No, my brain hasn't been replaced by that of a chicken. Not today, anyway. However, as much as I've flogged Linux's virtues here, I've also admitted where Linux has issues, even though I think those issues are dwindling daily. In any event, Kim Brebach, an Australian tech consultant, authored a 7 part series on his adventures in Linux Land: 13 reasons why Linux won't make it to a desktop near you. Excerpt:

The Linux value proposition

In the last year or two, a few Linux makers have designed desktops expressly for PC users, not geeks. The main contenders are: LinuxMint, Linspire, Mandriva, Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED to its friends), PCLinuxOS, SimplyMepis, Ubuntu, Linspire and Xandros.

They all include the operating system, a host of utilities and a full suite of Office, Internet, Graphics and Multimedia applications. You can check the goods on offer with the Live CD, and installing a full system can take as little as half an hour.

Getting there is not beyond the scope of a competent Windows user. The install is mostly automatic and includes setting up the internet connection. Common printers, scanners and faxes take a few clicks and a few minutes to install. These desktops offer 3D graphics that rival Vista and OS X in terms of 'eye candy'. Software updates are semi-automatic, and that includes all applications on the system. And Linux never asks you to reboot.

You can make this cube spin and you can make the panels transparent, and you can do all this on an ordinary PC with a basic Intel graphics card.

The value proposition becomes irresistible when we consider that most of these Linux desktops cost nothing, including all the applications. They come from the Open Source community, a group of very smart people spread all over the world who contribute their skills, energy and time to the endeavor of creating software for people to share.

The catch

There's an old joke that begins like this: What if operating systems were airlines?

Windows Airlines -- The terminal is pretty and colorful, with friendly stewards, easy baggage check and boarding, and a smooth take-off. After about 10 minutes in the air, the plane explodes with no warning whatsoever.

Mac Airlines -- All the stewards, stewardesses, captains, baggage handlers and ticket agents look the same, act the same, and talk the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you are told you don't need to know, don't want to know, and would you please return to your seat and watch the movie.

Linux Airlines -- Disgruntled employees of all the other OS airlines decide to start their own airline. They build the planes, ticket counters, and pave the runways themselves. They charge a small fee to cover the cost of printing the ticket, but you can also download and print the ticket yourself. When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html. Once settled, the fully adjustable seat is very comfortable, the plane leaves and arrives on time without a single problem, the in-flight meal is wonderful. You try to tell customers of the other airlines about the great trip, but all they can say is, 'You had to do what with the seat?'
...

I've had plenty to say about the problems I had with Linux distros, so it's time to talk about some of the advantages I found after spending more time with them.

• Cost -- Down under, an upgrade from XP to Vista Home Premium would cost me US$ 250, and an upgrade to Ultimate over $400. Moving up to Office 2007 would cost the same again. For folks running a business with several servers and lots of desktops, a low cost alternative like Linux must be music to their ears.
  
• Security -- Citizens of the kingdom are fed up with all the crooks, spies and burglars who roam the highways. Most of them envy the folks in the mountain villages who leave their front doors unlocked, even at night.
  
• Performance -- Linux boot-up times seemed slow compared to my XP systems -- 1 to 2 minutes versus 45 seconds. Linux makes up for that be being ready to use moments after the desktop opens, while XP takes another minute or two for all the start-up programs to get out of bed and for the AV to load down the latest updates. In other words, XP gets to the starting blocks faster but takes time to put its running shoes on. Once they're up and away, there's isn't much distance between them, but XP tends to run a little faster.
  
• Optimization -- My XP systems are optimized for speed while the Linux distros I tested were not. I looked into this but soon retreated -- a look here will explain why. If I'd compared Linux with the Dell Inspiron Core Duo the way it worked out of the box, XP would've been a distant second at every stage of the race. The effort it took to get rid of Dell's bloatware and to free the laptop from McAfee's iron chains is another story. Linux doesn't come with bloatware, and that's a big bonus.
  
• Resources -- The distros I tested used between 200 and 250mb of RAM just ticking over, and double that with half a dozen apps running. A standard Linux install occupies around 3 to 4gb of hard disk space, including applications. It uses about the same resources as XP, leaving Vista unchallenged as the heavyweight champ (2mb of RAM, 15gb of disk space).
  
