The Best of Three Worlds

 

Software, games, movies, music, the latest hardware; everything is available for Windows: and everything runs perfectly well too. However, sometimes even the most die-hard fans of Microsoft Windows are jealous of the simple Apple Mac OS X or wish for the functionalities of the powerful Linux. But quitting the Windows world is completely out of question. The good news is you don’t need to either. CHIP shows how the best from OS X and Linux can be combined in your Windows system. Instead of the boring taskbars you can have useful docks with 3D icons and drilled-in functions. With help of cool shortcuts you can achieve spectacular window effects on the screen and a quick preview of documents. This is not all, the OS X has much more to offer: For example, the Time Machine, with help of which one can turn the clock backwards in case of a data mishap and access the automatically created backup. You can easily get all these features for your Windows PC. Furthermore, with the tools we suggest, you can even use the multi-touch functions on the notebook or even start a real Linux prompt in Windows. With help of these advanced system tools mentioned here, you will have tight control over Windows just like any Linux user has on his distribution. In addition to stylish appearance and professional functions our tools also realize a range of additional comfort for Windows: This way, just as it is always possible in Linux in future even you will be able to install a dozen programs in one go.

Attention: The tools in this workshop have been tested in depth with XP, Vista and Windows 7. However, tuning always means changing your system settings. Therefore, we recommend a complete backup.

Tip: It is not necessary to perform all the steps in this workshop at same time. The tools and tweaks introduced here function individually and are independent from each other.

Time Machine: Continuous automatic backups

Although, for many years now Windows has been integrated with its own backup function, it is still not sufficiently user friendly. With Time Machine OS X show how easily backups can be realized. Just connect an external hard disk, configure the backup and that is all; you never need to take a look again. In case of malfunction, one can always access the older file versions using a timeline. The 'Genie Timeline Free Edition' tool enables these functions even on Windows. Just configure the backup once and everything else functions automatically. The software saves the latest status of the system once in every hour. With help of a simple slider in Explorer you can revert to the older file versions and retrieve them by simply clicking on them.

Mac-Aqua: New look replaces Aero Glass

Windows 7 is by all means much more stylish than any of its predecessors; however, it is still not comparable with OS X. With help of suitable theme packets, you can decorate Windows 7 in OS X style. Download the 'Snow Leopard for Windows 7' software.

However, to be able to install new themes on Windows 7, you will require the 'Universal Theme Patcher', since Windows doesn't allow using third-party themes.

Important: The Theme Patcher includes a separate program for 32-bit as well as for 64-bit Windows. In case of 64-bit version of Windows 7 you must run each of the three files and click on the “Patch” button.

Time for the OS-X look: Unzip the theme packs, for example with WinRAR, and copy the content of the 'Themes' sub-folder in the 'C:WindowsResourcesThemes' folder on the hard disk. Now right click in the open space on the desktop and select 'Customize. Now you can see three new entries under the 'Installed designs' option: Snow Leopard Basic, Snow Leopard Glass and Snow Leopard. A single click on Snow Leopard is sufficient for Windows 7 to change its look. A small bug slips in to the Internet Explorer 8 in Windows 7 x64 version: As a result the address bar moves out of place. As a solution, we recommend using Firefox or Safari.

Note: The new look not only changes the desktop background, but it also imparts a new design to the taskbar as well as the Windows. In addition, you will see a couple of new icons in the Explorer.

Multi-touch in Windows: This is how it works

Since the introduction of iPhone, multi-touch has been in vogue. With its Magic Mouse and the touchpads of MacBook and MacBook Pro, Apple shows that more functions can be integrated with the input device. This function can be enabled even in Windows as described below.

MAGIC MOUSE ON WINDOWS-PC:

Apple's Mouse with a touch-sensitive surface can be used in Windows using a Bluetooth adapter. However, Windows 7 does not recognize the functions of this mouse automatically. 

Important: There is a different version available for 64-Bit systems. If you wish to activate the touchpad with multitouch for your notebook, you must install  the Two-Finger-Scroll tool. You can scroll through the websites as well as the text at the same time, whereby you use two fingers on the touch-sensitive surface.

  

3D-Dock: Animated taskbar with new functions

Instead of a page wide taskbar OS X offers the almost magical Dock, on which 3D icons with animated surfaces have been housed. If a program is started the icons bounce, and with the Mouse-Over-Effect you can pull these with the cursor. You can integrate this tool in Windows with help of the small tool “RocketDock”. Just go through a standard installation routine and launch the RocketDock from the program folder.

At the beginning the tool is located right at the top edge of the screen, since you still have the taskbar at bottom. Right click on a free space on the taskbar and clear the checkmark in front of the 'Lock the taskbar' option. Now, you can move the taskbar to the right edge of the screen with the drag-and-drop method. Click on the second icon from the right on the RocketDock, to customize the program settings. For example select “Start RocketDock with Windows” and “Minimize window in the Dock“, and under “Position” select the lower screen edge as the optimum option. In “Appearance” you can customize the appearance with skins. By clicking on “Search online”, you can even get a “Leopard Skin”. 

Finderbar: The intelligent bar for Windows 7

Clever and useful: The “Finderbar” mini-tool adds the typical menu bar for the active programs on the top edge of the screen. So as to enable the function, position the Windows taskbar on the top edge of the screen. Set the taskbar to “Use small symbols” and continuously superimpose these. The theme packet described above functions only with Windows 7. However, there are optical packets available for XP and Vista. In fact these are much more comfortable to use than the Windows 7 solution. For XP, at best download the “FlyakiteOSX” on the computer.

This packet includes everything that one may require for the Windows XP
face lift. Vista users should opt for Vista OS X 2009.
Important: For this visual pack to function, it is necessary that the SP1 is already installed. Vista OS X too has suitable wallpapers integrated in it; imparting a new design to the window frame. It also has Boot logos installed.

Note: The account control impedes a part of the installation. Therefore, begin with the “msconfig” tool over “Run” and under “Tools” select the “Deactivate user account control (UAC)” option. You can install Vista OS X after a fresh bootup. Subsequently, reactivate the account control. So as to make Vista look identical to OS X, you must hide the sidebar and move the taskbar towards the top edge of the screen.

