laptop, was an upgrade. The second, a clean install on my main home machine.

First my impressions:
This is (so far) the best release of Ubuntu that I've used.

As I indicated, I upgraded to Jaunty on a laptop first. It was a pretty clean system to start with, being a month old Intrepid installation without much customization. I did the upgrade the day of the release, using the update manager to pull the upgrade over the internet. It took a few hours, but it completed, and installed without any issues. This was refreshing, considering my last go-round with this sort of stuff.

The Laptop just sort of felt... slick. It is hard to explain. Like the Matrix, you can't explain it you just have to experience it yourself... Oh, wait, you can explain the Matrix. OK, well let me try to explain Jaunty's slickness. The first thing I noticed is the notifications have been unified, and fade out fancily. This may seem trivial, but when put together with the snappy response times, smoother graphics, and better art, it all leads to a more solid feel for the OS. While I generally rail against this sort of thing (my vista installs generally look and feel more like windows 2000) A slicker experience does lead to higher overall satisfaction.

This general sense of slickness made me decide to get Jaunty on my main machine.
This is where I would really get my real first impressions of Jaunty. I use this machine all the time. I had already decided to do a fresh install on the old workhorse, so I backed up my profile, deleted my profile and installed a clean fresh Jaunty.

The installation has been superficially changed, with new graphics, but runs essentially the same as in recent versions.

Now, maybe it is the fact that this is the first clean install I've done on this machine in a few versions, but this version is VERY solid. It fixed many of my previous issues, and everything just sort of works. Not that it did not work before, but of all the ubuntu installs I've done, this one went from install to "pretty much done" quicker than any I can think of. None of the BS that came with intrepid. So far I'm very happy with this version. I will post my setup log/fixes soon.

Exchange 2007 on Server 2008 Backups

2009-04-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it. I'm a fan of Exchange. Probably Microsoft's best product, the features and integration it provides are unmatched, especially for a small business.

But Microsoft completely blew it with exchange 2007.

The product is fine, don't get me wrong. But if you run Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008 (as opposed to 2003) there is a small problem. There is no way to back it up.

Let me repeat that.

THERE IS NO WAY TO BACK IT UP.

How is this possible? Well I guess 2008's native backup changed pretty significantly over 2003. enough so that exchange 2007 couldn't use it for backups any more.

OK, well, when exchange 2007 SP1 came out (which allowed Exchange 2007 to run on Server 2008) it would have some sort of solution for backup, right? WRONG.

Now you can use 3rd party backup software, such as backup exec, but to release a product with no native way to back it self up? Completely unacceptable.

The exchange team announced that they will be releasing a tool to do your backups. Their intention to do this was proclaimed almost a year ago. Still no release.

Luckily someone found a work-around for this, that has been effective for me. Basically you need to take the backup software from a working 2003 server (64 or 32 bit, whichever matches your install) and put it on your 2008 box. It is kludgey, but will get the job done during a transitional phase (like I'm in)

Microsoft really dropped the ball here. Microsoft's integration of their back office products has always been their strength. I hope this is not an indicator of things to come.

New Features in Jaunty Jackalope Ubuntu 9.04

2009-04-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

We are about two weeks away from the release of Jaunty Jackalope Ubuntu 9.04. Is it worth upgrading?

Here is a list of the new features in this release.

It looks to me like the key things this release will give are improved multi-screen handling, and better ati video card support.

The new version of gnome includes brasero, which of course is already easily available from the repos - so I can't get too excited over that.

Ext4, cloud computing, and boot speed improvements may all be nice, but I will have to wait and see if they really work/happen/improve anything before I pass judgment.

It really isn't a question for me if I will move to Jackalope. I always end up moving to the newest version. However, I've only done upgrades for the past 3 releases. I'm thinking of doing a wipe/fresh install this time. I will need to consider that for bit.

Ubuntu Terminal Services Client Clipboard Support

2009-03-30T17:56:00.000-07:00

Using Ubuntu's "Terminal Server Client" is a great tool for anybody that needs to use VNC or RDP to work on remote machines. It is a nice interface, and has a handy "quick connect" feature that allows you to rapidly connect to a pre-saved server.

I use it extensively to remote control various Windows servers on my work network.

The problem for me has been that clipboard copying and pasting has not worked for me using this tool.

After some digging I found that by editing my rdp files in ~\.tsclient\ and changing the protocol line to:

protocol:i:4

would get the clipboard working on my quick connect entries.

This only works on RDP connections, obviously not VNC ones, but it is very handy.

Fix Outlook 2007 Instant Search Under Vista

2009-03-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Outlook 2007's best feature is the instant search box.

But on a few occasions I've seen that functionality stop working, or start giving incomplete results. The issue appears to be that the search index it uses gets screwed up in some way.

You see, the way an instant search works is that it pre-scans the contents of whatever it will be searching, and then creates an index to work off of. That way it doesn't need to crawl through all your data everytime you want to look for something. This gives very fast (some might say instant) results. But if this index gets corrupted in some way, instant searching won't work correctly.

The fix under vista is to go under control panels, indexing options, advanced. Under troubleshooting, there is an option to re-index selected locations. Click the rebuild button to start the process.

It can take a while to rebuild the index, depending on how big your mailbox is, and what other locations are indexed. But after a bit you should be back to searching without issue.

Facebook On Windows Mobile - Part 2

2009-03-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

I previously wrote about skybook which is a facebook app for Windows Mobile. At that time I was pretty happy with it.

But since then, Skybook has been a big fat failure. More often then not when I attempt to logon I get some nebulous "unable to connect" error. This problem goes completely unmentioned on skybook's website, despite being a pretty common issue.

Good news. Looks like Windows Mobile 6.5 (coming in April) will have an honest-to-goodness Facebook app, and some industrious person has already ripped it from there and released it on the internet. It works on 6.1 for sure, because I'm using it now on my treo 800w. It does pretty much exactly what you would expect, including uploading photos and videos from your phone. You can get it here now.

Preventing Your Exchange Server From Producing Backscatter Spam

2009-03-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

We use DNSStuff.com to monitor Spam Blacklists and make sure our mail servers stay off them.

I recently got a notification that one of our exchange 2003 mail servers was blacklisted by Backscatterer.org, a "service" that lists email servers that allow backscatter spam. More on what I think of them later...

You have probably seen backscatter spam - it is when someone uses a reply address which is not their own, and then sends the message to a know BAD recipient address. The spammer actually wants the message to go to the "forged" reply address - not to the actual recipient listed in the message.

You see in the past, under these circumstances, the recipient's mail server would accept the mail, and make best effort to deliver it. But once the server realized that it could not deliver the message, it would send a non-delivery report (NDR) to the sender, Which in this case would be the "forged" e-mail address.

The result is that the message, including the body (spam) then go to the fake reply address. Most people, when confronted with an NDR, will read it to check and see if it is valid or not. Spam delivered...

To prevent this sort of thing, it is a good practice to have your mail server NOT send these types of NDRs. Filtering based on directory is a good way to do this in Exchange. As detailed here, you can do this by setting the following in exchange 2003 server manager:

Go to:
Global settings, message delivery, properties, recipient filtering tab.
Set the check on "filter recipients who are not in the directory".

Next you need to apply that to the virtual host(s) that you want to use the filtering:
Administrative tools, Administrative Group, Servers, Protocols, SMTP, properties on your virtual server. General Tab, advanced, edit.
Check the box "Apply Recipient Filter".

You probably need to restart the SMTP service to make the changes stick.

After this change, mail sent to an invalid internal sender will produce a "550 5.1.1 User unknown" error.

This is probably a good thing to do. NDRs do provide important info, but they are being abused so much now, it is important to do our part.

But I don't think any mail servers should use the blacklist maintained by backscatter.org. Here is why. After DNSStuff notified me of our listing, I went to Backscatter.org's page to get the removal process. Check out the results:

This IP is temporary listed. It will be removed automatically and free of charge if you are not abusing the net for 4 weeks.
Express delisting is available optionally by paying 50 Euro's using the following services.
Before requesting expressdelisting make sure the problem is fixed, otherwise you are at risk to get listed again.

Read that paragraph again.

This is extortion, plain and simple. This is the first time I've ever seen a blacklister that requires payment for timely removal. It is ridiculous. I'm not worried for my own systems, this is philosophical. Do not use their blacklists.

