Bad Ideas and Nightmares

This whole post is a response to something Dror Feiler, an Israeli Swede, said while discussing the concept of punk on Swedish radio. Despite being a middle-aged man, he is a proper punk himself, or maybe rebel is a better word. His best idea and dream is peace between Israel and Palestine. He uses some unconventional methods to say the least. Still I will choose to discuss the worst of his ideas, and what implications it has:

I believe that we should not be able to own anything. We should not even be able to "own" a relationship (no man can be someone's husband and no woman can be someone's wife).

I feel the world tremble as illegal downloaders jump with excitement. The above is not a quote and it is translated from Swedish to English. The idea is communist without a doubt, and it will not work… ever. The real problem is that it does not even work in theory. There cannot be a society where nothing can be owned. A whole legal system would collapse. For instance, how do you define theft? If I see a BMW that I know nobody owns I could just take it. A person who also wants it could kill me (can I own the right to live?) and take the car. Chaos.

I got really angry at the first statement but then Dror Feiler continued with a real life example where they had tried this. Somewhere on Earth a group of people put all their watches in a basket. Then they all picked a watch from the basket and got stuck with it. Amazing, but wait. Didn't they just trade their own watch for another (which I suspect they didn't like)? Trade: You give something you own in return for something else. If they didn't like their new watch could they go to someone with a watch they like and trade again? After endless watch swapping would everyone end up with the same watch they had in the first place? Probably yes.

Modern humans (well since forever) define themselves by what they own: The clothes we wear, the amount of money we own and the property we own. This creates class differences (which communists don't like but from which we cannot escape) and it has always been this way. For many years it has been about land, the more you own the better. The Roman and British Empires are examples of this and in the animal world the owning of big pieces of land is sometimes essential for survival.

High on some hippie drug, Dror Feiler, thinks that humans should do something that has never been seen before: create a community where nothing can be owned, where everyone is the same, where no one has the right to choose and where any present swingers club will look like Sunday church. I hear the lions roaring with laughter.

Create a Slipstreamed Vista DVD

One of life's great annoyances is reinstalling an operating system. Not only do you have to retransfer all your previous files, like documents, but you have to install every single driver and update, including service packs, again. On the upside you have a fresh, fast system that is less likely to piss you off on a daily basis. I decided to have a go at slipstreaming a Vista DVD, including important updates, turning off Windows features I never use, and integrate drivers I always use. This is something I've always wanted to do, but it was not until January this year that I bought myself a copy of Vista Ultimate.

1. Download and install vLite. A nifty little program that does all the hard work while you watch a movie.
   
2. To run vLite you have to install WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit). Run vLite and a popup will give you the link.
   
3. After WAIK has been downloaded and installed go to its installation path (normally C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86) and copy the files wimfltr.inf and wimgapi.dll to the vLite installation folder (normally C:\Program Files\vLite)
   
4. Start vLite again, if you use an installation DVD, insert it, and select the drive/folder where you have the installation files. In my case F:\.
   
5. Select a place on your hard drive where you want to copy the installation files (this step is only for those of you who have installation files on a DVD, or ISO)
   
6. Under the Tasks tab choose what kind of slipstream you want to make. I checked all of them. Start with the Service Pack integration. Vista SP1 for 32-bit can be located here. Integration took almost one and a half hour on my PC, and this is the part where you fire up a movie and relax.
   
7. The next thing I did was to integrate drivers. I am very happy with my driver set so I used DriverMax (free and very useful) to backup my drivers to a folder (I used C:\User\Ruben Larsson\My Drivers). Then use Insert>Multiple Driver Folder to add all your current drivers to the installation DVD (If you happen to use a nVidia graphics card I recommend a visit to http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ for latest nVidea drivers, read Modified INF section if your card is not supported).
   
8. You can tweak around a bit, disable things you are not too fond of, like Windows Firewall, Vista Welcome Center and the extremely annoying UAC.
   
9. Finally click Apply to slim it down and use the ISO tab to create an ISO-file or burn a disc.
   

Piece of cake. And next time you reinstall Vista you do not have to search for driver CDs and download 72 new updates before the computer is usable. I quick reminder: DON'T FORGET TO BACKUP YOUR DATA BEFORE YOU REINSTALL.

UPDATE1: So Vista SP2 has just been released and you can download it from Microsoft's Download section but not too fast! It appears that if you've used vLite to integrate Vista SP1 AND you have deleted components with this program you will not be able to upgrade to the latest service pack. If you just integrated SP1 with your Vista install disc you can do a work around as described on this forum: msfn.com. Looks like I have to do a reinstall or an upgrade (though it's an downgrade in this respect).

I'm Not a Geek

In a response to Pont's latest blogpost, I am not a geek. So, to prove it I have to postpone my Vista slipstream special and post some more photos. I tried to come up with a story based on a ridiculous claim by a Israeli Communist speaking on Swedish radio: "There should be no ownership". Great idea, nuthead. Redefine "theft", please. Maybe I will discuss this in a later post, first VAIO Photo Elite. 

I have brought this up before, and I cannot stop thinking about how sweet a Sony Alpha 900 would be (only one left to win now) so I keep posting photos every week hoping that quantity will solve my lack in quality. All editing done in Paint.NET, (the first image is a HDR and was merged by Photomatix Pro 3.0) by the way, so now you know what you can do (and should not do).

My 40th Post: Win a netbook

So it's not me supplying the Acer Aspire One. But hey, I've done the test and thought I could give you the answers in a good samaritan (or cheatin' bastard) kind of way. As you might notice the questions are in Swedish.

