N800 tethered through T-Mobile Blackberry 8320 Curve

The below thread was helpful in figuring out how to get my T-Mobile Curve to allow the n800 to use it for a network connection. The default setup that the n800 uses for this device would not work. I believe the only real problem is that the "APN" is entered with an incorrect name (at least, one that doesn't work).

It's not very speedy, but it works in a pinch. WiFi would always be the first choice.

Finally got N800 to tether through Blackberry 8700g with TMobile [Archive] - Internet Tablet Talk Forums:

"0) pair the bluetooth first of course

-- Connections
1) GPRS
2) wap.voicestream.com
3) *99#
4)
5) Finish"

Badass Vid of Bruce Lee playing ping pong with Nunchucks

http://fliiby.com/file/126154/0ifky7lf8m.html

10 things your IT guy wants you to know

The Java ME Blog: 10 things your IT guy wants you to know: "10 things your IT guy wants you to know"

This is a fun read, and there are a lot of truths here. :-D

750 Free Amazon Kindle MobiPocket Books from Diesel eBooks « Amazon Kindle, Books & Amazon News Blog

750 Free Amazon Kindle MobiPocket Books from Diesel eBooks « Amazon Kindle, Books & Amazon News Blog: "750 Free Amazon Kindle MobiPocket Books from Diesel eBooks"

Just found this and didn't want to lose track of it. Hopefully this can keep me busy for a bit. ;-)

Windows Home Server in VMware

How do I install Windows Home Server in VMware Workstation? | Virtualization Coach | TechRepublic.com: "How do I install Windows Home Server in VMware Workstation?"

I started trying to install Windows Home Server in VMware Server 2.0 and ran into a lot of issues. Even when following parts of the above link and then thinking I had the rest... nope. It bit me in the ass again. So I went back to the link and followed through again from where I left off... sure enough, I missed a step.

Thank GOODNESS TechRepublic and, more importantly, Steven Warren wrote this thing up!! Granted, it's for VMware Workstation, but it works just as well for VMware Server.

My whole thing, aside from the version I'm trying out being a 120 Day Trial, is that I have an older Dell Server that is pretty decent still. It has 4GB of RAM and a 2.26GHz XEON CPU with HyperThreading. So, from a server perspective... at least for my personal needs, it's pretty solid even if it *is* a little long in the tooth. So I was thinking I may need to install WHS in a VM in order to still use my server for other server stuff, especially running VMware for testing out other things.

Well, my install of WHS has finished and it turns out that it's essentially Windows 2003 Server and you *can* get to the console. I tried installing VMware Server on it, but I forgot you can't install VMware inside a VM. However, WHS didn't seem to care at all, so I'm thinking that I may actually be able to run WHS as my main OS and not lose the rest of my server's capabilities and resources.

I will certainly be posting more as I learn more and use WHS, but my thought was this: For my own personal needs, W2K8 Server is simply too much and obviously overly complex for the simple things I want to accomplish. WHS seems to do ALL of the things I want to do with a home server, but I was worried I would lose the ability to use VMware and test new operating systems, etc... after all, I *am* still a geek, and I *do* need to be able to mess around, but I didn't want to have to try and blunder through W2K8 to make it an unsecured file server... besides, I haven't found an easy way to attach a 360 to my W2K8 server to serve up media... and WHS supposedly does that in spades (we'll see).

See ya on the flip side.

8GB microSDHC card!

I found a Kingston 8GB microSDHC card at Amazon this past weekend for $27! I had it overnighted Monday (with some other stuff, and I'm a Prime member, so that was only $3.99 additional) and got it Tuesday.

I then named it the same as my previous 4GB card and copied over the contents. I haven't been able to fix my desktop pc yet (where all my music is), so I haven't had a chance to put more music on it.

I'm actually in the middle of setting up a Windows Home Server where I will house my music (there will be another post on that whole thing), but until then I don't have access to it to add to my bb.

I also plan on using my bb for some podcasts, but I'll need to be pretty selective because I don't have many opportunities to listen to them. So, in the past, they have just taken up hdd space. I may even try some video now that I doubled my capacity, but I don't think I will enjoy video on the bb. Screen is too small (same went for my iPod video).


Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

EBooks: MobiPocket is missing subscriptions and automatic download OTA

As I've stated in previous posts, MobiPocket is a great application and possibly my current favorite (but not necessarily most used of course). I was also comparing it to the Amazon Kindle because of it's Over-The-Air store on the BlackBerry. However, that experience is currently lacking some needed (IMHO) features.

1) Why can't I set it up to remember my credit card info so I don't have to go through that process when purchasing a book from my bb? That is annoying to me and cumbersome. I think there should at least be a choice.

2) It would be great if I could subscribe to magazines or newspapers, and even RSS feeds formatted for portable devices. This brings me to 3...

3) It would be nice to be able to set it to automatically download new content I either buy or that is updated via a subscription.

So, that's my wish list to make MobiPocket even better. If those things came about, I would have very little desire to buy a kindle (other than the fact that the Kindle is still a better reading device and has size and clarity over the bb).

One last thought on this, the carriers could pickup the distribution piece with their data plans. I can't ever see them doing something like this (no strong business reason), but it's an idea anyway. ;-)


Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Reading physical hardback books now sucks for me

Well, I finished "Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown as an eBook, which I purchased from my phone Over-The-Air from and through MobiPocket. I finished it Tuesday night, and I believe it's possibly the quickest I finished a book. Not only because it was a great book which made it easy and fast to read, but because having the book with me at all times in my phone, not needing any external light source to view it in dark areas/rooms and because the size of the BlackBerry along with how easy it is to turn pages, etc, allowed me to more easily read in areas I would normally never have my book or opportunity.

Since finishing Angels & Demons electronically, I returned to some physical books I have that I want to read. Laying down last night to read was frustrating. Not only did I need to have a light on, but it was also uncomfortable. It is a hardback book, so that has something to do with it I'm sure, but I don't know if paperbacks will be much better.

I doubt I'll "give up" on physical books, but I suppose this is more about me saying I actually enjoyed the eBook experience from MobiPocket on my BlackBerry Curve!! And that's saying something!


Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Windows Server 2008 Activation Failed

markwilson.it » Windows Vista volume activation failure:

"Your computer could not be activated.
Error:
0×8007232B
Description:
DNS name does not exist"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The post listed above was actually for Vista, but it solved my problems for Windows Server 2008 as well. The problem turned out to be that I never entered a product key during installation of my server, and when it was forcing me to activate Windows, it was erroring with the above description (DNS name does not exist).

That message is not telling me the real problem for my copy, but I can almost see the logic after reading Mark's post. It's looking for an activation server internally because enterprises can now post a server to handle activations of their installs. But couldn't they have added "You may need to reenter your product key", or something along those lines?

Thank goodness I found this post by Mark Wilson. I don't know if I ever would have guessed that. Partly because there *was* a product key listed in System Properties... it's obviously just a generic one to give you the 120 days or whatever.

Oh well... life moves on, and my server is fine now.

Getting Things Done - For the normal human

Feature: Practicing Simplified GTD: "Practicing Simplified GTD"

I can't remember the first time I picked up David Allen's "Getting Things Done" book, but it's been quite a while. **Actually, I lied... I looked in the book and found the receipt! ;-) I bought it on March 11, 2005. So, while I didn't lie about it being quite a while, I did in fact know the date.

Anyway, I read through the book and was pretty fascinated by a lot of what he had to say. A lot of it makes sense... but the process he uses seems WAY too complex for me. Because of how complex his process was, I fell in and out of trying to use it, and eventually boiled it down to pretty much only email, and I even purchased David Allen's GTD Outlook Plug-in. I honestly still use it, to some extent, and using it to file things based on project has come in handy from time to time... but quite honestly I review items so little, that the up front work to file each item takes WAY too long for the VERY minimal return I get from it, if ever. Because I came to this realization recently, I have been trying to think of a way to still use some of the methods and ideas, but make things even more simplistic and, above all, EASY and fast to deal with.

I had grabbed a copy of the above post from Lifehacker, and I may have started to read it but didn't have the time right then (probably why I grabbed it for later). I just read through the whole thing today because I am feeling VERY much out of control and disorganized and vowed I would do something today to try and regain some control. I wanted to share it because I think I am going to try this method and adapt it to my needs.

Now that I have my BlackBerry and have been relegated to only my work laptop as my only PC (my personal PC is no longer booting up and I haven't had time to figure out what it is... but I'm betting dollars to pesos that it's the motherboard), I wanted to start getting my life in sync between the two devices. I will figure out the easiest way to do that across those two devices and make sure it translates to my other potential devices. My key reason being that, I have to be able to add or subtract or see items on a to-do list at all times... and I'd rather not do that all from my BB only... though, that is a possibility if "Tasks" through Outlook is too cumbersome. Currently, I do not have a wireless sync between Exchange/Outlook and my BB... and I don't hook up my BB more than say twice a day (if I remember) to sync data between them. So "Tasks" so far has not been a great method for me. I may move to something like "Don't Forget The Milk" on the BB only, unless I can find something I like that allows me to do things in "the cloud"... but I'd rather find something that syncs in case my connection is limited.

I'll try and post back with what I figure out for myself. I'm always interested in what others do if you're interested in sharing.

Headphones and Bluetooth Headsets

I have two things on my mind as I sit on my flight to Dallas. The first is headphones, and the second, more troublesome and disturbing to *me*, are Bluetooth headsets.

