CYGWIN

Cygnus makes "CYGWIN". Their product is much better than their incredibly ugly logo. Cygwin allows much of the same functionality as a true *nix system. It's a must have on all M$ boxes. It is FREE and has been getting better and better as the years go by. I've been using it since probably 1995 to 2000 when I did much of my C/C++ programming for AIX and HPUX from a M$ machine. The cygwin platform was wonderful. Despite Ubuntu and other great distros available there are still reasons to keep M$ about. (For example to run applications like Quicken, Photoshop, etc..) Cygwin flattens the learning curve between each M$ mickey mouse release allowing real users to continue being productive.

Setup

1. Download their package onto the hard disk. Cygwin allows you to do everything off the net but why bother taking the chance of downloading anything more than once?
2. Use cygwin's setup to install the things you need. Only use what you need, if you need more later you can always install that option. Installing the whole thing usually causes problems that most users don't seem to ever recover from. (For instance xampp, svn, junction link magic, and other tools built for M$ work better than what comes with cygwin and they are free too.)
3. That's it!

Examples

References

1. http://www.cygwin.com/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygwin

Topics to still cover...

1. Getting around on the hard disk...

RSYNC

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Synergy!

Synergy allows one ring to rule them all. Err, wrong story isn't it...? Oh yes, now I remember, Synergy allows one keyboard and mouse rule all the monitors and their associated boxes, whether linux, windows, mac, etc., for free. Similar to a KVM switch but that in that you don't have multiple keyboards and mice to deal with. Unlike a KVM switch you are not limited to seeing only one monitor. And it's free, free, freeeee. (KVM switches cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars.) It also handles the clipboard, screen savers, etc.. Put the monitors on a wall next to each other and specify their positions relative to each other.
Then update the hostnames file c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts to include their names and internal IP addresses. For example the /etc/hosts file may contain for your internal network:
192.168.1.100 OneXP
192.168.1.101 TwoXP
If it does not be sure to add it. Then make sure your "computer name" located in XP at "Start->Settings->Control Panel->System->Computer Name" matches OneXP or TwoXP.

References

1. Synergy's Website

Topics to still cover...

1. Updating this to 6 monitors including Linux, BSD, and Mac.

Firefox

Introduction

Firefox is a browser. Like Internet Explorer. Like Opera. Like you didn't know. Unlike Internet Explorer, IE for short, Firefox runs on most platforms with a graphical interface. On Ubuntu you can use Firefox and Opera. Despite IE being installed by default on every machine sold 36% of the world has seeked out, downloaded, and switched to Firefox. Each year Firefox grows 5 to 7% while M$ loses that percentage of the browser market. (See the browser stats.) However Opera may be faster and support standards better than Firefox. Opera does not have the add-on tools like Firefox does though.

This is a lame post meant to help me remember what my main add-ons are.

Add-ons

1. Foxmarks
   Synchronizes the bookmarks across all the PCs. Also allows access to your bookmarks from afar. Nothing is better than knowing all the bookmarks you've spent your precious time finding will always be available throughout the years. Automatically.
2. Personal Menu.
   Most monitors are landscape and don't have nearly as many vertical pixels as they do horizontal pixels. Despite this Firefox uses quite a few horizontal menus decreasing your vertical viewing even more. This is further exasperated by non-fluid websites that put all their information into a narrow column. To counter this you can use the add-on "Personal Menu" to consolidate all the various impotant icons on to just one visible menu. You paid for the pixels so get the most out of them!
3. StumbleUpon
   It's like a dating program, one that actually works not like the real ones, and it's fantastic. You put in what are looking for in a mate, err website, and hit the StumbleUpon button. Next thing you see is something that you never knew you were looking for but there it is... A great way to spend those moments at the end of the day where the clock just won't move to 5 quickly enough! On the other hand, if you have any employees with this installed fire them immediately! (Just kidding.)
4. Unhide Password
   Ok, how many times have you forgotten the password that automatically gets filled in by default? You can see the "****" but you now have no idea whatsoever what it is. "Unhide Password" will show you what's under it. And as a cautionary note perhaps you'll realize that if you can find it so easily others can do the same...

Topics to still cover...

1. Firefox settings
2. How to write your own add-ons.

SVN

Introduction:

Yesterday I wrote a bit on USB Memory Sticks and realized I needed to write up a bit on version control. I wanted to learn a little about how to get SVN to work on windows without having to have an apache server or any other processes running. It was remarkably simple and portable. Follow the link below. It's fantastic.

SVN Linux:

SVN Windows:

Use SVN Tortoise. See the tutorial below on how to set it up in M$. Now you can take your memory stick and store the results on M$ or Linux.

Alternatives:

Here are a list of version control software packages.

ClearCase.

I wish I owned it but I don't have the thousands of dollars or time to use it. They need to introduce a version for the rest of us, those of us who don't want to spend money, that works for up to three or perhaps 10 people. Without hooking future generations of people with a simple free version the product will become extinct. With new products coming out from Apple making backups easy and intuitive, and their clones on other platforms, ClearCase is already living on borrowed time.

