Misc Stuffs

Task 1 of my new Linux world - Get Vista PC and Linux PC to talk to each other and share files.
Step 1: Enable a Samba share on the Linux desktop - Done. This proved to be pretty easy, right click folder, select "share" or something like that, some very simple dialogue boxes and we're all done.
Step 2: Map to the folder on the Vista Machine - Fail. Turn's out, Vista doesn't like samba shares much. A dig around the internet suggests this isn't me being stupid, but rather Vista refuses to use the authentication protocols that samba supports. Looks like I need to do a bit of a registry hack to get it to work too, as the security policies admin tool isn't included in the "Home" versions. Something to try tonight (I gave up yesterday before cordless peripherals went flying across the room, I've only just tidied it.)

That a point to Linux then, for being far easier than Windows when it comes to setting up talks with the opposition.


I watched the first two episodes of Heroes yesterday (they were getting a rerun late at night when I was cooking but should have been sleeping). Seems ok, but I'm not sure it's necessarily all that special (it's got rave reviews everywhere). Strikes me as reasonably derivative American supernatural-scifi, maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention to catch the subtler depths.. or maybe they just come later. Still, can't turn down a good bit of supernatural-scifi with existentialist voice-overs in the intro can you?


The flat is almost restored to it's former glory post PC building (it's been host to a large pile of boxes for a week) although I've yet to devise a good solution for the storage of all the spare bits of stuff... cables, brackets, more cables, expansion ports, and yet more cables, etc. Up to this point the solution has been "large cardboard box" although this does make finding anything in the tangled heap of electronics very hard, and runs the risk of damaging things. A more compartmentalised solution which is sufficiently flexible to accommodate the various sizes of ... stuff... that I've got is needed. And if possible, it shouldn't cost me any money or much time.

Web 2.0

2 Days, 2 Posts, Web 2.0!

I've eventually caved in to the pressure from various sources (I think the list of people who've asked me now is nearing 10) to set up a Facebook account, so I'm on there now, under my RealName(tm) for those of you that know it.

Back to the Blog

Bored at work (shh!) so I thought I'd write a blog post again. No doubt in the months and years since I was last active here, everyone has completely given up checking for new updates. If you are still reading, throw me a comment, it might even encourage me to post more regularly than... well... never.

I've made my first baby steps into the real geekosphere in that my old PC, having served me faithfully for over 2 years (with some minor upgrades and replacement parts) has reached the end of it's life as my "gaming rig". However, rather than cannibalise it for parts as I usually do, it's been given a new lease of life as a secondary desktop running Ubuntu Linux. Gone are the days when installing Linux required a degree in computer science, an infinite amount of patience and a week before you could even get X to work (the bit that displays the desktop and draws all the program windows for non techys). The install is, all things considered, even easier than your average windows install (although about equivalent to the Windows Vista install I did around the same time, more on that later). Like most Linux flavours, Ubuntu comes on what is known as a "Live CD", a fully functioning version fo the OS that runs from the CD without any install necessary. This is great if you want to "try before you buy" as it leaves everything about your PC intact until you're ready to hit that "install now" button. Everything works a dream, and looks a whole lot prettier (yes, I'm shallow) than my last encounters with Linux back in 2000-2003. I've yet to do anything more challenging than opening Firefox with it, but I'll keep you posted. The ultimate plan is to turn it into a media-hub of sorts, with a TV card and some TV recording software.

Replacing the old girl is a shiny new build PC running Vista. This also looks very pretty, but Aero is hardly the revolution Microsoft would have you believe it is. Sure, the frosted-glass look of the window edges, and the wizzy "stacked windows" task switcher look very nice and will impress your mother, but they not about to revolutionise the way you see and use the desktop. As with all new builds, nothing went quite as smoothly as it really ought to - from the graphics card arriving minus a capacitor, to the components I'd bought not fitting ideally into the case (they're all in there, it's just not quite ideal in some places). Vista itself seems stable and reasonably slick. UAC is proving to be annoying, it could really do with the option to "always allow" for certain programs/operations. Some of the new admin/troublshooting tools are pretty nice, but the sidebar is pretty useless. Windows built-in CD writing abilities now include burning movies and other files to DVDs, but still don't support writing an ISO image which is somewhat frustrating, but perhaps viewed as an anti-piracy measure (even if lots of people distribute perfectly valid ISO images - Ubuntu for example is downloaded in this form). No doubt I'll find more niggles, there's always plenty of those. But at least it plays all my current and future games, something unfortunately Linux still can't offer me.