I remember the talks about changing the world
That it is my destiny to stand out in my generation
And nothing can be more glorious than rerouting history
At first I believed all these to every single word
And even linked it to the purpose of my existence and creation
I began building my life on this grand appealing theory
But one day I started to examine my life more critically
And I discovered that this theory has got many faults
Infact, I fell for it simply because it promised fame and honour
How can I change the world that runs dismally?
How can I stand out among a group of schmaltz?
Furthermore, history casts lots to choose those it honours
There is more to my existence than changing the world
The world is already experiencing more change than it desires
It will be miserable for me to try to always outwit my peers
Rather, I was created to be a part of the world
To be a responsible citizen with very modest desires
And to be the very change I desire to see in my peers

I have stopped thinking of the future

The part packed with the most adventure

I've quit looking ten, twenty years ahead

Daydreaming and inventing pain to my head

Trying to peep into my later years

Inserting, in order to make real, some tears

Not that I do not desire a great life

Nor that I care little what I'll be God sparing my life

Nor that I do not desire a great life

Nor that I care little from where my greatness will come

Nor that I am complacent with no ambition

Nor that I give my future little attention

But looking back ten years and my dreams then

Of what I would be in some years, say ten

And considering who I am now when the years are past

It is futile to dream of days mentally overcast

Days influenced by factors encompassing as the sea

And of which I am uncertain to see

I would rather think and learn from what has happened

Rather than ache my head over that which won't happen

As for my days of ageing

I can only imagine

I remember about six years ago
When I to the LORD came alone
In full surrender and self-crucifixion
Accepting God's redemption and salvation
The spiritual awakening and passion thereafter
The loss of my friends and the pain I caused my mother
How daily I deeply immersed myself in God's word
Desiring a growth that is out of this world

I remember my first lessons on faith
How greatly I desired to be a man of faith
To live a medication free life
To turn things in my favour without strife
Really, I gave all I had in me
But some level of faith seems beyond me
Regardless of the times I miss my goal
I will keep my faith as a burning coal

But now my Christian life is no longer the same
Not that my passion and faith no longer remain
It is just that they are now borne out of soberness
No longer out of energy packed impulse and eagerness
My joy and peace comes from the things I give up
And not from self comparison or the things I take up
Though sobriety gives me great resiliency
But at the risk of a latent complacency

My Sony Vaio laptop came with Windows Vista, but in less than 1 year I was sick of using only Windows Vista, Kubuntu and Mandriva (the other two are Linux OS). I needed Windows XP badly, especially because of Windows Vista compatibility issues and XP had fewer problems connecting with most wireless hotspots. So in a nutshell, I got Windows XP SP3 from Microsoft and tried installing it. But something strange occurred during the installation process, I got a "No hard disk detected" complaint, this is because the SATA hard disk is a recent technology and they are not naturally detected by Windows XP. So, I have taken time to explain below in easy to follow steps, the procedure to install Windows XP on a SATA hard disk overcoming the no hard detected complaint. But, I must let you know that you need a Windows XP CD, an empty CD, nlite software and the SATA hard disk drive. We will later use the nlite to integrate the SATA hard disk drivers into the Windows XP installation files and reburn them on the empty CD using the same nlite software.


Step 1

Copy the content of the Windows XP bootable CD into a folder on your computer, download the SATA hard disk drivers (usually named Intel_ICH7R_ICH8R_Floppy zip file), extract them and nlite software (both are freewares).

Step 2

Install the nlite and run the software, click next, then browse to the Windows XP folder (do not bother about the name you saved it with, the software is quite intelligent and will detect it). Click next, do not import anything here (it is for loading formally used or saved settings), just click next again. Under the Integrate section, choose drivers and click next. Click insert, choose multiple drivers, browse to the SATA drivers folder you extracted, add the folder, select all the drivers in the textmode and add . Click next, next and then finish.

Step 3

In the step 2, you have already created a new version of Windows XP that has the drivers for the SATA hard disk. Here you will now make the Windows XP folder back into a bootable CD. Rerun the nlite, choose the Windows Xp folder as before, click next (the last session changes are already added for you), click next again. Now under the create section, choose Bootable ISO, then next, insert the empty CD, set the burn speed to 10x and give it a label. Don't click next yet, just click on the Make ISO button. After this, click next and finish.

Step 4

Boot from the CD on the computer you want to install the Windows XP on and do the normal installation procedure. It will now no longer complaint of no hard disk found.

