Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society

Tag: windows

  • future of TTCS OSSWIN CD

    The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) is looking at what to do for a TTCS OSSWIN CD 2.0 release.

    Does anything need to change?

    One of the big problems encountered with the TTCS OSSWIN CD is the space for programs. Updated versions of programs unfortunately are larger in filesize than their predecessors. Recently, more and more programs had to be removed (see the TTCS OSSWIN CD changelog). So, YES, something needs to change.

    Here are several options the TTCS has considered. Ideally, it will be good to have a version 2.0 of the TTCS OSSWIN CD done in time for Software Freedom Day 2008.

    Develop a DVD version of the TTCS OSSWIN CD.

    A DVD would solve (for now at least) the file size problem and allows for many more programs to be put on a DVD and more material about each program (such as larger screenshots, or short videos, even. There are several concerns, however :

    • whether to maintain the TTCS OSSWIN CD concurrently with a DVD version. This relates to the difficulty of maintaining two software collections – it could be done separately but then this introduces more maintainence headaches and I’ve learned that the more hassle something is, the less likely it will be done (data backups anyone?). So IMO, a system has be developed/designed to allow for updates to the CD and DVD versions to be done in one location (ie : updates to the information text and the program is done at one location).
    • hosting a DVD might be too much for the third party mirrors for TTCS OSSWIN CD (to whom we cannot thank enough!).
    • the interface for a DVD version : the current interface for the CD will probably not work well with more software items in its menu. Already the Utilities section scrolls off the page on lower resolution displays (see screenshot below – there are three more items below Drempels yet on a 1280×1024 display, they are not seen). So a new webpage design needs to be also designed to cater for the many programs on such a DVD.

    screenshort of TTCS OSSWIN CD interface showing the Utilities category

    Drop the games from TTCS OSSWIN CD

    With regards to the CD version, a possible option being explored is to drop the games section from the TTCS OSSWIN CD. This will allow space for more programs in the other categories in the short term. Also the easiest option to implement.

    It has been suggested by some that the presence of the games might be turning off persons such as business users who may not take the OSS seriously for use in businesses, so the removal may make the CD more “friendly” to its use in businesses.

    The downside of this option : no games! Life is no fun without games :-). A TTCS OSSWIN CD Games edition could be done…which leads to the third option :

    Develop multiple editions of TTCS OSSWIN CD

    It has been suggested that specific editions of OSSWIN CD be done to target different persons. Two examples : a TTCS OSSWIN CD (Business Edition) which takes out the games and a TTCS OSSWIN CD (Education Edition) which takes out games and adds a programming software category.

    The idea would be that the targeting of different editions of the CD to the different users would result in increased usage among such targeted users. Similar to the ideas expressed in this TED Talk : “What we can learn from spaghetti sauce”.

    Downsides?

    • The difficulty of maintaining multiple editions as mentioned earlier.
    • Microsoft Vista has multiple editions. Does that make it easier for users to decide which one is right for them?

    However, it is possible that a single DVD version could do this type of end user targeting by having different menus for different users. So on startup (say), the screen could have menu options or ask the question :

    • Are you a Business User?
    • Are you a home user?
    • Are you a Teacher?

    then a different software selection on the DVD would be given.

    So, those are some of the considerations. Your thoughts about the current version of TTCS OSSWIN CD?

  • Windows XP Service Pack 3

    Windows XP Service Pack 3 (XP SP3) is available for download from Microsoft’s servers (although not from Windows Update or the Download Center due to a compatibility problem with Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System). This service pack for all 32 bit versions of Windows XP includes all previously released updates and a small number of features backported from Windows Vista.

    Download Windows XP Service Pack 3 (English ; size approximately 317MB )

    For more details, see the Microsoft whitepaper “Overview of Windows XP Service Pack 3”. For other useful articles about Windows Service Pack 3, see Ars Technica , PCMag.com and Lifehacker.

  • updates to TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.90

    Since TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.90 was released on March 30th, 2008, there have been several software updates. As of April 8th, 2008, these are :

    With the increased file size of Inkscape, Scorched3D will be removed from the next version of TTCS OSSWIN CD which will likely be released online towards the end of April 2008.

  • TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.90 released

    screenshot of the web-based interface of TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.90

    The TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.90, a collection of over 100 Free/Open Source software for Windows is available for download. This version features the updated software including OpenOffice.org v2.40 and Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.13 ; hence the version bump from planned v1.86.

    TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.90 file details :

    • Date created : March 30th, 2008
    • File name : ttcs_osswin_cd_v1.90.iso
    • File size : 696 MB (729,970,688 bytes)
    • MD5 checksum : 3e209facf2c68715836baaadfee617db / 3e209fac f2c68715 836baaad fee617db
    • SHA-1 : 0c06c05e 1aaf8ce1 b4661b20 ea617165 878771d5
    • SHA-256 : 317b7e73 82b905b6 1b8c2197 c9b30c3c bc0a1e76 71324341 bbca81b4 f8022252

    Changes from v1.85

    • updated OpenOffice.org, Programmers Notepad, TuxPaint, Portable Puzzle Collection, Sokoban YASC, GIMP, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Filezilla, XAMPP Lite, VirtualDub, VideoLAN, UltraVNC, TrueCrypt, Axcrypt, Autohotkey
    • removed DBDesigner4, Fullsync

    Filefront mirror is up ; other download mirrors (including BitTorrent) will be updated soon.

  • OpenOffice.org v2.40 available (soon)

    It hasn’t been announced on the OpenOffice.org website, but the download links for v2.40 are now active.

