C64’ing your Win7 – Commodore 64 Theme for Windows 7

How-To Geek - Make Your 64 bit Computer Look like a Commodore 64

“The Commodore 64 was one of the bestselling home computers ever, and many geeks got their first computing experience on one of these early personal computers. Here’s an easy way to revisit the early years of personal computing with a theme for Windows 7.

With only 64Kb of ram and an 8 bit processor, the Commodore 64 is light-years behind today’s computers.  But with a Windows 7 themepack, you can turn back the years and give your computer a quick overhaul to look more like its ancient predecessor.

Age Windows 7 with a click

Download the Commodore 64 theme from PC World (link below), and unzip the files.

…

…”

How can turning your Win7 box in a C64 (well the theme anyway) be anything BUT cool?  :p

It’s a simple make-over, with three background, a few icons, font change, etc (i.e. you’re not REALLY tuning it into a C64…). This is one of the backgrounds (that being the somewhat cranky guy I am made me chuckle)

From the included ReadMe;

“…

This theme pack recreates the look of a C-64, only on a slightly newer platform: Windows 7. It contains three backgrounds that give an authentic look at the familiar old C-64 screen. It also has desktop icons for your User folder (a miniature C-64 screen); your my Computer link (a C-64 computer), and Recycle Bin (that 1541 floppy drive—the green LED illuminates when the Recycle Bin contains something). The Window colors recreate the beige C-64 casing, and the System font should look familiar to any C-64 user.

…”

What I thought cool (I mean besides the whole thing) was that in the ReadMe the author talked a little about how he created the theme, tools he used, etc

Microsoft Office File Formats and Protocols documentation updated for Office 2010 (Think “Now with added ‘X’ flavor… DocX, PptX, XlsX, etc”)

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft Office File Formats Documentation

“The Microsoft Office file formats documentation provides technical specifications for Microsoft proprietary file formats that are implemented and used in the Microsoft Office system.

Version:	0310a
Date Published:	4/2/2010
Language:	English
Download Size:	150 KB - 330.4 MB*

The Microsoft Office file formats documentation provides detailed technical specifications for Microsoft proprietary file formats.

The documentation includes a set of companion overview and reference documents that supplement the technical specifications with conceptual background, overviews of file format relationships and interactions, and technical reference information.

…

…'’

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft Office Protocol Documentation

“The Office protocol documentation provides technical specifications for Microsoft proprietary protocols that are implemented and used in the Microsoft Office system.

Version:	0310
Date Published:	4/2/2010
Language:	English
Download Size:	174 KB - 125.6 MB*

The Office protocol documentation provides detailed technical specifications for Microsoft proprietary protocols (including extensions to industry-standard or other published protocols) that are implemented and used in Microsoft Office client programs to interoperate or communicate with Microsoft products.

The documentation includes a set of companion overview and reference documents that supplement the technical specifications with conceptual background, overviews of inter-protocol relationships and interactions, and technical reference information.

…

…”

I think it’s a good sign that the MS-DocX specification is only 87 pages… (compared to the 631 pages in the [MS-Doc] specification)

 

(via The Road to Know Where - Microsoft Releases Office 2010 File Formats & Protocol Documentation)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
MS-PST file format specification released. Yep, the full and complete specification for Outlook PST’s is now just a download away.
Microsoft Office (DOC, XLS, PPT) Binary File Format Specifications Released – We’re talking the full technical specification… (The [MS-DOC].pdf alone is 553 pages of very dense specification information)
DOC, XLS and PPT Binary File Format Specifications Released (plus WMF, Windows Compound File [aka OLE 2.0 Structured Storage] and Ink Serialized Format Specifications and Translator to XML news)

OpenTTD (aka Open Source Clone of Transport Tycoon Deluxe) v1.0.0 Released – Get your Tycoon’ness ready (and kiss hours away…)

OpenTTD - OpenTTD 1.0.0

“6 years. What were you doing 6 years ago?

