TuxRug's Blog

Setting Windows as default after installing Jolicloud

2010-12-22T14:43:00.001-07:00

I have played with Jolicloud a bit on my computer, and I like it. I would not be upset at all if stores started selling netbooks with Jolicloud preinstalled.

For those of you who do not know what Jolicloud is, it is a light, linux-based operating system that is mostly cloud-based. Most of the applications actually run in the web browser. While this means you need to be connected to the internet to use it, it also means that netbooks with built-in 3G or 4G internet access will need much smaller hard drives, and documents saved in Jolicloud can be accessed anywhere with internet access.

To make it easier to try, Jolicloud offers a Windows installer, which creates a bootable disk image and adds it to the Windows boot menu. All you have to do to use Jolicloud is reboot. If you don’t like it, boot back into Windows and uninstall it from the Add/Remove Programs menu.

The problem with this is Jolicloud sets itself as the default OS when you install it this way. Most people trying Jolicloud probably do not like this, since they are likely more used to Windows, and they do not want to have to manually select Windows when they want to use it, and would rather have Windows boot automatically with an option to boot Jolicloud instead, not the other way around.

Jolicloud does not make it easy to switch the default back to Windows. However, I do. Here is how to do it in Windows Vista or Windows 7 in 3 easy steps:

Open a command prompt as an administrator
** To do this quickly, press the Start button, type cmd then press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER. Select “Yes” in the User Account Control Dialog. If you have UAC disabled, just run the command prompt normally.
type bcdedit /default {current} then press ENTER
** You can copy the command above to the clipboard, then paste it in the Command Prompt window by right-clicking, then clicking Paste (CTRL+V does not work in the command prompt).
type exit then press ENTER, or click the close button.

Next time you reboot the computer, it will give you until the count of 5 to select Jolicloud. If you don’t, Windows will start. If you want a shorter (or longer) countdown, then follow these 3 easy steps:

Open a command prompt as an administrator
type bcdedit /timeout # (where # is the number of seconds you want the countdown to last) then press ENTER
type exit then press ENTER, or click the close button.

If you want to set Jolicloud as default again, that’s a little bit more complicated:

Open a command prompt as an administrator
type bcdedit then press ENTER. Look for something towards the bottom that says “Real-mode Boot Sector” and lists “Jolicloud” as the desctiption.
right-click, then click “Mark”. Click and drag to highlight the listed identifier, including the curly brackets. Note that this identifier is randomly-generated and will be different on your computer. Press ENTER to copy this to the clipboard.
type bcdedit /default then right-click and choose “paste”. Press ENTER.
type exit then press ENTER, or click the close button.

And now you have the default OS you want! Doing this in XP is very different, so I’ll put up those instructions a bit later.

UNTITLED: The Series

2009-07-02T13:46:00.001-06:00

Just on a whim, I’ve decided that when I’m bored and have nothing (fun) to do, I’ll do a little comic. These comics will have no consistent characters or storylines, hence the title “UNTITLED”. They will simply be one-shot comics, like “Speed Bump”. There will be no set schedule. I will post them both on my DeviantArt site and here, if and when I get them done. I have to leave room for my job search and ongoing college education.

I have started work on UNTITLED1. It’s sloppy, and probably not that funny, but it’s a way to practice drawing and maybe entertain some people at the same time. The upcoming comic pokes fun at T9 text input (oh boy) and a sit-com type relationship (think Frank and Marie Barone) at the same time! Can it be done? The answer will come.

My take on Windows 7

2009-05-19T10:39:00.003-06:00

I’ve been playing with the Windows 7 release since a few days after it was released to the public. So far, it’s living up to the hype. Here’s a brief comparison between XP, Vista, and 7 (in my opinion):

	Windows XP	Windows Vista	Windows 7
Bootup time	Good 4/5	Varies with the position of the moon 2/5	Good 4/5
Appearance	Good, but got old quickly 3/5	Amazing 4/5	Incredible 5/5
System requirements	It runs on my dad’s computer unmodified 5/5	Brings the most advanced technology in the galaxy to its knees 2/5	Somewhere between XP and Vista 4/5
Performance	Speedy with a decent system 3/5	Speedy with top-of-the-line system, liquid nitrogen cooling, and live human sacrifice 1/5	Does this thing read my mind or something? 4/5
Ease of use	Confusing transition from 98, but easy to navigate after a month or so 4/5	Confusing transition from XP, but easy to navigate after years of therapy 2/5	Confusing transition from XP, slight behavioral modification needed with transition from Vista 3/5
Reliability	First version of Windows I used that could run for more than a couple hours at a time (actually had it up to three solid weeks) Frequent blue screens and freezes upon trying something new 3/5	Less blue screens than XP. More random crashes of individual apps. 3/5	Have not had a single blue screen. OS has not frozen. Individual apps crash less often 4/5
Backwards Compatability	Broke some pre-XP programs. I only had one game that no longer worked in XP. Many of my Windows 98 DirectX games ran better in XP 4/5	Most of my Windows 9x games no longer run. Some XP apps do not work. 64-bit edition no longer has any legacy 16-bit support 1/5	About the same as Vista, slightly better 2/5
Overall	4/5	2/5	4/5

