SQL, Code, Coffee, Etc. - Data Musings by Marlon Ribunal

12/04/2012
by Marlon Ribunal
1 Comment

My Writing Toolkit for the book project

I’m in the middle of writing the first chapter of my book. I’m not just ready to announce the working title yet. I’ll probably wait until I finish the 5th chapter (total of 10 chapters).

I thought it would be fun if I open up my writing process so that you could ride along with me in this journey. Hop in!

Let’s start with the tools. In my recent post, I’ve shown you some of the tools that I use to study SQL Server. I’m using the same tools for this book project.

What I’m going to share this time is my writing toolkit:

Technet Subscription Pro

I need full versions of the software I use for development for one reason – to make sure that everything in the book will work in your development and production servers.

One year of Technet Subscription Pro is not cheap (Retail Price of $349). But I think it’s all worth it. I have access to critical Microsoft technologies – Windows 2012, SharePoint 2013, SQL Server 2012, Office 2013, etc. Real tools, real experience.

Of course, I can’t use them in production but I have the privilege of using the greatest and latest software as they become available.

SkyDrive

I am using SkyDrive as my cloud storage for this book project. DropBox might be a better option but I’m OK with SkyDrive for now. As long as I can sync my local files to the cloud, I’m fine.

Office 2013

I haven’t upgraded to Office 2013 yet as of this writing but I am planning to. I cannot just ignore the improvements in Office 2013. Cleaner and less clutter in the interface? Yes, I’m in!

OneNote

I love OneNote. You can argue that EverNote is better in more ways than one. But I like OneNote’s simplicity and its, again, clutter-less interface. It’s just clean. And it automatically and seamlessly syncs to my SkyDrive.

SnagIt

I use SnagIt for convenience. The publisher has some requirements on the size and quality of the images I need for the book. SnagIt just works every time. I can set different “profiles” for different projects.

What’s your writing toolkit (for blogging if you haven’t written a book)?

11/26/2012
by Marlon Ribunal
Comments Off on Choose specific folders to sync with OneDrive

Choose specific folders to sync with OneDrive

Every time you run the OneDrive Client on your device, a laptop in my case, all your files from the cloud are downloaded to your device locally. That is cool because you can still work on your files even when you’re offline.

The thing is I don’t need all the files I have on my OneDrive downloaded locally. I have files on OneDrive that I don’t really need on my laptop. Storage is cheap, yes, but that’s beside the point.

You can set your OneDrive Client to only download/sync specific folders. Here’s how (I’m using Windows 8 10 Pro here):

Pull up the hidden icons in the task bar. If you don’t see the Cloud icon, make sure your OneDrive Client is running. I set mine to run automatically when I sign in to Windows.

Right-Click on the Cloud icon to pull up a context menu for your OneDrive. Aside from getting access to the setting, you can also launch storage management from this menu.

Once you click “Settings”, the OneDrive Properties Dialog Box pops up. Go to the “Choose Folders” tab and click the “Choose folders” button.

Now you’re given the option to choose specific folders to sync with OneDrive.

If you’ve previously synced everything between your OneDrive and your device, all other folders not chosen to sync with OneDrive will be removed from your device.

11/19/2012
by Marlon Ribunal
1 Comment

Tools of the Trade

I needed to upgrade my tools. It was not a matter of “want” but of “need”. It’s no longer enough to have just the bare minimum, specially when you need to test or study about certain features of SQL Server that require multiple servers in a network environment.

My current tools setup is not perfect but it addresses my current needs. And I say that again, it’s not perfect. It fits well my agile and lean approach to learning SQL Server.

Workspace

Ok, this is not an upgraded workspace. Let me just make that clear. But this is better than the counter in the kitchen. I don’t work from home. I am a cubicle dweller in a cubicle farm. This little space, I consider as a home office, or office in the home. All my blogging and writing are done here. My side projects and writing projects are also done here. And I spend a lot of time studying SQL Server in this small desk.

Laptop

I have the Lenovo ThinkPad W530. This is a robust mobile workstation. It got an Ivy Bridge processor, i7-3720QM, and 16GB DDR3 RAM (up to 32GB). I don’t currently have SSD’s on it yet. I have the SSD on my To-Upgrade list.

I bought the laptop with Windows 7 Pro (64-bit) already installed on it but I upgraded to Windows 8 Pro (64-bit) after about a month of testing the new OS on a virtual machine. I love the new look and feel of the latest Windows OS. Plus, Windows 8 is more efficient than the previous versions performance-wise.

Hyper-V

One of the primary reasons why I upgraded to a sufficient laptop was to be able to run multiple virtual machines. Hyper-V is a built-in feature in the 64-bit version of Windows 8 Pro. With 16GB amount of RAM, I can run 8, or probably more, VM’s. With the VM setup on the ThinkPad W530 like this, I can play with the advanced features of SQL Server 2012 very easily.

Miscellaneous

Columbia Manifest II Technical Daypack. I love this backpack.

Yes, I do have SkyDrive and OneNote, but I still take some notes the old way sometimes. My eyes just get tired of staring at the computer screen the whole day.