• Step 1: Download and install Flash Player 10.2

  Click here to begin the download of Flash Player 10.2 beta. If the link breaks in the future, you can probably find the latest copy here, instead. Download it, mount the DMG, and run the installer.

• Step 2: Delete Chrome’s Existing Plugin

  Shut down Chrome (which means, save a copy of this guide to the disk, first!), and open Finder. Browse to the Google Chrome application in the Applications folder, right-click it, and choose “Show Package Contents” Proceed to browse to

  Contents/Versions/

  and then open the latest version number available. Continue to

  Google Chrome Framework.framework/Internet Plug-Ins/

  and delete “Flash Player Plugin for Chrome.plugin”

• Step 3: Install the Latest Flash Player Plugin

  Open a new Finder window and browse to

  /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/

  then copy and paste “Flash Player.plugin” and “flashplayer.xpt” to the Desktop. On the desktop, rename “Flash Player.plugin” to “Flash Player Plugin for Chrome.plugin” and then move both of these files to the first Finder window you opened, which should still be at the “Internet Plug-Ins” subfolder of the Google Chrome package.

Turn on Chrome, and verify that everything works! Browse to chrome://plugins and verify that you see this there:



And that’s all there is to it!

Hello and welcome to EasyBCD 2.0!!

It’s rather hard to believe, but EasyBCD 1.7.2 has been out for over 2 years now, and we’ve been working on Version 2.0 ever since. In that time, a lot has happened. Windows 7 has shipped, ext4fs is the new cool kid on the Linux block, GRUB2 is finally seeing some adoption, VHDs are the new wow, and everyone and their grandmother want a dual-boot between Windows 7 and Windows XP.

Worry not, we haven’t been sitting on our (not-so-proverbial) behinds this whole time. In fact, the entire NeoSmart team – developers, supporters, testers, and all – have been working around the clock to make EasyBCD 2.0 the biggest, coolest, greatest, and awesomest thing ever since the invention of the MBR. And now, over a 150 beta builds later and 2 years in the making, we’re super-pleased to introduce you to EasyBCD 2.0. It’s so incredibly overhauled and improved, so stuffed-to-the-brim with features, so much of a true one-click dual-boot experince, so customizable, so powerful, and so EASY that it took a lot of self-restraint to keep from calling it EasyBCD 10.0!

What’s new, you ask? We’ll get to it. But let’s just first give you the download link, because we know you just can’t wait to get your grubby, geeky paws on it ASAP:

Download EasyBCD 2.0.1 (1337 KiB)

(Yes, it really is 1337 kibibytes in size. And, no, we didn’t do it on purpose. We’re just übercool that way!)

So, what’s new? Lots. Lots, lots, and lots of new. And lots and lots of improved. With less and less and less bugs, too. The official changelog is miles long, but here’s the stuff that we feel really shines. It’s so hard to sort them in a way that doesn’t leave one feature in the shadow of the other, but here goes:

• Complete Windows 7 support (including the pretty-boot screen!)
• Total redesign of the user interface to make the stuff you use more often easier to get to and easier to understand
• Automatic configuration and one-click setup of Windows XP dual-boots. No more mucking around w/ boot.ini and NTDETECT + NTLDR
• Support for multiple top-level Windows XP entries. You no longer need to go through a second NTLDR menu no matter how many XPs you have installed!
• Support for GRUB2 and ext4fs (we’re looking at you, Ubuntu *glare*)
• Boot from ISO images and Virtual Harddisk (vhd) files!
• Create bootable USB drives!
• Change the boot drive on your system (including all the partition management stuff) with one click!
• Rewritten OS X support (yes, again *sigh*)
• EasyBCD BIOS Extender to let you boot from network devices, specific hard disks, USBs, and more even if your BIOS doesn’t support it (thanks to PLoP integration)
• Support for multiple top-level GRLDR entries (in the same vein as XP entries above)
• Improved boot device detection, EasyBCD always runs, even if your boot device is inaccessible or the BCD isn’t installed!
• Loading indicator for lengthy operations
• Better support for loading and managing external BCD stores
• Complete EasyBCD portability. Just tell the installer where to stick it, and you’re set!
• Improved high DPI support
• Ability to create safe-mode entries
• Improved MBR repair, BCD repair, and more!

It’s been a real blast working on EasyBCD 2.0, and we’re really excited to have something we can finally share with the general public. Before we leave you and EasyBCD 2 alone together, some final words need to be said: EasyBCD 2.0 would not have been possible without the help of the entire NeoSmart team, testers, and of course, donors.

A big shout-out to Terry (Terry60), Justin (Kairozamorro), Jake (Coolname007), Alex (Mak 2.0), and everyone else that helped in providing support over the past 2 years. Crazy props to the Grub4Dos team and the PLoP developers.

And some links to keep you busy:

• EasyBCD user manual (it’s severely out-of-date, we’re updating it for 2.0 now)
• EasyBCD 2.0 screenshots
• Support forums

Follow us?

Keep in touch via twitter @neosmart or facebook for constant info and updates!

A Token of Appreciation?

Have we saved you a lot of time, effort, problems, and loss of limb, life, or worse? How much have you saved in support and repair costs? Do you want to say thank you? You can make a donation here:

[donation]

We’ve compiled a list of our top highly-anticipated games for OS X, most of which are actually geared for simultaneous release on Windows and Mac, making it clear that Mac gamers will take a backseat no more. Honestly, we’re not going to bother ranking them or making this a “Top 10 Games for OS X this year” kind of article. This is just a geeky gamers’ list of games to look out for, on a Mac, soon. We’re not including games that were previously available on other platforms, because that’s just sad.