I heard that Microsoft also reworked the way the graphics are handled. The experience index ratings show the effects of that. Here’s a comparison on my laptop, before and after:

	Vista (64-bit)	7 RC1 (64-bit)
Processor	4.8	4.9
RAM	5.9	5.9
Graphics (Aero)	4.1	4.1
Graphics (Gaming)	3.6	5.1
Primary HDD	5.3	5.3

Everything’s pretty much the same… except look at the Gaming Graphics score. Before, 3.6. Now, 5.1. Five point freaking one! The Gaming Graphics score is no longer the one dragging down the curve. Now it’s my Aero Graphics. My base score has shot from 3.6 to 4.1! I fail to see any improvement in the Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Video Stress Test benchmark, however.

Even in the places where performance hasn’t improved statistically, it feels snappier, which some attribute to the reworked graphics “sharing”.

So, In all, I like Windows 7 about as much as I liked XP in its heyday. Of course, Windows 7 is better. Also, somehow, Microsoft figured out something that’s going to win over a lot of people. Windows 98 had a colorful bootup screen with animation. Windows XP had a simpler boot screen with with just the logo and a scrolling bar animation. Vista had an incredibly boring boot screen, with just the scrolling bar and copyright text. Yet, 7 has the most impressive boot screen I’ve ever seen on ANY operating system, and yet it boots slightly faster than Vista’s lackluster splash. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it, hit play below.

I am looking forward to Windows 7’s release. It may be the first version I actually want to upgrade to since XP (rather than just stick with the old version until I have to buy a new computer preloaded with the newer version).

Finals Week

2009-04-29T20:04:00.001-06:00

Halfway through finals and feeling the strain. Luckily I have tomorrow off!

I hate being sick

2009-04-08T11:14:00.001-06:00

I've missed class Monday, Tuesday, and now today too. I was already sick during spring break, wasn't that enough?

Microsoft Bob to be included in Windows 7

2009-04-01T10:53:00.005-06:00

I have a close friend who works at Microsoft, who told me yesterday that starting with the next beta release of Windows 7, the traditional Explorer GUI will be made optional. By default, the new Microsoft BOB 7 will be the GUI on capable computers (Experience Rating index of at least 6.2).

The new BOB 7 GUI will feature the reappearance of Rover (last seen in Windows XP as a search assistant), as well as the rest of the original BOB cast, as well as many new characters. They will all be rendered live in 3D, taking advantage of DirectX 11's new features.

According to my friend, he hear Melinda Gates say "Maybe BOB will actually have some users now that it'll be shoved in their faces. Then maybe my dream of conquering the world through my husband's brainchild using cute yet obnoxious helpers and clunky, unusable interfaces... Maybe BOB's prophecy will be fulfilled." She followed this comment with maniacal laughter.

I think this is a great idea. I really need an anthropomorphic yellow lab to help me balance my checkbook. I can't do it myself.

WTF weekend?

2009-02-02T09:58:00.004-07:00

Ok... This weekend was an officially weird one for computers...

