Copyright (C) 2007 Michael Leonhard

= LaTeX on Windows =
* Go to http://www.miktex.org/
* Under 'Series Info', find the line with 'Current' and click Setup
* --> Download "Basic MiKTeX" Installer
* Run the installer, choosing the default options
* Add C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.5 to your PATH, see [AddingToWindowsPath]
OA* Open Command Prompt and navigate to your working directory
* Put the following line into a batch file, replacing fname with the name of your paper: latex fname && bibtex fname && latex fname && latex fname && dvips fname.dvi && ps2pdf fname.ps && start fname.pdf
* If the batch file has an error, press CTRL-C several times to cancel out of it

When you first compile your document, MikTex will need to download any extra modules that you use.  If the download fails, recompile your document and select a specific download site.


= Increase TCP Timout Period on Windows XP =

It can be frustrating to use network software that uses a 
persistent TCP connection if your Internet connection is 
unreliable.  Intermittent errors can reset your TCP connection.  You 
can help Windows tolerate lost TCP packets by increasing the timeout 
period:

* --> Start --> Run --> Open = regedit --> Ok
* Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
* --> Edit menu --> New --> DWORD Value
* Enter TcpMaxDataRetransmissions
* Double-click TcpMaxDataRetransmissions
 * Base = Hexadecimal (the default)
 * Value data = 14
 * --> Ok
* Close Registry Editor
* Reboot Windows

For more information, see [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314053]


= Setup Windows XP computer as LPR Print Server =

== Install Print Services for UNIX ==
Instructions are available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/printservicesunix.mspx

Or do this:
* Log into Windows XP as an administrator
* Open Network Connections
* --> Advanced menu --> Optional Networking Components...
 * --> select Other Network File and Print Services --> Details button
  * --> check Print Services for Unix --> Ok button
 * --> Next button
* --> close Network Connections

== Configure Printer Names ==
* open Printers and Faxes
* open Properties of the printer --> Sharing tab
 * Set Share name to a single alphanumeric word such as epson740i
 * --> Ok button
* --> close Printers and Faxes

== Configure LPR on Workstation ==
Set up the local print queue with these settings:
Hostname: ip address or name of the Windows XP machine
Port: 515 TCP (not RAW 9100)
Queue name: epson740i (or whatever you set the Share name above)

== Questions ==
Is it the Share Name or the Print Name that determines the LPR queue name?  In my test, using two Windows XP machines, I set both the share and printer to epson.  I shall repeat the test someday to answer this question.



= Using CVS+SSH on Windows =

Download and install PuTTY
(http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/).  Add the PuTTY
directory to your path.  Make sure that plink.exe is on the path.

Download and install CVS
(http://ximbiot.com/cvs/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page#CVS_Downloads
 or http://ftp.gnu.org/non-gnu/cvs/binary/stable/x86-woe/).
Add cvs.exe to your path.

C:\> mkdir cvs
C:\> cd cvs
C:\cvs> set CVS_RSH=plink
C:\cvs> cvs -d user@host:/home/user/cvsroot checkout seriousit
C:\cvs> cd seriousit
C:\cvs\seriousit> cvs update
C:\cvs\seriousit> emacs somefile.foo
C:\cvs\seriousit> cvs add -kb binaryfile.png
C:\cvs\seriousit> cvs update
C:\cvs\seriousit> cvs commit

= Problems with Microsoft Products =

With these products, it's death by a thousand pin pricks.

== Windows XP ==

The Windows XP Installer will sometimes recognize other disk devices
in the computer before the first hard drive.  This means that you can
end up with your main hard drive as E: and Windows installed to
E:\WINDOWS.  This just happened to me.  My primary hard drive died and
I replaced it.  I created a 400GiB partition on the new drive, leaving
67GiB free for a Linux installation.  I then installed Windows XP SP2
to that 400GB partition.  Now my drives are like this:

 * C: (secondary IDE master, 80GB hard drive)
 * D: (secondary IDE slave, DVD drive)
 * E: (primary IDE master, 500GB new hard drive)

This error also occurs when you install on a machine that has memory card readers and perform a full format.  Strangely, performing a quick format results in the installation hard drive being C:.

== Windows 2003 Server ==

The Recovery Console is crippled.  It's extremely frustrating to use.
To see what I mean, try backing up your server and then restoring the
backup onto a machine that has a different motherboard.  Then try to
fix the inexplicable crashes.  You're lucky if the Repair Windows
function gives you a bootable machine.  If you're like me, you must
use the intentionally crippled recovery console to try to coax the
machine back to life.  I gave up.

 * DIR command doesn't accept wildcards or flags

 * No command accepts wildcards.  This means copy *.* doesn't work.

 * No tab completion

 * Recovery Console refuses to start if it cannot find certain files,
   like HAL.DLL.  So if you are unlucky enough to rename any of those
   files and reboot, you cannot get back into the console to fix the
   problem.  Your Windows 2003 installation will be destroyed because
   of the inadequacy of the 'disaster recovery' tools that Microsoft
   provides.