The machine had a recoverery partition so I booted into that. Recovery failed after about 90% complete. The partition was damaged. My final option was to download an XP Home .iso from a bittorrent site. This installed nicely. This is not necessarily illegal as the Windows install now requires activation. Of course. my customer had no knowledge of product keys or activation. I told her that the computer would only work for 30 days without activation and wished her good luck. I also gave her a copy of Linux Mint to install when Windows stopped working.

There are a few Windows utilities that will reveal the OEM install product key. Here is a link to one. If you are still using a legal copy of Windows, I strongly reccomend that you retrieve your product key. It may save you some grief in the future.

There is a Best Buy store in my town and occasionally I do make a purchase there. I am hoping that their “experts” (the Geek Squad?) are really smart and will not pass along the Microsoft propaganda. I am also preparing myself on how I will respond to an employee who decides to unload some anti-Linux FUD on me.

I will tell that person that they should not misrepresent a product until they have proven the facts to themselves which they clearly have not. I will ask them why millions of computer owners worldwide (including myself) have replaced legal copies of Windows with some variety of Linux. Then I will offer them my business card informing them that the card was made with easy-to-use Linux software and pointing out that one of my services is Windows virus removal.

I do not expect to see Best Buy passing out free Ubuntu or Fedora live CD’s. I do expect truthful information from a clerk assisting in my purchase. An “I really don’t know” response from a clerk might be acceptable. A “Windows is better because Microsoft told us so” response would be unacceptable and would motivate me to shop elsewhere. Best Buy take notice!

As a blogging platform WordPress will work right out of the box with no instruction needed. In fact, with a free account at wordpress.com you can publish articles immediately just by typing them in. With a little encouragement you may be motivated to have your blog hosted. A hosting service will install the latest version of WordPress and its default theme. You can start publishing articles immediately. However, you will need some education if you want a different theme, install plugins or widgets, or take advantage of the many capabilities enabled in the WordPress software. It is a fact that everything you will ever need to know is published somewhere on the Internet. But it’s often more convenient to have the printed word in front of you. And so, we trot off to the bookstore and buy the instruction manual.

The first “instruction manual” that I purchased to get this blog up and running was “Building a WORDPRESS BLOG People Want to Read”, authored by Scott McNulty, published by Peachpit press (2009). This volume may be all you’ll ever need to create and maintain your blog. It’s an easy read and it gets the job done.

In order to really customize your blog, and often to enable some plugins to work correctly, you will have to edit the code in your selected theme. WordPress code is a mixture of HTML, PHP and Javascript, none of which you are likely to be expert in. My second instruction manual is “WordPress FOR DUMMIES”, authored by Lisa Sabin-Wilson, published by Wiley (2009). Ms. Wilson does an excellent job of describing a WordPress theme structure and how to modify it to your needs. She is also the author of the xMark theme currently being used by this site. If you want to monetize your site and carry advertising you will need the knowledge in this book.

Yes, the two books, do overlap in some ways but I would still recommend both at he same time. I am not listing either as a used book for sale on Amazon.

The potential blogger should be aware of two facts that neither of these books cover. First, WordPress is updated from time to time by it’s developers. This is good for users but often updates cause plugins to break. For example, the xMark theme used for this site has built-in support for the ShareThis plugin and worked fine for WordPress version 2.6 that was current when the book was published. But the plugin does not work in the current version (2.8) of WordPress! I substituted a similar plugin (Sociable) and some code insertion was necessary to get it working.

The second fact that is not addressed in either book is that code is displayed differently by different browsers. I use Firefox. The Sociable plugin did not display in Firefox until I injected some code in the right place. Meanwhile, without any modification, the plugin DID display correctly with Opera and, in fact, Opera displayed the first few lines of posts as snippets with a “…more” tag to view the entire post! I really liked this very much but I had nothing to do do with it.

Summary: I like WordPress. While it can be used out of the box, some instruction is necessary to use it to it’s full potential. I recommend two books to help you achieve this goal.

Being a user of Skype, I knew what was going on here. This was obviously a hardware implementation of a VOIP service, i.e., using the internet to make voice phone calls. Comparing this service to Skype there were three appealing features.  (1) It is cheaper. Skype charges about two cents a minute for domestic calls. Your “break even” point will vary. For me it was about five months of service. (2) You use an ordinary telephone; no headset is necessary. (3) You are given a real landline telephone number. People can call you with their ordinary telephones or cellphones.

The downside. The gadget works with Windows and Mac, but not Linux, at least not directly. Upon plugging it in there was a sound and nothing more. Did not I just recently publish an article on how to emulate a Windows machine in Linux? This could be an acid test. Sure enough, I started my Windows virtual machine. VMware Player saw the magicJack and invited me to connect. Upon connection, the device installed drivers into Windows. In a few minutes I had a phone number and I was talking on my phone. The voice quality was excellent.

