Free Windows 10 Upgrade

As I guessed in my post last year, the next version of Windows is a free upgrade to consumer of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. I love it.

Should Microsoft Windows Free?

Few days ago, I read this article "Microsoft should get used to giving Windows away for free" written by  Tony Bradley on TechRepublic. I like that idea. If Microsoft can not make Windows free as Ubuntu Linux, at least it should be free upgrade or low cost like Mac OS/X 10.7

MAC – Easy to Use?

Refresh:

• Windows: F5
• Ubuntu: Ctrl-R
• Mac: ?

Create a new text file.

• Windows: Right click
• Ubuntu: Right click
• Mac: ?

Connect to Windows Share from Ubuntu

When I attempted to connect to Windows Share from Ubuntu 12.04, I got this error message: "Failed to retrieve share list from server"

Found solution from UbuntuForums.org (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1082148&page=12&p=9762937#post9762937). Enter "smb://192.168.123.123" where 192.168.123.123 is the IP address of Windows Share, it bring up the list of shared folders on Windows machine.

Now, I just entered the user name and password to get in.

Using ODBC 32-bit on 64-bit Operating System

Which ODBC driver should we install on 64-bit machine using Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, or Windows 8? It would depend. When I installed MySQL ODBC 64-bit driver on Windows 8.1 Preview, it worked when I added a new DSN. But, it did not work when Microsoft Access 2007 application made ODBC call to MySQL server.

What wrong? It took me couple hours to figure out. Microsoft Access 2007 may not work with other 64-bit driver or program yet. Installed MySQL ODBC 32-bit solve the problem.

On Windows 8.1, there are two ODBC Administrors under Control Panel – Administrative Tools. One for ODBC Datasources 32-bit and one for ODBC Datasources 64-bit. On Windows Server 2008 R2, there is only one reference to ODBC Administrator. This is 64-bit. Where is 32-bit? To add or manage DSN for ODBC 32-bit, you need to call program odbcad32.exe in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\

Hope this help.

Install Windows 8.1 Preview on VirtualBox

When I installed Windows 8.1 Preview on VirtualBox 4.2.14 hosted on Mac OS/X machine, I got this error:
“Your PC need to restart, Please hold down the power button Error Code : 0x000000C4”.

Here is a solution I found at https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/10792:
Open terminal windows and execute this command:
VBoxManage setextradata [vmname] VBoxInternal/CPUM/CMPXCHG16B 1
where [vmname] is your Windows 8.1 virtual machine name.

Here is my screenshot: Install Visual Studio 2013 Preview on Windows 8.1 Preview

Update on July 10: You need to the Oracle VirtualBox 4.2.16 or later to install VirtualBox Addition in order to make the full screen, shared folder and other features.

Scan a whole drive for virus in Windows 8

1. Go to desktop screen to using Windows Explorer or open command prompt windows.
2. Change to folder C:\Program Files\Windows Defender
3. Execute program c:msascui.exe

Android Studio

On Google IO 2013, Google introduced Android Studio, based on IntelliJ IDEA, a new tool for Android developers. I liked it. Since it was a preview version, Google noted:

Caution: Android Studio is currently available as an early access preview. Several features are either incomplete or not yet implemented and you may encounter bugs. If you are not comfortable using an unfinished product, you may want to instead download (or continue to use) the ADT Bundle (Eclipse with the ADT Plugin).

As soon it posted on developer.android.com, I downloaded and installed on three platforms: Ubuntu 13.04, Mac OS/X Lion 10.7.5 and Windows Vista. On Ubuntu 13.04 with OpenJDK 1.7, I got this error message:

'tool.jar' is not in Android Studio class path. Please ensure JAVA_HOME points to JDK rather than JRE.