Networking Cable

2009-02-11T14:02:00.001-08:00

Here is a nice page explaining how to make your own ethernet cable

This page has all the detail you will probably ever need about making your own networking cables.

Let Me Google That For You

2009-02-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

Do you frequently get asked questions that a simple google search would provide the answer to?

Don't just send links in response anymore.

Now you can use letmegooglethatforyou.com.

You can use it to create a link to send to the person who sent you the initial question.
It then shows them how to use google to find their answer.

For example, say someone asks you, what is wikipedia?

Does anyone in this day and age NOT know how to use google? Based on some of the questions I get asked, it appears so. This service should help those folks out.

Xbox 360 NXE Update No Audio With HDMI Connection

2009-02-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

I recently got a HDTV, and was super excited to run it via HDMI at full 1080p.

The problem is that once I did that, I got no audio (as thoroughly discussed here)

I was able to work around this by using the audio out from a microsoft official 360 HD kit, which I picked up from a local used gaming store for a few bucks. Luckily my TV has a nice option to allow a different audio input on HDMI channel 1.

It looks like Microsoft has released an update that should fix this today.

I will post with results once I apply the fix.

UPDATE -
It works. 'Bout time.

Steam, Half-Life And The High Definition Model Pack

2008-12-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

If you have Half-Life, Opposing Force, and/or Blue Shift, and you install them via steam, you are probably missing out on the High Definition Model Pack.

The High Definition Model Pack originally released with the Half-Life Blue Shift expansion. It dramatically improved some of the character models used in all the Half-Life 1 games:

It is not enabled in the Steam installations of the Half-Life 1 games.

From this FAQ, to enable, just have steam running and click this link.

If for some reason you wanted to disable it, use this link.

Skybook: Facebook For Windows Mobile

2008-12-20T15:37:00.001-08:00

Since I've gotten on Facebook, I've been sort of dismayed that I could not find a decent facebook app for my windows mobile phone.

But I really haven't look much, until today. Being snowed in will drive a person to all sorts of unusual behaviors! Well I found my app...

Skybook, formarly snap2face, is an application for windows mobile that (per their website) allows you to do the following:

Set your status while on-the-go

View friends' status and detailed information

View friends' friends and send friendship requests

Get notified of events like wall post, message,
poke, and friend request

View your pokes, wall, inbox, and friend requests,
all in full text

Poke friends, send message to friends, and post
on friends' wall

Access you and your friends' photo albums

Ability to view, zoom in/out, and pan full-sized
photos, and play slideshow

Upload photos from built-in camera or file folder

Import friends' profile photos to Outlook Contacts
(photo Call ID

and more...

And it is free of charge.

The best part is the nice integration with your built in camera, allowing direct upload of photos, either already in storage or taken direct from skybook.

How To Display Internet Message Headers In Outlook

2008-12-18T11:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you need to get more infomation on an email than Outlook generally shows.

To Display internet message headers in Outlook 2007:
First open the e-mail (not just view it in preview).
On the "Message" tab, click the little box on the lower right corner of the options group.
This brings up a new window. The headers are in a text box at the bottom.

In Outlook 2003:
Open the e-mail (not just view it in preview).
Select the view menu, options.
This brings up a new window. The headers are in a text box at the bottom.

Easy, no?

How To Locate An Attachment Saved In Outlook

2008-12-18T10:49:00.000-08:00

One of the things that makes Microsoft Office a great suite of products is the integration between them.

Which is what makes dealing with Outlook attachments so frustrating. Let's say you get an email in outlook with a word doc attached. If you open that document from the email, edit it, then click save, and close it, do you know what happens? It gives no prompts, takes your save, and then moves on.

But the next time you open that attached word document, it does not show your "saved changes" so where did they go? What happened?

Well, the changes do get saved. to a temp folder. This post on groovypost.com shows how to find where they are. But the fact that you can open and edit files attached to emails with no warning that changes are not applied is ridiculous. This has been an issue for years, and I'm amazed that Microsoft has not addressed it...

From Groovypost.com:

open regedit, and find the following entry based on what version of office you run:

Outlook 97
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Outlook\Security
Outlook 98
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.5\Outlook\Security
Outlook 2000
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security
Outlook 2002/XP
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security
Outlook 2003
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security
Outlook 2007
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security

it will show you where the temp files are stored/saved.

How To Enable Remote Desktop On A Remote Windows PC

2008-12-17T15:50:00.000-08:00

Microsoft apparently has no easy way to set a remote windows machine to enable remote desktop access.

While you can use MMC to do a lot of management of a remote machine, allowing remote dekstop is (I guess) not one of them.

Intelliadmin has the cleverly named utility "Remote Desktop Enabler" to do this job.

And it is free. I have not tested it to enable on Vista but it works for enabling RDP on remote XP boxes. thanks Intelliadmin.

ZSNES non functional in Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10

2008-12-13T19:08:00.000-08:00

After updating to Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid, the ZSNES Super Nintendo Emulator no longer functions.

This includes the ZSNES included in the repos.

I found this bug report. about it.

Luckily there is a newer version of ZSNES that does work, but it isn't in the repos yet.

Yet another triumph of Intrepid. Wow, color me un-impressed.

How To Fix Audio Fade Out With Headphones In Ibex Ubuntu 8.10

2008-11-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

I have a Dell Dimension E521, which I upgraded to Ibex Ubuntu 8.10. I was seeing some strange audio issues. Basically I would loose sound altogether, and sometime I could get it back by performing a:

sudo alsa force-reload

but sometimes that would not even get it, so a reboot was required.

Eventually I realized that plugging in headphones in to the front speaker jack would cause the sound to slowly fade out, and no amount of mixer twiddling would bring it back.

This thread showed me the fix (thanks Psyke83).

Just edit the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base file and insert this line at the end:

options snd-hda-intel model=dell-3stack

After a reboot, you should be good to go.

UPDATE:
Well this fixed my headphones causing a fade out. Audio still dies on me from time to time... I guess I will need to continue to work on that.

UPDATE #2:
Still fading on headset sometimes. Right now I'm not very happy with the Ibex "upgrade" the only real improvement I've seen is the side scrolling mouse wheel...

UPDATE #3:
There is a bug report here.

Ubuntu 8.10 Ibex PPTP Non Functional

2008-10-31T17:02:00.000-07:00

This is just crap. PPTP vpns do not function correctly under Ibex.

I have not been disillusioned by Ubuntu yet, until now. This worked fine before. To go from something that worked fine, to something that is included with OS but is broken? WTF. LAME.

I will continue to watch and update if I can get it working, or a decent fix is found.

UPDATE:

using this patched network-manager-pptp_0.7~~svn20081015t024626-0ubuntu2~nm2_i386.deb
, and by NOT saving the password for the VPN, I've got the vpn working. hopefully this will become part of the official repos soon.

Ubuntu 8.10 Ibex Upgrade "Low Graphics Mode" Nvidia Driver Failure

2008-10-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

So, I went against what I had said previously about upgrading right away, and let my home machine upgrade to Ubuntu 8.10 yesterday.

First a few thoughts. The upgrade process went pretty smoothly. But there were way too many prompts during the process. And I believe one of these prompts was the root cause of my main issue with this upgrade.

After the upgrade completed, I rebooted. Upon entering the graphical portion of the boot sequence I got an error indicating that the Nvidia driver had failed, and that I was going to be running in "Low Graphics Mode" - or some such thing.

I was then prompted with some options on how I wanted to deal with this issue. I ended up running in low graphics mode, just so I get a usable desktop.

Trying to use the hardware drivers manager to select the different nvidia options continued to fail. Using envyng to try to install the drivers gave me an error that the it could not load the driver given my kernel version, and could not fix the issue. (sorry I cannot recall the specific error).

You see, it turns out that I (must have) inadvertently kept my same menu.lst file - the file that gives you your OS boot options when you start your computer. So my machine did not have the option to boot into the current Linux kernel, only the 8.04 options. The Nvidia drivers could not work in this fashion.

So I was able to edit my menu.lst file to include the current versions at the top of the list:

title       Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=344347ab-37e0-4b42-9362-d11a047da5fe ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title       Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=344347ab-37e0-4b42-9362-d11a047da5fe ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

You will need to make sure that the partitions (hd0,1) and root=UUID match your own. You should be able to dupe those settings from previous entries in the file. (Thanks to this thread for pointing me in the right direction on that part of this.)

Once I put those options in, and rebooted into the CORRECT version, I was able to load the nvidia drivers, and all was good again.

