Windows Command Prompt Replacement

MS Command Prompt is perhaps the most ignored application that comes with Windows. Well they launched Powershell but it is more targeted towards Administrators. I was searching for a Windows based command prompt replacement. Tried Console Beta from sourceforge but it turned out to be a memory hog. 

These days i am using PowerCmd which is much neater and uses less memory. It did crash when i was using it and that did not kill the prcoess running in console. So i had to use Alt-Ctrl-Del to kill the process. PowerCmd comes with a tabbed interface and allows me to change fonts easily. User Interface is simple and self explaining. I can arrange console in predefined layouts. Copying and Pasting text is much easier. For long console message there is also option to turn Wordwrap on or off. I think default windows console should learn something from its unix counterpart.

Download Here

Java Search Class in Jar. Update – moved to Google Code

Working as a Java Developer and working across multiple projects there is one frequent error which i have encounterd is “Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFound Error:". The reason for this error is missing class file from the CLASSPATH.

This sometimes becomes very frustrating when you have to search for missing class in a set of JAR files. To make it bit easier i have written a small java utility which searches for class file in all jar files present in a particular directory.

I am making it available for download below and also a sample of what it can do.

C:UtilsJar Search>java -jar jarSearch.jar C:WorkJar WSDL2Java

Found WSDL2Java as org/apache/axis/wsdl/WSDL2Java.class in C:WorkJaraxis.jar

Time taken 0s

Download Here.

Update: I have moved this project to Google Code. Any new downloads will be available from here. I have also updated utility to work with swt based gui. Please locate platform specific swt.jar from here and put it in same folder as JarSearch.jar. Execute using “java -jar JarSearch.jar”

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3 minutes in Google Chrome, Feel already at home

3 minutes before i downloaded Google Chrome and i am already at home. Built on top of webkit and mozilla components this is extremly light and simple. It imported all my bookmarks from Firefox immediately on startup. Since all tabs are individual processes, i opened few tabs and noticed the number of processes running. There is one extra process running in background as 3 tabs = 3 process + 1 more parent process. 

Chrome

Infact i am using Google Chrome to write this post. One good thing is the ability to import Firefox bookmarks again and again. Youtube plays well and there is absolutely no issue. I have not been able to crash this browser till now. I changes the default downloads location to Desktop instead of My Documents. Chrome also allows us to restore tabs from previous browsing sessions. Memeory footprint is not high, considering this is a beta release. 

Best Feature is the ability to search from within the address bar. Though chrome allows adding a new search provider almost everyone will stick to the default one. Chrome website is offering only the installer which then uses Google Update to download core components.

Good Browser and friendly too.

Only one surprise : Comes with Vista Buttons

How svn helped me fill my timesheets?

As a software developer who work in services industry i have to regularly fill timesheets. These are used by management to understand and plot how much time one particular phase of project takes and also if some one is being really lazy. Recently i was so busy in my project delivery that i was unable to file timesheets for  one complete month. Here comes my Manager on the last working day and asks for my complete timesheets for full month. 1hr to go for deadline. I had not written down what i have been doing all this month and had no idea how to fill timesheets. Rather than fill timesheets for Ctrl-C, V i decided i will fill what i had actually done.

Using TortoriseSVN i checked history for trunk and then filtered the logs using my user name and dates. After that i looked at the files i had checked in between those dates. I had added well formed comments during checkin. So noting modules in which files were checked-in and dates i was able to pin-point what exactly i had been doing on a particular date.

Well it wont work if you dont checkin any file on a day. One more simple way to maintain time logs personally is using a .txt and adding .LOG in first line. Opening txt file with Notepad or Textpad will add a timestamp of current opening time against which comments can be added like Completed module ABC.

WinPwn or Ziphone ?

These days i am torn between my urge to use WinPwn or wait for next release of Ziphone from Zibri. I had used Ziphone 3.0 eariler to be applied on my 1.1.4 iphone. The process then was really a breeze and my phone was unlocked within 5 minutes. With the release of iphone 2.0 SDK apple has applied more control measures around the software. With help from keys published by Zibri, it seems that winpwn team has been successful in developing iphone 2.0 unlocking. This process as of today is not entirely bug free and 100% perfect. Winpwn team is also planning to push winpwn 2.5 in August, 08 which promises to be much simpler and bug free. Ask me i really want to use Ziphone’s next release and this time i am going to donate to him. His work has been exceptional and he must be given recogonition for the same.

Updated: I have subscribed to Ziphone Status and i check it at least once daily. I am paitiently waiting for Ziphone though i am excited to apply WinPwn. The only reason pushing me for WinPwn is the huge number of free apps available in Apple Store. WordPress Iphone App is one of those.

Update : I unlocked my 2G Iphone using QuickPwn. No issues till now.