This is an excellent product. While the lack of a Linux driver is a negative, most of us have learned how to live with a Windows/Mac product when we have to.

There are a few prerequisites should you care to do this. First you will need an image of a Windows XP install disk. Yes, your computer came with Windows installed. did the friendly folks at Microsoft give you an install disk? No… at best you have a restore disk, good only on your machine and not of much use for this project. So head on over to a bittorrent P2P site and grab a pirate copy. Second you will need a computer with enough memory. Remember, you will be running two operating systems simultaneously. If you have  1GB that will be enough for two 512MB machines. Windows XP will run in a 256MB machine but not quite as well as in a larger one. Ubunu is comfortable in 256MG.

Once again, we will will start with these instructions. Print them out. You will need to install Qemu and VMware Player. Notice that the instructions provide two VMX files. The first is a general configuration that will rcognize a physical CD-ROM drive. The second substitutes an install image for the drive. Copy and paste the second to a text file and change the file extention to .vmx. Edit the file so that the name of the .iso file matches the name of your image. Copy your image to the same directory as the vmx file. If you have enough memory bump up the memory size from 256MB to 512MB. C Create a .vmdk file with Qemu and place it in the same directory. Note: create a large disk file, ay 20GB. The actual file created will actually be small. It will have the ability to grow to the specified size as you add to it. Open VMware player and “run” the VMX file. Your installation of XP should take off. Congratulations! You have created a Windows virtual Machine.

Important! The freeware VMplayer does not have the ability to take snapshots! Virual machines are delicate. If you crash it, there is little chance of recovery. The workaround is to copy your installation folder to another location every time you make a significant change. do this NOW! And do it again after each milestone that follow.

VMware has a package called Guest Tools. In stallation of these tools enhances performance and enables extra features including the ability to change screen resolution and the ability to share folders. Follow the instructions here to get them installed. The author is a bit brief on how to get the tools installed into your virtual machine. What I did is to edit the .vmx file changing the name of the install image to “windows.iso”. I copied windows.iso to my virtual machine directory. When I “played” my virtual machine it appeared. Another idea is to mount the windows.iso and copy the files to a flash drive. This is not tested.

At this point you will want to edit your .vmx file to the first configuration in the original article replacing the image file with the code needed to make your physical device accessable. Many configurations are possible. Take a look at easyvmx.com for an online VMX generator.

Do you want some shared folders? follow these unstructions. My biggest problem with this was finding the shared folders in Windows after creating them. I do not blame Windows for this, it’s simply my own unfamiliarity with networking and file sharing. Do it if you like it.

At this point we have a pretty good working virtual XP machine. We need some software. Being Windows you’ll need some antivirus thing. I installed Avira but Avast and AVG are equally good choices. You’ll want a better browser than IE so install either Firefox or Chrome.

A final note. I would really like to delete my dual booting XP partition whose only purpose is to host iTunes. ITunes is the only way to keep my iPod touch firmware up to date. So, of course, I installed iTunes into my virtual machine. It crashed, leaving my machine corrupted. I had to restore from a backup. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

First of all the manufacturer clearly states that this gadget is designed to run Linux and recommends NOT installing any Microsoft product. It will not be delivered with a Windows sticker on it. One of the first things I will do is to put a Tux sticker on it. More on this in a minute. As for being overpriced, I will not be paying a Microsoft tax and any profit the OEM makes will be my voluntary contribution to the advancement of free software.

The product appears to be modular. I can plug in, and boot from, any USB flash drive with an installed OS. At my choosing I can have Knoppix, Puppy, EEEbuntu or whatever. The device will come with some kind of OS that the OEM promises will be “beta.” In my world “beta” is normal. Yes, I might encounter a bug or two. If I report them and the OEM is decent (remains to be seen) the bugs will get fixed in an an update. If not, I just install one of the established OS’s as the main OS. They have bugs too, just less of them. The bottom line is that it looks to be a lot of fun and that’s another reason for making this purchase.

How much touch screen capability will be implemented? At a minimum no mouse will be necessary. Undoubtedly the OS will have a virtual keyboard making the optional physical keyboard a convenience but not a necessity. As I pointed out in an earlier article, Apple has patented some touch screen capabilities. While these are significant on the tiny iPhone screen, they are less so on a 9 inch screen. My ancient Macintosh SE performed well with its small screen and a mouse. I used it to run a business for several years.