For any extra help, feel free to ask through the comment.

If for any reason (the Windows OS would not boot, it complains too much of lost or corrupt system files, it takes too much time to boot or like me, you need a fresh start) you want to re-install Windows and not lose your vital documents, just read on.

If you are able to boot into your computer, back up your vital documents and insert the Windows bootable into your DVD drive, and when the setup screen comes on, choose upgrade. This option is always there as long as the version you want to install is the same as the one you are currently using or higher.

If you are unable to boot into your windows to manually make a backup of those documents, do not worry. Insert the bootable windows XP, Vista or 7 into the DVD drive and boot from the disc, the computer will load the required system files first before prompting you on the type of installation. For Vista and 7, choose Upgrade, but if this option is unavailable then choose Custom and specify that it should leave your documents and folders untouched (you will see fresh installation and this option). For Windows XP, press Enter to install, choose the partition you want to install the Windows in and press Enter. In the next screen, you will see Leave the partition's folders and files (not exact words but very similar) and Format this partition. Choose the former and continue.

After installation your documents and files will be intact, but you might need to claim ownership of the former user's folder to be able to access the documents in the Deskop, Music, Documents, Downloads and Video folders (this will happen if you have passworded your former user account, if you need special assistance in doing this ask in the comment).

Now, if you were not allowed to install a fresh Windows without formatting and you need to get out your valuable documents, do not worry. Just boot from a linux CD ( http://linuxforpro.blogspot.com/2009/08/live-booting-linux-from-cd-rom-dvd-rom.html ) and copy out all your valuable documents or even your entire hard disk. Then you can do the fresh Windows installation.

For any extra help, feel free to comment.

Personally, I have experienced so many things that happen during and after installing Windows update that I prefer to switch automatic updates off. There was a time a friend installed Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 and the audio went mute, many a time on Windows XP the computer will for any random reason show bluescreen and reboot. But on Windows Vista the most annoying is probably when you try shutting down and the computer installs automatic updates only to hang at "Configuring Update stage 3 of 3 0% complete..." and it can remain at that stage forever! And when you power the computer down and power it up again (cold boot), it will try to install the update again and go on forever at the stage 3.

To repair this problem you will need to delete a pending.xml file in C:\Windows\winsxs folder. The major work is how to get there and delete it since you are unable to boot completely. There are at least 3 ways to do this.

1. You can slave your hard disk on another system, access your hard disk and perform the deletion.

2. You can use the command prompt (System Console) in the repair tools, after booting from the Vista DVD to repair. Some laptops have this repair option available without having to boot from the DVD, just press F8 as soon as you power on the laptop. When you are in the command prompt, change directory to the C:\Windows\winsxs folder and rename pending.xml to pending.xml.bad or simply delete it. The problem I have with this option is that the prompt refuses to change from the default X:\ (boot partition) to the C:\ partition. I got several tips online as to how to make the partition accessible but none worked.

3. The surest and easiest means of carrying out this operation is to live boot from Linux CD, browse to C:\Windows\winsxs folder using the lovely ever reliable Linux GUI folder browser and delete the culprit, pending.xml. Then restart the computer, remove the CD and boot straight into your Windows Vista.

It is just as easy as that, I have done it before and if you would like to know more about the pending.xml file you can Google it.

If you are confused about anything, feel free to comment.

Step 1
Download or copy from someone who has, the Linux OS image (always in .iso format)
Step 2
If you do not have a software that can burn CD or DVD image, then download Active@ ISO Burner, it is free. (Most CD burning utilities can burn images, I know of Nero and Roxio)
To make USB flash images, download liveusb-creator-3.7 free utility.
Step 3
Install these softwares and run them. The liveusb-creator-3.7 does not need installation, just extract the zip file and run the application

From Drop Box

Step 4
Insert the empty CDor DVD into your drive and set the parameters on the Active ISO burner to that shown below

But if your CD or DVD drive is not new, set the Speed to 10x for CD and 4x for DVD. In fact, these settings are recommended even if your drive is new. This prevents error in the data burned since you will end up burning data till the edge of the CD or DVD considering the size which nearly equals the total capacity of the CD or DVD.
Then browse to the directory of the Linux OS image file and select it in the source box above.

From Drop Box

For the USB flash image, click the browse button and select the image file. Indicate the Target Device and create live USB.

