Aug 2006
Making a family tree chart of everyone
18/08/06 08:13 Filed in: Graphics
I really thought this would be no big deal and that
any software I used (currently Legacy 6) would allow
me to make a chart of everyone in my family tree,
even those distant cousins. Apparently that is not
the case. You can pick someone and see their
descendents or ancestors but you normally cannot pick
more than one person and rarely can you see everyone.
Legacy sells a $40 add-in software to allow you to see a chart of everyone (more than the cost of the Legacy Family Tree software). However I have found at least 2 softwares that can do this. Family Tree Maker 2006 and Genbox. Oh, and I just heard that Family Historian can do this too though I have not tried their demo.
Since Family Tree Maker does not have a demo and seems to be associated with Ancestry.com (with whom I had a bad customer experience and later were the subject of a legal class action from others feeling the same way) I tried Genbox. Although it looks good and there were loads of configuration options, I do not know if I would want it as my main geneology storehouse.
That being said their "Everyone" chart was wonderful and they even had a convergent chart where you could pick from 2 or more people and chart where the family lines converge. Even better, the charts can be edited before printing by simply dragging people boxes around on the screen!
To make either work if you already have a geneology program, simply export your family tree to the generic Gedcom format and then reimport it into either of these 2 programs. Since Genbox has a 30 day demo anyone can quickly try it out to see if it meets their needs. And that either program is still cheaper than the single add-on by Legacy.
Legacy sells a $40 add-in software to allow you to see a chart of everyone (more than the cost of the Legacy Family Tree software). However I have found at least 2 softwares that can do this. Family Tree Maker 2006 and Genbox. Oh, and I just heard that Family Historian can do this too though I have not tried their demo.
Since Family Tree Maker does not have a demo and seems to be associated with Ancestry.com (with whom I had a bad customer experience and later were the subject of a legal class action from others feeling the same way) I tried Genbox. Although it looks good and there were loads of configuration options, I do not know if I would want it as my main geneology storehouse.
That being said their "Everyone" chart was wonderful and they even had a convergent chart where you could pick from 2 or more people and chart where the family lines converge. Even better, the charts can be edited before printing by simply dragging people boxes around on the screen!
To make either work if you already have a geneology program, simply export your family tree to the generic Gedcom format and then reimport it into either of these 2 programs. Since Genbox has a 30 day demo anyone can quickly try it out to see if it meets their needs. And that either program is still cheaper than the single add-on by Legacy.
Installing vmware tools into Ubuntu guest
17/08/06 15:46
If you are using VMware to install multiple operating
systems on your Windows XP machine like me you may
have had some problems installing the VMware tools
into the latest Ubuntu (6.06.1). I am using the 5.5.2
version of VMware but still the installation was not
very smooth.
Here is what I did after a fresh install of Ubuntu from the Desktop CD and booting the newly installed Ubuntu system. Of course all of the commands are using the Terminal console.
Note, if step 3 gives you an error like "Couldn't find package linux-headers-2.6.15-26-386" then you can use your Ubuntu Desktop CD to install those linux-headers.
Finally everything should work.  At least it did for me.  That last problem with the headers caused me some heartache until I found the solution here.
Here is what I did after a fresh install of Ubuntu from the Desktop CD and booting the newly installed Ubuntu system. Of course all of the commands are using the Terminal console.
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo apt-get install gcc-4.0
- sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
- in the VMware VM menu select Install VMware Tools
- extract VMwareTools-5.5.2-29772.tar.gz to the desktop (just right click on the file icon and choose "Extract to..."
- sudo ./Desktop/vmwaware/tools-distrib/vmware-install.pl
- I just selected all of the defaults to the many questions and using the newly installed gcc and linux-headers, the script built some additional support binaries.
- at the end it will ask you to choose your screen resolution
- the last step is to restart the graphic environment to use the VMware Tool enhancements. /etc/init.d/gdm restart should work.
Note, if step 3 gives you an error like "Couldn't find package linux-headers-2.6.15-26-386" then you can use your Ubuntu Desktop CD to install those linux-headers.
- quit the vmware installer
- close any open package managers like Synaptic or the Update Manager
- insert your Ubuntu CD
- you should receive a dialog box asking if you want to start the package manager, choose yes
- search for and install the "linux-headers-2.6.15-26-386" (in this case you are installing it from the CD instead of from the Internet.