In March 2004 OpenTTD 0.1 was released. Hardly a month later in April 2004 OpenTTD 0.2. And today, six years later... OpenTTD 1.0.0. It was a lot of work, hundreds of thousands of translations, tens of thousands of commits, thousands of graphics, hundreds of patches, dozen of sounds and musics, and one goal. How many people contributed? Dozen of artists, translators and developers, hundreds of testers and bug reporters, and also the thousands of players. Looking at the readmes and credit sections only gives a small hint. Some of those who were main contributors left long ago, and there are only a few who know them all and talked to them once via IRC or the forums. But if you consider all contributors, including those of the used libraries, and the external artists of OpenSFX... Well, then most likely not every contributor actually knows OpenTTD :)

…”

OpenTTD - Downloading OpenTTD

“For OpenTTD you can use the original Transport Tycoon Deluxe data files (you need to own a Transport Tycoon Deluxe CD). There are also the free alternatives OpenGFX (graphics), OpenSFX (sound) and OpenMSX (music) which can be installed automatically by the Windows installer. Please refer to the readme for more information.

…

…”

OpenTTD - About OpenTTD

“OpenTTD is an open source clone of the Microprose game "Transport Tycoon Deluxe", a popular game originally written by Chris Sawyer. It attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible while extending it with new features.

OpenTTD is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2.0. For more information, see the file COPYING included with every release and source download of the game.

Features

OpenTTD is modeled after the original Transport Tycoon game by Chris Sawyer and enhances the game experience dramatically. Many features were inspired by TTDPatch while others are original.

Significant enhancements from the original game include for example:

• bigger maps (up to 64 times in size)
• stable multiplayer mode for up to 255 players in 15 companies or as spectators
• dedicated server mode and an in-game console for administration
• IPv6 alongside IPv4 support for all communication of the client and server
• in game downloading of AIs, NewGRFs, scenarios and heightmaps
• …

Posting a full list would be futile as it would mean updating this page almost daily, and even then some things might be forgotten. Play with the game to experience all the features yourself, or look further at Wiki for a more thorough listing and explanation of the features and possibilities ingame.

Supported operating systems

OpenTTD is officially supported on the following operating systems.

• *BSD, especially FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
• Linux
• Solaris
• Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7

…”

[No, this is NOT an April Fools… sigh… I hate blogging on April First]

TTD was a game that I played entirely to much. There was just something about it that would keep me playing for hours, something later re-writes/revisions/follow-ups just didn’t seem to capture.

With OpenTTD we can return to that world, return to the fun of being a Transportation Tycoon, all free,cross platform (Linux/Windows), x32/64, and open source.

What I think is cool about OpenTTD is that no only do we have an impementaion of the original TTD, but with all the patches, tweaks, etc made. AND they have made it VERY easy to get additional features and functionality with a cool integrated online feature browser/downloader/installer. Want a different AI? There’s a number of them. Map? A bunch. etc, etc. All easily found and downloaded.

Must… control… self… must… not… start… game… NOoooo… (Okay, just for a few minutes… :)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
OpenTTD 0.4.0 Released
OpenTTD 0.3.6 Released

Increase your dev skill cloud compatibility level – Attend the free, all day, Windows Azure Firestarter event (even if you can’t make it to Redmond… yep, via all day online simulcast…)

US ISV Developer Community - Get ‘Cloud Ready’ at Azure Firestarter Event Online

“In response to overwhelming feedback, we've organized a special, all-day FREE Windows Azure Firestarter event April 6, 2010, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM (PT) at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington to help developers learn more about how they can take full advantage of cloud services.  This one-of-a-kind event will focus on helping developers get ‘cloud ready' and will include sessions about Microsoft's strategic vision for the cloud, the end-to-end view of the Windows Azure platform from a developer's perspective, as well as how to migrate your data and existing applications (regardless of platform) onto the cloud.

If you've attended a MSDN Windows Azure Event or watched a Windows Azure Webcast, this event is the perfect next step for you.  Not only will you get trained on Windows Azure, you'll have a great opportunity to hear from some of our top Windows Azure experts and ask them questions about how to get started in the cloud with Windows Azure.