Step 5
Reboot your computer and set the boot sequence to use DVD/CD drive and USB drive before Hard Disk.
Voila! Your computer will boot into the Linux OS, just make sure you do not install the Linux yet, and choose 'Boot without installing' or 'Run without any changes to your computer'. Now you can tryout the Linux OS without installing it on your hard disk.

No one knows the troubles I've seen
The pains that be as sharp as from a pin
The gloom that often befalls my soul
As though I be beaten by doom's pole
Forcefully making me depression's acquintance
With no hope of permanent acquittance

Only God knows the trouble I've seen
The terrible situations through which I've been
The depth of depression into which I've been plunged
And the outer fires that have had me scourged
But with great joy I endure every hardship
As God's greatest confirmation of my sonship

1. MICROSOFT WORD - OpenOffice.org writer is a perfect alternative, it often come pre-installed on the Linux OS. I use it both on my Windows OS and Linux, there is both the Linux and windows executable. I even used it for my technical reports in the University, it can read and write Microsoft word file format (.doc) but can only read word 2007 format (.docx).

2. MICROSOFT VISIO - Dia can to some extent be an alternative to visio, just that you might have to save/export the page as an image for you to insert/import into another application like the openoffice.org writer, Kwrite etc.

3. MICROSOFT WORDPAD - Kwrite is a very good alternative and it comes pre-installed on most kde linux version.

4. MICROSOFT NOTEPAD - Gedit, Kedit and Kate are better alternatives to notepad, they allow you to save as a any file format you desire without putting a " " quote. This makes them easily used as a programmer's notepad.

5. INTERNET EXPLORER - There is Opera, Firefox and Konqueror which work just as well or even better that the latest Internet Explorer.

6. WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER - VLC player is a very perfect and better alternative and can play nearly all known popular music and video format. There is also Amarok and Kaffeine.

7. ADOBE ACROBAT READER - There are Okular, Xpdf and linux version of acrobat reader.

8. NERO BURNER - There are k3b and brasero on Linux. K3b has been the most reliable burner I have ever used, especially for burning images.

9. HYPERTERMINAL - CuteCom and Minicom work just as well.

Installing software on most Linux distributions (K/Ubuntu, Mandriva, Fedora Core, OpenSuse etc.) is most times easier than for windows. It is just that we are so accustomed to windows that we expect things to be done in the same manner in Linux.
Linux comes with an automatic software finder and installer utility. In (K)Ubuntu, it could be Adept or Synaptic, in Mandriva it is simply named 'Install and Remove Software'. Whatever it is called in your Linux distribution, they all function the same way

From Drop Box

Just run the utility, locate where the 'update from repositories' or something similar is and click it (you might be asked to select media sources, choose/tick all). This will go through your internet connection to download the most recent lists of available software for your Linux distro. So you must be connected to the internet, but if you have no access to the internet there is an alternative. After the update is done, you will go through the list of software and check/tick the box beside the software you want to install, the click on 'Apply' to install them. (If you have a slow internet connection, do not check too many software).
If you have no internet connection on the system running the Linux, you will have to use another computer system with internet connection to download the software you want to install. Just Google the Linux version of the software (e.g type in google search box "download linux version of Opera 10"). Most times you will end up downloading the source code (Opera10.tar.gz) or an executable bin file (Opera10.bin). You might also be a able to see a version that is specific to your Linux distribution (e.g. .deb for K/Ubuntu or .rpm for Fedora/OpenSuse/Mandriva): you can install this by double clicking on the file.

For the Opera10.tar.gz -
1. Copy it into a folder in your target system, maybe the /home/download folder or any other of your choice.
2. Right click on the file and choose extract here (an Opera folder will be created in the /home/download folder.
3. Copy the name of the extracted folder (e.g. /home/download/Opera10).
4. Goto the Terminal or Konsole bash commandline.

From Drop Box

5. Change to the folder directory by typing cd and pressing Shift + Insert (to paste the already copied location) then Enter.
6. Type sudo ./configure
make
sudo make install

From Drop Box

These will compile and install the software.

For Opera10.bin -
1. Copy the Opera10.bin to, say, /home/download.
Goto the Terminal or Konsole bash commandline and change to the directory containing the file by typing cd /home/download
2. Type sudo chmod a+x Opera10.bin to make the bin file executable

From Drop Box

3. Type ./Opera10.bin to install the software.

For further clarification or any questions, feel free to ask via the comment box below.