So, the real problem here is that I opted to keep a previous version of the menu.lst file. Why would I do this? I honestly don't recall that specific prompt, as I said there were a bunch of them. I thought I was taking the "safe" options when prompted during the setup. I did read them at the time, I was not just randomly clicking my way through them. I also think I took the defaults on every one, but I can't be sure on that.

So, this was my fault, because I told the system to do this, BUT shouldn't there have been more feedback as to what this choice would do? I would think that if you required your previous menu.lst file to be used, you would probably already know how to fix or save it yourself. A normal user would probably not need this option, and certainly should not have been given it without more instruction. I would say this prompt was probably not needed at all. I think most of the prompts probably fell into this category.

Even if the number of the prompts cannot be reduced, the timing of when they are given needs to be addressed. During the upgrade, I would be prompted for something, and then the system would start working. I would go away, only to come back a half hour later to find yet another prompt waiting. I estimate that the upgrade process took about one hour longer for me simply because I was not sitting there watching it the whole time. The powers-that-be ought to consider consolidating any prompts that will be required during the upgrade in to one series of questions that are posted before the actual processing occurs. Of course this is a "quality of user experience" issue, not a functionality one, so it is less critical.

Given the issues I had, I think the upgrade process needs work. There should be fewer prompts, or at least they should be consolidated, and when the upgrade does require input, they need to be clearer what the impact of these choices would be. I was able to sniff out the root issue here pretty quickly - although not as quickly as I should have - but for a rank and file regular user? No way.

Bottom line, upgrades on Ubuntu are getting better, but still not ready for prime time. I guess this is an area that the powers-that-be need to work on some more.

OMFG - New Ubuntu Out In Two Days!!!

2008-10-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepit Ibex) is coming out in just 2 days. CAN YOU FEEL THE EXCITEMENT?

Wait...

What?

A new release of Ubuntu normally has me very excited. But this time around I'm just not feeling it. Maybe it is the upcoming election distracting me. Maybe the New Xbox Experience which is about to go live that has my geek attention. Or perhaps the lack of compelling new features is the reason I'm not jazzed. Whatever the reson is, I guess I'm not the only one. While there are some interesting new features, there is nothing in the new release has that "Wow!" factor for me.

I guess that shows how far Ubuntu has come. It pretty much does everything I want and need it to do already. Of course it would be nice if some of those windows only apps (like Netflix watch instantly) worked on Linux, but that is not a Linux issue, that is Netflix issue.

In terms of running the computer and being a platform for the apps I need? It is already there. Now, if you are having hardware support issues, this might be a highly anticiapted release for you. But I have not had any of those issues, so I'm not on the edge of my seat waiting for this release. So while I will be upgrading, unlike on previous releases, I won't be doing it the first chance I get. I can wait a couple of days until the mirrors aren't swamped.

Microsoft Live Search "Search Perks!" - Free Stuff

2008-10-09T10:37:00.001-07:00

In a genius / deperate move, Microsoft has announced "Search Perks!"

A program the rewards you for using their live search with "tickets" that can be redemed for points after the program ends on april 15.

You can earn up to 25 tickets a day, one for each search performed. They start you off with 500 bonus tickets.

By my count, I can just get enough to get Gears Of War, if I get the 25 tickets each day until the deadline. There also many other more attainable prizes.

It is going to require some work, as I would need to use Internet Explorer, which would be impossible on my home Linux box. You also have to load some software, which I don't love the idea of. But I am in front of the computer pretty much all day, So I think I may be able to get something for free.

We shall see how it goes.

My intial impressions are that their search sucks. When doing a search for almost anything, the top link is rarely the home of the actual site you are looking for. I'll follow up with other impressions.

Vista - Offer Remote Assistance Shortcut

2008-10-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Since XP, windows has been able to offer and request remote assistance.

Remote assistance allows you to share a desktop, similar to gotomypc, or VNC, to help solve issues, or just see the same thing.

If you are supporting a workstation that on the same network as you, it is an easy free option for remote desktop assistance.

I've setup our domain policy so that all machines are pre-set with remote assistance enabled from any IP in our subnet. This is still secure, because the user must accept any remote assistance connection requests. Without this domain setting, you would have to right click on "my computer" select properties, and then enable remote assistance from the "remote" tab.

The thing about offering or requesting remote assistance that is a pain is that to do so you need to go under the start menu, help, then find offer or request remote assistance. Which sucks if you need to help folks (offer assistance) all the time.

The good news is that under vista, you can create a shortcut direct to the offer assistance tool.

just create a shortcut and put the target as:

%windir%\explorer.exe “hcp://CN=Microsoft%20Corporation,L=Redmond,S=Washington,C=US/Remote%20Assistance/Escalation/Unsolicited/Unsolicitedrcui.htm

Then then next time you need to remote a machine, you can then just launch that shortcut, drop in your target's machine name in the client, and away you go.

Xbox 360

2008-09-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

I've written before about how I really like the Wii, but in last six months or so, the experience has not improved at all. And now pretty much all the games for it that have any interest for me have come out. For these, and a few other reasons, I got a XBox 360 a couple of months back.

I love this thing!

When the Wii came out, I felt that its weaker graphics capabilities didn't really hurt it, because even the last generation of consoles had graphics "good enough" to deliver quality games. And this is still true - the higher quality graphics of the 360/PS3/Gaming Computers, don't deliver any revolutionary game play, the way that the PS1 generation's implementation of 3D did.

However, what I failed to take in to account was how much more enjoyable the "same old gameplay" can be when it looks F-ing great.

And the 360 games look F-ing great.

Certainly the 360 cannot touch a great PC's visual capabilities , but you can't beat the price. As a long time PC game player, I know that the console FPS or RTS experience is far worse on the console. The bottom line is that now days I don't spend enough time playing games to make it worth the price for the top quality PC hardware needed to game on it.

Plus I'm on Ubuntu now, which really doesn't work for games.

I love FPS's and it was an adjustment to play Call Of Duty 2 on the console. I played it on the PC a few years back, and it was better on the computer. But it was still fun on the console. Multi player with the controller instead of the keyboard mouse would drive me nuts, but since I never do that anymore, that isn't an issue. Similarly, I can't imagine that an RTS on the console would be any good, but really I don't play them anymore, so no issue there.

Another cool thing about the 360 is Xbox Live Arcade. While doesn't have the nostalgic-retro-love factor that the Wii's virtual console does, I think it is actually much better. It does not have even close to the number of old games on it, but the "original" games on it are much better, and there are a ton of them. Braid, for instance, is a fantastic game, currently only available on XBLA. And, I'm pretty much addicted to the version of Ticket To Ride they have on there. They actually have several board games on there, such as Carcassone, and Catan. So if you want a retro fix, the Wii is for you, but if you want to play a game with a real person who isn't in your living room? 360.

Pretty much the whole experience of using the Xbox 360 is better than on the Wii - everything feels more polished, prettier, and more complete. While the interface is more convoluted than on the Wii, it does much more, and does it better. Online Multiplayer, for example, on the 360 is just smooth and works great. On the Wii it is uniformly crappy; laggy, no voice chat, pretty much a pain to deal with on the few games that actually support it. And while unlike the Wii, 360 online mutliplayer costs money, it is worth it - because it just works, and works well. And who ever thought they would be saying that about a Microsoft product? On XBLA almost every game supports online multiplayer, which coupled with their small price tags, make them a great value.

One of the things I've always wanted from the Wii is for it to be more than it is. I've complained that there is not enough storage, that it can't play audio or movies, that there aren't enough games. Well the Xbox 360 answers everyone of those issues. I've got a 120gb hard drive on mine - and don't really even need it. One of the reasons you want disk space is for non game related content. Well, I can stream most any media from my computer (thanks twonky!). Yes the 360 plays mp3, DVD (no Blu-Ray though), DIVX. and very soon it will also play Netflix "watch instantly" movies. They also have an ITunes like movie/TV store/rental system. It also can run this all in HD. It really is a media hub. the only thing it doesn't do is record TV - and there is no way I would ever expect a video game console to support that.

For $200, you can now get the 360 arcade version, which has no hard disk, so you can't really download anything. This is the unit that I have. I ended up getting a free 120GB hard disk (long story), so essentially my machine is now the same as the Elite model. The only difference is the Elite is black, and I am missing a couple of cables, which I can pick up should I ever need them. You can buy an add on hard disk for $150, (perhaps a used one for much cheaper?) or get an 360 that includes a 60gb drive for $300. If you already have a Wii, at these prices, this is a no-brainer - totally worth it. If you were choosing between the two? that is a little tougher. And even though I compare the two here, this blog was not supposed to be a 360 is better than the Wii rant.