And, without further ado, here’s NeoSmart Technologies’ exclusive list of upcoming Mac OS X games, sorted by expected release date from the ones you can soonest get your grubby paws on to those you’ll have to not-so-patiently wait and pray for:

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Release Date: July 27, 2010
Platforms: Mac OS X and Windows

Set in the 26th century in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy, the game is built around three species: the Terrans, human exiles from Earth; the Zerg, a race of insectoid genetic assimilators; and the Protoss, a species with vast psionic power. Wings of Liberty will focus on the Terrans specifically, while the expansions Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void will focus on the Zerg and Protoss, respectively. The game is expected to be set four years after the events of StarCraft: Brood War, and follow the exploits of Jim Raynor as he leads an insurgent group against the autocratic Terran Dominion. The game will include old characters from the original game, as well as introduce new characters and locations to the franchise.

Source: Wikipedia

You can watch trailers of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty on the Blizzard site here.

Pre-order Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty from Amazon for $59.99 with a lowest-price pre-order guarantee.

Civilization V
Developer: Firaxis Games
Release Date: September 2010
Platforms: Windows then OS X

Civilization V will feature an entirely new game engine scripted in Lua, as well as a hexagonal map instead of the square tiles of earlier games in the series. The combat system will also be overhauled, including allowing only one unit per tile and giving cities the ability to defend themselves. Many elements new to Civilization IV and its expansion packs will be removed or changed in the game, such as religion and espionage. In addition, the maps will contain a number of computer controlled city states as non-player characters that are available for trade, diplomacy and conquest. A civilization’s borders will also expand more realistically, favoring more productive terrain, and the concept of roads will be changed.

Source: Wikipedia

You can watch trailers of Civilization V here.

Pre-order Civilization V from Amazon for $49.99 with a lowest-price pre-order guarantee.

Nuclear Dawn
Developer: Firaxis Games
Release Date: October 2010
Platforms: Windows then OS X

Nuclear Dawn is an upcoming post-apocalyptic video game that blends the FPS and RTS genres. It was originally announced in February 2006 as an amateur mod for the Source engine, but in April 2009 was revealed to have become a commercial project, still using Source, aimed at Windows PCs and the Xbox 360. It is unclear whether a retail release is planned.
Nuclear Dawn joins Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Natural Selection, The Ship, They Hunger: Lost Souls and Garry’s Mod as former mods of Valve products that have become commercial projects.

Source: Wikipedia

You can watch trailers of Nuclear Dawn on YouTube here.

RAGE
Developer: id Software
Release Date: Jan 4, 2011
Platforms: Mac OS X and Windows

RAGE is an upcoming first-person shooter and racing video game in development by id Software. It will use the company’s new id Tech 5 engine. The game was announced on August 2, 2007 at QuakeCon. On the same day, a trailer for the game was released by Gametrailers.com.

Information available so far indicates that the game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world similar to that of films such as Mad Max 2. In an interview with GameSpot, designer Tim Willits revealed that the game is set in the near future following the impact of 99942 Apophis. Matthew J. Costello, who worked on the plot of Doom 3, is also working on the Rage plot. Influences on the driving and racing gameplay include games such as MotorStorm and Burnout, according to another Willits interview by Shacknews. Players will be able to upgrade their cars with money won from races.

Source: Wikipedia

You can watch trailers of RAGE on YouTube here.

Pre-order RAGE from Amazon for $59.99 with a lowest-price pre-order guarantee.

Portal 2
Developer: Valve Corporation
Release Date: TBA 2011
Platforms: Mac OS X and Windows

Portal 2 will continue to challenge the player by solving puzzles in test chambers within the Aperture Science Enrichment Center using the portal gun (the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device), a device that can create two portals connecting two surfaces across space. Players solve puzzles by using these portals to move unconventionally between rooms or to use the ability to fling objects or themselves across a distance. The functionality of the gun has not changed between the games, but within Portal 2, players can take advantage of the bleeding of other physical effects through the portals.

Game Informer identified two examples of this: one was the ability to use air currents created by a series of transport pneumatic tubes through a set of portal openings to push a turret over or to draw objects into the suction. The second example was to use the power of tractor beams through portals to bring Chell or other objects to otherwise inaccessible areas. The game also introduces special paint that can be used to impart certain physical effects to a surface (for example, one identified by Game Informer is an orange paint that when stepped on will impart high speed to the player). The player will be required to determine how to transport that paint to appropriate surfaces using portals in order to progress. This paint can also be applied to objects, such as the Weighted Storage Cube crates that affect their own physical nature. In addition to the Storage Cube, there are new types of portable objects that assist the player, including Redirection Cubes with mirrored, reflective surfaces, Aerial Faith Plates that can launch objects placed on them, and spherical Weighted Storage Balls, which made a brief appearance in the original game in one of the advanced chambers.

Source: Wikipedia

Diablo III
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Release Date: TBA
Platforms: Mac OS X and Windows

The game takes place in Sanctuary, the dark fantasy world of the Diablo series. This world was saved twenty years prior by a handful of unnamed heroes in Diablo II. Warriors that survived the onslaught of the armies of the Burning Hells have gone mad from their ordeals and it is up to a new generation of heroes to face the forces of evil threatening the world of Sanctuary. Players will have the opportunity to explore familiar settings such as Tristram.

The only confirmed NPC is Deckard Cain, who has appeared in both of the previous games. Cain’s journal on the official site brings the player up to speed on the events of the first two games. Diablo’s world map is composed primarily of two main continents with several small islands in the Northwest region.

Source: Wikipedia

You can watch trailers of Diablo III on YouTube here.

Pre-order Diablo III from Amazon for $59.99 with a lowest-price pre-order guarantee.

