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.

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.

Virtual Desktops

The taskbar can get crowded and unorganized. Virtual Desktops have the effect that you are sitting in front of several computers at one time. On one computer you’re watching your email, on another you’re web surfing and on another you’re using a terminal. Yes, you can do this on the taskbar but it’s more efficient to use three desktops. Most Linux distros enable at least two desktops by default easily extendable to more (I like three). Windows users can install a third party application. Microsoft offers a “power toy” that provides four desktops but better yet go to virtuawin for a free utility that will provide up to nine.

Docks

Apple invented this idea years ago and it’s included in every Apple OS release during the last nine years. Apple now holds a patent on it, but I doubt that you will get sued for using a third party dock in Windows or Linux. A dock is a graphical program launcher. It sits on your desktop with icons for the programs that you use the most. Forget the Windows “Start” menu, forget the Linux “Applications” menu, just click on the icon for your email, browser or whatever. Windows and Linux users have several docks to choose from. As a Linux user I like the Cairo-Dock , Windows users should take a look at the free  Rocket Dock. Do a Google search for others.

Speed Dial Firefox Extension

This is a dock specific for your Firefox browser. It puts a pair of icons on your navigation toolbar. One configures, the other launches. You add your moat visited web pages to the dock. The dock displays sample page thumbnails or images of your choice so it’s a breeze to go where you want without fumbling through bookmarks. A nice little timesaver.

There you have it! None of these goodies are things you can’t live without. But I guarantee that if you install any one of them you’ll wonder how would you live without it!

Assuming you have met this challenge and the photos now live happily somewhere on your drive, you will delete the really crappy ones and probably wish you could fix some that are not quite right. Perhaps a little dark, a little crooked, off center or who knows what.  For this you need a photo editor. Cameras sometimes come with some editing software that you may like, but in my experience this software is usually not very capable. Furthermore it is usually Windows only and Mac and Linux users must look elsewhere. In this post I will give you a short list of software that will allow you to touch up your photos before printing or uploading.

Adobe Photoshop CS (Creative Suite)

This is an expensive (around $6oo) tool for professionals. If you are such a person then you already know this and this article is not for you. I include it because I am always amused by the hacker who has downloaded an illegal copy and brags that he/she has the best there is. It is certainly not the best for the casual user and his camera purchased at Wal-Mart.

The GIMP

Originally, the Linux equivalent of Photoshop, The GIMP has now been ported to Windows. Like most Linux software it is freeware. Go to GimPhoto for details and downloads for Windows and Linux. At the price ($0) it will you the feel of a high end program. Find Photoshop tutorials on the web and you should have little trouble applying them to GimPhoto.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Call this Photoshop’s little brother. It’s a dumbed down version of Adobe’s flagship product with fewer features and less capability but more than enough to keep the ameteur photographer happy. Adobe prices it at around $100. Currently it’s at version 7, but look for version 2 if you have a Linux machine. On my machine the help system had a problem but the photo editing worked well. When I was webmaster for a real estate company I used this program often to remove unwanted objects like trees and auto bumpers from property photos.

PhotoPlus6

Serif software offers a free version of PhotoPlus6. This is a very capable photo editor. An upgrade to version 8 is available for just a few dollars. It runs on Windows and might run on Linux but that is untested. It will perform all the basic editing functions plus some advanced ones like “cloning.” Again, at the price, you should definitely download and try this software.

Irfanview

I consider this as a “must have” program for any Windows user. Irfanview is often called the Swiss Army Knife for photo editing. Irfanview can crop, resize, apply effects and do most of the things one would expect in a higher end tool. It’s easy to use and it’s free. Most of the time it will be the only tool you need. Some have gotten it to work with Linux although I have not (yet).

Picasa

While not an editing tool, this free goodie from Google is a fine way to keep your photos organized. Google has released versions for all three platforms, Windows, Mac and Linux.

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Don dot Birdsall at gmail dot com