Additional applications: Safari, iTunes & others for Windows

Cool with OS X: Suitable programs are pre-installed for the important tasks. But, Microsoft has removed a few tools from Windows 7. Thus, the user must integrate these. In order to match with OS X, we recommend three programs.

SAFARI: Anyone who wishes to give Windows the looks of OS X, cannot do it without this browser. One does not require playing around much, since Apple already offers a Windows version. Thanks to the web kit engines, the browser is somewhat quick and currently shares the top spot for speed with Google Chrome. It already has most of the basic functions pre-installed, for example tabs, search field, bookmark management and pop-up blocker.

Eye-catcher: The start page shows the most frequently visited websites like a mini window. Scroll through the History using Cover Flow for the Apple feel.

PICASA: In OS X, iPhoto is the ideal tool. It is a universal tool for anyone who captures digital photographs. Picasa is very similar to iPhoto and in fact it can do much more. The program arranges the photos and videos as per the date when it was captured, groups them according to the events and allows publishing your own creations in various ways. Furthermore, it offers an option to upload photos and videos onto the web and allow friends access to these. It is also possible to export locally, for instance to hard disk or over photo DVD along with slide show. Basic editing functions, such as red-eye effect correction or brightening are also integrated in it. The most remarkable addition since the version 3.6 has been the face recognition feature. In this, the program scans your photos for faces. The persons identified must be named only once, and subsequently Picasa allocates the photos automatically. You can search for persons using Picasa and thereby display all photos, quickly.

ITUNES: Be it OS X or Windows, iTunes is the standard for owners of iPod, iPhone and iPad. Most of the users have already installed it on Windows. However, anyone who wants that OS X Look must install it. 

Install Linux tools in Windows

Attention: This tip is for users who wish to learn in detail about the “Prompt”. It is possible to enable a real Linux Shell in Windows to the start and that with “Cygwin”. Technically speaking, Cygwin is a compatibility layer, which creates a Unix environment in Windows. Linux adds numerous applications to Windows.

To start with, one can use Linux system commands in Windows, for instance to quickly connect files to each other or to configure settings in scripts. However, the main advantage is something else: With help of the Linux environment, you will be able to execute Linux tools in Windows.

This is how, for instance you can use programming fans’ open source compiler. Another example: Google’s new network scanner skipfish, which has been designed for Linux. Only with Cygwin
can it be used in Windows.

CD/DVD images: Access them easily without a drive

Apart from their relationship to Unix, Linux and OS X also have a few more striking features in common. For example, both these systems can mount CD/DVD image files without requiring an optical drive. In both these systems a double click or a shell command is sufficient to mount an image as a virtual drive in the file system. You can integrate this practical function even in Windows: For this purpose, CHIP recommends Daemon Tools Lite. Using it you can use up to four virtual drives at the same time, in which you can mount CD/DVD/Blu-ray images (ISO, BIN, NRG). However, be careful when installing these ingenious tools: If you continue responding to every dialog box with 'Yes', then at the end of the installation you will not only end up with the Daemon Tools, but even the Ask toolbar will be installed. So make sure you read the messages in the dialog boxes before clicking 'Yes'.

Safe on the Internet: Surfing and E-banking

Windows users are most prone to viruses and trojans. On the other hand, with Linux and OS X, one can surf the Internet without any additional security measures. Solution for Windows users: For browsing the Internet switch over to the Linux mode, whereas for all other tasks use Windows. It is very easy to enable this option—all that you require is the 'VMware Player' and the 'Browser Appliance Virtual Machine software. The player is an environment for all virtual machines. Browser Appliance is similar. It's a Linux system based on CentOS. It has been designed so ingeniously that one does not feel he/she is actually using Linux, but only sees Firefox on the display screen. Thus, you can easily surf the web with Firefox 3.6.3. The browser however, runs on a virtual machine on Linux. This way worms and trojans do not stand a chance.

Disadvantage: As opposed to the slim Firefox that takes up very little disk space, the Browser Appliance occupies considerably more than 1 GB of hard disk space.

Prompt: New power functions for Windows

The first, what a die-hard Linux fan misses in Windows, is a real prompt. However, Windows 7 includes PowerShell—as compared to standard prompts which are executed using “cmd”, PowerShell not only executes commands, but it even processes complex scripts in an independently developed programming language. PowerShell can be downloaded for XP and Vista from the Download Center of Microsoft for free, whereas it has been already integrated in Windows 7. For instance, you can control the active processes with a few commands. Anyone, who wishes to see all active programs, simply has to type “get-process”. Your can even view programs that hog memory with the PowerShell. Thus, the command “get-process | where {$_.ws -gt 20 MB}” displays a list of active programs that are consuming more than 20 MB of RAM.

If you find this process to demanding, you can integrate these system tools even with graphical interfaces. Since it is a forte of Linux that it allows to scan the system completely. The users can read-out even the trickiest of the system information. Anyone, who wishes to experience Windows in a similar informative style, should use the “Windows System Control Center”. This collection of tools is extremely compact and yet it encompasses hundreds of tools.

Tip: The user simply has to double-click on the packet; however, it is downloaded directly from the Internet if the user wishes to use a specific tool. For example Bluetooth: Anyone who wants to detect the Bluetooth devices that are active in the surrounding should click on the 'Network Utilities' heading under the 'NirSoft Utilities'. The 'Bluetooth View' tool is located here. The program is downloaded and launched automatically by simply clicking on it.  The packet contains all system tools, for example the built-in “Process Explorer” which is a task manager or “Autorun” which is a tool to test the Autostart. An additional advantage: The suite offers a useful shortcuts for the prompt function. You can comfortably access the most important Windows commands using a graphical interface.

