Fugly

Or Windows 7 disguising as Snow Leopard.

As I've mentioned before, I really don't know why I ever chose to dual-boot my HP Mini 311. Is it to avoid being left out by a trend that somehow marks belongingness to geekdom?  Maybe. Or perhaps I'm just tired of reading questions in comments regarding Snow Leopard Windows 7 dual-boot that to contain the issue once and for all, I succumbed to be able to say that I do know what goes under the hood in a dual-boot.

So I don't really completely regret having Redmond stuff inside my beloved HP Mini 311 but the fact remains that the most opportune moment to find Windows 7 useful is yet to come. It's a 30 GB worth of little used space on the 311's 250 GB Seagate hard drive. What to do to brighten up things a bit?

On a particularly "paresseux" afternoon, I stumbled upon this on Cult Of Mac: Snow Leopard Transformation Pack.

Ok, now you probably want to throw up and reach for that X button to close your browser window on this decidedly disgusting post, but please not before you see these screen caps:

Internet Explorer 8 trying to pass off as Safari sends shivers up my very spine

Oooh. It's got Stacks too. Nice graphics.

Now this here is what I'd like to talk more about.

It's always struck me that managing my files in Windows 7 is now more pleasant than it ever was in previous versions of the OS. Isn't it the same Windows Explorer app that has always been long in the tooth??!?

I adore Mac OS X Finder a lot. But I never realized to what extent until I played with this Snow Leopard Transformation Pack and now, it's ever more obvious; it's Sidebar!

My first cross over to Mac OS X was from Windows XP and going back to my office PC, which at that time still had Win XP installed, I felt it was going back to an Auberge de jeunesse after spending a weekend at the Ritz! Right, that may be an exaggeration but I needed to drive the point home and I'm sure I couldn't do better than that, not because I believe it to be the best rhetorical device but simply because my imagination is limited.

The Sidebar has always been a feature of OS X Finder, even traces back to the older big cats. So I think it's fair to say that Microsoft copied the concept in Windows 7. And unlike most Apple fans like me with the same reality distortion ailing them as does Stevie J, I'd say thumbs up to MS for the copy-cat effort; it's made their OS better.

After a couple or so of restarts (wow, I really am in Windows!) and after 5 minutes of taking screenies, I uninstalled the Snow Leopard Transformation Pack. The reason? It just felt disturbing to discover myself responding with my Mac OS X reflexes inside Windows 7 and being frustrated in the end because the reflexes didn't quite give me the results expected. Imagine me reaching for the Alt button (location of OS X Command key equivalent in a PC keyboard like that of the Mini 311's) instead of Ctrl.

Ewww.

"Souped Up"

image from clickz.com

Did I use that expression right? It's what I normally see in tech-centric Filipino forums to describe a machine that's been improved, upgraded. I thought I'd hop in the band-wagon and sing the campfire song as well.

When I came home this Friday, fresh from Google's exposing me to the world's "derision for disappointed hopes" as it disabled my AdSense account, and with all the Jane Austen melodrama ringing in my head, upon putting down my backpack on the dining table and seeing the oh so familiar yellow bubble pack envelope, I ended up still not quite involved "in the misery of the acutest kind".

At long last! The Atheros AR9280 b/g/n half-height WiFi card I ordered from e-bay last July 16th finally came through the post.

Not only did I have a new 2GB stick of fresh DDR3 1066 MHz PC-8500 (don't I just relish that long geeky appellation? Wihihihi) but I also have a new AirPort Extreme card! I mean the Atheros should be recognized by Mac OS X Snow Leo as a true blue Apple AirPort Extreme wireless module....it just should....

But I prevailed and arrested myself from having tantrums and managed to, here goes that expression I sometimes disdain, "soup up" my darling-little-brat-of-an-almost-baby-boyfriend (dear me, is that a sign of unhealthy romantic preferences? Haha).

Half-height PCI slot cause I didn't wanna have to re-route the U.fl antenna

Kinda dig the Kingston logo actually ^_^

And Snowy indeed thought the Atheros an AirPort Extreme card :D

3GB DDR3 - yummy :D

And I knew better than to destroy my new Atheros card and refrained from attacking that infamous PIN20. 

Oh and by the way, I can no longer use the wireless switch to turn bluetooth on/off. It did work before with when the Broadcom 4312hmg. A bummer; it's the same PCI slot - half-height...

AdSense

In the course of time between my switching to Blogger from Wordpress and now, I've been running AdSense adds on this site. They're supposed to be a source of revenue but in my case, they've been more of visual ornaments or perhaps nuisance rather than income. I am clearly not "raking it in big time". No, sir.

And now Google has decided to disable my AdSense account. Because of "Invalid activity".

I am eternally grateful for the thought of wanting me to earn a bit from my sometimes fun, sometimes informative, sometimes just plain nonsensical yapping. And for that, to those who have clicked on the ads here, I do not know you personally but you may stop clicking now and with all my heart I thank you for your effort to help even though what little earning I may have made in more than a year of blogging here at Blogger will probably never get to my hands.

Anyway, this can't stop me from posting and sharing what I can with you all, AdSense or no AdSense.


Yours truly,
LeMaurien19