Linux needs some brand recognition. When conversation with my acquaintances gets around to computers and I say “I run Linux”, some will say “What’s that?’, and others will  comment “I’ve heard about that.” No one says “Tell me more about it.” It really hurts when a talk show  radio host like Kim Komando advises to stay away from Linux. I guess I would too if all my sponsors sold Windows only products but it’s bad advice going out to thousands of listeners.  A device like this can be a breath of fresh air. When you impress your friends with it you can show them them the Tux sticker and proudly say “This computer runs Linux, why don’t you?”

Linux does not have a talk radio show spokesperson. Yes, we have podcasts but Windows users don’t listen to them. If your computer is mobile, stickers are a good way to promote brand awareness. My laptop says TOSHIBA in big bold letters on the cover. Can’t miss it if you tried. On the inside there was a Windows sticker that I removed and replaced with a “Powered by Ubuntu” sticker. If you go to www.smokinglinux.com you will see a link to “F5 StickerBook.” That will give you a download for a sticker book with a multitude of Linux (and other) stickers. Just print. cut and glue. You might also find an article or two there that you like.

A final thought. Netbooks are not intended to be a complete replacement for your primary home computer. Yet when I think about that old Mac that I ran a business with in 1989, the new netbooks are clearly more capable machines and considerably less expensive. One can only wonder what the next few years will bring.

Rules of this game can be found here and many other places as well. Just do a Google search. The game is simple enough to be played by a grade schooler who has learned basic arithmetic. When I introduce this game to a novice they usually say it’s a pleasant pastime but that winning depends simply on the luck of the draw. After I get their attention by winning a few games I start educating them about the properties of dominoes and playing strategies. It is not long before they realize that they have been deceived on the apparent simplicity of this game. A skilled player will normally win the game.

Prove this to yourself by trying Curtis Cameron’s shareware game found here. This game WILL run on a Linux machine with WINE. The game offers four levels of difficulty. At the next to highest difficulty level I can win about half the games, At the highest level I usually lose. This game truly is my training ground. On my iPod Touch I have installed American Dominoes available from the App store. This plays a reasonable game at its highest difficulty level, but it does not compare to Curtis Cameron’s game. It’s good for practice, but I will win a majority of games.

I have a couple of texts on the subject. They’re fine for giving rules but none go into detail on playing strategies.  Save your money and learn on the Internet. Here are a few tips of my own that you may or may not find elsewhere:

(1) Know your dominoes. Some are more likely to score than others. Good scoring dominoes include 0-0, 5-5, 1-6. Repeaters will score on a scoring double just played. The 1-2 plays on and repeats the 1-1. Similarly, the 2-4 repeats the 2-2 and the 3-6 repeats the 3-3. The 4-3 plays and scores on the 4-4 and the 6-2 scores on the 6-6.

(2) In a standard double six set, any given pip will appear 8 times on 7 dominoes. If your hand has five or more of any number you hold the majority. Playing one of these will often send your opponent to drawing from the boneyard.

(3) If you are down to two dominoes try to make a play that will guarantee your going out on your next turn. It might not score but you can look forward to all the points in your opponents hand.

(4) In any play consider what dominoes can be played by an opponent to score. All played dominoes are visible so you will often know if a play is safe or unsafe.  For example, if I am holding both a 4-4 and a 1-1. I don’t hesitate to play the 4-4 and sometimes the 1-1 will score later. If the 1-1 is not in my hand and has not been played, another dominoe might be a better choice.

Do you have some strategies of your own? Why not comment on this article?

Also in the package was a CD with backup software. It was Windows only and of no use to myself or any Mac user for that matter. I also wondered how useful it would be to a Windows user. Wouldn’t a Windows user already have backup software installed? All I wanted was storage space and the drive would ether work or not work.

On my first attempt to use the drive I received a message informing me that “the NTFS volume had not been shut down properly and would have to be manually mounted.” NTFS???? Again, I thought about this and quickly realized that the typical FAT32 filesystem would not support a volume this large. There was another benefit too. NTFS does not have the 4GB filesize limit that has caused me some problems on other drives. A brief search on the Internet gave me the exact syntax of the mount command to make the drive usable. I have used the drive many times since then and it has always mounted automatically.

Although it did not work “out of the box”, I don’t think that needing to issue a command is beyond the ability of an average Linux user. If you find one at the same price I did, buy it. Other than the extra power connector there is really nothing special about this drive. If your in the market for a drive, I suggest shopping for the best value and perhaps giving a little weight to well known brand names. Black Friday comes only once each year, but goood sales can be found year round.

In order to fit on a 700MB CD the burnable .iso image cannot be larger. When installed to a hard drive a typical distribution, such as Ubuntu, uses over 2GB of disk space. To make this possible a compression technique is used. When the image is used it is read from the disc and uncompressed on the fly. This has several implications. The two most noticeable will be that using a livecd will be slower than using an installed distro; the second is that no changes can be made to the CD. At best, some documents may be saved to a local hard disk and some distros such as Puppy Linux can create a change file.

