Ubuntu Dapper Drake Switch

So I finally switched to Ubuntu Dapper Drake. I am currently dual booting just to keep my options open, but I am currently only booting Ubuntu and no Windows at all.

To do my work I remote terminal to my Windows Desktop to develop in my Microsoft IDE. Until I start working on the Java side of our product I will be developing on my Desktop machine via remote access.

Sounds complex but isn't really, now I am able to keep work baggage off my machine, no more compulsory anti software installed on my laptop because it is company policy.

I managed to get everything I used to using up and running, and so far I have no dependency on Windows anymore except for my .NET development. The Visual Studio 2005 IDE is still my favourite IDE to develop in, but that is where the remote desktop comes in. I may consider a VM to eliminate the whole desktop entirely for development but that I still need to think over.

Ubuntu Dapper Drake

Being South African I am very attracted to the name Ubuntu but liking a name does not make the OS good enough. I decided to give Ubuntu Dapper Drake a try in my everyday development shores.

I have a very complex setup going now. I am using Dapper Drake inside my VM. Having a dual monitor setup all my Windows apps are running in the secondary window and my Dapper Drake OS is running on my primary display.

This allows me to develop on Dapper Drake whilst still remaining compatible with all my colleagues. I am planning to do my Java development using Eclipse on Dapper Drake and my .NET development on standard Windows XP and Visual Studio 2005.

So far it has not been to eventful but the compile speed of my Eclipse environment inside a VM might give me a headache.

Google and Yahoo listing

At long last my site is listed on Google as well as Yahoo. I do not care to much about MSN for now, maybe next year will be a different story.

To make it all happen I had remove all my invisible text, in my case innocent keywords and description meta tags. Also I removed all meta tags my html editor added.

I registered with Google's sitemaps program and I submitted my site regularly on Yahoo and Google.

I must also comment on the Network Solutions experience. Though NS is more expensive than GoDaddy I find NS to be more compatible with me. The whole user experience is just different, but if you need lots of space for cheap then GoDaddy is the way to go.

Linux go where?

I periodically upgrade my virtual machines with the latest and greatest Linux distro I can find just to see the progress of the Linux "revolution". Every time I am excited by the new interface and new installation, my general first impression is usually good. I actually have some hope of switching my home machines to Linux at long last, but alas just 30 minutes into using the latest and greatest Linux I realize that this will not be the case.

I might have been content in the early days of Linux to do everything by hand in text mode but not anymore and my wife will definitely not do any text based tasks to do her work. She is not an I.T. professional, she is in the arts industry. She needs to create sound tracks, DVD movies etc. and expecting her to have in depth knowledge of the inner workings of a tool just to create a DVD is not realistic.

I really have some high hopes for OpenOffice but having just one tool that is acceptable is not good enough. There is no software available on the Linux platform that I know of that can touch Sound Forge for audio manipulation for the masses i.e. people not in I.T. and when it comes to DVD authoring the software available to Linux is just horrible, I will not even consider using it myself much less my wife.

So I guess I will wait another 6 to 12 months, load up the latest distro of any Linux and reevaluate the Linux packages and software, but for now I am sticking to Windows.

BPEL4WS

Something I need to research very soon is BPEL4WS. It all sounds very exciting and promising but I still need to do an in depth analysis of it.

Exceptions and Error Code

I was pointed to this article by a colleague. Brad Adams is one of the guys I really respect when it comes to .NET. I whole heartily agree with his statements. Exceptions just plain and simple RULE! I lack any other better word for them.

Opera 8.5 For Pocket PC

At long last Opera released its Opera browser for the Pocket PC. I own an HP hx4700 Pocket PC and Pocket Explorer is just plain horrible. No JavaScript support and the image quality is just unacceptable.

With Opera I have most of the benefits I would have using my PC and Firefox. It is even possible to do internet banking using JavaScript. Just beautiful. The download is available here.

Mount St. Helens Crater

Being a lover of everything science I really liked this pictured of Mount St. Helens Crater growing a rock. Very nice picture. The full article is available here.

Why I like Firefox

I could never really quantify why I preferred Firefox over Opera or Internet Explorer, maybe it was because Opera isn't free or maybe because I just got tired of Internet Explorer.

Opera is "free" if you are willing to live with the adware in the browser.

I recently discovered the plugin side of Firefox. Admittandly it has been there for quite sometime but I for some reason never looked at it. Now with the new plugins of Firefox I can really quantify why I use Firefox. I haven't even started really exploring the plugin pages but my Firefox is now customized to such an extend that I actually removed some applications because I do not need them anymore.

I am very impressed with Firefox.

Great AJAX Frameworks

I stumbled across this blog. It contains a list of a few AJAX frameworks the author has tried out or used before. Definitely worth a quick glance.

Network Solutions first impressions

Well I moved my site to Network Solutions and my first impressions are good. Much less in your face advertisements when accessing my account manager and the account manager interface is also less busy and easier to use.

The verdict is still out on my Google search engine problem. Hopefully I will have an answer soon.

