Hola,

I had to crack a Windows XP install the other day as the typical Microsoft activation bug loomed on a friends laptop.

Despite XP being activated (with a legit copy), it insisted it needed to be reactivated, but whenever reactivation was attempted, it simply said, “Windows is already active” and returns you to the login screen.. over and over and over….

So i tried numerous registry hacks and so on without success until I came across a nifty little program called “Win XP SP2 Activator“.

You simply boot into SAFE MODE and run the crack… reboot normally and your away. No harm done!

You can download the Win XP SP2 Activator here.

Shoutouts are on the file

Well, after stressing myself with my laptop for a couple of days, I decided to google my problem of invalid microcodes. Turns out if your using a BroadCom Wireless LAN or even a BroadCom LAN device of any sort, ubuntu isnt for you. So, i gave up with that, stuck Windows XP back on it and all is back to normal.

Now its the PC’s turn

Simple enough. Booted from the Ubuntu Alternate CD as the troubles with the Live CD on the laptop forced it to break oO.

The results were instant. Booting from the CD lets you use the Ubuntu OS as if it were off your hdd, but running from the CD, you can simply select install and your away. It even partitions your hard drive for you to keep your windows file system.

Once the install is complete i would recommend the following:-

• Installing ALL Ubuntu Updates
• Take note of the inbuilt driver guides
• apt-get install wine

Once wine is installed, you can literally run 90% of Windows programs, from your old file system, on Linux. Very useful.

I’ll be updating this with the programs that I’ve found useful and also a list of programs compatible with Wine.

Well with the new aStore, you can buy things via my website using Amazons checkout and all of their wonderous posting and packaging services, all that happens is i get 7.5% as a small token to help me pay for the site

You can go here, to view my aStore

Yes! Thats right - following the recent success of the website, we’ve actually had ALOT of feedback already and to be honest, it mostly collates to a newer version of the website.

While the functionality is quite limited, the design is also very basic -we’ll be looking at releasing a nice web 2.0 site, full of ajax and big round boxes ;)!

I’ll be posting version of the new design here as well as BrockLOL and Mike Stratton

Stay tuned

Since the release of PHP5 and the upgraded GD that came with it, image generation has varied quite a bit, the imagerotate function being removed being the biggest problem I have found in the last few websites i’ve developed.

Well, heres an example of an image title generator using PHP5.

The script itself is extremely easy to install, you just upload the titlegen.php file and change the $font variable to the location of the font you wish to generate the images in.

Once this has been done, you need to create an image with the src as

Please make sure the code above is on one line, it is split for ease of reading

The editable elements in the file are listed below with valid parameters:-

• $_GET[”colour”] - Valid RGB colour, without the #
• $_GET[”bg”] - Valid RGB colour, without the #
• $_GET[”text”]- Any string
• $font - The location of the font, this has to be set from ROOT of the website
• $width - Valid integer for image width, no need for adding "px"
• $height - Valid integer for image height, no need for adding "px"
• $size - Valid integer for font size, no need for adding "px"

Like what you see?

You can download the script for "PHP Title Image Generator" here

Please note this version IS backwards compatible with PHP4.

Well, as I reach my 3rd year in commercial PHP I am starting to venture out into the web. Starting to learn asp.NET and C# with a little bit of actionscript mixed in there. The reason behind actionscript is that I would like to join a more media based community/job role creating flash games, or simply animations .

Asp.NET and C# however are to expand my skillset, as more notches on the CV never looks bad, but also recent opportunities do require it, more news on this to come, but a quick update is that its going very slowly.

Response.Write(”Here is the time: ” & Now)

seems a little bit tedious compared to PHP’s ever graceful echo,

echo date(”d-m-Y”);

Oh well, maybe the change will do me some good!

Going on holiday to Gran Canaria in 2 weeks with the lovely other half. Got a great deal online as we only decided to go a few weeks back, got a bit of a scare with losing my passport but that is over now

Will be updating the site with pics on our return!

Evenin’

Just finished creating www.blue-zoom.net, a content managed website hosting company website, design and logo + build. This took around 3 days to do, with a domain checker, nominet hookups and your basic ecommerce functionality. This is more of a joint venture with a couple of mates than a freelance project. So if your looking for somewhere to host your own sites, or even just for a quick show of what the site can do, you can get there by clicking here…. www.blue-zoom.net.