You see, the Wii is still a lot of fun. It also has a web browser, which the 360 does not. The 360 can stream media, and will soon stream netflix, So if you need those things, 360 may make sense. It really comes down to the games. Obviously, there are games for each system (as well as the PS3) that you can't get on the other. In the end, deciding which of those you want would tell you which system to get. That is assuming you can even find a Wii to buy...

How To Be A User

2008-09-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

To IT administrators, you are a user.

Not like a "taker", although you may be that as well, but a user. As in a computer/system user. Someone serviced by your IT provider is often referred to as a user.

I've spent a lot of this blog recording how to be a better IT admin. This list is for the other side.

How to be a (good) user.

At its core, this is a guide to work with your IT staff - not how to use your systems. Some of these listed items might appear to be common sense, and some might not. but after doing this work for over 10 years, I've seen users fail to do all of these things, sometimes with disastrous results. Without further ado, here is the list.

Communicate with your IT staff through the correct methods. Frequently users will "arm grab" IT staff when they walk by, dropping their issues on them verbally. This is a HUGE issue for most people who give support. When this happens to me, I always insist on getting an e-mail detailing the issue. I simply can not remember every problem reported to me. I need to have a paper trail. Plus it is ANNOYING. It makes me want to avoid you. It makes me think that your problem can't be important, because it was not important enough for you to write an email. It also usually results in me having an incorrect picture of your issue. If your organization has a help desk, ticketing system, or any other specified issue reporting system - USE IT. As an IT professional, I (should) let you know the best way to work with me. As a user, you should try to follow that suggestion.
Report issues appropriately. If you can't print a report that is not due for 3 weeks, don't call my home at 11:30PM to report it. While you may think IT staff like to take calls all day and night, but trust me, you are wrong. Most IT staff are "on call" 24/7. But this is for EMERGENCIES - so just because you know that I will take your call 6:00AM Sunday morning, doesn't mean that I will be happy about it, or that it will get you a faster response. Plus I will generally just ask you to send it to me in an e-mail anyway. Also - don't overstate the importance of an issue, just to try to get a faster response. While I may not remember everyone of your issues (see above) I will remember that you are "the boy who cried wolf"
Report issues in the first place. If you are having an issue, you need to report it to your IT staff. Letting it fester for two months, and then blowing up it when you have finally gotten fed up is no way to get results. If you report a problem, and I do nothing for two months, you would be pretty upset right? Well if you have a problem, and never tell me, until it becomes a "drop-everything-and-fix-it-now" emergency, how should I feel?
Provide detail.
"I can't print."
VS.
"When I try to print out of pagemaker to the HP 5SI I get an error -see the attached screen shot. This worked yesterday, but after the updates performed last night it does not work now. Also, I have rebooted."
Now, which of those descriptions is better?

that reminds me...
Reboot. Especially if you run Windows. Are you having an new issue? Did you restart the machine? What do I almost always ask first thing?
Screen Shots. Screen shots of errors are really great, because they show me exactly what the message is. Please note, in windows, the ALT key plus the PrtScrn key take a screen grab of the active window - I generally don't need to see your full screen, and in some instances it can be a real pain in the ass to resize the image you create.
Don't break company policy, and don't tell me when you do. While I personally wouldn't care if surf porn during your lunch hour, you should realize that part of my job is to enforce the company's acceptable use policy. So if you planning to be doing things with your equipment that break that policy, or are, god forbid, illegal - DON'T DO THOSE THINGS. And don't be a dumbass and tell me about it if you are stupid enough to do it anyway. Pull your head out.

which leads to...
Don't complain that your equipment doesn't work right when you try to break company policy. I'm sure it sucks for you that you can't play Bioshock on your desktop, but since loading that software, and playing on your workstation would violate company policy, don't bother bitching to me about it, mmm-k? If Hulu runs like shit on your work desktop, why should I care? You shouldn't even know that - think, for god's sake.
Remember - the company owns that equipment. Along the same lines as the two previous items. Don't let you kids take your laptop away for the weekend. Don't even let them use it when it is in your house. That equipment belongs to the company. So you probably shouldn't fill the hard disk with your entire photo collection, and then bitch about losing it when the hard disk dies. Get your own computer for your personal shit - I have dozens of company computers at my disposal - and you know what? I still have purchased a few for my personal use. AND I keep my personal shit off of my work machines - because if you get canned or decide to leave, you may not get all that stuff back.
Express your need, and ask for a solution. Don't come to me requesting a bigger hard drive. Don't come to me requesting an installation of Sharepoint. Don't come to me requesting an Iphone. Those are solutions to various problems or wants. You should come to your IT staff with a clear need, and let us help find the right solution.
Don't ask me about your home shit. For some sick reason, I love this stuff. I must, otherwise I would not be in this field. But that does not mean I want to fix your home computer. I have no desire - even if you offer to pay me. Here is the issue. I touch your computer one time - JUST ONE TIME - and I'm suddenly your fucking personal IT department. Or at least that is what you think. Personally I won't do it - even for money. So don't ask. Do I ask you, Mr. accountant, to do my taxes? Mr. Janitor, could you come clean up my house? You may ask me where you should go to get help - and I will say call the geeksquad (or some other service I just heard advertising on the radio). Trust me, I already have to do this for my entire extended family, and my dead-beat friends. Plus, as you may have noticed, I tend to work a lot, and a lot of off hours. My schedule is already full, thanks.
Don't guess at the terminology. I have heard this more times than I can count
"my hard drive won't turn on."

What the fuck is that?

Oh, your computer won't turn on. OK - please to be understanding - the hard drive is a component of your computer - not the tower. I would guess that about a fourth of the time I spend on issues with users is spent trying to pin down what is really going on. Using imprecise or just flat out wrong terminology just mucks the whole process up. Stick to what you know. Don't try to sound smart. Be as descriptive as possible with terms that you truly understand. We will figure it out. Also - pretend I have no idea what your workflow is, because generally I don't. So be sure to mention, what application/database/website you were using, because how else would I know?

I'll be adding more as they come to mind. so this is just to get you started.

Thanks for listening, and now you have the tools to be a great user!

Windows Shadow Copies

2008-09-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

If you manage windows servers and don't have Shadow Copies of Shared Folders running, you need to set it up.

Immediately.

I'm serious.

Right now.

In case you don't know, Shadow Copies is a backup feature included with 2003 (and more recent) servers. It functions by taking snapshots of your shares at specified points in time. You can also specify the location that these snapshots live - a $200 usb 1TB hard disk, for example.

You can specify how much disk space to be allocated for your snapshots, and windows will manage that for you - deleting the old snapshots as required. You'll get a TON of snapshots on your backup media, as the snapshots track the changes on a bit level. What this means is that unlike Apple's Time Machine, you don't take a complete copy of each file every time they change.

I have my snapshots set to run twice a day, which is probably pretty conservative. I was concerned about seeing a performance hit - which I really have not noticed.

Now when a user calls requiring a file restore, I don't even flinch. I'm not worried about going and finding the right tape, or having to go run offsite to get the right backup media. It is always just right there. And the restores are as quick as a file copy. No waiting for tapes to rewind, seek, etc. We still have tape backups that we keep offsite, but we never have to use tapes for user file recover requests now.

Another great thing about Shadow Copies, is that if an end user has Vista, or previous windows version (with the shadow copies client) they can do their own restores - without involving the system admins.

Oh yeah, Vista can also run shadow copies so you can keep your local files safe in the same way.

Google Goes Chrome

2008-09-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Today Google released a new web browser into beta

Here is Chrome:

It looks pretty interesting. If you aren't afraid of beta software, you can get it (for Windows only, sorry) here.

How To Manually Remove A Windows Service

2008-08-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you have a bad software uninstall under windows, you can have services left behind. Since you have already uninstalled the software, how can you remove the service?

Like just about everything else, services are specified in the Windows registry.

To remove a service, go to the start menu, run, and type in regedit, then click ok

Dig down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

You should see a list of all system services. Find the problem one and delete it.

As always, be sure to have a good backup of the registry first.

Facebook - OK I Get It Now.

