Easily create an Ubuntu pen drive

Ubuntu. The most popular and (i think) best linux operating system there is.

Especially because it’s lite. It takes up less than a gigabyte to install.

But go before that. Go back to putting in the CD. You know how you could select “Try ubuntu without any change to my computer”? That’s where this post is coming from. You can create a CD but have it save data and instead of a CD be s USB disk.

This is actually simpler than it looks. You will need an internet connection (which I’m assuming you have as you are viewing this page), a PC with Ubuntu Karmic Koala (9.10) installed, and a USB disk, and preferably a mac as well.

First, open a web browser and go to www.ubuntu.com/download to get yourself the .iso of the Ubuntu install. disk. Then, plug in your USB disk to your Mac, open disk utility, select the disk and select Erase. In security options select Zero Out Data, and put the disk format to MS-DOS (FAT). Click erase, then go into the drive (not the partition), click the Partition Menu, from the Pop-up select 1 Partition, and on the right I would title it USB and slect the partition type to be MS-DOS (FAT) and click Partition. Let that finish, then Eject he disk from your mac. Unplug the disk and plug it into the PC that is running the latest ubuntu on it and has the .iso from ubuntu.com/download downloaded. Close all of the running applications and in the menus go to System>Administration>USB Startup Disk Creator. Here, drag in the .iso file to the top box. Select the USB drive from the box on the bottom. Change the slider that appears to a desired amount. I have a 4.4 GB drive and I let it have 1.5 GB. This is because I still wanted to use it as a normall USB drive.

Now click create startup disk and let it do the rest. It will take 10-30 minutes, but the outcome is great. Plug in the disk to a computer and on most computers on the initial bootup screen (usually with the logo of the computer manufacturer) hit escape. Select USB[-HDD/Hard Drive] and you are good to boot. Select “try ubuntu without making any changes to your computer” from the menu that follows and you will boot right into the ubuntu operating system from your USB disk. Here you can setup email, download files, etc. and after shutting down you can plug the USB drive into another computer and boot using the same process and your files and settings will remain.

If you can, try putting it on a necklace. This way you have an operating system with you and all you need is another computer, which there are probably plenty of around these days.

I used the PNY MicroSwivel which is great because it is 4GB and nobody would think that it was a USB disk until you opened it. And then you boot it up and your friends think you just screwed up their whole computer, until you shut it down, unplug the disk, turn it on again, and it’s like nothing ever happened!

Art online silent auction!

So I have started a digital artwork collection and I am auctioning off a 19X13 Hi-Res glossy print of this piece [link]

This piece is titled Pentaflame, and is 1/10 of the prints. The piece of artwork is signed.

The current highest bid is $25.

Send in your bids to auction@goodmorninggeek.com

The highest bid by the end of 2009 will be the winner.

Tip/Trick: Save battery on your iPod touch

Your battery life is important… If you don’t believe me, you will when your iPod dies while writing an incredibly important business email.

You can use a few simple little tricks to increase your battery life.

1. At least every month, drain your iPod until it dies, and fully recharge it. It’s even better to do this every time you need to charge/discharge your iPod. This tip works for everything that runs on batteries: laptops, phones, you name it.

2. Turn off Wi-Fi if you’re not using it! It discharges battery fast.

3. Turn down brightness! If you are in a car at night you don’t need the screen at full brightness!

4. If you are concerned about your battery draining in less than an hour, consider getting your battery replaced.

5. Gameplay drains battery as well. You can ultimately get 2 hours of battery life with gameplay, that is if you have followed all of the other tips above.

6. If you have other battery issues, keep track of what you do and time how long the battery lasts. When the iPod is in auto-lock (automatically turns off or you press the sleep button) It will use very very VERY VERY little battery life. Therefore, when timing don’t count the time the ipod is asleep. After seeing how long until it dies, go into the apple store and tell one of the people walking around about your problem. This doesn’t require a genius appointment, and who knows. Maybe that’s supposed to happen. Ad if it’s not, then it’s time to schedule a genius appointment.

