Did I mention this was a waste of time. It seems that the softwares that I need is not compatible with each other in Vista. Both claims Vista support but installed together causes the blue screen of death.
So, I'm building an VM instance with XP guest OS and installing the software inside. Voila, it's working fine. I should have done this in the first place and just live with semi-corrupted OS. At least my VM instance would have been portable.
Yes, I'll have to take a performance hit using a VM instance, but no BSOD. What a lovely choice.
On Vista, I have noticed just one improvement. Vista Media Center recording seems to be better XP based MC. And the close caption is working properly. There.. I said it. The one improvement in Vista.
BTW.. a friend that did go over to the Mac side is urge me to do the same. So, is there a VM instance so I can run Mac OS on the PC? I would love to try it and see.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
I upgraded to Vista .. against my better judgement
My main development system is corrupted beyond recovery. I tried my old ghost images, but the system corruption must have been around for a while. I can't seem to install .Net Framework 3.5 and I can't uninstall any .Net application. Unfortunately, I have to install this for a new development gig.
So, here I am. 2am in the morning, installing Vista and restoring my files. What a waste of time. Honestly, I can't understand how "non-tech" people can put up with this crap. Make me want to switch to Mac just to see if it's really better on the other side.
Vista install is going okay. I didn't get any "blue screen" of death, but I had hard-reset the computer a few times already because it seems to hang for 10 minutes trying to install some hotfix. Upon my initial install, I had to install another 55 critical "updates".
I'm sure this is an old story, I'm just another techie complaining about the same old problems. This time, I swear I'm going to keep my main system as clean as possible. Keep as much application as possible inside a VM instance.
I'm really sick and tired of this annual ritual of rebuilding my OS every year.
So, here I am. 2am in the morning, installing Vista and restoring my files. What a waste of time. Honestly, I can't understand how "non-tech" people can put up with this crap. Make me want to switch to Mac just to see if it's really better on the other side.
Vista install is going okay. I didn't get any "blue screen" of death, but I had hard-reset the computer a few times already because it seems to hang for 10 minutes trying to install some hotfix. Upon my initial install, I had to install another 55 critical "updates".
I'm sure this is an old story, I'm just another techie complaining about the same old problems. This time, I swear I'm going to keep my main system as clean as possible. Keep as much application as possible inside a VM instance.
I'm really sick and tired of this annual ritual of rebuilding my OS every year.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Vonage or Not to Vonage
I have been using Vonage for 3 or 4 years now. I'm really sick of it. I can't fax out, the lister often gets a strange echo during conference calls. I have made multiple calls to customer support. The people are friendly enough and tries really hard, but can't seem to get the problem solved.
However, there are some really cool features with VOIP. Virtual Numbers, and SimulRing are two features that I don't want to give up. It's very useful for my business.
What should I do? Switch to another VOIP? Give up on VOIP? Any solutions to these problems?
However, there are some really cool features with VOIP. Virtual Numbers, and SimulRing are two features that I don't want to give up. It's very useful for my business.
What should I do? Switch to another VOIP? Give up on VOIP? Any solutions to these problems?
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
signed up for Microsoft Live - SkyDrive
I have been an xDrive user for years. For a long time, I actually paid the annual subscription fee to get 5 gigs of storage space. I personally didn't really care that xDrive was acquired by AOL until they made me give up my old account. Forced me to sign up for an useless AOL email address. Now, I can't even upload files any more. There are just too many choices, I don't want to bother with finding out why my upload is failing.
Today, I got a "spam" email about Microsoft Live SkyDrive. I just signed up, I'll use it for a few weeks and write about my experience here.
Today, I got a "spam" email about Microsoft Live SkyDrive. I just signed up, I'll use it for a few weeks and write about my experience here.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Batch extraction and conversion of PDF to txt and jpg
I found this great open source tool to extract the text and images from a pdf file. The tool provide a set of command line utilities to extract various components out of the pdf. There is a Linux and Win32 version of the tool.
