Hasta La Gadget!

Windows 7 is free for now, and works extremely well on netbooks. That said, installing the OS on these tiny laptops—especially low-end models—can be daunting. Here’s how to do it, the easy way:

If the Release Candidate is any indication (and it should be), then Windows 7 will be a nice upgrade for any Windows user. The new OS, however, is a huge step up for netbook users. Vista is notoriously poorly suited to netbooks; a buggy resource hog that subjects its users to incessant dialog boxes and requires far too many clicks to perform basic tasks, it’s kind of a nightmare to use on a 9-inch laptop with a 1.5-inch trackpad.

Windows XP has been given a boost by netbooks, as its system requirements—more-or-less decided in 2001—are more in line with the specs hardware like the Eee PC and Mini 9. But let’s face it: XP is nearly a decade old. Its user experience is trumped by free alternatives like Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Linpus, and it’s not at all optimized for solid-state drives—especially cheap ones. This means that on low-end, SSD-based netbooks, it borders on unusable.

Hence, Windows 7. It’s noticeably faster than Vista on low-spec machines, properly optimized for netbook hardware, and, most importantly, free (for now). Thing is, installation isn’t quite as easy as it is on a regular PC—in fact, it can be a pain in the ass: netbooks don’t have DVD drives, which means you’ve either got to get your hands on an external drive or boot from a USB stick for a clean install. Furthermore, smaller SSDs, like the 8GB units in popular versions of the Dell Mini 9 and Acer Aspire One, make a default installation impossible, or at least impractically tight. Luckily, there are simple methods to deal with both of these problems. Let’s get started.

What You’ll Need

• A netbook (Minimum 1GB of RAM, 8GB storage space)

• A 4GB or larger USB drive

• A Windows 7 RC Image (details below)

• A Windows XP/Vista PC or a Mac to prepare the flash drive

• For low-end netbooks, lots (and lots) of time

Getting Windows 7

Downloading Windows 7 is a piece of cake. Just navigate to this page and download the 32-bit version. You’ll need to get a free Windows Live ID if you don’t already have one, but this takes about two minutes.

Microsoft will then give you your very own Windows 7 License key, valid until June 1st of next year. (Although after March 1st, it’ll drive you to the edge of sanity by shutting off every two hours. But that’s a different story, and March is a long way off). Microsoft will then offer up your ISO through a nifty little download manager applet, complete with a “resume” function. There are ways to sidestep this, but don’t: you’d be surprised how hard it is to keep a single HTTP connection alive for long enough to download a 2.36GB file.

Preparing Your Flash Drive

This is the annoying part, but it’s not necessarily that difficult. Here are some guides, by OS (some linked for length):
• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Mac OS X (courtesy of Ubuntu, funnily enough):

1. Open a Terminal (under Utilities)

2. Run diskutil list and determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g. /dev/disk2)

3. Run diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN (replace N with the disk number from the last command; in the previous example, N would be 2)

4. Execute sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.iso of=/dev/diskN bs=1m (replace /path/to/downloaded.iso with the path where the image file is located; for example, ./windows7.iso)

5. Run diskutil eject /dev/diskN and remove your flash media when the command completes (this can take a few hours on slower drives)

As some commenters have pointed out, you can also make a flash drive bootable with utilities like LiveUSB Helper. Once you’ve done this, you can mount your Windows 7 ISO with a utility like DaemonTools Lite (For Windows) or MountMe (for Mac), and just copy over all the files to your newly-bootable drive.

Starting Your Install

Ok! Now you’ve got a bootable flash drive, and you’re ready to start installing. It should go without saying, but once you start this process, you’ll lose all existing data on your netbook, so you should back up any important files before going through with anything from here forward.

Insert your USB drive and reboot your netbook. As soon as your BIOS screen flashes, you should see instructions for a) changing your netbook’s boot order or b) entering its BIOS setup. In the first situation, simply assign the USB drive as the first boot device. In the second, navigate through your BIOS settings until you find a “Default Boot Order” page, and do the same thing there.

From there, you should see the first Windows 7 installation screens. Anyone with a 16GB or larger storage device in their netbook can just follow the instructions until the installation completes, and skip the next step.

—

If your SSD is smaller than 16GB, or if you just want to save some space, do what they say, but only until the first reboot. After the Windows 7 installer has restarted your computer, you’ll need to modify the boot order again. Do not allow installation to continue! Manually change the boot order to prioritize the USB drive again, just as you did at the beginning of the installation.

Compression!