I'll start out with headphones because I'm using them as I type this on my berry. With all the travel I've been doing, I've had a chance to try the various headphones I own. For a while I have been using my Sony Over-The-Ear Noise Canceling headphones. The sound is decent, but the bass is only good if you turn on the noise canceling feature, which isn't always wanted. Even then, it sounds more "boomy" then punchy (i.e., sloppy). I also should point out that the volume through the berry on them couldn't get very loud at all, but that's more an issue of the drivers in them not being very efficient. I tried the headphones the Curve comes with, and while they can get loud (VERY loud), they do nothing to block out background noise, which there is *plenty* of on a plane. They also have a *serious* lack of bass or fullness in their sound. So, they absolutely sucked on the plane, but they were okay in normal quiet environments (aside from the weak, less full, sound). I also have a pair of Shure in-ear headphones that I fitted with the sponge inserts (so they breath and don't create a suction in my ear while flying... before changing to this, on one flight, it caused me *serious* pain and an ear infection as it caused mucus to enter my ear canal from the pressure changes and the suction... it woke me from a sleep from the pain). These let in a tiny bit of background noise, which I actually appreciate, while still providing strong bass and full sound. They are what I am using right now to listen to music while I type, and they are proving to be mostly comfortable. Though I expect I will have some pain later... Nothing too bad. I also have a Motorola Bluetooth Stereo Headset that works really well for music and the occasional call interruption while listening, but it does little to block out background noise, and you aren't supposed to use BT on planes anyway. I guess my point is, the in-ear headphones are currently getting my vote for plane use, but I lean towards the BT Stereo headset for everyday (non-plane) use. They've been working well for me when in the house and yard work, even mowing the lawn, and the biggest reason I favor them is because of the lack of wires to get in the way. I don't think I realized how nice that would be when I first bought them, but now I would like even better BT Stereo Headphones. There are even some that include noise cancellation, but I don't know that I am willing to spend close to $200 for a new pair. I will most likely stick with what I have for quite some time.

Now onto Bluetooth Headsets (non-stereo) for everyday phone use on the go. It is nice being able to communicate handsfree, yet private, with a Bluetooth headset, but finding a headset that meets all of my requirements is proving impossible. The reason I'm even on the hunt is because my dogs literally ate my previous one that worked fairly decent for me. It was a Jabra Mono/Stereo headset that was essentially a standard mono headset in appearance and function, yet you could plug in an optional left (other) earpiece and get stereo sound. The sound quality wasn't as good as my Motorola Stereo set, but it allowed you to only use the single piece when not needing stereo music. This made it very pocketable, which is important to me, and the sound quality of the mono piece was generally better than most mono headsets... It also could raise the volume very loud so I could hear my callers in loud environments. It had a separate on/off switch that means it would only turn on/off at my will. It also had a vibrate feature that was great for alerting me of calls while driving with the stereo very loud, etc. I don't want to be that guy walking around with a BT headset in his ear even when not talking on the phone, so pocketability is key. I'm also not going to be that guy with a phone and headset perched on my belt... No thanks (so no BT Headset case).

I have been searching for the best option and was hoping to raise the bar in noise cancellation in the process. My Jabra was ok, but there certainly room for improvement. I had also gone through about 5-6 other headsets before finally settling with the Jabra. Too many headsets have a combination of the following problems: horrible background noise issues; horrible reception (though this is often the fault of the phones BT transceiver and not the headset) to the point that putting your phone in your pocket degrades quality; horrible fit; not enough volume for loud areas; battery life; etc.

Recently I purchased the BlueAnt Z9i because it got decent reviews and was supposed to deal well with background noise... It is also *very* tiny in length, but it was rather thick and stood off my face farther than I would like. In using it, it didn't fair very well. There was still an abundant amount of background noise, and the volume wasn't that great. It also seemed that people couldn't hear me that well. I returned that after about a day of use and opted for the Aliph Jawbone 2 because it was supposed to be the absolute best for noise reduction. I'm sure it works really well for some peoplean but I had several issues with it; 1) to power it on, you hold the talk button, but this "button" is essentially the entire front/outside of the headset. So putting it in my pocket would inadvertently turn it on/off when you weren't expecting it... So you try to answer a call unsuccessfully. 2) this same issue of the talk button being the entire face of the unit, and how easy it is to press, means that trying to adjust the headset better into the ear to hear better frequently resulted in ending a call... This was most frustrating. 3) the fit wasn't spectacular. 4) my callers still heard plenty of background noise, but they did say they could still hear me clearly. I would love for this headset to work for me, but I will be returning it as well.

I still don't know what the right headset will be for me, but thank goodness I can return them when they don't work well for me. I'd simply go without one altogether, but between driving or needing my hands free while troubleshooting something while on the phone with support, I have found it hard to not have one. Some I may try, there is a Plantronics Discovery 925 (I think) that seems decent, a Motorola H12 that may work and was recommended to me, and possibly some others. In the end, I may get the same headset my dogs ate, because at least that was "good enough" for quite a while, and the battery life was incredible at something like 8hours of talk time and 10hours of music!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

BlackBerry is proving a decent eBook reader using MobiPocket

I wasn't sure at first if the BB would be the right platform for trying to read eBooks, and I'm still certain that a true eBook reader like the Kindle would be better than it, but after using it for a while now and actually enjoying it, I'm ready to say it works (for me).

I also was able to find a post on how to fix the OTA (Over The Air) MobiPocket book store on my new T-Mobile Curve (I will post that at a later time because it also made the Sprint Mobile NFL app work on my T-Mobile Curve and probably other things). Since I got the store to work, and I was looking for something new to read and wanted to read Dan Brown's "Angel's & Demons" and not finding it physically in the several places I tried to but it, I decided to buy it from MobiPocket for $7.99.

So far I've been able to read it more situations than I would if it was a physical book for the simple fact that I have my bb with me at all times and never really carry physical books with me unless I know I am going to be able to read (which isn't often). I'm already a slow reader, but add in the fact that I don't often have what I'm reading with me and it can literally take me months to finish a book. So far, using the bb, I have been able to get quite a bit reading in (comparitivly). It's also great for reading at night since it has its own light source.

Finally, the other nice feature about using the bb is that one thing serves two purposes for me at the same time. You see, I like to listen to movie scores that match the mode of the book I'm reading while I read. So the bb can serve as both my media player and my book. On top of that, it has Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP), so I can use my wireless headphones which I like while laying down (nothing to get tangled when moving around). Also, the device is so light that my arms don't get tired while holding it, and I find myself not having to switch my position much, if at all.

So far I am very happy.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Viigo Beta on the BlackBerry

Today I realized there was a beta of Viigo for the BB that gives the same updated user interface as what I was using on my WM Treo. This made me very happy because I was missing the updated UI and features. I also have to say that I am happy with how stable the beta is on the bb as opposed to what I was experiencing on WM. I truly do not think the instability I saw on WM has anything to do with Viigo's development. Most apps on the WM platform had issues, which is why I switched to the BB.



One feature that is planned but currently unavailable (and I got a response from Viigo that a timeframe is currently unavailable) is the Audio/Podcasts feature which *was* working on the WM beta version I tested. I'm guessing the delay is a download issue since the BB goes through either a BIS or BES. I've found that several things that worked or pulled down one way on my WM device either do not work on my BB or react/display differently. I've been attributing this to BIS. I've also noticed and heard from my friend how some things do not work for him that work for me, or vice versa. I have to believe that this is due to how the carrier manages their BIS servers.



One instance of this is, on his T-Mobile Curve, the MobiPocket OTA eBook Store does not work, yet my Sprint Curve works with it just fine. On the flip side, true html web and html email work perfectly for him on T-Mobile, while not at all on Sprint.



I intend to post more comparisons when I get my T-Mobile Curve at the end of this week (hopefully).



One thing that was apparently just released by Sprint for the BB, and I just installed, is their mobile NFL app. I'll be semi-bummed to lose that switching to T-Mobile, but not enough to stop me. I'm not sure that app is all that good anyway, and Wi-Fi is much more important to me, as well as html email and web.





Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

GPS Navigation from a phone

Now, as I hope you are beginning to see, I believe there's really no substitute for a dedicated device for most things. However, having a device that is spectacular at a couple things, while having the ability to do other things pretty well, is usually a good thing in my book. It may not be the best at that additional function, but hopefully it gets you by in a pinch. The BlackBerry is a stellar wireless email device, and a great phone. So far, I've found it to be a more than adequate music media player (video hasn't been a priority for me so far, so I haven't tested that), and I'm even starting to think it may be a pretty nice eBook reader (but I'd much rather have a Kindle). Now I'll discuss my thoughts on it being a GPS device.

First, I'd like to point out that I've never owned a stand alone dedicated GPS device up to this point, but I've used them many times and understand their strengths and weaknesses. This isn't a review of dedicated GPS devices, but I will tell you I will probably own a Navigon 2100 Max sooner than later, and the following are some reasons why I'm switching to a dedicated device...

The first GPS experience I "owned" was the Palm GPS kit for the Treo 650. It consisted of a dedicated Bluetooth GPS unit and Tom Tom Navigator software. I have to say that this combination was generally VERY good. The Tom Tom software was literally identical to the standalone units, and the GPS receiver was a REAL chipset being used in regular standalone devices. The feature set was great, and navigation was easily as good as a standalone unit. So you may be asking, what's the problem? Well, all was great until the phone rang and you took the call. During the call, any turns, exits to take, etc, would not be announced because you were on the phone and it basically was put on pause. Another downside was that, because the GPS was Bluetooth, you couldn't use a Bluetooth headset at the same time for calls... And I don't like to hold the phone while driving. The other piece that bugged me was the multiple devices and having to plug both it. The plugging in part was actually pretty ingenious on Palm's part, because they gave you a car adapter with two charging wires for both the phone and GPS. The last piece is that the kit cost about $250, which was cheap for GPS back when I bought it (VERY cheap actually), but map updates through Tom Tom are not cheap and are one off things.

