Software

Balsamiq – quick (and dirty) UI mockups

David Vidmar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:28:07 GMT

If you are in the market for simple but efficient program for doing web and desktop UI mockups, I would recommend Balsamiq. They offer web based tool (Flash), a desktop app (Adobe Air) and Confluence / Jira add-in. It’s quite inexpensive - $79 for a single user.

I have been using it on and off for few weeks and I liked it very. Is pretty, fun to used and highly efficient – simple forms can be mocked in seconds. Since we are heavy Jira users at work, its cool that Balsamiq can be integrated and with a click of a button mockup can be added to Jira issue. I'm currently pushing request for purchase up the corporate ladder, but I think once other project managers at our company see it, it's a no brainer…

I was checking out Balsamiq home page today and found out they are offering number of ways how to get a free license. In matter of minutes nice lady replied to my email and now I'm a licensed user!

Windows Home Server – This computer cannot connect to you home server.

David Vidmar — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:42:09 GMT

If you get this error when trying to connect to your Home Server using Windows Home Server Console, welcome to the club.

When Googling you’ll find all kinds of advices to reinstall Connector software or even whole server. Luckily, all of those are wrong.

It turns out that all other components, like shared folder and backup connect to server using NETBIOS, but Console is using DNS resolution.

Sometimes (!) that resolves to server.your-isp.net or similar.

Solution? Stick servers IP in hosts, and restart!

Live Mesh available in non-US countries!

David Vidmar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:46:45 GMT

While checking news about Live Mesh for Mac I realized that Live Mesh is finally available outside US.

That's great news, but why didn't MS notify me as they promised when I signed up for beta?!

Can't wait to put Live Mesh through some serious testing. This should be a kick as tool!

MS SQL Server Management Studio Power Pack 2008.1

David Vidmar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:04:30 GMT

With SQL Server 2008 came new version of MS SQL Server Management Studio that added much anticipated IntelliSense, but even now it's not putting products like SQL Assist or SQL Prompt out of market and it doesn't work with pre-2008 databases even if you use latest Management Studio.

If you would like some more power features in Management Studio, new version of previously mentioned SSMS Tools Pack from Mladen of I want some moore fame is your poison.

My favorite features include:

query history,
insert statement generation,
CRUD statement generation,
full database search,
running single script on multiple databases,
new query template.

But there is more, depending on your needs.

PainlessSVN discount coupon

David Vidmar — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:06:37 GMT

Mr. Hector Sosa, Jr., a man behind the PainlessSVN Professional Subversion Server Snap-plugin, says, his website gets “a fair amount hits” from this blog, so he was generous to me, and you, dear reader.

He was kind enough to provide me with a free licence to his tool and a discount coupon for everyone else. Just put-in “vidmarblog2008” before checkout and you’ll get $20 USD discount on the regular price!

If you host your Subversion repositories on Windows and you are not eager to edit text files, this is the tool you have been missing! Download a 30 day trial and see it for yourself.

Dropbox invites

David Vidmar — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:08:38 GMT

Thanks to Mark Gibbs I was able to get a Dropbox private beta account.

I have 10 invites to give out, so drop a comment, email, if you would like one.

Update: I gave out 17 invites. Since I can always email last invite to myself, I have basically unlimited number of them.

Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Released

David Vidmar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:15:09 GMT

Today we saw a release of Windows Home Server Power Pack 1.

So, what’s new?

Windows Vista x64 bit client,
option to repair backup database,
backup of home server Shared Folders (I don’t need, I prefer Jungle Disk for off-site backup),
and, of course, fixed dreaded data corruption bug that everyone feared but no-one got bitten by,
plus better performance, lower power consumption and other things we can’t really see.

If you were putting off getting WHS for your home, now is the time! It’s the best solution for home storage & backup by far. I use it for a while now and I still love it. If you can’t buy it off-shelf, head to eBay.com.

So, what happens when you upgrade?

You have to install new version of connector software on all computers. Simple, fast, semi-automatic.
You’ll have to update remote access setting. Simply reconfigure with wizard and it’s done in a snap.
You’ll probably have to change users password for remote access, since now they have to be (very strong).

All in all 10 minutes of your time.

Download: Windows Home Server Power Pack 1

More info: Description of the Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 update, Windows Home Server Release Documentation

Three less known features of Windows Vista’s Windows Explorer

David Vidmar — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:25:40 GMT

#1 Open Command Window Here

Sure, you had this in XP too, but only if installed Open Command Prompt Here (a.k.a. CmdHere) power toy.

It’s built into Windows Vista , so all you have to do is hold down SHIFT, right click on folder and select Open Command Window Here. Works on Desktop too!

#2 Copy Path

Another feature that you COULD have in Windows XP if you installed extra utility like Ninotech Path Copy. In Vista you us similar trick as in #1, so you hold down SHIFT, right click file, folder or selection of files and folders and then click Copy as Path.

This will file names and paths of al selected items on clipboard for easy pasting in documents, emails and stuff.

#3 Fast renaming of multiple files

There might be some tool to get this feature in previous versions of Windows, but I don’t know any.

If you are in the middle of file or folder rename, you can simply press TAB key to jump to next file. The long way is pressing enter, then down/up and F2 again. So two keystrokes saved!

Note #1: feature when pressing F2 or issuing a rename command only selects filename and not file extension is easily discovered, so that’s why it’s not #4 in this list.

Note #2: if you do serious renaming you definitely need of of many file rename utilities to help you with your job. I totally agree that mentioned feature alone is not good enough.

All Subversion 1.5 Windows binaries are available!

David Vidmar — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:28:43 GMT

Finally, all three releases for Subversion 1.5 Microsoft Windows binaries are available.

CollabNet and VisualSVN were available since before, today I finally spotted Apache 2.0 or Apache 2.2 Tigris builds, so I can start upgrading servers!

My Dell laptop is running loud, fan is almost always on full speed

David Vidmar — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:11:10 GMT

Lately my Dell Latitude D820 has been running very hot and loud. I tried to help it cool with various desk and lap positions, but things went from bad to worse. Google search confirmed my suspicion that dust has killed it’s cooling capabilities.

I could take it to repairs, but that’s no fun. And since times at Vidmar family are very stressful, what better way to take mind off troubles that some“screwdriver fun!?

First, I ran I8kfan GUI, a free tool to monitor temperature and change fan speed of Dell laptops. My CPU was hot, and speeding or slowing down didn’t do nothing to the temperature. Another proof, that dust is was in the way.

Getting to the fan is not easy, as one has to:

unscrew every screw you find on the bottom and back of the laptop,
remove battery,
remove keyboard,
remove hinge,
remove display.

Luckily Dell provides instructions, so it’s not that hard as it seems. Instructions also tell that you should also remove hard drive, wireless card and RAM, but it’s not true.

After opening my laptop, this is what I found.

This is how it will look after you take your laptop apart (glasses optional).

After cleaning laptop is running 15-20°C cooler than before.

One more piece of advice before doing what I just did – there are three kinds of screws. Black, fat and short for hard drive, silver for display and black and longer for everything else. Keep that in mind when putting machine back together.