Once the Windows 7 installer has copied most of its system files to your drive, you’re going to tighten them up with Windows’ trusty old “Compact” command. Here’s what you do, as described by Electronic Pulp:

Choose “Repair” at the Windows 7 Setup screen, go to “Command Prompt” and enter the following code:

d: (or whatever drive letter is assigned to your SSD)
cd \windows\system32
compact.exe d:\*.* /c /s /i

And wait. And wait and wait and wait. This can take anywhere from eight hours to two days, so you’ll want to set your netbook down in a corner and forget about it for a while. [Note: compressing so many of your system files does have a performance cost, but in day-to-day use, it’s negligible]

Once this is done, reboot the netbook again and let it continue the installation as normal. That’s it!

All said and done, an 8GB SSD should have nearly 2GB of free space left—not much, but enough to work with. And given that most netbooks come with inbuilt, flush SD expansion slots, and that high-capacity SD cards are extremely affordable, having a small amount of space on your root drive isn’t at all prohibitive.

There are other ways to slim down a Windows 7 install—namely by using programs like vLite, which can strip out some of Windows’ fat directly from the ISO—but Windows’ built-in file compression is the easiest way to squeeze Windows 7 onto your skimpy 8GB SSD.

Setup and Customization Help
Windows 7 runs fairly well out of the box, but as with any new Windows installation, you’re going to need to download some drivers to get things working properly. Vista drivers usually do the trick, but sometimes workarounds are necessary. Thankfully, most popular netbooks have spawned helpful fan forums, many of which have active Windows 7 subforums. Some of the best:

• Aspire One
• ASUS Eee Pc
• Dell Mini
• MSI Wind
• HP Mini-Note

So there you go! Enjoy your new Windows 7 netbook! Please share your experiences in the comments-your feedback is a huge benefit to our Saturday guides. And of course, have a great weekend!

You might be surprised to hear that I think laptop desks are a pretty good idea, especially when you consider them to be little more than tea-trays, and uni-tasking tea-trays at that.

You will be less surprised to hear that I think that buying laptop desks is a terrible idea, even if they are as sleek  as the Cushdesk from Belkin. The name aptly sums up the design — it’s simply a small flat surface with a cushion stuck to the bottom.

The problem is that it costs $30, and that’s $30 you could be spending on beer instead of just squandering it. Reading the features list shows just how much spin is needed just to come up with a mere four bullet points. Sample: “Its slim design allows for easy storage in your home but with its stylish design, you may want to display it around the house.”

Better to roll your own, and — in the words of Blue Peter’s Lesley Judd* — here’s one we made earlier. It’s a beauty:

I made this a while back from an old aluminum baking tray, and in its original incarnation it was just that — a plain metal sheet on which to rest a MacBook Pro. The aluminum is perfect for “wicking away” heat from the hot underside of the computer and even in plain form keeps things cool enough to sit atop your legs. However, a modification was in order. Remember the Laptop Lifters, those slug-like rubber lozenges which keep the air flowing under the notebook? That’s what you can see in the photo — I removed them from my MacBook as I didn’t like the extra height but there was enough stick left on them to attach to the tray.

Now, it is the perfect size for any machine, including the Lady’s white MacBook. Better, it means we can watch movies in bed without anything mechanical overheating. Well, without anything mechanical and computer-shaped overheating.

Product page [Belkin via Gearlog]

See Also:

• Laptop Lifts Lift Low Laptops
• Hands-On With Laptop Lifts

*Sorry, readers outside the UK and/or under 30 years old. This joke is not for you.

This article was written on May 29, 2008 by CyberNet.

One thing that Google is quite adamant on is making sure that you’re using a browser they officially support, and more times than not Opera users are left in the dark. The new Gmail interface is no exception. If you try visiting the email service in Opera you’ll be forced to use the old-school version of Gmail that doesn’t have color-coded labels, among other things.

If you’re using Opera 9.5 Beta you’ll be happy to know that the new Gmail works pretty well… if you know how to get to it. We’ve previously talked about how you can bypass browser detection in Gmail, and it’s as simple as pointing Opera to:

mail.google.com/gmail?nocheckbrowser

You’ll also want to bookmark that URL so that you have quick access to it in the future, but by using that you should be able to gain access to what’s commonly called Gmail 2. If you don’t see the new stuff right away you’ll want to click the “Newer Version” link in the upper-right corner.