Those keeping track of Apple’s purchases will remember that, almost exactly 2 years ago to the day, Apple bought California-based CPU designer PA Semiconductors. However, PA Semi specializes in PowerPC-based designs – a platform that Apple abandoned almost 5 years ago now. But Apple’s most recent acquisition is directly applicable to its current needs in the hardware market, and in particular, its forays into the ARM market. In the official iPad video, Apple engineers and executives discuss their need for a custom CPU in order to let them dictate where the ooomph and power will go, and to what purposes the transistors will be biased.

With all these buyouts and different chipsets in question, it’s easy to get confused. So what is the difference between the ARM, the PPC, and the x86, and where does it matter?

The world of CPUs is a dark, deadly, and dangerous place. After all, the CPU is said to be the literal “heart” of the PC – and as such, it’s the single most-heavily engineered component. Billions of dollars and manhours have gone into the design of these various chipsets and they’ve all been researched, optimized, fabricated, and sold in order to make your computer… better.

The biggest difference between these platforms is the design dogma they follow. The x86 is a CISC architecture: Complex Instruction Set Computer. The other two (PPC and ARM) are RISC-based designs: Reduced Instruction Set Computers. What does that mean? Well, to the end user, mostly nothing. But to the CPU designers and developers, it makes a world of a difference.

CISC architectures can have up to thousands of individual commands supported by the processor that can be used in machine code. Each of these assembly commands can range from a single operation to several hundred or more in length. On the other hand, RISC-based CPUs understand only a handful of different instructions, the minimum necessary to get the job done.

However, this in no way means that CISC is more powerful or that RISC is limited. The difference in the amount of supported instructions is easily explained away by two factors: supported modes, and wrapper operations. All the data dealt with in any computer program is stored in the memory. But in order for the CPU to actually use any of it, it needs to place variables in super-fast (but small and limited) memory locations built into the CPU itself, called registers.

Imagine trying to run the following line of code:

z = x + y

Each of the three variables in the above example is located in the memory. But in order to carry out the operation, x and y will need to be copied from the memory to the CPU, the addition instruction carried out, and the result then copied from the CPU to the location of z in the memory.

A CISC-based CPU like the x86 would have a single instruction that – when given the address of X, Y, and Z in the memory – would do just that. But in a RISC-based CPU, the assembly code would have to explicitly spell out the individual steps: first copy x to a register, then copy y to a register, then add them together, and finally copy the result back into the memory.

At first blush, it would seem that CISC is a much better option. After all, one instruction and the entire line of code is done. But it’s not about operations, it’s about time. Sure, a RISC-based program will need to carry out four distinct operations in order to do the same, but that doesn’t mean it’ll take any longer. In fact, RISC CPUs are consistently faster than their CISC counterparts.

If CPUs were day laborers, it would make sense that CISC is more efficient. After all, a single instruction gets the job done. But, thankfully, CPUs aren’t underpaid interns, they’re over-engineered miracles. The simpler design of the RISC CPU allows it to more efficiently optimize and carry out long sequences of code. The way things are broken down into short, simple, and clear instructions lets it carry out multiple operations at the same time (pipelining) and with less effort.

In fact, it’s now a universally accepted truth that RISC is better than CISC! Actually, because of how much more efficient RISC machines are than their CISC counterparts, most CISC CPUs convert their CISC instructions into RISC instructions internally, then run them!

So why are we still using x86? That’s mainly because of business matters. Intel had x86, Intel had money, and CISC won out. Today, with the optimizations and internal RISC conversions that take place, CISC vs RISC isn’t really about the performance any more. It’s about the business, the politics… and the power consumption.

The complexity of the CISC datapath and pipeline mean that it takes more power to get things done. Intel has worked some incredible miracles and accomplished some amazing things to get the power consumption down, ranging from dynamic scaling of the CPU clock to shutting-down parts of the CPU core when they’re not in use. But x86 remains a power hog. Intel’s Atom platform was an attempt at re-engineering the x86 to make it fit for mobile devices, but at the cost of performance.

There’s no reason that RISC can’t be used for the desktop. ARM or no ARM, there’s a plethora of RISC-based CPUs out there that can be easily adapted for desktop use. But the problem isn’t with the hardware: it’s with the software. Programs written for x86 aren’t compatible with anything else, even other CISC CPUs. That has prevented just about the entire world from trying any other platforms, mainly because Windows only supports x86 on the desktop. The last copy of Windows to support different CPU architectures was Windows NT, which shipped with versions for Intel’s x86, MIPS, Alpha, and PowerPC.

For anyone not on the Windows platform though, there’s nothing really binding them to the x86 platform. Apple chose x86 because, with PowerPC out of the running, x86 was the only viable option back in 2005. Keep in mind, just because ARM can run on the desktop, that doesn’t mean that ARM will run on the desktop: optimizations in the CPU world are always a compromise between performance and power consumption. And the current generation of ARM and other RISC-based CPUs is meant for portable equipment.

It would take some work to create a high-performance ARM CPU meant for the desktop, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. With Apple’s just-declared purchase of Intrinsity, it’s clear that it’s a possibility. With the tight grip Apple has over its platform and the strong hardware-software bond, it wouldn’t be too difficult to make the switch to yet another platform – after all, they did it 5 years ago and things worked out. But will they? Most likely not, it’s not exactly in their customers best interest and x86 really is a decent platform. But for the myriad of mobile devices that Apple is getting itself into, x86 isn’t the key. So look forward to more ARM goodiness for your iPad and iPhone in the years to come, but your MacBook is safe in Intel’s loving hands.

To open JavaApplicationStub, you need to install Rosetta. Would you like to install it now?

Personally, I try my best to avoid legacy Mac OS apps and haven’t found the need to install Rosetta on OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard as of yet. Whether you have need of Rosetta for your other applications or not, there’s no reason you should be running your Java-based applications through the Rosetta environment — they’ll run just fine on native Intel Java on OS X… with just a little bit of a prod in the right direction.

