Alcides Fonseca

I feel pity for this desktop of mine. It has suffered a lot when it comes to OSes. So I had installed Mac OS x86 perfectly working, but I wanted to play Trackmania Nations Forever. As I wasn’t doing any work on the desktop, no problem, let’s format this.

First choice: Windows Server 2008. I heard it was more stable than Vista and it ran Trackmania pretty nice. The installation was one of the smoothest I have ever experienced. But I was almost giving up on this OS when I had to set for the first time the Administrator password. Whatever password I inserted, it always gave me the following error: “Your password doesn’t match the length, complexity or the history required by this computer” (or something like that). WTF??? Luckily Bruno gave me the solution: You need both upper and lower-case and numbers in your password. Mr. Server2008 Usability Guy should be punished for this one! Once inside, I installed the Desktop Experience and Wireless packages. Reboot. Another reboot. Nothing… I couldn’t access any of those features. And no wireless. Now what? Let’s see what’s new in Ubuntu 8.04.

Installing Hardy Heron was OK until the disk partitioning thing. By default it would erase all my disk. I had a Storage partition with all the documents I need. So I had to go to advanced. There I had to delete the old Windows partition (this was ok). But I hadn’t a button called “Install Ubuntu in free space”. I knew that I had to format a swap and a EXT3 partitions. But my father wouldn’t. One thing to improve Canonical guys ;) Now, inside the OS, it was similar to the previous version, including that reddish-brown color of the Human theme. One thing that I was glad to see is that now Ubuntu handles the 1280×1024 resolution in my screen. Sweet! Another thing that I missed, and since Ubuntu’s windows manager is a copy of Windows (that I understand to ease the switch), is the lack of closing the window by double-clicking on the icon. I have used it since Windows 3.1! Oh and it couldn’t authenticate in my WEP-protected wireless. I could have changed it to WPA, since all the computers in the house support it, but unfortunately I could play Trackmania in Ubuntu as I wished.

All of this OSes failed the Audio. Ubuntu couldn’t fetch the right drivers, don’t know why (in the last version it worked fine). And even in Vista I had to install the codecs from the official site and even a patch. Manufacturers and OSes should improve this experience. Each OS would have a repository of drivers that would be searched each time a new device is connected. XP had this, but it didn’t work. Vista has this working fine, but I had a few problems with Asus hardware. As for Vista, everything just works, which is fine. Except for the fact that is ugly as hell and isn’t straightforward. I just can’t go back from the Mac to this :/ And having a desktop only to play Trackmania… sucks!

A final note about Windows vs Mac OS X: Although many would say OS X is way better than Windows, I don’t think that’s such a big difference (and I’m comparing to Windows XP). There are only two things that I really miss: Spaces. It has changed my way of organizing windows and for me that’s a really cool thing. And I’ve tested a few solutions for Virtual Desktops on Windows and they suck. The second change is the most anoying thing for switchers: the keyboard layout, specially how cmd replaces your windows/ubuntu ctrl. For years I would use my little finger to press control and then use the S, X, C, V or whatever key I wanted. For about 6 months I have used Mac OS as my main os and using your thumb to press cmd and the other fingers to press the other key is a lot better for your wrists! And I don’t want to miss that.

In the last days I found myself doing over and over the same combo: rating a music 5 starts in iTunes and then loving it in Last.fm, so as any Software Developer, I automated the process:

tell application "iTunes"
	set rating of current track to 100
end tell

tell application "Last.fm" to activate
tell application "System Events"
	key code 76 using command down
end tell

tell application "System Events"
	set visible of process "Last.fm" to false
end tell

Saved as a application in my AppleBin directory, and now I just use spotlight to reach it (Sorry, but I can’t get used to quicksilver…)

And I just love reading AppleScript! As for writing, it sucks :/

In this holidays I’ve spend some time hacking my OS setup. My Windows XP install had more than two years. And it was still solid without virus or spyware, and It has never seen any anti-virus or so. So guys who say proudly that you Macs or your Linuxes don’t get virus… Well, so doesn’t my Windows!

However I had installed a lot of stuff I don’t use anymore and I find faster to just format it and install a new one. One of my rules when setting up a new computer is to make two partitions. One for the OS and programs, and the other for data. So whenever I have to format it, I don’t have to bother with backups.