My next GPS experience was through Verizon with their VZNavigator application. Now that I have a Sprint BB and tried their navigation software, I can say that VZNavigator rocks! ... For a *phone* GPS that is. Verizon also updated their software to include traffic updates, but that was less impressive and didn't seem to route you around it... Just showed you when you would slow down (weak). The nice idea about a GPS service like this is that map updates would happen automatically and faster (in theory). However, because of the nature of that service being that the maps/software was NOT on the phone, it 1) took longer to route the trip, and 2) would have to recalculate much more if you went off route, say due to construction or an accident. It certainly would recover, but it seemed it didn't have enough data and couldn't easily pick an alternate route. In fact, it seems you don't get any real choices in choosing routes at all. You have no way to say, "avoid this area because I know it's a mess". Though, not all standalone GPS units have those features either, but the Tom Tom and Navigon I know do. One great thing about the Verizon solution was that my Bluetooth headset worked, and in fact it spoke the directions into my headset, and allowed me to use it during calls (but I would often *not* take a call because the GPS would stop working during that time). So, in closing on the Verizon solution, I'd have to say the it is by far the best *phone-based* GPS solution I've been able to use.

Sprint's solution on the BlackBerry is weak. But I should start off by discussing my reasons for thinking it might be better. 1) The BlackBerry Curve 8330 has a built-in GPS chipset that is autonomous from the cellular transceiver. In theory, this *should* provide better response and ability (in practice, it felt worse than the Verizon solution without a real GPS chipset). 2) Sprint said the GPS was "simultaneous and autonomous", and this made me think that it would work even when I was on a call... It doesn't. I should say that in all cases of phone-based GPS, when you finish the call, the GPS does pick back up where you are, but it's not the speediest thing (in all cases except for the Palm Tom Tom solution which kept the GPS going the entire time), and if you missed a turn while in the call you are in for a lot of rerouting and trying to get back on track. Sprint uses TeleNav for its service, and I think it sucks compared to VZNavigator. I also tried the BlackBerry Maps application, and while it felt more like a traditional GPS centric app, it was one from 1999, and it also became apparent how often the GPS chipset was losing a fix.

I've seen some AT&T phone GPS solutions and wasn't impressed. I also don't think anyone should pick a carrier for a GPS solution, but rather buy a standalone unit.
This is one area where I DON'T believe a multi-use device is capable enough. However, having the feature could come in handy in a pinch, and I don't know that I would be upset because something is better than nothing. Also, I had too many times where I had to take calls while driving (it's part of my job) and got way off track. One time, I was on a conference call that I had to participate in and it was even running long, so it went on for over an hour, and I realized I was no longer on the right path. I actually had to hang up and wait for the GPS to get itself together which took longer than normal and then it had to go through calculating a completely new route. It turns out I went 30 minutes out of my way, so that phone call added an hour to my trip. So, while I was hopeful that the Sprint BB would offer better GPS features, I figured I'd be buying a standalone soon enough.

As it turns out, this post took me two days to complete (I'm busy) and I ordered a standalone GPS to arrive today in time for my week long trip next week. I will be posting my review of my new GPS soon.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Continued - BlackBerry as eBook Reader

Okay, while I'm still skeptical of the format (meaning, such a small screen and not a dedicated reading device such as the Amazon Kindle), so far I am liking the idea of my BB as an eBook reader for the simple reason that I *always* have my BB on me, and therefore have found opportunities to read where I would normally not have a book with me.

One thing that actually concerns me slightly (slightly mind you) is that it seems the OTA MobiPocket eBook store doesn't appear to work on T-Mobile's Curve, which is what I'm getting shortly to replace my Sprint Curve. My best friend has the T-Mobile Curve and could not get it to work (and it's documented on MobiPocket's support forum as well as other various posts on the web that this is a problem). He also has a Sprint Curve that his work gave him, and he can get to it through that... but it was spotty for him (his Sprint Curve is going through a BES server from his employer, whereas mine goes through the Sprint BIS server... so that could account for the "spotty"-ness). I was likening the OTA MobiPocket store to the wireless service of the Amazon Kindle, and that seemed appealing to me. Now, I know it's not the same as the Kindle.. not even close really, but the idea that I could finish a book in an airport and purchase and download another right on the spot seemed cool to me. Honestly though, I can sync with my PC... and I could easily purchase a new book before I finish the current one so that wouldn't happen. So it's really no big deal.

I'd much rather have a Kindle, but in the meantime, while the price is still over $200 and I have a perfectly good BlackBerry, I may actually deal with this format for a bit. My biggest concern now is battery drain from the backlight being on for hours while I'm reading. ;-)

BlackBerry as an eBook Reader?

Okay, I read some post about using the bb as an ebook reader. The rationale used was, "you use the bb to read email, why not use it to read books?" It also cited MobiPocket Reader as the best solution, in part because they have an over the air (OTA) eBook store for the BlackBerry.

I have to say I was skeptical since the screen is so small and I wasn't sure what the experience would be like... But the thought of finding yet another use for a single device has always interested me (though I have come to realize that one thing can't be all things well... There are often sacrifices too big to succeed).

I installed MobiPocket Reader and accessed the online book store. I downloaded a sample of Dan Brown's 'Angels & Demons' since I haven't read that yet, but want to purchase it. I figured it might be a decent way for me to see if the bb is a device I could see myself using to actually read a book. I have to say the OTA bookstore and its experience is pretty good.

After reading the sample of the book, I actually found myself kind of forgetting I was using a bb to read the book. This was after much tinkering to get the right font and font size so that holding the bb at a comfortable reading arms length was similar on the eyes to reading an actual paperback. I don't believe the initial font was good enough, but I may have run full circle on the fonts. Once I had that set, other than the limited amount of text displayed on the screen causing constant page turning, it seemed very natural (I was surprised). The process of moving forward and backward in the book is easy enough. To page forward, you can use the spacebar, which is nice and easy, but you can also use the trackball to go forward and backward, also very easy. The last piece of the pie, and I need to do some more testing on this, is how well it would display images in books. Angels & Demons has a picture of the word Illuminati that is pretty key to the story for you to see... It looked great. Very sharp and readable. And the ease in which you can page forward and back made it nice to go back and reference like in a regular paper book.

MobiPocket Reader also has some other abilities I have yet to explore. One of these is the ability to create annotations, and I believe bookmarks. This could make it easy and quick to get to and from various key places.

While I'm still unsure if I'm willing to drop upwards of $10 on an eBook, it's an interesting prospect. Time will tell if I make the plunge, but with my travels and the idea of carrying less, I like the idea. I'm already considering not carrying my iPod and using my bb instead. The fact that it has a standard headphone jack and takes high-end headphones without an adapter is great. Pair that ability with being able to also read a book while listening to music, which is all I do when traveling, it sounds like a pretty slick package.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Posting from my CrackBerry

So, while I wish there was a native app for posting to various blogs, I suppose email is easy enough. I mean, there's not too much you need to do in a post other than type text, and I'm pretty sure I could post pix from email too.

Posting from my BB is great, because I don't get to sit in front of a computer for personal reasons much, but I pretty much always have my BB and can write my posts in pieces where I get breaks (like this post which has spanned many hours and even in the midst of a family party like right this second).

My brother-in-law is sitting next to me with an iPhone, and it reminds me why they frustrate me so. They are VERY slick on many fronts, but no hardware keyboard and pretty much only a touchscreen, on top of other things like no memory expansion, etc, make me glad I don't own one. But there is a slickness to them, and graphically they blow the BB away... But life isn't eye candy.

Anyway, I have some other observations on the BB I will post soon, like using it for various things.

Switching from Sprint BB to a T-Mobile BB

This is for many reasons... I may name some over the course of time in comparisons, but here are some initial thoughts:

1. My current Sprint BlackBerry will simply go to my wife, so no loss on equipment and all that.
2. My biggest reason for wanting the T-Mobile Curve is because it has WiFi!! Pretty much all cell phone carriers signals suck where I live (except Verizon, but I've grown to hate them and am canceling my service with them... I believe I wrote in previous posts why I dislike them). With WiFi, I don't have to only rely on the carriers signal strength as I can simply use ultra speedy WiFi. This obviously goes far beyond just my house (hotel rooms, etc), but I work out of my house when not traveling and therefore spend probably 90% of my life in my house.
3. T-Mobile has seriously upped their signal game... it looks like I will have a better signal in my house than in the past, so that's a plus.
4. T-Mobile offers @Home for $10/mo. This is essentially making your house a T-Mobile HotSpot and allows your cell phone service to route through your home WiFi!! It provides unlimited calling @Home, and obviously removes the concern of signal strength. ;-)
5. T-Mobile is MUCH less restrictive on their network than Sprint and especially Verizon who is the most prohibitive, even disabling many features on phones.
6. T-Mobile seems to be keeping up with BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) software updates better than Sprint, as my friend & I upgraded our Curve's to the latest BlackBerry OS (4.5.x at the time of this writing) which offers many feature enhancements such as HTML email and real web browsing. Setting all the right things in my Sprint Curve, I just couldn't get those features to work at all (same old ugliness). The T-Mobile Curve worked with all of it (to get those features, the BIS server has to be on the latest version... or at least a version that supports those features).
7. While Sprint certainly created some great plans as far as pricing and features (passing Verizon for value), T-Mobile seems to offer even more for less. Sprint may have some services like the Sprint Music Store (ugh) and SprintTV (even worse ugh... why bother), and I'm betting their cell data speeds are ultimately higher in average (based on signal strength of course), the features that matter most to me are at T-Mobile.
8. Lastly, I found the T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve on Amazon for $25... BEFORE the $100 mail-in rebate!!! That means I will actually MAKE $75 by buying the phone (if I send in the rebate and after the 6-8 week delivery period). Buying the phone from Sprint or T-Mobile costs you $249 up front, then there is the $100 mail-in rebate. To get a phone that will work better for my needs for so little... I couldn't pass it up. The biggest downside, and it's killing me right now because I'm SO impatient, is that it's not in stock and my estimated delivery is between September 11-17... to top it off, I will be traveling the week of the 11th... so my new shiny phone could be waiting for me at home while I'm on the road. :-(

