short post is short

Ah the amusing nature of university students and class attendance. I was going to comment last week on how many people there were on campus. I had been taking summer classes and campus was quite empty. But then the regular semester started and with it came a complete change in density of students walking around on campus. It felt strange, and it made me wonder if there were normally that many students on campus.

But I was only experiencing the "First-Day-Of-Class" phenomenon. The days immediately following that Monday resulted in a sudden drop of student presence. Funny how drastic the difference is between last Monday and today. If you've started classes already you've probably seen the same. If not, look for it... unless you're the ones skipping ;).

Ok that is all, time for next class.

Take care.

i can has printer?

So after my desktop pc was moved into the dorm and I was sitting at home on my laptop, I had nothing to do. All my games and media are on my desktop as the laptop is now, for the most part, distraction free. (Distraction from school work). So I decided I wanted to play some old piano songs. I found some old sheets of Gundam Wing songs, but they were totally dumbed down and didn't sound as good as some user transcribed stuff. So I found some sheets, but then realized I had no printer, and I couldn't really find a place for my laptop to sit. Well, that's a lie, I eventually found a position for it.

Felt the desire to share the incredibly ghetto/dorky setup. It worked quite well, except that I couldn't see the entire sheet. But I just now thought of an idea to place the laptop on its side... Maybe I'll try that when I return home one day.
In other news - had two classes today already. Embedded microcontrollers and Japanese 2002. Currently waiting for some 4001 class... First project due this Friday in embedded mc's.... fun.

Ok that is all, take care dear readers!

Windows 7 First Impressions

In the vein of bloggers who think their opinion matters, I present to you my first impressions with Windows 7. Be forewarned, this will be slightly lengthy (Ok, so it’s really long, roughly 5 pages in Word). If you want the quick hard conclusions, skip to the bottom and I’ll have a list of Pros and Cons. And like I said, I just think my opinion matters – when really, it probably makes no difference. I’ll try and keep it fun, but most of the stuff is just me being nitpicky with habits that I’ve built over the years.

So here are my impressions after one day of installing my first new Windows OS since XP came out. Before that was Win2000, Win ME (yes, I had that installed at one point, shush), Win95, and Win3.11. I never installed Vista because XP worked for me. Scratch that, I installed Vista once. But I think it was only for a day since I got frustrated in trying to set it up. I think it got into an unrecoverable state after I installed some drivers and restarted for the first time. So after that point, I said screw it.

I’m pretty stubborn and have a huge emphasis on speed and efficiency – as you might see from the rest of this write-up. I’ve been used to one UI for a good 10 years, maybe more: the basic Windows Classic Theme, I guess you could call it. Windows 95 started it, and it stayed, for the most part, unaltered through Windows XP (well, I suppose XP had themes, but I stuck to Windows Classic). Gray startbar. Rectangular start button. Collapsing task tray. Quicklaunch toolbar. So making the jump into Aero and skipping Vista is a big deal for me. I’m going to force myself to use this UI and see if I begin to like it or not.

Dislikes

Keep in mind these are my likes and dislikes about things I’ve stumbled upon while customizing the OS to my liking. Most of these dislikes relate to efficiency of workflow. Some of these issues will probably be resolved by daily use. However, some of the issues will always be less efficient than before.

Distance to Close

You’ll find that I have a lot of qualms about the start bar. This is the first. This is one issue with Aero that will never be more efficient than the Classic theme. Remember my blog post about closing items from the start bar a while back? Yeah probably not. But anyway, this issue comes up in the Aero theme and its gaudy framing of all windows - including the context menu for start bar items.

So while it may look just a tad fancier, the distance needed to travel in order to select close window is painfully obvious in execution. So, while I might be able to get used to this, it will never be faster than the Classic theme. Unfortunately, some of the Aero features are not available when selecting the Classic theme. Thus, I will just have to accustom myself to being less efficient. *sigh

Pin to taskbar

I love the Quicklaunch taskbar featured since… I don’t know what version of Windows, but it was there in XP. The main reason is because I liked getting to my apps in one or two clicks with minimal screen space taken up. See http://johnbokma.com/windows/quick-launch.html the end of that page basically has the setup I like. Quicklaunch rollout window that is organized by folders/category. Unless I’m mistaken (and I very well may be), they’ve thrown away the concept of this Quicklaunch toolbar in favor of pinning items to the taskbar.

Once an item is pinned to the taskbar, it becomes an icon. When the app is started, the icon morphs into the task item (like Firefox you see there). This results in, to my mind, a unorganized jumble of task items mixed with icons. I do not like. I want my icons grouped one one side and my tasks grouped on the other.

Don’t get me started on the default view though. I customized this slightly by setting Taskbar buttons to “Combine when taskbar is full” Here’s what it looks like when “Always combine, Hide labels” is selected.That tells you jack crap about what is open. Yes yes, there is the fancy-schmancy thumbnail preview when you hover over an icon. The problem is, this defeats the purpose of the taskbar somewhat. The taskbar, in my opinion, is a quick means of bringing up a specifically desired window.