2008-08-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

My wife convinced (forced) me to get on facebook.

OK I think I get it now.

I've never understood Myspace, and I've always lumped Facebook right in there with it. I always figured these tools were a way for narcissists to have shallow online interactions with their so called friends.

Turns out, I was right! And that is why it works.

Now that is obviously a gross exaggeration, for sure. But Since I've been on Facebook for a grand total of 3 days, I now have over 20 friends (and rising!), most of which I have not spoken with since highschool. And I still haven't spoken with them! But we have had some interaction online - which is cool, and required the exact right level of effort to allow me to have some kind of relationship with most of these folks.

You see, the reason I have (unfortunately) lost contact with most of these people, is that I've been focusing on my family and career pretty much exlusively for the last 10 years. I've always hated it when you hear people complaining that life just is too busy, and there is never enough time to do everything. I think that there are just so many more options for activities in life now, it is easy to feel as though you can't do everything that you might want to. For myself, I've made choices with my time, and I'm comfortable with those decisions - but there are oportunity costs...

The reality is that trying to keep up real, deep relationships with people is really a lot of work. Especially when your social skills are as terrible as mine. Friendships have always been hard for me. I used to say that I hate everyone, until I get to know them. The only way I could be someone's friend is to be GOOD friends with them, and that takes a lot of time...

But now I don't need to do any of that any more! Facebook allows me to keep tabs on my friends, and lets them keep tabs on me, with a minimum of any sort of real interaction. Which is actually a good thing, even though it sounds terrible. Bottom line is, I suck at being a friend, so now I don't really have to do it anymore!

So I say, welcome to our shallow-social-interaction-web-site overlords!

But if I EVER get a twitter account, please come and shoot me.

Event Planning For Large Groups Of People

2008-07-31T16:52:00.000-07:00

It can be damn near impossible to get a large group of people to agree on a time for a meeting, party or any other gathering.

Doodle.ch has got the solution. If you are trying to organize an event, but can't figure out a good time, their site allows everyone to define their availability, and then everyone can see when the best time is.

The best part - no cost. the second best? no registration or logins required (although you can if register/logon to access more features).

Remove Extra Entries on Boot Menu in Ubutnu

2008-07-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

Today I got a new kernal update for my home ubuntu system, and I realized that the boot menu now has more entries than you can see on the screen.

To "fix" this, you can bring up a terminal and type this:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

this will bring up your grub menu list in the text editor.

you can comment out the lines you don't want to see by putting a # in front of them.

for example,

if you had these entries:

title        Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
root        (hd0,0)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=6d2dc48d-7e9d-40b4-b7d5-d639afddf847 ro quiet splash
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic
quiet

title        Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)
root        (hd0,0)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=6d2dc48d-7e9d-40b4-b7d5-d639afddf847 ro single
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic

title        Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-18-generic
root        (hd0,0)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-generic root=UUID=6d2dc48d-7e9d-40b4-b7d5-d639afddf847 ro quiet splash
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic
quiet

title        Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-18-generic (recovery mode)
root        (hd0,0)
kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-generic root=UUID=6d2dc48d-7e9d-40b4-b7d5-d639afddf847 ro single
initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic

adding the # to the last block of text, so it looks like this:

#title        Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-18-generic (recovery mode)
#root        (hd0,0)
#kernel        /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-generic root=UUID=6d2dc48d-7e9d-40b4-b7d5-d639afddf847 ro single
#initrd        /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic

Will remove that last entry from your grub loader screen.

Be sure to only remove the ones you won't be using! I always leave the current and at least one previous version in there, just in case. You still have all your previous versions, and can UN-comment them if for some reason you should you need to boot to them in the future.

note: this has all changed in Karmic
check here.

E-Mail for Kids

2008-07-16T09:35:00.000-07:00

As a parent, and an IT professional, I've been concerned about giving my kids their own e-mail accounts. For me, it is mainly the concern that inappropriate content may slip by spam filters, but many people are worried about what types of communications their kids may be having with friends.

A great solution is zoobuh.com. They offer spam filtered webmail accounts for one dollar a month. But the real sell here is that parents can screen all incoming and outgoing mail before it is delivered. This way, you can be sure that the mail coming in is appropriate, and that little Billy isn't telling grandma that daddy thinks she smells funny.

The web interface for the child can be scaled up or down based on the child's ability level, and there are a few different "fun" skins to choose from.

It is the best price/value mix I've seen for this type of service. Since they offer a free 30 day trial, they are definitely worth a look.

How To Use Emerald In Hardy Ubuntu

2008-07-03T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hardy has Compiz Fusion built in, and comes with some preloaded options. By using synaptic to install the "compizconfig-settings-manager" gets you a ton of control over your desktop eye candy.

But to get the ultimate in Ubuntu desktop effects, you need to use the Emerald Theme Manager. Emerald is also a windows decorator - meaning it controls the appearance of your windows. So with compizconfig-settings-manager, to control things like your wobbly windows, and Emerald to control the way your windows look, you have the best possible control over your Ubuntu desktop. Also there are insane amounts of Emerald themes, and other cool stuff, at gnome-look.org. Here is the easiest way to get Compiz working with Emerald (Thanks hactivision):

First - using synaptic, install Emerald - it lives in the universe repo.
Second - using the applications menu, add / remove programs. search for and install the compiz fusion icon.

once installed, you can find it under applications, system tools menu. The icon will then show up in the panel at the upper right. You can have it start automatically by creating an entry for "fusion-icon --no-start" in start up programs (system menu, preferences, sessions, startup programs tab).

Right Clicking on the icon gives you the following options:

Settings manger (which is the same as the compiz setting manager or advanced desktop effects from the system preferences menu)

Emerald theme manager - this is where you manage your emerald themes - you can download the themes from gnomelook.org, or install this package to get a few loaded automatically for you.

You can also select your windows manager (changing to metacity will turn off almost all eye candy), and you windows decorator. The windows decorator is where you go to enable Emerald. Once you select Emerald as your windows decorator, your windows borders may disappear for a couple of seconds, but they should come back. And then you will be rockin' the emerald.

Ubuntu Hardy fixes for eeePC

2008-06-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

I've played around with some ubuntu hardy based distros made just for the eeePC, but the best bet I've found is to use these fixes with a standard install. Just setup hardy, just like normal, then run these fixes. It takes a while, and I've had it not fix the hotkeys before (used this to fix them), but it gets you what you need (mostly).

Here are two other resources:
eeeuser.com - how to get 8.04 working perfectly

and
eeepc specific modules

Reboot XP Via RDP

2008-06-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

XP pro and Vista flavors other than home allow for remote access via RDP. In many cases this a good option for working remotely. A remote session to a XP or Vista workstation does have a few slight differences compared to operating the computer directly. One big one is that you don't have the same options for shuting down on the start menu.

A frequent question I get is, how can I reboot a machine via RDP?

This is actually pretty simple. A Ctrl + Alt + End functions the same in a remote session as a Ctrl + Alt + Delete does on a local session. For an XP Domain member this brings up the "windows security" window, and for a XP stand alone you will get the task manager. From there you can choose shutdown, and then reboot.

Ubuntu Google Gadgets - Who Gives a F...

2008-06-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

Google Gadgets are now available on Ubuntu. I read about this here.

I read the post, and was all ready to start using all these fantastic gadgets. So I loaded a few up. Pretty boring stuff. The same sorts of stuff that I don't ever use in Vista on my work machine. Then I loaded the NASA picture of the day. That sounded sort of cool. It crashed my session.

What?

That is right. It killed my session. It dropped me to black screen and then I had to log in again. I was actually writing this blog entry on how to set this stuff up, and I lost all but the first sentence (the one that you see starting this post).

The funny thing is, I'm actually glad it happened. I've always said widgets, gadgets, desklets, whatever you want to call them... They suck. They waste resources in your system, and you really don't gain much benefit from them. The NASA gadget crashing my session was just a reminder of that.

The analog clock in vista is a great example. Does it provide any real benefit over the clock in the system tray? Well it is a lot bigger, and don't get me started on how it is realistically lit and shaded! Really, how much value does that provide? And now you have less desktop to use. And I would bet real money that it more than uses more than twice the amount of memory and CPU cycles needed for the system tray clock. And while I have no hard data, I'd also bet it has an impact on laptop battery life as well.