Software packets: Install multiple tools
in one go

Installing software is not a difficult task in Windows. Nevertheless, OS X and Linux prove it practically how it is considerably easier. Instead of running through the process of going through numerous dialog boxes, specifying settings and then restarting the computer, Linux on the contrary allows a comfortable selection of tools with help of the package manager. The user simply has to select the programs he wishes to install by clicking on them or with help of the command prompt. These are subsequently loaded and installed in one go. This shortcut is generally useful when one has to execute any software frequently.

An Internet service enables this function for Windows users: Download the browser from http://ninite.com. The website lists every type of free programs available, for instance the tools mentioned in this article such as Safari, iTunes and Picasa. The programs are categorized into sections such as web browsers, messaging clients, media utilities, imaging tools, security tools, file sharing and developer tools. By marking the checkboxes, you can specify which tools you wish to install on your PC. Once you are done selecting all programs, you simply have to click on 'Get Installer'. The service then prepares a packet of the selected programs and allows you to download it. All you have to do is execute the package and all the programs are installed in a single go. It cannot get any easier than this. 

Buy Nokia N8

NOKIA N8

Verdict: A well-rounded multimedia device with an awesome camera.

Specifications:

Rs 26,259

www.nokia.co.in

Dimensions (WxHxD): 59.1x113.5x12.9 mm; Weight: 135 g; CPU: ARM 11, 680 MHz; Storage: 16 GB; Display: 3.5 in, AMOLED capacitive, 360x640 pixels; Camera: 12 MP

Contact :Nokia India

Phone: 0124-30303838

EMAIL: NA

 

Nokia’s N-Series is back with a bang. The N8 is finally here and comes with a promise of revitalizing Nokia’s high-end segment with its funky new age look and updated OS, but at Rs 26,000, will it deliver on the promises Nokia has made?

The N8 sports a sleek and elegant yet funky looking anodized aluminum alloy shell that’s available in a wide range of color options. It’s comfortable to hold and convenient to use and carry around. The singular menu/home button below the 3.5-inch (360x640) OLED capacitive touchscreen tucked safely away behind a scratch proof Gorilla Glass, may seem a little iPhone-ish, but is nevertheless conveniently placed for quick access. A light sensor and front facing camera are located just above the display. It also comes with dual microphones for added voice clarity via active noise cancellation technology.

A dedicated camera button is on the same side as the display lock slider switch and the volume/zoom keys, while hot swap slots for the SIM and microSD cards are located on the opposite sides just above the micro USB port. The N8 can be charged either via the USB port or the standard Nokia pin charger socket. The Power button, Mini HDMI port (adapter cable provided) and 3.5 mm handsfree socket are located at the top. The N8 comes with 16 GB of internal memory, so there’s plenty of space for all your media.

The only protrusion that tends to make the otherwise sleek handset just a tad bulky is the 12-megapixel camera at the rear. The Carl Zeiss lens and Xenon flash are raised a bit, but that doesn’t really get in the way. There’s no removable battery compartment, and while the Apple iPhone has successfully proven that it’s not necessary, should your device hang, a hard reboot by removing the battery is not an option here.

This is the first Nokia device to come with Symbian "3 OS, which Is pretty much the same OS with a few added tweaks like multiple desktops and customizable widgets. Some of the other tweaks include tap-and-hold functionality that brings up settings, and an option to simply tap and access missed call/message/Wi-Fi and other icons, making it so much more convenient than going through the menus.

With its ARM 11, 680 MHz processor and 3D Graphics HW accelerator, multitasking is a breeze. We had over 15 apps open simultaneously and had no issues with speed. The accelerometer worked like a charm, but multi-touch could have been a little smoother. Copy-pasting data could also have been a little easier. The only issue with the new OS is that it’s boring. It’s almost the same as the N97 or the X6. The icons are the same and so is the layout.

 

The N8 is designed to cater to users who have been clamoring for more media functionality. We’d like to say that it lived up to all the hype, but it actually fell just a little short. The music player’s interface has been tweaked a bit to suit the new age album art and cover flow style, but the core player is essentially the same. It comes with stereo widening and a loudness option as well as a few EQ presets. However, there’s no option to customize the presets or create your own like you’d find in a standard Symbian smartphone. Audio quality was exceptional, but at a rather low decibel level. The radio worked quite well, providing decent reception almost everywhere. There’s a also an audio recorder that has a pretty good range.

On the plus side, the N8 comes with DivX and XviD video support. Just drag and drop for instant playback. Better still, thanks to the handset’s HDMI out and Dolby Digital Plus audio, 720p video playback on a big screen was amazing. Like the music player though, it has one flaw; it doesn’t bookmark the videos where you left off. You can keep it paused in the background while you do other things, but if you use the ‘Back’ option, you’ll have to start all over.

As one would expect from a high-end phone, the N8 comes with all the standard connectivity options like Wi-Fi, GPS (with Ovi Maps pre-installed), 3G, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, and USB 2.0. The new USB-on-the-Go feature allows you to connect a pen drive to the handset and view its contents, be it video, music or documents. The native browser is still pretty much the same and in some ways that’s good. With full Flash support, you’ll get a desktop-like browsing experience. The set up process for email hasn’t changed much either, and it isn’t a time consuming task even for Exchange accounts.

The implementation of social network integration with the phone book was a little disappointing, because you can’t sync with your Google account to download your contacts. You’ll have to individually link contacts to their respective Facebook and Twitter accounts; there’s no automated way to do this. The Social Network App is just for Facebook and Twitter and could easily have been a little better laid out. There’s also no option to upload images to sites like Picasa or Flickr directly from the image itself.

All the basic apps that you’d find in a standard Nokia smartphone with the Symbian OS are present, including a Quick Office document viewer and a PDF viewer. Voice commands and text-to-speech functionality are also part of the handset’s features. The N8 also has an FM transmitter, a YouTube application, and a universal search function. The sensor settings allow you to silence the alarm or incoming calls by simply flipping the handset over.

 

The N8’s biggest asset is its 12-megapixel camera. The only problem here is that there aren’t enough features. The only new setting is face detection, but this is still is one of the best camera phones we’ve tested. Images quality is just superb with the level of detail retained to quite an extent.  Macro images also look really good with vibrant colors when taken with enough light. Low light conditions also produce fairly good pictures, but they tend to be a little dull.

