Chris Pirillo's Geeks! Site, Ning.com, The Obama Projector, Major Worm Patch, Forcing Drivers in XP

Chris Pirillo's Geeks! Site, Ning.com

If you have anything to do with computers you probably at least know of Chris Pirillo.  He's run a technical mailing list and site for many years now.

If you're a geek or would like to be one and want to share info on a social network specifically by a group of self-proclaimed geeks check out Chris Pirillo's "Geeks!" social network website. The whole thing is built using Ning.com's social network-building. 

Great site itself, and so is Chris' use of it - he's got a massive number of subscribers now.  And it's all free.  Embrace your geekdom.

Ning.com is worth checking out itself.  You can set up webboards, photo and video sharing, chatrooms, widgets of all kinds, etc.

I like the site, occasionally post there.  But I'm not a big fan of calling people (or myself) a geek - I like to think of myself as fairly well-rounded with many (sometimes too many) interests.

The Obama Projector

We have this holiday projector thing we got at a local super-store. 

It's just basically a metal cylinder mounted on a swiveling spiked leg to stick it into the ground. Inside the back is a strong halogen light and inside the front is a set-up to hold a round slide, with a lens at the front.  The whole front part can be slid up and down to focus the projection and make it larger/smaller. 

It came with all sorts of holiday-themed slides, which are round and inside a pair of cardboard frames.  As mentioned above they fit into the bottom part of the top section and springed legs hold them in place.

It works nice, projecting holiday figures onto any surface.   We haul it out once in a while and project a holiday slide onto the side of the garage.

I got it out last night with the idea of putting the Halloween slides into it, as Halloween is my favorite season.

But ever since we bought the machine I've been thinking that maybe I could make my own slides.  I could not only have my own custom holiday or special event slides but as an added bonus I could piss off neighbors by making a "Happy Xmas" slide instead of "Merry Christmas", etc.  You know how some people get so damned upset about using "Happy Holidays" instead of "Christmas"...

As usual I never had the time to experiment with making my own slides.  But last night I got the projector out, wanting to put in a Halloween slide.

Instead I decided to get a projector plastic flimsy out that can be printed on with a bubble jet printer.  Various of my customers and friends do it all the time, but I've never had much of a reason to do so before.

I found an Obama graphic from a blog I read, and edited it a bit and printed it.  It printed very nicely.  See above. The shot shows the original graphics, with a few mods.  The slides that came with the machine, and the slide I printed.

I cut the slide and at first made cardboard frames something like the original slides.  When I stuck it in the projector and gave it a try, projecting it on a wall in the house with the lights off to see what it looked like; I was amazed at how well it came out.

Eventually, after some tinkering, I took the cardboard frame off so that more of the picture would show through.  Which also worked well.





You'll notice the slides in the pic that came with the machine are very similar to slides from old-school slide projectors.  I'm sure anyone who was an adult in the 70's, or even 80's, has a bunch of these lying.  As a side-note, you can have slides printed or scanned, or buy your own set up to do it with dedicated equipment or using your existing scanner.  A down-and-dirty but surprisingly-good way is to just haul our your old slide projector and fire it up, and take pics with your digital camera.  Some messing around with your camera's setting should yield you some pretty god results.  And some post-editing helps too.  Of course, it's no substitute for doing it in a more 'professional' manner if needed.

Anyway, back to my outdoor slide projector project...

I set the device up outside and projected it on the side of our garage.  Wow, surprising how well it works.  A quick walk down the road confirmed that it could be seen for quite a distance.  I then moved it to the front of the garage, as the peak afforded a large projection surface.  This too worked, but couldn't be seen very well due to the angle of the garage versus the road.  See pics below.

 

In the first photo above I allowed the flash to go off to show it in proportion to the garage, in the second is just the slide itself on the garage siding.

Firstly, as you can probably see - the slide needs to be repositioned in the device.  An eyeballing problem, as the position in the device has to be guessed at since I didn't use a frame for the slide.

Secondly, it could be brighter.  Last year the original bulb blew and I have yet to find another 100 watt bulb, what is in it is a 50 watt which seems to be common.  The 100 watt - not so much.  Still looking.

I'm not a super big fan of Obama but, well, the alternative is laughable.  I really don't want to live in a four-year SNL sketch...  Not that we haven't for the last eight years already, and look where it's gotten us.

I'm sure my next slide will be "Congratulations President Obama".

Anyway...  Now that I know I can do it, and got a few of the techniques down I can print any custom one that I want.