• Dual booting -- Setting this up had me on the edge of my seat the first time but I needn't have fretted. Some time later I read that you must defrag your drive before you repartition it, so I'm even more surprised that My XP partition is still intact after dozens of installs.
  
• Configuring hardware -- Many distros set up internet connections automatically (on Ethernet at least) and install printers in a heartbeat. To install the Laserjet on XP was a 20 minute job using an HP CD; to get hooked up to broadband was a similar routine. I moved house recently, and had to change my phone number. After ADSL was enabled by my ISP, XP wouldn't cooperate, saying there was a problem with the address of my laptop. I rebooted in Mepis, which had no issues with the connection, then rebooted in Windows and the problem had gone away.
  
• Keeping track of software -- Like most Windows users, I have a shelf full of software CDs and keep a little book with serial numbers under my bed in case I have to reinstall the lot. With Linux, there's no need to worry about serial numbers or even losing your install CD -- all you need is a fast internet connection. That's a lot of freedom.
  
• Losing track of software -- A workshop I took my PC to a while back managed to lose my XP install disk. When I called Microsoft, they wanted to charge me money for a replacement and insisted on proof of ownership. I asked them where the Advantage in the WGA was if I had to dig out the original invoice or photograph the sticker on the box. I never got an answer to that question.
  
• Updating software -- Linux updates all the software on your system in one session, not just the OS. Microsoft updates are automatic but you have to update each program you've added from other sources (about 60 on each of my PCs), and that's a real pain. My son wasn't impressed with this feature, saying Macs did this too. Of course they do -- OS X is based on a version of Linux.
  
• No need to reboot -- That's the icing on the Linux cake. With XP, you're nagged every ten minutes until you curse and reboot your machine. And if you choose custom install to select only the updates you want, XP hounds you like a mangy neighborhood dog until you give in. The penguin is much easier to get along with.
  
• Nothing's lost when you do -- You can shut down Linux with a bunch of programs open and they'll all come up ready to go next time you start up your PC, without a single complaint about abnormal termination.
  
• Re-installing the OS -- You can't just download an updated version of Windows. With Linux, you can download the latest version of your distro at any time and, if you created a separate partition for your home folder, your data will remain intact. You can arrange to install Windows like that, if you're smarter than the average user, but it'd still takes hours to download all the patches issued by MS since your install CD was burnt.
  
• Applications -- There are 15,000 apps that run on Linux. That they're free doesn't mean they're not up to scratch. Open Office is a viable alternative to Microsoft Office and has some neat features, like a PDF creator in the Writer toolbar. Scribus will do most of the things Publisher does, Evolution is more than a match for Outlook, and Firefox makes IE7 look stale. ShowFoto is as slick any photo editor I've used on XP. The Gimp has a reputation for being hard to use but who'd argue that Adobe Photoshop is easy?
  
• Windows apps on Linux -- There's a utility called Wine that lets you run Windows apps on Linux, which I believe has its limitations, so does the commercial equivalent, Codeweavers' Crossover. I didn't try either but that's what the guides say.
  
• Migration -- Ubuntu's Feisty Fawn includes a Windows migration wizard that recognizes Internet Explorer bookmarks, Firefox favorites, desktop wallpapers, AOL IM contacts and Yahoo IM contacts, and gives you the option of importing them during installation.
  
• Windows files on Linux -- I was surprised that I could not only access Windows docs with Open Office (on several distros), but even edit them and save them back into the NTFS partition in MS format.
  
• Freedom from bloatware -- All you get with Linux is the software you need or want. There's no crap to get rid of.
  

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols replies:

If you expect me to argue with the 13 reasons Kim Brebach gives for why the Linux desktop is unlikely to make it to a desktop near you any time soon, prepare to be disappointed. He's right.

No, you didn't mis-read that. Brebach may be a Linux newbie -- well a newbie who's getting up to speed at a remarkable rate -- but he hit the nail right on the head with his 13 reasons for why the Linux desktop isn't likely to make it. There's only one reason I disagree with him on. But, what he doesn't do is look at some of the reasons why Linux may yet become a popular desktop despite itself.
...
It's the OEMs, not the Linux distributors that are going to get Linux 'boxes' onto the store shelves and into people hands. And, as they do so, they're also going to be providing, along with the Linux distributors, the kind of tech support that normal users expect from a company.

