After spending over an hour trying to save the Debian boot image to a floppy disk so I could Multiboot, I ran out of time.
I needed access to some programs on the Windows XP partition.
I got Windows XP to boot again using the Windows XP Recovery console - which is one of those things which you need to find out how to use beforeyou need to use it.
Now Debian no longer boots up.
Monday, March 29, 2004
Saturday, March 27, 2004
Impressed, so far
Now I'm impressed. Debian GNU Linux configured the X-Windows Server properly, and I was able to log into Gnome Desktop without a problem. Here I should note that I'm using the testing version of Debian, called Sarge, which has a newer installer than the stable version. Now I just need to get Windows XP to multi-boot with Debian....
And now for the mind-bend
Got the crazy idea to install Debian GNU/Linux over a perfect good Xandros Linux partition on my old machine. The Xandros Linux is at version 1.0, and I would need to fork out about $30 to upgrade to version 2.0 Standard. Since I don't use Linux that much, I though I'd give the free (yes, really free) Debian Linux a try.
Let's see now, I downloaded the network install about 3 hours ago, and the install has been running since then. It's got to the "Setting up Packages" part. When and if it boots, I'll see if the X-Windows actually works without my having to delve into virtually incomprehensible configuration files. Okay, okay, I know Windows XP has totally spoiled me, but then it's not free...
Let's see now, I downloaded the network install about 3 hours ago, and the install has been running since then. It's got to the "Setting up Packages" part. When and if it boots, I'll see if the X-Windows actually works without my having to delve into virtually incomprehensible configuration files. Okay, okay, I know Windows XP has totally spoiled me, but then it's not free...
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
More McAfee
I'm still using the McAfee Internet Security Suite, despite the problems. Basically
it was either that or Norton Antivirus 2004 with it's Activation (and activation
problems), or a crossgrade to McAfee. There was also a PC Magazine article
which gave McAfee Internet Security 2004 a better rating than Norton Internet Security 2004,
specifically for detecting Spyware. I was looking for an Anti-virus, and with the current paranoia
about spyware, (and a good price), decided on McAfee.
I'd tried an earlier version of Norton Internet Security, and it worked fine,
although after a few weeks I had to turn off Ad blocking to speed up my machine, and
eventually the firewall mysteriously stopped my PocketPC from syncing. After that I
uninstalled it.
I don't use the pop-up ad blocker in McAfee. My browser of choice is Mozilla, which
has its own pop-up ad blocker. For the rare times when I use Internet Explorer, I
have the free Google toolbar installed, and it's pop-up ad blocker works really
well. As for blocking webpage ads, that is also built into Mozilla.
it was either that or Norton Antivirus 2004 with it's Activation (and activation
problems), or a crossgrade to McAfee. There was also a PC Magazine article
which gave McAfee Internet Security 2004 a better rating than Norton Internet Security 2004,
specifically for detecting Spyware. I was looking for an Anti-virus, and with the current paranoia
about spyware, (and a good price), decided on McAfee.
I'd tried an earlier version of Norton Internet Security, and it worked fine,
although after a few weeks I had to turn off Ad blocking to speed up my machine, and
eventually the firewall mysteriously stopped my PocketPC from syncing. After that I
uninstalled it.
I don't use the pop-up ad blocker in McAfee. My browser of choice is Mozilla, which
has its own pop-up ad blocker. For the rare times when I use Internet Explorer, I
have the free Google toolbar installed, and it's pop-up ad blocker works really
well. As for blocking webpage ads, that is also built into Mozilla.
Saturday, March 06, 2004
Thoughts on the Palm Tungsten E
I've been using this handheld for a month now, and I like it.
It's light (weight-wise and pocketbook-wise) and has plenty of features for the
price.
Favorite feature - the whopping 29Mb of free RAM. This is something that is so important to a software hoarder like me - I literally have CDs full of freeware and shareware apps, some of which I've never installed due to space limitations on my personal handheld (a Sony NX60 which only has 11Mb of available space out of 16Mb) Currently I have just over 1 Mb free on the Sony NX60, and about 11Mb free on the Tungsten E. I would even choose RAM over extra features like a camera.
Thing I miss most compared to the Sony NX60 - the keyboard, especially when entering
a lot of data.
The Tungsten E also comes with loads of useful software, like Documents To Go Professional Edition and Handmark MobileDB, amongst many others. One thing it could do with though, is a File Manager (although the freeware program FileZ is good).
Must have software (for me anyway): Teal Script.
Conclusion: Move over Zire 71, the Tungsten E is the winner in this price division.
It's light (weight-wise and pocketbook-wise) and has plenty of features for the
price.