I’m sure many of you are wondering why the heck Google is blocking Opera from using the new interface if it works so well. First off the current stable build of Opera (version 9.27) has some serious issues with Gmail 2. I couldn’t even compose a message using it. Opera 9.5 is a heck of a lot better, but that’s still in Beta, and so Google isn’t going to officially support that yet. Although even in Opera 9.5 Beta the contact manager doesn’t work quite right.

Unfortunately fixing the remaining Gmail 2 problems lies in the hands of the Opera developers, because Google obviously doesn’t see enough value in making their services fully compatible with Opera. The main functionality works fine in Opera 9.5 Beta, but you’ll have to remember to use the special URL above if you want to get the latest and greatest Gmail 2 features.

Thanks for the tip Cody!

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

• Opera 9 Is Not Ready For Prime Time
• Using GMail Chat In The Latest Version Of Opera TP2
• Opera Dragonfly = Developer Tools?
• Helpful Tip: Advanced Addressing in Gmail
• Opera 9 Beta Has Finally Been Released

This article was written on April 07, 2009 by CyberNet.

It’s not often that I come across a bookmarklet that I’ll use everyday, but in the last few days PageZipper has become an unbelievable tool in my daily arsenal. Basically what it does is look for links on the page that say “Next”, and as you scroll down past that link it will automatically append the next page for you. That’s right, you’ll never have to click the “Next” button again (well, almost never).

I tested out the bookmarklet and it works exactly as advertised. You can use it on sites like Google, Digg, and it even works on our site. When you come across a page that you want this to activate for just click the bookmarklet, and then keep scrolling. The next page will eventually show up once you get all the way to the bottom.

Here are some of the PageZipper features:

• As you scroll to the bottom of a page, PageZipper automatically adds the next page to the bottom of the page you’re on.
• On image galleries, press Control+Down to skip directly to the next image in the gallery. Control+Up returns you to the previous entry. You can also use these keyboard shortcuts on any page that PageZipper works, making it easy to jump to the next page of results.
• PageZipper automatically resizes images in photo galleries to fit your browser window. So you always see the entire image without having to scroll

What I really like about this is that it’s not making a ton of unnecessary page requests. By that I mean it only fetches the next page once I get towards the end of the results, and it will only work if I decide to activate it via the bookmarklet. So it leaves me in control.

PageZipper is also available as a Firefox extension for those of you who would prefer not to have yet another thing on your bookmarks bar (the extension uses a toolbar icon). Either way, it is a must-have utility that I believe works way better than the alternatives out there.

PageZipper Homepage [via MakeUseOf]

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:

• Gmail HTML Signature Bookmarklet
• Bookmarklet: Reveal TinyURL Destination Addresses
• Is This Site Really Down?
• Helpful Tip: One-Click "Ignore All" Solution for Facebook Apps
• Stikkit: Online Notes, Calendar, Tasks, And More

Did our Listening Test week light up the fire inside to dust off some old records and whip a turntable back into shape to start enjoying them again? It’s really easy, and cheap. Here’s how.

If you saw our feature earlier in the week, you know Michael Fremer is crazy about vinyl. He’s been defending its merits ever since digital formats started to surface, and has published several DVDs detailing how best to set up a number of nice audiophile turntables.

But of course, you don’t have to have to have an audiophile turntable to enjoy vinyl—great used tables like the Technics SL-D202 I got in high school (pictured) can be picked up all over the internet, at garage sales or from your Dad’s basement for very little dough, and will serve you well as long as they’re in decent shape.

Plus, with tons of record labels including a free digital download with the purchase of an album on vinyl these days, it’s a great way to give back to your favorite artists—you’ll get a cool tangible object that has the potential to sound far better than your MP3s, but with a digital copy for you iPod nonetheless.

So if you have a turntable that’s never received a proper tune-up, here’s how to set it up to get the best possible sound from it. With Fremer’s help, my table is now in tip-top shape, and yours can be too.

What you’ll need:
• The manual for your turntable and cartridge (the part with the needle attached)
• A 2mm Allen/Hex wrench for the cartridge screws (most are 2mm, anyway)
• A ruler
• Magnifying glass and flashlight (not essential, but makes things easier)
• Needle-nose pliers or tweezers
• A printout of a standard cartridge alignment ruler (available at vinylengine.com for free)

First thing’s first, though—if you’re unsure of the progeny of your table, or if it hasn’t been serviced in a long time or ever, the easiest upgrade you can make to ensure it’s at its best is a new cartridge. This part is almost solely responsible for the sound generated by your table, and you can get a very good new cartridge for less than $100 (try Shure’s M97XE for a good one in the $90 ballpark, but there are cheaper options as well).