First issue: I noticed this one as it was happening. Google's goof-up was later attributed to human error. The problem? A single "/" in the wrong place acted as some sort of wildcard.
Second issue: Portions of my university's website were unexpectedly down for part of the weekend, including the Blackboard webapp, where students go to look up homework assignments, download class materials, check their grades, etc. Basically a big part of the student resources offered by my university. I did not witness this myself as I must have used it for what I needed before it tumbled off the face of the web, but many of my classmates have raised complaints in class.
Third issue: This one struck a bit closer to home. My future mother-in-law (who is generously providing me with room and board after a recent tragedy, which I will talk about later) had a lot of trouble with her work-at-home setup. She's a phone representative for a well-known phone company. Countless times on Saturday, her VPN connection would be dropped like a hot potato. Just before every drop, my internet connection speed would drop from 1.5Mbps to sub-dialup speeds, with resumable downloads being forced to restart from scratch. Also, just before that, my download speeds nearly doubled for a few seconds, outside what I would expect from an actively shared connection. I have no idea what was going on there, but it didn't seem to be my fault; the disconnects continued after I had shut down. Previous erratic download speeds seemed to be attributable to my Wii, but since a few firmware updates ago, the problem was gone. I doubt the problem has returned, but if the problems continue today, I will try disabling WiiConnect24. I've all but ruled out internet conection issues, by running line tests and speed tests which all came back with expected results.
Fourth Issue: Friday night, Netflix was a Netflop. Watch Instantly was virtually unusable. Streaming would fail shortly into a movie, and would refuse to rebuffer, claiming it could not reach the server. Other movies worked briefly, at which they would refuse to buffer. This isn't related to time limits, because it is an unlimited plan, and Netflix worked once again Sunday.
Fifth issue: My father's computer suddenly stopped recognizing USB Mass Storage devices: his digital camera, his brother's flash drive, etc. all showed up but were inaccessable ("Please insert a disk into drive X:", etc). I remoted in through VNC, and watched his screen as he plugged in devices. Sometimes it was the above mentioned symptom, sometimes it was "USB device not recognized". Bypass the hub, same problem. Reboot, same problem. So I drive over, and it's working perfectly. We both scratched our heads for a half an hour trying to reproduce the error.

And that's a wrap for now. I have never seen this many inexplicable, apparently self-resolving issues in one WEEK, even when I was an assistant tech in High School (where I found my share of WTFs, but they were at least explainable or fixable), nevermind less than three days.

===EDIT===
Ok, here's something I just found out. 30 seconds of porn gets spliced into the Super Bowl broadcast for Tuscon, AZ Comcast cable subscribers. So far it seems a hacker hijacked the standard definition signal. Why can't cable hackers insert in wholesome material, like Care Bears? Full story.

TuxRug.net is now mine!

2009-01-19T10:27:00.002-07:00

Recently, due to a change in the way AOL ran their myeaddress service, I was required to purchase the tuxrug.net domain. As an upside, it has a multitude of new features. Previously, it was just my email. Now, for example, http://blog.tuxrug.net/ redirects here, and you can send a text message to my phone by visiting http://phone.tuxrug.net/. Also, I am setting up http://art.tuxrug.net/ as I write this, which will redirect to my DeviantArt page.

Don't worry, I'll have http://www.tuxrug.net/ do something sooner or later!

Does the nation have Obamarama or McCain Pains?

2008-11-04T14:08:00.003-07:00

Are we Biden our time or ailin' for Palin?
Me, I had a BarackAttack.

Finals week

2008-04-28T06:54:00.002-06:00

It's time for final exams for both Yo and I. Oy, 3-hour test making up at least 25% of our grades in each class... Here we come!

Charger damage follow-up

2008-04-22T16:41:00.004-06:00

Here's some pictures I took of the damage... luckily it wasn't as extensive as it first looked. Got the mirror replaced for about $15 and some work. It's not a perfect match, but it works. Now all I gotta do is get the scrape tended to.

I love my neighborhood (intense sarcasm)

2008-04-16T08:13:00.003-06:00

My '73 Doge Charger has been vandalized for the second time in about as many months. First time, some kids smashed in the windshield with a bat. We replaced the windshield for about $250. This morning, I head out to drive the Charger to class, and notice it is once again undrivable. There is a ton of busted up slate in the road and wedged between the door (now missing a large patch of paint), the now completely broken mirror. The window is off-track so badly, the door doesn't even look like it will open. I had to get my mom to drive me to school. She said she'd file a police report when she got back home. I will update this later when I get home to my computer, and will post some pictures.

News flash: Homework is BORING

2008-04-13T15:35:00.001-06:00

Working on 10-page paper about how Bill Gates changed the world. The cat below does not know my pain.

see more crazy cat pics

I'm ready for summer

2008-04-08T08:57:00.001-06:00

I am so ready for summer break to start. I enjoy college, but hey we've got some nice weather and I'd rather be outside enjoying it. Right now I'm sitting in my computer class supposidly working on my project, but im this instead. well i guess than i better get off of this for now and work on what im suppose to

I had a strange dream last night...

2008-04-07T12:57:00.006-06:00

Anyone should be able to read this transcript of my dream and know immediately that it is a pretty big wtf. Anybody who watches Stargate SG-1 at least as much as I do, will realize the TRUE lunacy of this dream.