Anyway, these are some of the reasons... like I said, I will probably list more in comparison posts. For now, if someone is trying to decide where to buy the BlackBerry Curve from, I'd say buy it through Amazon and get the T-Mobile Curve. ;-)

BlackBerry to replace my iPod

Well, that title has more sensation than reality. ;-) However, my playing with the media player on my BlackBerry today put it in a very good light. The sound quality is damn near as good as the iPod for songs in the same bit rate (if not as good). Because I only (currently) have a 4GB card in the BB, I decided to limit the quality of songs to 192kbps (I mean, it IS for *mobile* use, so I doubt I'll really hear a difference with so many other noises around me in those situations). I synced my BB through WMP11 (Windows Media Player), so it automatically converted the songs higher than 192kbps for me. I tried to sync a playlist from WMP, but it did not show up in the BB. This honestly doesn't bother me because I generally listen to whole albums at a time anymore. If you have a ton of playlists and really like that feature, you may want to try something different. I believe there is a sync utility from BlackBerry to allow you to sync with iTunes and all it's playlists. I stopped using iTunes a while ago and I'm not looking back.

As far as playlist capabilities are concerned, I was actually really impressed with the BB's feature set on creating playlists. It allows for both Automatic and Manual playlists. Like I said, this isn't a driving factor for me, so what it has is plenty good for me.

The fact that the BB Curve has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack is AWESOME! It allows you to use much higher quality headphones without having to buy or mess with an adapter. ALL phones trying to provide media playback should have this. Listening with some higher end headphones produced sound that (I believe) equals the iPod on the same exact file and bit rate. I also used my two Bluetooth Stereo headsets that have the ability to control the media player functions aside from normal call functions. Their sound was great through the BB Curve, but they are obviously no match for the higher end wired headphones. However, the fact that there are no wires and you can control the media player from them makes up for a lot in convenience. Good for several activities. Lastly, I tried the stereo headset the BB Curve comes with. Their drivers were obviously more sensitive, so had higher volume levels, but the sound really wasn't very good (as can be expected).

I had the Verizon LG Chocolate2 which was *supposed* to be like an iPod phone... no thanks!! The media player ABSOLUTELY sucked... and that's saying it lightly. It had proprietary connections and more. It didn't even have the ability to read the ID3 tags and determine the songs track number to play them in the correct order... instead it played songs alphabetically. WTF?!?!? The BB has no such issue. In fact, the only complaint I would have about how it organizes songs is that for Artist, it uses the individual song artist instead of the "Album Artist" value which is a better way to sort in my opinion. It's really not a big deal, and some people may prefer this way.

I don't see this replacing my iPod any time soon, mainly because of storage limitations. My iPod is 60GB, and the most you will ever be able to get in a BB Curve is 32GB when they eventually release microSDHC cards that high. For now, I will most likely get an 8GB card (I don't think I can wait for the 16GB ones due out later this year... partially because they will be much higher in price for a good while). When 32GB cards are available for reasonable prices, I could see me carrying my iPod less and less. The iPod will probably always be a "better" media player... but convenience and only carrying one device has to count for something. Being mobile and travelling taught me that.

Just couldn't take it... Switched to a BlackBerry Curve

There were several things that bugged me to the point of deciding to switch from the Treo 700w and Windows Mobile devices in general to a BlackBerry Curve from Sprint. I'm not sure I can capture them all here, but I'll give it a shot.

1. OS and Apps crashing - I updated to the latest firmware for the 700w. It was still WM5, and I don't know if WM6.x solves these issues, but I didn't want to risk spending more on a new device to find out it's the same old same old.
2. Battery Life - The battery just wouldn't last long (not even a full day) and that's without push email working (more on that later). I did not set it up to automatically download email either because the battery would drain even faster. When traveling, there are MANY instances where there is no opportunity to charge... I also can't be without a phone when traveling.
3. Push Email not working - This was not the fault of the device or WM, but rather my companies inability to get Exchange ActiveSync working. HOWEVER, that would *only* enable push for work email, not any personal accounts... so getting those personal accounts emails still required manual intervention or no battery life. That's just not acceptable to me.
4. Beautiful Apps with great features/functions... that don't always work - I can say, after only a couple days of using the BlackBerry and the apps (some the same as the WM apps), that the WM versions are MUCH prettier to look at, and in some cases have better feature sets (Viigo as one specific example). However, these apps seem buggy and prone to issues. I don't think it was the application developers fault, but it is what it is. Maybe I'm even alone on this finding and those apps are working perfectly for others on WM, but my experience was not good... and this follows back through the history of Windows CE, PocketPC, etc. Some of the apps I'm referring to have a pretty long history on Windows Mobile through it's life stages... so with that kind of history, shouldn't they work better?
5. Multi-tasking and pitfalls - One thing WM had over the Palm OS was multi-tasking... but the BlackBerry handles that in spades now. WM seemed to have issues here if an app was posing problems, which happened frequently enough. I don't doubt that the BlackBerry could run into these same issues, especially bumping into a memory limitation, but if the apps are more stable, I have to believe it will happen less.
6. Touchscreen functions as opposed to hardware buttons only - I know there are WM phones that do not have a touchscreen, but I'm certain they are plagued with many of the same issues listed above. The problem with the touchscreen is that you have to change your input method, and in MANY cases need to pull out a stylus and use that because whatever you need to press or click is too small for your fingers. I set the touchscreen to lock when in a call on the Today screen... but then it displayed a lock message over some of the on screen buttons and I couldn't tell which was which to mute the call or put it on speakerphone. All of the touchscreen functions REALLY bugged me to no end. Any way I sliced it, I was getting a phone that did NOT include a touchscreen. (for those out there in love with their iPhone and touchscreen only input... good luck. I have a friend who's iPhone touchscreen stopped working in certain sectors of the screen, namely the unlock slide, and also the "one (hardware) button" eventually broke. When he went to speak to the Apple "Geniuses", they told him there was nothing they could do to fix it and he would need to buy another one... WTF?!?!?)

So, I am VERY happy with my choice thus far and plan on posting my findings about the BlackBerry. I also plan on detailing things I liked better on Windows Mobile than the BlackBerry and vice versa. I'll probably discuss apps for it and review them as best I can.

Obviously, everyone's mileage and opinions vary... this is just mine.

Viigo... acting funky on my Treo

**Update** See the comments... you'll never believe this...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you missed my post on Viigo, check it out.

Well, I know this is still beta, so I'm truly not upset... but I thought I'd share something that has been going wrong with Viigo on my Treo. My guess, too, is that this is more an issue with WM than it is on Blackberry devices.

Because Windows Mobile has the ability to multi-task, or have multiple applications running at the same time and switch between them, I think Viigo is getting confused or something. If I run Viigo and do not leave that app, it seems to work just fine and great even. However, if I turn off my screen or try and switch to another app, it seems Viigo is actually crashing. I say "crashing" because it doesn't appear to close cleanly. The app takes up the full screen, so even the WM title bar at the top of the screen. When Viigo crashes, it leaves the Viigo app covering the title bar. So far, the only way I found to get the title bar back was to do a soft reset on my device (essentially rebooting it).

One other thing that I noticed, it's not the fastest app on my Treo. This could be for a couple reasons: 1) Memory?, 2) CPU speed, 3) The app is not optimized enough for WM?

Working on the theory that the app is not optimized for WM, I think this may be it because if I have Viigo running and go to the start menu and select it again, it starts another instance of that app. This may not be the best way to get back to an app, but all my other apps in WM will get me right back to the running instance if I select it from the Start Menu and it's already running. The reason I use the Start Menu is because it requires the least amount of steps to get to it (it has a hardware button and then select the app, instead of bringing up the task manager, selecting the app, then clicking "Activate").

Anyway, I'm not trying to take anything away from how awesome Viigo is, just throwing out a possible bug with the current beta version.

NoviiMedia... dud on my 700wx

As I posted, I installed and tried NoviiMedia's remote application.

At first, I thought maybe I wasn't using the correct code bases for my electronics, but after everything failing from my couch, I decided to get up close and personal with my electronics and see if it was a distance thing (the NoviiMedia site showed the Treo 700wx having an effective range of 6-12 feet). Once I got right up to it, the remote did in fact work.... ummm, isn't the idea of a remote to allow you NOT to be within arms reach of the device you are trying to control?!? ;-)

Oh well, I wasn't THAT hopeful it would work. It would have been cool, but it's not that big of a deal honestly.

