Run Portable Ubuntu 7.10 in Windows

I know my posting frequency lately has been rather erratic, but I plan to work out a solid schedule later, assuming all my other assumptions hold through.

If you’re like me, you really want to switch to Linux, but for one reason or another, you can’t really leave Windows. You could dual-boot, but why not try it out first? You could make a boot-able flash-drive, but this is way cooler. With this handy bit of software, you can actually run Ubuntu 7.10 inside your current Windows operating system! Here’s how to do it:

1. Get your hand on a 1 GB+ flash-drive. The faster the better.
2. Download QPU710.exe here.
3.Download Ubuntu 7.10 ISO here (this will take a while, so grab some Pepsi and crank up the Billy Joel).

3. Extract QPU710.exe to your (empty) flash-drive.
4. Copy the Ubuntu 7.10 ISO to the newly created QPU710 folder.
5. Run QPU710.bat and install the QEMU Accelerator to your flash-drive’s root folder.
6. Once it’s done,  Ubuntu should start to boot. Do not close this window!

7. While it’s booting, hit “f6” to open the boot options and type in “persistent” (without the quotations).

8. Ubuntu will take a few minutes to boot, so in the meantime, learn these shortcuts:

1. Ctrl-Alt to switch between Ubuntu and Windows.
2. Ctrl-AlT-F to switch between full-screen and windowed modes (this didn’t work for me thanks too my wide-screen monitor).
3. Ctrl-Alt-2 to switch to the QEMU Monitor
4. Ctrl-Alt-1 to switch back to Ubuntu.

9. When it boots, have fun, you’re using Linux – inside Windows! Guaranteed to impress your friends!

10. When you want to close Ubuntu, click shutdown and wait to be prompted to hit “enter” Do not remove the flash-drive. When it tells you “System  Halted,” you can Ctrl-Alt back to Windows, close the windows and remove your flash-drive.

Have fun!

TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L633M CD/DVD Reader Fix

Warning: This post contains very specific technical language that may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors. Viewer discretion is advised.

My friend recently bought a new HP ProBook 4710s. The first thing he did when he first booted it up was install Norton 360 (shut up you open-source imperialists, Norton works). He put the CD in, it spun and… Nothing. He checked “My Computer” and the drive wasn’t even there. He brought it back to Staples and all they could think to do was re-format for $80.00. My friend decided to leave it there so they could see what they could do without charging him (for some strange reason, wherever a computer’s really screwed up, system restore stops working and it’s not covered by your warranty). The next day, Staples called him and said there was nothing they could do. He took it back and called me. Why I was his last resort, I will never know. I fixed it anyways.

If you have the same problem, here’s how to fix it:

1. Open “regedit” (Start -> Run -> regedit, or in Vista, Start -> type in “regedit”)

2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_<MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

3. Click UpperFilters in the right pane.

4. Back up the key by selecting it and clicking File -> Export.

5. Now, delete the key from the registry (but not UpperFilters.bak)

6. Under the same directory, click LowerFilters.

7. Back up that key.

8. Delete it.

9. Reboot and hope for the best.

Note: If you need to re-add those entries to the registry, double click them. If you go a week without problems, delete them to avoid accidentallyre-adding them (and re-creating the problem).

Funny story, a week later he got a call from Staples telling him that his computer has been re-formatted and was ready to be picked up. My friend told the man he already had his computer, and a quick check of ID numbers confirmed they had wiped the wrong computer…

It would suck to be the guy who asked for a battery replacement and got an empty hard-drive.

*.bat to *.exe Compiler

I’ve been messing with MS-DOS for a little while and I’ve found you can’t do much (innocent or otherwise) with batch files while they still have the *.bat label. Off the top of my head, I can tell you that can’t e-mail them, can’t give them  custom icons and you can’t really encrypt them. With this little utility, you can convert them into executable files (*.exe), where you can do all of those things. Compiling them to *.exe also means they are no longer editable, good if you don’t want people messing with them. This app is also totally portable and requires no installation to run.

Download it here.

Rainmeter 1.1 Release!

I know I am, once again, a little late, but i just have to follow up on one of the biggest Rainmeter/Enigma updates in history. In case you didn’t know, Rainmeter is the single greatest piece of software in the universe. It is a fully customizable resource meter that can also monitor RSS feeds, weather and much more! It is fully customizable and skin-able. This  new update includes several new features, like RainBrowser and Rainthemes. Updates to Enigma include a Google Calendar skin and a Foobar2000/WinAmp skin.

Just thought I’d let you guys know that it updated. Rainmeter.net.

What Ever Happened to “Last Used?”

Everyone knows the “programs and features” panel in the control panel. It’s where we go to un-install programs, but it has changed quite a bit since Windows XP. For one, it looks more like and explorer window than ever before. But there are a few features that seem to be missing in the Vista version, things like the “last used” column of the “date installed” column. I always found these very useful in XP,so their disappearance in Vista upset me. After messing around with explorer for a bit, I found out how to get them back! Simply right click on the bar (in details mode), select “more” and choose the columns you want.