Seating is limited, so please register today to attend this exciting live event. If you cannot make it to Redmond, the entire event will be simulcast online; registration is required to attend the online event, so sign up today to ensure you don't miss a minute of this exciting event!” [GD: Post Leached in Full and emphasis added]

Signed up… :)

Introduction of the BCL CodePlex project (code samples, previews, prototypes, etc from the BCL team) – Includes “Long Path” library direct from the BCL Team (think “Breaking out of MAX_PATH”)

BCL Team Blog - BCL CodePlex Site Launch

“Today the BCL Team is launching a CodePlex site to host samples, previews, and prototypes. You can find it at http://bcl.codeplex.com.
…”

CodePlex - Base Class Libraries

“The Base Class Libraries site hosts samples, previews, and prototypes from the BCL team.
This is a site for the BCL Team to get features to customers to try out without requiring a Beta or CTP of the .NET Framework. Our goal is to put generally useful functionality here, and to get feedback on it and have the chance to iterate on the design. Having a feature here does not mean that it will eventually end up in the BCL. Some items are samples that build on top of existing classes, and some features might be ones we were considering for the .NET Framework but decide not to include for one reason or another.
…
Below are descriptions of features currently in this project. You can find more details about each in the Documentation section of this project.

BigRational
BigRational builds on the BigInteger introduced in .NET Framework 4 to create an arbitrary-precision rational number class.

Long Path
This library provides functionality to make it easier to work with paths that are longer than the current 259 character limit.

PerfMonitor
PerfMonitor is a command-line tool for profiling the system using Event Tracing for Windows (ETW). PerfMonitor is built on top of the TraceEvent library.

TraceEvent
An experimental library that greatly simplifies reading Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) events.
…
…”

Base Class Libraries - Long Path

“The long path wrapper provides functionality to make it easier to work with paths that are longer than the current 259 character limit of the System.IO namespace. Using the long path classes, projects can now use paths up to 32,000 characters.

For more information on why .NET currently lacks built-in support for long paths, see the following blog post on the BCL blog:

Long Paths in .NET
Getting started
Download
Samples
Class Reference
…”

To give you a feel for this class, here’s the Class Reference;

This site is two kinds of awesome. First in that it’s a means for the BCL team to share their samples, thoughts, ideas, previews, etc out of band and secondly, for the Long Path library… I’ve got my own I’ve written, but I’d much rather leverage the work from someone who’s a little closer to the metal… ;)

(via Jason Haley - Interesting Finds: March 31, 2010)

Related Past Post XRef:
The Long Path for the BCL Team
AlphaFS – Some Max_Path, Transactional NTFS, hard links, and more .Net System.IO.File/Path/Directory Help (alpha)
Unicode Path Fun...

“Feature Builder Power Tool” Preview Released – A power tool to help you build tools/extensions/etc for Visual Studio 2010, a tool to help build tools…

Skinner's Blog - Announcing the Preview release of “Feature Builder”

“Today we released the Feature Builder Power Tool for Visual Studio 2010 Preview for RC on the Visual Studio Gallery.  This power tool helps you easily create rich Visual Studio extensions which you can share with others on the Visual Studio Gallery. These extensions can include tools (Visual Studio automation), code (your sample code or binaries you wish to share with others) and a map (a set of steps your users will want to follow to get the best experience with your extension). You can use this power tool to quickly package up sample code with custom menus, or take the time to create complete automated guidance experiences targeted toward a specific technology.

You can create two different kinds of extensions using Feature Builder. A standard Feature Extension can contain tools, code, and a simple map - it will run on the Visual Studio Premium and Visual Studio Professional editions (in the final version of this tool). A more advanced extension, called an Ultimate Feature Extension, can contain everything a standard Feature Extension can contain, as well as rich modeling and visualization tools that can take advantage of the modeling features found inside the Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate edition (required).

…

This tool was produced by the Visual Studio product group in collaboration with patterns & practices, the Developer Platform Evangelism group, and Microsoft Consulting Services.

An update to this power tool based on the RTM version of Visual Studio 2010 will be available after the RTM release..”

Adventures In SoftwareLand - Announcing the Feature Builder Power Tool for Visual Studio 2010 (Preview)

“…

Today, I am finally able to talk about what I’ve been doing since last February:  the Feature Builder Power Tool for Visual Studio 2010!

Feature Builder is a completely re-thought implementation of the automated guidance + tools + templates work I’ve been doing for nearly 6 years here at Microsoft.  Some of you may remember Project “Glidepath” and the two versions of Blueprints which were released between 2006 and 2009.  Feature Builder tops them all in terms of functionality, integration within Visual Studio and most importantly product group alignment.

…”

Adventures In SoftwareLand - Feature Builder for VS2010 FAQ

“Q: #1 What do I need to have installed to use Feature Builder?

A: Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition Release Candidate, the Visual Studio SDK for RC

Q: #2 What do users need to run my Feature Extension?

