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Software for Engineers
The Software for Engineers Blog is the place for conversation and discussion about the many software applications that engineers use. Here, you'll find a variety of tips, tricks, and troubleshooting techniques. You'll also find valuable information about topics such as professional certifications.
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Posted October 23, 2009 11:12 AM
by ETOB
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Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 7, packs a lot of new features to make everything you do on the computer faster and easier. Some of my favorite new features are the new advanced taskbar and added features to Windows Aero.
Taskbar Basics
Microsoft's new taskbar combines the best features of Apple's Dock and its own previous taskbars, and then improves upon them. This new design makes it particularly easy to launch and manage applications. One of the new taskbar features is Aero Peek, which allows multiple windows (e.g., Internet Explorer) to be opened. But you'll only see one IE icon in the taskbar, slightly shaded, so your taskbar doesn't become cluttered.
When you hold the cursor over this icon, a preview of the IE windows will show up. You can click on a preview to open the window, or hold the cursor over this preview to see the full-size window. All of this is glossy and looks very modern. Click here for the video.
On the very right of the taskbar is a narrow transparent button. When you hold the mouse over this, all of the windows become transparent and you see the desktop. Clicking this button hides all windows and shows the desktop. Clicking again will bring the windows back.
Jump Lists
Jump lists are another important part of this new taskbar. They allow you to easily select common tasks for a certain application. For instance, if you click on the Media Player icon and drag it up, you'll see a list appear. This will allow you to select a recently played song, start playing all songs, or open the application. Once this application is running, you can use the jump list to skip songs and pause playback. Click here for the video.
Aero
Window's Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open (better known as "Aero") is the company's graphical user interface, first seen in Vista (2006). Aero was introduced to update the look of the OS, and to make things cleaner and more efficient. Windows 7 brings a few new features to Aero.
Aero Snap
Aero Snap allows windows to be dragged to the left or right of the screen, to tile them vertically, and dragged to the top of the screen to maximize them. This can also be done by using a shortcut: windows button + left, right, up, or down. This saves a lot of time when trying to have two windows tiled. No more resizing them to fit each half of the screen! Click here for the video.
Aero Shake
Aero Shake is a useful tool for cleaning up a crowded monitor. When you have multiple windows open, you can click and hold one, shake it around the screen and all of the other windows will minimize. Shaking again will bring these windows back. Click here for the video.
Currently, I use Windows 7 as the primary operating system on my personal computer. Almost every day, my XP computer at work annoys me by not doing the new, simple, and intuitive things that my own computer can now do. Is it possible that Microsoft has produced an operating system that's worth upgrading to?
Editors note: Click here to learn how to dual boot with Windows 7.
Editors note: Click here to see comparison of Vista and Windows 7.
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Posted September 03, 2009 11:17 AM
by baumah
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Adding text to your first web page is exciting. But to make
a web site look the way that you want, you need to know how to change the
colors of the text or background and how to add pictures and links. Fortunately,
this is almost as easy as adding the tags you've already learned.
Changing Colors
Colors in HTML are defined by a 6-digit hexadecimal number
that represents the amount of red, green, and blue. Some colors also
have names. For a list of named colors supported by major browsers, click here.
The background color can be changed by adding the desired color
to the body tag.
<body style="background-color:aqua">
The text color can be changed by adding the style tag to the
desired paragraph.
<p style="color:green;">This text is green.
To change the color of text that is shorter than a paragraph,
just put the style tag inside a span tag.
<span style="color:red">This text is red.</span>
Another way of adding colors is with a style sheet. Style
sheets keep track of the colors, fonts, and sizes for the page. They are very
useful for using multiple pages with the same format. Styles sheets are beyond
the scope of this blog-entry, but may be a topic for a future one if there is
sufficient interest.
Adding Images and
Links
Adding a link to a website can be done with this tag.
<a href="url to link">link text</a>
Adding images is pretty much the same.
<img src="picture.jpg" height=150 width=150>
Here, the size of the picture is defined here by the width
and the height in pixels. Defining just the height or width keeps the same
ratio as the original picture. Note that the picture.jpg needs to be the location
where the image is stored. Upper and lowercase letters matter.
Troubleshooting
As explained in the previous blog entry in this series, most
HTML problems are due to a spelling error or a misplaced or forgotten bracket.
The same is true when you're trying to change the colors of the text or
background, or trying to add pictures and links. If you're having a hard time,
look for common problems first.
Editor's Note: Click
here for Part 1 of this series.
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Posted September 03, 2009 1:00 AM
by ETOB
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To fairly compare the performance characteristics of Windows Vista and Windows 7, I installed both operating systems on my computer and ran some basic, everyday kinds of tests on them. To learn how I did this, click here. My computer is a Dell Inspiron E1505 with a 2 GHz Coretm 2 Duo processor with 2 GB RAM. It's not a very powerful computer, but this machine exceeds all of the minimum requirements for both systems.
I was not sure what the performance tests would show, but I figured that the results would be fairly close. Newer operating systems require higher performance hardware for the advanced features and graphics, so running two operating systems on the same computer should give something of a performance advantage to the older operating system. (Just imagine running Windows 95 on a modern computer.)
First Test
The first performance test compared the time it took the computer to start, go to standby, return from standby, and shut down. I did each of these actions 3 times and averaged them.
Result: Windows 7 performed 57% faster then Vista on this test.
Second Test
The second performance test was the time taken to install applications.
Result: Windows 7 was 36% faster installing these smaller applications.
