Category: Software

If it’s not hard, it’s software

Categories
Software

Windows XP = Pain in my Butt

Ok, virtual monopoly money for whomever can solve this problem. It’s driving me absolutely nuts:

Background

I’m running Windows XP SP1, all patches applied. IBM Thinkpad A31.

Situation

My user name is the administrator (only one). I’m logged in as administrator. When installing any driver update, it prompts, as usual for the location of the driver. I enter the driver location, the driver does the installation procedure, as typical. On the very end, I’m informed by my wonderful OS that it failed because of “Permission Denied”. No more information is known. The driver is located in C:\Drivers (which is where IBM places all drivers prior to installation, and has worked historically).

This happens for all devices.

Mission

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to notify me of the cause, and most importantly how to remedy this annoying issue.

Needless to say, I’m a bit pissed. My Macs don’t do this BS. They work.

Categories
Software

POP3 Mail Checker

Looking for a good Pop3 Mail checker for Windows, and for Mac OS X. Ideally, it should meet the following:

  • Free (open source preferable, but not required)
  • Unobtrusive unless it finds mail (then it should notify me)
  • Fast, Silent, Low CPU/RAM
  • Bonus if I could have it ask to open up a specified URL, rather than my pop3 email client (Mozilla).

I’m mobile most of the week, and not at my primary computer. As a result, I use webmail for quite a bit. I don’t like leaving webmail open. So a pop3mail checker would be nice. I keep my personal mail on my laptop. But I like my business stuff on my Mac, as that’s where I work mostly.

AOL Instant Messenger appears to have one, but because my login contains the full username, it apparently doesn’t work, even if replacing “@” with “%”, or “&” as some have suggested in the past.

So my question is. What do you use? What product works good for you?

Categories
Software

Samba 3.0 is out

Samba 3.0 has been released.

Wonder if it will compile on OS X 10.2.6? Will Apple be including it in 10.3? Perhaps 10.3 Server?

I love Samba, makes my fileserver (bender) run perfectly. I can’t complain about the quality of this product. And the price is a bit high for free open source, but I can manage ;-).

Good day for Samba.

Categories
Software

DNSBL

Finally got Net::DNS to compile and install on XP with Active Perl 5.8. Yea for me.

So I’m experimenting with DNSBL. Neat feature, seems to be working well. Still figuring out which lists are best (without slowing down mail to a halt).

Still can’t get sa-learn working properly. But that’s for tomorrow.

Less spam getting through. Much more than 95% effective now.

Categories
Software

F/A-18 Hornet Operation Iraqi Freedom

RULES!!!!

Damn this game is fun. I don’t think I’ll be seeing the light of day anytime soon. I can’t wait until I get up to speed on all the changes since the last version, and I can start on some missions.

Nice graphics, nice game play, good price. How can I complain?

Not much else to blog about. This is all that’s good.

Categories
Software

Flash 7 Public Beta

Macromedia Flash 7 Beta Available… wonder what’s new? Will have to give it a closer look in the morning.

Categories
Software

Americas Army 1.9 coming soon

I can’t wait for this to arrive. The new version sounds sweet. As posted on the Americas Army website:

Alright troops! Here’s the intelligence report you’ve been waiting for: info on the upcoming version. So gather ’round, take a knee, and listen up: here’s your SITREP. Bottom-line: this upcoming version has so many additional features that they had to jump an entire version number and call it v1.9. But don’t take my word for it. Take a look at what we having coming down the pipe and I think you’ll agree that this new update is the Mother Of All Updates!

New Character Class: This new update introduces a new MOS: combat medic (91W). And true to U.S. Army form, with this new MOS comes the required training. Hooah! That’s right – this update comes with 4 different medical training courses, culminating in a field test where you put your newly-acquired medical skills to work! If you pass these training courses, you get to play the role of combat medic online and administer first aid to your troops in the field.

New Damage Model: Under this new model, each bullet carries with it maximum potential damage. When injured, only a portion of damage is initially inflicted, growing more severe over time (i.e. blood loss, decreased combat effectiveness, etc).

New Missions: Not only do you get the 4 single-player training missions above, but a new multiplayer map is introduced: Mountain Pass, Second Edition.

New Interface: The in-game interface has been totally overhauled, presenting not only a sleeker look, but offering more functionality. Expect to see new features added to this interface over time.

New Character Models: All characters have been replaced with higher resolution models and textures and new animations (including facial animations and lip syncing).

New Anti-cheating Measures: one word: Punkbuster! Effective v.1.9, all US Army Official servers will run Punkbuster Anti-Cheat software .

Other stuff: player shadows (low & high detail), a new theme song, and so much more! Trust me when I say this mega-update is gonna be well worth the wait! Keep your eyes out for v.1.9 coming later this month!

Sounds good to me!

Categories
Software

Bugzilla

I seem to be spending more and more time in Bugzilla.

http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=212120
http://bugzilla.spamassassin.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2200

Categories
Software

Americas Army for Mac

I posted this yesterday on MacVillage.net. Americas Army: Operations is coming to Mac! Yea! Finally, my favorite game, on my favorite platform. Joy!

I can’t express how gitty I am. My only wish is that it isn’t to processor intensive, so my fellow Mac friends can enjoy it with me.

Categories
Apple Software

Safari Madness

I’ve used it before, but today I gave Safari a real go. Despite the fact that some bugs exist, it does a pretty good job. My biggest complement goes to the UI. It’s clean, simple, and totally Apple. It shares the same DNA as Steve Jobs.

I also like the snapback and iSync functionality. Some nice little Apple features make web browsing pleasant. Rendering is pretty good, fast, clean, and pretty compatible.

Still though, I favor Camino. From the pages I tested (including my own) it loaded faster, and had the best rendering of the two browsers (both of which blow Internet Explorer away). The biggest incompatibilities I’ve noted are mainly with JavaScript not functioning properly (especially sites with large complex scripts) or some XHTML pages. All of which Camino and Mozilla do very well.

IMHO the winner is still Camino, and the entire Gecko line of browsers, although Safari gets an honorable mention. It’s UI features are clearly superior.

I don’t think many sites will cater to KHTML browsers though. I think it’s much more likely for them to test in Netscape or other Gecko browsers, than KHTML based browsers. As a result, Gecko based browsers will most likely always have an upper hand in compatibility, unless KHTML manages to really keep up, despite the never ending obstacles that lie in it’s way.

A side note: I’m need to check out OmniWeb (the WebCore version), and give that a go. I haven’t gotten to that yet.