What’s also really remarkable is the camera’s quick start-up and processing time. The 720p videos also looked really good. Overall, the camera definitely met our expectations.

On a full the charge, the 1200 mAh battery ran for a good two days even after taking scores of pictures, videos, listening to music and using the Internet via Wi-Fi. Talk time averaged in at over 5 hours. Another very significant feather in the N8’s cap.

With a price tag of Rs 26,259, the N8 is a great choice if you’re looking for a well-rounded multimedia device with a kick-ass camera. It does have its quirks, with a few small but significant options having been left out, but on the whole, it offers a wide range of services and features that gives it a little bit of an edge over the competition. Nokia fans will not be disappointed, and if you’re not a fan, the camera will almost certainly make you one. Our only hope is that Nokia will fix the few bugs we’ve pointed out. In any case, the positives far outweigh the negatives, so we’d say go for it.  

Dell Launches a New Mobile Phone

Dell Streak

Verdict: Great in the looks and hardware department, but lacks in performance and features.

 

Specifications

Rs 34,990

www.dell.co.in/streak

Dimensions (WxHxD): 79x153x10 mm;

Weight: 220 g;

Display: 5-inch 480x800 TFT Capacitive;            

Memory: 16 GB internal;

CPU 1 GHz;

OS: Android: 1.6;

DATA: GPRS,EDGE,3G,Wi-fi-b/g,

Camera: 5 MP

Contact: Dell India

Phone:1800-425-4050

EMAIL: NA

 

 

The Dell Streak is a lot smaller than your average tablet and a lot bigger than a large touchscreen mobile phone. So the question is, just where does it fit in?

Dressed in all black, we have to admit that it’s quite a looker. It’s just 10 mm thick, which actually makes it a lot slimmer than quite a few smartphones. Weighing just 220 g, it’s comfortable to hold as well. It’s got 2.2 GB of internal memory and it also supports microSD cards of up to 32 GB. Although there’s a hot swap under the rear panel for the memory card, for some strange reason, the handset tends to auto switch-off if the panel is opened. The 3.5 mm hands-free port is located on one side, or rather the top of the device, since it’s typically supposed to be used in landscape mode like the Nokia N900. The volume/zoom keys, screen lock and the camera’s shutter release are also located on this side.

Dell’s first mistake is incorporating a proprietary USB/charging port (bottom) into the Streak. Since it’s pretty much a large mobile handset, it would have been a whole lot simpler on us if they went with a standard micro USB socket. Dell has gone with touch-sensitive buttons on one side of the display. A microphone is also located on the same side. A light sensor and front-facing VGA camera are located on the other side just near the phone’s speaker. Using this rather large device to answer calls takes a lot of getting used to, so we’d recommend using the hands-free instead. The large 5-inch touchscreen display sports a 480x800 pixel resolution, which makes it clear and easy to view even in the bright outdoors.

Dell’s second mistake is launching a device like this with an outdated version of the operating system. The Streak comes with Android 1.6 and we were told that it’s upgradeable to 2.1 (although we were unable to do so). Donut just doesn’t cut it anymore, and while Éclair has its flaws, it left 1.6 in its dust long ago. If you’re removing shortcuts/widgets from the desktop, there’s no click-and-drag-to-Trash option; you’ll have to select the icon and then select the menu button to remove the item. It allows you to create multiple desktops, and wallpapers can be set individually to each. The drop-down menus make it easy to access various options, notifications and settings.

We had a couple of issues with the UI. Firstly, multi-touch wasn’t a universal function. On any Android 2.1+ handset, Angry Birds would allow you to pinch zoom out so you can see just where you’re firing. Thankfully, the browser and image gallery allow for multi-touch zooming without a hitch. It still isn’t as smooth as the iPhone’s, but it’ll do. We expected a bit more in terms of speed from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 1 GHz processor. It’s not a slow handset, but activating apps and opening menus wasn’t as smooth as we’d hoped. The keypad could also have been a little better designed. With the num pad on the side, it means your right thumb is going to have to do a bit of stretching. In portrait mode, the Zero and ‘O’ are too close together since the num pad moves above the QWERTY keypad. It’ll take some getting used to.

There was quite a bit of confusion while syncing Facebook and Google accounts with the device’s phonebook. Most contacts that were downloaded didn’t allow us the option of sending them text messages until we had synced them with those transferred from the SIM phonebook, which is strange.

 

The music player is pretty standard in functionality, and it’s loud enough to listen to comfortably in a crowded train. The problem is that neither the hands-free nor the device’s earpiece provide proper clarity on calls. The volume on calls was just too low most of the time. The device also features a voice recorder, but no FM radio. Dell has included an MP3 Store application with the Streak that lets you search for music files and albums to download for a fee. The media player has no frills, except that it allows you to create playlists on the go. Sadly, the device doesn’t support DivX or XviD formats, so you’re going to have to convert videos before you can play them on the Streak. Once converted properly and optimized for the resolution, though, the viewing experience is not bad at all.

Like any high-end mobile phone, the Dell Streak is also well equipped for connectivity. From 3G (HSDPA, HSUPA), EDGE and Wi-Fi to Bluetooth (just version 2.0) with A2DP and USB 2.0, it’s all packed into this device. The Streak also comes with support for Microsoft Exchange and regular POP/IMAP accounts. For added functionality for Exchange, Dell has thrown in the TouchDown App with Active Sync support. Browsing the Internet on the large screen is absolute bliss and the native Android browser works just perfectly for rendering pages in a convenient, easy to read format.

While the integrated Facebook widget worked out just fine, the one for Twitter refused to let us sign in. Images can be easily shared or sent to email accounts, posted on Twitter, Facebook, Picasa or Flickr with just a couple of easy clicks. The Streak also has a GPS module, but there’s no preinstalled application other than Google Maps. There really aren’t too many other extras thrown in that are worth mentioning. A sync option for your Outlook Notes and tasks is available, Voice Control (which incidentally works really well) from Nuance Technologies, and Google Voice Search are on board as well. Productivity app QuickOffice is also available.

