Techie – amaryllia.com

uTorrent Port Forwarding in VMWare Fusion

Amy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:57:30 +0000

I first started this post when I wanted to set up uTorrent on my MacBook Air’s VM XP. There were so many sites with different instructions that I thought I would compile the most straightforward method that worked. Unfortunately, after a few failed trial and errors, I stumbled upon another blog that had already accomplished what I was trying to do so I’ll just link you to it instead!

Follow the nicely organized instructions at Splendiferous Zeppelin Escapades and restart networking for VMWare Fusion by typing the following command in your terminal:

sudo "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/boot.sh" --restart
* The above command I learned from Gary Day.

Home for my MacBook Air

Amy — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:09:44 +0000

Yesterday I found time and a willing coworker (thanks Westphal!) to help me install XP Pro on my VM Fusion; Today I started installing some apps like Office 2007, Photoshop, Quickbooks, etc… I must say, people were not kidding when they said Windows runs smoother and faster on a Mac! and the 2-finger touchpad scrolling even works for IE!! (not sure why I’m sooo excited about that fact but it’s awesome.)

So now that I no longer have an excuse to tote around 2 laptops, it’s time to find my MBA a sweet place to sleep.

Hmm… eeny ($70), meeny ($34),
miny ($35), mo ($460!)

And just as I was starting to think that a $460 Swarovski crystal laptop case may be a bit spoiled, check out this $40,000 version!

Vista Downgrade to XP Pro

Amy — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:39:48 +0000

Continuing my rant on Vista issues from last month… I recently purchased a new HP Pavilion dv9700t notebook to replace the one my boyfriend accidentally cracked. The day after it arrived, I attempted to downgrade the OEM Vista to XP Pro using a disk I had before. Sounds easy enough right?

It’s been two weeks now, and I can’t say I’m that much closer to getting the laptop set up in a way that’s ready to use…this could easily be one of the most frustrating OS install I’ve ever encountered. Granted, I don’t do this all the time, but it shouldn’t been this difficult to figure out either!

So far I’ve gotten past the “hard drive not found” error by purchasing an external USB Floppy Drive, made 2 boot disks containing mysterious drivers, reinstalled XP Pro, and hunted down all but 5 of the hardware drivers that I need to reinstall. Unfortunately, those missing 5 include Ethernet, Wireless Network, NVIDIA Graphics Card, and Audio… which means the laptop is still mostly useless.

I would highly appreciate any input on where to locate these missing drivers.

MacBook Air

Amy — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:10:00 +0000

If you remember, I was just complaining about Vista two weeks ago… coincidentally (and special thanks to my co-worker Blaine), I was given a MacBook Air for work yesterday. How crazy!

Like any piece of shiny, new and expensive gadget, I delicately opened the packaging and attempted to use dainty fingers (with my pinky in the air, you know what I’m talking about) to lift out my newest toy. Unfortunately, this 3/4″ thick thing weighs more than it looks and I was forced to utilize all 5 of my fingers to get it out of the box.

So if you’ve ever made the switch from Windows to Mac, you’ll know what I’m talking about here – First I read the manual cover-to-cover (and I’m not one of those people that does this with everything), then I carefully turned it on, filled out some forms, repeatedly took my user account picture using the iSight and watched the amazingly smooth intro video for Mac OS X Leopard with the preset volumn that is almost inappropriate for work. Finally, I spent the rest of the day trying to familiarize myself with Mac and doing the following:

Expecting app install by double-clicking instead of click-n-dragging
Attempting to “right click” on the trackpad by pressing the right half of the single button
Looking for the app menu within the app window itself
Clicking on the red ‘x’ in the app window and expecting that application to quit/close completely
Trying to locate the scroll bar while browsing instead of the two finger trick
Hitting ctrl + something instead of command + something and waiting for something to happen (MacBook Air is so quiet and has no extra flashing lights anywhere for me to ever know if it’s doing something or if I just used the wrong key-combinations)

Today, I plan on installing all sorts of things to make it work-usable. I had never noticed before how many things are PC-only so I’m on a quest to find equivalent Mac counterparts for things like XMLSpy, Outlook, QuickBooks, etc. If you’re in the same boat, then definitely check out the list here to get a nice jump start.

I Am Vista-Challenged

Amy — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:05:47 +0000

Though I consider myself somewhat of a nerd, I usually lag behind on adopting the latest gadgets and gizmos. Besides my belief that 1st generation anything is buggy and unstable, I also lack the disposable income that is needed to constantly upgrade.

One of my most recent toys is Windows Vista. I’ve played around with it for about 2 months now but still find certain aspects extremely confusing if not annoying:

Why is it so hard to find the Command Prompt?
What happened to Windows Picture and Fax Viewer from XP?
Without a fancy new video card, most of the Vista effects don’t exist…so basically I’ve ended up with a more expensive version of XP.

Luckily for me, Vista has been around for awhile and it’s not hard to Google for the solution of most issues that I run into. But why should I have to do that?

If there is something super special about vista that I’m missing, please let me in on the secret. As of now I’m not a big fan.

It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature!

Amy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:27:07 +0000

Best Web Gallery

Amy — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:59:44 +0000

Just 4 days ago I posted some designer sites worth checking out. However, if you are looking for 890+ design inspirations that are borderline intimidating (at least to me), just go to Best Web Gallery, another web site managed by Nick La.

Envious Designs

Amy — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:28:55 +0000

When I first acquired this domain name, I had grand visions of a website that truly expressed all the complexities that makes me, me. Needless to say, I soon felt overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities and the creation of my masterpiece website was pushed aside to accommodate more pressing matters such as finishing school and finding a job…

To make long story short, I have been working for Hannon Hill, a web content management software company, for about 2 and a half years now and the itch to create my own little web space has returned (I would guess that ogling at professionally designed websites day in and day out probably has something to do with it).

My first order of business: choosing a Content Management System (CMS) that provided nice, easy-to-use features with a friendly price tag. Although I’m a huge fan of Cascade Server, the software we sell and manage, it is more targeted towards larger organizations with larger websites and larger budgets…Anyway, if you have ever done your free CMS research, or if you already have a site powered by WordPress, you’ll already know all the reasons why I’ve chosen to go with WP.

Second order of business: site design. This is my current roadblock because I am somewhat artistically-challenged and am surely no CSS guru. Luckily for me, there are plenty of free premade WP templates/themes I can pick from and use until I have the time and knowledge to put together my own.

Here is a short list of some impressive designers that I’ve come across who also dabble with WP.

Nick La is a graphic/web designer based in Toronto whose main focus is to design beautiful and usable CSS websites. He is the creator behind iTheme, a WordPress theme for Mac lovers that allows site visitors to rearrange the sidebar using drag & drop. N.Design Studio

Mani Sheriar is “a self-proclaimed CSS-obsessed freak” who “shares her passions, thoughts, and insights into web design and development using web standards.” Sheriar Designs

John Politowski conceived rpm design factory almost ten years ago. Today, it has evolved into a creative space for web development and 3d graphics.

Elena Gafita is the designer at Design Disease.

Tung Do started WPDesigner.com in May 2006 to improve the quality of free WordPress themes at that time. It is now an informative blog focused on developing WordPress themes and improving your blog’s performance through code and design tweaks.

Liza Kliko, owner and designer behind Lorelei Web Design. Be sure you check out her collection of free themes at TopTut.com.