On my Production XP system I have two screens, one of which I switch to my XP Test machine when needed. Having a single screen is so frustrating after you get use to two so I looked around for a multi desktop similar to those available in Linux systems.
There is one available from MS in their PCTools but I prefer this one.
Downloaded from http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/downloads.php and installed on Test XP OK. Needed to play around with hot keys but as long as I chose NAV option and not WIN option (not sure why) it worked fine.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Playing m4v videos in XP
Came across m4v video in Lightroom Help Forums, a video for renaming photos. I downloaded and clicked on it and it would not play. I think it is a portable format for ipods etc.
Drag and dropped it into VLC player and hey presto off it went.
Drag and dropped it into VLC player and hey presto off it went.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Mailto: email on Firefox stopped working - solution
Mailto: email on Firefox stopped working - solution
I upgraded Firefox to 3.5 and a few days later I discovered that on web pages that had a clickable mailto email function, nothing happened. It worked on IE8 and Safari.In looking for solution I came accross Gmail Notifier, that appeared to overcome the problem of choosing Gmail as default in such situations instead of Outlook, so I installed this. This worked fine in IE8 and Safari but again no joy with Firefox 3.5.
On googling problem I came across a solution that involved Fireox about: and making changes to Google Toolbar settings. I did not go there but this reminded me that I had uninstalled Google Toolbar and so I re-installed this and hey prest - fixed. You can supress Google Toolbar by deselecting in View menu, and it still works, just do not disable or un-install.
Not claiming this will fix your problem, just recording it fixed mine
Monday, March 30, 2009
File Renamer great free program
Renamer
Installed version 5.40 of this excellent program, can now add Exif Date to names.See http://www.den4b.com/screenshots.php?project=ReName
Manual and program download from http://www.den4b.com/downloads.php?project=ReNamer
Monday, February 23, 2009
Posts new Address
During 2008 I started using Google Docs to log my computing activities. These are visible at
Also I have built several websites using Google Sites, more complete examples are
Finally I Serif offered me an upgrade to their WebPlus for just £22.00 including postage, so I have recently revisited this product and I am hoping to tie everything together with this at
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Web Development Update
Just completed 1st part of my new learning project of building Math web pages to explain Pythagoras theorem. This is a test bed for further web pages.
I developed it in Google Page Creator which I am using as a prototype, before I repeat in native HTML and then with development tools such as Kompozer and/or Serif Web Plus.
Most of the time was spent in looking for tool for drawing Euclid diagrams. Preferably I wanted one that would work in both Linux and Windows environments. As a test I attempted to create a drawing used in proof of Euclid Parallelograms on Same Base theorem. The first diagram is of two parallelograms that share the same base and the diagonal of one is the side of the other. Very simple but quite tricky to draw with the following programs. All found it difficult to shade.
I looked at various free CAD applications, but these were dismissed as either to complex or they saved drawings in their own special format. I could have taken a 'snapshot' of screen with FastStone Viewer but did not want to go down this route.
I then used Google SketchUp which is great fun. Major lesson here is to switch it into 2d type mode. This is explained in the excellent video on YouTube . With SketchUp you can export image to jpg or png. Only works in Windows.
I also looked at Inkscape and this looks really good but needs learning and probably too sophisticated for my use. This will work in Linux as well.
I tried using Serif PagePlus, and downloaded free Serif DrawPlus 4, and paid extra £7.95 to upgrade to Serif DrawPlus 6. These would probably have been OK but they were no easier to use and are Windows based.
Finally I went back to Open Office Draw and this was as good as any. I could complete drawings but where I had to revert to using straight lines to construct figures I could find no way of shading the various parts. So if I wanted shading I had to save as png or jpg and open in PhotoShop Elements and use Paint Fill. Note Fill in OO Draw appears to work on shapes but not "line drawings."
Prototype in Google PageCreator is done and you can see this at rodtalboys.googlepages.com/mathematics
I like the immediacy of PageCreator which is great for prototype work. I have also discovered that when editing a page you can display HTML for each block you are working on and I hope to be able to cut and paste this into other tools. I want to check out whether I can access any CSS pages it may use.