I decided to give Vista SP1 a try, since it might not be as hard to use as RTM, but I decided to test os x86 in between. Last time I didn’t have success last time.

Specs:
- Asus P5LD2 SE
- Intel Pentium D
- Asus EN6600 Silent
- Asus WL-167g (wireless dongle)

I installed KALYWAY LEO 10.5.1 intel SSE2 SSE3 and everythin just worked out of the box, except for Wireless and Audio. Better than last time (in which I had no wired network, so no internet at all). Luckly there were guides to install ALC882 (the codec I was missing for audio) and also an hack for Ralink Wireless Driver in order to my Wireless dongle to work, and after some hacks it worked! I felt like installing linux, but with success!

So now I have one and a half Mac, since I don’t get the same experience as with my MacBook, but I get much more integration between the two! I am even using teleport to control my macbook from the desktop. It works really well without any hard configuration or hacking like I had to do with Synergy that made me let it go.

At the moment I am installing Windows Vista on a virtual Machine in my desktop, but It is being really CPU intensive. I bet I’ll return to XP in a matter of weeks!

Whenever I connect my WM6.1 HTC TyTN to my Mac, SyncMate just goes spinning his beachball without stopping… I really wanted to sync my PDA with my Macbook, so I got a way of doing it with the latest version: RC2.

I opened SyncMate.app in Finder, looked in the Resources folder and found a sweet Smartphone2005.arm.cab! So I sent it to the windows mobile (I used my windows desktop, but you can send by email or web) and I installed the driver. Then clicked in the home icon and allowed my Macbook to sync with it and enabled autostart.

Next, I added the IP of my PDA to Syncmate and he did the rest! I have all the syncing now and wireless! I just ask for a Tasks plugin for the final version, since it’s the thing that I miss the most!

KDE Sets its Sights on Windows, Mac OS X (via Miguel)

It’s nice to have more alternatives to the native Explorer shell and Aqua (Although I find them pretty good) and I wonder if thy will do it as an alternative, or just port it to run on top of them. It’s a really good thing desktop environment became platform independent, and that will bring more third-party desktop engines!

I do, I do love spaces. It is the most notorious benefit agains Windows XP (althoug there is a virtual desktop manager powertoy). I usually have Firefox in one space, mail and iCal in the other, AdiumX in the third, and the last one is for what I am working on. It works just fine.

But when I want to connect my external monitor, spaces sucks too much I cannot use them! They consider the two screens as one desktop. I don’t like that. I would like to have one space in each monitor and change them independently.

I guess I’ll join the list of those who’d like Apple to reconsider the multi-monitor space’ing!

This post is a best-of my feedreadings of today. Some people do del.icio.us posting and I’m getting infected too.

I found about Port25, a website where is explained why Microsoft hates OpenSource! (NOT) I’m curious about what will MS say about OpenSource in 10 years. When maybe Ballmer is enjoying his retirement and someone from a different background (and younger) will decide what direction will Redmond’s still-big Giant take.

IronRuby vs Ruby.NET, a nice post by the IronRuby developer John Lam, a bit more of what I mentioned between IronPython and Python.NET.

I want the new Windows Mobile 6.1 new interface! I guess 6.0 should be called 5.1 and this one it’s the one that is the real 6!

Developer’s Hymn: pretty much self-explanatory.

A fan of Desktop Tower Defense? And you also like World of Warcraft? There you go: Hordes of Orcs! But OS X only for now…

Feeds still messy. Sorry but no time to fix it. Please bear with me and come visit my wonderful website :)

Following the Why Software Sucks idea, here are the ranks of the week:

1. Apart from the non-standard rendering, looks like IE doesn’t support the data: protocol. That sucks a lot!
2. Mac OS doesn’t support mounting FTP folders (only in read-only mode).
3. Windows XP search for drivers online never worked for me. Need a discover and install drivers that really work.
4. Linux still can’t hide all that geeky lines, even when upgrading software in Ubuntu. linux—;
5. I still can’t do nothing in Vista. Things are too confused and on not properly spaced. SP1, you may come in.
6. When giving a wireless network WPA security, Vista keep trying to connect without it and doesn’t learn it. And if you are not a geek, you won’t know how to change.
7. Still can’t OS X around to maximize like Windows does. I am less distracted without the background or other Apps behind it.