The 5 megapixel camera on the Streak comes with a dual LED flash and features that include a few scene modes, white balance, multi-shot, self timer and flicker adjustment.  Image quality is not bad at all. Whether outdoors or indoors, colors remain quite vivid and the details are quite good for a mobile phone sensor. The Streak isn’t going to win any awards for its 1530mAh battery. Thanks to its large display, battery life is quite low. On an average, it ran for a little over a day and a half with just over three hours of talk time.

So here’s the Rs 35,000 question – should you buy the Streak or go in for a mobile handset like the HTC Desire or Samsung Galaxy S? The handsets offer the same functionality as the Streak does and more, especially with Android 2.2 on board. Stick to a handset, we’d say. Don’t forget that the Galaxy S also comes in a 16 GB capacity and it’s more convenient to carry around. The Dell Streak just doesn’t fit in. Had it come with Éclair and better preloaded apps, it could be worth considering. On the plus side, it’s still smaller than a standard tablet, so you could just hold it up to your ear to talk, but it’s really not worth the price when a smaller device that does more is easily available.  

Networking @ home

Connecting multiple computers usually requires an Ethernet switch or a router. We show you how to network two PCs with a simple cross-cable in under Rs 100.

 

With laptops and netbooks becoming growingly affordable by the day, most homes would definitely have more than one computer. Data would also be scattered across these computers, be it music, videos or documents. In such a situation, transferring and synchronizing data between the computers is the need of the hour. This can be achieved with flash drives and external storage devices, but the transfer would be slower as it involves copying the data to the storage and then again to the other computer. Networking the two computers is the ideal solution, be it using Ethernet switches or routers, but the cost would be Rs 1,500 or higher, and it only makes sense if you need to network more than two computers. For connecting only two computers to each other, you can use a simple Ethernet cross-cable, which can be made in just Rs 100 or less. We show you how to network two computers in a simple two-section workshop.

 

Making the cross cable

Requirements: A minimum of two RJ45 connectors, CAT5 Ethernet cable (the length will depend on the distance required), and an RJ45 crimping tool.

Cut the required length of the CAT5 cable you need. Peel off the insulating sleeve at both ends by approximately 2.5 cm. Separate the four colored and white wire pairs from each other. Keep the blue and the orange pair and chop off the remaining two pairs as we need any two pairs for a cross-cable. Now straighten all the wires in a neat line and align them in the following manner — White Orange - Orange - White Blue - Blue. Next, neatly cut the edges of the wire in a manner that all the wires are now of the exact same length. Make sure the length of the wires coming out of the sleeves is around 1.5 cm. Now separate the last wire (Blue) from the others , keeping a gap of around ½ cm. The first three wires will connect to pin numbers 1, 2, and 3, and the last wire will connect to pin number 6 of the RJ45 connector. Now carefully insert the wires into the connector. Carefully match the colors with the pins and confirm they are in the exact order and groove. Push the wires all the way inside the connector using a little force. Finally, after ensuring that all wires are in place inside the connector, insert the connector into the crimping tool. Apply a little force on the cable to push the sleeve and the wires as far as they can go into the connector and immediately press the tool’s handle to crimp the connector. You should also hear a click sound when crimping to indicate the sleeve has been locked in position inside the connector. To crimp the other connector to the other end, follow the same procedure above, but the only difference now will be the order of the cable colors. This time, follow the order of the colors as follows — White Blue - Blue - White Orange - Orange. The rest of the procedure is the same. Your cable should now be ready for use.  Connect the cable to each computer’s Ethernet port and you are ready for the next step.

 

Networking the computers

In order to network two computers together, a few settings need to be altered in each computer’s network card properties section. Firstly, each computer has to have a unique name and a similar workgroup name. To change the names of the computer and workgroup, do the following - right-click on the ‘My Computer’ icon on the desktop and click on ‘Properties’. Select the ‘Computer Name’ tab (in Windows 7: ‘Advanced system settings | Computer Name’) and then click on the ‘Change’ button. Enter a different computer name for each computer and a similar workgroup name for both. Apply the changes and the system will prompt you to restart the computer. Choose to restart later. Now open the network section (For Windows XP: ‘Start | Settings | Network Connections’, and for Windows 7: ‘Start | Control Panel | Network and Internet | Network Connections’) and right-click on the Ethernet card, select ‘Properties’, and double-click on the ‘Internet Protocol TCP/IP’. Click on the radio button to enable ‘Use the following IP address’ and enter unique IP addresses along with the Subnet Mask in each computer’s network card. For example, enter the IP address ‘192.168.0.1’ on one PC and ‘192.168.0.2’ on the other while keeping the subnet mask common as ‘255.255.255.0’. Keep the DNS and Gateway fields blank. Apply the settings by clicking on ‘OK’ twice. Your computers are now networked. Now all you need is to share some folders or drives on each computer in order to exchange data.

 

This workshop can be carried further to share a single internet connection between the two computers by adding another Ethernet card on one computer and sharing the internet with the other. 

Engineers Assemble Giant 3-D Space Puzzle

Piece by piece a team of NASA researchers put together a huge composite and metal structure that looked a lot like high-tech tinkertoys on steroids.

The structural mechanics and concepts branch engineers are going back to the past to try to explore the future. Most of them were involved with large space structure research done at NASA's Langley Research Center from the 70s to the early 90s. Now they're dusting off some of the hardware to see if the concepts would work in the 21st century.

"Back almost 20 years ago we were doing research in how to build large space telescopes that astronauts could put together on orbit during a space walk," said senior researcher John Dorsey. "Since NASA is now looking at in-space operations to support Near Earth Object missions as well as satellite servicing, we are going back here at Langley and starting to look at telescope assembly again. But now because we are working in the human robotics systems project we are going to try to do it with robots."