At the same time, Linux is getting easier to use. As Brebach noted in the seventh part of his series on his adventures with Linux, there are many Linuxes -- like SimplyMEPIS, PCLinuxOS, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, Mandriva, and Xandros -- that already are good, usable choices even for a still wet-behind-the-ears Windows user.

Now, so long as the hardware vendors keep moving forward with bringing Linux to the masses with better marketing, good systems, and state-of-the-art support, I feel pretty darn certain that Linux is going to grow into becoming a serious desktop contender for everyone.

I'm currently giving Antix, MEPIS' smaller, slimmer, younger brother a whirl. My plan is to install it on an older PC for my children. It's a 400 MHz machine with 256 or 512 Mb RAM (I don't remember how much memory is installed). Such a machine would choke on XP, and Vista wouldn't deign to piss on it. However, Antix should run pretty well, as it doesn't have the bloat of KDE or Gnome. Rather, it uses Fluxbox as its windowing manager, although you have other options, such as Icewm, to choose from, all of which are very low overhead. Right now I'm working through resolving some wireless issues. Once that's fixed, the PC should be good to go. It will run smoothly and quickly and it won't cost me anything except a little bit of my time. Oh, and the spouse will be glad to see the extraordinarily large paperweight in the corner being put to good use again. I'll report back once the system is up and running. It might prove useful to others trying to get some mileage out of older machines.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 09:43 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 2168 words, total size 13 kb.

And I don't mean your laptop, either. While I've long extolled the virtues of Portable Apps (I'm currently running portable Firefox), most of the programs contained therein are not 100% compatible with what I forced to use on a daily basis. However, now you can take any and all of your applications wherever you go, simply by taking your portable USB device with you (external HD, large thumb drive) by installing MojoPac. Excerpt:

MojoPac is a technology that transforms your iPod or USB Hard Drive or Flash drive into a portable and private PC. Just install MojoPac on any USB 2.0 compliant storage device, upload your applications and files, modify your user settings and environment preferences, and take it with you everywhere.

Every time you plug your MojoPac-enabled device into any Windows XP PC , MojoPac automatically launches your environment on the host PC. Your communications, music, games, applications, and files are all local and accessible. And when you unplug the MojoPac device, no trace is left behind – your information is not cached on the host PC.
==================================
Your experience using Mojopac is exactly as if you are using an ultra portable PC (your MojoPac device) and docking it to a computer (the Host PC you are plugged into).

Your MojoPac PC is running from your portable device, but it is borrowing the resources (screen, processor, CD/DVD drives, internet connection, printers, etc.) of the Host PC. In other words, MojoPac is your real PC (your applications, settings, data), and any computer it is connected to is being used as a utility to run MojoPac.

Creating a MojoPac PC: Creating a brand new MojoPac PC takes less than 3 minutes.

• Plug your portable storage device (such as an iPod or a USB Flash or Hard Drive) into any Windows XP PC. Download MojoPac from our website and install it onto the device.
  
• Once you have installed MojoPac, you can log into this MojoPac PC you created (which is running from your portable device), and bring up your newly created MojoPac desktop (MojoView). What you see is similar to a brand new Windows XP PC, and behaves exactly the same.
  
• You can now install your applications from MojoView. The applications installed in the MojoView will be available for you on any PC you would connect and run MojoPac.
  

Using a MojoPac PC: You can plug your MojoPac enabled device to any Windows XP computer (Host PC), and you will immediately be presented with your personal applications, files and environment - and it looks exactly like a standard PC experience. In your MojoPac PC view (MojoView), installing applications is similar to installing applications on any PC - simply load the application installer CD/DVD, or download the application installer from the web and proceed as you would on any normal PC. In fact, in your MojoView, your "C" drive represents your MojoPac device, NOT the Host PC. So applications install in the right place automatically, no extra steps required.

MojoPac lives side-by-side with the Host PC: When you bring up your MojoPac PC after plugging your device into a Host PC, the Host PC will keep running as it was before the connection. You don't need to change the Host PC's settings, install anything on it, or close any of the applications that were running on it. Even more importantly, you can go back and forth between your MojoPac PC view and your Host PC view - you can work on both PCs at the same time, and operate both environments simultaneously. Using your MojoPac toolbar (MojoBar) you can easily toggle back and forth between the host PC view and your MojoPac view. Each presents you with whatever personal preferences and environments you have chosen for that system and MojoPac will never alter the settings or status of the host PC.

