Windows 8 sucks
I have a D-Link DNS-320. Also I have a Windows 8 laptop. Both of them have been there for very long time, and they are not talking with each other, because I always use Linux. Then today I need to use Windows to access the files on the DNS-320 box.
Well, the story begins.
First, there's no start button in Windows 8. In the old days, what you want to do is just click the start button, and input \\hostname\sharename, and voila! But how am I going to do with Windows 8?
There is a File Exploder button (whatever you call it). And when you click it, it shows something. I say something, because I really don't understand what it really is. For example, under the "Homegroup" category, there's a user. What does that mean? What is "Homegroup"? I assume it is something like the workgroup name. Then in this case, shouldn't the sub-items be hostnames?
Actually after waisting 3 hours I finally figured out it is some quasi proprietary protocol. A combination of Bonjour, DNLA ..., which totally doesn't work for me.
Of course I search the Internet. There's plenty of tutorials, and all of them are not applicable. Basically what they say is, click the File exploder button, go to the Window that I am already at, and the server should readily appear under the "Network" category.
They are lying! Windows 8 can NEVER automatically discover my DNS-320 box. I will say that again. Windows 8 can *NEVER* find my nas box!
It is purely by chance that I finally find out how to configure it.
click "file exploder", scroll to "Network", right click it, click "Map network drive", there should be a dialogue. Then click the link which reads "connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures". There should be a wizard come out. Click next, and fill the "Internet and network address"
OK, Microsoft, you really do a good job. What a fun of Windows 8. Tons of "Guess what I am thinking" quiz.
typesetting manpage for 6 inch ebook reader
Find out the gz file for the man page, and run the command (here we took bash as example).
cat /usr/share/man/man1/bash.1.gz | gunzip - | groff -Tps -dpaper=b6l -P-pb6 -P-l -man | ps2pdf - /tmp/bash.man.pdf
The overall accessment about PowerShell
From my point, PowerShell is not a good product.
Shell, by definition, is something that glue the applications together. In the Unix world, if you follow the basic conventions, like deal with stdin, stdout, stderr, everything is string, exit code 0 stands for success ..., then you are OK. It doesn't matter whatever language, whatever library you are using. It will be very easy for the end users to call your code. And if other people also follow the same convention, it should be equally easy for you to call their code. However, PowerShell is totally different. Everything is .NET. The arguments, the return values, and even the invocation of the PowerShell commands are .NET stuff. So if you want to write some code that needs to talk with PowerShell, and the language or the library are not .NET ready, then you are screwed. In this way, Powershell is not a shell for the operating system, it is just a shell for .NET.
But MS has really done a great job. PS actually is pretty handy by its own. But the problem is, shell is not a something that mean to play by its own.