These things are typical of the bloat that folks always bitch about when it comes to operating systems. Why is it that I need to have an 80GB hard disk when I could run windows 95 on 100mb? Well, you didn't have a shiny over sized-analog clock taking up desktop real estate in windows 95. YOU'RE WELCOME.

When active desktop came out with Internet Explorer 4, everyone thought it was the greatest thing ever - for about 15 minutes. Then they realized it was no real benefit, and it was a big pain in the ass. Apps and content running on the desktop rightfully went into hiding for a few years, until Apple ~~made it popular~~ invented it in OS X Tiger. Of course their implementation is very different, with Apple using a dashboard to house the widgets. And of course they would never rip-off Microsoft - they ripped of Konfabulator. But that is a different story.

The bottom line is this - of course any modern computer can probably take any small performance hit caused by running these little apps all the time - BUT WHY? there is just not enough benefit that I can see. Want your RRS feeds visible? load them on your home page. Want to know what time it is? Look at the clock the computer already gives you. To me these are mostly just useless eye candy, with very few real productivity gains.

Update - I found a Vista gadget I'm actually interested in. When I first got Vista, I could not believe that the included calendar gadget did not integrate with Outlook or Exchange. Well, they now have some gadgets here that show upcoming tasks and appointments. I will run this for a while and see if it really is worth it...

Update to the Update - They suck. you have to have outlook running for them to work. Which means they look like this when you boot:

so, if I need to outlook open, what is the point? Oh well I keep outlook open all day anyway.

Fantasy Football Scheduler

2008-06-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

My league used to use an open source software called OFFL to manage the league, do the scoring, etc.

It was a great solution. But last year NFL.com changed the way it displayed the live scores - which broke OFFL. I'm not certain if they ever got it working again.

Luckily for my league, we had already moved to ESPN.com's free leagues. I was afraid something like the NFL.com change might happen, and OFFL had been great, but also a bit of work to maintain.

Both of these solutions have worked well enough for us. But one area where neither really rocked was in the scheduling department. OFFL had no built in scheduler, and ESPN's is pretty weak.

Footballguys.com has a great FREE scheduler - it lets you specify all sorts of parameters (divisions, number of times each division plays, etc) and barfs out a schedule for you to enter into another system. Thanks!

Firefox 3.0 rc3 - Inconsistent?

2008-06-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

Today I ran updates on my Ubuntu, and noticed that I got a Firefox update. This got me thinking, since I've really had no issues with the beta, I should run it on my work windows machine. I downloaded and installed Firefox 3.0rc3. it looks fine, but check out the interface:
Compare that to what the current linux version:
Which continues to use the same icons as previous versions - or at least similar ones.
It looks to me as if they want to look more like IE's curvey buttons on Windows:
I guess this is the way they want to do it now - make it more localized for each OS.

I have to say, even though the new Windows Firefox buttons are nice, I would prefer it if they looked like the old style. Or at least be consistent across platforms. That is one thing I have loved up to this point - the various platform implementations of Firefox have looked the same.

Doing some research, it appears that in linux, your firefox will now use whatever theme you have loaded, and can download others if you like.

I'm hoping in the full release they will give you the option to choose your button icons from within Firefox options via included theme packs. I like consistency, and I would like to set all my various installations of firefox to look the same. I don't want to have to go hunt down some theme to get it each time I install Ubuntu somewhere - which is often.

How To Make Windows Report To A Syslog Server

2008-05-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

For years I've had my windows server report to a syslog server, rather than logging in to them to check events.

Currently I'm using Syslog-NG with PHP-Syslog-NG as my syslog server. But if you don't want to muck around with Linux, you could use the excellent (and free of charge for a limited version) Kiwi Syslog Daemon.

To get your servers to report all events to the syslog server, you can use the event to syslog service, which was developed by Perdue University's Curtis Smith. Who has allowed this to be used at no charge.

Ultrastar - Open Source SingStar On Your Computer

2008-05-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I was looking into Karaoke software for an associate who was looking to have a party. I found the free open source pyKaraoke for linux, and had set it up at home, where the kids enjoyed it. But when I was digging around for this I discovered SingStar.

SingStar is a series of games for the Playstation 2 (and now 3) that function as competative karaoke. You sing along with selected music tracks, and get points based on how accurate your pitch is. There are numerous multi-player options, and is a very popular party game in Europe. The games are much more successful outside of the US - which is strange considering how popular other music/rythm games like DDR, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band are.

Even more interesting, I found Ultrastar, and Ultrastar Deluxe. These are open source projects that clone the gameplay of SingStar on you computer. Ultrastar is ported to Windows, Linux, and Mac, and Ultrastar Deluxe for Windows runs just fine under Wine, and has a Mac port in the works as well. I'm now running Ultrastar Deluxe on my Ubuntu, and my wife's XP computers (for the kids of course).

The only real problem with Ultrastar is the fact that it comes with no content. A game where you sing along with songs is pretty lame with no songs! http://www.ultrastarsongs.com/ has TONS of songs ready for download, but I'm going to guess that they don't really have distribution rights to this material. So if you are not OK with that, you can follow these instructions to create you own songs, or use this site's premade text files to turn your own music collection into Ultrastar ready content.

eeebuntu - Hardy Heron Ubuntu based Distro For eeePC

2008-05-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how long it has been out, but eeebuntu is an Ubuntu distro all set and ready to go for eeePCs.

It appears to have re-designed the panel layout, and is based on Hardy.

On the FTP site they reference for the download, they include a script to create a bootable usb driver installer.

I might give this a shot over the long weekend. Just to see how it goes.

Tracking Down A Rogue IP Addresss In Windows

2008-05-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

I had to track down a rogue IP today, and so I thought I should record the process.

First off, what happened? I had a user who lost connectivity a few times this morning - a reboot cleared it up for them. After investigating a bit, we found that they were getting a conflicting IP error.

I Checked our DHCP server, and found that, yes, the user did have the lease for that IP, and there were not any other for that IP in the system.

So I excluded that IP, in DHCP, and released and renewed her via IPconfig. She got a new IP and was off an running.

Now, I had to figure out what the "Rogue IP" was. I had visions of shenanigans from staff - like someone bringing in their own wireless router, or setting up some server.

I was able to ping that IP address, so I knew at least it was not just there intermittently.

First I used Radmin Advanced Port Scanner on the IP to try to learn some more about it. Only port 80 (http) showed as being open. So I tried to connect to it with a web browser. No luck.

Since I had pinged the address, I was able to use this command:

arp -a

In windows, arp displays the IP to physical address translation tables. In short, if you use arp with a -a argument, it will show you all the IPs you have touched on your system, with the MAC address.

So, now that I had the MAC, I could attempt to figure out what the device that has this IP is.

At this point I could have used this site to figure out what the device is, or gotten into my switches and figured out which port connected to that IP. But I didn't need to do either of those. I recognized the MAC as belonging to one of our VOIP phones.

Then it was simple for me to go into our VOIP system, and figure which phone it actually was. Our phones have a tendency to get locked up, and stop responding. It turns out one of our phones had done that, was still using its IP, but had not responded to our DHCP server in a timely fashion, and the lease had been recycled, and the IP given to the user who had the original problem.

Resetting the phone cleared its issue, and now all is well. If you ever follow this procedure, don't forget to un-exclude the problem IP in DHCP when you get it all resolved.

Outlook Type-Ahead Addressing Migration

2008-05-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

In Microsoft Office Outlook, when you start addressing a mail, you will normally see a list of potential addresses pop up. Generally, when folks move to a new computer, that list is lost.

However that file that holds those addresses can be moved rather easily. This file is a *.N2K file. It will live in the user's profile folder.

Under Vista, the file is generally located in this folder:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

and XP would have it here:
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

If multiple outlook profiles exist, you will have N2K files with corresponding names.
Just copy the user's N2K file over the new one on the new machine, and you should be good to go.

Ubuntu CIFS Errors On Shutdown

2008-05-18T08:39:00.000-07:00

Since my Hardy upgrade, I've had an issue when trying to reboot or shutdown my home machine.

Basically, the system would stall for a bit on shutdown, giving a CIFS error.

The error line indicates that CIFS VFS is not responding for CMD 50...

Turns out the problem was that the network manager would shutdown before my mounted samba shares could dismount.

I found this blog that had the fix:

sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/umountnfs.sh /etc/rc0.d/K15umountnfs.sh
sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/umountnfs.sh /etc/rc6.d/K15umountnfs.sh

Entering these lines will cause your system to change the order of events during shutdown, and samba shares will be dismounted before network manager goes off-line, resolving the issue.