- rerun the vmware installer.
Finally everything should work.  At least it did for me.  That last problem with the headers caused me some heartache until I found the solution here.
D-Link is for Dead Link
16/08/06 07:58 Filed in: Wireless
I recently purchases an Airplus G DWL-G122 wireless
USB adapter for my XP Pro machine and boy does that
thing loose the connection a lot. It does not matter
if the signal strengh is good or low, it just drops
it for no good reason. I have a Dell laptop not far
from it that has NEVER dropped the signal to the
access point (and the D-Link device is closer to the
AP!).
Admittedly, it was the cheapest adapter for sale at Fust but I really thought it would be usable. It even had an extra cable to put the receiver closer to the AP and it is now sitting at chest level, around the corner from the AP. So unless my head is putting off a large amount of radio waves (possible) I cannot think of any other interference.
An unhappy customer.
Admittedly, it was the cheapest adapter for sale at Fust but I really thought it would be usable. It even had an extra cable to put the receiver closer to the AP and it is now sitting at chest level, around the corner from the AP. So unless my head is putting off a large amount of radio waves (possible) I cannot think of any other interference.
An unhappy customer.
Free HDRI images
12/08/06 20:36 Filed in: Graphics
Now that I am finally getting into my Vue 5 Esprit
package I found that there were not many HDR
(otherwise known as High Dynamic Range Imaging)
images included. This great 3d rendering option can
really enhance the lighting in a rendered 3d scene
but it needs those fancy HDR images to work right.
Below is a list of websites that I found offering free HDR images, ideal for testing those new lighting effects.
Once you've downloaded the images that you want you can use them in Vue 5 by going to the Atmosphere Editor and choosing the Environment Mapping Model. Then, under the effects tab you can double click on the big black square to load either an existing HDR image from Vue's install or to browse your hard drive to find other HDR images (i.e. the ones you downloaded.) Oh, and after you accept the image Vue will ask you if you want to "automatically setup your scene for image based lighting?" and you should choose yes.
Add a nice metal sphere to your scene and see what things look like
Below is a list of websites that I found offering free HDR images, ideal for testing those new lighting effects.
-
- http://hdri.3dweave.com/
- http://www.hdrimaps.com/downloads.html
- http://www.evermotion.org/index.php?unfold_exclusive=84&unfold=exclusive
- http://debevec.org/Probes/
- http://www.shademaster.nl/
- http://www.3dvalley.com/textures.shtml
- http://www.aversis.be/extra_hdri/00.htm
- http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/10152791/
Once you've downloaded the images that you want you can use them in Vue 5 by going to the Atmosphere Editor and choosing the Environment Mapping Model. Then, under the effects tab you can double click on the big black square to load either an existing HDR image from Vue's install or to browse your hard drive to find other HDR images (i.e. the ones you downloaded.) Oh, and after you accept the image Vue will ask you if you want to "automatically setup your scene for image based lighting?" and you should choose yes.
Add a nice metal sphere to your scene and see what things look like
Using Linux for Vue network rendering
10/08/06 04:51 Filed in: Graphics
I have run 4.22 Rendercows of the 3d software
Vue
Esprit using Wine on
knoppix. I
saved the Rendercows on USB pen drives and just
boot the systems off of a Knoppix CD. The
computers don't even have hard drives... just
memory, CDROM and the oh so tasty CPU. This
should make for cheapy rendercows.
You should be able to boot those additional render cows using only the pen drive (if the motherboard supports it) or off of PXE bootable ethernet cards (ideal if the motherboard has these built-in). For under a grand you would be able to build an ok x4 RenderCowBarn (well I guess adding power supplies and cooling might make it a little more than a grand.)
You should be able to boot those additional render cows using only the pen drive (if the motherboard supports it) or off of PXE bootable ethernet cards (ideal if the motherboard has these built-in). For under a grand you would be able to build an ok x4 RenderCowBarn (well I guess adding power supplies and cooling might make it a little more than a grand.)
Vue 5 Esprit network rendering
09/08/06 06:01 Filed in: Graphics
I use the Vue 5
Esprit software for making 3d graphic images
and animations. There is an add-on for network
rendering that, when it works, drastically cuts
the rendering time. Below are some of my tests
using it over a wireless network.