So, my advice to ANYONE with interest in this app: Try before you buy (I did and am glad).

I know they had SD card IR sensor add-ons for the Treo 650, but I haven't looked for that and quite frankly I don't think I'd go to all the trouble of pulling out my current SD card and inserting that thing just to get a semi-decent learning remote with limited macros. I'd rather spend the $99 and get the Logitech Harmony or the XBOX 360 centric Harmony since I have a 360 hooked up to my Vista Ultimate PC. ;-)

Treo 700wx bummer...

I searched around for a SDHC driver for my 700wx and found one. The problem is, my 16GB SDHC card is being seen as only about 3.5GB (before it wouldn't recognize it at all, so I guess it's progress). My 4GB (non-SDHC) cards show the whole thing though.

I was really hoping that I could use my 16GB cards with this so it would be a better media player (without switching cards around). I don't think I'd try to have it replace my iPod since it really wasn't designed specifically for media player capabilities... but mobile Window Media Player is still a pretty solid performer. And my firmware update gave me stereo bluetooth support which works well.

Welcome | Viigo | Living Life Untethered

Welcome | Viigo | Living Life Untethered

Once again, as with most things, my BFF turned me on to another very cool software/service. Viigo does so much I don't know where to start. For one, it's an RSS reader, but it can pull in sports scores live, subscribe to podcasts and vidcasts, provide weather and they are constantly adding additional features.

The fact that this is free blows me away!

Remember everything. | Evernote Corporation

Remember everything. | Evernote Corporation

I couldn't find any screenshots of the WM Evernote client, but it rocks. Being able to capture thoughts and web pages, etc, then have them synced up to the interwebs is sweet. It syncs with my Windows PC's as well, and I can just go to the web page and get at my notes from anywhere!!

You should certainly give this a whirl.

NoviiMedia / Pocket PC Solutions / NoviiRemote Deluxe for Pocket PC

NoviiMedia / Pocket PC Solutions / NoviiRemote Deluxe for Pocket PC

So, I think I already created a post that I'm getting back to this blog because of several reasons. The main reason is because I am switching phones, back to a smartphone.

Currently, I switched back to my Sprint Treo 700wx which has Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 Phone Edition. I have to say that Palm REALLY does a great job customizing the OS and Today Screen to make it more user friendly as a phone, since ultimately that's what this device is and needs to be. The PDA functionality is just icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned.

And speaking of the icing, I'm going to try NoviiRemote Deluxe to see if I can use my phone as a customizable remote with macro capability. It looks like there are limitations on how much you can do with the macros, but some macro ability is better than none. ;-)

I'll try and post my review soon.

Wow! It's been a while...

A lot has changed for me, but I still use my n800. I have, however, stopped using Linux on my desktop PCs and switched to Windows Vista on my desktop and Windows 2008 Server for my server. I have been VERY happy with my change back to Windows.

On top of that, I am now switching back to a smartphone after having abandoned the idea and switching to a more standard phone. I'm switching back because I've started texting and the lack of a real keyboard was starting to piss me off. So expect to see some posts regarding that and other posts on how my outlook and computer use has changed.

So check back soon... maybe tomorrow I'll actually have a new smartphone.

Steam problems - Ubuntu Forums

*********ADDITION**********
I just wanted to add the following URL (http://www.fsckin.com/2007/10/15/how-to-run-team-fortress-2-half-life-2-hl2-ep-12-in-ubuntu-using-wine/) that I found which talks about installing The Orange Box set, I assume some of these steps should also work for Steam as The Orange Box uses Steam.

*********UPDATE************
Non of the earlier suggestions lower in this post seemed to be working for me, but in searching I found the below post at ...
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-615763.html
" OK, here's the story:

Reinstalling wine worked. Also the 'install gecko' worked also.

On the original install, I did not 'wait' for the over 5 minute installation of
'winecfg' to work. I just renamed the wine.xxxx to wine and went from there.
A big mistake.


(copy Steam to another directory for safe keeping)
1. Removed .wine via cd home directory, rm -rf .wine
2. Full Removal of package via Synaptics
3. Reinstalled via Synaptics (must have new repo's in config for latest wine) https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wine
4. Open terminal, cd home directory, run 'winecfg', see multiple errors with
mixer/printer, etc, IGNORE.
5. Take coffee break, come back 10 minutes later
6. Wine installed
7. Moved my Steam directory back into Program Files.
8. cd to Steam, run wine ./Steam.exe
9. Steam opens up, asks for Gecko install, say yes
10. All is well, can't seem to keep video settings, but I'll work that out.


For Vitaliy Margolen/WINE, Thanks for the help with my noob mistakes .
I closed the BUG report."

I haven't tried this method yet, but I think it sounds like the next step for me. However, Nautilus is acting up as well as other things, so I'm going to reboot my PC and see if some issues clear up.

*********UPDATE************
This did not solve my problem, but my guess is because POL creates "bottles" for each game/application. As I understand it, "bottles" are autonomous WINE instances, so you can have different WINE settings for each game/app. So, while the below worked to install Gecko into WINE, it was not in the bottle containing Steam.

What DID solve my problem was running "wineboot" from a terminal, then running Steam from POL again... this time it came up to the Steam app window with no content in it. Switching between the tabs and back to "Store" made the Gecko install message show back up. The difference is, this time when I clicked "Install", it actually ran the install in this "bottle"... well, it's still "Downloading" the install... so this STILL may not be the answer, but I'm getting closer I think. ;-)
*********************

Steam problems - Ubuntu Forums:
"Re: Steam problems
Open a terminal and enter the following:
Code:

wine iexplore http://winehq.org


This will install gecko. Once installation finishes, run Steam again."

I had this problem when I would run Steam after installing it through PlayOnLinux (POL). This was VERY helpful and simple.

I will post more on POL, but right out of the box, after installation there was no icon to launch it. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but I had to browse to the installed location to launch it (it installs to /usr/share/playonlinux in case you are looking for it too). I will create a n icon for it... but I tried to use a steam install script off the web designed for POL and it would immediately exit... not sure why yet, but when I opened POL it had a choice to install Steam right from the app.. maybe POL needs to be running in order to run the scripts??

Les scripts - PlayOnLinux - Play On Linux easily

Les scripts - PlayOnLinux - Play On Linux easily

This is a list of games that PlayOnLinux already has scripts for and therefore you know are supported. Thankfully, Steam is on there, so (in theory) I should be able to play ALL my Steam games (of which I own MANY). I wonder what the performance will be??

What I do not see are some of the newer games (I didn't really expect to see them) like COD4 and MOH: Airborne, etc. Looks like I will still need to boot into XP to play those for now (ho hum).

Wine HQ - Wine for Debian based distributions

Wine HQ - Wine for Debian based distributions:
"Adding the WineHQ APT Repository:

First, open a terminal window. Then add the repository's key to your system's list of trusted APT keys by copy and pasting the following:

wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Next, add the repository to your system's list of APT sources:

For Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10):
sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

For Ubuntu Feisty (7.04):
sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/feisty.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

For Ubuntu Edgy (6.10): *64-bit packages not available*
sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/edgy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

For Ubuntu Dapper (6.06): *64-bit packages not available*
sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/dapper.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

For Debian Etch (4.0):
sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/etch.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

Then, you can install Wine from WineHQ like it were any other package, such as by using the Synaptic Package Manager under System->Administration. Alternatively, you can install from the terminal by running 'sudo apt-get update' to update APT's package information and then 'sudo apt-get install wine'."

My friend turned me on to PlayOnLinux for a way to install Windows games on Linux. While I haven't actually tried it yet, in reading I realized that I did not have the latest version of Wine installed and found the above from the WineHQ which means I will automatically get any official Wine updates! (yay)

I will post more on PlayOnLinux and what my experience is with trying to run games on Linux. For those that don't know already, my only gaming consoles are the original XBOX and the Wii. While both are great, they do not run the latest FPS games I am interested in, so my PC was my main gaming medium. I'd much rather have an XBOX 360, but I just can't afford/justify it at this time. I will probably blog about my opinions on gaming at some other time, but the short story is that I much prefer the newer consoles (360 or PS3) over PC gaming because it is basically guaranteed to work with a game you put in without having to worry about updating drivers or hardware. PLUS, the performance is pretty much guaranteed, whereas the PC is a gamble with too many variables involved. I think the PC holds a higher level of graphics and such, but the cost to get there is SERIOUSLY prohibitive! For instance, my graphics card alone (nvidia 8800 GTS 640MB) cost $400, the same price (or more) than a 360 Premium!!! That's just crazy now that I look back on it. At this point, the rest of my PC is the bottleneck. :-(

Ubuntu LAMP Server Installation With Screenshots -- Debian Admin

Ubuntu LAMP Server Installation With Screenshots -- Debian Admin:
"Configuring Static ip address in Ubuntu server

Ubuntu installer has configured our system to get its network settings via DHCP, Now we will change that to a static IP address for this you need to edit Edit /etc/network/interfaces and enter your ip address details (in this example setup I will use the IP address 172.19.0.10):

#vi /etc/network/interfaces

and enter the following save the file and exit

# The primary network interface

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 172.19.0.10
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 172.19.0.0
broadcast 172.19.0.255
gateway 172.19.0.1

Now you need to restart your network services using the following command

#/etc/init.d/networking restart

You need to setup manually DNS servers in resolv.conf file when you are not using DHCP.

#vi /etc/resolv.conf

You need to add look something like this

search domain.com

nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

This is really simple and easy server installation for new users and who wants a quick server."