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L to R: George Ganoe, John Dorsey, Judith Watson, Tim Collins, David Mercer and Tom Jones assembled a giant three-dimensional truss system, which has been in storage for years, so it could be shipped to a new robotics center at West Virginia University. Credit: NASA/Sean Smith
Dorsey and five others recently spent about three and a half hours in a corner of the Langley aircraft hangar -- the only place big enough to construct the almost 46-foot wide (14 meter) node and strut superstructure indoors. The truss system, which has been in storage for years, was developed as part of a four-year program called the Precision Segmented Reflector that ended in 1992. The program goal, which was successfully accomplished, was to come up with a structural configuration that was lightweight, low-cost, compactly stored and easy to put together. Reflectors could then be attached to the truss structure to form a space telescope mirror.

"What we're doing now is inventorying the parts and all the mechanical components and making sure they work okay," added Dorsey. "The easiest way to do that was to put the giant structure together."

Immediately after the team put the three-dimensional puzzle of the 315 struts and 84 nodes together -- they took it apart and packed it into six crates. Langley is shipping the crates to a new robotics center at West Virginia University that was built with support of a grant from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

"We've been collaborating with Goddard, which has a lot of experience in Hubble repair missions," said researcher Dorsey. "Now they're doing work in robotic satellite servicing and already have experience with robotic operations on orbit. Goddard has a continuing grant with the facility at West Virginia University."

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NASA Langley’s hangar was the only place at Langley big enough to construct the almost 46-foot (14 meter) wide node and strut superstructure indoors. Credit: NASA/Kathy Barnstorff

Spaceman by Jonathan Amos,

Plotting a course for Europe's space freighter

It was a big moment in every sense. When the Ariane 5 shook and lifted skyward, it marked not only the heaviest payload carried into orbit to date by Europe's premier rocket but the 200th mission of the launcher series initiated back in 1979.

Point perfect: Ariane delivered Johannes Kepler precisely into the 260km-high orbit demanded

Wednesday night's beefy passenger was the European space freighter, or Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). Nicknamed Johannes Kepler for this mission, the robotic truck tipped the scales at 20,062kg.
I've discussed the capabilities of the ATV on a number of occasions, especially its very smart rendezvous and docking technology that allows it to find its own way to a destination and attach itself without any human intervention.
The current ship is the second such vehicle (the first, "Jules Verne", went to the launch pad 600kg lighter than Kepler). Three more ATVs are in various stages of construction.
The freighters are a kind of subscription that Europe has to pay to be a member of the International Space Station "club". Instead of handing over cash to the Americans to get access to the orbiting laboratory for its astronauts, Europe has instead bartered a logistics role for itself.
So long as ATVs keep turning up at the station with several tonnes of food, water, air, fuel and equipment, European astronauts can claim a place on the platform for six months out of every 24.

The ATV production line requires a decision now on any future orders

The supplies that will fly on the next three ATVs should see Europe meet its end of the bargain through to about 2016. But as we know, the station now looks as though it will fly until at least 2020, and perhaps beyond.
So how should Europe continue to pay its subscription?
It's a very timely question right now because European industry has told Esa that if the production line for the freighters is to be kept open and economical then fresh orders must be placed very soon.
For a long time, the expectation was that Esa would request simply an ATV-6 and ATV-7, with little significant change in the basic design concept.
Then the idea was floated of having a return capability added to at least one of these vehicles.
At the moment, the ATVs are destroyed at the end of their mission by being commanded to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere with all the refuse off-loaded from the space station.
Feasibility work has been done to assess the implications of adding a re-entry capsule, one that could be used in the first instance to bring cargo safely down to Earth and then maybe, sometime in the future, even astronauts.
But this option, known as the Advance Re-Entry Vehicle, does not appear to have the momentum it once had.

Adding a return capsule to an ATV may not be the best option in a common transportation plan

Driving the thought process now is the need for a global transportation policy, the idea that the different partners in the space station club bring capabilities that enhance the overall effectiveness of their endeavours in orbit.
In other words, on space transportation they should all play as a team. And with a number of return capsules already in development in the US (such as Dragon, Boeing CST-100, etc), does Europe really need to be duplicating this function?
Should it instead try something different, something new? Shouldn't the next series of ATVs look to take that clever automatic rendezvous and docking technology into new roles?
Simonetta Di Pippo is the director of human spaceflight at Esa. She told me that Esa was looking at re-defining the ships:

"The idea is to procure up to ATV-5 and then to develop a new system. We want something new in order also to keep the expertise in our industry.

"We're discussing that in the context of the extension of ISS up to 2020 and beyond with our member states. It would be something that is a derivative of the ATV, with the requirements to be discussed with the station partners. Because whatever we develop, it has to be done on the basis of a common understanding of what is needed for the future.

"With the new commercial systems coming out, we need to revisit the overall picture; and this has to be done together with the partners. In the past, we've had co-ordination but not a common plan. Now we want to develop a common plan that allows us to co-operate while at the same time being autonomous in certain technologies.

"[The future vehicle] needs certain requirements. The space station needs to be de-orbited at a certain point; we need probably also on the longer term to be able to send some pressurised modules to the station, because we do believe that more space will be needed in the years to come; and it would need to have some features like a service module that could act as a tug.

"In June, we should have the requirements on the table, jointly agreed with Nasa and the other partners."

So, some new roles for the European space freighter are being defined and we'll find out what they are very shortly.
The issue of de-orbiting the space station is an interesting one. Currently, we've no clear idea when that might happen; it could be quite late in the 2020s if the modules receive the necessary certification or/and are updated.
But what is clear is that of all the vehicles out there at the moment, only the ATV has the propulsive might to bring the 400-tonne structure down into the atmosphere and a controlled burn-up.

The Liberty rocket and the 'genetics' of human spaceflight

I wondered how long it would take before we saw Europe's biggest space company, Astrium, step into the race to develop a follow-on to the soon-to-be retired space shuttle.
It needs a US partner to get involved in the Nasa commercial crew development programme, of course, and in ATK it has one of the key companies in human spaceflight rocketry.
The firms' proposed Liberty rocket would mesh elements from the shuttle launch system with Europe's Ariane 5.
The new vehicle would incorporate a shuttle-derived, five-segment, solid-fuelled booster provided by ATK as the first stage, with an Ariane 5 cryogenic-core-stage and Vulcain-2 engine from Astrium making up the second stage (Vulcains are produced by French firm Snecma).