CVS.

Don't know much about it. It was built to replace RCS. It in turn seems to have been replaced by SVN.

GIT.

Don't know anything about this.

RCS.

Does not do binaries unless you manually convert the hex to ASCII or something similar before converting. My favorite version control package because it is available on all systems.

VSS, Visual SourceSafe.

Something for M$ platform users only. The database always becomes corrupted given enough time causing M$ users to make horrible screaching noises!

References:

1. SVN with no server
2. SVN Tortoise
3. SVN Tortoise Manual
4. SVN Home Page

Topics to still cover...

1. Free online version control.
2. Put together a section on the Ubuntu equivalent to the Macintoshes "Time Machine".
3. Put together a section on SVN on Ubuntu.
4. Put together steps on how to do common tasks in SVN.
5. Put together SVN common commands section.
6. Add info on where to donate to the authors.

USB Memory Sticks

Introduction

Obviously USB Memory Sticks keep increasing in size. 16GB sticks are being replaced with 32GB sticks. Next year there will probably be 64 and 128GB sticks. At that point the emphasis will move from size to features:

• Built in security based on encryption and such.
• Physical robustness. Able to take physical abuse such as being run over by a car, thrown in a frozen lake, and shot by a cannon. At some point we'll probably see a USB stick dropped by an astronaut from the space station to be recovered later in frozen chunk of ice in the artic region...
• Special USB sticks allowing the user to take their desktop from machine to machine without leaving any foot prints. So it might be possible to run your linux applications on any machine, whether they be at a public library or at your kids PC, in the future.

How to use them currently

Separate the system and user data from each other. User data includes the scripts and modifications needed to change a base Ubuntu install into the final running box. That means all of the CLI apt installs, copies, seds, etc., needed to modify a particular Ubuntu release to the production Ubuntu box. Now store your user data on to a usb stick. Back up the USB stick on to another system and do a diff. If everything checks out put it into your favorite version control system.

References

• http://www.corsairmemory.com/products/voyager.aspx
• http://www.corsairmemory.com/products/survivor.aspx
• Pricing

Topics to still cover...

1. Put in base scripts showing how to separate data from system.
2. Include a section on version control.

Asterisk

Asterisk

Asterisk is a big and complicated topic. However the functionality and savings it offers to any sized company makes it a must know topic. For the novice start with the following:

1. VOIP Podcasts. Download all the episodes and listen to as time permits.
2. Download the book Asterisk: The Future of Telephony. This covers, as of January 2008, the latest stable version of Asterisk. Use the downloaded copy so you can quickly find what you need.

Topics to still cover...

1. Migrating over to Asterisk in stages including redudancy and fallback.
2. Recording all phone conversations.
3. Price points.

LCD Monitors

LCD Monitors

The current price point for value is at 1680x1050 resolution as of January 2008. However you can find two other higher resolutions if you have the money.

1. ~22", 1680x1050, $150 to $250 generally.
   Everybody sales these. Don't go for anything lower.
2. ~24", 1920x1200, $400 to $600 generally.
   
3. ~30", 2580x1600, ~$2000.
   You can find a review of DELLs here: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2244008,00.asp

Vertical	Horizontal	Total	Price	Pixels per dollar	Cost
1680	1050	1764000	200	8820	0% more per pixel
1920	1200	2304000	500	4608	90% more per pixel
2500	1600	4000000	2000	2000	340% more per pixel

There are also issues of being able to drive all the pixels. Those larger monitors are not suppported as well. It's probably better to have 2 or 4 monotors on your desk, with one keyboard and mouse, and use synergy than to use one big monitor and a KVM switch.

Topics I want to talk about in the future

1. Viewing angles are hype on 99.99% of the monitors.
2. Robustness.

Enigmail

Enigmail

1. Read the documentation on the enigmail link above. It points to the latest GnuPG installer for $MS among other things. There you will see a pointer to the M$ GnuPG Installer 1.4.8 that must be run.
2. Next install Enigmail by using a right mouse click and "Save Link as ..." to save the extension locally. Then navigate to the Thunderbird menu Tools > Addons and click on the Install ... button to install Enigmail. It will reboot itself.
3. Generate a key pair for the email addresses you want. So simple there's no explanation needed.
4. Publish the external key from thunderbird: OpenPGP->KeyManagement, select the key just created, then Keyserver->UploadPublicKey.

Actually the simple tutorial is here http://enigmail.mozdev.org/documentation/quickstart-ch3.php

Google Analytics

Today, being the first day of the year, I installed Google Analytics. I've been meaning to do that for some time now, well, since I put up this blog about a week ago. It's so easy that it does not require more than a minute of time for somebody who knows what they are doing. Basically type in analytics.google.com and fill out the panel consisting of three text boxes. Like what's the sites name, what's your name, what's your email. Then it gives you either legacy code or newer code with some additional unspecified cool features. I chose the cool features. You paste this code at the bottom of the template right before the closing body tag. Done, it's that easy!
<script type='text/javascript'>
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-3315021-1");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
</script>