VirtualBox (AKA: Free version of VMWare [well not really...]) is a piece of open source software available through SunMicrosystems (I think…) that allows you to run another OS on top of your current OS (with a few limitations.)

So lets talk about what you’re going to need.

First you need a Host Operating System.  This is the opperating system you boot into.  Most of you will be using Windows though you will notice that in the screenshot above I’m using Fedora and I’m running Vista in a window.

Next you will need the free VirtualBox software.  Install it!

Lastly you are going to need a Guest Operating System (to install on top of your current OS).  I used Vista and you can use anything you like.  If you are not familiar with Linux I suggest playing around with it.  A great place to start is Ubuntu. Or just pop in an old version of Windows.

This isn’t really a guide, rather it is just a jumping off point for you to burn lots of time (as I did) but if you run into any problems drop me a comment or an email and I’ll try to get you through the install and setup!

Have fun!

Fedora Core 9 is out, and its great!

I’ve migrated 3 people SO FAR to Fedora over Vista…  Microsoft is not the only option, save yourself $700 on MS licensing and try Linux (you can’t beat free!)

Get Fedora!

Does anyone even care what goes on the http://www.mhpcc.hpc.mil/ website? 

Google sees way too much.

AVG AntiVirus is a great free AntiVirus program. They do have a for pay version, but I doubt that many home users will need it. Personally I use the AVG Antivirus Free edition on my on PC (Windows Vista) and it works very well.

You can can find the freedownload at AVG AntiVirus’ website.

Installation is fast and simple. Be sure to remove any other antivirus software you may have on your computer already though.

So your computer is acting slow? You want to clean it and don’t want to spend a fortune on software to do it? Well here is my free computer cleanup video guide that will take you through one of the many free tools you can use to clean your computer for free. We are going to download, install, configure and run CCleaner!

So you need a podcasting plugin for Wordpress? Well, 1PixelOut is an amazing solution, though there are a few things you may want to watch out for. The video below will quickly guide you through some of the basics, but you will need to understand the basics of uploading plugins to WordPress for this to make sense.

Links You Will Need:

First you need to Download the 1PixelOut Plugin for Wordpress

To upload the files I use WinSCP

o if your like me and learned to build websites back when <tables> actually made sense you may need to take a look at this. This will help drastically clean up your code, make it easier to change your website design in the future and help separate your coding from your content!

Quick note though, I’m going to try to do this as properly as possible (you know… the standards and such?) but remember, this is being written for other newbies like myself.

First of all lets take a look at what we are trying to avoid, the dreaded “table!”

<table width="200" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">

  <tr>

    <td>One</td>

    <td>Two</td>

    <td>Three</td>

    <td>Four</td>

  </tr>

  <tr>

    <td>Five</td>

    <td>Six</td>

    <td>Seven</td>

    <td>Eight</td>

  </tr>

  <tr>

    <td>Nine</td>

    <td>Ten</td>

    <td>Eleven</td>

    <td>Twelve</td>

  </tr>

</table>

My oh my! Way too much code!

Now lets see how we can convert this same table to CSS, and how much less code we can use!

<style type="text/css">

<!--

.downWithTables {

    width: 250px;

}

.downWithTables li {

    display: inline;

    width: 25%;

    float: left;

    margin: 0px;

    padding: 0px;

}

.downWithTables ul {

    padding: 0px;

    margin: 0px;

}

-->

</style>

<!-- Don't forget, style tags go in the "head" section! -->

<div class="downWithTables">

<ul>

<li>One</li>

<li>Two</li>

<li>Three</li>

<li>Four</li>

<li>Five</li>

<li>Six</li>

<li>Seven</li>

<li>Eight</li>

<li>Nine</li>

<li>Ten</li>

<li>Eleven</li>

<li>Twelve</li>

</ul>

</div>
Now this is nowhere near perfect, but it does the trick!  Remember that the <style> tags belong in the head section, but you can even put them in a separate document.  This allows you to cut back your code to content ratio and you will be able to quickly change your tables in the future!

So you are looking for the best deals on notebook computers.  Well I was at Costco earlier and I cannot believe that the notebook computers are as cheap as they are now.  They have an awesome return policy too which is rare.

If you’re looking for something cheap AND powerful check out http://www.cyberpowerpc.com

I’m looking to get a new notebook soon so if I see any insane deals you guys will be the first to know.