Reviews | bugs of a debugger

Using Google Maps to plan your journey

// May 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Reviews, Tips & Tricks

Yesterday I tried Google Maps India to get the directions from one place to another. I tried few routes. It is not very accurate but very helpful to get an idea about the route. Not accurate means, the route is correct but there may be other short routes.

1st I tried to get directions from my home to my office at Technopark, Trivandrum.

From Google map

Other routes

We have 3 main routes to reach there.

Thiruvalla -> Kottarakkara -> Kilimanoor -> Aatigal -> Kazhakkutam – This route is not listed in the map
Podiyadi -> Mavelikkara -> Kayamkulam -> Aatigal -> Kazhakkutam – This route is not listed in the map
Harippad -> Kayamkulam -> Aatigal -> Kazhakkutam – This route is not listed in the map

Only 2 routes are listed in the map.

One is Thiruvalla -> Chaganachery -> Alappy -> Harippad -> Kayamkulam -> Aatigal -> Kazhakkutam – This route is listed in the map.

They are correct but very long. Via NH47 is 177KM if we follow the directions in google maps but we have other route, via NH47 which is less than 120KM. In this route I can directly goto Harippad(14kms from home), but if i follow google’s direction, I have to travel more than 60km to reach Harippad.

So first your search the direction to get a small idea about the routes and then search in between places for another short routes or ask someone else . But I am sure this service is very helpfull to get an initial route and then process the route to get the shortest route.

Dude.. don’t think about Travelling Salesman problem

Windows XP Mode in Windows 7

// May 15th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Reviews

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Running XP in windows 7 XP mode

Windows XP Mode (formally Virtual XP) is a new feature in Windows 7. It’s a licensed, virtualized copy of Windows XP Service Pack 3 running inside Microsoft’s own Virtual PC framework. Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small businesses move to Windows 7. Windows XP Mode provides you with the flexibility to run many older productivity applications on a Windows 7 based PC.

When I heard about this feature I thought “what’s new in this? We can install other OS using MS Virtual PC or VM ware”. But now I understand why this is a new feature.

The core of XPM are Virtual PC 7 (VPC) and the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) protocol. All you need to do is to install suitable applications directly in Windows XP Mode which is a virtual Windows XP environment running under Windows Virtual PC. The applications will be published to the Windows 7 desktop and then you can run them directly from Windows 7.

Client virtualization software, like Windows Virtual PC is a pre-requisite to use Windows XP Mode. So first I installed a Windows update – Windows Virtual PC (Beta)(KB958559) : Windows Virtual PC (Beta) is the latest Microsoft virtualization technology that allows you to run many productivity applications on a virtual Windows environment, with a single click, directly from a Windows 7-based PC.

After rebooting my system, I installed Windows XP Mode Beta . It’s a single executable file, 445MB of size. Installation was straight forward, need to set only few setting like where you want to install, password etc. If anybody tried installing XP or any other operating system using MS Virtual PC or VMWare or any other virtual achine in any other operating system, you know that that installation is just like normal OS installation, have to set all those settings, need normal installation time etc etc. Also after installationn you need to allocate a good amount of RAM and other system resources for the virtual machine, which degrades overall system performance. But Windows XP Mode surprised me.

Installation took only few minutes and launched XP. It is so fast, and taking only very less system resource, just like a normal medium windows application. Since it uses Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) protocol, the interface is little different from previous Virtual Machine mode, it’s like lognined into an XP machine using Windows Rremote Desktop application.

Now if you want to use XP machine, you can install Windows 7 with Windows XP Mode

Files:

Windows Virtual PC: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=65e1c5eb-df9b-415f-b2d6-27f6ef5dceb9&displaylang=en

Windows Virtual PC Beta: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0E8FA9B3-C236-4B77-BE26-173F032F5159&displaylang=en

: Instllation

: Enabling Feature

: Finished setup

: Accept Virtual XP license agreement

: Loading XP settings

: XP Settings

: XP Settings

: Virtual PC settings

: XP desktop

: Running XP in windows 7 XP mode

: Running XP in windows 7 XP mode

: Installed virtual machines

: Hibernating

Chromium: Google Chrome for Mac and Linux

// May 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Reviews

Chromium is an open-source project- for the Mac OS X/Linux versions of Chrome.

I tried Mac OS X version of Chromium. Download the zip file, unzip it and run Chromium.