Oh and a bit of programming stuff:

1. ActiveSync sucks pretty big!
2. AppleScript looks very readable.
3. But Objective-C is so damn ugly! Even in Python!

WTF is this ugly box?

Oh, there is a cute box after all!

So big ?! (yeah, I do find a 13’’ big, that’s why macbook pro was not an option)

Booting up :)

It had a nice presentation for those who aren’t familiar with computers, but I just wanted to skip it all to go and play with the new machine! After writing some stuff: “Where is the f*cking home? and end? and PgDn and PgUp?” Yeah, I see you all laughing, but I am a freaking new switcher! “Oh, so they skipped Delete too?” (I now find that it is a good choice. Read up to the end to learn why).

Okay, I have a brand new MacBook black with 2GB (I’m not stupid) and what do I do with it? GAMES! Ok, Chess is not really a game :( So I ended up setting up the machine to my taste. A cool wallpaper, 4 spaces (Thanks a lot, Mr. Guy-who-stuffed-this-into-Leopard), added schoolbus timetable to my dashboard ( Webclip just makes it soooo damn easy!), Applications folder as a stack and the 3d dock shrinked a bit.

Yeah, I named almost all the leopard features (No external HD, so no TimeMachine), but that’s what I noticed the most that was a lot better than windows. I am really amused by this experience. I understand a bit why old Mac Users don’t like Spaces that much. I believe I can use the Exposé in almost the same way as I use Spaces, but having those effects is a bit cooler.

Then it was the time to some external stuff: (no links, sorry. But you may use google as I did)

AdiumX – Google Talk + Jabber + MSN
CyberDuck – FTP client
DeskLikr – Change background from Flickr (Not working in Leopard, but it will sit there until update)
Eclipse – Not that I like Java :(
iGTD – I have to try this, but since there is no proper tool to sync with my Windows Mobile, I don’t expect much from it
InsomniaX – Avoids sleeping when closing my macbook
iWork08 – Will I change from Office to this?
LiquidMac and MacSaber – just for show off
Quinn – gotta have some game, right? Tetris is cool everyday.
Skitch – A web2.0 print screen tool? we’ll see…
Sync!Sync!Sync! – Great tool for backups (Also described ahead)
SyncMate – To sync with my HTC TyTN, but it is not working :( Waiting for newer version (Will try Missing Sync….)
Textmate – My favorite IDE second to Notepd++ (for now…)
Transmission – Torrent client
UnRarX – WinRaR for the Mac
VMWare Fusion – To run Windows on one Space.

It is pretty cool to have one space filled with a Windows Virtual Machine. I just love VMWare! And I also imported my desktop Ubuntu virtual machine too! Too bad that I cannot play TrackMania Nations on this Macbook :( But it will make me work more :)

I already had two problems using the mac. The first one was connecting to eduroam (university LAN). Leopard doesn’t support it and the Solution was to use Tiger’s application to connect to networks. This seems ridiculous (luckly a friend had Tiger near me) but it amazing that it worked!

The second problem (and this might be my fault) was that I wanted to sync daily some folders between the macbook and my desktop. Googled it, no easy solution. Twittered it, a lot of cygwin+rsync weird solutions (why use linux solutions between Windows and OS X?), and then decided to dive into the Mac World and launched Automator. Tried to download Sync Folders Action (0.9 and 1.0) and none of them worked. Luckily I found Sync!Sync!Sync in Apple’s website. It allows me to schedule backups, and it also had synchronization. Cool! I set all up, with some folders I wanted, and puff! I got all deleted. Seems like I don’t have the same definition of synchronization as everyone else! What I wanted was what they call “Both ways”. So what is sync after all? And I lost all my school work (only one was important) and some random stuff (some of them important). Lesson learned: Backup backups!

Anyway, it is now working and I am a proud macbook user. And I am waiting for some suggestions!

And for those who were lost like me:
Home: cmd+<
End: cmd+>
Delete: fn+<-