VMWare player IP address

         Computing · Windows      vmnetcfg · vmware player

This was something that really annoyed me when trying to configure VMWare Player 3, there seemed to be no easy way of changing the IP address range or the DHCP addresses when using Windows as the host OS. Actually there is but in a stroke of genius by VMWare it isn’t installed properly. The program that you require is called vmnetcfg.exe and is included in the installer but isn’t installed. Its really difficult to find anything about it on VMWare’s site so to get to it:

Ubuntu compared to Vista and Windows 7

         Linux · Windows

There is a really interesting article over here about ubuntu 9 compared to Vista and Windows 7. http://tuxradar.com/content/benchmarked-ubuntu-vs-vista-vs-windows-7 They compared installation time. Ubuntu was faster. Mouse clicks in the installation: Ubuntu had less. Disk space used: Ubuntu used less. Bootup: Microsoft was faster, Windows 7 being the leader. Shutdown: Linux was faster. IO: Linux was faster. Python: Windows just about edged it. In the real world it probably doesn’t matter, the vast majority of users will continue on with a Microsoft operating system because the software they want to run and have supported by their local IT team will make this easier.

Microsoft Internet Explorer team are full of fail

         Windows      IE8

Suffice to say that this details my thinking that they are idiots: [http://www.isolani.co.uk/blog/standards/Ie8BlacklistForcingStandardsRenderingOptIn ]1 They are blacklisting domains to render in IE7 compatibility mode based upon general usage patterns and by top-level domain. Not whether they work or not. Internet Explorer team, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Installing Windows 2008 on MacBook Pro 10.5

         Computing · OSX · Windows

Windows 2008 Server is probably the most robust operating system to come out from Microsoft whilst still supporting most of the modern features users demand. The robustness and speed of it is just two of the advantages it has over Vista. To install on a MacBook Pro its probably easiest to use Windows 2008 Server x86 CD 32bit. 64Bit and bootcamp is not recommended at the moment! First steps of the installation:

WPF and MDI

         Software · Windows

Just been using Windows Presentation Foundation ( WPF ) to prototype an application that I am working on and althought Microsoft Expression Blend is a fantastic tool I am finding some frustrating limitations with WPF already. Chiefly amoung these is support for Multiple Document Interfaces or MDI. I was hoping to create an interface where I could open and close windows within an application ala Photoshop, After Effects, Director or any application in the last 10 years to do with media creation but Microsoft have decided, in their infinite wisdom, that MDI is a no no.

Mapping folders to drive letters

         Windows

I needed to map a folder on Windows XP to a drive letter to emulate another machine, and looking around for an application that would do this I came across one that has been bundled with Windows since the DOS days: Subst This handy little util will map any folder to a free drive letter, fire up a cmd shell window and type: subst e: s:\myfolder</tt> This will map myfolder to the e:\ drive.

Windows tips collection

         Windows

Excellent post here with lots of tips and tricks to make Windows a better experience – or at least make it easier to live with it day to day. It includes: How to hack windows XP admin password Registry Hacking Increasing options in add/remove programs Automatically Kill Programs At Shutdown: Speeding Up Share Viewing Aspi

XP’s Little-Known ‘Rebuild’ Command

         Windows

This is the Digg description “Have you ever run into a “Missing HAL.DLL,” “Invalid Boot.Ini,” or “Windows could not start…” message? That was when I learned about XP’s built-in “Rebuild” command. It often can easily fix “missing HAL,” “Invalid Boot.Ini,” “Windows could not start…” and similar problems in just a minute or two.” However this article also gives insight into not only rebuilding but pointers into streamlining installs and reinstalls and other areas users don’t often see with their Windows boxes until too late.

SSH on a windows server

         Windows

Running an SSH server on windows can be very advantageous particularly when the server has Cygwin running on it. Luckily if you are running Cygwin, it is very easy to start up your own SSH service and run it as a service. Follow the instructions here. I am currently using it on Windows XP, where it doesnt need quite so many details when it is setting it self up so just check out the ones you need on the instructions.

VMWare free version

         Computing · Linux · Software · Windows

Just read on the register that VMWare is going to offer a free version of its server product. There is no mention of this on their site yet unless they are talking about the VMWare Player which can be used to host VMware / Microsoft and Symantic virtual PC sessions. I am really interested to see where they go with this. For instance at home it would make for a really good test system and its a good competitor to Xen running on Linux.