My mom and I were in the kitchen, where I had a nice steaming hot cup of Chai (a kind of tea), minus the milk. But I wasn't drinking it, nor did I have any intention to. There was a formerly crisp, now soggy $5 bill at the bottom of the cup, and on top of it, was a small, healthy larval Goa'uld. I continued to add milk to the cup, and the larva would drink it up. I praised it, but not in the way you would expect. Servants of the Goa'uld typically worship their masters with praise such as "I am not worthy, my lord." Nuh-uh. I was saying, "Who's a good boy! Yes you are! Yes you are! Who's the cutest little baby parasitic extraterrestrial life form? You are! Yes you are!"
In the show, that would freaking PISS OFF any Goa'uld, even a member of the Tok'Ra (the very few of the species who are NOT EVIL). For those of you who don't watch the show, or didn't start watching the show until after the series moved on to later villains, Goa'uld are VERY intelligent, and easily offended because of that.
So, why was I doing that? Why was the potentially malicious symbiote totally cool with this treatment? It was my pet!

I would LOVE to tell all (1?) of my readers more about this dream, but alas, this is when my alarm clock went off. Anyone care to offer some sort of interpretation? Because I am confused as hell.

P.S.: There's a joke in the labels for this post referring to a question Teal'c asks in season 1. Can you find it?

There are very few actual men in this world

2008-04-06T12:07:00.004-06:00

There are guys out there that think they are a man. Well they aren't. There is one guy in particular, that i honestly don't even consider a man. This guy likes to hang out, and well he has a girlfriend. The other day I was at his house, watching tv. Then all of a sudden he started asking things like, what would I do if I was single, would I go out with him. Ya know, then he starts thinking about things that he would maybe do if we were to date, and we weren't already in a relationship. Well I don't think he would have even done this since he has a girlfriend. He says that he would never cheat. He on the other hand didn't feel uncomfortable, he thought it was all good. I felt uncomfortable, considering the fact that I am engaged to a wonderful guy, which I do think he is a real man. The guy that I'm engaged to is great and wouldn't even do such a thing at all.

Holy Crap

2008-04-06T10:03:00.002-06:00

I bought the movie the holiday, i saw it in theater with my fiancé. i decided to buy the movie on dvd.well i got it like 2 weeks ago. i start watching like 30 mins. of it and then decide to do something else. i believe that this is my 4th time, and let me tell you i probably wont watch it all again.

Is there something wrong with me?

2008-04-05T16:00:00.001-06:00

Recently I made the decision to move my entire iTunes folder onto the smaller (160GB) of my external drives (which already had some Anime),because with help from the 65 odd gigs in that folder, my laptop's hdd was occasionally choking on itself (with help from a couple of VMs, it sometimes would get down to only 65MB of free space, a couple times reporting 0B free - on a 93.1GB partition (all of a "100GB" drive). So now I find myself with 74.2GB free space on the partition after moving my entire iTunes library and deleting all but one of my VMs (Windows 98, MS Virtual PC). What to do with all this free space?

Good idea: I am considering resizing my XP partition and once again returning Linux to my laptop, thus balancing the evil out.
Bad idea: I am also considering installing Vista Business into some of this free space, making a tri-boot.

Keep in mind, I already have a free copy of Vista through my University. Still, am I nucking futs?

this is my first, tuxrug's fiance`

2008-04-03T21:30:00.002-06:00

well anyway, this is my first blog so i just thought id try it out. im sitting here drinking a keva juice. i got this like around 330 pm and hey its 930 pm well hopefully it will be gone by the time im ready to go to bed

The (not) First Post

2008-04-03T18:34:00.002-06:00

Good news, my fiancé accepted my invite, so she might post once in a while.

I'm gonna be busy tonight... I have to do a powerpoint presentation about HyperTransport. Also, I (had) literally 0 bytes free on my notebook's hard drive, according to Explorer, until I deleted my Vista VM. Now I have 17GB free (I couldn't even free enough to merge my snapshots). But it will fill up soon. Why, I've got 63GB of music and TV, plus applications, and such, so my tiny 100GB drive isn't going to cut it. Until I buy a new hard drive and image it, I am going to move ALL my music onto the smaller of my external hard drives; 160GB of space dedicated to multimedia, 40GB already there I think. My larger 250GB external drive is going to remain my backup drive, so I can keep an HDD image and multiple differential backups of my documents. I think I'll let that happen in the background using xcopy while I'm working in powerpoint. From what I read, iTunes will be fine with the music move with just a few clicks.

I will just start the copy now, try migrating my library, and if that works, then I'll delete them from my internal drive and defragment. Then I'll have plenty of room. :)

The Ribbon-Cutting

2008-04-02T19:33:00.002-06:00

I finally did it. I caved in and started a blog. I will put rants, and funny anecdotes, and whatever I feel like saying publicly here. I also invited my fiancé to post on my blog, so you might hear from her once in a while.

Anyway, mostly I just posted this here so my blog wouldn't sit completely naked until my next blog-worthy experience.