Axis And Allies Free Online

2008-05-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

Gleemax.com is a website associated with Wizards of the Coast, publishers of Axis and Allies, D&D, and now Heroscape.

They are in the alpha phase of online play, which includes free online Axis and Allies. It is java based, so it runs on damn near everything, including Linux. And since it has the look and feel of the real A&A, it gives TripleA a run for its money, even though it is still in pre-release, with some features missing.

I'm not sure if this will cost money to play in the future, if it will continue to be free, or if they will have a 'get some time free with purchase, and pay more later' model, like Days of Wonder's Ticket to Ride.

Lets hope they also figure out some way to do this for Heroscape as well.

How To Shop For Computer Stuff

2008-05-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

I'm frequently asked to give suggestions for computers and equipment.

here are some useful links I use for shopping:

Dealnews.com is a good site for various things, like timely deals on computers from dell, hp, etc. Also good for electronics. They have some other associated sites, dealram.com, dealmac.com and more.

Pricewatch.com is a good source for OEM and other cheap computer parts. broken out into categories, and ranked by price.

I also use this forum posting from overclock.net that ranks video cards. Coupled with pricewatch, it is a great way to shop for a video card upgrade.

Ubuntu Hardy USB installer / eePC

2008-05-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

This site has very detailed instructions on how to create an Ubuntu Hardy Heron USB device installer.

You can use it to install Hardy on your eeePC.

then you can use these instructions to fix your new install so it works well on the eeePC.

DVD Playback in Ubuntu Hardy 8.10 LTS

2008-04-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

As usual, in Hardy, you need to add in many restricted formats.

for DVD playback:

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

Supposedly, this should all be included under, Applications menu, Add/Remove, All, Ubuntu Restricted Extras. But I can't ever get that to work for me. The restricted extras do get you plenty of the other missing things - like mp3, core fonts, etc. so I always set it up as one of the first things on a new install.

Note: this is probably easier than my previous post on the subject (for earlier versions)

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy TODAY!

2008-04-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 LTS was released today.

I've downloaded isos both at home and at work relatively quickly.

But on my system at home I ran the upgrade through upgrade manager. It started quickly enough, but before I left for work I checked it:
YIKES! A day and a half?
I guess some folks are upgrading today. The time was actually moving around a bit. I expect/hope it to be done by the time I go home for lunch.

Vista Searches

2008-04-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

The one thing that Vista does really well is searching.

Now I'm sure some people would say that the Mac has great searching with spotlight - and it is very true.

But vista does a great job searching with specific criteria, even in un-indexed locations, like network drives.

It also has a nice save search function - which, when combined with the Windows Desktop Search: Advanced Query Reference, can be extremely useful.

For example. Let's say that I have a SQL Server that refuses to delete it's old backups the way it should. Let's also pretend that I don't want to have them removed automatically by some other process.

So I could browse to the folder that I want to find the old files, and do a search in vista using the cute little search bar:Then when the results come back, I can right click in the results area, and choose save search.

I can call it what ever I want, and save it wherever I want - my desktop, my documents - anywhere. Then when I want to perform the search, I can simply launch that saved search, and viola! I have my results, nice and up to date.

7 Days until Hardy Heron

2008-04-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

Only 7 days to go until Ubuntu 8.4 comes out. Here is a list of the new features. As always, you can get at these features already if you really want to, but it is nice to have them all put together in a nice package.

I'm particularly looking forward to the iSCSI support and the new Gnome.

Remote Desktop Client To Console - BROKEN in RDC 6.1

2008-04-02T08:48:00.000-07:00

As I have written before, it is possible to connect to the console on a windows 2003 server using remote desktop and the /console switch.

This doesn't work now in version 6.1 of remote desktop client (which you apparently get with Vista service pack 1).

But you now have an /admin switch which does the same thing.

More detail on this can be found here, but the bottom line is that Microsoft has changed the console behavior in 2008 server, and also changed the RDC client to be in line with it.

User Account Control In Vista

2008-03-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista has all sorts of great new security features.

One of them is User Account Control, which is designed to limit a user's ability to operate with administrative powers. This should prevent some exploits from jacking up the machine.

However it frequently prevents apps from running properly. This is due to many legacy (and some new) apps requiring Administrative privileges to run correctly.

The first thing I try when an app fails strangely in Vista is to right click the app, and run as administrator. You can also go to properties, and set it to always run this way.

But if that is not good enough, you can disable UAC, by doing the following:

go to control panels, user accounts, and disable User Access Controls.

This will require a reboot to take effect.

Formatting Code on Blogger

2008-03-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, I found a way to have a nice formating for code in this blog.

Greg Houston's blog does it for you:
Format My Source Code for Blogging

Thanks Greg!

How To Create A Launcher For A Shell Script

2008-03-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

In Linux, you may often find apps that are launched via a script. These are called in the terminal like so:

./nameofscript

which is of course nice, when you are in a terminal.

but creating a launcher for such a script is a pain, so here is what I do.

For this example we will pretend we have a shellscript called "shakespear" and it lives in the /home/jim/apps folder. This name is only for our example - you can use any name you like.

Somewhere, such as your home folder, create a file called shakespear.sh
edit the file to have the following in it:

cd /home/jim/apps
./shakespear

And save it

Then make that file to executable:

chmod u+x shakespear.sh


Now you can just create a launcher to point to that shakespear.sh file, and you are all set.  Calling a script from a script may not be the the best way to do it, but it works...



Update on Gparted live
2008-03-18T08:20:00.000-07:00
I just figured out (DUH) that the Gparted Live CD that I recently wrote about can not only resize partitions, but it can also copy partitions.   So this disk turns out to be an even better too to upgrade a hard disk in a PC.

You could, for example, put a new hard disk in a usb caddy, hook it up to your computer, boot the live cd, copy AND resize the partition in one operation, set the 'boot' flag on your new disk's partition, and then physically swap the disks.  A windows partition will then run a scan disk on boot, but you should be good to go with a new bigger hard disk after that.


Even more good stuff!


Clonezilla FOSS For Partition / Computer Cloning
2008-03-10T11:16:00.000-07:00
If you are familiar with Symantec Ghost, then you already know what Clonezilla can do for you.

Ghost is a partition copying utility for windows.  It geared toward making and restoring complete copies of individual system's hard disks.  There is an open-source alternative called Partimage.  Symantec also offers a corporate edition designed to use for cloning multiple machines out over a network.  This is exactly what Clonezilla does for free - and it is open source.

Ghost has a nice GUI, and a nice polished package.  Clonezilla is all text (but menu driven), and harder to use.  But it also has many more options, and supports more file systems - such as the kind typically used by Linux.

By itself, Clonezilla requires a server backend.  Setting this up is probably more work than it is worth for most small/medium business IT folks.  However there is an excellent Clonezilla Live disk, which runs all by itself.  I use Clonezilla live for almost all my partition work.  Clonezilla actually uses several open-source utilities (including Partimage), so It can copy and restore partitions to/from external usb disks, firewire disk, smb (windows) shares, just about anything you can think of.  You can copy the partitions directly, or to archived images.  It is the all in one partition toolkit, except for resizing that is.

I use Clonezilla Live to image multiple machines each week, sometimes up to 20 at a time.  On the Clonezilla Live site, they warn that if you are imaging multiple machines, you should use Clonezilla with its DRBL server. From what I've seen, for my needs, Clonzilla Live's performance has been more than adequate.




Linux Mint - The New Hotness
2008-02-25T13:44:00.000-08:00
I've been hearing about Linux Mint for a while now, even before switched to Linux full time.  I'm always skeptical of flashy Linux distros, mainly because I care more about stability, and the feeling that it will be around a while.

This last weekend I loaded Linux Mint on a laptop,  I honestly can't remember why - I just wanted to try something different.

I have to say that I'm very impressed.  The interface is nice and clean, and is a perfect gateway for a windows convert.

The real sell here (for me at least) is that all the big multimedia components come preloaded.  Most new Linux users who load Ubuntu are probably disappointed to find that they can't play DVDs or many other multimedia formats out of the box.  Moreover, those codecs can be a pain to get loaded.  Linux Mint includes DVD, MP3, WMV, Flash, and many other restricted formats.

And since it is based on Ubuntu, you can use the Ubuntu repositories to load all the apps you have been using on Ubuntu via synaptic.