The first site I tried is google.com. But got the error message “The webpage is not available”. So i thought it is not working and then after some time I tried my site and it loaded without any problem . Then I tried many other sites and all those loaded, probelm is only with google sites, Google, Gmail, orkut.. all showed “The webpage is not available” message.

Downloaded the linux version, want to try it after some time.

For detailed review check: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10237981-2.html

Download Chromium from: http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/snapshots/

Chromium

Ubuntu linux in malayalam

// May 11th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Reviews

I tried setting my display language and menu language to Malayalam in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope. I played around it for some time but then i switched back to English interface. It was fun reading all those terms and all but I faced bit difficulty in the interface. Not all menu or text changed to Malayalam and come text was in Malayalam but English term.

Checkout these screenshoots. .

: Applications

: Applications running

: Applications running

: Encryption option

: File browser

: Login preference

: Malayalam desktop

: Malayalam desktop

: Network

: Network tools

: Power options

: Application Preference

: Synaptic manager

: System tools

: System monitor

: Take a screenshoot

: Take a screenshoot

: User account manager

: User management

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Review

// April 25th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // Reviews

Today morning downloaded and installed Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope in my Dell XPS M1530. I downloaded the .iso file and burbed it into a cd. 1st burning failedand I lost that cd. I burned again in a new one and it worked.

I loaded the CD in to the drive and booted from the CD. 1st I checked CD for any errors, it took around 2-3mnts. Then I searched for an update option and i couldn’t find any update option in the list. So I decided to go for a clean install. I set my keyboard, timezone and the next step was to select the install location. I choosed manually partition option, I had my previous linux partition(ext3) and the swap space. I choosed those and formated the ext3 with new ext4 file system.

Copying the new files took around 10 mnts and then I restarted my machine. I choosed my username and password and skipped importing users settings from my Windows Vista.

Ubuntu desktop screenshot

All these installation took around 20mnts and I got my desktop .

I had problems for detecting bluetooth, wireles, sound and touchpad with previous releases. This time everything detected automatically and even I connected my mobile via bluetooth and transfered the files.

Only one time i got bluetooth and wireless icons on the system tray. I don’t know where those icons went after a reboot.

Then I connected to the internet and installed few softwares. I installed Wine and then gtalk, yahoo and chome using Wine. None of them is working . Chrome is not loading any pages, signed in gtalk but no text is showing(check the screenshoot). Pidgin is working but I can’t signin with my google apps id.

Uubuntu 9.04 screenshot

Gtalk in Ubuntu with Wine

1) X.Org server 1.6/GNOME 2.26. The first part gives you peppier video performance, while the second gives you a really, nice integrated desktop.

2) Evolution 2.26.1. Evolution is now a complete and total Linux replacement for Outlook.

3) Fast Booting.

4) Ext4 file-system support. Ext4 is simply faster than Ext3 without the stability problems.

5) Linux kernel 2.6.28-11.37. Improved disk performance; better SSD (solid-state drive) support; and superior virtual memory scalability.

Ubuntu 9.4 login session

For me:

Total installation time: Around 30mnts to get the desktop.
Got login menu in 26 seconds and then desktop in 10seconds. So total around 36 seconds booting time.
Shutdown time: 15seconds.

Problems facing

Webcam is not yet detected.
Sound is very very low.

I am playing around it and now no power here. So itz the time to shutdown the system and will write in detail in the coming days.

Integrated IM in Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail

// April 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Reviews

MSN Web Messenger is integrated with your Hotmail account yesterday(April 21st). You can use integrated web msn messenger and talk to others while checking/ mail.

To send IM to your friend, go to contacts, click on the person you would like to talk to and click on “Send an Instant Message (Available), IM window will appear in a pop up window.

Check out the screen shoots. I also added screen shoots of Yahoo and Gmail. I wonder how boring is MSN/Hotmail’s interface. Yahoo/Gmail interface is simple and our friends are just one click away. AOL webmail has the same interface as yahoo and Gmail.

: MSN Messenger integrrated to Hotmail

: Sending an IM

: MSN Messenger IM window

: Integrated GTalk in Gmail

: Integrated Yahoo Messenger in Yahoo mail

If we compare desktop application, Windows live messenger is in the top. Google talk is far beyond MSN and Yahoo. But I think Google is not much worried about the desktop messenger, they want us to do everything on the web interface.