Move from GoDaddy to Network Solutions

My website has been hosted by GoDaddy for the last 6 months. In that time I tried my utmost best to get my site listed on Google and even Yahoo for that matter. I started investigating and came across the following two articles

• GoDaddy says ...
  
• Search Engine Optimization ...

According to these two articles GoDaddy is to blame for this. I decided to open a new hosting account with Network Solutions to see if it is better. I will only know after the next few days.

I also changed my domain name from TheSystemArchitects to MarthinusSwart, after working on my site over the past 6 months I realized I will not be able to maintain the TheSystemArchitects website as I would have liked to.

Notebook Docking Station

Just received my notebook's docking station today. It is in simple words Amazing! I can't imagine anyone working on a notebook without a docking station. It really makes the whole experience of developing on a notebook so much more enjoyable.

My first configuration without the docking station worked OK as can been seen from this picture. I was able to work on my notebook monitor and keep all the other debug information etc. on the secondary monitor.

On the CRT / secondary monitor my latest desktop enhancement is visible ... Yahoo! Widgets, very nice and very useful.

After I received my docking station I had to change my configuration a bit. My CRT monitor was not high enough to have it above my LCD monitor so I had to move the CRT monitor to the left side of my notebook.

Still works good, the CRT just had to move back a bit so that I do not need to twist my neck too much to work on the CRT monitor.

Visible is my Yahoo! Widgets and my other desktop enhancement tool Meebo.

A view of my notebook with docking station from the side.

Notebook Update

It's been a week since I took delivery of my notebook and it works like a dream. Must be one of the best 'investments' of this year, that and my Seinfeld DVD collection. The notebook was a bit on the expensive side but I feel it was well worth it. I will post a small picture of my current work environment shortly.

I must admit the 7200 rpm hard disk makes a huge difference in my compile time, but it was expected. I am very impressed with my notebook. I am still waiting for the delivery of my docking station and my sports bag but until then my notebook rules!

Pending file operations irritation

I recently had the unpleasant pleasure of encountering a pending file operations irritation while trying to install SQL Server. Luckily there is a solution.

The short of it is as follows:

• Run the Windows Registry Editor
• Go to
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager
• Delete the pendingfilerenameoperations key

And that should get rid if the irritation.

C# Quick Equivalents

I discovered a nice website containing some common C++ functionality and the C# equivalents to those funtions. Really helpful when converted legacy C++ code to C# like I am doing now. The website is available here.

Another 48 hours

Jip sounds like the 48hours movie and its follow up. Everything was setup and ready for me to take delivery of my new HP notebook on Thursday, but alas they will only get new stock on Monday so my ETA shifted out to Tuesday, so in reality it will be another 96 hours before a take delivery of my new HP notebook.

At least next Monday might not be that blue then.

48 Hours to go

After a lengthy purchase exercise my new notebook will be delivered Thursday morning. I am buying my notebook through the company I work at so it wasn't as easy as just walking into a store and taking delivery of a notebook.

Two years ago I bought a top of the range HP notebook for the same price than my new top of the range HP notebook but the new HP has 1Gb more memory and it includes a docking station which my previous notebook did not have. Nice to see notebooks becoming cheaper, though slower than the desktop computers, but I assume the more people start buying notebooks the cheaper they will be become eventually.

Another friend of mine bought himself a notebook at a 1/4 of the price I paid for mine and it is actually a decent notebook.

Now I just have to wait 48 hours and maybe finish setting up my desktop computer at home.

Notebook, notebook, notebook ...

Well I knew that my notebook will only be delivered within 7 working days and today is only the 2nd working day, but after working on my friend's NW8240 over the weekend I can barely wait for my notebook anymore.

The 1920x1200 resolution is not a problem at all, I think it is one of the best things about this notebook. The screen real estate on the notebook is amazing!

Now it is just a matter of time ...

My New Laptop

After two years of using my trusty HP Nx7000 I decided to upgrade. My Nx7000 was not an average midrange laptop for its time but it was showing its age lately.

My Nx7000 was one of the few laptops with a 60Gb 5400 rpm hard disk coupled with 1Gb RAM and it sported a 15.4" WSXGA+ (1650x1050) LCD screen. This set me back a bit of money when I bought it but it was well worth it. Two years after I bought the laptop it was still good enough to do my everyday work on.


Naturally when it was time to upgrade I looked at HP again. Not having any problems with my Nx7000 I decided to buy HP again. My new laptop will be the NW8240. More details are available on the HP website but in essence my new laptop will have a 80Gb 7200 rpm hard disk, 2 Gb RAM and a 15.4" WUXGA+ (1920x1200) LCD screen.

I was a bit reluctant to buy the WUXGA+ LCD at first, I was concerned that the resolution will be too small for development but after a quick call to a friend already owning a NW8240 I decided to give the WUXGA+ LCD a chance. I will only know for sure when I get the laptop whether it is a good development screen on not.

My new laptop should be delivered within the next 7 working days.