Using Pandora’s Windows Vista Gadget
I recently bought a new computer that is running Windows Vista. My Ubuntu computer is still my main machine, but when I need to do some serious design work, CS2 running in Wine just can’t compete with CS4 running natively on a quad-core machine with 8 Gigs of RAM.
I also love listening to Pandora. It gets turned on the second my computer boots, and turned off only when I’m away from my machine or going to leave for the day. I’ve used Pandora’s AIR app since the first day it came out (and before then I used another desktop app who’s name escapes me currently) and I absolutely love it. Even more so now that AIR has hit Linux with an official release that I can use on Ubuntu and has been rock solid so far.
While listening today, I saw that Pandora had an official gadget for Windows Vista so I thought I’d give it a shot.
Rename Multiple Files With a Few Clicks
Have you ever needed to rename a ton of files? This has to be one of the most tedious tasks I’ve ever come across in all my years of computing. About six months ago I was faced with the chore of renaming 5,000+ files for a website from .htm to .php. After renaming 100+ files, my eyes glazed over and my mind shut down. There had to be a better way.
Enter Ant Renamer. Normally the aforementioned task would have taken me hours to do (if not a couple days). After some searching, I found an amazing app called Ant Renamer. Instead of hours, this task took me a couple seconds. Here how to use it.
This is just one of the uses for it. There isn’t any naming convention that you can come up with that this app can’t do.
Check out Ant Renamer
Refresh Your Windows Or Mac Wallpaper Automagically
I never used to be a big wallpaper kind of guy until I started using John’s Desktop Switcher. It’s a seriously cool app that has a ton of features like rotating your wallpaper as often as you’d like, or make a collage or photobook from your pictures. I found another app today called ‘Desktoptopia’ that is similar, but a bit more stripped down and straightforward.
The main feature I loved about it was it came preloaded with RSS feeds to their site which is a wallpaper submission site. Now John’s DS can do this too, but this one just works out of the box. It’s nice to get fresh desktops without having to search around and find them, then download them to your computer and then put them in the correct folder. You can also tell it how often to switch the wallpapers on your desktop and it understands dual monitors so you can have different wallpapers on each monitor.
Mount ISO Files Virtually On Windows
I recently needed to run an ISO file on Windows Vista. I could have burned the file to a CD/DVD and run it from there, but since I only needed to run it once, it’s far easier to mount it virtually. Here’s how to do it.
Installing Virtual CloneDrive
- Install Virtual CloneDrive from SlySoft. The download link is the last one on the list or here’s a direct link Virtual CloneDrive
- I left all the settings as their defaults. You may want to take some time to decide which files you want CloneDrive to associate itself with.
Opening/Mounting .iso Files Virtually
- After CloneDrive is installed, it’s incredibly easy to mount an ISO file. If you left CloneDrive as the default program for managing .iso files, you can simply double click it.
Connect Ubuntu 8.10 to a Windows 7 Share
So I’ve been playing around with Windows 7 today. Figured I’d throw a quick tutorial on how to connect an Ubuntu machine to a Windows 7 share. Quick note, I’m running the first beta of Windows 7, build 7000. Since the network stack has changed very little from Vista, I’m assuming this will work the exact same way once Windows 7 actually ships.
Setup Windows 7 Share Folder
- Create a new folder wherever you want your share to be. I’m going to put mine on the desktop. Easiest way is to right click and choose ‘New’ –> ‘Folder’
- Name your share. This is going to be where you will connect, so I would recommend not using any weird characters or spaces. I’m calling mine ‘myshare’
- Now we need to enable sharing on this folder. Right click the folder and choose ‘Properties’