1. The laptop thrown from a brigde lands bottom first.
2. The laptop falls apart into 4 separate pieces.
3. The skatetop (skateboard made from a laptop) does not break.
4. The skater successfully skates on the skatetop (without falling off)
5. The screen on the netbook dropped in water goes out immediately when it touches the water. 
6. Describe, using a maximum of 20 words, the best way to use a netbook when it is not turned on (as a frisbee, coaster etc.)

Good luck and happy 40th post!

How to Spot a Desperate Salesperson

You are shopping around casually when suddenly you are confronted by a salesperson. You are not really interested in what s/he has to offer but s/he seems so nice, and the product actually makes some sense when the salesperson is talking about it. You buy it, overpriced of course and with an extra insurance, because you can never be too careful, and using the product for the first time you know you have been swindled. No, don't feel bad. We have all been there and here is what you should watch for the next time:

• "I actually have one of these at home and I haven't had any problems with it" There are variations on this line (my wife/husband/best friend etc), but basically what they want you to think is that you "know" someone who "owns" this product and is very happy with it. The naïve part of you wants to believe it, and you will be more likely to buy the product.
  
• "This is one of the most sold items" A total irrelevant remark but the line implies that the product is "popular" and that the "majority" of the people choose to buy this product. Why should you deviate from the majority?
  
• "This product will be 100% compatible with future standards" I wonder if those who bought HD-DVD players agree with that statement today. Nothing is 100% compatible with future standards.
  
• "You are lucky, we have one left in stock" A statement that wants you to think that the product is popular and because there is just one left you should probably buy it now, before someone else does. A little tip: If it really is popular other stores will have this product, and there will probably be future shipments. No need to be hasty.
  
• My last tip is: Salespersons never "small talk", when they talk about the weather or compliment your taste they are trying to be "friendly", i.e. to manipulate you. Chances are you will buy the product from a "friend" and not from a stranger.
  

To know if a product is good use sites like pricerunner.com, kelkoo.com, prisjakt.nu (link to the right), etc. and read customer reviews (or CNET reviews). The problem with reviews in magazines is that they usually recite specs, which is not as interesting to a potential buyer as a pro and con list of the product. The last tip in this post is: It is always cheaper on the internet and cheapest in Germany.

The GIMP vs. Paint.NET

[Note: This is an old post and I can now say that I have made a full transition to GIMP. Install of the newest version went smooth as silk but I will let all the information be on the page, as a history lesson I guess. I still like the interface of Paint.NET better and it's easier to use, but for serious photo editing you need GIMP. Thank you for your interest.]

Desperately trying to win a Sony DSC-H10 or a Sony Alpha 900 in the VAIO Photo Elite contest, I've decided that I cannot win this unless I unleash my Photoshop abilities. Unfortunately I haven't got Photoshop. But thankfully there are free alternatives which are just as competent, and less bulky, than Adobes award winning, extremely expensive photo editing software. Those of you who read my last post know that I placed Paint.NET as number four on my easiest to use software/OS top ten (unfortunately Blogger decided to transform my countdown list to small yellow blobs). And I also said that GIMP was slightly harder to use. And here is why.

While waiting for Paint.NET 4.0 (which probably won't be released anytime soon) and long awaited features (like: RGB Channels, masks, native customizable brushes, a skewing tool, a smudge tool etc.) I decided to try GIMP… again. My most recent experience was when my hard drive decided to fail and I played around with Ubuntu on a live DVD. GIMP is competent and fun, but it feels… a bit GNU-like. So what's wrong with that you probably wonder (especially you who don't know what GNU means)? Well, GNU assumes you like starting programs from command lines, and editing bin files to make things run smoothly. When toying around in Linux this seemed fun, but for everyday use it's a bit tedious.

So installing the newest GIMP 2.6.2 on my Vista system proved no different. The language was in Swedish and since 99% of Photoshop/Paint.NET/GIMP tutorials out there are in English I wanted to switch to an English interface. That was easier said than done. After realizing that you could not change the language in the program I consulted the GIMP forum. I was not the only one with the problem, and it had been "resolved"… on XP. The mental vision in my head was of a bunch of GIMP developers grinning at my "incompetence". By accident I stumbled upon a Flickr forum where François Collard had solved it by creating a batch file.

• Open notepad and write the following lines:
  
• set lang=en
  
• start GIMP-x.y.exe
  
• Where x.y is the version number of GIMP (check the folder Program Files/GIMP x.y/bin)
  
• Save as GIMP_en.bat and make a shortcut on your desktop (you can change the icon using Properties>Change Icon and browse the GIMP x.y/bin folder and select the original exe file.
  

When you start GIMP with this batch file everything will be in English. Hooray. To be fair The GIMP is an excellent choice for broke amateur photo editors with the will to fiddle around a bit. It is more powerful than Paint.NET. If you are a broke amateur photo editor with less or no programming skills Paint.NET is for you.

A GNU program you shouldn't even bother with is Jahshaka (video editor) which is truly incomprehensible, even in English. See you next time when I'll discuss "How to spot a desperate salesman".

Update 1.
Since many of my readers visit this page I thought I would extend with some further details.

Features in GIMP you would like to use in Paint.NET:

• Customizable docks
• Brushes with variable softness (feather)
• Eraser with transparency setting
• Masks
• Channels
• Perspective tools

Features in Paint.NET you would like to use in GIMP:

• Opening multiple pictures in tabs
• Setting English as your default language
• A simple interface that is easy on the eye
• The fantastic Curves+ tool

It seems that GIMP has won, at least on paper. And that is where I am torn; I like all the features in GIMP, probably like them more than similar features in Paint.NET, but Paint.NET is just so easy to use. It really is an upgraded version of MS Paint. Simple, sleek, but with quite advanced features, which makes Paint.NET my first choice. Paint.NET 4.0 is exciting news, and some of the features I miss will probably be implemented then. I should give GIMP another try someday, but not now: I am having too much fun in Paint.NET!