Free Windows emulator for Intel-based Mac

Now why would I want such a thing given that there already is Boot Camp? Very simple: I might be using OS X as my primary environment but occasionally have to try out things using specific Windows software. For example, I might want to check whether the XHTML and JavaScript code in the presentation tier of a web application work in Internet Explorer without shutting down and rebooting back-and-forth between OS X and Windows all the time.

So how do I do this for free (the emulation part, that is, because Windows itself is not free)? Even our MSDN Academic Alliance site license doesn't help in this case because Virtual PC does not work on Intel-based Macs. Luckily, I stumbled across this list of emulators, which includes a reference to Q, a Cocoa port of the open-source emulator QEMU. Q supports multiple guest PCs and takes advantage of OS X's advanced technical capabilities.

Even though Q is still in alpha status, it is well-documented and includes a detailed tutorial for installing Windows XP SP2. I had no trouble performing this installation and running IE. Keyboard focus can be a bit quirky: it seems to think that a modifier key is stuck. If this problem doesn't go away by minimizing and restoring IE, it sending Ctrl-Alt-Del to the guest PC and invoking the task manager's "run command" menu item without actually running anything seems to take care of it.

In summary, Q gets this particular job done for me, and I think it is emerging as a serious competitor to the commercial emulators.

Intel-based Mac: the perfect machine

I am happy to report that my Windows XP SP2 installation with Boot Camp was uneventful. I am using a 32GB FAT partition for easy file sharing between the two operating systems. Overall, the machine feels like a fast native Windows box, as it should. Now I can return the departmental Uninspiron loaner without having touched it.

I performed this Windows installation specifically to use the VIA3 secure collaboration tool, which requires Windows 2000 or XP.

http://www.viack.com/product/specs/requirements.asp

The tool worked without problems using ordinary headphones, the built-in microphone (there is no external mic jack), and a Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks (USB).

However, the tool did not work with the built-in iSight camera.

In addition, the ability to run Windows will come in very handy for

• mobile application development
• web service development using Microsoft's free tools

Thanks to Loyola's Department of Computer Science for providing me with such a great machine.

OS X software essentials

The purpose of this list is to help me remember what to reinstall after a disk crash (a frequent occurrence on my 2002 PowerBook Titanium). As a side effect, I am hoping that other OS X users find it to be a useful starting point for choosing the software they need.

Although the list focuses on open-source or otherwise free software, payware is included in exceptional cases.

The following categories lead to the corresponding sections of my del.icio.us bookmarks.

• Development
• Games
• Internet
  
• Multimedia
• Writing
• Utilities
• Under consideration
  

Restaurants in Buenos Aires

By now El Obrero in La Boca has gotten packedOriginally uploaded by laufer.

Guía Oleo is a very useful guide to restaurants in Buenos Aires based on user-submitted ratings. The guide ranks restaurants in several categories and has a powerful search function.

NetBeans 5.5 UML support not ready for prime time

What a disappointment. I should have tested it better before having my concurrency class use it for modeling dynamic behavior with state diagrams. I could not find a way to set the trigger, guard, and effect of a transition. It seems to have only name, precondition, and postcondition, and doesn't format these elements properly. I know it's still in beta but didn't expect it to suck this much. I will probably have to go back to Poseidon instead.

In addition, NetBeans has poor CVS and SVN support compared to Eclipse.

Foreign exchange in Argentina and Chile

Street corner in Purmamarca, Jujuy Province,
NW Argentina
Originally uploaded by laufer.

Cash can be king: the cash market is so efficient that the buy-sell spread is minimal. For example, in Salta in Argentina's Northwest, street vendors would buy one USD at ARS 3.05 and sell one USD at ARS 3.09, amounting to only a 1.3% spread. In Arica, Chile, the spread on the street was slightly larger, buy at CLP 535 and sell at 547, amounting to 2.2%.

By contrast, the effective exchange rate for withdrawing ARS 1500 using an ATM card comes out to 2.96. How did that happen? Well, the base rate for transfers was good, ARS 3.0595 per USD. Add to that a 3% charge for foreign exchange transactions plus a non-network ATM withdrawal fee of USD 3, and instead of USD 492, your ARS 1500 end up costing you USD 509. I guess the way to look at it is that you are paying almost 4% for the convenience and security of not carrying thousands of dollars in cash.

Credit cards can be much kinder. The effective exchange rate for purchases with Citibank Dividend Mastercard came out to CLP 527 and with American Express to 531, only 1.5% or 0.75% on top of the street rate, respectively. In comparison, the effective exchange rate for ATM withdrawals was 513 CLP.