mikefisher.org

My wife was looking for something to help the boys’ speed with math facts, and remembered an old game they used to have on their computer called Funnels and Buckets.  I hunted for it online, and found that there are quite a few sites that stock old abandonware.  Most of these games have to be run inside a Dos emulator such as DOSBox.  I installed DOSBox and read the tutorial, and got the game to work.  Every time you start the game, you have to mount the folder it is in as a virtual drive via the DOS command line.  Then you type in the name of the game, hit alt+enter, and in a flash you go from Windows Vista Ultimate to 1980s-era DOS.  Cool!

The nice thing about games like Funnels is that they are very simple and just give children a little incentive to spout out math facts quickly.  Homeschoolers don’t have competition at flash cards, so things like this are needed to inspire them!

Our anti-virus subscription with AVG recently ran out at work, so I looked for an alternative before buying another 2-year subscription for $54.99.  I found a great alternative which is free to personal and business users – Comodo.  It has been running for a few weeks now and I am happy with it.  My requirements are pretty simple.  It has to be auto-updating and fast, and easy on resources.  Comodo fits the bill.  Highly recommended.

No we do NOT have another announcement to make.  But somehow or other we have gotten involved in making birth announcements and other picture collages for friends and family recently.  This work is typically done during the precious evening hours after the children are put to bed!  Michelle provides the artistic ideas and I figure out how to do it in the GIMP.

Here are some samples of our work.

So far our business model is somewhat problematic as it has not turned a profit.  We did land a $50 Red Lobster gift card for one project which for us is quite satisfactory.

Some people have asked in the comments about how we take pictures.  There is nothing special about the camera; it is an older Kodak.

Then we do this:

Or sometimes this:

The software is free.  Anybody can make pictures look good with these excellent programs.

There is a fairly new VOIP solution out there called MagicJack.  It’s comparable to Skype which is costing $3.00 a month these days.  That’s $36 a year.  Well MagicJack is $40 for the first year which includes a little jack that plugs into a USB port and into which you plug the POTS line from your phone.  And after that it is $19.95 a year.

Skype, or else our Skype adaptor, has been having its hiccups lately so I decided to try this.  I got my MagicJack today and installed it.  It’s working great and is indistinguishable from a regular phone line.  The call quality and ease of use is miles ahead of Skype even though there’s not much point in complaining about such cheap calling.

We still use Vonage (basic plan, about $15/month) for our main incoming line because Vonage lets us keep our old telephone number.

One problem I had was that I could not get a local number for MagicJack.  Our area code is not even available.  So I decided to try to find a number that was local for someone in our family that would normally have to pay long distance to call.  Now my wife’s sister out West can call our new number which is local in their town without having any long distance charges.  Nice for them.

Gotta find as many ways as possible to justify the cost of Comcast cable ($42.95/month).  6MB broadband doesn’t come cheap.

Read the PC Magazine review of MagicJack here.

With much fear and trembling in light of all the naysaying out there, I recently installed Windows Vista Ultimate on my desktop.  I have had the discs for awhile but for lack of time and also a good reason to leave XP behind I didn’t have much motivation to install Vista.  Then the other day I set up a computer for my brother-in-law that had a 64-bit version of Vista on it.  I was so impressed with its looks and features that I decided to finally go for it.  So far I really like what I see.  I think it pays to let new OSes work the bugs out for a year or so.  The biggest improvement is the cool new interface but I am also learning about the nice new features under the hood.  So far I don’t see any reason at all to go back to XP.  There haven’t been any compatibility issues with my hardware or programs.  I still don’t see any reason to go out and buy Vista to install on a computer that has XP.  But if you have a chance to get it free then why not?

I have experimented with Linux many times and have been impressed by the way you can sample an OS by using a live CD. However the Linux people have officially outdone themselves. The newest and best way to try the latest Unbuntu Linux is with Wubi. With a simple Windows desktop installer you can painlessly install Ubuntu Hardy Heron (and uninstall it in Windows as well) without all the boot configuration and partitioning that a manual install demands.

