VMware Player vs. Workstation

I am currently using VMware Workstation 5.5 to do my Windows development on my Ubuntu laptop, the problem is I need to buy VMware Workstation to keep on using it and I do not really have $189 to spent on it, especially since I am only using it run Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.

I considered using the VMware Player instead but could not find any meaningful benchmarks or comparisons so I decided to download SiSoft Sandra 2005 and do some tests myself and I am very impressed with the Player's speed.

I am not allowed to publish any benchmarks but suffice to say that I will be using the free VMware player to do my development on from now on and not the VMware workstation anymore.

JDiskReport and Unison

In my search to find utilities that can replace the Windows utilities I was used to I discovered these two applications.

jDiskReport is a utility that allows me to analyze my hard disk to find directories that are becoming a bit bloated. The added benefit is that it is a 100% Java application which allows for easy installation.

Unison is a utility that allows me to synchronize my files on my hard disk to my backup hard disk. I always used FileSync for this on my Windows machine and this utility has equivalent functionality.

CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office

I use Ubuntu exclusively now but my job requires me to still use Microsoft Office. Now I used MS Office inside my Windows 2000 VM but then I tried a product called CrossOver Office and it works great.

I am now using Microsoft Office XP on my Ubuntu machine without any problems, the little envelope from Outlook even appears in my Ubuntu notification area. I am definitely going to invest in this application very soon.

My Desktop even has the MS Office icons as any other Windows PC would have.

Just more reason not to ever go back to Windows again except maybe for gaming.

Ubuntu Printing

Again I am very impressed with Ubuntu, everything just works so far. I setup my machine to be able to print to PDF from any application and I setup my network printing to our company's network printer on the Windows server.

Both work perfectly and it took my only 30 minutes about to do it all. Still a bit longer than in Windows but I think I am able to setup a printer in Windows much quicker because I've done it so many times before.

VMWare on Ubuntu

Well I have been using my new Ubuntu laptop for almost 3 weeks now exclusively and it has been working great. I am still developing on my desktop machine remotely via VNC but I also installed VMWare for Linux to develop at home without having to resort to dual booting.

So far I am very impressed with VMWare on my Ubuntu Dapper Drake installation, the install went smoothly and the Windows 2000 virtual machine is fast and flawless, given I will not be able to play games using the virtual machine but for development it works just fine.

When I want to play games I would probably just dual boot or get hold of Cedega.

Mozilla Thunderbird

I really like Mozilla Firefox so I decided to use Mozilla Thunderbird as my email client. Unfortunately Mozilla Thunderbird seems unable to communicate with my companies Exchange Server, something Evolution has no problem doing.

This is really sad because Evolution's interface is not as catchy as Thunderbird's but until Thunderbird fixes the Exchange incompatiblity I will be forced to use Evolution.

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!