Java applications are CPU agnostic (hence the “write once, run everywhere” Java motto). The Java applets you download and use can theoretically be run on any PC machine that supports Java; be it Intel, PPC, ARM, SPARC, or more. The native Java virtual machine will translate the “Java bytecode” into the equivalent machine assembly that your PC uses and understands, and therefore, Java code written for legacy Mac OS should run just fine on Snow Leopard

If there’s no problem with running older Java applications on Snow Leopard, why am I seeing this dialog? you ask. Well, the problem isn’t with the Java application itself, rather it’s an issue with the Java loader, which as a tiny native Mac OS application that simply launches the Java virtual machine and points it to the JAR file that contains the Java applet in question. If you have an old Mac OS application, chances are, it’s shipping with a PPC version of the Java Stub Loader, and that’s what’s triggering Rosetta. The good news is, it’s easy to fix, since the latest Intel-based Java stub loader on Snow Leopard can run any of your old JAR files easy as pie.

1. Open Finder, and browse (command+shift+G) to

   /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Resources/MacOS/

2. Copy the file “JavaApplicationStub” to the clipboard (command+C)
3. Now browse to the folder that contains the Java application in question.
4. Right-click the Java application, and select “Show Package Contents” to view the actual app files in the OS X app bundle.
5. Open the “Contents” subfolder, and then the “MacOS” folder.
6. Paste the “JavaApplicationStub” file from the keyboard to here, and accept the overwrite prompt. You may need to enter your password when prompted as necessary.
7. You’re done!

In the article, Ben Goodger, lead Chrome UI developer, states

[Google avoids] cross platform UI toolkits because while they may offer what superficially appears to be a quick path to native looking UI on a variety of target platforms, once you go a bit deeper it turns out to be a bit more problematic.” [... Your applications end up] speaking with a foreign accent.

But there’s something we’re not getting here. Obviously given enough brilliant programmers and a good team lead to keep the different codebases in sync, going with native APIs is the better approach. But the reasons Goodger is offering aren’t very convincing.

The problem is…. Google’s Chrome for Windows doesn’t look native. In fact, it’s about as far from native Win32 as you can get. We had originally explained away the non-win32 looks by assuming it was because Google wanted an interface that was consistent across the different platforms and different at the same time from any of the operating systems native UI toolkits: in line with Google’s vision of turning the browser into an OS, regardless of the platform beneath.

A non-native UI that looks the same on Mac, Windows, and Linux would be the answer to such a browser OS. It would indicate that Chrome is its own product – from the codebase to the user experience – and that to the end user it shouldn’t matter what OS you’re on. And that in the future Google could ship a standalone (OS-free) browser that looks like Chrome and acts like Chrome, regardless of the platform beneath?

Otherwise there is no good explanation for the horrendously-different user interface that comes with Chrome. It requires learning the tips & tricks to a whole new UI, and forgetting a number of “niceties” you may have been accustomed to (such as pressing the ‘spacebar’ to OK pop-up dialogs, etc.).

With the preliminary screenshots of Chrome for Mac, the platform Chrome runs on begins to peek through.

Does this mean that Google’s vision of Chrome as its own OS has come to pass – with Google now content to just launch a cross-platform browser without attempting to lull users away from the platforms they’ve come to love?

Whatever the case, it’s sure to be interesting watching and waiting to see what Google has planned for its users. Whether its a cross-platform browser experience that’s different enough to be the same across all platforms while retaining a feel of the platform or if it’s paving the way for the OS to come it’s quite obvious that the gears are now in motion and something big just might happen.

Ever since Steve Jobs first unveiled the next version of OS X, dubbed “Snow Leopard,” the internet has been abuzz with excitement and wondering about the supposed “evolutionary” qualities of OS X 10.6. One of the most-hyped improvements is the promised revamp of the SMP capabilities of OS X, with a “breakthrough” in SMP performance.

The codename for the technology behind the SMP improvements in OS X Snow Leopard has been named “Grand Central,” which Apple describes best:

“Grand Central,” a new set of technologies built into Snow Leopard, brings unrivaled support for multicore systems to Mac OS X. More cores, not faster clock speeds, drive performance increases in today’s processors. Grand Central takes full advantage by making all of Mac OS X multicore aware and optimizing it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors. Grand Central also makes it much easier for developers to create programs that squeeze every last drop of power from multicore systems.

Our guess is that these SMP “breakthroughs” are going to be delivered in two blows:

1. Improvements to the OS X kernel intended to boost multi-threading & multi-tasking performance and better-distribute the loads across multiple CPU cores more intelligently.
2. Provide an SDK (perhaps as improvements to XCode) that allows developers to more-easily write multi-threaded code, handle forking, and provide load-balancing features on a per-core basis.

The first feature is what’s exciting – we believe there’s a good chance Apple will be using some form of FreeBSD’s ULE scheduler or the other in OS X.

There isn’t much info available on what scheduler(s) OS X is currently using as of 10.5 (the only question we could find on the topic remains unanswered). But OS X has its roots firmly planted in the *nix world, and it’s possible to make some educated guesses on the topic. The XNU Kernel that OS X uses is a mesh of the Mach Kernel and large portions of the FreeBSD project, and OS X uses the Mach kernel’s scheduler – or at least it did back when OS X was first launched.

The FreeBSD project has long been working on alternative scheduler intended to replace the default and aging 4BSD scheduler: the ULE scheduler. ULE is now scheduled to become the default scheduler in the upcoming FreeBSD 7.1 release. ULE has shown significant improvements in multi-core environments, and was designed from the ground up to provide increased SMP scalability. Most importantly is ULE’s overhauled support for per-processor queuing of tasks and the ability to set CPU affinity per-processor-per-thread.

