Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Blog Work

Haha, I find it funny that I am writing about a blog while writing in this blog. But, basically, some friends are trying to start up a new blog and they are going to need some tech support, which is what I am going to do for them. I don't really know what they need, and neither do they, but I have been looking at Blogger and Wordpress as options for them. We shall see.

**Edit**

The Blog is up and running. Check it out!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Ruby (on Rails)

So, I popped onto IM one day, and I was looking for a person. This person knows a lot about computers, and I know he could help me out to get started. Started on what? On a website. But not just any "Look at my rabbit Bill! He eats lettuce!" website, no, this will be a fully interactive powerful website which has a purpose, and it isn't to show the world my rabbit. I won't go into details now, but it will involve a logging in system, with different levels of access, and it will involve a "Digg" like system. After talking with my friend for a while, he told me the only way I will be able to get this to work is if I used Ruby on Rails. Ruby is a programming language, and a very good one at that. The "on Rails" part is there because Ruby on Rails is a web development language, and a powerful one at that. But it also isn't that hard to learn, so i won't be working my arse off just to type a few lines of code. Check it out, you might learn something. I already have.

Hamachi

Well, I am at it again. I am working with Hamachi, which creates Virtual Private Networks between computers. Basically, what I hope to do with this is create a network with all my friends which we can share information, music, videos, and the such. Basically, it will just be a test of my techiness, how far can I go with getting information to my friends. I am really enjoying myself.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Guide: Installing Rainlendar

Rainlendar is a fabulous calendar program which sits on your desktop. It allows you to place events and create "To Do" lists. Rainlendar is now available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. The OS X version is in beta, but so far nothing wrong has been found in it. The installation of Rainlendar on OS X and Windows is incredibly easy. For Windows, just download the correct installation file, and run it. For OS X 10.5 (Tiger 10.4 hasn't been extensively tested) you have to go to the beta page and click on the newest build thread, and download the .dmg file. After the download is complete, open the .dmg and drag the program to your Application folder. You will also probably want to add the icon to your dock, as it will appear there whenever you run the program.

Linux, on the other hand, is a different story.

Linux needs a little more work allow Rainlendar to do whatever it wants. This guide will install Linux on Ubuntu 7.10.

1: Download the DEB Linux file, either Lite or Pro and save it.
2: Open it up using the GDebi Package Installer.
3: Install Rainlendar. You will now find an icon for it in the Menu (Applications -> Office -> Rainlendar2)
4: To get Rainlendar to start when you log in, do the following:
4a: Go to the Sessions option. (System -> Preferences -> Sessions)
4b: Click "Add".
4c: Add a name for the new start up program ("Rainlendar" works well here.)
4d: Click "Browse" and go to /usr/share/rainlendar2/rainlendar2 Click it, and then click "open".
4e: If you want, you can add a description.
4f: Hit "OK".

There, now Rainlendar will start once you log in.

If you want to synchronize calendars between OS's on the same computer, change the Path for the default Calendar in the "Calendar" tab of the options. The first time you move the file you may actually have to create the new Default calendar file. In this case, when you are the folder you want the new Default calendar to be, just type "Default.ics" and click open.

Aliases

Have you ever had to write a long string of characters in the terminal, and let out a huge sigh of relief once you have finished, thinking "Wow, I am so glad I never have to do that again." Well, if you ever do, thank god for Aliases. An aliases, in Linux, is a shortcut for a longer string of commands. For example, you can make an alias for "sudo apt-get install" and just have to type "install" in the terminal to get the same effect. Very useful if you ever have to type in anything more than once.

So how do you add or change aliases? Open up a terminal.

Type: $ nano ~./bash_aliases

And then you are in. There should already be one there, and you can follow the same format to make and edit your own aliases. If you ever want to see what aliases you have just type in:

$ alias

Guide: OS X86 Installation - Getting Passed Welcome Screen

It happens sometimes. You are installing Leopard on your PC because you love the OS so much, but don't have enough money to buy a mac. Installation went fine, you are excited. You boot into your Hackintosh for the first time and get the lovely welcome video. You are breathless. You go through keyboard configuration, and then you tell Leopard that you don't have another account to import anything from.

....

Then, you go back to the welcome video. And again, and again, and again. A never ending loop.

How to break it? You have to trick OS X into thinking that it has already booted up successfully, and already created an account that you can log into. This is an easy fix, and there are a few ways to do it.

1: Reboot, and upon startup hit "f8" to give you startup options. The easiest method to try is to type in the following:
$ "Graphics Mode"="640x480x32"

This sets the screen resolution so small that OS X won't play the start up video, and you should be able to get into creating your account. After creating your account, you can reboot and use your normal screen resolution (don't type anything during start up). If that doesn't work, you can do the next method...

2: This method worked for me, and I think it is the safer of the two methods.
2a: Reboot and hit "f8" during start up to give you start up options.
2b: Type: $ -s Then hit enter.
2c: You should be at a command line. Type the following, hitting enter after each command.
$ /sbin/fsck -fy
$ /sbin/mount -uw /
$ touch /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
$ passwd root
$ reboot

[Note the space in the second command, before the last "/". Don't forget it. If you are confused if there is a space between two characters, place you cursor there and figure it out.]

2d: Upon entering the "passwd" command enter the root password, and then confirm it.

2e: After that you can reboot your computer and load OS X normally, you should be able to login to the root account. However, is is always dangerous to mess around with the root account, so make an administrator account asap and use that. Using root could mess up your install, and you don't want to go through all that again.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Fixing Sound in Ubuntu 7.10

This is just how I did it. A friend guided me though the entire process. If it doesn't work for you, no worries, just remove what we have done here.

Open a Terminal.

$sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

Go to the bottom of the file using arrow keys. Add this line to the very bottom:

options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m42

Make sure there is a line after the added one (Hit enter after pasting).

Restart your computer. If it doesn't work, and something is messed up, go back to the file and remove the line. If it works, then there you go!