Hovering over the icon forces the user to wait a few seconds before they can select the desired window. You may argue alt-tab might be faster – but that’s only if the tasks are placed next to each other in the task switching order. End result: looks fancier, fails at efficiency of workflow.

That was somewhat a sidetrip, but we’re still focused on the taskbar here: what happened to hiding icons! I don’t think this is possible anymore. You know how you could display only specific icons on the taskbar and hide the rest in the popup menu? I think that’s gone. And while I do now have a higher-res widescreen monitor. This has got to be taxing the horizontal space on 4:3 displays. If anyone knows how to hide items like the Quicklaunch bar used to do, PLEASE let me know.

Can only pin Executables.

It doesn’t look like I can pin anything other than executables onto the taskbar. This means I can’t pin folders – like I could in the quicklaunch bar. I did this so I could have categorized shortcuts, organized by folders. And I also can’t pin .bat files. I found this out when I tried to pin Cygwin to the taskbar but could not. I tried making a shortcut to the .bat file and it looks like shortcut files can’t be pinned either. Again, if someone knows a workaround, let me know!

I guess all my dislikes were about the taskbar eh? Well, I’m sure I’ll find some more dislikes down the road. After all, I’ve only been using this OS for one day. There have got to be more quirks in other places that will rub me the wrong way… But nevermind that. Now we move on to what I do like about Windows 7. Some of these things may be carried over from Vista, but since I never used Vista, forgive my ignorance.

Likes
Taskbar Rearranging

Previously requiring 3rd party software, Windows 7 now has taskbar drag-and-drop rearrangement. Now I don’t know if this was a feature in Vista, but this is certainly cool in my books. Being able to put similar applications next to each other on the taskbar is a definite performance boost.

You may say that this could be a possible method of grouping icons on one side and tasks on the other. But that’s a really crappy fix. I want my icons grouped and my tasks grouped with no hassle.

Keyboard Shortcut: Win+Tab

The new alt-tab! Except for alt-tabbing out of a game, I’ll probably try and force myself to use this shortcut because it’s visually nifty. Reminds me of some CompizFusion type stuff. [Warning, the screenshot is 1600x1000]

While I don’t know if it’ll improve my workflow, a little eye candy couldn’t hurt too much right? I just have to get used to recognizing window content instead of icon+title. However, windows that do not appear on the taskbar do not seem to get included in win+tabbing. Maybe there will be an update someday.

Keyboard Shortcuts: Win+Left / Win+Right

These two shortcuts now resize the current window to half of the monitor – left side or right side. I used to do this manually all of the time when writing lab reports needing text and spreadsheets. Now it does it for me! And with greater precision too =).

Automatic Wallpaper Rotation

This is one that I enjoy even though I don’t have my desktop in focus most of the time. Still, it’s a nice touch and I can populate it with my entire photo collection and have a slideshow for wallpaper. It’s a nice personal and dynamic touch.

Performance / Resources

With respect to memory usage, I think Win7 is using slightly more RAM than in WinXP – not surprised since it’s also rendering the Aero interface. At startup with all of my usual background tasks (messengers and such) WinXP used ~600MB wheras Win7 uses ~750MB. I’ll probably install some more RAM in the near future as I’m sitting at 2GB. After all, I did install the 64bit version, might as well make use of the extra addressing space!

I do indeed like the new resource monitor though. Performance monitor used to be hidden in some Administrative Tools in the Control Panel, but its now a button on the task manager.

Conclusion

So that’s all for now. It was quite lengthy indeed. I had to switch over to Word part way through to get my planning of this post organized. There’s still some things I need to experience on Windows 7. I have not gotten around to gaming yet. I also have not played with multi-monitor support yet either. I don’t think I’ll have time for either of these until I get settled back in to the groove of courseworks. But, I’ll be sure to come back and talk about handling those tasks! That is, if you care. Which I’m sure you have better things to do.

Pros

• Taskbar rearrangement. Moving Excel to sit next to Word is now a cinch! No longer requires 3rd party apps.
• Keyboard Shortcut Win+Tab: The 3D interface is slick, despite sometimes not showing all active windows. A nice alternative to Alt+Tabbing
• Keyboard Shortcut Win+Left/Right: Resize to fit half the monitor. Great for working with multiple documents. Used to do this manually.
  
• Rotating Wallpaper: Nice personal touch.
• Resource Monitor: I like the presentation of this extension to the task manager. Resource usage in Win7, however, is more intensive (unsurprisingly) than WinXP

Cons

• Close Window in Taskbar context menu is placed farther away due to Aero interface.
• While not terrible in some respects, the Pin to Taskbar is messy.
  • Not quite as customizable as desired
  • Probably Gaudy on lower resolutions and less-wide monitors.
  • Can only pin executable, can’t pin folders nor regular files (at least to my current knowledge)

Next time I blog might be further impressions on Windows 7, but maybe you’ll get a break from a really long post and I’ll write about “To: Mommy, Subject: My First Day Back at School!” … something like that.