If Apple were to implement a form of the ULE scheduler in OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard would be a formidable OS indeed. Using ULE guarantees huge performance benefits for multi-threaded applications, and would help address the second point listed above: the SMT affinity options provided in ULE would make creating an SDK intended to allow developers to use multiple cores efficiently and evenly quite easy. OS X has always been close to the FreeBSD project, and something like this is a natural fit for an OS looking for improvements to SMP/SMT performance.

Of course any time Apple offers a feature, it has a twist of its own. In this case, it’s OpenCL – a technology Apple says will allow developers to use the GPU as a number-crunching processor right from the usual code without much effort. This lies squarely in ULE’s playing field, since the ULE scheduler was designed with full support for load-balancing and threading across processors of varying performance, clock speeds, and fortés – which isn’t something that other schedulers can do, and would make OpenCL simply a matter of interfacing with the ULE scheduler and add the GPU to the list of CPU cores available for the ULE thread scheduler to take advantage of.

The bottom line is, the history of OS X and the XNU Kernel, the features promised in Snow Leopard, and the design and architecture of the ULE scheduler all point to a high likelihood of Apple using a redesigned thread scheduler that is either an implementation of the ULE scheduler or at least based around it in OS X 10.6. And if this is the case, OS X 10.6 will be one heck of a powerhorse.

Further Reading

• The ULE Thread Scheduer
• Introduction to ULE
• Early benchmarks of the ULE scheduler
• Architecture of the XNU kernel
• Advanced Synchronization in OS X

Whether or not MinWin is the very same kernel that went into Vista or not is officially unknown at the moment; but what we do know is that Shipping Seven is either one huge fake, or else that the Windows core programmers at Microsoft are so stupid that they don’t know the first thing about coding, kernels, operating systems and compilers.

The post at Shipping Seven is littered from beginning to end with fallacies, lies, and incorrect deductions that anyone with even the most basic coding skills would know better than to ever post, especially not when attempting to pass it off as the work of some of the more talented coders out there.

Here are some of the more-glaring factual errors in the post that completely strip Shipping Seven of any authenticity or authority it may have on the topic of Windows 7:

How many times has the Ubuntu or Mac OS X kernel been rewritten?

Correction: OS X is powered by a rewrite of the XNU kernel which is a modified version of the Mach kernel which, in turn, is a complete rewrite of the original BSD kernel. And, of course, Ubuntu isn’t an OS in and of itself, rather it’s just a distribution of Linux.

While it can be argued that not every developer at Microsoft is expected to have intimate knowledge of the inner-workings of other operating systems, no one in their right mind would believe that the Windows kernel programmers don’t even know what kernels their strongest competitors are currently using.

We spent a boatload of time during Windows Vista making everything ‘componentizable’ – So that we could (by creating some xml files that our build process uses) create a boatload of different versions of Vista (and Server 2008).

….

You already have MinWin – It is the core system components that Windows Vista needs to function; everything else on the system depends directly or indirectly on it. It is the last thing you could (theoretically) uninstall.

So, if you really really want it, you can get it, I suppose – you probably could (using the command line) uninstall almost every single Windows Vista system component, including the user interface. I don’t know what the hell you’d do with just a kernel and a kernel loader on your machine, though.

Assuming you can get past the way that the post was written (with references like “using the command line” which indicate a general lack of knowledge about computers in general; treating the command line as if it were a “god mode” that can be used to do just about anything), there’s still the matter of factual inaccuracies – and inconsistencies in the article itself.

You can’t change/modify/revert pre-build settings by running commands in the command line. Components that are integrated at compile time simply cannot be removed by running a bunch of commands afterwards – especially not from within the resulting OS itself.

Anyone that’s ever manually compiled a Linux kernel knows this. You can’t strip ext3 support from the kernel after it’s already built any more than you can add Reiser4 support to the kernel without re-building it. As a matter of fact, anyone who’s built anything at all should know this – the same rules apply to any other program as well. For example, you can’t remove PHP support from Apache if you’ve compiled mod_php directly into the binaries.

Shipping Seven is a big, fat fraud. It’s written by someone with only the most basic knowledge of computers, zero knowledge of coding concepts, and absolutely no experience with kernels and operating systems. Shipping Seven is most likely written by the equivalent of script kiddy, eagerly awaiting the first leaked builds of Windows 7 to appease an inner itch – most likely all the while lamenting his lack of involvement in the Longhorn beta. It isn’t worth the time it takes to read, and definitely doesn’t deserve even the questionable authority it now has on the topic.

What are the most common causes of notebook sleep issues?

• A process running on the system does not allow the system to enter sleep mode.
• A hardware interrupt, such as some peripheral devices for example.
• An unstable driver which does not properly support sleep states or is just buggy.

I’ve owned several notebooks over the years, and almost every one of them have had an issue with sleep mode in one way or another, and over time I’ve learned a certain "practice" which ensures that sleep mode generally works when I close the lid of my computer…

1. Make sure that all of the latest updates are installed for your operating system (Windows Update on Microsoft Windows, Software Update on Mac OS X, your favorite package manager on Linux).
2. Close any running programs on the system (and exit any programs which are running in the notification area which is next to the clock on Windows systems).
3. Unplug all external devices (USB, FireWire, etc.) This includes your external keyboard and mouse if you’re using one, your printer, and whatever else you have plugged in. And no, your USB-powered rocket launcher isn’t an exception, even though it is really cool.
4. Use the "Sleep" option in your operating system to put the computer to sleep instead of the lid (Start > Turn Off Computer > Sleep on Windows XP, Apple menu > Sleep on Mac OS X).
5. Once the computer has gone to sleep, close the lid.