A: If it is an Ultimate Feature Extension, then VS2010 Ultimate Edition is required.  If it is not an Ultimate Feature Extension, then it will run on Visual Studio 2010 Professional Edition Release Candidate or Visual Studio 2010 Premium Edition Release Candidate.  In either case, your users will *not* need the Feature Builder.  The Feature Extension runtime library that supports all feature extensions is included in your VSIX and will be automatically installed if necessary.

…

Visual Studio Gallery - Feature Builder Power Tool

“Feature Builder is a Power Tool for Visual Studio 2010 (preview) which helps you easily create rich Visual Studio extensions. These extensions include tools (Visual Studio automation), code (your sample code or binaries you wish to share with others) and a map (a set of steps your users will want to follow to get the best experience with your extension). You can use this power tool to quickly package up sample code with custom menus, or take the time to create complete automated guidance experiences targeted toward a specific technology. You can share your extension with users by distributing a .vsix file, or posting to the Visual Studio Gallery.

…

This preview requires Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition, and the installation of the Visual Studio SDK (RC1 Version) to build Feature Extensions. The Feature Extensions you create have the same requirements except for the SDK. The RTM version of this tool will require Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition to create Feature Extensions, but will allow you to create Feature Extensions which do not require the Ultimate Edition to run.

…

…”

I dig tools that help us build tools. The extensibility of VS2010 is pretty amazing and tools like this will help us all take advantage of that... (“Let the hounds of VS extensibility loose!…”  ;)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Ease Use of Vista Task/Common Dialogs with Project Glidepath Windows Vista Bridge Package

OData Primer – A collaborative effort to gather and share OData information and resources

OData Primer

Just started by Chris Woodruff (@cwoodruff) of Deep Fried Bytes fame, I’ve started contributing the OData stuff I find too. Funny how additive sharing can become. LOL

Man I love the inter-tubes… ;)

The Microsoft Desktop Player [Beta] – Your IT/Development Video/Cast/Whitepaper/Link/News Console

TechNet Flash Feed - Announcing the Microsoft Desktop Player

“Check out the Microsoft Desktop Player, now in beta, to find contextual content for IT professionals and developers based on your adoption lifecycle. The Desktop Player filters content by topic based on your role and where you are in your adoption lifecycle. It also surfaces local resources based on your zip code.

Find videos, webcasts, podcasts, whitepapers and relevant links based on your specific criteria. And get a feed of the latest news for IT pros.

…”

Microsoft Desktop Player

From the download EULA;

“… The Microsoft TechNet Desktop Player (the “PLAYER”) is a content aggregator that surfaces filtered content that exist at Microsoft across various engines that have relevant contextual content for the user.  …”

Anyway here’s a snap of the downloaded/installed version (which is NOT OOB Silverlight which surprised me);

Also note that this is currently IT focused. For example, when I search for “SilverLight” I get 11 webcast hits.

But again, this IS beta, so maybe more videos/casts/etc will come online down the line.

 

To repeat one of my standard requests… I want something like this for ALL Microsoft Conferences (all of which should be exposed via a single OData endpoint). A MS Conference Player… I appreciate that this Player is doing something like that, but only for TechNet content (?) and only via term searching. I know, I know, I should shut up and just do it. I have much/most of the data already, but… sigh… maybe I will, at least as a tool to help me learn SilverLight. ;)

IIS7 Virtual Labs – A quick, free and easy means to get up to speed on IIS7

Bernhard Frank's Webblog - Free of charge training labs for IIS: “TechNet Virtual Labs: Internet Information Services (IIS)”

“You want to test and learn IIS7 ? Free of charge without setup hassle.

Virtual Labs is the answer: You get a virtual IIS7 test environment just for you to do  90 minute lab blocks + manual (downloadable)

9 online courses for IIS are currently available covering:

• Installation and the New Modular Architecture
• Installing ASP, ASP.NET and PHP/FastCGI Applications on IIS 7
• Using the new IIS 7 Configuration System featuring Delegated and Remote Administration Virtual Lab Lab Link
• Working with the IIS Manager
• Implementing Preliminary Shared Hosting Guidelines and Shared Configuration
• Rapid Troubleshooting with IIS 7 Failed Request Tracing
• Using APPCMD with IIS 7
• URL Authorization and Request Filtering in IIS 7
• Administering the IIS 7 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Server

…

…”

I’ve fallen WAY behind in my experience and knowledge of IIS. I follow the cool news about it and think, based on my reading/podcasts, the work done on IIS7+ is outstanding, but I’m feeling a little technically left behind (cough… more than a little… cough).

