Installing Ubuntu without a CD drive using USB drive

With the latest release of Ubuntu, I feel that more people will have access to a highly mature, fast and easy to use operating system. But unfortunately, most people I’ve talked all believe that in order to install Linux (GNU/Linux) on your computer, you’re going to have to burn CD’s and it’s going to take a long time.

While this was true in the past, no longer is it necessary to burn a CD (or even have a CD drive, if you’re a netbook user) in order to use an open source operating system (OSOS ?). Here’s now you can install Ubuntu or any other similar flavour of an open source OS, with UNetbootin

How to install Ubuntu with USB Drive

1. Head on over to UNetbootin’s website and download the software (Windows and Linux Versions are Available)
2. Open it up and choose an option to either download the OS of choice from the internet or use your own ISO
3. I personally download my own ISO from the website, and point it’s path to the program like so:
4. 
5. Hit OK and let Unetbootin copy the contents of the CD to your USB drive
6. Now, reboot your computer… (But read these instruction first!)
7. While your computer is booting, at the boot screen press the key to enter the boot setup
• Note: The key to enter the boot setup, and the boot set up varies from computer to computer, but usually there will a be a message on the screen telling you which keys you can press
8. Enter the Setup and go to the Boot Options section of the setup (this section might be named differently depending on the brand of computer/BIOS your computer has)
9. Ensure that the computer is set to: Boot From USB Drive first this will make sure that your computer looks for the Linux files inside the USB before moving on to the operating system you already have installed
10. Then reboot your computer again, and hopefully the computer will recognize the USB drive, the data inside it and proceed to load the Linux files
11. Follow the instructions on the screen to install Linux
12. Install Linux
13. Enjoy using Linux

So, this way you’ll not only enjoy a faster install (somewhat faster, considering the fact that CD drives are often slower than USB drives) but also prevent the wastage of CDs.

Alternatively, you can also perform an Install from the Hard drive, where Unetbootin creates another partition on your hard drive for the Linux files, and deletes the partition after Linux is done installing. However, I never use this option much, since I’d rather give the space taken up by the installation files to Ubuntu too…

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Num Lock and Caps Lock on a Blackberry

While it feels amazing to type away on a blackberry keyboard (even for a person with big fingers like me), one thing that I have recently discovered is how to enable "numlock" and "caps lock" (yes I do sometimes have a reason to use this feature) on a blackberry.


Turns out that the makers did anticipate users to use the number pad (albeit as a secondary function) exclusively without having to press the alt key every time.

Enabling NumLock on a Blackberry

• First press the alt key
• Then press the left shift (the one that says aA) key
• This will enable the numlock and you will see a symbol on the top right corner of the screen displaying 123 indicating this
• You will also be able to use the associated "alt Characters" that appear on the top of each key
• To get rid of the numlock simply press the left shift key again

Enabling Caps Lock on a Blackberry

• To turn on caps lock, press the alt key
• Then press the right shift key (aA on the right side of the keys)
• To remove it, press the right shift key again

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Deleting Multiple e-mail messages on a Blackberry

Another thing that I've recently discovered is how to delete multiple messages from a blackberry. Instead of having 500 emails on my phone, I'd rather just have the most important emails and delete the rest. But until now I was just deleting the e-mails manually, one by one, pressing the delete button in the e-mail list to delete the e-mails. However, it seems like there's a faster way to delete several e-mails together.


Interestingly enough deleting several messages (e-mails or call messages) on the blackberry is the analog of doing so on the computer (where one holds the shift key or ctrl/cmd key to select multiple things). One simply needs to:

• Hold down the Shift Key (the one on the bottom row, to the left most or right most side of the keyboard with the aA symbol)
• Scroll along with your trackball to select messages (hah, take that touch screen phones... let's see you do this! well actually it is quite possible)
• Press the Delete key (the one that says del with the left arrow)
  
• Choose your option (your blackberry will choose Cancel as the default if you do this... instead of automatically going on your preferred option):
• Either delete it from your handset
• Or delete it from the server too
• Enjoy your empty/skimmed down inbox!

And there you have it. No longer will you have to scroll through the spam and facebook messages to reach that important email.

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Backing up window 7 speech recognition profiles

One thing that is true about speech recognition today is that you have to spend a lot of time training the computer to accurately organize your voice.  But what happens when you lose the data that the computer has?  You'll have to start over from scratch again.  This is especially painful if you've used the correct that command 1000 times.

Luckily though, Microsoft has created a little tool that will help you back up your speech recognition profile.  While there are actually other methods, I find this the most convenient way to backup my speech recognition profile lest something goes wrong.

Th

You will first have to download the WSRbackup tool from Microsoft's web site. Once you run this tool you will have the option to backup or restore your speech profile.

I recommend, you constantly make a backup of your profile and keep it somewhere safe.  This will help you if you want use another computer, update your operating system or in times of need when your computer crashes.  Also, don't forget to back up your macros if you have created some.  If you don't know how to create macros you might want to take a look at my post on how to create windows speech recognition macros.

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Technology Gets Old... Fast

I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Price of a Blackberry Pearl Two Years Ago (January 2008) (Also, note that the item is "out of stock")

Price of a Blackberry Pearl Today (March 2010)

The difference (when the customer buys a plan of $35 dollars or more, locked into Rogers for 3 years): (249.99 - 9.99) / 9.99 * 100% = 2 402.4024% or 24x

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Windows speech recognition macros

If you've used commercial speech recognition software you probably realize that one feature missing in windows speech recognition is the ability to have macros.  However, windows actually does provide a tool which you can use to create your own custom macros.

These macros can be text macros, command macros and several other types of advanced macros.

Setting these macros up is very simple, one you have Installed speech recognition that is.  All you need to do is download (and install of course) the window speech recognition macro tool and start using it.

For instance, you can create a text macro like so (You’ll have to open up the  macros tool from the start menu):

You can also create a macro that will open up the most recent file that you worked on and open it up in the word editor of your choice. 

 

That's it!

I must say it is a pretty handy tool if you are bogged down with a lot of work

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RogersHelp.com is a suspicious website

Interestingly enough, I was browsing the Internet today and came across an interesting phenomenon related to my Internet Service provider. Turns out, Norton actually blocks Rogers' forum websites and shows the big red X beside any Rogers website in Google search results.

Sometimes, it even warns you when you click on the search results telling you that the website may be malicious.  Maybe it's because the forum has a lot of bad advice. I guess it serves Rogers right for blocking bit torrent traffic, even if it is downloading an open source project like Ubuntu.

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