You’re probably wondering why it’s not a good idea to always rely on the lid of your computer to put it to sleep, and the answer is fairly simple. Notebooks have a sensor or switch which detects the position of the display (lid) and when the lid is closed to a certain degree it should trigger sleep mode… only that’s not always the case.

Some notebooks take up to one minute to fully go into sleep mode, and general habits have shown that you’re more likely to close the lid and immediately tuck your computer into its carrying case, which means you’re moving the computer around in mid-air before the hard drive head has gotten a chance to park, which could cause damage to the hard drive (and your valuable data). By using the operating systems "sleep" function and waiting for the signal that your computer is snoozing away (whether it be a flashing power light or a pulsating sleep light), you give the computer a chance to park the hard disk head and enter sleep mode correctly.

Mind you, some notebooks with older NVIDIA drivers on Windows Vista may cause your computer to go into a perpetual coma every time it falls asleep. If your notebook manufacturer hasn’t provided you with a newer graphics driver, I’d recommend consulting a sleep therapist LaptopVideo2Go.com, which has all of the latest NVIDIA drivers and modified INF files for installing them on any NVIDIA graphics card.

Reverting the hack is simple. First of all, open a Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and in the console type the following commands:

sudo defaults delete /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer 'EnvironmentVariables'

sudo chmod 644 /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer.plist


This will delete the hack parameter, convert the com.apple.WindowServer.plist file back to a readable XML format, and then reset the permissions on the file.

Once you’ve reverted the hack, restart the computer, and then you can go ahead and upgrade to 10.5.2. If you’re already running 10.5.2, you can change the menu bar opacity option in System Preferences > Desktop and Screen Saver (the nice thing about this is that it is on-the-fly, no need to restart any more).

The release documentation for the OS X 10.5.2 build can be found at the Apple site, and it contains all the gory details about this whopping update. It’s 343 MiB (for comparison, Vista SP1 x86/x64 RTM are 434/726 MiB, but they contain plenty more changes) and contains a number of important fixes.

At the moment, you can download the update via OS X’s “Software Update” feature or directly from Apple’s OS X downloads site here. Updates are also available for OS X Server, the direct download link can be found here (382 MiB).

10.5.2 ships with several important security updates that were not previously disclosed/patched as well – if you don’t intend on updating to 10.5.2 anytime soon, you should definitely grab the standalone security update found here.

I’ve been doing some thinking, and after having numerous conversations with some individuals who will remain un-named, I’ve come to the conclusion that some people are too wrapped-up around the computer system that they use, to the point where they could very well border-line on “fanboy,” and I feel that this is affecting the credibility of the tech community as a whole.

Example:

“John,” a PHP developer, switches his personal home computer from Windows to Linux, and he enjoys using Linux because of the advanced functionality that it provides to him.

Now, “Jim,” a long-time Windows user and Microsoft supporter, who has conversed with John for several years, criticizes John for his decision, stating that he is brainless and dim-witted because Linux is open-source, and that Windows is the only platform that matters.

John doesn’t care about using Windows, he’s comfortable on Linux and he gets more enjoyment out of his system than he did when he was running Windows, but Jim is unable to see that and continues to insult John for his choice.

What do you see wrong here? To me, I see this constant criticism as being petty, and shows that one is unable to look past their own needs. Just because you’re a supporter of one system doesn’t mean you have to hammer down on everyone else running a different system. Remember, we’re all just human beings sitting behind a computer screen. So what does it really matter what the person on the other side of the screen is running?

I’m not against any platform, I’m currently running Windows XP on two of my home computers, Ubuntu 7.10 on one notebook, and Mac OS X 10.5.1 on my MacBook Pro. They all serve their purpose, and at the end of the day isn’t that what really matters?

I believe that we should all try to contribute positively to the tech. community as a whole, enough of the “flame wars” and the un-necessary bashing.

Also, for the record, I never said that Windows sucks in my previous article. I stated reasons that I believe that Mac OS X may be a better choice for some people, and how overall it has a lower TCO when it comes to upgrading systems down the road. If you want to use Windows, Linux, BeOS, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, or hell even DOS, that’s up to you. It’s your choice. I’m not trying to force my choice on anyone, I merely posted my thoughts on the matter.

I was set to build a new computer for myself at the end of February, but I realized soon after I had finished finalizing the specification that I would need to run Windows Vista 64-bit on it in order to take full advantage of my hardware. I’m not much of a fan of Windows Vista 64-bit, due to all of the issues between 32-bit and 64-bit executables and the headaches of 32-bit vs. 64-bit Internet Explorer. After considering many things, like what I plan on doing with my computer, I changed my mind on building that system, in fact I’ve completely crossed it off of my list.

Let me tell you, I never thought I’d see the day where I actually managed to pull this one off…

… as of January 15th, 2008 I am now a Mac user. I purchased a brand new 15” MacBook Pro with a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, 8x Dual Layer SuperDrive, 120 GB of hard disk space and a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor with 128MB of video memory, running Mac OS X 10.5.

I can sum up my experience with Mac OS X in just three words: Oh. My. God. This computer is insanely powerful, and provides a rock-solid computing experience that is out of this world. iPhoto handles all of my photo editing needs, Pages is a great word processor, iTunes is amazing, and Safari renders pages faster than any browser I’ve ever used.

Not to mention all of the great applications that come with the computer which make it extremely fun — iMovie, GarageBand, and Photo Booth are three such applications which I could play with for hours on end.Needless to say, my days as a Windows user have officially come to an end. I’m tired of the maintenance, dealing with the cumbersome registry, and worrying about upcoming Windows Updates wreaking havoc on my system.

With this switch, I would also like to take the time to make another announcement. I will now be blogging here at NeoSmart Technologies (NST). My plan is to cover mostly Mac topics, although I will still have a hand in some Windows guides as well.