My server will not get an IP from a DHCP server... I'm guessing it is because I installed it as a DNS server as well, but not positive. Anyway, I previously set the IP with some ifconfig commands, but upon reboot that info disappeared. So I found this as a more permanent fix. ;-)

Google Browser Sync

Google Browser Sync:
"Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings – including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords – across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions. For more info, please visit our FAQ."

Okay, my friend pointed me to this (5 times he says... whatever ;-) and I don't want to lose it.

I have been using the Google Toolbar because I like the way it keeps my bookmarks the same across all my PCs and integrates Gmail, Google Calendar and Blogger stuff in one consistent package across my Windows and Linux OSes... even between Firefox and IE, the latter of which I am forced to use for certain things.

While the Google Toolbar serves most of my needs, it does NOT sync cookies and password management across PCs, so this browser sync is a welcome addition!!

redhat.com | Doing more with more: Dual-head display

redhat.com | Doing more with more: Dual-head display:

"In startup.sh, set the first display and type in the applications you want to start there. Then, set the second display and type in the applications you want to start on that monitor. You may want to put the 'intrusive' applications (email, IRC) on the secondary monitor.

Here is an example start-up script for a dual-independent display (that is, on in which you specify either DISPLAY=:0.0 or DISPLAY=:0.1):"

Go to the page for the example. This page was written for Red Hat, but it should work on any Linux distro (possibly with some tweaking).

I have two monitors of different sizes on my main PC, and TwinView (one display expanded across both monitors) didn't work well with my different resolutions (there was "dead space" where the virtual desktop continued but I had no monitor to show that portion... so I would sometimes lose applications there).

I have certain apps I like to run on my smaller display so they are 1) always visible, and 2) aren't taking up my primary workspace. I tried to start one of these applications at "startup" on my secondary display, but it starts on my primary display. I found this post and will try this. Hopefully it won't take too much tweaking for Ubuntu.

Gain root on your N800

In a previous post I talked about how difficult it was to find the package that allows you to gain root on the n800. I found links that talked about installing fakeroot and such, but could never find the package for os2008.

Well, I finally found it and installed it (a while ago), but i forgot to log it here. I also didn't have the command to gain root listed on 'my' blog, so when I needed it and couldn't remember, I had to follow a path to it. So I wanted to list the command here in case I forget again.

sudo gainroot

Seems hard to forget, but my mind is a sieve. ;-)

When I find the location of the package I'll post it in here as well.

XP: Small, Free Way to Use and Mount Images (ISO files) Without Burning Them - Tech-Recipes.com

XP: Small, Free Way to Use and Mount Images (ISO files) Without Burning Them - Tech-Recipes.com

This post has a free utility to mount ISO files... it's not very user friendly, but it's free. ;-)

Nautilus scripts - Tag MP3 Files

Nautilus scripts:
"This program adds a new entry to the contextual menu which allows us to fill the ID3 tags of mp3 files with its appropriate genre, artist, year, album, number of song and title using its path. For this program to work your music has to be stored using a path like /Genre/Artist/Year - Album/Number - Title.mp3

Also if you have an image for the artist at the 'Artist' folder and / or one for the album at the 'Year - Album' folder, these will be added too to their corresponding ID3 tags."

I know I already have a post about these scripts, but I wanted to point this script out specifically because of the method and filing system it is using. I have been struggling with my music library for a long time and finally started to reign it in. However, I was using a method that is somewhat haphazard compared to this. I have a directory where all my media exists, and then sub-folders for music, videos, movies, etc. Under Music, I have some genre folders, but mostly artist folders right at the root. Really, the order is one that makes sense to me, but the rules I make up are probably not rigid enough.

So I may start toying with filing my music like this. I'm still in the early stages of organization so it won't be that bad... and the stuff I already organized will be easier since I know much about it already.

Debian and Ubuntu Linux Run Levels -- Debian Admin

Debian and Ubuntu Linux Run Levels -- Debian Admin

As usual, my friend sent me some more great info on Linux as I try to understand this OS and it's depths. This is some cool stuff here. I plan on looking at it in more detail later, but i didn't want to lose track of it.

Howto: Install VMware Server on Ubuntu 7.10 (Part 2) at x86 Virtualization

Howto: Install VMware Server on Ubuntu 7.10 (Part 2) at x86 Virtualization:
"[Optional Steps]
Remove CD from repository list:
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list

Once inside of VI, hit i to be in insert mode, scroll down to deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 7.10 _Gutsy Gibbon_ …. and add # to the beginning of the line. hit esc, then :x to save and exit"

There are other good tips on here, but this one is huge for anyone running a Linux server that you are not near to put in the CD whenever you try to do an apt-get that wants to pull something off the CD. ;-)


*********UPDATE*************
Okay, I have my Ubuntu 7.10 server installed without X11, and therefore could NOT complete the configuration of VMware Server!! I couldn't find anywhere that says X11 is a requirement of VMware Server.

Anyway, it would throw up a list of the libraries I was missing and it took me FOREVER to find a post that gave me some good information to go on.

FIRST, install "apt-file" by typing: sudo apt-get install apt-file.
Second, update apt-file by typing: sudo apt-file update (this will take a long time as it is reading the package contents of all the packages it can find from your apt sources.list locations).
Third, look for a library/file by typing: sudo apt-file find .
Fourth, run apt-get install and the name of the package/s you need.

Once I resolved all the missing libraries the config went smooth as butter. I'm guessing this wouldn't be a problem on a workstation or server install that has X11 installed and configed.

What a PITA!

***********UPDATE************* (3/4/08)
While the above worked for me, I figured there must be an easier way. I found this bit of apt-get code that may have worked for me if I had tried it. It's too late now, but for anyone else and for my future use.

apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` libx11-6 libx11-dev x-window-system-core x-window-system xspecs libxtst6 psmisc build-essential

The previous apt-get command that I kept finding and trying had a package that was not valid for my version of Ubuntu (7.10)... I believe it was for v.7.04 or even earlier.

How to Install Vmware Server in Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) -- Ubuntu Geek

How to Install Vmware Server in Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) -- Ubuntu Geek:

I'm using this how-to to install VMware server on my Gutsy server. So far so good. ;-)

*********UPDATE*************
Okay, I have my Ubuntu 7.10 server installed without X11, and therefore could NOT complete the configuration of VMware Server!! I couldn't find anywhere that says X11 is a requirement of VMware Server.

Anyway, it would throw up a list of the libraries I was missing and it took me FOREVER to find a post that gave me some good information to go on.

FIRST, install "apt-file" by typing: sudo apt-get install apt-file.
Second, update apt-file by typing: sudo apt-file update (this will take a long time as it is reading the package contents of all the packages it can find from your apt sources.list locations).
Third, look for a library/file by typing: sudo apt-file find .
Fourth, run apt-get install and the name of the package/s you need.

Once I resolved all the missing libraries the config went smooth as butter. I'm guessing this wouldn't be a problem on a workstation or server install that has X11 installed and configed.

What a PITA!

Ubuntu Open Terminal Here for Nautilus - It Came From The Internet

Ubuntu Open Terminal Here for Nautilus - It Came From The Internet:
"If you ever get tired of trying to quickly type in the terminal the exact path to a directory, there is an easier way. In Nautilus (your file manager) can use Open Terminal Here in your right click menu.

To make this work, just install this package by opening a terminal and entering:

sudo apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal



Now you can right click in any directory in Nautilus and open a terminal that is already set to that directory.

One note though, if you want to use it for the Desktop, open Nautilus first, and click on Desktop in Nautilus. Don't try just right clicking on the Desktop directly or it won't work. ;-)"

This is a necessity as far as I'm concerned.

My oldest son is now a Trekky

Last night my wife had to run out to help her family and our kids were still getting over a HORRIBLE bout with the stomach flu (lasting about 2 weeks off and on in each kid). The two middle kids (I have 4) were fast asleep on the couches, and the baby was face down asleep on the floor. So I told my wife as she was leaving that I would just sleep downstairs with all of them.

I had started to watch Episode 1 of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation DVD collection earlier that day but didn't get through it very far. So I wanted to finish it and my oldest was begging me to watch it. So I agreed and put it on.

It's funny watching kids relate things that they know to things they are only just experiencing. My son said to me, "This reminds me of Galaxy Quest", to which I said, "Galaxy Quest is a play-off of the original Star Trek series." He said, "This is much better than Galaxy Quest." ;-)

So, after the episode ended, he started BEGGING me to watch the next episode! I told him it was a school night and he needed to get to sleep. So I put in Tron which he's seen a million times with me and could fall asleep because nothing about it was new and exciting keeping his interest. Now he'll be begging me to watch more episodes, so it's a good thing I have the first 3 seasons already. ;-)

I'd love for him to watch the movies too, but they can get a little scary for a kid, like the Borg in "First Contact" (one of my all time favorite movies by the way). We'll see how he does with the shows and then maybe I'll let him see some of the movies during daylight hours. ;-)

Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) LAMP Server Setup -- Ubuntu Geek

Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) LAMP Server Setup -- Ubuntu Geek

I recently changed my home server from CentOS 5 to Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) Server Edition and installed it choosing "DNS server", "LAMP server" (Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP), "OpenSSH server" and "Samba File server"during the software selection portion. I did NOT follow the linked setup guide, but found it later when I was looking for an easy way to install Webmin on it from a command prompt.