Favorite feature - the whopping 29Mb of free RAM. This is something that is so important to a software hoarder like me - I literally have CDs full of freeware and shareware apps, some of which I've never installed due to space limitations on my personal handheld (a Sony NX60 which only has 11Mb of available space out of 16Mb) Currently I have just over 1 Mb free on the Sony NX60, and about 11Mb free on the Tungsten E. I would even choose RAM over extra features like a camera.
Thing I miss most compared to the Sony NX60 - the keyboard, especially when entering
a lot of data.
The Tungsten E also comes with loads of useful software, like Documents To Go Professional Edition and Handmark MobileDB, amongst many others. One thing it could do with though, is a File Manager (although the freeware program FileZ is good).
Must have software (for me anyway): Teal Script.
Conclusion: Move over Zire 71, the Tungsten E is the winner in this price division.
Monday, February 23, 2004
Dem Firewall Blues...
Installed McAfee Personal Firewall over an hour ago, and many reboots later (to install updates), started to use my PC. Then kablam! the first time I tried to access a shared network drive, my PC gets rebooted.
Aren't I glad no unsaved documents were open...
Aren't I glad no unsaved documents were open...
Saturday, February 14, 2004
Memory Hungry
I'm thinking of buying JackFlash for my Sony NX60. This amazing piece of software costs about $20 and will give extra 4800Kb of space (ROM memory for application usage) on the NX60. It does this by making the "Read-Only memory" of the handheld writable.
The new version of Docs To Go really slow loading documents with some of its programs (notably the 718Kb size WordView+) on the Memory Stick. I realized this because on the Tungsten E which has a much slower processor than the Sony NX60, but oodles more memory, the same version of Docs To Go loads documents really fast.
The new version of Docs To Go really slow loading documents with some of its programs (notably the 718Kb size WordView+) on the Memory Stick. I realized this because on the Tungsten E which has a much slower processor than the Sony NX60, but oodles more memory, the same version of Docs To Go loads documents really fast.
Friday, February 06, 2004
A new Palm
Got a new Handheld computer today, a Palm Tungsten E from and for work!
It's quite a slick looking unit, and light too. The best thing is that it has 32Mb of RAM, with over 28Mb available. That's a whole lot more available memory than my personal PDA, a Sony NX60, which has 16Mb of RAM, but only 11Mb available
The Tungsten E comes with a load of software, and it is pretty good value for money. If I was in the market for a handheld right now, and did not want one with a camera, I'd take a good look at this one.
There are only two drawbacks, one of them which is more of a personal preference, and the other which could be a problem with Palm accessories.
Graffiti 2: I'm so used to Graffiti 1, I really have a problem with Graffiti 2
No Universal Connector: I guess this is to keep the price low, and it makes it easy for moving between desktop computers, like a travel charger.
See pictures of these handhelds here
It's quite a slick looking unit, and light too. The best thing is that it has 32Mb of RAM, with over 28Mb available. That's a whole lot more available memory than my personal PDA, a Sony NX60, which has 16Mb of RAM, but only 11Mb available
The Tungsten E comes with a load of software, and it is pretty good value for money. If I was in the market for a handheld right now, and did not want one with a camera, I'd take a good look at this one.
There are only two drawbacks, one of them which is more of a personal preference, and the other which could be a problem with Palm accessories.
Graffiti 2: I'm so used to Graffiti 1, I really have a problem with Graffiti 2
No Universal Connector: I guess this is to keep the price low, and it makes it easy for moving between desktop computers, like a travel charger.
See pictures of these handhelds here
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Network shares not working
Suddenly today my network shares at home stopped working. After some investigation I found the culprit. I disabled one of the firewalls and the shares started working again.
Monday, January 26, 2004
Ahhh speed!
Yep, that's the one main advantage of a new PC. Windoze starts up faster.
Unfortunately, the old machine, still connected, is just sooooo sloooowwww...
Unfortunately, the old machine, still connected, is just sooooo sloooowwww...
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Firewalls
Installed firewalls on both PCs - freeware Kerio Personal Firewall on my new machine and Sygate Personal Firewall on the old one. I had been relying on a hardware firewall, but felt that I need more "protection".
So far, Kerio seems more polished, but has "rules" which may be a little intimidating to newbies.
Sygate is a bit easier to use.
So far, Kerio seems more polished, but has "rules" which may be a little intimidating to newbies.
Sygate is a bit easier to use.
Monday, January 12, 2004
Word password tool not for security
The Microsoft Word password tool is not meant for security! The full story here at ZDNet
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
BackUp Maker Review
I just tried the program BackUp Maker version 3.1 standard.
This backup program is free for personal use, and the interface is available in three languages - English, French and German. Using the Wizard interface, you can create a ZIP file backup of a number of files, and optionally write them to a CD or DVD. The program can be configured in a number of ways.