How to make a new and improved awesome mousepad

Okay.

This is like a follow-up post to this one: [link]

But, there’s more!

So this was really an improvement upon the last one.

The reason this is here is because if you were using the other mousepad for a while, you may have noticed wax residue building up on the bottom of your mouse.

(Click here to see the post of how to get it off)

So, I decided that I was going to try and spray cinch on it o get rid of some of the wax. Bad idea! It crumble like wet paper. I decided I wouldn’t try that again.

So I decided I would cover up the wax paper with something else. I didn’t want to try wax paper again for obvious reasons written above. So, I was looking through my drawer of rolls of foil, wax paper, saran wrap, etc. and I found some parchment paper. “Hey, this will be great!” I said. So, I go to tape it on to the bottom. I first try standard scotch tape, the cheap alternative to duct tape. And low and behold, it just comes off. I barely pull at it and it just comes right off.

So, I go to the standard of stickyness- duct tape.

And, the same exact story.

So, I try melting it with an iron, and  een try the super sticky spray adhesive. I’m pretty sure that worked, but it would be a big hassle to try and do that with my mousepad. So, while I am waiting for it to dry, I just go at it again with my original plan – Scotch tape. I add a lot of extra flap on the bottom, and I  very carefully tape it to the cardboard on the bottom of my mousepad. I carefully press down the tape to both the parchment and the cardboard. So far so good. I carefully do the rest, and I finally have it done. It’s pretty fragile, but it’s the same amount of smoothness, and has no wax, preventing any residue from getting on the bottom of it.

The end result looks maybe a bit cleaner.

Here’s the comparison:

Old Wax Mousepad

New Parchment Mousepad

As you can see, the newer one doesn’t look as…well…waxy.

Here’s the super careful scotch tape job i did:

The tape's holding on... barely

But, it’s great!

With the parchment paper it also seems much cleaner.

Have fun with your new and improved awesome mousepad!

Cooliris

When it comes to FireFox adddons, i usually go crazy. but for this i am so amazed about it that I’m posting it here. Cooliris is a really cool addon for firefox that lets you view image searches such as google images, yahoo images, and rss feeds in 3d. now not in actual 3d with 3d glasses, but so sharp that it looks 3d. also, it shows them on a big wall which is also 3d. by the way, if you get nauseous this is not for you, because you view your searches a a 3d wall that kinda moves in perspective. its hard to explain. also, when you click the image on the 3d wall, it makes the image bigger than all of the other ones, and zooms in so it is not quite full screen. but when it does that, f course the image will be pixelated from zooming in. so almost magically, you will see a white bar that has blue going acrosss it from left to right, and after the bar finishes (which will be from 3-10 seconds) it will look as sharp as a needle. its really really hard to explain, but try watching the youtube video below. also, they might call it piclens, but that is the old name. now it is called cooliris, but there the same thing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBziSYgrizA&hl=en&fs=1]

Macbook- Full review

Well, i got a macbook, and i love it. The iSight camera is amazingly good, and it works great with skype. also, the touchpad is really amazing. The battery life is really long, and i just love it. it does not overheat, and everything is amazing. the speakers are good, and it is pretty thin.
everything about it is very amazing. there’s nothing you wouldn’t like.
thats why  don’t have much to say; everything is awesome!

MuCommander

Now this tool is really really helpful for people who do alto of file organizing like me. with mucommander, it has two browsers in one window, so you can have to completely different directorys open, so you can crag files from place to place. it is really easy to use, and ompletely free, for all operating systems. i use it instead of file explorer on windows, and i love it, you might to!
read about it

Digsby

Now, I use this all the time. it is very handy, and really easy to use, looks nice to. it is called Digsby. It is very easy to use. all you have to do is register your digs by account (which is completely free), then, open Digsby, type in your Digsby account, and then start adding your aim, Yahoo, Gmail, MSN and more accounts!
I use it all of the time. It is SO easy to use, and looks really nice to!