Blue Knight Sojourn of the Mind

I use a number of computers and operating systems, and due to the problem with Microsoft file system in place it is hard to use the disks on all systems such as Mac and Linux. The Windows CIFS file system is just not accepted everywhere, and while there are commercial tools to let you read the system for Mac it is not something I want to do all the time.  On the other hand the ext2 file system is supported on every platform besides Windows.  But due to a few people it is no longer a problem.

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Some people like to use the Windows tools to do things but believe it or not it is not always the fastest way to do things. For example if I want to copy a whole CD to an ISO file I would have to open up a program in Nero, then copy the CD Files to the window, which actually makes a copy to temporary space, then name it the same way, then burn to a virtual drive.  This takes time!!!
In Linux/Unix there is a tool that does this and a lot more tasks very easily. It is a block for block copy and it is not only used for disk burning but also to make forensic copies of disks, etc.  The same thing above on a Linux syst Read the rest…

Well as part of using a new laptop at work I decided not to transfer it to Linux and be against policy so instead I will run Linux/Gentoo in VmWare or VirtualBox depending on what I like better that week

I need to customize the Windows System and as part of it is including linux based commands that have been ported in to windows. The problem with command line tools in Windows is that they are not found so easily once you install them somewhere on disk.  Since Windows XP puts everything in C:\Program Files I decided that I would do that as well and add the programs to Program Files.

I created a directory under C: Drive called “usr_bin”  which being a Linux/Unix person makes a lot of sense.  Then I just copy the command line components from all the programs I have in the Program Files in to C:\usr_bin so that I can activate them via command line.

There is one more thing you have to do.  Go to   Control Panel, then to System. Once you have the window from System pop up you can go to the Advanced  tab and then on the bottom of the tab you can click on Environmental Variables.  A new window will pop-up and you can go to the System Variables portion of it and click on Path and then on Edit.  This will pop out a window where you can edit your Path. Here I just add ;C:\usr_bin  save and either reboot or log out and log back in to Windows.

That is it! The Path Variable is now working for you.

Site Search Tags: Microsoft, windows, xp, winxp, path, command, line, tools, edit, tips
Copyright (c) by BlueKnight

Well Google decided that Google Browser Sync for Firefox is not something that they want to do and they closed the project.

You can see the announcement here.

They recommend that you go to the following projects:

• Google Toolbar for Firefox
• Mozilla Weave Project
• Foxmarks

After looking at all of them here is my opinion.

• Mozilla Wave project might amount to something but at this point it is still in its infancy.
• Google Toolbar is very limiting and it must be installed for it to really work on all systems.
• Foxmars looks like a solid product, is available for firefox 3.0 and firefox 2X so it is my product of choice.

Of course you need to look at your needs and evaluate what is good for you.

Site Search Tags: linux, gentoo, microsoft, mac, osx, tiger, browser, firefox, bookmarks, google, toolbar, foxmarks, weave, mozilla
Copyright (c) by BlueKnight

I have been on a search for a good RSS reader for a little bit of time.  You see I have been putting all my bookmarks in to The Brain, and this has been going pretty good. Unfortunately as I come across an RSS Feed that I want to keep notice off, I was a little bit stuck.

I have tried google Reader, and it is a good basic reader that lets you read the RSS Feeds from a number of places, but it is a bit limited, the place where it is limited is on my Microsoft Mobile phone as I want to read the news there.  I might try other on-line RSS Feed places, but for now I tried to find something that I can take cross platform with me.

Well I have stumbled upon BlogBridge, while I do not know if it is a good permenant solution as I have just started using, at this point it fills the void for me.  If it does not work out it has an OPML export so I can start using others.

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Well I have to talk about a program that I have been looking at and I have to say that it is probably the best Getting Things Done software around. For people that mostly work in the office, it is a great system that can probably answer all the tasks possible.

The software is a java applet that can run on a Macintosh, Windows and Linux platform just fine. To transfer the information all you need to do is take the file that contains the information on to a key or a floppy and transfer it among computers. It can even be sent through E-mail.

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A software comes around once in a while that wen originally viewed is looked at as nothing more then a toy, but when fully used and utilized after some time becomes the best software ever.

The Brain Personal (http://www.thebrain.com) is just that kind of software. I have been using it for at least 6 years now and have gone through the whole evolution of the software. While looking like a fancy toy this software lets you create links and thoughts for the way you think and work. No it is not a gimmick if you actually take the time to learn the software that is exactly what it does (A little more on that later).

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Compression has been around for ages, and the standard for windows has been defined using WinZip, for Unix it has been a standard of Gzip. That is until now!

Some time ago the new compression format 7-zip was released, giving better compression, and better security. I have started using 7-Zip as my compression engine for some time, and the compression and performance increases are worth it.

If you have a multi-core system, 7-zip for windows and for Unix/Linux will utilize both of the CPU’s during compression. Overall this definitely is a great replacement for WinZip on windows and a great addition for the Unix system as well.

You can obtain 7-Zip from here:   7-Zip
A number of packages exist for Linux and BSD (can you say Mac) systems as well.