One minor problem I have found that when looking at pages with Firefox it starts OK but after a time it stops showing the first diagram of every page which if you hit the browser refresh button it then revals. This seems to happen after I have been updating pages. I have not seen same problem with IE7 and I have had this working the same time as I have had Firefox working with the problem prevalent.
I developed it in Google Page Creator which I am using as a prototype, before I repeat in native HTML and then with development tools such as Kompozer and/or Serif Web Plus.
Most of the time was spent in looking for tool for drawing Euclid diagrams. Preferably I wanted one that would work in both Linux and Windows environments. As a test I attempted to create a drawing used in proof of Euclid Parallelograms on Same Base theorem. The first diagram is of two parallelograms that share the same base and the diagonal of one is the side of the other. Very simple but quite tricky to draw with the following programs. All found it difficult to shade.
I looked at various free CAD applications, but these were dismissed as either to complex or they saved drawings in their own special format. I could have taken a 'snapshot' of screen with FastStone Viewer but did not want to go down this route.
I then used Google SketchUp which is great fun. Major lesson here is to switch it into 2d type mode. This is explained in the excellent video on YouTube . With SketchUp you can export image to jpg or png. Only works in Windows.
I also looked at Inkscape and this looks really good but needs learning and probably too sophisticated for my use. This will work in Linux as well.
I tried using Serif PagePlus, and downloaded free Serif DrawPlus 4, and paid extra £7.95 to upgrade to Serif DrawPlus 6. These would probably have been OK but they were no easier to use and are Windows based.
Finally I went back to Open Office Draw and this was as good as any. I could complete drawings but where I had to revert to using straight lines to construct figures I could find no way of shading the various parts. So if I wanted shading I had to save as png or jpg and open in PhotoShop Elements and use Paint Fill. Note Fill in OO Draw appears to work on shapes but not "line drawings."
Prototype in Google PageCreator is done and you can see this at rodtalboys.googlepages.com/mathematics
I like the immediacy of PageCreator which is great for prototype work. I have also discovered that when editing a page you can display HTML for each block you are working on and I hope to be able to cut and paste this into other tools. I want to check out whether I can access any CSS pages it may use.
One minor problem I have found that when looking at pages with Firefox it starts OK but after a time it stops showing the first diagram of every page which if you hit the browser refresh button it then revals. This seems to happen after I have been updating pages. I have not seen same problem with IE7 and I have had this working the same time as I have had Firefox working with the problem prevalent.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Ubuntu Hardy Heron - LAN Network problems resolved
I could not understand why my Local Area which consists of Vista Notebook, XP Desktop and Test Desktop which in this case was Linux Ubuntu Hardy Heron would not communicate with each other. Pings were OK and Internet was OK. When I returned to Ubuntu Gutsy this worked fine!
Every time I tried to connect I had message
Can't display location "smb://192.168.0.4/"
No application is registered as handling this file
I made sure that every network parameter in Hardy (8.04) was the same as Gutsy and still no connection. Then I played around with new Fedora 9, I am interested in Pen Drive facility, and again no local area connection between systems. This I thought was telling me something.
Of course problem was I needed to add SAMBA which I did through the Ubuntu ADD/REMOVE facility and all is now working. I had assumed that the LAN software was included in the live CD I based install on, but this was not so.
I guess I must have done this for my Gutsy version at some time but forgot, which is why now I keep this journal!
Every time I tried to connect I had message
Can't display location "smb://192.168.0.4/"
No application is registered as handling this file
I made sure that every network parameter in Hardy (8.04) was the same as Gutsy and still no connection. Then I played around with new Fedora 9, I am interested in Pen Drive facility, and again no local area connection between systems. This I thought was telling me something.
Of course problem was I needed to add SAMBA which I did through the Ubuntu ADD/REMOVE facility and all is now working. I had assumed that the LAN software was included in the live CD I based install on, but this was not so.
I guess I must have done this for my Gutsy version at some time but forgot, which is why now I keep this journal!
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About Me
- Rod T
- Husband, dad and grandad. Physics graduate from London University in late 60s. Retired from IBM company in 2000 after 27 years as both Sytems Engineer and Salesman. Interests include photography, nature, science, maths, walking, travel. I like facts as a basis of opinion and not opinion that is assumed to be fact.