My one complaint was that I could not save a backup set of files, for repeating the same backup later. The interface was slightly confusing, for example: what is a "Backup Protocol"?
This backup program is free for personal use, and the interface is available in three languages - English, French and German. Using the Wizard interface, you can create a ZIP file backup of a number of files, and optionally write them to a CD or DVD. The program can be configured in a number of ways.
My one complaint was that I could not save a backup set of files, for repeating the same backup later. The interface was slightly confusing, for example: what is a "Backup Protocol"?
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
PowerQuest Acquisition
Just browsing to the PowerQuest website to get some info on their DataKeeper product, I see this "Symantec Acquires PowerQuest". Hmmm...
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Bought a new PC!
Bought a new desktop PC today:
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Processor
512 MB RAM
160 GB Hard Drive
DVD +/- RW Drive
CD-ROM Drive
8-in-1 Media Reader(USB 2.0, Secure Digital (SD), Smart Media, Compact Flash, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Micro Drive, Multimedia Card)
Video: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX graphics (1 AGP 8x slot available for a Gaming graphics card)
Sound: nForce 6-channel Audio
It was the PC Magazine's Editor's choice for machines under $1000
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ Processor
512 MB RAM
160 GB Hard Drive
DVD +/- RW Drive
CD-ROM Drive
8-in-1 Media Reader(USB 2.0, Secure Digital (SD), Smart Media, Compact Flash, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Micro Drive, Multimedia Card)
Video: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX graphics (1 AGP 8x slot available for a Gaming graphics card)
Sound: nForce 6-channel Audio
It was the PC Magazine's Editor's choice for machines under $1000
Saturday, December 13, 2003
RSS aggregator hits and misses
hit
A few days back I tried the freeware NewsMonster, which runs as a plugin to Mozilla, my current favorite web browser, or Netscape. It really was easy to install, use, and uninstall. I uninstalled it because I needed to read up how to stop it from starting automatically when Mozilla starts.
miss
Then I tried the standalone "Brindys WinRSS feed reader". What crap.
Firstly, it installs onto the C: Drive without asking or giving you any choice.
It doesn't give you the choice of web browser to use.
Then, after uninstalling, it leaves a "WinRSS website" icon on the Windows Desktop,
and it also leaves the whole C:\Program Files\BRiNDYS Software\WinRSS\RSS directory behind.
Messy, messy, messy...
Monday, December 08, 2003
PC not booting
Well, I've just got acquainted with the Windows XP Recovery Console.
My PC suddenly decided not to boot for some reason. Fortunately I had a
previous encounter with the Recovery Console in Windows 2000, so my PC
is up and running....
My PC suddenly decided not to boot for some reason. Fortunately I had a
previous encounter with the Recovery Console in Windows 2000, so my PC
is up and running....
Saturday, December 06, 2003
Aaargh reinstall!!!
It started as a simple problem. I wasn't able to uninstall or repair Visual Studio .NET 2002
from Windows XP. I did a search on Google (after finding nothing on AllTheWeb), and what I found wasn't very promising.
It seemed the only thing I could do was to delete the Visual Studio.Net directory under Program Files, and I would not be able to re-install VS.NET. Since I actually wanted to install Visual Studio .NET 2003, that was no good.
So I deleted the Windows XP partition, and restored the (Norton Ghost) backup of the Windows 2000 I had made before upgrading to Windows XP. Then I uninstalled Visual Studio .NET 2002 from the restored Windows 2000.
For good measure I also uninstalled a few other programs I did not need.
Then I upgraded to Windows XP again. Several hours later Windows XP was running, and Visual Studio .NET 2002 was no more!
from Windows XP. I did a search on Google (after finding nothing on AllTheWeb), and what I found wasn't very promising.
It seemed the only thing I could do was to delete the Visual Studio.Net directory under Program Files, and I would not be able to re-install VS.NET. Since I actually wanted to install Visual Studio .NET 2003, that was no good.
So I deleted the Windows XP partition, and restored the (Norton Ghost) backup of the Windows 2000 I had made before upgrading to Windows XP. Then I uninstalled Visual Studio .NET 2002 from the restored Windows 2000.
For good measure I also uninstalled a few other programs I did not need.
Then I upgraded to Windows XP again. Several hours later Windows XP was running, and Visual Studio .NET 2002 was no more!
Thursday, December 04, 2003
Conspiracy
I had just seen this Dilbert Comic strip the other day.
Then one of my colleagues at work said that he refuses to buy anti-virus software from
"the same companies who also write the viruses". This is from an otherwise technically adept person.
Once again the American love of conspiracy theories triumphs over facts and logic.
Then one of my colleagues at work said that he refuses to buy anti-virus software from
"the same companies who also write the viruses". This is from an otherwise technically adept person.
Once again the American love of conspiracy theories triumphs over facts and logic.
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