No, it's not free. It costs $49.99. However, that's a pretty small price to pay for something that will allow you to carry your entire suite of desired applications with you.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 679 words, total size 4 kb.

So I stumbled onto another Linux distro, NimbleX, which is a Slackware based distribution. It looks pretty cool, is fairly compact and uses the KDE interface. What really piqued my interest though was this: the Custom Nimblex Live CD generator. It allows you to select what applications and default settings you want on your Live CD and then massages all of your choices into an ISO which you can download and burn. Voila! Your very own personalized Linux Live CD. Pretty cool stuff.

Note: You should probably hit the site via Firefox instead of IE. I tried it using both browsers and IE kind of failed at the last step; I'm not sure why. Probably something to do with the differences between the Python and Gecko engines. In any event, consider yourself forewarned.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 11:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 141 words, total size 1 kb.

Worried about migrating to Linux because you don't think that there's enough Linux software to replace your current Windows versions? Think again. Excerot:

For each Linux application, we have compiled a portal page providing an overview of the software, a screenshot of the application in action, a comprehensive list of its features, and links to sites offering information and support on the software such as forums, tutorials, and reviews.

Unlike their Window counterparts, the vast majority of the listed Linux applications are available to download without cost. Popular Linux distributions conveniently come supplied with much of the software listed below (see our Linux Distribution Guide if you are unsure what is meant by the term distribution, or if you would like more information on what they offer).

The list below is far from exhaustive.

Actually, the list is freakishly long, so I won't bother to post any of the links. Have at it.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 08:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 161 words, total size 1 kb.

Harvey, some time ago, introduced me to Yahoo!POPs, a piece of software that allows you to circumvent the problem created when Yahoo! decided to remove POP3 access to their email. Pretty cool stuff. However, there are a lot of other email systems out there - Hotmail, Netzero- that also preclude their use, although in Netzero's case, they simply want you to pay a yearly fee to allow you to use a 3rd party email client to access your FREE email account. Well, I figured that someone smart would create a tool that would give you POP3 access to your webmail accounts. I give you FreePOPs. In the extended entries I've included all of the different email system plugins which FreePOPs uses.
more...

Posted by: Physics Geek at 09:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 793 words, total size 10 kb.

PDFs are quite helpful for distributing information and it's a fairly easy task to convert most documents/spreadsheets/presentations/images into the portable document format; you can find that software yourself. However, being able to extract individual pages, or combine multiple PDFs into a single document can be tricky. Adobe, I'm certain, would love for you to pay $500 for Acrobat Writer. However, if, like me, you're a little short on funds, I've got a somewhat cheaper solution in mind. Okay, much cheaper. Alright, it's free. I give you the PDF Toolkit. Excerot:

If PDF is electronic paper, then pdftk is an electronic staple-remover, hole-punch, binder, secret-decoder-ring, and X-Ray-glasses. Pdftk is a simple tool for doing everyday things with PDF documents. Keep one in the top drawer of your desktop and use it to:

• Merge PDF Documents
  
• Split PDF Pages into a New Document
  
• Rotate PDF Pages or Documents
  
• Decrypt Input as Necessary (Password Required)
  
• Encrypt Output as Desired
  
• Fill PDF Forms with FDF Data or XFDF Data and/or Flatten Forms
  
• Apply a Background Watermark or a Foreground Stamp
  
• Report on PDF Metrics such as Metadata, Bookmarks, and Page Labels
  
• Update PDF Metadata
  
• Attach Files to PDF Pages or the PDF Document
  
• Unpack PDF Attachments
  
• Burst a PDF Document into Single Pages
  
• Uncompress and Re-Compress Page Streams
  
• Repair Corrupted PDF (Where Possible)
  

Pdftk allows you to manipulate PDF easily and freely. It does not require Acrobat, and it runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD and Solaris.

Pretty cool, huh?

What's that? You don't like working with the sometimes cryptic, albeit well documented, command line instructions to perform the above tasks? Turns out that you're not alone. Someone built a GUI for the PDFTK; it's called the PDFTK Builder.

