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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Exactly what I wanted - Sync Solution

I'm starting to like the Dropbox service. This is exactly what I wanted... If I change a file on my laptop at home I want it synchronize in the background to an online storage so it's available from anywhere. And, when I get to work, I want the file downloaded and waiting to be used.
There has to be a central repository and that is best to be kept online. With the availability of internet access nowadays, this should be very feasible. If you have to be offline, the file can be kept on whatever device you have. Once back to civilization, the file will be synchronized again.

Dropbox - Home - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy.

I also love the services that transfer only the changed parts of a file. That's somehow cool and exactly how it should be done. This probably won't work for encrypted files but that's alright. Security can be done in another way, encrypting the whole partition or creating a virtual encrypted disk with TrueCrypt.
So, even though I don't like reorganizing my files to fit into DropBox current limit of sharing only one folder at a certain place (My Dropbox) I'm willing to do that over time. I can set the offline sync to reorganize files for me. There will be more sync pairs but that's alright. Excluding certain files/folders in one set and including them in another, so that they sync to a different place, will not be such a problem.
I still have not decided whether to use SyncToy or continue using Unison. Unison is better at the moment as it has direct file-copy sync and sync via network, where it uses rsync to transfer only the changed parts. At the same time it is not actively developed while SyncToy is. This means that SyncToy might get all these features sometimes in the future.
Thinking of it... I might start using SyncToy more *after* it gets these features. :D Still undecided. Unison only synchronizes while SyncToy has Echo option, which I prefer sometimes, since I use certain folder pairs for backup not synchronization.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Text Flow across Columns in Word

The strait and narrow: using columns

I need to have a text flowing across columns in a Word table. Here's a text that explains several ways to do it.

Dropbox

Dropbox - Home - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy.

A new and well praised service. I got an invitation for beta so I installed it on two computers. It is simple and unobtrusive. What I don't like currently (but that's the next thing for developers, according to their list of tasks) is that it installs a folder in My Documents and only synchronizes that folder. I don't want to rearrange files and folders that I want synchronized/backed up now that I already have backups/syncs arranged with SyncToy and an external hard drive.
If another solution (VPN) works out, then I'll probably use Unison again. It is effective over the network as it uses rsync and it's easy to start the server via telnet. That's quite the solution I like.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Toshiba A215 - Vista - Freeze Fix

So far, it appears that the previously mentioned fix worked! I use sleep and hibernate functions and the laptop has not frozen yet. Great!

Power Option - Try This Solution



Screen goes blank with Vista + ATI Radeon - microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware_devices | Google Groups
"If you are running VISTA, try going to
the Power Options, advanced options, processor power management, and
change the value of the minimum processor state to 100%."

Toshiba A215 / Vista Ultimate Freezes



Screen goes blank with Vista + ATI Radeon - microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware_devices | Google Groups

There's a discussion in this newsgroup about the issue I'm having with Toshiba A215 and Vista Ultimate. Will try the power setting and see how it goes.
I believe the laptop freezes (with blank screen) only if I put it to sleep/hibernate and wake up later. If I perform shutdown and a new boot it behaves properly.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Firefox Hangs - Solution

This is one of the pages that caused Firefox to hang.

SEEK - Australia's no. 1 jobs, employment, career and recruitment site
I couldn't figure out why it happens. Searched the Internet but no help in sight. It appeared to happen mostly with banking sites and a few others. Removed Firefox 2 and installed 3.0 beta 4 but nothing changed.
Eventually I came across the World Clocks page that has a personalized page (as my Windows Mobile based device does not know about Daylight Savings Time changes this year) with clocks around the world. On this page there was a link to the personalized page but in applet version.
Opening the Java version hanged Firefox every time. There was Microsoft Java installed (with Vista) but it did not work.
Installed latest Java Runtime from SUN and Firefox started crashing. One, two, three, four, five times but, eventually, it succeeded running the Java applet. :))
Now it works fine. I can open the Seek page (that's the one I still remember hanging Firefox every time). Hm, what a weird solution. Hope this helps someone...

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Debugger Doesn't Work

Min Kwan Park's bLog : The VS7.X Debugger doesn't work, What can I do?

A list of useful advice in regards to debugging with Visual Studio.
Some ASP.Net related ones, as well, like enabling Integrated Authentication in Security but also Active Directory.
Didn't appear to help with ASP.Net, though. :S

Friday, March 28, 2008

Change My Documents and Program Files to Storage and Storage Card

Nice tweak for Pocket PC. It effectively locks the Storage and Storage Card for one of these folders, meaning that syncing the PIM data to Storage will not work, probably.
My Documents are synced with desktop, so there's a backup mechanism.
Program Files, on the other hand, require more space than Storage offers (at least on my phone) so that option is out, still requiring the use of a backup program. Backup program requires Storage Card, so it goes round and round.

File System Tweak - Page 5 - xda-developers

Currently, I have moved all my docs to the SD card, backup the rest. Sync the card manually by placing it into laptop's SD card reader. Let's see what happens after the next hard reset.

Installing apps to subfolders on storage card (link)



Installing apps to subfolders on storage card! - Aximsite
Installing apps to subfolders on storage card!
Have you ever tried to install apps on your storage card only to find out that your app folders are written to the root folder of the storage card? I have tons of folders on the root drive of my folder. I always wanted to have everything install under the "Program Files" folder on the storage card. Now thanks to a thread on Brighthand I can do it.

I am going to supply the instructions as I have done it. But to give the author credit I will supply the link to the thread as well.

1. On AS on the desktop, goto Tools -> Add/Remove programs. Uncheckthe "install program into the default installation folder" option.
2. Edit the registry on the PPC:
\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Apps\Microsoft Application Installer\
set fAskDest to '1'
3. Create the "Program Files" folder on the SD Card. If you have a "My Documents" folder on the root folder of the SD Card, make sure that you have the ignore_my_docs file in the root drive of the SD Card.
4. Install your app. When asked if you want to install in default location, select No. Then the option of where to install appears. Select SD Card from the dropdown. This will merely copy the install CAB over to the root drive of the SD Card. Once the copy is complete, a Save AS dialogue screen will appear on the PPC. Select the SD Card and select the folder "Program Files". The app will install to the \SD Card\Program Files folder.

Link to thread on Brighthand