Consider this post to be an introduction, the first of a series on the best way to go about switching from one OS to another…. completely.

Fear no more. I’ve written this article with the potential Mac “switcher” in mind. I’ve been a long-time Windows-user myself, and have only recently made the switch to what, in my personal opinion, is a better overall platform.

First and foremost, Apple computers are not the cheapest on the planet, but you definitely get what you pay for. You’re probably wondering, “is it really worth spending so much on a computer?” This is really up to personal preference and budget, however I do feel that it is a great investment, as a Mac will last you several years, not to mention that Macs have a very high resale value. You could turn around in 2 years and sell your Mac for close to what you paid for it then and buy a new one. You just can’t do that with a traditional or OEM PC, because they lose value from the day you purchase it.

When you consider making an investment such as this, make sure that you pick out a Mac that’s right for you. There’s nothing worse than purchasing a computer that you’re not going to be satisfied with. First, you need to decide if you are going to be doing any traveling or moving around with your Mac. If you are, you’d most likely want to look at getting a portable Mac, but if all your computing is done from the comfort of your home office (or bedroom), then a desktop Mac will be fine.

The following chart lists several common tasks and which Mac would be right for you in either situation.

Here is a quick run-down between the different Macs available:

Desktop Macs

• Mac mini: Provides the Mac experience on the cheap. Think of this Mac as the “PC tower” equivalent. You would go about setting up a Mac mini in the same fashion that you would when setting up a PC, meaning that you’d need a display, keyboard, and mouse. Does not have features such as iSight camera. Price: starting at $599 USD.
• iMac: Provides the entire Mac experience in an all-in-one package. The iMac features a stunning LCD display which is built into the computer itself, and you have the option of either a corded or wireless keyboard and mouse along with your Mac, as well as other build-to-order options if you are ordering from the Apple Online Store. Includes FrontRow remote and iSight camera built into the display. Price: starting at $1,199 USD.
• Mac Pro: If you’re looking for the ultimate workhorse, the Mac Pro is the machine you’d be looking for. Equipped with dual quad-core Intel Xeon processors (for a total of 8 processing cores), with support for up to 16GB of RAM with either an ATi or nVidia graphics processor, nothing will ever hold you back. Requires that you have your own display,
  keyboard, and mouse. Price: starting at $2,700 USD1.

Portable Macs

• MacBook: If you’re a student, or just someone looking for a portable Mac for every-day, common tasks like e-mail, word processing, browsing the internet, managing your photos, music, and video libraries, the MacBook may be the option for you. The MacBook comes with a 13” widescreen display with a glossy coating which provides rich colors(this is great for watching movies), with either a 2.0 GHz or 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor meaning you’ve got two processing cores ready to crunch away at whatever you throw at it, 1 GB of RAM, and an Intel X3100 graphics processor. Price: starting at $1,099 USD.
• MacBook Air: Primarily for those who travel frequently, the MacBook Air is the “world’s thinnest notebook,” in an ultra-portable form factor without compromising performance or screen size. Price: starting at $1,799 USD.
• MacBook Pro: The portable powerhouse. Available with 2.2 GHz, 2.4 GHz, or 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 2 GB of RAM, and a nVidia 8600M GT graphics processor with either 128MB or 256MB of video memory, and housed inside of a stylish aluminumen closure, the MacBook Pro is one beast of a notebook. The best part is that it is only1.0-inch thick, and it weighs 5.6 pounds. Price: starting at $1,999 USD.

You’ll also be happy to hear that every new Mac comes with iLife ’08, a collection of programs which will allow you to manage your digital life and be creative, artistic, and just have fun. iLife ’08 includes iPhoto, iDVD, iMovie, iWeb, and GarageBand. All New Macs also come with a 30-day trial of iWork ’08, a 60-day test drive of Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, and a trial of Aperture, which is Apple’s premium photo editing solution. The latest Macintosh system software and iLife ’08 are already installed on your new Mac when you start it up, but for whatever reason you feel like performing a clean installation, you can use the software installation discs that come with your computer.

There are tens of thousands of software applications available for Windows, which allow you to edit videos and photos, listen to music, write code, chat with other people, send e-mail and browse the web, and much more. Windows has a greater market share, therefore it is obvious that most programmers create applications for Windows. However, one thing that you will find on the Macintosh platform is that you do not need two or three different programs to complete your tasks, and all of the applications available for the Mac have rich user interfaces which are easy to follow and learn, and lack the inconsistency in appearance of Windows applications.

You can find a comparison of Windows and Mac software in our “Mac Switcher’s Guide.”

Uninstalling applications on a Mac is very easy compared to on a Windows PC. For example, on a Windows PC you need to open Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs, and then click on the applications name in the list and go through the steps in the uninstaller software. On a Mac, you open the Applications folder, and drag the application that you wish to uninstall to the Trash. It really can’t get much easier than that.

Managing applications is a breeze on a Mac. Simply drag the applications icon from the Applications folder to the dock. To manage the open application windows on your screen, press F9 to activate Expose, which shows you smaller previews of all the open windows, allowing you to Tab through or click on any window to bring it to the foreground.

Another great feature for managing open applications in the latest version of Mac OS X is Spaces, which allows you to have applications assigned to specific “spaces”, essentially acting as if you have more than one display. This helps reduce clutter and allows you to work more efficiently. For example, you could have Safari open in one space, iChat AV and iTunes open in a second space, and Mail in a third space.