Like I said - maybe an Xmas one.  Maybe celebrate some obscure holidays.  Or maybe celebrate a few "extinct" holidays like the Druid "Mabon" or "Gwyl Awst".  Or maybe for a few days project an "It's a boy" sign, then a few days later "It's a girl".  There's endless possibilities.  Something to make the neighbors scratch their heads.

 

Major Worm Patch

No, I haven't taken up fishing...  As you probably (should know) MS has shipped a special out-of-season (my phrase) patch for the Windows' systems.  Sheez...  Major anti-worm patch that stops a worm from exploiting a hole in the security system to execute code.  You can see the bulletin here.

My download worked fine for XP on all the computers here, but the Vista version of the download caused an error message on two computers running Vista.  Not sure why so far but likely having to do with the filename extension and disabled services.

Also, new GIMP out and, well, they actually listened to us users.  Isn't Open Source great?  It's kinda like the free market system, but no one gets rich off it.  Or something like that.

Forcing Drivers in XP


People occasionally ask me to install XP on their new computers that came with Vista.


Many times I convince them to stick with Vista unless they have a specific problem they can't solve and doesn't work in Vista.  Which, frankly, is increasing once again with the prevalence of Vista 64.


Sometimes it's a bugger to get some of the older or even current XP drivers to install in conjunction with other drivers previously installed.


Many times everything works fine, but once in a while I run across the problem where no matter how many things are uninstalled and no matter what order things are re-installed something doesn't take.  Sometimes going in and deleted the driver and registry entry, even both have been uninstalled; doesn't work.


In which case sometimes you just have to force it to install the driver even if Windows thinks it's not the correct one.  You know the routine - HAVE DISK, etc.  As long as you're absolutely sure it's the right one give it a try as a last resort.  


I find that even if the person wants ONLY XP on their computer it's best to partition it, install XP on the second partition, and make sure you have all the drivers you need first before deleting Vista.  

That way you can go back to Vista to check on the exact spec of a piece of hardware, or it's IRQ and other parameters if needed; and other comparisons.  Then once you have it all set up then you can reformat the harddrive and install XP as the primary.

Global Handwashing Day, Clipart Sites, Obama/McCain, Tweaks for Vista

As you may or may not have noticed my blog entries are getting further and further apart.  Sorry.

I find myself busier and busier but having less time, it seems without really gaining on much of anything.  Isn't that the way it is with everyone? ;)

 Global Handwashing Day

Today is Global Handwashing Day.  The U.N. says that a simple act of a kid washing their hands more often could save more then 3.5 children's lives in the world.  Okay, not such a big thing here in the US but I think most people don't do it often enough, let alone kids.

After I return from Watertown I always wash my hands thoroughly, as well as from customer's places.  Some people "dip", but a good hand-washing is more involved then that.

And how about those times when you see someone use the bathroom and not wash.  Gah, disgusting.  Hard to believe it still happens.

Keyboards and mice and remote controls are terribly dirty, same with your steering wheel.  A little scrub once in a while with some alcohol or the little hand-cleaning lotion you can buy is all that's needed.  Same with the faceplate and buttons on your phone (don't get it actually wet).

Obama/McCain

I like this the above thumb came out, some interesting juxtaposing color-wise, don't you think?

Anyway...I find myself very much disliking McCain after watching him very closely during the debates.

He seems always on edge, and on the very brink of losing his temper.  It seems to be consistent and continual.

Do we want someone who some Republicans had said was unwinnable during a previous run, because of his temper?

He's twitchy, yet frozen, on edge and I find myself not believing his sincerity.

McCain's like a number of people I know who project an air of holier-then-thou mentality, an air of I'm-older-then-you-so-I-know-better.  I don't like people like that because, frankly, they usually are the last people you want giving you advice or ideas and are somewhat distasteful to be around, let alone someone you want to be the prez.

McCain - I'd probably smile and nod if he told me the sky was blue and, at the earliest opportunity, go outside to make sure it still was...

Obama on the other hand is much more likable in my eyes.  Sure, he's still a politician but take away the politicking and I think I'd like the guy.  He's smart, open-minded, and he's learning in both his demeanor and knowledge in general.

I feel much better about our choices as time goes on - not that I still don't have a LOT of concern in general.

HDTV is great, especially with a big screen.  You can sit close to the TV and get a real feel for the demeanor of a candidate.  Every twitch, every glance, every eye flick is there for your interpretation.

Maybe it's just me, but with Obama's double-digit lead I think the issue will very soon be very moot.

