One of my flash drives suddenly died today. It all happened when XP suddenly froze for some reason. after rebooting, the device was dead - XPdetected it as a 0mb device (and attempted to format it as such - which didn’t work)
After a little research I was able to revive the drive, and heres the procedure (pretty easy):
- Download and install the HP Drive Key Boot Utility
- Open the desktop icon and select the correct flash drive under device
- Select the file system you want to format to (FAT, FAT32, NTFS)
- Tick Quick Format
- Click start
Officially this software (HP Drive Key Boot Utility) is meant for HP disks, but unofficially it seems to work fine at formatting most flash media, even digital camera cards.
January 15th, 2007
As of now I’m on the front page of delicious. Not sure how long it will last, but it’s pretty cool. Thanks everyone who submitted/voted (or rather, bookmarked)!!
PS: Stay tuned for my review of Vista!!
January 7th, 2007
Some of my posts have been picked up on a number of social sites (Stumble, Digg, etc) so I’ve got more than 5,000 visitors in the last few hours. Thankfully the site is still working mostly OK.
Thank you! to everyone who was kind enough to visit, submit my site, etc. I’m happy that people are finding my site useful.
If anyone is wondering what happened to my Windows Vista review, can someone tell Microsoft Sri Lanka that I’m still waiting for the Vista evaluation DVD they promised me a week ago.
January 6th, 2007
Note: please see the excellent comments at the end of this article, which contain many corrections, clarifications and useful suggestions.
DivX playback, Totem player, Windowed.
One of my new years resolutions for 2007 was to use an open source operating system. I don’t mean try it out and forget about it - rather, I want to learn how to use it for day to day work (which I would normally do on an XP powered PC).
And each day I use this new OS, I’m amazed by how easy it is to use. The purpose of this little article is to give Windows XP users a rough idea on how easy it is to use Ubuntu, and see how Ubuntu compares with Windows XP
Pre installation FAQ
- What is Ubuntu? Ubuntu is an open source operating system. What that generally means is, Ubuntu can be downloaded for free, and you can use it on your system without paying for a licence.
- Yes, but isn’t that OS for Linux experts? Don’t you need to know Linux? Not necessarily. Ubuntu works mostly via a graphical user interface (similar to Windows XP, you use a mouse, click buttons, etc). Most operations are completed with a mouse. Very rarely you may have to perform some advanced operations using a terminal/console (like MS Dos window).
- How easy is it to install? Basically, you boot off the CD and follow the prompts. Installation is via a GUI.
- How do I get the CD? You can download an ISO image of the CD from http://www.ubuntu.com/ - burn this image onto a CD and boot off that CD.
- Will it recognise my hardware? Ubuntu recognised all hardware on my test PC without any problems. Contrast this with XP which required me to download additional drivers for VGA and Sound! Does this guarantee all your hardware will be recognised? No, but most of the time, it just works.
- Does it require a lot of space? Actually I was told (during the installation process) that you will need around 2.5GB of space, which is not bad considering that Ubuntu comes with many applications (e.g. Open Office), unlike Windows XP.
- But I only know how to use XP? How can I retrain myself to use Ubuntu?? The most surprising thing is, you don’t have to retrain yourself - most of the functionality of the desktop/etc is very similar to Windows XP. I don’t mean to say Ubuntu mimics Windows (they don’t), rather, if you are familiar with XP you should be able to find your way around Ubuntu easily. Actually, it’s more accurate to say both XP and Ubuntu are intuitive and follow common concepts and logical processes in their graphical user interfaces (translation: if you can use XP, you will probably be fine with Ubuntu).
The Ubuntu Experience
To give you an idea of what it’s like to use Ubuntu, I’ve got some screenshots here - click a thumbnail to open it on Flickr.
I was amazed at how many applications are included with Ubuntu - right out of the box, this OS seems to include everything I could think of - office software, DVD/CD Writing software, Email and Internet browser, graphics, etc, all included, fully functional, and ready to use.
The Desktop
I’ve tweaked the menu to start from below (like XP) because I’m used to that 
Old habits.. You can see a screen shot of Ubuntu’s ’start’ menu here
As you can see, it’s a lot like XP - you have your “Computer”, and a taskbar which shows Tabs for windows, a clock, and a menu to launch programs, accessories, etc. Yup, just like XP - so nothing to relearn here as such!
Included Software:
Unlike Windows, Ubuntu includes a range of popular Linux applications for various tasks such as Graphics, Wordprocessing, etc. Most of these software packages are equivalent to (or better than) similar commercial Windows applications
Graphics Software:
GIMP is a professional graphics software, similar to Photoshop.
Office software:
Ubuntu includes Open Office which is similar to Microsoft Office - it includes applications for Spreadsheet, Word processing, database, and presentation.
Games:
Ubuntu includes a large collection of preinstalled games
Security:
One big plus point of Ubuntu is, as with most Linux distros, it is very secure. Virus and spyware generally are not much of a threat (compared to Windows environment) as most attacks are directed against Windows.
Also, users aren’t automatically set up as administrators - and most admin operations require a password, so it’s harder for a malicious application to attack the system.
Also, as Ubuntu is open source, the code is regularly checked by thousands of people worldwide, and bugs are quickly fixed.
Summary
Ubuntu is professional operating system, it’s simple to use, includes freeware versions of most Windows software, and, did I forget to mention, happnens to be FREE?
Over the next few days I will write more articles on my Ubuntu experience.
PS: Hi to everyone at http://www.groklaw.net/
January 2nd, 2007
The latest trend here is local spam companies. For 500 - 1000 bucks, they promise to spam your message to anyone Sri Lankan.
So here’s an idea: how about someone sets up a database of local spammers/companies, as well as those who advertise with them, so we can make a note to avoid them/anything they sell.
December 23rd, 2006
This is an experiment on how people respond to photos. To participate, simply click the most interesting point in each photograph (this will open up an enlarged view, at flickr).
Note: The experiment is now over - click the photos to view results! Before you click, see if you can guess where people clicked?
Tip: These results were generated using CrazyEgg (www.crazyegg.com) - this site allows you to see where people click in your website, and generate heatmaps.
It’s all about the legs I, by Cheeky Needle
Lane in town center by Jusez
On the phone… on the motorcycle by malingering
Note: All photos are creative commons licence, property of original photographer.
September 30th, 2006
This is my personal blog. I intend to use this to talk about my various interests and hobbies. I’ll be posting some articles in the next few days
//stay tuned!
September 20th, 2006
