So with steam coming out on the Mac and with the Humble Indie Bundle working on all three, there is a problem with keeping all of your saves in sync. Not any more. This is all thanks to dropbox.

What is dropbox?
Dropbox is a cross-platform application / website that keeps files in sync and gives you 2Gb of storage space for free.  If you’re not a dropbox user already, you can sign up here.

Initial setup

The initial setup is the tricky part.  Fortunately you only need to install something (other than dropbox) on one system and only if you’re running Windows XP.

Windows XP

You’ll need to install junction to make the symlinks in Windows XP.  In Vista and later you can use mklink

Linux / OSX

You’ll use the ln command

After you have installed your game you will need to move your save game directory into your dropbox and then link to it.  For this example, I’ll be using Civ 4.  In the examples below, I’m assuming you’ve already moved your files into Dropbox/games/

Windows

junction “C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier’s Civilization IV\replay” C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Dropbox\games\civ4″

OSX / Linux

ln -s ~/Documents/Sid\ Meier\’s\ Civilzation\ IV/replay ~/My\ Dropbox/games/civ4

I’m all for security.  I believe that in a time like now, you have to be sure that the data you are getting, storing or sending has to be verifiable.  However, there is a time when this is not the case.  When security become a hindrance to everyday work, that’s when it is a problem.  Imagine having to stop your work every 5 minutes to swipe your finger or type your password to prove that you are using the computer, and that someone didn’t tie you up and throw you under your desk.  I know that it seems a bit too much, but the same thing could be said for encrypting every email you send.  I don’t think an email about cats doing something funny needs to be encrypted.  The same holds true for other things that verifying the source doesn’t truly matter.  If I send an email to someone scheduling a meeting, I don’t care if it’s really them sending an email back saying they’ll be there.  It’s not like an axe murder is going to take their place, and if they had encrypted their email, I wouldn’t get killed.  Oh well, looks like I’ll keep having to type my ridiculously long GPG password just to decrypt an email saying ‘ok’. </rant>

I’ve spent the past couple of days reinstalling both my laptop, and my wife’s laptop.  With that said, I Hate installing windows.  It’s horrible.  While I’ll be the first to admit the installation procedure has come a long way from from 20 some-odd 3.5 floppy discs, the installation time is still ridiculus.  Some things I have learned from this whole escapade is to have a backup of all the drivers from the manufacturer, write down your serial numbers and/or store them somewhere they won’t get lost/deleted and just because you have a compsci degree doesn’t mean you won’t forget to backup files on you laptop, and loose ~2 days of web work.

These are the approximate install times that I’ve had to deal with over the past days

• Windows – Failed twice after 45 minutes – Successfully installed after 90 minutes
• OSX – Clean install after 80 minutes
• Fedora 9 – Clean install after 30 minutes
• RHEL 5 – Clean install 15 minutes (@base)

I’m going to update my list of apps that I’ve found after redoing my mac sometime soon.

I’ve gone ahead and started a list of my “must have apps” for the three platforms I use the most.  Linux, Palm, and Mac.  (I didn’t include Windows, because the only apps that I use on there other than games, everybody already knows).  I intentionally left the programs that everybody and their sister already uses.  I also put this together, because I couldn’t find a good list of the “Must have palm apps”.  If there’s something you use and think I should check out, lemme know.  And I’ll try it out and add it to the list.

http://deadlypenguin.com/apps.php

So, I’m going to try and start this whole blogging thing one more time.  Yes I know this is the umpteenth time of doing this, but this time I’m not really going to be ranting about things, more like keeping notes on my work, and things I’ve worked on / discovered while doing so.  The next post should be about mkisofs and making a custom boot iso to kickstart a satellite.  I know, it’s so exciting.