Good Stuff.





Resize Partitions
2008-02-18T14:22:00.001-08:00
For quite a while now I've been using BootNG's demo disk to resize NTFS partions.

It comes at no cost, and works pretty well.

But I recently discovered that there is a GParted Live CD which can both boot your machine, and run the same GParted that you run in Linux.

Why would I choose one over the other?  Well, first I had to go find Gparted Live CD, because BootNG would not work on a Dell D620 I was working with the other day.  Second, GParted will handle almost any type of partition you can think of for a PC.

And it is completely open source, released under the GPL which is great because you don't need to worry about some comercial entity deciding to pull the plug on their free product. (you only need to worry about the project dying off!)

SOLD


update - this thing does even more!






Ubuntu Gutsy Flash Player Fix
2008-02-04T15:40:00.000-08:00
I've installed Ubuntu Gutsy on multiple systems, and they have all had the same issue, the flash player does not work.  After installing the non-free Flash player, going to a site like youtube will show you an error saying that you don't have the latest flash, or you need to turn Java on.

A notification is also given to install the missing component, which is of course already installed.

thanks to formal, who directed me to the solution on the Ubuntu forums...

from https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/19584 -  Cyrus Jones  said:
"... Using Synaptic Package Manager, remove the package flashplugin-nonfree ...  
 Then just download this package (32-bit only) and install it (it is identical to the current package in the next release of Ubuntu, Hardy 8.04): http://launchpadlibrarian.net/107610...untu2_i386.deb "

this has fixed it in many instances for me.


How To Convert DVD to iPod with VLC (works in Ubuntu Linux)
2008-01-27T17:01:00.001-08:00
I've been playing around for a while trying to get the best solution for ripping DVDs right to iPod format.  Since most of the '1 click solutions' I've found for Linux are either A, a nightmare to setup, or B, not very reliable or all that easy,  VLC appears to be a great solution.  And a bonus is that since VLC is cross platform, this should work on Linux, Mac, Windows, pretty much everything.

OK - what to do.  first, get VLC - for Ubuntu, it is in the repositories.

Next pop your DVD in your drive, open VLC.  Go to the file menu, and choose Open Disc, and you will be presented this screen.
I've had to change some of the default settings.

First, I've set the disc type to DVD - not DVD (menus).

Second, I've selected the title number.  It would have been nice if VLC had some way to figure out what title corresponds to what video on the DVD, but hey, nothing is perfect, right?  You can use dvd::rip, if you have it to view the table of contents and figure out which  title is which.  You can also just run the transcode for a few seconds, and see if the resulting file is correct...

Lastly you need to click the check mark by the Stream/Save option, and click the settings button.

This brings up this window 
You need to adjust the following on this screen:

First, Click the checkbox next to File, and then  select the file name and location that you are going to create.

Second, change the encapsulation method to MP4.

Third, make sure the video codec is set to MP4V and the Audio to MP4A.  you can change the bitrates if you want to, but I know the defaults work for me.

At this point I would like to make a note - the iPod supports the h264 codec, which is an option from this point.  but I could not get it to create a file that would show video in my iPod  (although it worked fine on my desktop)

now tell it OK to close this window.  and OK again to the first window.

the vlc player will then run.  At this point it does not show video, but the slider moves along as though it was.  Don't be alarmed - this is how it works.  You can stop the player, if you want to have an incomplete file that will work for testing, but you will need to start it over again to make the complete video.  Once it is completed, upload to your iPod with Itunes, floola, or whatever you normally use.



A Few Ubuntu Tweaks - Acrobat and Desktop Icons
2008-01-27T09:18:00.000-08:00
Here are a few tweaks to improve your Ubuntu life.

I prefer Adobe's Acrobat reader to the Ubuntu's default PDF reader.  It is not 'free' software (as in freedom) but that is not an issue for me.

To get it - just search for acroread under synaptic: You need to get at least the acroread.  the other components get you the ability to read in browser (the mozilla plugin, which I don't care for) and the plug-ins for acrobat itself, such as URL launching, form filling out, etc.

Next - how to change the icons that display on your dekstop.  I don't want all my various volumes showing up on the desktop, just a computer icon (and maybe the home folder and trash icons as well) are better for me.

To do so:  alt+f2 to bring up the run application box, and enter:

gconf-editor
in the config tool, go to apps, nautilus, desktop:
Now you can change the icon optons to your liking.


How To Setup A Second Hard Disk In Ubuntu
2008-01-25T21:16:00.000-08:00
This is going to be quick and to the point.  I'm not going to drone on about all the different options, and what they might do for you.  I will only try to get that second hard disk running ASAP.

I'm assuming you know how to physically install the drive - if not, read the instructions that came with the hard disk.  Be aware that any hard disk MUST show up in your system's BIOS before it will work in any OS.  So if you are not seeing the drive in OS, check to see if you can see it in BIOS, and also make sure you don't have the SATA connector disabled or anything.

Once installed, boot your computer.  if you don't have gparted  (system menu, administration, partition editor), go to synaptic and get it.

Launch gparted either by going to system menu, administration, partition editor, or by running "sudo gparted" in the terminal.


See the dropdown box in the upper right side?  Select your new disk there.

If you don't understand what a partition is, you probably need to do some more reading, and should probably stop here.  But I will plow ahead...

If there is an existing partition on the drive, you can delete it from here if you like.  You can also create a new partition as needed.  I would suggest ext3, and apparently so would Ubuntu - when your Ubuntu setup ran, it most likely created an ext3 partition for itself to live in.

MAKE NOTE OF YOUR NEW PARTITION'S PATH  (/dev/sdb1 in the example I'm using)  you will need this info later

Now we have a usable drive.  but it won't do much for you without mounting it.

Let's say we want to call our new drive "storage"

go to terminal, and enter the following:

sudo mkdir /media/storage
followed by
sudo chmod -R 2777 /media/storage

Of course change the word storage to whatever you want to call your drive - but make a note of it, you will be using this path again soon.

This has created a mount point for our drive.  I chose to put it in the media folder, because Ubuntu will load all removable media (like usb drives) there.  You could put this wherever you like, and there is a mnt directory that might actually be a more proper choice.  if you care, you can read about it here.

now you need to edit your fstab so that this mounts automatically.

In terminal again:

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

you will need to add a line:

 /dev/sdb1 /media/storage ext3 defaults 0 0

***Note - you need to have the path of the partition and the mount point match what you found/used earlier in this tutorial***

Save and exit the editor.


When you reboot next, you will have the disk ready to rock.
Can't wait for a reboot? try this in terminal:

sudo mount -a

!!!BONUS!!!
If you looked closely at my screen shot of gparted, you may have noticed that I have a windows partition on my main hard disk. Well, you should mind your own damn business. BUT yes I do have a dual boot system. If you also dual-boot ext2 IFS can be installed in windows to give access to ext3 filesystems. And now your new drive can be accessed from both of the operating systems on your machine.



My first iPod
2007-12-31T12:49:00.000-08:00

I was given an iPod for Christmas.  It is an 80Gb black classic iPod, and my first.

To begin, I should say that the iPod is a nice piece of hardware, and the interface is pretty cool.  I've had many MP3 players in my day, and this is one of the nicest ones, for sure.

However, I have some issues (of course) with the device.

First off, the fact that it only plays mp4 movies is pretty lame, because it is a pain to transcode files to play on this device.  Luckily, I found a way to do such transcoding here which works ok.

The real issue is the decision by apple to modify the iPod's internal database.  This sucks because my installation of amarok on Gutsy Ubuntu would shred the database when you add a file.  This resulted in the iPod not seeing any of the files it had onboard.  Following these instructions I was able to add files via Amarok, but even playing files with it blows up the album artwork on the iPod.  I'm going to do some experimentation with Floola, and see if that has better results.

My understanding is that iPods worked just fine under Linux, and other media managers, before apple made their changes to the databases.  It sure feels like this change was done to force people to use ITunes.  I can understand that - Apple wants to keep folks tied to that system - but if that is the case, they should make a version for Linux.  As of now, It is going to be difficult to justify purchasing another iPod, or recommending it to anyone.

UPDATE:
Floola works pretty damn well. It lets me manage music and videos, but not photos, which I don't need.  While you can play music off the Ipod, it does not manage any other music sources.  So it is not an all in one solution like Amarok, or Itunes try to be.  Personally I don't care much about that, so Floola looks to be my iPod solution.