When I saw these I knew I had to grab them for that just-in-time need to re-learn IIS.

 

Plus I think the Virtual Labs are just cool… LOL

 

If you dig Virtual Labs check these out;

Welcome to MSDN Virtual Labs

TechNet Virtual Labs

Becoming a Windows Search Ninja - “Mastering Windows Search using Advanced Query Syntax”

ars technica - Mastering Windows Search using Advanced Query Syntax

“Search has become an integral part of Windows, particularly in later versions. While the major search improvements began with Windows Vista and were backported to Windows XP, it's really only with Windows 7 that the larger majority of users are discovering the search bar all over in the operating system. Search is built into every aspect of Windows 7 to help users cope with the increasingly rapidly growing number of files, be they work documents and e-mails, personal photos and videos, or music collections.

Many users perform searches without thinking nowadays: it's an ingrained habit of using the operating system. Like many habits, this one is worth breaking in order to to develop an even better one. Here we take a quick look at a few basic search techniques and a few more advanced ones. Force yourself to use them and you'll soon become a master of Windows Search. A bit of extra time now will save you loads of effort in the long run.

…

…”

Windows Search is one of those things I use a little allot, but rarely in depth, which I find ironic. I can’t live without the full text indexing of my email, which has also changed how I store and use email, let alone the power Windows Search provides in Win7, yet my searching is still very basic and primitive.

The next time I search, I need to try some of these things out…

Must… Become… Search… Ninja!

Large Text File Viewer v5.2 Released - A portable utility to open very large, 1GB+, text files quickly…

SwiftGear - Large Text File Viewer 5.2 – Features

“Have you ever felt frustrated when you just want to look at the content of a large text file but it takes forever for Notepad or Word to open it?

This program was designed for viewing large (>1GB) text files.

It uses little memory and is able to open a gigabyte file instantly.

Background file indexing makes browsing even faster.

It opens files that are currently being written by other programs, and automatically checks and reads the files if new contents have been appended.

It supports view split. The user may split the view either horizontally or vertically, and have each side show different portion of the same file.

It allows the user to perform high-speed complex text search by means of plain text or regular expression. The regular expression syntax is slightly different from the standard ones. Please click here for details.

The regular expressions for finding the following items have been provided as preset for the convenience of the users:

…

 

…”

I’ve been using v4 of this utility for years (since it’s release in 2005)… Good to see it’s still alive and well.

(via The Portable Freeware Collection - Large Text File Viewer V5.2)

Looking for a little help moving from WinForms to WPF? How about a “toolbox-centric” Quick Reference Guide?

simple-talk - From WinForm to WPF: A Quick Reference Guide

“Like many of you, I have been an avid .NET developer / designer for some time, and have been eagerly awaiting both the new design tools of Visual Studio 2010 and the new capabilities of the .NET framework version 4.0 release. At the same time I decided to take the leap from WinForm to Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) to take advantage of the expressiveness of the technology, and the richness of XAML. WPF is huge, so getting a clear understanding of either of these moves would be daunting; doing both together might seem well nigh overwhelming!

This article is not a starting point for the complete WPF neophyte. If that describes you, you will find this useful only in conjunction with other introductory WPF material. Rather, this article provides explanatory notes to my quick reference chart that could be quite a timesaver as you migrate from Visual Studio 2008 to 2010 and from WinForm to WPF. 

…

…”

Here’s a snap of it;

And a close-up…

I need all the help I can get… ;)

(via Notes from a dark corner - WinForms to WPF Quick reference guide)

“Getting Started with Silverlight and Expression Blend” (SilverLight v4, Blend v3) DZone Refcardz

DZone – Refcardz - Getting Started with Silverlight and Expression Blend

“…

This DZone Refcard will provide an introduction to Silverlight 4 and Expression Blend, an application that is used to develop Silverlight applications. Also included is an introduction to some of the cool new features offered by the newest version of Silverlight 4, and a step by step guide through the development of your first Silverlight application.

…

…”

Here’s a thumbnail snap;

Windows Phone 7 was the straw that broke my SilverLight learning back (or whatever… you get the idea). When I saw this in my inbox I just had to grab it to help me on my current learning curve climb…