After that, there are three variables you want to make sure are set, and those are the three variables we’ll be covering: cartridge alignment, tracking pressure and anti-skating. While there are tons of other adjustments that can be made, with some tables having more calibration options than others, these three are fairly universal and will get you in the ballpark of calibration, which is much better than fresh-from-the-dusty-garage.

Let’s get started!

Tracking Pressure
This is what the weight on the back of your tonearm is for—it controls how much pressure is put on the stylus as it tracks the record’s grooves. This should be set according to what’s suggested in your cartridge’s manual. Google around for your cartridge make and model and you should be able to find the manual, or your turntable manual may suggest a baseline range. Again, Vinyl Engine is a great resource for manuals.

1. If you’re installing a new cartridge, connect the red, blue, green and white wires to the corresponding marked terminals on the back of the cartridge. If they’re too loose and fall off the pins, put a toothpick inside wire clips and tighten it with the pliers. Once it’s hooked up, loosely screw the cartridge into the headshell (we’ll be adjusting its alignment later) with your hex screwdriver.

2. Set the turntable’s anti-skating dial to zero, then turn the weight on the back of the arm just up until the point the tonearm floats on its own. Then, by turning the part of the weight with the gauge but not the entire weight, set the gauge back to zero to “re-zero” the weight.

3. Now, turn the entire weight to the number (in grams) specified by your cartridge’s manual. If it specifies a range, stick it in the middle.

4. If you’re feeling like getting serious, you can buy a specialized tracking pressure gauge that will tell you the exact pressure. But for most folks, the guidelines on the tonearm’s weight are fine—mine was almost exactly correct when measured with Fremer’s digital gauge (as you can see in the picture).

Cartridge Alignment
Ideally, a tonearm would track across the record from the beginning to the end in a straight line across the surface, so that the stylus was perpendicular to the groove at all times, thus keeping distortion to an absolute minimum. But since the turntable arm is fixed, it traces a parabola across the surface of the record as you play it. Mathematically, the parabola arc has two points where the stylus should be sitting perfectly perpendicular to the groove. These are the points we’ll use to set the alignment.

But you don’t have to be Pythagoras Jr. to plot them—thankfully, there are protractor PDFs you can print out which will mark the approximate position of these points on most turntables. There are also PDFs for specific tone arms and turntables floating around—Google your model to see, but you should be served just fine by the standard approximation provide by the basic print outs at Vinyl Engine. (We’re using a glass version here in the photo, but the paper ones are fine).

1. Many turntable manuals specify an ideal distance from the back of the headshell to the tip of the stylus, so consult your table’s manual and screw in the cartridge into the headshell’s adjustable slots so this measurement is correct.

2. Now, place your alignment protractor on the platter, and carefully drop the stylus tip onto the first alignment point. The goal is for the cantilever (the metal part that extends down from the cartridge with the stylus tip on the end) to be parallel with the guidelines on the printout. If it’s not, loosen one of the screws in the headshell and move it back or forward slightly. This is where a magnifying glass and flashlight can be handy, as the clearance between the bottom of the cartridge and the platter may be slim.

3. Once it’s aligned in the first point, test it on the second point. Both are mathematically determined, so it should be aligned on the second point too. If not, try to find a happy medium.

Anti-Skating
Most turntables have an anti-skating dial somewhere. This setting counteracts the vector force that naturally pulls the stylus tip toward the inner lip of the groove as the record spins, because as mentioned before, you want it to track dead-center whenever possible.

1. All you have to do is turn the anti-skating knob so that the number matches the tracking pressure you set earlier. Fremer likes to set it a quarter of a gram or so less, which he feels is more accurate than the scales provided on most turntables. So do that.

More Tips
• Keep your turntable on as sturdy a surface as possible—this will prevent it from warbling or skipping if you walk/dance around near it.

• Keep your stylus and records clean. You can get very inexpensive tools for cleaning both of these parts, and it will keep everying sounding great and will prevent your records from wearing out too quickly.

And that’s it. For more info, check out Fremer’s calibration DVDs, which many vinyl junkies swear by.

Hope you guys enjoyed our Listening Test audio week as much as we did. If you have any other advice or tips to share, please do so in the comments, and if you’re interested, check out last week’s audio-related How To on maintaining a lossless music library. Have a great weekend listening everybody!

Listening Test: It’s music tech week at Gizmodo.