PDFTK Builder is a free graphical interface to the Windows version of PDFTK making it much easier to use.

Collate - allows you to rearrange (reorder, delete, & duplicate) pages in a single document and/or merge pages from multiple PDF documents. Multiple documents will be merged in the order they are listed in the 'Source Documents' window. If page ranges are not specified, PDFTK Builder will assume all pages for that document are to be included. Page ranges can be indicated by using a single page number, or a hyphen between start and end pages (reversed page orders are allowed). Multiple ranges are indicated by using commas or semi-colons between ranges.

For example: if you wished to insert pages from one document into the middle of another, then the primary document would need to be listed twice, once before (listing pages to appear before) and once after (listing pages to appear after) the document containing the pages to be inserted.

Split - allows you to separate each page of a PDF document into its own file.

Background or Stamp - 'Background' enables you to add a background to each page in a document or just the first page. The 'background' (eg a company logo, or a 'draft' watermark) must be another PDF document (the first page of that document if it has more than one page). 'Stamp' is very similar to 'background' except that the 'stamp' is placed on top of the source document.

Rotate - 'Rotate' enables you to rotate a range of pages in a document.

There's more, of course, but that should be enough to whet your appetite. Now go forth and compute.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:18 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 569 words, total size 4 kb.

I know that tons of people use Microsoft Project. I, too, have been forced to use that piece of crap scheduling software in the past. Since I'd rather gouge out my eyes than be forced to do it again, I've left others manage project deadlines for me.

Anyway. If you want to manage your projects via some ::gag:: nifty Gannt charts and PERT charts, but you don't want to fork over the money for Microsoft's version, let me point you in the direction of OpenProj, a robust open source version.

You might ask, if you hate Project so much, why did you bother to tell me about OpenProj? Well, I just wanted to share my pain with you. No need to thank me; that's what I'm here for.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 09:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 134 words, total size 1 kb.

Here's a pretty good website that extols the virtues of Linux. The author does a pretty thorough analysis of Why Linux Is Better. Excerpt:

Does your digital life seem fragmented ?

If you already know what fragmentation is, and are already used to defragmenting your disk every month or so, here is the short version : Linux doesn't need defragmenting.

Now imagine your hard disk is a huge file cabinet, with millions of drawers (thanks to Roberto Di Cosmo for this comparison). Each drawer can only contain a fixed amount of data. Therefore, files that are larger than what such a drawer can contain need to be split up. Some files are so large that they need thousands of drawers. And of course, accessing these files is much easier when the drawers they occupy are close to one another in the file cabinet.

Now imagine you're the owner of this file cabinet, but you don't have time to take care of it, and you want to hire someone to take care of it for you. Two people come for the job, a woman and a man.

• The man has the following strategy : he just empties the drawers when a file is removed, splits up any new file into smaller pieces the size of a drawer, and randomly stuffs each piece into the first available empty drawer. When you mention that this makes it rather difficult to find all the pieces of a particular file, the response is that a dozen boys must be hired every weekend to put the chest back in order.
  
• The woman has a different technique : she keeps track, on a piece of paper, of contiguous empty drawers. When a new file arrives, she searches this list for a sufficiently long row of empty drawers, and this is where the file is placed. In this way, provided there is enough activity, the file cabinet is always tidy.

Without a doubt, you should hire the woman (you should have known it, women are much better organized ). Well, Windows uses the first method ; Linux uses the second one. The more you use Windows, the slower it is to access files ; the more you use Linux, the faster it is. The choice is up to you!
...
Are your tired of restarting your computer all the time?

Have you just upgraded one or two little things on your Windows system with "Windows update"? Please reboot. Have you just installed some new software? Please reboot. Does your system seem unstable? Try to reboot, everything will probably work better after that.

Windows always asks you to restart your computer, and that can be annoying (maybe you happen to have a long download going on, and you don't want to interrupt it just because you updated a few pieces of your system). But even if you click "Restart later", Windows still keeps bothering you every ten minutes to let you know that you really should restart the computer. And if you happen to be away from your computer and you didn't see the question, it will happily reboot automatically. Bye bye long download.

Linux basically doesn't need to restart. Whether you install new software (even very big programs) or perform routine upgrades for your system, you will not be asked to restart the computer. It is only necessary when a part from the heart of the system has been updated, and that only happens once every several weeks.
...
Jump into the next generation of desktops.