The use of a flash drive may or may not remove some of the livecd limitations depending on its size. Today, in the spring of 2009, you will have difficulty finding a flash drive with less than 1GB of memory that were common only a few years ago. 1GB drives sell for around $5, 2GB drives are priced at $10 or less and higher capacities of 4, 8 and 16GB are often on sale bringing the price down to less than $3 per GB. In a year or two, readers of this blog will probably chuckle at these prices. If you have a 2 or 4GB drive the tutorials at pendrivelinux.com will show you how to (1) get the iso image onto a bootable drive and (2) how to use the extra space for data or a “change” file. If you have a 4GB or larger drive it is now possible to make a full installation to the drive. This removes both limitations of the livecd. Most recent releases of popular distros include an option to install to a sufficiently large flash drive. Furthermore, netbooks can boot from these drives making it possible to replace the supplied OS (often Windows XP) with the Linux distro of your choice. Finally we now have a portable computer with a reasonably sized screen that will run for a number of hours between charges.

Now before you run out and buy that 8GB stick I will give you two cautions. The first caution is that once you configure your drive to use your host computer hardware you may lose compatibility with other computers. If portability is your objective an installed OS might not be your best choice. I personally carry a 2GB drive with Puppy installed but not configured along with a GRUB boot disk. At home, I keep a 8GB drive handy to install various test distributions one of which will eventually end up in the netbook I have on order for this summer. Yes, I could do the same thing with a “virtual machine” but this approach is simpler and takes up no space on my hard disc.

The second caution is about following the tutorials on pendrivelinux.com. Many make the use of a disc “partitioning” utility, either fdisk, on the command line,  or Gparted with its nice graphical interface. It is VERY EASY to make a MISTAKE with these utilities to select a WRONG drive and DESTROY your system!  Do not proceed with the instructions until you understand what they are doing and what they are doing it to. Linux drive designations can be cryptic to the novice. If you have a small flash drive and just want to make it bootable then use unetbootin and be safe. Enough said.

Have fun!

The ISO 9660 standard was developed over 20 years ago. It is the official standard for CD-ROM. A physical CD conforming to the standard can be read by any CD-ROM drive in any OS and if it happens to be a music CD, it will play in any CD player.  The file extension “.iso” indicates an image file conforming to the standard. This image, when burned to a CD will result in a physical CD conforming to the standard. This is incredibly handy. These .iso files can be shared via the internet. A CD holds about 700MB of data. A 1 GB USB flash drive will easily hold an 700 MB image and a larger flash drive can hold more. Furthermore, if a software utility is used to mount the image it is often not necessary to burn the image to a physical CD.  In previous articles I discussed using Knoppix and Puppy Linux booted from flash drives instead of CD’s.

Windows Support

Windows does not provide support for the .iso format out of the box. Microsoft does provide a free “power toy” that will add some support. Other than that, Windows users have a little freeware and a lot of shareware to handle .iso files. A freeware called MagicDisc will allow the mounting of images and another called ImgBurn will burn iso images to CD’s. Follow the links, download the installers from the home pages and you should have enough software to handle most of your iso needs. Stay away from shareware that “bastardizes” the format. Nero will create .nrg files and Power ISO will create .daa files. They will do little for you and will cost you a few dollars for legal use.

Linux Support

Linux, on the other hand, has built-in support. Users who insist on a graphical tool should consider AcetoneISO2, a very versatile toolbox that will handle every iso related task that you may ever encounter. On the other hand there are a few simple command line tools to handle basic iso tasks.

Mounting An Image

1. Open a terminal window.

2. Create a mount point for the image.

sudo mkdir media/iso

This directory can be deleted later, but since you are likely to use it again you may as well leave it.

3. Issue the mount command.

sudo mount -o loop /path/to/myiso.iso  /media/iso

The .iso file is now mounted. If you’re using Ubuntu it will appear in the Places menu. It will also appear on the File Systems tab of the System Monitor. If it is a music CD image you can play it. If it is data you can edit it. Have fun!

4. When you are done with the file you should unmount it.

sudo umount /media/iso/

Create an iso image of a CD

1. Insert the CD. Linux will mount the CD. You can see it in the System Monitor if you like.

2. Unmount the device and create the iso.

sudo umount /dev/cdrom dd if=/dev/cdrom of=myiso.iso bs=1024

Create an ISO From a Folder

mkisofs -r -o myiso.iso /path/to/myfolder/

Summary

ISO files enable CD sharing via the internet. In many cases the actual creation of a physical CD can be avoided. Linux supports the format natively but free tools are also available to Windows users so that basic iso operations are accomplished easily in either operating system.