Running Ubuntu inside Windows

Love this! No more rebooting for windows or ubuntu. No need for a separate VM. I am running ubuntu inside windows and can access both ubuntu and windows programs at the same time. Right now I am running IE on windows while downloading packages on Synaptic Package Manager on ubuntu.

I am running Vista with 3GB RAM and core 2 duo processor and things run pretty much normal without slowing down.

Totally recommend this for anyone using Windows and Ubuntu on dual boot.

http://portableubuntu.demonccc.com.ar/en/download

Here's a screenshot of what ubuntu inside windows looks like on my machine.

Send SMS for free to dialog Sri Lanka numbers from your email

This is not an ideal way to send SMS but it works, its easy and its free! Well not 100% free because to activate it the SMS receiver must dial 711. That will cost around Rs 3/-.

next go to your email program and create a new message.
in the 'To' field put the email address(es) in the following format

77xxxxxxx@dialog.lk

(this is the dialog number of the receiver followed by '@dialog.lk')

in the 'Subject' field put your message (this should be less than 120 characters)
leave message body blank
send the message
the receiver will get the message immediately.

This is an easy way to send short SMS alerts for free to a group of people. I found this method out while referring to the 'Pocket Office' service offered by dialog.

http://www.dialog.lk/personal/mobile/features-and-vas/messaging/pocket-office/

If anyone knows of a better way to send SMS for free to dialog please let me know. I tried out different services available online but none of them worked.

Avatar Craze!

Okay I'm a huge fan of the movie and I'm deeply dissapointed I can't watch it in 3D! Just thought I'd post some of my favourite Avatar pics/wallpapers here in my blog.

Easy guide on how to setup a C++ project from existing source

I am not a fan of C and C++, mainly because i could never quite work with pointers easily. Therefore I always try to use C# or Java instead in applications I write. But I just got a tough assignment on data mining and because the only example project that I could find which fits my requirements was in C++ I had to try and remember what I learnt in level 2 and setup a C++ project with the example source code.

My preferred IDE is Eclipse (mainly for Java) but when I tried configuring Eclipse for C++ I found the process to be extremely tedious. I just wanted to test the example C++ code so I didn't want to waste time configuring Eclipse just to do that. So instead I downloaded Visual Studio C++ and I had the example C++ code running within minutes.

Here's the step by step guide for setting up a C++ project.

1. Download and install Visual Studio C++ if you don't have it already. (you can get the Express Edition on a 30day free trial from here http://www.microsoft.com/Express/VC/ )

2. Run the IDE and go to File -> New -> Project from Existing code.

3. You will get the following screens. Simply follow the instructions given under each screen image.

this is the first screen you get. select the folder that contains the C++ source code as the 'Project File Location'. Give a name to the project and click next.

In this screen make sure you set the correct 'Project Type' (eg: Windows Application or Console Application). Click next.

When you get this screen just keep on clicking on next to setup the project with the default configurations. Finish when its done.

And thats it!:)