ATK is emphasising proven flight heritage, inherent safety, and speed of development

It's a meaty combination that could put 20 tonnes in low-Earth orbit. The companies say Liberty could launch any of the commercial crew capsules now in development.
I've written about quite a few of these concepts, most recently the Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser. Back in the summer I also looked at the Boeing CST-100 vehicle.
ATK, as the lead in the partnership, has entered the Liberty proposal into the second round of Nasa's Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDev), hoping to secure some funding assistance. We'll find out in the coming weeks just how successful that's been.
Nasa is likely to be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in various concepts over the coming years in a bid to seed operators that can then sell crew launch services back to the agency and anyone else who might want to go into orbit.

Companies like Boeing are developing new capsules which could launch on Liberty

The "anyone else" could be other government bodies like the European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies, which do not currently possess indigenous human launch capabilities, or privateers looking to establish new space enterprises.
Here, tourism is an obvious contender.
Just looking at the artist's impression of Liberty rolling out to the launch pad at Kennedy on a crawler-transporter, I'm immediately reminded of the Ares-1 rocket that Nasa was pursuing as a crew launcher until President Obama and the US Congress decided to abandon the project.
Ares and Liberty are both stick thin; and of course ATK would have provided the Ares first stage as well.
ATK is hoping this will be part of the appeal of the Liberty concept - the new vehicle would be seen as taking advantage of all the investment that US taxpayers put into Ares before its cancellation. That investment included the test firing of two giant five-segment boosters on ATK's range in its home state of Utah. In that sense, Liberty can be said to be off and running already.
Kent Rominger is a former Nasa Chief of the Astronaut Corps who now works for ATK. Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, he was keen to emphasise the safety aspects of the Liberty design:

"In my mind one of the most important attributes is providing a launcher that is very, very safe, and reliable. Our Liberty rocket is inherently reliable. You do that by starting with a system that is as simple as can be.

You minimise the number of areas where we've learnt in the past that failures can result in a catastrophe. So an as example, we have only two stages, meaning we have just one staging event. Each stage has only one engine - so there's only one place that can fail there.

In addition to that, we're leveraging all the experience that both companies have - and the hardware that has been proven."

For ATK's employees also, the announcement of the Liberty project must be most welcome. The company has indicated it would have to slim down given that its shuttle boosters are no longer required beyond this year.
For European commentators like myself, the Astrium involvement is most interesting. I was in the company's Les Mureaux facility near Paris just last month, walking around the Ariane 5 core stages as they were joined to their Vulcain engines just prior to shipment to the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.
The Ariane 5 is "a vehicle that has human spaceflight in its genes". That's how Silvio Sandrone, Astrium's vice-president of launcher sales and business development, described the rocket to me today.

It was conceived with the intention of launching Europe's Hermes crew ship, before that project - like the US Ares rocket - was cancelled on the grounds of cost.
It's as if Ariane 5 has been waiting, though, for those genetics to be re-discovered. Most of us thought that if it happened it would come through European governments deciding to upgrade Esa's robotic freighter, ATV, into a crew ship and launching it off the top of an Ariane 5.
That idea still looks a long, long way away, especially in the current economic climate across Europe.
Taking the Ariane 5 core stage and sticking it atop a shuttle solid-rocket-booster is not entirely left-field but I doubt it would be many people's first suggestion.
The idea came from ATK, apparently, which first approached Arianespace, the company that sells Ariane launch services. Arianespace then spoke to Astrium, which leads the European Ariane manufacturing consortium. They love the idea.
The core stage will necessarily need some modifications. For a start, the Vulcain engine will have to be made to ignite in a vacuum - something it doesn't have to do currently. But the big thought running through my head today is not technical but philosophical.
Europeans often bemoan reliance on US systems and talk about developing an independent crew launch capability. But isn't this a rather outmoded idea? Surely, the direction in which "new space" is taking us is one where big multi-national concerns dominate, buying and selling services in ways that cut across borders and traditional government lines and ties.
This is true of the wider economy. Oil, pharmaceuticals, agribusiness, media - the biggest companies operate globally. They may have a HQ in a particular country but their outlook is trans-national. Silvio Sandrone told me:

"It's a good question. From Europe's point of view, you want to be independent to do in space the things you really want to do.

One can think of navigation, Earth observation - those kinds of things. These we would want to do on our own, and for me it is clear that these types of applications are necessarily linked to European sovereignty and have to have their own launcher.

It's up to the politicians to decide if human spaceflight is something we want to do on our own or in some sort of international cooperation. Only European governments can tell us what they want.

But maybe Liberty will be an intermediate step. If there were an American launcher with significant European industrial participation, this might spur Europe to think again and to think more proactively about affording itself a crew capability, at least with a capsule first."

 European space prepares to make a really big decision

More than 300 of Europe's leading space scientists gathered in Paris this week to discuss how to spend more than a billion euros. The options? Well, try to choose between these three:

IXO would be compressed into a smaller shape to fit in its launch rocket

(1) a 20m-long telescope called IXO that could see the very "edge" of a black hole; or (2) a trio of satellites collectively known as LISA which might be able to detect the ripples in space-time left by the moment of creation itself; or (3) a pair of spacecraft that would visit two of the most promising locations for life beyond Earth in our Solar System. This is called EJSM/Laplace.
The European Space Agency is working through the process of selecting a large mission to do something extraordinary, with the idea of launching the venture in 2020 or soon after. The start of the next decade might seem a long way away, but in the business of space this type of extended planning is very common.
The mission concepts being considered in this instance stretch what we know scientifically and challenge what we think we're capable of achieving technologically. And the reality is that in the case of two of the three missions I'll discuss on this page, several million euros will be spent just to say "no, we're not going to do that this time".
This week's meeting was a beauty pageant, if you like. It was a chance for the proponents of each mission concept to sell their idea to the wider community, and, very importantly, to the committee members in the audience who will make the final decision.
So what exactly is on offer?