I have no problem using Eclipse Juno (4.2.2) for Android development on this machine. Ran android-studio/bin/studio.sh at a terminal, there was a warning:

WARNING: You are launching the IDE using OpenJDK Java runtime. ITS KNOWN TO HAVE PERFORMANCE AND GRAPHICS ISSUES! SWITCH TO THE ORACLE(SUN) JDK BEFORE REPORTING PROBLEMS!

Downloaded and switched to Oracle (Sun) JDK from OpenJDK on Ubuntu 13.04 according to Hendré's blog, problem solved.

On Mac OS/X with Java 1.6.0_45, I got Android Studio ran immediately without hicup. After I made a new simple project to test, I could not load any Android Virtual Device. To work around, I opened Android Virtual Device Manager from Eclipse Juno to load the Android Application launched from Android Studio.

On Windows Vista with JRE 7 installed only, Nothing running after executed Android Studio (c:\android-studio\studio,exe) application. Tried to replaced Oracle JRE 7 with Oracle JDK 7, no luck. Solution: Added environment variable JAVA_HOME with value "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_21) to system variables. Further reading:

• Getting Started with Android Studio. Need to read this page thoroughly to save time.
• IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio FAQ. This FAQ is good.

Quickly Lock Your Screen using Keyboard

To quickly lock your computer using keyboard shortcut:

1. On Ubuntu: Press <Ctrl><Alt>L at the same time 
2. On Apple OS/X: Press <Shift><Ctrl><Eject> keys at the same time 
3. On Microsoft Windows: Press <Windows> and L keys at the same time 

Read Error in LibreOffice

If you cannot open the LibreOffice document due to read error as the picture below

Un-install LibreOffice version 3.4 and install LibreOffice 3.5 will solve the problem. I got this problem when saved a file in LibreOffice 3.5 in Mac and attemped to open it in Ubuntu.

Git on Microsoft Windows

For source code control, I used StarTeam and Microsoft Visual SourceSafe. Now, I would like to phase out Microsot Visual SourceSafe to use an Open Source source code control. After some research, I pick Git instead of Subversion SVN. CVS was out-of-date. Many well known companies, orgranizations using Git. I would like to put a Git repository on Microsoft Windows Server that can access by Git client on Windows and Ubuntu. How?

Setting Up Git Repository on Remote Windows Server?
http://serverfault.com/questions/58425/setting-up-git-repository-on-remote-windows-server

Hosting Git Repository in Windows
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/233421/hosting-git-repository-in-windows

An Illustrated Guide to Git on Windows
http://nathanj.github.com/gitguide/tour.html

What is the Best Git GUI (Client) for Windows?
http://kylecordes.com/2010/git-gui-client-windows

Git For Windows Developers – Git Series – Part 1
http://lostechies.com/jasonmeridth/2009/06/01/git-for-windows-developers-git-series-part-1/

Hosting a Git server under IIS7 on Windows
http://www.jeremyskinner.co.uk/2010/06/25/hosting-a-git-server-under-iis7-on-windows/

HOWTO_CentralServerWindowsXP
http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/wiki/HOWTO_CentralServerWindowsXP

Setting up a Msysgit Server with copSSH on Windows
http://www.timdavis.com.au/git/setting-up-a-msysgit-server-with-copssh-on-windows/

Setting up a Git server with Windows Server 2008
http://www.shannoncornish.com/blog/2009/04/git-server-windows-2008/

Everyday GIT With 20 Commands Or So:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/everyday.html

Develop with Git on a Google Code Project
http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2008/05/develop-with-git-on-google-code-project.html

git vs Subversion - pros and cons
http://serverfault.com/questions/62603/git-vs-subversion-pros-and-cons

Svn vs Git
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/161541/svn-vs-git

Pro Git professional version control
http://progit.org/book/

Git vs Subversion (SVN)

Git and Subversion (SVN) are free and open source version control software. I'm planning to replace Microsoft Visual SourceSafe in Microsoft Windows system. I need a modern open source version control system can use in both platform Linux and Microsoft Windows.

Which one is better?