I don’t know how to say this any clearer. MCE Buddy Rocks!. It is free, but they request a donation. I haven’t seen any nag-ware.

If you run Windows Media Center 7 and want to do anything with the TV tuner recorded files, check out MCEBuddy. It does the simple stuff by default. I suppose it will work with older versions of media center too, but cannot confirm that. What is the simple stuff?

The last few days, I’ve been playing with Ubuntu Server 9.10. It hasn’t been perfect. There have been problems along the way. So everyone else knows the issues, I’ll list a few here with a little detail.

It all started during the Server 9.10 x64 installation.

Be certain to check out the comments for solutions to issues as I discover them.

Last week I discovered that one the RSS/Atom feed methods on this site had been broke the last few months. I’ve taken steps to get both of them working again for the few subscribers (including myself). Most of you are using RSS, not Atom. RSS is my preference too.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen anything new in the feed recently, please update the feeds.

Sorry it took so long to notice. I’ve been migrating lots of hardware around and still working with insurance to get the laptop fixed.

Maintaining a computer with all the patching and updating required these days is tough. It is almost impossible to keep everything patched on the most popular OS out there, even for nerds like us. For non-computer people, it is impossible. Often, software updates have costs to get the new version too. That’s just another barrier for Grandma.

Which Programs does Grandma Use?

First, we’ll create a list of the computer tools our fictitious Grandma probably uses today.

According to WINE, Quicken 2008 works under WINE – Wine Is Not an Emulator.

WINE Report on Quicken 2008

This means that many people running Windows who would like to run Linux have one less application holding them back. I’m not in a position to try this myself for a week or so, but I definitely will try it. According to the install hints, you just need a few Windows DLLs (from those old licenses you aren’t using) preconfigured in WINE to get it working. Only sound doesn’t work, which I see as a plus.

Watch the comments for my results. Cross your fingers.

Over the years, I’ve been using this blog to help myself remember how to do things and to share some great tools and techniques with you. I figure it is time to recap some of those articles whether they are computer, financial/retirement, or just interesting things.

Today I was migrating a few core services from one server to another as part of the new server build project. Basically, I need to wipe the 1st physical server and reload it with a new, different OS as part of this project. Before that can be accomplished, there are a number of services that I need to migrate to a new VM running on a different server.

Today, I was doing a little online shopping using my Nokia N800. Ikea has a few price cuts on bookcases and they looked interesting, so I wanted more information.

I visited ikea.com and clicked United States – crash. Not just a browser crash, but a forced reboot of the entire device. SWEET! The N800 uses a modified Mozilla browser running a version of Linux, BTW. This isn’t a normal cell phone or otherwise limited browser. I’m not running with any special permissions either. Crashes shouldn’t be possible.

Good job Ikea. My N800 is 3 yrs old and this is the first time it has crashed to a reboot. Impressive. May I suggest you review your web site for errors?

Happy Texas Independence Day!

A little history about it.

1836 – so, 174 years.

Nothing really to report this week. Doing RMA stuff on an old Antec 550W PSU and getting an estimate to fix the Dell laptop.