Further enhancement of my Portable Office

Since my last post on this subject at the end of July, I've discovered some gems of software that I've installed on the USB stick and so far find them very handy. As I discover software, it will sometimes result in deletion of previously installed software due to improved functionality. Where this occurs I will advise what I deleted and why.

The first new addition to the USB drive is Kompozer, which is the unofficial update to the last release of Nvu. Kompozer is a WYSIWYG editor for creating web pages. Its similar to what most people would know as Microsoft Frontpage or Adobe DreamWeaver. It won't build a content management system like Joomla can, but I'm not at that stage yet. I use Kompozer to build autorun start pages for resource CDs or USBs.

The second addition is more for fun than function. Magix Music Maker allows me to create my own music by simulating instrument sounds. It moves beyond Hammerhead Rhythm Station which only offered drum loops. To me the beauty of this is students can create music for presentations without being concerned about copyright, which is a needed lesson in any case. Its a big download so I'm glad I got the 4GB USB stick. There is a free basic edition available here.

I've also added Scribus. Scribus is a desktop publishing program similar to what most people know as Microsoft Publisher. I have not used it too much at this point so hope to provide some further information about it in a later post.

The one deletion that has occurred is a Firefox add on that I did not use. Shareaholic seemed like a great idea when I installed it, but it doesn't integrate with Diigo so I ditched it. I'll just run with the Diigo toolbar instead and continue with the del.icio.us tagging button.

Finally, I've decided to use my H drive at school (personal HDD space) more effectively by installing some of the more frequently used portable apps to it. For me, I decided to install Firefox, VLC media player and Foxit Reader. The network has Windows Media Player but as we all know sometimes we need to install a codec to play a file. I don't have admin rights so need a way around it.

Enhancing my Portable Office

I've blogged before about my "portable office" which began as a 4GB USB flash drive with some handy portable applications installed. For that blog refer to here. Since that post less than a month ago, I've made some changes for the better (I believe anyway). The most significant change is the use of a 4GB SD card in my EeePC which will hold portable apps I only need on this machine. I use the EeePC much like a PDA, it stores my calendar, contacts and tasks. However it offers the the extensability to function as laptop.

I removed Lightning (the Thunderbird calendar and task manager extension) from the USB drive. I've discovered, and thus far like Task Coach (portable) which handles my task management. I've installed Rainlendar as my calendar. I used rainlendar previously and find it very useful. Using GCALDaemon, I can sync Rainlendar with my Google Calendar. This has forced me to update my google calendar, which is a good thing. I've then installed my phone software on the EeePC which allows synchronisation to my phone. This suits my need for task and calendar management.

I also discovered a great little "how to" for reducing the Windows footprint on a HDD. This is particularly important for the EeePC as it only has 4GB onboard storage. Following instructions at "I am not a geek" I've been able to reduce windows storage to 2GB without any issues. In the future I may even delve further.

As many tech savvy people would experience, I get called on a lot to fix computer problems. This has encouraged me to research tools and tips on the web. I've downloaded quite a few free tools that seem to work so far. I'll explain these further in a future post. However the best advice I can give for this is to subscribe to the Podnutz podcast. Steve Cherubino is a laptop technician, but offers a range of free and useful advice for a variety of problems. Podnutz has taught me more about computer care, maintenance and repair than I've been able to gain through reading web posts.