Wile E Coyote is a true genius

Linking to Data

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:11:09 GMT

After nearly 2 years of trying, I still have not come up with a stable, simple, secure, reliable and universal way to link to a data file. There is always some degree of trade off in doing anything with data.

I am familiar with MS Access as a data store for small projects. It works very well and if designed correctly it will scale up to say 1 gb of data. It does get quite wobbly at 100 mb... but at 50mb... any design flaws start to hurt.

The beauty of using it is that it has the entire container of access/security in the one object. That is also its drawback... Its ODBC ships with the Windows OS now... so you don't even need office loaded on the client to invoke it. For legacy systems, its easy to install the odbc as part of your own application install. It just fails to stand up to remote connection. It gets extremely unstable, and unreliable once you get into ASPx.

No worries... use an SQL Express or SQL Clone for small applications.... admittedly it makes it easier to connect, but installation becomes the stumbling block...

So how do you get around the indecision of which way to leap?

I think in planning your application you need to look hard at how easy it is to install in environments of XP AND Vista. You can not ignore legacy systems if you want market penetration. So stay tuned and I will tell you what I decide, and over the coming months we can learn together how to have confidence in your data sources.

Cheers.

Timely Post

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:46:06 GMT

I have been ill for most of this month... I hate being sick...

I wanted to respond to Joannes Comment but realised I need to join yet another blogging fraternity to do so... So in stead I shall just say Joanne that Rudd is to Turnbull as Gough was to Fraser... Although I feel that Turnbull's comments on the state of our financial stability in the face of Rudd's appeal for calm were irresponsible. They did him no favours with me. Those who dont learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

A lot of people will be hurt if panic sets in as it already has overseas. Bottom line, its a time when politics should unite to give us a strong front... not jockey for position and damn the consequences.

I wish I could say I have answers, but wiping billions off the value of peoples investments because a bunch of drongos panic - well one answer is not to act like a drongo - Dont Panic...

People stop spending when they have no money and can't borrow any. simple fact. Nothing to spend. Further they therefore convert assets to repay debt. More assets for sale wipes their value even lower. Gloom and Doom merchants' fodder.

Stop spending folks and people lose jobs - etc etc etc... we lower inflation sure, and of course interest rates fall because the money hoarders can't shift it, cause there is no one to lend it to who can pay it back. So the hoarders buy up the cheap assets, and rent them out .... and turn even more money out.

Happiness

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:40:33 GMT

There appears to be a reoccuring meme about my life... Happiness. A lot is being said and thought of around me, its pursuit (Mitch), its lack of (Myself), its indifference to - my current Boss.

I can't help but notice that people who have a fulfilling life tend to be happy. They tend to have set some goal and can measure positive achievement.

Your view of your goal achievement gets clouded by pressure, abuse, demands of your job, or your relationships, fatigue and even diet.

IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO WRITE OUT YOUR GOALS AND TICK THEM OFF.. PUT THEM UP WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM.

Simple but effective happiness.

Cheers.

Build a Sandpit Server Epilogue

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:27:49 GMT

It has been some time since I posted to this... The idea is now to tell you how this ended....

The system ended up built with the sharepoint and exchange platforms loaded. I did not load on MOSS and Web Server will not work on this platform... I opted for the basics... I did not build it as a Web Server...

That is a job for another box...

So picking up from where I left off in May... I made a huge mistake next... I tried to put on Exchange before I had any user groups or roles installed...
I ended in a world of hurt... It was on reflection a better idea to create my test roles first, then to put on my user groups... and the necessary CALs.

Given that I was using system authentication in my SQL Server, I should have created these groups and users BEFORE I installed the SQL Server... so this is what I should have done:

Put the native 2003 Server install on and run the service pack right away. We need to install IIS in addition to the default components you need to do this through windows components in the control panel... and IIS is an indexing service.... In there I found a couple of other bits which might be useful to our platform build, so i decided to put them on as well. ASP.net was in there and message queing, I really have no idea what I am doing to this box. The good news was they went on... and all seemed well with it. I checked the services from the Administration tools... and the IIS seemed quite happy... it certainly started....

