Windows 7/2008 R2 USB Installation Tool
Ok, so a while back (during the initial launch of Windows 7) there was a link that Microsoft was hosting for this tool. After shenanigans were called on the inclusion of open source code the link went away. Now the code is back on Codeplex for your downloading pleasure.
That is all for now, Cheers
Feeling the Synergy(+)
Ok, I will start with this, Synergy was (and is) one of my favourite pieces of software. Unfortunately the code has fallen by the wayside for whatever reason. To the developer I have to say Thanks for the increased productivity and the ability to unhook the occasional physical KVM.
Now onto the fork in the code? 
But seriously…
Synergy+ is a fork of the original open source code that stopped being maintained. The new version is being kept up with its new home on the Google Code (http://bit.ly/3R1ced).
For those of you that have never heard of Synergy or Synergy+ it is a piece of software that allows you to share your keyboard and mouse over an IP network. You can configure a machine (the server) to share it’s keyboard and mouse with any number of additional machines saving you from having to have them (or easy access) everywhere.
Around my office I run a Ubuntu server, a MacBook Pro, a Windows 7 laptop and a Windows 7 desktop system. All of these share a single keyboard and mouse and have their own displays.
If you are ever in need of a KVM and are either unable to get one, give this software a shot. In an upcoming blog I will detail how I have my systems configured complete with screenshots.
A special thanks goes out to Sorin and Nick, the new maintainers of the code.
Again, until next time…
Cheers
Accessing Ubuntu Live-CD session without configuring a password
While in the process of performing some data transfer/recovery using my Jaunty Live-CD I decided that I didn’t really want to sit right beside the server while doing this work to save my sanity and hearing.
My attempts to enable remote desktop (using the Preferences > Remote Desktop applet) using Vino were hit and miss as I could only connect to the server 1 out of every 20 attempts.
OpenSSH: Tunnels without Windows (A Linux and OSX perspective)
In this initial SSH tunneling tutorial you will learn how to create tunnels to allow access to systems that may not be directly accessible. This can be handy for remote administration and securing your traffic while going over the internet.
A Coders Font
Anonymous Pro Free Font from Mark Simonson Studio
While surfing around today checking out an ARS article on the demise of the Monaco font I discovered this very readable and clean OS X and Windows font. The font, Anonymous Pro is a free download and can be grabbed at here: Anonymous Pro.
The download contains 4 variations of the font. You will notice that it is very easy to work with courtesy of the differentiation of the O and 0, 1 and l so on. Check it out.
Mark Simonson Studio / Notebook: Anonymous Pro Now Available.
Doing more with… Easy screen capture for your iPhone/iPod Touch
A picture is worth a thousand words…
If you have ever felt like showing someone how cool that new app looks or needed to send your resident Mac Geek a picture of what’s “broken” Apple included the feature with your device.
The next time the need arises simply press the Home and Power buttons down together. Your screen will blink and voilà a shiny screencap in your Pictures.
From pictures you can email your photo or set as a wallpaper.
Until next time…
Cheers
Working with Pages '09 – iWork
My first requirement for iWork and come and gone. Over the weekend my Son was attending a birthday party and wanted to have something to give to his friend since his actual present won’t be released until March 21st.
I must admit that I was a little concerned as we had a whopping 15 minutes to come up with a design and phrase it to everyone’s satisfaction… Oh before I go on, this was the first time that I had started or used pages as well…
After sitting down in front of my Mac I decided that it could be spelled out best in a certificate. So off to start pages and create a landscape document.
Windows 7 Tips – The Bumper List from Tim Sneath
I came across this blog posting a couple of days ago and I have to say that it is one of the best write-ups on Windows 7 features. Tim’s post includes a number of hidden features and shows off some of the under the hood enhancements.
A few of the tips (and developments) that I really appreciate are the updates to the taskbar in side-mounted position, the ability to choose various presentation modes (via Win+P) and the ADD helper-like Win+Home combination that will minimize everything besides your active window.
Be sure to read through this one if you are currently running Windows 7.
Windows 7 Beta update available for MP3 bug
Hey all you Windows 7 Beta testers out there.
Microsoft has released an update for the Media Center bug in Beta 1 (Build 7000). The bug has a nasty tendency to eat the beginning of some mp3 files if they also contained meta-data.
If your Windows installation has already chewed up some of your files MS notes that you may be able to recover them with the “Previous Version” backup that may be automatically stored (a system restore point and drive protection will have to be on).
Here is the link to the MS download page
Mixing it up with Windows 7
Well here we are running the beta of Windows 7. This one has been anticipated here for sometime and so now comes the fun.
I have to agree with most of the reviews that I have seen on the internet… Overall so far 7 is running faster than Vista SP1 and we are still looking an code that has not been optimized.
For the seasoned XP aficionado, W7 can be a little strange. Even against Vista there are a number of changes that have been implemented “based on user input”. For instance they have debuted Libraries for media types. What it looks like is that Microsoft is really just grooming people for WinFS whenever it makes it to the public stage (WinFS for those who don’t know it is a file system that is maintained in a monolithic database, as in bye-bye drive letters)
I think my biggest issue is with the new format of the taskbar. While it is very esthetically pleasing the execution is lacking. The removal of the generations old task list layout could work well, however due to the confusion resulting in icons located between running tasks new users may have an interesting time (see screen cap)
One of my favourite innovations is the Aero Windows Peek feature which allows you to get a view of either your desktop (to check on gadgets) or applications that are running. Here are a couple of caps showing the feature in action.
Keep an eye out here as I will be documenting more of the features in the latest release of Windows 7.