Slashdot Mirror
Pepping Up Windows
PhairOh writes "Toms Hardware has an article about improving Windows with free and Open Source Software. It features everything from the obvious like Gimp and OpenOffice and also some interesting choices like Virtuawin. From the article: 'The average Windows user tends to be less than satisfied with Windows. And that's no surprise, either, given the rather woeful state of its default applications.'"
I like WinDir Stat. It gives a nice colourful representation of your disk usage by directory and by file allowing you to see ther really big files on your system like .Vob, or clusters of really small ones like .jpg.
It's really a fun little thing to look at and use.
IS this an on topic first post?
-------
Support Indy Music. Buy
MS already has a power toy for multiple desktops.
r toys/xppowertoys.mspx
I've been using it for awhile, it works pretty well.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powe
One of the easier ways (if you are well versed in xp services) is to disable/manual set all the services you will not need. Of course, this assumes you KNOW what all those services do in the first place ;)
keep in mind, when you assume, you sometimes make an ASS out of U and ME.
... PuTTY
I do, and what do I like? MANY things:
:)
1.) A powerful, flexible/ubiquitous API in Win32 (with tons of development tools that have TRULY evolved to massive power & ability as well as ease of use (e.g.-> Borland's Delphi &/or C++ Builder, Ms-Access &/or Ms VB, etc./et all)).
2.) High level/surface area of employeability (on TONS of levels, inclusive of development, technical support, network administration/engineering, you-name-it)... it is, after all, on 90% of the systems out there from desktops to servers
3.) Applications for TONS of purposes (I'd safely dare to say here more than any other hardware platform out there, as well as OS platform as well for personal computers)
4.) Hardwares for TONS of purposes (same as last post's paratheses' area but substitute in hardware & drivers for the pure software stuff I put up above)
5.) I can go on & on, others can add to mine easily I am certain & I am in a BIG hurry (gotta "jet back" to work is why)
*
APK
The Tomasek http://www.tomasek.cz/stary_soft/sdesk/ version not the newer one from Bresner.
It works amazingly fast and supports sticky windows, draging windows from one desktop to another, dekstop names, any number of virtual windows, short cut keys for any window. Lots of features than I have not seen in any other pager for Windows.
Microsoft's Virtual Desktop Manager is not a powerful application.
Most of us looking for multiple desktops probably come from the Linux desktop world, and want many of those features: Keyboard navigation, edge flipping, an easy way to move application windows between virtual desktops and sticky windows.
Microsoft's Virtual Desktop Manager does none of this. In addition, it's pretty buggy-- switching between virtual desktops can leave many artificts on the screen, the toolbar for each virtual desktop may actually list applications from another virtual desktop and the toolbar may lose the toolbar icon for items on your current desktop.
And Microsoft hasn't really updated any of the features of this application in 3 years.
VirtuaWin is a pretty good app, and has most of the features listed above. In addition, there are dozens modules to add various features.
It's a little confusing to configure.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Pcalc - A very nice calculator with no stupid number buttons to get in the way. For when you don't need something complex that can do graphs and animations.
TClockEx - A nice little desktop utility that lets you configure the format of the system tray clock any way you want. (Note: Does not look good in XP unless you use the classic theme)
Technoli
TheOpenCD has a nice collection also
I thought WinDirStat looked cool so I checked it out, and lo and behold it's based on a similar Linux (KDE) application: kdirstat. Downloaded it just now ... very cool.
Dlugar
Computer Go: Writing Software to Play the Ancient Game of Go
But yeah, on the wider Windows stuff, it comes from the wider open source community, and isn't Linux only (eg. things like Inkscape, Ethereal, Orbiter, Celestia, Blender, ...). They're all stand-outs, and they'll all either still be here with us in 20 years, or some better open-source software will have surpassed them.
In addition to all the lovely foss for windows, the only closed source program I ever recommend is nLiteXP . You basically copy your XP disc to a directory, and then sick nLite on it. It extracts the cabs and can really neuter it (Highly customizable with a slick GUI) and you can get your default XP install from ~2GB down to 400MB highly usable. Less if you wanted. nLite will make a new iso file that can be customized for auto install and service pack slipstreaming and driver install, all sorts of nifty things. You burn that and install.
So basically, you can have 350MB of core windows XP and another 500MB of the best FOSS for windows. A highly capable and speedy efficient XP box, its a great option for a lot of older hardware. I was doing this two years ago after getting fed up with closed and crappy apps, and then realized I might as well go all the way and use linux, so its a good intro to people who are curious about what open source offers. A lot of people were cautious about bringing free stuff to a closed platform, but I think it can only be good, as it increases awareness and may spur a platform switch like me. Also, not spreading freedom into an area where there lacks freedom sounds a lot like not donating food to an area that is starving. Neither will get people to move to linux/out of the third world.
Not mentioned: the PuTTY terminal emulator and ssh client, which lets you connect from your Windows box to some other system and so get some work done...
It also includes an scp implementation so you can securely transfer files between your Windows system and Unix boxes.
(Perhaps a niche market, but XKeymacs is useful for Emacs junkies stuck with Windows applications... there's also the Windows ports of GNU Emacs and XEmacs of course.)
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Why Windows?
Note that I'm not trying to convince you to use Linux, but I do want to correct some things:
- hibernate works.
Works fine on most laptops running Linux as well, though if you want to use the BIOS-driven hibernation, you may have to create the hibernate file from Windows. Personally, I really like the new Linux software suspend, in which the Linux kernel does the hibernation. It's faster and more flexible (including working on machines that don't have hibernation support). It's not, at present, easy to set up, though.
- sleep works.
Interestingly, in my experience, this actually works *better* with Linux than with Windows. My colleagues running Windows don't use sleep mode much, because our machines (various Thinkpad T40 series laptops) sometimes don't wake up. So they all shut down their OS. With Linux, I just close the lid, and have done so with several generations of laptops.
- laptop undock works.
Having never seen the point of docking stations, I can't comment here.
- wireless automatic network connection/disconnection/hunting works.
I think there are tools that solve this, but I can't really comment because I just use the command-line tools and script things to work the way I want them to. You may have a point here, I'm not sure.
- windows automatically searches for new network parameters when waking up on a foreign network.
You mean like DCHP? So does Linux. Actually, there are some nifty tools on Linux that will attempt to guess how to configure the network interface even when DHCP doesn't work.
- changing display resolution doesn't require a logout/login.
Doesn't on Linux any more, either. Changing color depth still does, though.
- my iPod works.
I don't have an iPod, but this claims to work on Linux.
- I can read the unfixated CDRs that my Sony camera produces.
I don't have a camera that does that, so I can't really comment. That said, I would be very, very surprised if Linux couldn't deal with that as well.
- I can use IE to view those few sites/use those web apps that require it and use firefox for everything else.
Yeah, those sites suck. I run IE under WINE on my Linux box to deal with that. Works fine, even though I mutter through my teeth every time I'm forced to do it.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Having never seen the point of docking stations, I can't comment here.
Are you high? A caveman can see the point of a docking station. It's a simple concept: when in the office, dock the laptop and use a traditional monitor, keyboard, mouse, usb, network, speakers -- anything. No hooking up a hundred different cables each time you come into work: just drop it in the dock. When it's time to go on-site, pop off the dock and go.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utili ties.htm