I ran into a problem while installing Nero, a disc-burning application. First, I installed the software on Windows 7. It took 13 minutes. When I installed Nero on Vista, it took 19 minutes. I thought that this was too large of a difference, after all, both computers are using the same hardware. So I uninstalled Nero on Vista, and then reinstalled it. This time, the installation took 23 minutes. I was expecting it to be either the same as the first time, or closer to the time it took with Windows 7. I don't know why it took 4 minutes longer the second time, so I decided to uninstall Nero on Windows 7 and then reinstall it to see what would happen. The second install with Windows 7 took only about 30 seconds longer then the first. To me, this seems acceptable. Windows 7 performed this part of the test much faster then Vista.
Result: Windows 7 was 60% faster installing these larger applications.
Third Test
The third performance test was transferring and burning data files. I transferred 4 GB of music from an external hard drive, and then burned these files to a DVD.
Result: Windows 7 averaged 6.29% faster then Vista during this test.
This test was the closest between the two operating systems. This is probably due to the speed of USB 2.0 and the speed of the DVD burner. Both times, however, Windows 7 was slightly faster.
The total time for Vista to perform these tests was 45 minutes 9 seconds, while Windows 7 only needed 34 minutes 6 seconds (32.4% faster). Not only is this operating system higher performing then its predecessor, it is also loaded with new advanced features, features that are not seen in any other operating system, all of which I will explain next week in part 3 of this series.
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Posted August 27, 2009 12:00 AM
by ETOB
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Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 7, isn't due
for release until October 22, 2009, but you don't have to wait until then to
try it out. The Seattle-based software company has already released a test
version of the OS that you can download and use for free. During testing of
some common tasks, I found Windows 7 to be 32.4% faster then Vista, which I
will explain in part 2 of this series.
If this sounds interesting, then why not try it out? If
you're worried about losing your current files, then try a dual boot setup. This
will allow you to install Windows 7 while leaving your current operating system
unchanged. It's a very simple install if
you just follow the steps below:
- Download a copy of Windows 7 RC. You can get a product key from Microsoft here.
- Burn
this ISO to a DVD. (The downloaded file is an ISO file, which is basically
a virtual image of a disk.) There
are many free programs on the Internet that will allow you to burn this. Just
search Google for "free ISO burner", or (as I prefer) use ImgBurn. You can
download ImgBurn for free by clicking here.
- Open
ImgBurn and select "Write image file to disk".
- Browse
for the Windows 7 file and select it.
- Now
select "Write". This will burn your file to the DVD.
- Create
a new partition for Windows 7 in Windows Vista.
- Under
the Start menu, right-click the My Computer icon and select "Manage", and
then double-click "Storage". Finally, double-click "Disk
Management".
- Right-click
your drive and select "Shrink". The amount you shrink the drive will be
the size of the new partition. Make sure it is at least 15 GB for the
32-bit version and 20 GB for the 64-bit version.
- Format
this new partition.
- Select
the new unallocated space that was just created and then right-click and select
"New Simple Volume".
- A
"Volume Wizard" displays that will guide you through this process.
- Install
Windows 7 onto the new partition.
- Insert
your Windows 7 DVD into drive and run setup.
- Select
"Install now", then check for updates.
- IMPORTANT!!!
When asked what type of installation you want, check Custom (advanced). This will allow you to select your new
formatted partition, and will not delete your current data.
- Wait
for Windows 7 to install.
Once your computer has both Windows 7 and your previous operating
system, you'll be able to boot into either. When your turn on your computer, just
select the OS you'd like to use. All of your files from the other system will
still be accessible. If, at any time,
you want to delete Windows 7, just erase the partition you installed it on.
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Posted August 26, 2009 12:00 AM
by Mello
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I've hardly scratched the surface of my bag of Photoshop tips and techniques! This week's Photoshop tip will show you how to fix scratches in photos. (Incidentally, check out Blog 1 and Blog 2 in this series, as they use similar techniques)
When I got this photo back from the developers (circa 1998), I remember being so mad that a scratch killed what could have been a nice shot of Niagara Falls. So, when I went through my box of old photos to look for potential Photoshop fixes, this one immediately jumped to mind.
Not all photo scratches are in convenient or easy-to-fix locations, but in this case, it should be a pretty simple task.
Falling into the Right Method
Working on a duplicate file so I don't accidentally mess up the original, let's zoom-in on our problem area using the zoom tool (or Ctrl +). Now would be a good time to remind you to clean off your scanners before using them, as you can see the abundance of dust particles in my image here.
The trick is to take areas that look similar, copy them, and paste them over the scratch. I'll start with the sky. Using the lasso tool with a feather of about 5 (again, this will always vary depending on your photo size and resolution), I'll trace around an area a little larger than the size and shape of the part of the scratch that's in the sky.
Edit Copy (Ctrl C) and Edit Paste (Ctrl V) to paste the selection onto a new layer. Then, move the selection into place using the move tool. Voila-- No more scratch in the sky area!
That looks good, so I'll right-click the layer in the Layer Panel and click "merge down" so I'm not dealing with too many layers.
Lather, Rinse, Repeat
Onward to the water area. Choosing part of the image that is similar to the part we want to cover up, repeat the same steps we just completed on the sky (lasso the selection, copy, paste, and move into place).
Now, you can see that in copying this selection, we brought in a little bit of the tree line that we don't want, along with a part of a rock. Select any part you don't want with the lasso tool, and simply delete.
Now all that's left is the waterfall part of the image. Repeat the same set of steps again to cover up the last of that nasty scratch!
There you have it – 11 years later and I finally have the technology to fix-up the scratch on a lovely photo of a rather memorable road trip.
Other blogs in this series:
Confessions of a Photoshopaholic: Part 1
Confessions of a Photoshopaholic: Part 2
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