The command line is very easy to use
Extract Text
pdftotext [options] []
options includes:
-layout : maintain original physical layout
-htmlmeta : generate a simple HTML file, including the meta information
Extract Images
pdfimages [options]
This extract all the images as as Portable Pixmap (PPM), Portable Bitmap (PBM), or JPEG files. However it doesn't convert any PPM or PBM files into jpg. You'll need a separate utility for that.
The command line is very easy to use
Extract Text
pdftotext [options]
options includes:
-layout : maintain original physical layout
-htmlmeta : generate a simple HTML file, including the meta information
Extract Images
pdfimages [options]
This extract all the images as as Portable Pixmap (PPM), Portable Bitmap (PBM), or JPEG files. However it doesn't convert any PPM or PBM files into jpg. You'll need a separate utility for that.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
book : The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class
The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class
I admit to reading this book without buying it. It was quick read that I finished while "browsing" in the bookstore. It's another one of those books that claims finance is mainly a psychological problem. If people change the way they think and feel about money, all their money problem will be solved. I don't agree with that assumption. Never the less, I thought the book made some good points. The first and the only distinction that I remember was "time and money". 5 classes of people from very poor, poor, middle, rich, and very rich thinks about money with very different time horizon. The very poor worry about money day to day level. The time frame gets longer for each class : week to week, month to month, year to year, and decade to decade.
I totally agree that too many people in middle class makes big purchases because they are sold on a payment plan that fit their "monthly" budget : car, big screen tv, boat, rv, etc. These people will probably be stuck in middle class forever. If you want to get any where in life and money you have to make long term plans and execute on your plans.
To me the core problem is education about the cause and effect of money. The money spend is gone forever and money in my pocket is going to worth a whole lot more 10 years from now. Would I rather spend $10,000 now or let it grow at 5% interest then spend $16,470 in 10 years from now. Every purchase is different, but I alway run that mental check. Now or Later. The other half of that is having goals for things that you rather be spending the money on 10 years later. Bigger house, junior's college education, travel around the world, retirement, etc.
I admit to reading this book without buying it. It was quick read that I finished while "browsing" in the bookstore. It's another one of those books that claims finance is mainly a psychological problem. If people change the way they think and feel about money, all their money problem will be solved. I don't agree with that assumption. Never the less, I thought the book made some good points. The first and the only distinction that I remember was "time and money". 5 classes of people from very poor, poor, middle, rich, and very rich thinks about money with very different time horizon. The very poor worry about money day to day level. The time frame gets longer for each class : week to week, month to month, year to year, and decade to decade.
I totally agree that too many people in middle class makes big purchases because they are sold on a payment plan that fit their "monthly" budget : car, big screen tv, boat, rv, etc. These people will probably be stuck in middle class forever. If you want to get any where in life and money you have to make long term plans and execute on your plans.
To me the core problem is education about the cause and effect of money. The money spend is gone forever and money in my pocket is going to worth a whole lot more 10 years from now. Would I rather spend $10,000 now or let it grow at 5% interest then spend $16,470 in 10 years from now. Every purchase is different, but I alway run that mental check. Now or Later. The other half of that is having goals for things that you rather be spending the money on 10 years later. Bigger house, junior's college education, travel around the world, retirement, etc.
fed cuts interest rate again..
I can understand how this cut helps people with debt, but all these cuts are killing my saving interest earning power. I can't find any CDs, money market accounts that pays a decent interest rate. Every time the Feds cuts the rates, my ING Direct interesting earning rate drops. The best money market account rate I can find is from Country Wide Bank around 4.5% a few weeks ago. While, I know that my money is safe in CWB, however I don't want to support the company that is partially responsible for all the mess that we are in now.
Any way you look at it.. The government will be eventually be bailing out lots of businesses and individuals. It's only a matter of time. The good guys that play by the rules gets to pay for other people's sins. What is the lesson from all this mess? Don't trust anybody with your money. Not the government, not the banks, and definitely not any sales people.
Any way you look at it.. The government will be eventually be bailing out lots of businesses and individuals. It's only a matter of time. The good guys that play by the rules gets to pay for other people's sins. What is the lesson from all this mess? Don't trust anybody with your money. Not the government, not the banks, and definitely not any sales people.
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