Below are the test runs of rendercows (Vue's networking client) using the included 4Seasons.vue sample animation file set for 391 frames and 160x120 preview rendering.
So this would seem to say the following things
That being said I do not find the rendercows in Vue 5 very network friendly or stable. For instance the status would be irregular: stopping an unused rendercow would always give an alert saying that it was in the process of rendering, from the main Vue 5 machine, some clients were not showing their idle status correctly, rebooting one of my rendercow clients caused the Vue 5 program to quit without warning, client manager only shows names of connected devices, not IP or port numbers used, no simple network check to see if the remote computer is available (they just appear magically if they were previously used, no pre-existing list of the expected rendercows.)
Since the network rendering is sold in packs of 5 I can run one additional rendercow. When I get the chance I will have that one be on the other side of a VPN network.
- A1/A2 3Ghz hyperthreading machine (simulated 2 processor)
- B 1.7 Ghz Pentium
- C 2Ghz Celeron
Below are the test runs of rendercows (Vue's networking client) using the included 4Seasons.vue sample animation file set for 391 frames and 160x120 preview rendering.
17m25s - no network rendering on machine A
25m57s - Machine A with one rendercow running
8m13s - Machine A & B running rendercows
7m42s - Machine A running x2 rendercows and Machine B as well
4m25s - Machine A running x2 rendercows and Machines B & C as well
So this would seem to say the following things
- If you do not have additional machines, you are better off not using rendercow
- The rendercow seems to make good use of the hyperthreading already but there was still a small gain in speed when running x2 rendercows on a hyperthreading machine.
- Even on a low speed network (yes it is a wireless 802.11g but actual signal strength probably is not allowing me more than 20mbps) benefits can be significant.
That being said I do not find the rendercows in Vue 5 very network friendly or stable. For instance the status would be irregular: stopping an unused rendercow would always give an alert saying that it was in the process of rendering, from the main Vue 5 machine, some clients were not showing their idle status correctly, rebooting one of my rendercow clients caused the Vue 5 program to quit without warning, client manager only shows names of connected devices, not IP or port numbers used, no simple network check to see if the remote computer is available (they just appear magically if they were previously used, no pre-existing list of the expected rendercows.)
Since the network rendering is sold in packs of 5 I can run one additional rendercow. When I get the chance I will have that one be on the other side of a VPN network.
Looking for a design shop like CafePress
06/08/06 08:27 Filed in: Graphics
I have been wanting to take a look at some of the
online design shops for making some customized items
but I am having difficulties in tracking down the
right company to work with.
There are so many customer comments on: customer services, final quality, shipping time/costs, retaining copyrights, setup fees and such that it is evidently becoming a work in progress.
Here are a list of the final shops that seem to be pretty well known.
I'll post more as soon as I decide which one to go with, at least for starters.
There are so many customer comments on: customer services, final quality, shipping time/costs, retaining copyrights, setup fees and such that it is evidently becoming a work in progress.
Here are a list of the final shops that seem to be pretty well known.
- CafePress
(service issues, quality concerns & shipping
time/cost)
- Spreadshirt
(only one with a European center)
- Corporate
Casuals
- CustomInk
- Zazzle
(possibly signing away image rights)
- Embroidery Superstore
- Queensboro Shirt Company (Cheap embroidery setup)
I'll post more as soon as I decide which one to go with, at least for starters.
Skype trying to release video on MacOSX
03/08/06 14:36 Filed in: Apple
Skype has at last released a MacOSX version with
"Video Preview" as they call it or "Video Chat" as
others call it. We have been waiting for this
integration since we have lots of networking issues
with the integrated MacOSX iChat and would like to do
video chat between Windows and MacOSX (as easily as
possible).
However, while we were able to receive the video fine on the Mac platform, each time we tried to activate our Logitech camera in the MacOSX Skype, the whole program crashed in a puff of smoke. Here is the link to try it yourself. HERE .
However, while we were able to receive the video fine on the Mac platform, each time we tried to activate our Logitech camera in the MacOSX Skype, the whole program crashed in a puff of smoke. Here is the link to try it yourself. HERE .