You have been impressed by the 3D and transparency possibilities first introduced in Windows Vista, and decided that these unique capabilities were worth a few hundred dollars? You even bought a new computer so that you could meet Vista's (very high) requirements? Fooled you: Linux can do better, for free, and with much less demanding hardware requirements.

He's pretty fair about the whole thing, going so far as to explain the reasons why you probably should stick with Windows. Check it out.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 08:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 683 words, total size 4 kb.

snap2objects has compiled a list of the 45 best freeware design programs. Included are such stalwarts as GIMP, GIMPshop (for all your Photoshop enthusiasts) and Picasa, as well as a bunch that I've never heard of. Well worth checking out.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

But still a goody. I give you Icon Wars!

Posted by: Physics Geek at 11:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 13 words, total size 1 kb.

I've viewed with some interest the release of Google's Google Pack, still technically in Beta release. Some pretty good choices of ostensibly free software, albeit with some odd exceptions. Excerpt(s):

My only problem with Google's choices is Norton. While the download includes a 6 month subscription to updates, what happens after that? Seemed like a strange choice as Norton isn't free if updates cost after a point. Plus new Dell machines come with McAfee which also nags you to pay for updates, which makes me nutso. ClamWin, in my opinion, would've been a better choice (not as pretty, but truly free and open source.)
...
In what looks like a direct jab at Microsoft, Google includes Sun Microsystems' office productivity suite Star Office to their free bundle of PC software called Google Pack.

StarOffice includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics, and database applications, along with a library of images and 3D effects. Normally available for $70, StarOffice is free with Google Pack.

Star Office is the basis for the free and open source OpenOffice.org application suite. Unlike OpenOffice.org, Star Office requires the Java runtime to use. So why would GOOG choose Star Office over Open Office for the Pack?

Beats us, but since launch (and even through an iteration ) a couple of their app choices left us shaking our heads, like Adobe Reader and RealPlayer. (With the exception of Firefox, they seem to be open source-o-phobic.)

Obviously Google is trying to grab some of the desktop market from Microsoft which, I think, is a good thing. Competition is likely to make all vendors more responsive to the needs of its customers. However, I'm a bit puzzled as to some of the applications that Google chose. I'd have added Ad-Ware and Clamwin (or maybe AVG Free edition), as well as Open Office. And Real Player? Really? I think that VLC is the superior choice here. Regardless, it's a pretty decent software bundle, so check it out if you're so inclined.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 06:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 334 words, total size 2 kb.

If you've got a dual boot Windows/Linux system, there have probably been times when you wished that you could retrieve/copy/open your Linux created files while working in Windows. Instead, you had to shut down and reboot into Linux, save the data to a FAT32 device and then reboot back into Windows. Well, you no longer have to do the OS hokey pokey, at least in this instance. I give you Ext2 Installable File System for Windows. Excerpt:

It installs a pure kernel mode file system driver Ext2fs.sys, which actually extends the Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 operating system to include the Ext2 file system. Since it is executed on the same software layer at the Windows NT operating system core like all of the native file system drivers of Windows (for instance NTFS, FASTFAT, or CDFS for Joliet/ISO CD-ROMs), all applications can access directly to Ext2 volumes. Ext2 volumes get drive letters (for instance G . Files, and directories of an Ext2 volume appear in file dialogs of all applications. There is no need to copy files from or to Ext2 volumes in order to work with them.
...
Detailed list of features of the file system driver Extfs.sys:

• Supports Windows NT4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003 (x86 processors only).
  
• All operations you would expect: Reading and writing files, listing directories, creating, renaming, moving and deleting files or directories, querying and modifying the volume's label.
  
• Files larger than 4 GBytes. (Please read the FAQ section, too.)
  
• Paging files are supported. (A paging file is a file "pagefile.sys", which Windows swaps virtual memory to.) Users may create paging files at NT's control panel at Ext2 volumes.
  
• Specific functions of the I/O subsystem of NT: Byte range locks, notification of changes of directories, oplocks (which are required by the NT LAN manager for sharing files via SMB).
  

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 313 words, total size 2 kb.

