Monday, July 26, 2010

Using Evolution with Exchange 2010

I have tried to run evolution with Exchange server but for one reason it was bringing up an error when it was refreshing the folders from the server. I tried everything but with no luck. Fianlly i stumble across a blog that gave me a solution to the problem.

The blog was from Scratch Uncle Gurrier's Back (he he) and the address is: http://gurrier.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/using-evolution-with-exchange-2007/

The solution made the connection to the exchange server more stable (still gives me a few drop outs but not as before).

I would like to thank Gurrier for saving me a lot of time and frustration.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

How to change logo on the start menu button on Ubuntu

This is a very easy way to change the logo on your menu start button

1) Open gconf-editor
2) navigate to the apps/panel/objects
3) Click each entry until you find one that has the entry "Main Menu" in its tooltip field.
4) Click on Custom_icon
5) Right click on it and select "Edit key"
6) in the Value field, enter the path where your new logo will be.
7) Click OK to save changes.

Your new logo will appear straight away.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Ubuntu 10.04 saved my laptop!

Ah yes, a new version of Ubuntu is out (10.04) with the new one coming on October (if I remember correctly). Well it was time for me to try the new version out, since I love Linux and I can’t wait to tinker with every new version coming out.

I started by finding an old desktop computer. As I was short of one I thought to try an old laptop. A Travelmate 4230 to be exact. It had Vista on it and it was practically unusable after all the updates and patched M$ had brought out.

To be honest I was a bit sceptical of using a laptop, since the first time I used Linux was on a EeePC 701 and had major problems with the camera, mic and sound, but I said ‘’what the heck; let’s try it’’

I downloaded the iso image from http://releases.ubuntu.com/lucid/ubuntu-10.04-desktop-i386.iso and saved it to my HDD. Then I took an old 2GB USB flash drive and downloaded the Unetbootin from http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/.

Plugged it into the USB port of the laptop, pressed F2 at the start and went to the Booting option. From here it was pretty easy. Select the first boot option to be the USB drive and save.

Surely enough the laptop found the drive and started installing Ubuntu. I must say when it finished installing and load up for the first time I was a bit, emmmm, skeptical about the new themes. The major change is that the control buttons of the window (close, minimize, maximize) it’s now on the left hand side just like a Mac. I really don’t like that but that’s only me.

I decided to alter the default themes with some great ones I found on the internet to make it more…..personal. I used the following themes:

Window borders
Alluminium Alloy Smog from gnome-look.org

Icons
Buuf 2.30 from gnome-look.org

After all the updates and such I started benchmarking it. I was amazed. That old computer with the 1GB memory and a shared video memory, could start MUCH faster than a windows vista and almost as fast as a Win 7 64 bit computer. I couldn’t believe it. I was so thrilled.

Wireless network was working, Ethernet was working, Bluetooth the same. Had a few issues with the edge scrolling on the touchpad but nothing that a mouse can’t fix. The most problems that I had was with propriety programs like the Adobe flash player and Firefox. I tried 3 times to install it. It was saying it was installed but I couldn’t see the flash movie. On the third time it worked. I don’t know why.

I was able to install a network photocopier with the inbuilt drivers and run test prints. That was a bit tricky to find the appropriate drivers from the list (since the model wasn’t there) but a try-and-fail tactic worked. I do realize that’s very difficult to include drivers for all printers if the company that makes the printers does not release them in any other form rather than binary for Windows.

I installed PlayOnLinux and tried to install Microsoft Office 2003 on it. It did install AND downloaded the .NET Framework files from the internet automatically. I run Word for couple of times with no problems. Outlook was launching but couldn’t connect to the mailbox and it was closing down. Couple of hours later when I retried, none of the three applications would work (Even after numerous resets). Well still is a big step ahead on trying to run Windows binaries on Linux. Last time I tried with Wine only it wouldn’t load the setup.exe at all.

I even was able to connect to an Exchange Server 2010 with Evolution (You need to download the MAPI for Exchange packet from the Synaptic Package Manager).

By putting Ubuntu on the laptop, I think, it was given another 2-3 years of life with proper maintenance (cleaning case, not rough handling etc). Not bad for a free OS!

All in all the new version of Ubuntu is a step better than the previous one. I can’t wait for the next release. And as always, a great thank you to the people behind the Ubuntu project and the Gnome project. You guys rock!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

AutoCAD LT 2011 multiple windows problem

I had an issue the other day with AutoCAD LT 2011. All of a sudden when you opening multiple windows under Windows 7, it didn't group them as it used to do but it was opening different windows.

I searched high and low for a solution but i couldn't find anything when by chance I found out two variables that needed to change to make it work.

Type in TASKBAR and give value 0, and SDI and give value 0. That fixed the problem.