Category Archives: Microsoft

Apple, General Thoughts, Microsoft

Technition input on a simple install that went sour

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Today I spent almost all day trying to figure out how to install the iTunes on a stubborn windows machine that would not install properly the Apple (loaded) ITunes.

To make a long story short, I came up with the following:

  • Concerning ITunes, (or any other applications that might change the initial state of the machine, with putting values into registry or registering drivers, of one kind or another) make sure you create a system restore point before making any changes to the system. This will enable you to always restore the system — to a state where everything was “clean” before any of installations you are about to preform.
  • The current Apple ITunes has a problem, where it doesn’t register (perfectly on all systems) the IPod/IPad/IPhone… I had to digg into the web in order to see all the comments from other users, where they complained about the same issue. Some of the complains resulted with good ideas of how to solve the issue. Yet, none of them helped on my case.
  • Apple Packed the Current ITunes installation with a variety of different software packages — each has its own roll… Yet, When an error occurs, sometimes, it would be best to separate this big ITunes package into its components — and install only the required component when needed. Below is the list of the current components in ITunes.
  1. AppleApplicationSupport.msi
  2. AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi – The drivers and software components that does the connection between ITunes and your devices.
  3. AppleSoftwareUpdate.msi
  4. Bonjour64.msi
  5. iTunes64.msi – The Main ITunes Application

BTW: I’ve separated the file iTunes64Setup.exe using the excellent WinRAR from RAR Labs.

On my case I had to run a couple of times the AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi in order to install the drivers (due to the fact that they were registered properly).

BTW:
You can extract each .msi install file, using the following command:
msiexec /a {filename} TARGETDIR=c:\theinstalldirectorysource

  • On today’s tries when installing ITunes — I learned that whenever a major application is being installed faulty — It would be best to enter the windows safemode. And install the software on a  trusted environment (without interference or antiviruses or firewalls definitions).

 

Android, google, iOS, Microsoft, windows8

GeoMaping software Mobile & Desktop

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A short post about geomapping software; that I’ve encountered (on one way or another). The list is partial, and not the fullest current list of products of that sort, that you might find.

A list of Comparison of geographic information systems software on wikipedia.

Earth mapping:

Earth mapping software, that is being used mostly with GPS component to navigate:

  • Waze – Social mapping app, Mobile app (iOS/Android/Win8)
  • MapQuest – Mobile app
  • iGo NAVNGO – Can be found as a Mobile app for cellular devices (using iOS/Android/Win Mobile). Or as installed using a proprietary device.

Star systems and galaxy mapping / astronomy apps:

As a programmer I managed to play a little with the abilities of KML (Keyhole markup lanaguage) — I first encountered it when I had a list of locations which needed to be marked upon GeoLocations… I used it with the GoogleEarth engine.

Basically KML enables you to add layer of information, which can be presented in various ways upon the GeoPresentaion of an area. You can add markers/pictures/geometric objects/path to mark roads — etc’.

Due to the fact that KML is a very well defined structure, I ported the KML I created to a iGO NAVNGO system — that could read the KML file as well..