To Windows, that is. InformationWeek has an interesting point-counterpoint, in which two writers separately extol the virtues of Linux and and Mac versus Microsoft. Pretty good level of detail from both authors.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 11:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

In my previous incarnation as a programmer, I used pivot tables in Excel quite extensively. They're quite useful in my current career as an engineer. In fact, there were times when summarizing data tables in any other way would have proved exceptionally difficult, if not downright impossible, which is why I've been loathe to give up using Excel. And now I can do the same things using Open Office's Calc. Excerpt:

Creating a DataPilot

To begin creating an datapilot, highlight the range of cells you want to base it upon, then select Data -> DataPilot -> Start to open the DataPilot dialog window. Alternatively, choose the same menu item, then select a data source that you have already registered with OpenOffice.org using File -> New -> Database and a range of cells from it.

The DataPilot window gives you a diagram of the DataPilot that you are creating, and a list of columns from the data source. To create the general layout for the DataPilot, all you have to do is drag the columns to one of the blank spaces on the diagram. If you drag a column name to the Column fields or Row fields space, then it becomes the first cell in a row or column, just as you might expect from the name (in the first DataPilot above, Quantity was selected as the column, and no row was chosen). Similarly, if you drag a column name to the Data fields, it becomes the data in the DataPilot (in the first example above, the Price). The only potentially puzzling choice is the Page Fields, which is actually just the custom filter for changing the contents of the DataPilot on the fly (in the first example, the Country). If you make a mistake, you can drag the column back to the list of column building blocks on the right.

Once you have done the basic setup, you can also choose what function to use in the DataPilot. In the examples above, I simply used the default Sum function, which for many purposes is all that you need. However, you can also use another ten basic functions: Count, Average, Max, Min, Product, Count (Numbers Only), StDev (Sample), StDevP (Population), Var (Sample) and Var (Population). If necessary, you can find details about what these functions do in OpenOffice.org's online help.

Again, I can't stress enough how useful this tool can be to anyone who wades through piles of data. I plan on asking management if I can teach a short class on pivot tables here at work, as people simply blink and stare at me when I mention them. Okay, more than they usually blink and stare at me.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 11:15 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 464 words, total size 3 kb.

The guys at Samizdata mention a security fix for the Firefox browser, which you should definitely do if you're using Firefox in Windows.

To do this, start FireFox, enter the URL “about:config”, scroll down, and for each of the following entries make sure it is set to “true”.

If it isn’t, right-click the line and choose “Toggle”, which will set the value to “true”

network.protocol-handler.warn-external-default
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.mailto
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.news
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.nntp
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.snews

This will at least give you a warning that Firefox is being asked to do something suspicious; you will have to judge for yourself whether it is nasty.

Thanks to Lastango for the tip.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 107 words, total size 1 kb.

Ever go through the hassle of capturing your PC's screen, pasting it into paint and then saving the image? Well, things got a bit easier with Page Saver, a screen capture tool that works in Firefox; IE users need not apply. Excerpt:

Pearl Crescent Page Saver is an extension for Mozilla Firefox that lets you capture images of web pages. These images can be saved in PNG format or (with Firefox 2) in JPEG format. The entire page or just the visible portion may be captured. Options let you control whether images are captured at full size (which is the default) or scaled down to a smaller size. Page Saver uses the canvas feature that was introduced in Firefox 1.5.

Theres a Pro version for $15, but the Basic version is free and contains all of the things you're likely to need. Check it out.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 01:27 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 151 words, total size 1 kb.

As a programmer from the almost dark ages (my first PC work was on a TRS-80 and my first college class used punch cards), I've long considered the goto statement an abomination, one which too easily leads to ugly, unreadable code. It also allows the programmer to avoid thinking through a problem's resolution, since he always has the crutch to fall back on. I've even stated to my students that I would fail anyone who used one in a program. However, I will reluctantly admit that there are times when a considered goto statement can be useful. For example, you're been told to update some large production code to fix a a recurring bug. You wade through the program for days and finally find the error, deep inside multiple layers of nested conditions and loops. Do you (a), rewrite thousands of lines of production code so that you can gracefully back out of every level of recursion and iteration, or do you (b), add in an error label and insert a "goto error label" statement? Personally, I'd opt for (b). However, if I were writing the code from scratch, my answer would probably be different, as I'd have taken great pains to design my error handling routines properly. Not that you can make any program truly idiot proof; nature seems intent on upgrading idiots faster than I can upgrade my code.