The meeting was held in the grand surroundings of the Institut Oceanographique in Paris

IXO [7MB PDF]: The International X-ray Observatory would be another of the grand telescopes, in the mould of Hubble, Herschel and James Webb. Like James Webb, it would be so big that it would need to be compressed, accordion-like, to fit inside its Atlas 5 launch rocket.
Only when it got into orbit could this 6.5 tonne beast extend to full length. Carrying advanced optics, it would deliver sensitivity and resolution 10 to a 100 times better than the current state-of-the art machines - Nasa's Chandra telescope and Esa's XMM. What could it do? Well, X-rays are a signal from the energetic Universe - from places where matter is being accelerated to great speeds, heated, or even torn apart.
To a science journalist one might even say it's a signal from the "exciting Universe" because the sources of X-rays are often those staples of gripping astronomy stories - black holes. Indeed, IXO would allow us to probe these objects in ways the current generations of astronomers could only dream of.
IXO would hunt for the first supermassive black holes to form in the Universe, and learn how they evolved through cosmic time. It would also allow us to peer right at the event horizons of black holes, locations where some really weird relativistic effects are predicted to occur as matter is pulled "inside". Paul Nandra, from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, is an IXO champion. He told me:

"We think we've already seen some of these effects with the current generation of telescopes; evidence that time slows down close to a black hole. That causes the light to shift. But even weirder things happen when you get close to a black hole: you get effects that light is bent so that you can almost see the back of your head. That sort of thing can become observable if you've got enough sensitivity like you'll have with IXO. So, we want to see these effects; we've got hints of them already. But now we know we are close to a breakthrough and that if we get this increase in sensitivity from IXO, we can see these effects predicted by Einstein's general relativity."

The LISA satellites would fire lasers across five million km of space

LISA [12MB PDF]: The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna has been studied as a mission concept in some form for at least 18 years. Its purpose would be to detect gravitational waves. The movement of truly massive bodies, such as merging black holes, are expected to disturb the space-time around them, sending this energy radiating outwards. It's a very small signal, however, and to identify it requires extraordinary sensitivity.
LISA would fly three satellites five million km apart in an equilateral triangle formation. Laser beams travelling between the spacecraft would measure distances between free-floating gold blocks. The trick to detecting a wave washing over the observatory would be to see the laser beams deviate in a very characteristic way.
Measuring that, though, means observing changes as small as about 10 picometers, or 10 million millionths of a metre, a length smaller than the diameter of the smallest atom. Astonishing. But if this is possible - and everyone seems to think it is - it will turn astronomy on its head because it means we will be able to probe the Universe in ways that do not depend on detecting light. Professor Bernie Schutz from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam told me:

"Light is a wonderful medium for exploring the Universe and our own neighbourhoods, but the problem with light is that it's pretty easy to block it; and when you're talking about getting light from very distant regions of the Universe, there are too many things in the way. The light gets scattered or absorbed. Gravitational waves don't do that; they go through absolutely everything. Ordinary gravity does; you can't screen gravity out. You know that you weigh as much when you're standing inside a building as when you're standing outside. You can always block radio waves and the transmission to your phone - that's electromagnetic waves, that's light. But you can't do that with gravity. So if we can detect gravitational waves then we can observe things that we can't reach any other way."

Like IXO, LISA will open up black holes to study in ways that are simply not possible currently, but what really fascinates me is what it could do for the study of the really early Universe.
There should be a background of gravitational waves rippling across the Universe from the Big Bang. LISA just might have the sensitivity to pick this up, or certainly some of the other key events predicted to have occurred in the first fractions of a second after the cosmos came into being.

Europe would concentrate on Ganymede, putting a spacecraft in orbit around the moon

EJSM/Laplace [9MB PDF]: This is a two-spacecraft mission that would go out to Jupiter, to study the planet and its Galilean moons. Particular emphasis would be paid to Europa and to Ganymede. I'll talk to the importance of international collaboration in just a moment, but this endeavour would see the Americans concentrate on Europa with one spacecraft and the Europeans concentrate on Ganymede with the other.
Each satellite would conduct a stream of independent science in the Jupiter system. BUT, the two spacecraft would also work in tandem, gathering data together from different standpoints around the gas giant that would give scientists a totally new perspective on the Solar System's biggest planet.
Jupiter's significance has grown in recent years as we've discovered more and more planets around distant stars. Jupiter is an archetype, a model, for those far-flung systems, not least because it is on the rocky and icy moons of giants planets that life may exist. And this is the real draw of going to Europa and Ganymede. These two bodies probably harbour deep sub-surface layers of liquid water, and, as such, are considered prime locations for biology to perhaps take hold. Professor Michele Dougherty from Imperial College London said:

"You need essential elements; you need water; you need stability over time; and you need energy as well. What we want to do is to try to understand the details of those four different areas [at these moons]. And you can't do that if you have flybys. Nasa's Galileo spacecraft spent years in the vicinity of Jupiter but it didn't spend more than three or four hours on a flyby of each of the moons. To separate out all of the different effects, you need to spend time in orbit. You need to be able to see the same piece of surface time and time again, to see how it might change."

IXO, LISA and EJSM/Laplace would cost well in excess of a billion euros to implement. The European Space Agency says it can spend no more than 700m euros on any one venture.
That's realistic if the member states of the agency pick up the costs of building instruments (which they would normally do) and Nasa (and Japan in the case of IXO) also joins the party. And here's the tricky part. While Esa works through its selection process, the US is also working through a separate selection process, too.
The priorities of the two agencies - or at least their scientific communities - have to align; so too do the timelines for making decisions.
It's rather like organising a multi-billion euro wedding and trying to get the bride and groom to the church on the same day to say "I do". But watch out in June because we should at least get some indication then from the Science Programme Committee of Esa on how it views the big choices above.

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