I installed Hardy on an ancient desktop that I run mainly as a backup server in the hope that it would outperform XP. Unfortunately it was noticeably slower although I think this may have been because I did not allow it enough install space requiring more swapping of disc space. Otherwise I was impressed, almost enough that I want to try it on my main desktop or my laptop.

Hardy immediately recognized all hardware except my wireless network card which took just a little fiddling in the network settings.

There are a few reasons why I would not use Linux as a primary OS. One of them is just the extra work it takes to get everything running right. Yes there are many wonderful Linux programs out there but you simply have to have Windows compatibility in our world. Even using WINE, it’s just too strange and different for the average user who is accustomed to Windows. Another thing is that I don’t know of any Internet accountability software that works with Windows. I did a little googling on this and possibly there are some things in the works. But once again it is important that things like that are accessible to the average user and I think it will be awhile yet until something good turns up in that department. I would love to know if I am wrong there.

I think there is little reason to be spending a fortune for an OS or for software for a personal computer these days. (Even though a nice Mac still appeals to me.) Business is another matter. Commercial software has vast advantages over open source stuff in a lot of ways but I think the gap may be narrowing.

Today I received my free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate from Microsoft. Now the ultimate dilemma is, shall I install it? I was a wee bit disappointed that this was not a nice retail version such as is sold on Amazon for over $300. I should have known Microsoft would make sure I couldn’t opt to sell this on on eBay for a couple hundred bucks. “Not for resale.” Too bad. Still, this is the fully loaded version of the newest M$ OS and it should have all the bells and whistles. There’s one thing I will do if I decide to install it – make sure all my most important software works with Vista. I know my graphics card is Vista-compatible and I have plenty of RAM. So what do you all think – should I or shouldn’t I? *Mac fans’ comments may be deleted.

I blogged before about FolderShare and BeInSync, which are synchronization programs. BeInSync was a great program but last I checked you had to pay for it. FolderShare worked really well most of the time but every once in awhile I discovered it wasn’t syncing. Several times I had to reinstall it to get it working again. Besides I had to have it installed on both desktops on my network and I am suspicious it was buggy because it synced over a wireless connection. Plus FolderShare runs over the Internet so basically your data travels to the Lord knows where and back through the servers of the evil Microsoft! So I went to using SyncToy which is a very nice lightweight program that syncs folders both ways. I scheduled it to run every night and it worked flawlessly. But I still wouldn’t have minded running a sync program that runs in real time as changes are made.

This month’s PC Mag featured 157 of the best free apps. Under backup/sync they featured Allway Sync. It can be set to do automatic synchronization at desired intervals (as often as every three minutes) and can be installed on one computer on the network, keeping specified folders across the network in sync. It runs on the network, not through an Internet server like FolderShare does. I installed it and it ran through 25+ GB of data in only a few minutes. I was impressed with the speed. It looks like it is a pretty big memory hog at 45MB although who cares now that I am running a Core2 Duo/2GB RAM?!

http://www.allwaysync.com/

Awhile ago the Internet was all atwitter because Microsoft was giving away free copies of Windows Vista Ultimate, Microsoft Office, and other expensive software in exchange for participation in the Windows feedback program.  Well so many people were willing to let Microsoft spy on them that the supplies designated for the program were exhausted in a matter of days (hours?).  I was able to sign up before this happened and the other day I got this nice email from Microsoft:

Thank you for participating in the Windows Feedback Program! 

This message is to notify you that you are a registered member of the program, and so far you have met all requirements to qualify for the free product offer. Congratulations!
As a reminder, when you registered for the program, we stated that you will receive your product only after we have confirmed that you have:

·        Entered a valid e-mail and shipping address.

·        Fully completed the survey.

·        Downloaded and installed the software on Windows Vista or XP.

·        Used our software for at least 3 months on a Windows Vista or XP computer that is periodically connected to the Internet.

As part of the registration process, we indicated that if we detect your computer not to be sending data, you would be notified accordingly.

We are currently receiving data from your PC on a frequent basis, and as soon as you complete the 3 months participation term, your free product selection will be sent to the mailing address you submitted at registration.

Your product selection:

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit DVD)

Now I have to decide whether I want to use it or sell it.