Anyway, if you made it through that entire article, I applaud you! If not, YOU SUCK. Just kidding! I probably wouldn’t sit and read through this article myself either; I don’t blame you.

giving in

So since I was bored today, I looked around for stuff to do. You know, other than watching anime and playing games. Hacked away a little on the piano, but teaching myself can be frustrating. Lack of finger speed, accuracy, as well as control in the left hand is frustrating. It's like: "Speed (4 SP), Accuracy (2 SP), Control (2 SP)" You have 5 SP to spend. Ah, I guess it's time to grind and get some more skill pointzzz. But anyway, I took a look at my baby and was like hmmm, she needs a little dusting.

Just imagine if all that dust was having fun inside the case! Well, there probably is b/c to have a lot of buildup on the outside most likely means stuff has gotten in. But my baby was on, and I was too lazy to open her up and clean dust the inside...

Anyway, that got me thinking I should probably get around to forming my own opinions about Windows 7. The ISO has been sitting on my PC for a long time. I keep hearing good things about it, but of course I am skeptical. I must experience it myself and only then can I join or refute the hype. Let's hope though, it lives up to its expectations. Thus, I shall be taking it for a spin in a few moments - the image is burning as I type. It's probably the wrong time to start testing out a new OS though - seeing as fall classes start back up on Monday. But I suppose it might be for the better. See how it handles my daily ordinary use - instead of my break usage consisting of movies and games.

On the note of games, the new Team Fortress 2 Classless Update came out a few minutes ago. Of which I'm sad I won't be able to play with until after Win7 is installed. Spy kinda got screwed, Scout got better in my eyes, and hopefully the new maps and mode will be fun.

Anyway, next time I shall be blogging from Windows 7 :o And probably my thoughts on how well the install went as well as how it performs in my hands. Until then, zip it up and zip it out.

whoa!

I won something!

http://www.evga.com/decade/scavenger/default.asp

Well if that link dies off in the future, here's a screenshot!

Don't think I've ever won something online before... unfortunately, I have no DDR3 compatible motherboard... And I don't think I'll be upgrading anytime soon.

Maybe I can set them on my desk and stare at them...

Anyway, I felt the need to share.

Until next time, I hope you win something too!

small fix

I just realized that the image mouseover opacity effect was no longer working in Firefox 3. Guess it's for the better that opacity is used and not -moz-opacity now. Anyway, that's been updated - I'm telling you for no reason at all, really. But maybe if someone has the same problem as me......

Anyway, grades were posted today. Yay for all A's! Makes me happy. Best wishes to all, and maybe next time I'll get around to that post about consciousness. I still haven't organized how I'm going to discuss it. I also don't know if it's worth it, b/c there's no point, really...

Until next time, take care dear readers!

no direction

As the title implies, there is no purpose to this post. However, I feel the need to oblige my lovely readers in a prompt fashion ;). I usually like to have some kind of idea or topic that drives the writing. But as summer classes have ended, so too, it seems, has my brain. Grades come out in two days. Confirmed A in two classes, confirmed pass in the pass/fail class, but 1 class remains. If he curves then I'll have an A for sure. If he doesn't, then I hope he is generous with partial credit cuz i screwwwwwwed the first problem (of 5) over big time.

The end of classes also brings about another change, this one at home. My parents, being the caring and supportive people that they are, usually don't ask much of me during the school terms. However, now that classes have ended. "Oh, well I was waiting for you to have some free time, so go do this, this, this, that, this, and that". I understand it's perfectly normal. I'm just spoiled.

So ends my personal stuff, how about an observation on a few good anime shows. Last season's Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East) was quite a good show - despite them leaving the storyline for two followup movies. One of the last scenes is main character dude shooting down a missile - finger pistol style.

And then just recently I finished watching both seasons of Black Lagoon. As a side note, I highly recommend this show. It's dark, somewhat intellectual, and totally badass. I actually liked it because it's dark and stays so 'til the end. Sure there's tones of redemption or honor; I'm not being cynical either, but do you ever just wish some movies shouldn't have happy endings? Anyway, screenshot from the final moments of Black Lagoon Second Barrage. I'm glad the "new season" coming up will be OVA. I hope it means they can make it super badass with no restrictions that would have come from TV censors.

So now you must be wondering what the point of this is. I'm not quite sure either. But after finishing these two shows in, somewhat, close proximity to each other. I just thought, when's the first time Bang was used in this manner? And all I could think of was:

Anyone know of an older reference? I also found it amusing that three different "Bang"s had three different subtitles. "Bang..." "Bang!" and "Bang." I think that about covers all possible ways of punctuating it, don't you think? Well... maybe there's "Bang?" but that is not the cool way of saying Bang. Anyway, I presented to you three Bangs which were all a part of three highly recommended anime shows. Does that mean the key to success is to end with Bang? Or does it mean that good shows end with a Bang? Ok I've run out of ideas.

Until next time. Keep on Bangin! (ok that came out wrong)