    Download :

    • OpenOffice.org v2.40 for Windows (US version ; doesn’t include Java Runtime Environment)
    • OpenOffice.org v2.40 for Linux (US version ; Linux RPM version)

    Other official download links for Linux .deb version and MacOS X should be available soon.

    (Update 26-3-2008 : removed the download links for now since someone pointed out the OpenOffice.org PolicyMirrorLinking)

  • next version of TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.86 to be released by end of March 2008

    Decided to wait for OpenOffice.org v2.4 to be released but it has been pushed back due to show-stopper bugs discovered with the release candidates. OpenOffice.org Ninja has more on this. Inkscape v0.46 for Windows will also hopefully be available by then.

  • How to apply word wrap to text files viewed in Mozilla Firefox

    As mentioned before, many of the public ICANN meetings have transcripts available within hours after the meetings as text files. However, a disadvantage with viewing the ICANN New Delhi 2008 meeting transcripts with Mozilla Firefox such as the transcript for “Workshop: Update on Internet Governance” held on February 11th, 2008 is that the length of the lines of text are too long for the browser window requiring you to scroll left and right to read the transcript which gets confusing with the likely result that you stop reading the transcript online or try to insert the text in a word processor or text editor to word wrap the text.

    If only there was a way to word-wrap the text in the browser window…………..

    Well, there is an easy solution for Mozilla Firefox users which I discovered, thanks to Tero Karvinen’s article “Making preformated <pre> text wrap in CSS3, Mozilla, Opera and IE”

    To word wrap text in text files displayed in Mozilla Firefox :

    1. Locate the sub-folder called chrome in your profile folder. See http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/edit#profile on how to find where Mozilla Firefox stores the profile folder for different operating systems.
    2. In this chrome subfolder, edit the text file “userContent.css” with a text editor (such as Notepad). Typically, this file does not exist by default. There is a userContent-example.css in this chrome sub-folder which you can rename to userContent.css
    3. Add the following line to userContent.css :
      pre { white-space: -moz-pre-wrap !important; }
    4. Save the file, and restart Firefox for the changes in userContent.css to take effect.

    With this change, any text files you view in Mozilla Firefox will automatically be word-wrapped so that you don’t have to scroll left and right to read the text file.

  • TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.85 released

    The TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.85 is now available to download from Filefront ; other download mirrors will be updated soon.

    • Date created : February 11th, 2008
    • File name : ttcs_osswin_cd_v1.85.iso
    • File size : 702 MB (736,174,080 bytes)
    • MD5 checksum : 72520a6b288dcfbfced5ff99f65220ca / 72520a6b 288dcfbf ced5ff99 f65220ca
    • SHA-1 : 48160403 d2b1eead 60e701ec fa0f4e4f 5207a971
    • SHA-256 : e4c0c429 ca8937ea b8cfca14 0565e4c1 8f5d6a60 7e301193 7ea60a62 412efba4

    Changes from v1.84

    • updated Sumatra PDF, WinMerge, ConvertAll, Wikidpad, Celestia, Stellarium, Portable Puzzle Collection, Sokoban YASC, Freeciv, Scorched3D, GIMP, Paint.NET, Mozilla Firefox, Filezilla, Halite, ClamWin Free Antivirus, UltraVNC, TrueCrypt, Keepass
    • removed Jools, wxMusik, Rainmeter, DotWidget

  • TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.85 status

    We didn’t release TTCS OSSWIN CD v1.85 over the Trinidad Carnival weekend as we were holding for Inkscape v0.46 to be available. But there have been many program updates since v1.84 including the releases of Celestia v1.50, Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.12 , Gimp 2.4.4 , WinMerge 2.6.14, and more so we’ll try to release v1.85 by February 10th, 2008.

    Also discovered Extreme Tux Racer ,  which has better graphics, more courses and a cleaner UI than Tux Racer which is currently included on the TTCS OSSWIN CD. Tux Racer hasn’t been updated for years and Extreme Tux Racer seems a natural replacement for it. The problem is the file size : Extreme Tux Racer is around 30MB while Tux Racer is around 8MB so don’t know how to include Extreme Tux Racer on the TTCS OSSWIN CD.

  • updates to software on the TTCS OSSWIN CD since v1.84

    Did several updates to the TTCS OSSWIN CD that will be available for this Saturday’s meeting. Here’s a list of the updated software since v1.84 was released December 29th, 2007 :

    • Sumatra PDF 0.8 slim, portable, open-source PDF viewer for Windows.
    • ConvertAll 0.4.1 Unit Conversion program
    • Wikidpad 1.8rc12 Wiki-like notebook for storing anything you can think of to write down
    • Stellarium 0.9.1 Map the night sky on your computer
    • Sokoban YASC 1.423 Yet Another Sokoban Clone – for Windows
    • Scorched3D 41.3 turn based artillery game based on the classic DOS game Scorched Earth. Supports LAN and internet play
    • GIMP 2.4.3 bitmap editor suitable for photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
    • Paint.NET 3.22 image and photo editing tool for Windows XP and greater
    • FileZilla 3.0.5.2 fast FTP and SFTP client
    • Halite 0.3 download files via BitTorrent, a client file-sharing protocol created to overcome the obstacles of transferring large files over the Internet
    • ClamWin Free AntiVirus 0.92 ClamWin is a Free Antivirus for Microsoft Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista.
    • KeePass 1.10 KeePass is an open-source password safe

    However, due to the increased file sizes of the updates, three programs were removed from the CD :

    • Jools 0.20 puzzle game similiar to Bejeweled
    • wxMusik 0.4.2.2 An open-source, cross-platform multimedia player and library.
    • Rainmeter 0.14 customisable performance meter and other applets for the desktop

    Been working on a DVD version of TTCS OSSWIN, but too much activities occupying my time now.