I plan on going through this guide now to see if I missed anything beneficial, etc. I will also try to go into more detail of why I switched to Ubuntu from CentOS, but the "straw that broke (this) camel's back" was the difficulty in getting Samba shares setup and usable from client PCs. When I got the same function working in only minutes from my Ubuntu desktop PC, I decided to make the switch. It was very recent and I haven't had any time to look at the Samba sharing, but I will provide and update with my findings/experience.

HOW TO: setup vnc4server - Ubuntu Forums

HOW TO: setup vnc4server - Ubuntu Forums

Okay, I just set this up and quickly tested it... it controls my secondary display (dual-display configuration using two X sessions). ;-) I have to tweak this a bit to create a X display I'm not already using.

HOWTO: 5 button mouse working on firefox (back/forward buttons) - Page 11 - Ubuntu Forums

HOWTO: 5 button mouse working on firefox (back/forward buttons) - Page 11 - Ubuntu Forums:
"Section 'InputDevice'
Identifier 'Configured Mouse'
Driver 'mouse'
Option 'CorePointer'
Option 'Device' '/dev/input/mice'
Option 'Protocol' 'ExplorerPS/2'
Option 'ZAxisMapping' '4 5'
Option 'Buttons' '7'
Option 'ButtonMapping' '1 2 3 6 7'
Option 'Emulate3Buttons' 'true'
EndSection"

I have a Creative Fatal1ty mouse (the higher-end model) and was having trouble getting the forward/back buttons working properly. Finally I realized that the "protocol" was set to something other than "ExplorerPS/2". Changing this fixed the problem for me (because I had already set all the other values properly and it still didn't work).

RestrictedFormats/PlayingDVDs - Community Ubuntu Documentation

RestrictedFormats/PlayingDVDs - Community Ubuntu Documentation: "Note : While Totem-gstreamer can play a DVD automatically when it is inserted into the DVD drive, it cannot navigate the DVD nor play it by selecting Movie → Play Disc 'DVD Name' (see [WWW] Bug #41335). If you use vlc media player you can navigate through the menu, forward in the movie and select subtitles. Just select open disc, probe Disc(s) and click ok."

Okay, so I *probably* should have seen this before when I viewed this page, but I think I didn't understand it even when I did read it. Still being a n00b makes life hard.

Anyway, it appears that Totem-gstreamer will not play back DVDs once you install libdvdnav4... I add this because I successfully played back an unencrypted DVD movie before installing libdvdnav4. It simply started the main title with no menu navigation. Seeing that DVD playback was working I decided to see if I could get navigation to work. After installing libdvdnav4 Totem-gstreamer throws an error and also wouldn't auto-launch upon DVD insertion like it did before installing libdvdnav4.

I glad I came back to this page and saw that little note. It was EXTREMELY frustrating me on my previous install. Yes, that's right... I blew away my original install. It wasn't for this, although it WAS something that bothered me. It was for a whole host of reasons and things not working right. I am certain I inflicted the issues on myself by not being careful about what I installed and looking for conflicts carefully. One of the things that plagued me was ALL video playback, be it DVD or mpg, avi, divx, etc, it ALL played back with a limited color palette. I honestly have no idea what caused this to happen because it was not always like that from the start after my original install. I plan on trying to be more careful and selective in my installs from here on out, and at a minimum keep track of what I install so I know how to back out when something goes wrong.

Anyway, this method, using Totem-xine seems to work just fine now, and I can even playback my newest encrypted DVD (Pirates of the Caribbean 3). So I'd say it's all good.

Create Your Own Cross-Platform Backup Server

Feature: Create Your Own Cross-Platform Backup Server

This looks pretty cool... it uses the same concept as say Veritas BackupExec and other enterprise backup software solutions where they "pull" the files to be backed up instead of the client "pushing" them to the server/share.

As my friend mentioned, the problem with this solution is what if the IP changes on a client machine and there is no dynamic DNS registration taking place. This solution seems directed at consumers for their homes, and most houses do not have dynamic DNS registration setup on their private network. I personally do, but I'm not a normal consumer.

With that said, this is still a cool solution that seems to be pretty easy to setup for cross-platform backups. However, the one common thread across Windows, OS X and Linux (the most common OSes for consumers) is the ability to attach to a Samba (SMB) share. So, really, all you need is a Samba share that your clients can connect to and then you can easily push the files. This could even be accomplished over the internet from a laptop not on your home network quite frankly. There is more setup involved on the firewall side of things, but it's possible with a push solution where the pull will not be able to find the laptop if it's not on the home network.

Bug 2673 - N800 Power up Drama

Bug 2673 - N800 Power up Drama

This will drop down to comment #47 which lists the new firmware that addresses the power up after shutdown issue.

Now that I'm running Ubuntu Linux as my main OS, my flashing experience was a little different. It was easy once I figured out one little necessity. I essentially followed the directions from here to the letter, BUT I had to add 'sudo' at the beginning of the command to run flasher-3.0. When I didn't, it couldn't grab the USB port.

So, here's the funny part... in order to run the update to the firmware, you HAVE to switch off the tablet. So, of course, it won't come back on to let you flash it. So I had to go upstairs to put it in the freezer for a bit. My wife happened to be there and saw me put my N800 tablet in the freezer and said, "Um, do you wanna explain why you just put a computer in the freezer??" LOL... needless to say, I had a hard time explaining WHY this worked, because I personally have no idea myself. However, after leaving it in long enough it started up.

Before flashing it this time I performed a backup with the integrated software. I must say that is VERY slick and easy. Bravo! So, after it was flashed and started up, it said it found a previous backup and would I like to restore from there. I said yes and it ran through it pretty quickly. It barked about some of the documents added by the firmware being newer on the device, etc. I selected not to replace them with the backup in case there are differences. I made the mistake of deleting my device off my phone because I thought I was going to have to go through it again, but it restored the settings from the backup. My guess is it would have worked perfectly, but being that I deleted the device on my phone I had to run through it again. It then asked me if I wanted to restore all my applications!! I was surprised at this and didn't think it would do this for me. I said yes and it proceeded (the best it could) to download and install all the apps. I say best it could because some of my apps were not pulled from repositories and required manual intervention.

After all my apps were on and I was satisfied with how it was setup I tested shutting it down and then turning it right back on... IT WORKS!!!! I'm so excited about this because it means I don't need to stay close to a freezer. Another funny thing my wife asked me, knowing that I am traveling to a week long conference in Florida next week, "So, are you gonna have to excuse yourself from the show floor to run back to your mini-bar so you can jump start your little gadget??" Ahhhh... she's funny.

Anyway, I'm just glad that it was able to be resolved with a software update and I didn't have to deal with returns and such. THAT would have been a pain!

The pain I'm finding for Linux, and why Apple is successful (so to speak)

Well, it has not been long into my "30 day challenge" to use only Linux (not even a week) and I'm already feeling some pain. Basically, the pain I'm feeling seems stupid... it ALL revolves around PC hardware and driver issues. Well... not ALL of it... I still have some pain around apps I used on Windows and haven't found replacements I like yet, or, and this is another big one I'll try to tackle at some point, you have to compile the application from source to work on your distribution of Linux (I know there are "unsupported" packages for a lot of distros out there and they are great, but they aren't "in your face available" and you have to search around for them!). Like I said, I'll try to discuss my thoughts on the software subject in this post, but my first priority, that which relates directly to the title of this post, is around hardware drivers and stability because of this.

"Hardware Choices" and why that sucks for non-technical people trying to use Linux:
Hopefully I don't piss any *NIX loyalists off here, but I am trying to approach this from as neutral a ground as possible, thinking about a non-technical user's experience with Linux... someone new to Linux or not very well-versed in operating systems in general, let alone ever going to a command line. Let's face it, the command line is for geeks only. While I myself am a geek, I understand the complexities and lack of help that a command line brings users... just having a cursor sitting there blinking at you waiting for input, without it saying "type this to do that" can be intimidating. That is why GUI is SO important for regular users. It gives them things to click on... choices that they may not have known about.

So, my beef is that, as far as PC hardware is concerned, there are SO many hardware choices and configurations that it is basically endless. It doesn't help that Windows is the mainstream OS and that hardware manufacturers normally don't do a good job (or anything at all) in the way of producing drivers for Linux.

********************* 6/6/09
The above was as far as I got into this post in past... I don't remember exactly where I was headed with this, so I don't think I will finish it. I have since moved back to Windows almost exclusively and have really not had ANY issues. I have even been running Vista 64 for quite a while now and gaming a lot... NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!!!! That's saying something!

I think where I was headed is the fact that Linux trying to remain ambiguous and neutral is hurting it. Apple has an autonomous environment, and I think that's why it does as well as it does trying to compete with Windows... but Apple is FAR from perfect, and they actually annoy me (even though I willing decided to buy an iPhone 3G know all the things I know about Apple... it's the apps people).

Anyway, I personally think MS is doing most things right these days and am happy with using Windows. Seriously, things just work for me. I NEVER have BSOD's or viruses and I don't even run Anti-Virus software (I just make sure to backup my system every night in case... it's faster). I will even go as far as to say that things work better on my Vista 64 then they do on my wife's iMac 20" G5. This may be because she is still on a G5 and not Leopard... but I was having the same problems with that model when it was mainstream! I'll expand that statement by saying, "If you are using Apple and stay 100% inside Apple's world as far as software and hardware, then you should be just fine."

garage: Welcome

garage: Welcome

I kept reading about the Garage for apps in development but didn't really understand. This is the main page where you can check out and download apps still in development. I'm sure this is somewhat dangerous to tamper with as there could be undesired outcomes from installing some of these apps.

