Anything Tehnology related. Be it software, hardware, or toys in general.
There are mixed feelings about the whole Apple-Intel marriage. It’s pretty clear now that Apple is indeed switching to Intel processors by June 2006
So there’s no use in speculating what their intentions are: whether it was a sincere move in the spirit of innovation, or a simply marketing move to ensure stock/market growth are all beside the point at this juncture. Instead, it would be better to think about what possible benefits/consequences/implications this development entails.
Got my replacement 200GB drive 4 days ago. The people from the shop were kind enough to give me one of their sale units instead of having to wait for the actual replacement from the manufacturer/distributor. Actually this shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place as far as warranties are concerned… but since this is the Philippines, I’m glad there wasn’t any red-tape involved 😉
I was happily computing 2 nights ago, when my “table” collapsed. You see, I have this small adjustable table which is right in the middle of my main PC (windows) and bed. That’s where I usually place my laptop and incidentally, my 200GB external drive (which contains my music, work, ebooks, and incomplete anime).
For some reason, the support suddenly gave way, which sent the top part crashing down, along with the stuff on it. Luckily, my Powerbook was on the bed at the time, but my hard drive wasn’t as lucky.
As we all know, the Creative Suite installers are in multiple CD format. Different versions (Volume, Premium, etc.) differ in the number of discs included, but you can basically assume that the core application files are contained in 4 CDs, each approximately 500MB tops apiece.
What does this imply? You can fit the whole thing to a DVD! In OS X, I keep the disc images in a hard disk, and mount them all at the same time to avoid the “insert disk x and press a key to continue” prompt – and have the installer dump all the needed files in one go. I was thinking I could dump the multiple image files in one DVD and do the same, but it would obviously be better to actually slipstream them into one installer DVD.
I’ve searched the net and found a tutorial that does just that, but was a little too vague unless you’re used to working in such an environment. So I decided to rewrite it here in a more-simplified form for those who don’t do this often (and for my personal reference too in case I’ll need it in the future).
In summary, this is a step-by-step process to create a single DVD installation disc out of multiple CDs. Both applicable for purchased and/or “working” copies 😉
With Tiger’s dashboard feature. I mentioned in the past how useful it would be for note-taking. And I was right… if only there was a widget that did it right. Apple’s built-in Stickeys widget (not to be confused with the actual Stickeys application) should’ve been called “suckys.” You can’t paste long lines of code because it dynamically adjusts the font size… and it doesn’t scroll. Pasting long code/text that exceeds the limit will not paste at all. And you can’t type anymore either if you’re at the said limit.
Then I stumbled upon Wikity Widget. A cool wiki-style, database-driven, auto-linking note taking widget, and winner of the Apple dashboard widget competition. Simple and extremely effective implementation – perfect for my note-taking preference. But alas, the interface (if you visited the site) looks horrible.
Since I really wanted to use the app, me being turned-off by its aesthetics on all counts didn’t deter me from using it. First thing I did was check the license to make sure I wasn’t breaking any laws, then started hacking the visual aspects of the widget. I think I did enough tedious work to merit dubbing a new name for it. I decided on iStickyWiki to hit multiple birds with one stone. One is to acknowledge Wikity Widget‘s original concept that it is a wiki-type widget. Another is to emphasize that it has been somewhat “merged” with the Stickeys interface. And the “i” is both a tribute to Apple’s naming convention… plus it makes the widget very Filipino when pronounced as ees-TEE-kee-WEE-kee 🙂
Of course for good measure, I hacked the the scripts to insert a “readme” or “ReleaseNotes” entry to give credit where credit is due. Honestly I think I would’ve modified it regardless of the legalities, since everything was done for personal use. But since the license which governs it stated that it could be modified and re-distributed – so I thought I might as well share it with others. Read More