Enough of my aimless wanderings about the candidates, especially when I didn't even mention the issues themselves.   But, I believe, character is very much important in any power position.  And what could be more powerful then president of the greatest country in the world?

Stock Photo Sites

It's always nice to have sock photos for websites, blog, etc.  Hey, don't just grab stuff off Google - that's stealing and copyright infringement.  Use a free clipart or stock photo site.  Like Cyclo.ps.

Cyclo.ps is an open source search engine for stock photo sites.  Of course, some aren't free or require a membership to download, but many area.  It's always good to check for copyrights or Creative Commons licensing info on any photos you use, especially if you're making money off putting it on a website .

Great resource.

I still like http://www.picapp.com/ and http://www.wpclipart.com/ myself.

Tweaks for Vista

MzUltimate Tweaker is an excellent free tweaking program, with lots of support programs.  Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Thoosje Vista Tweaker is a bit more limited but still very good, and also free.


Another good one which is pay is here, from a company called Yamicsoft.  You can get a shareware version from the site.

You'll also find many others, like Vispa.  A bit less user-friendly but still does a great job.

As always, be careful with these and don't even give them a try if you don't know what you are doing. 


Vista Quick Image Resizer


Some of us have gotten used to many of the tweaks in XP.  They're old hat and used all of the time.  You know the things, like MS Powertoy's Image Resizer.  Right-click on and image and you can quickly resize it to whatever you want to.  How many times have you received a 6 meg photo of something that someone should have resized on the other end with this program.

MS's tech employees haven't released or come up with any powertoys yet for Vista, but others have.

You can find a clone of the quick photo resizer for Vista here - http://www.powerhourgame.com/windows_vista_image_resizer_powertoy_prish_image_resizer.htm and another one here - http://www.vso-software.fr/products/image_resizer/download-image-resizer.php

The latter one does have an annoying pop-up but works well otherwise.  The first is my choice.  There are others also.

Replacing Notepad in Vista

It's very similar to the process in XP.

Get your favorite notepad replacement program, rename it to "NOTEPAD.EXE", search for all instances of Notepad in the Windows dir and sub-dirs and set the owner rights on them to admin, then copy your new NOTEPAD.EXE and replace the existing Windows ones (you may want to rename your old notepad to OLDNOTEPAD.EXE or something like that).

Depending on your flavor of Vista there may be a number of instances of Notepad in various places.  Do them all.

Make sure you are signed in on an admin account when you do this, and if you find that you can't change the rights on all of the notepad versions reboot and go into SAFE mode (press F8 when the computer is booting and select SAFE MODE), then change the owner rights from safe mode.

Of course, you can always just associate textfiles and other documents with a notepad or word processor.  But it's much better "coverage" of textfiles when just replacing it.  Also, if you are using something that has it's own install dir it may be much harder to just replace the existing one, as it must reside in the Windows dirs and sub-dirs.

I recommend Metapad for replacing Notepad, with Metapad set up to allow you to do more heavy-duty editing in Open Office's Writer and the freeware PSPad (with Metapad if you have loaded a file into it and want to do more advanced editing you use the Launch menu to open the existing file in your favorite heavier-duty editor).

Vista
I find myself having a love/hate relationship with Vista.

I love some of the new features; the history for the file management and open dialog, the built-in immediate search (with indexing turned off of course), and the speed of everyday use (with Aero and unnecessary services disabled), etc.

Sometimes when I got back to XP I think - "Wow, how primitive!".

Yet, the architecture of Vista is bloated and way too patched.  It's stable, but still very breakable.  And not always so good on some systems.  With the 4 gigs of mem it's very fast and stable.  Same with my laptop, despite the smaller memory but there's definitely more disk using on the laptop with the smaller amount of memory and a very slow shut-down and hibernate on the laptop.  Not so on the desktop.  So I normally still use XP on the laptop.  Maybe grab myself some more memory at some point.

And some common problems (one of which I ran into and finally solved) have never been addressed by MS nor resolved in Vista.

After partitioning and installing XP (and then re-installing Vista's boot and adding XP's boot entry) I could compare the speed of the two OS's.  Under normal use it seems to be the same.

But once you do things like rendering large high res photorealistic landscapes you start seeing some speed differences, in XP's favor.

For example - using Bryce 3D I rendered a small moderately complex model.  The differences between XP and Vista were consistently a half seconds difference, in XP's favor.  Larger renderings of the same model at higher rez started increasing this by a few seconds.

Not a lot of difference but a measurable amount, and incremental.