Why do I mention this at length? There's a pretty interesting discussion over here at Kernel Trap. One of the participants in the discussion is Linus Torvalds, the father of all things Linux. He thinks that gotos are fine and dandy. I respectfully disagree. While they can, as I've mentioned, prove useful in a pinch, I think that they can prove a crutch which prevents programmers from properly considering a problem before moving directly onto the coding. And I disagree about his "they are often more readable than large amounts of indentation" comment. Then again, what they heck do I know?

Update: Speaking of programming, here's a nifty chart that diagrams the evolution of programming languages.

Update: I'm one of those morons of whom Ace speak regularly. I typed Linux Torvalds instead of Linus. Fixed now.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 12:44 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 377 words, total size 2 kb.

Interesting article over at Datamation called 100 Open Source Downloads. Excerpt:

o, it’s not the “Top 100,” nor does this list contain the “only” 100 open source downloads you should consider – there’s a big ocean out there, so please keep swimming.

But this list does reflect the growing vitality of the open source ecosystem. It just keeps growingÂ…and growingÂ…

Feel free to browse the list – heck, the whole darn thing spans just a handful of pages, so take a moment, would you? I mean, what are you, busy?
...
Audio Tools

3. Audacity

Audacity allows users to record live audio, convert tapes and records to digital formats, or mix pre-existing digital audio tracks. Supported formats include Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files. Operating system: Windows, Linux/Unix, OS X, Classic Mac.

4. AC3Filter

This audio decoder and processor filter allows media players to play AC3 and DTS audio tracks from movies. It also allows you to mix audio tracks and adjust sound quality. Operating system: Windows.

5. MP3Gain

Tired of constantly adjusting the volume on your MP3 player? MP3Gain uses statistical analysis to gauge how loud songs sound in the human ear, and then modifies the volume appropriately without degrading the quality of playback. Operating system: OS Independent.
...
Education

45. NASA World Wind

World Wind allows users to access satellite imagery to view the entire globe or zoom in on a particular area. It offers a number of different views and gives users the options of superimposing latitude and longitude lines, borders, and place name labels. Operating system: Windows.

There are a lot more. One hundred, remember? And while lots of them are Linux only, there are a large number that can be used on Windows and Mac OS. I use some of the tools at work. YMMV. Now go and look.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 315 words, total size 2 kb.

Let's suppose that you have a wireless enabled laptop. Let's also stipulate that you don't have an EVDO card and that there isn't a wifi hot spot in sight. Is it possible to get your computer online? It is: use your cell phone as a modem. Excerpt:

While specific setups will vary depending on your phone, plan and carrier's software, turning my Sprint PCS phone into a wireless modem for surfing on the go was just about as easy as pie.

What you'll need

A PC or Mac
A CDMA phone
A phone to computer data cable

First, plug the phone into your computer using an USB data cable. My Samsung came with the cable in the box. If yours didn't, do a quick search for the cable that fits your phone model on Froogle or Cellular Factory.

Windows knows you just plugged in something new and wants to know what it is, so the Add New Hardware wizard appears, eager to get the question settled. If you're lucky, your phone came with a handy CD that contains your drivers. I wasn't so lucky, so I had to Google up the drivers for my particular phone model, install them, and then point the Wizard in the driver's direction on my hard drive. Once Windows says, "Oh hey Samsung [or insert your model here] CDMA modem," you're practically there. My Mac (running Tiger) recognized the phone as a modem right away.

Next you'll need connection software provided by your carrier. Again this might be on that CD that came with your phone, or you can download it from your plan's web site. Me, I grabbed the Sprint PCS Connection Manager for phone as Modem software from the Sprint site. Once that baby was installed, it was a matter of hitting the "Go" button and I was online using Sprint's data network at 230k (translation: slower than broadband but way faster than dial up.) Of course, depending on your location, plan and service, your mileage may vary.

No more driving around searching for dumbass open network broadcasters.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 10:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 356 words, total size 2 kb.

No real functionality added, but if you have a dual boot system, the cosmetic changes added to your Windows system will make switching between Ubuntu and Windows more painless.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 07:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.