Make sure to back up your device before messing with these.

mediautils: tablet-encode

mediautils: tablet-encode

Just found this site that has an (cross-platform) encoder specifically designed to encode videos that work well on the N800. If this DOES work as advertised (haven't tried it yet) then this will be a very good thing for people who do not want to spend time figuring out what works and what doesn't.

While it is not a solution to the tons of h.264 encoded content out there playing natively on the N800, if it can re-encode those videos without losing too much quality, then it may not be THAT bad of a deal. I hate extra steps, but it is what it is until someone figures out how to get solid, fluid h.264 video to play on the N800. I also want someone to make it all happen (and I'm talking about from a copy protected DVD to an encoded file that plays well on the N800) with one click of the mouse on Linux! I have a WONDEFUL app for Windows only called DVDFab Platinum that can do just about anything you would want with DVDs whether copy protected or not. It is only ever one step (not ripping the DVD, then switching programs to encode or copy or even shrink then copy). It is truly a great application that works as advertised, but I am trying to do everything from Linux, so this is a pain for me.

How To Enable EVDO DUN on any EVDO capable phone

HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource - How to enable EVDO DUN on ANY EVDO capable phone in 10 easy steps!:
"How to enable EVDO DUN on ANY EVDO capable phone in 10 easy steps!"

Didn't read this yet, but have to run and don't want to lose it.

****UPDATE****
Okay, I took a couple minutes to look through this and it looks like some great info... not just for the N800, but for any PC->Phone tethering (via USB or Bluetooth... doesn't matter). You have to modify your phone, which can be dangerous, but if there is a problem and you backup your phones qcn, you should be able to restore it to the way it was. Obviously, if you lose connectivity while writing data to the phone you could brick it, but there's always some element of risk. ;-)

Anyway, I haven't had a chance to try this yet, but I hope to over the next week before I go on my trip in case I don't have WiFi access and need something on my PC or N800.

Cheers!

Bluetooth to Verizon Phone for DUN Works - Internet Tablet Talk Forums

Bluetooth to Verizon Phone for DUN Works - Internet Tablet Talk Forums:
"There are posts scattered throughout the Internet with the necessary info, but it's confusing as to what is actually required. (e.g. I didn't have to hex edit firmware or anything like that.) This is a summary of the key points (only one in particular was tricky):

* Only works if phone is in 1X network only mode. If EVDO network mode (or hybrid mode) is enabled on phone, it doesn't work.
* I used the Nokia cell phone wizard to setup the main parameters, but I could just have easily used the 'connection details' screens. I don't think the wizard does anything special.
* Username: <10-digit-phone-num>@vzw3g.com (Using @... didn't work for me.)
* Password: vzw
* Phone Num: #777
* The tricky part: I also had to edit /etc/ppp/options and uncomment the '-chap' option. Until I did that, it would say 'authentication failed' and disconnect immediately.


With all that, I'm now able to connect via Bluetooth and get ~115k speeds. It doesn't stay connected for a long (<10 seconds) if I don't use it, but otherwise seems to work as expected."

Okay, I have a Verizon LG VX8550 with the premium calling plan that includes unlimited VCAST (EVDO) and a bunch of features such as VZ Navigator, SMS messaging. I would rather connect via EVDO, and I'm on the trail of figuring out how to do that, but I didn't want to lose this post since this is better than nothing. I will either create a separate post on getting EVDO working, or update this post. Either way I will update this with my findings of this specific fix.

VIDEOPODCASTS.TV | The Video Podcast Directory

VIDEOPODCASTS.TV | The Video Podcast Directory

In looking at the CBS feed that I entered into Video Center, I realized that it is just a simple Video Podcast feed. So, logic leads me to believe that any and all video podcast feeds should work. I'll test that theory and report back. The streaming video from CBS was decent quality with only slight hiccups.

*****ADDITION*****
In browsing through the various video podcasts, there is an adult section that is pr0n! That's too funny. Streaming pr0n... lol. Still haven't tried any of the feeds yet, but I had to post that. :-P

*****ADDITION*****
Okay, I chose a bunch of feeds and most of them worked. Some were apparently formatted to enter into iTunes, so they didn't work by copying them. I'm sure if I looked at them closer I could figure out how to get them, or perhaps they just have to be downloaded. Anyway, some of them view great on the N800 using the built-in Media Player which is what Video Center is coded to launch, but some of them are no good at all with only a frame change here and there. What I figured out is these seem to be m4v files designed for the iPod. In my previous video tests I found these to only display well using 'mplayer', and even then they weren't that great and tend to freeze up the unit. I may download one of these episodes to see if it plays better when not streaming.

I decided to start it from Video Center right after typing that. I'm pulling down a 37MB file and it is coming down quickly. It didn't ask me where to store it, but I think I remember Video Center creating its own folder on the 'Internal Memory Card', so I'm guessing it's there.

It finished downloading so I'm going to look for it... Yep, that's exactly where it put it. That's actually a really good place since it's where I would have told it to put it anyway. ;-) I have two 16GB SDHC cards in my N800, and while I have a lot of music and videos already, i still have about 4GB free on the card it put it on (I left room on that one for this very type of reason). Going to try playback using mplayer when it's on the card and not streaming.

Okay... that didn't go well at all. mplayer pretty much locked up, gave a squelchy sound and nothing. So, I'm not sure what that means entirely, but so far I haven't found a decent performing h.264 player for the N800. And that will be a pain considering how much h.264 content is already ripped and ready to view. I know you can re-encode it, but that kinda steals the thunder.

****ADDITION*****
The feed/shows for The Discovery Channel looks AWESOME, but... it seems all the files are m4v and REALLY don't play well on anything I've tried so far. If I can remember, I will look hard for a good m4v player for the N8*0 since there are so many m4v files out there. I even have a bunch since I also have an iPod and had encoded a bunch of movies in that format. If anyone knows of something that plays these well, please post what it is.

Videocenter - now with major channels - Internet Tablet Talk Forums

Videocenter - now with major channels - Internet Tablet Talk Forums:
"go http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in706903.shtml

click mp4 to watch program on your 770/N800. Click Pod, paste URL to Videocenter>Tools>Services>Internet video, close (it takes several minutes), now you have CBS News on VC! Thank god, now you can take your eyes of those TeXtra, GeekBrief. There are 5 programs from CBS. They all work.

BTW, they all streamed, so 1) you see it right away, no dl; 2) does not cluster your precious MMC space."

I want to find more of these types of feeds. When I find them I will post them.

********ADDITION************
On that page found the link to the feed for The Discovery Channel
Copy the link location from your N800 and paste it for the URL of the Internet Videos in Video Center.

Nautilus scripts (including 'Send To Gmail')

Nautilus scripts

Lot's of cool Nautilus scripts for adding right-click context menu goodness! ;-)

My personal favorites are the 'Gmail', 'mount-image' and 'rename-exif-date' for photos. The others are cool too, but I'm not sure I will use more than these two.

How To: Print to PDF in Ubuntu

How To: Print to PDF in Ubuntu

I'm using Ubuntu 7.10, so my setup was a tad different, and some of what I needed was already in place, but this was useful as a starter.

Bottom line, it was a piece of cake once I knew where to look and how to start. I probably could have stumbled onto it if I tried adding a PDF printer myself.

Set Gmail as Default Mail Client in Ubuntu :: the How-To Geek

Set Gmail as Default Mail Client in Ubuntu :: the How-To Geek: "Every Geek uses Gmail… it's pretty much required. And now you can set Gmail as the default client in Ubuntu without any extra software."

Sweet!

On my home PCs I don't feel the need to have an offline email app like Thunderbird or Evolution (maybe I will one day) since I'm always online... AND, using Gmail on all my PCs means they are all 'in sync' by default with no download times, etc. So this is cool (for me).

*****UPDATE******
I thought this could also work for 'Send To' from the file explorer, but it is not an option when you select 'Send To'. I will keep looking for that, as that is mainly what I'm trying to do here. This script seems to only be tailored to executing when 'mailto:' hyperlinks are selected. This is still nice, but I'm pretty sure I already had this setup for me in Firefox by the Google Toolbar.

Linux and Photography - Community Ubuntu Documentation

Linux and Photography - Community Ubuntu Documentation: "My sparkly new Linux computer now runs a semi-different lineup of software than it did with Windows, instead of Adobe Bridge for editing RAW files, I use Bibble Pro 4.9.5, instead of running Nero to burn CD's and DVD's, I use a program called K3b. There are a few Windows based programs I still need to run for lack of better Linux based alternatives. Some notable examples being Photoshop 7, MemoriesOnTV, and Star Wars Jedi Knight II*. All of which I am happy to report are working very well in a program called Wine. The makers of Wine describe the program as a Windows compatibility layer that makes the Windows based program you want to run think it is running in Windows. Wine still isn't at the 1.0 level of completeness, but it is close enough now that Photoshop 7 and many other Windows based programs run very well."

My friend sent me this link. It looks like a GREAT resource for anyone looking to make the switch from Windows (or Mac) or make it stick and does photo editing.

Being that I am still in the process of getting my feet wet with trying to run only Linux, I have yet to find replacements for all my Windows apps (or even figure out what all of them are). For those that I cannot find suitable replacements for, I will first try in WINE, then will possibly look to Codeweavers, maybe even Transgaming (for games) and finally will possibly run a VM of XP. I still have a dual-boot into XP, but that's a hassle... I just want to stay on one OS and not boot between them if I don't have to.

I will start to log the various apps I 'switch' to in Linux as I figure them out and remember to do it. ;-)