The Mac OS X system software also comes with a plethora of additional features which will make your every-day computing life a lot easier, two of these features include:

• Calculate mathematical equations Spotlight: One of the neat features in Mac OS X is
  Spotlight, it allows you to find your files and applications instantaneously with ease.
  But did you know that in Mac OS X 10.5, Spotlight can also calculate mathematical equations? Simply type in the equation, and Spotlight will do the math for you (e.g.:
  4+4 will give you the answer 8, sqrt(25) will give you the answer 5, and typing pi will
  display 3.14).
• Define words using Spotlight: Another nifty feature in Mac OS X 10.5’s Spotlight is the ability to define words directly from the results display. Type a word into Spotlight(for instance, Computer) and it will display a partial definition (in this case, it would display noun an electronic device f…) Simply click on the partial definition, and Dictionary will display the full definition.

When it comes time to upgrade your system software, you don’t have to worry about which version to pick! There is only one “edition” of Mac OS X, and it comes with all of the features. In comparison, there are 8 editions of Windows Vista, not counting Starter and Enterprise: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate, in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. At the time of writing, Mac OS X costs $129.00 USD, and family packs cost $199.99.

Windows Vista Home Premium costs $219.00 and it doesn’t include all of the features that
Windows Vista offers, it’s even more costly to migrate your entire home over to Windows Vista if you have more than one computer. Not to mention Windows Vista only runs decently on computers purchased in the last ~3 years, while Mac OS X 10.5 is working on hardware as old as 7 years.

If you’re a gamer, fear not: Macs can now run Microsoft Windows natively! Using BootCamp, you can dual boot Windows on your Mac just so you can play the latest games or run those applications that have no Mac equivalent. Essentially, Macs give you the best of both worlds with a lower total cost of ownership (“TCO”).

If you’re a seasoned keyboard veteran in Windows, you might be a bit upset at first to find that the Mac uses different modifier keys, but it doesn’t take very long to get used to it. For example, to copy text on a Windows PC you’d first highlight the text and then perform the Ctrl-C key combination. To do the same thing on a Mac, highlight the text and then perform the Cmd-C key combination. It’s actually easier because the Cmd key is closer to the commonly-used keys for cutting, copying, and pasting (X, C, and V respectively)… unless you’re a Dvorak user, of course.

With all of this information, you should be able to make an educated decision on whether or not a Mac is right for you. As a recent switcher, I can fully vouch for the Mac and stand behind my decision. I no longer have to worry about maintaining my computer to keep it running at top speed, everything “just works.”

Most people take a look at these three facts, and instantly come to a conclusion.. the wrong conclusion: you can’t properly manage a Windows server because it’s inherently lacking in the shell scripting department.

But that’s not true… Because here’s another fact for you:

Perl scripts are a drop-in replacement for 99% ((We admit, that’s a made up statistic, give us a break though, will ya?)) of all shell scripting needs.

And another fact:

Perl (unlike PHP) runs great (awesome, in fact) on Windows.

Now with these two facts in mind, you can now make a proper conclusion: Shell scripting on Windows doesn’t have to be difficult, limiting, or in any way inferior than on Linux.

Perl is an awesome language. Between the online Perl community and the millions of Perl-scripting samples across the web, it’s quite the well-documented language and no sysadmin has an excuse not to use it. The Perl modules are an extensive array of easy-to-use pluggable scripts that you just reference and run.

Perl was created for stuff like this. It’s the language of choice for hacking quick scripts that get the job done, easily, quickly, and with little pain or effort. A Perl script made to run on Linux will likely run on Windows too, with little to no hacking necessary for most of the stuff out there.

With Perl, you can easily do things like manage (prune, grep, or sort) log files, backup and FTP or email database server dumps, schedule webserver maintenance, and more.

Shell scripting with Perl is even easier than shell scripting in Bash – simply because of the huge libraries available that make even the most mundane and PITA tasks quite easy. It takes all of 6 statements (we’re purposely refraining from counting lines because this is Perl we’re talking about) to compose an email with your MySQL dumps as a GZIP’d attachment.

You can easily schedule Perl scripts to run at regular intervals with the Task Scheduler – but that’s about all you’ll ever need to interact with Windows for.

A quick Google search will reveal millions of results for “Perl server management scripts.” Take your pick, hack it, and run.

Here’s our 5-step guide to managing your server with Perl scripts:

1. Download and install Perl for Windows (ActivePerl, free).
2. Read the Perl FAQs and get familiar with the syntax. It’s nothing too complicated, and very simple to code in (though reading someone else’s code is another story). You absolutely don’t need anything more than the basic syntax, stuff like classes and functions are completely unnecessary for shell scripting – it’s too easy to even be considered programming!
3. Write your Perl script. Use a real text editor like Notepad++.
4. Test it by running it from the command line and ensuring it does what you need. Repeat step 3 as needed.
5. Open up Scheduled Tasks in the Control Panel and set up a new task to run your Perl script however often you like.

Sure, maybe it’s not as easy it looks and it’ll probably take you a day or so to go from absolute zero to cranking your first Perl-based shell script; but soon enough you’ll be doing it blindfolded and with both your hands behind your back. And it’ll only be one line long, too!

The most important thing to realize is, you don’t need to be a programmer (or become one) in order to shell script in Perl.

Just pretend your Perl script is a batch file (yuck!). The Perl processor will run it from top to bottom, in a very straight-forward manner. Put one task/command per-line, stick loops where needed, and test constantly. You don’t need classes, you don’t need data structures, you don’t need object orientation, and you don’t even really need to use variables if you don’t want to!

We’ll be posting more details, guides, sample shell scripts, and how-to’s on Perl-based shell scripting in the weeks and months to come. Don’t give up just because it involves learning something new, this is in an investment that’ll last a lifetime. If you can shell script in Perl on Windows, you can do the same on Linux and OS X with ease. If you can shell script in Perl, you can do anything!

View all articles in the “Shell Scripting with Perl” category.