AT THIS POINT BACK UP EVERYTHING... ghost the image of the drive...

Now create the roles ....     I need DHCP; Data Server; Supervisor; MIS; Exchange and Remote Host roles...   so those get created and set
Now create the groups...    I need Admin Sales Marketing Personel Management Visitor - and attach the appropriate roles
Now I need a user in every group...   I kept the names simple... and you will note that I have 6 users...   meaning I need to have 10 CALs (Client Access Licences) installed..    These I have and duly install.

Test your log ins for each and every user on the sever first... then plug in a workstation and try to host it... guess what... you need to turn on your DHCP service first... setting it up does not turn it on. Now you should be able to plug in a router on your card which is configured during the DHCP set up. This should be the internal facing card. Your second card should be your gateway card, facing your firewall/modem - but not plugged in. Remember, your service packs and updates should be downloaded on a separate system and burned to DVD for installation.

If you wish to invoke any policies... now is the time to plan setting them up... obviously you cant install / implement them until your platforms are installed. I decided only to impose quotas on my users, to ensure they do not overload my flimsy server.

Once you are able to log onto the domain you created using a workstation, back everything up again... ghost off the server to a spare drive.

You now have a functioning server. Now put on your antivirus software... I use ESET NOD server Admin.
You are now ready to put on SQL Server... again make sure you have the base software, the service pack updates and security patches all on disk... We still have no wish to plug it into the internet. It will ask you to register... DO NOT DO IT. DO NOT PLUG IT INTO THE INTERNET YET. Do not register it.

Check that IIS is up and running. If Active Directory is running - TURN IT OFF... Now put on SQL Server. Then load up the service pack.... again DO NOT PLUG IT INTO THE INTERNET.

Check that it is all happy... check your system logs for errors ... you will be surprised at the number of warnings in the logs... check anything which has a critical status... but do not be concerned at this point.... DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO FIDDLE... leave it running just like it is for at least 12 hours...

OK... now you can plug it into the net BUT DO NOT REGISTER ANYTHING YET. THIS WAY ONLY THE CRITICAL UPDATES WILL DOWNLOAD... if you have done it right... nothing should download at this point. Unplug it from the net.

Ghost off the image again.

Ok... Now put on Exchange... then run its service packs... and implement the exchange role. Your server will require a domain certificate. It is a good idea to have a properly registered certificate ready to go. AGAIN DO NOT PLUG INTO THE NET. Leave it sit for an hour after install... DO NOT LOG INTO IT... just let it sit and settle... You will find it will sort out its own hierachy of processes.

Check that Exchange is up... It should have sorted out your users and set up personal directories etc for each one. This now means you have a public and private directory under each user. The mailbox framework is set up, but you will need to attach account confirmations to each user. this will include passwords etc. You need to verify the processes are all happy... IIS should be running. You may find that ACTIVE DIRECTORY is running again... if so leave it... if not TURN IT ON NOW and leave the server sit until it settles again.

Now using the second card, plug into the internet, and register the web domain... and run all the required registrations. You are now legal.... and working... again test all the logins... if everything works then ghost the drive again.

You will find that Sharepoint is installed but not activated... now using the roles wizzard activate the sharepoint site... and register the web certificate.
I chose to stick with Operating System Authentifications... leaving it up to the internal security, as this seemed easier to manage. I noted however this option rather taxed my system in terms of resource. I was all working beautifully.

Back up the drive one final time... its now up and running as a blank system server... IIS Host and Active Directory DHCP server. The basic framework is here... and I can import functioning CRM Datafile to the SQL Server. I am now ready to hook up my client box and start coding..

This of course took me months of trial and error. Hopefully it will take your only a couple of days to get up and running.
Cheers.

Walkin Man

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 08:00:41 GMT

Sometimes you run across interesting people during your day... This chap called into the shop on Saturday morning...

He is actually walking around the world. I thought him worthy of a mention... he is headed south for OUR WINTER>.... sheesh it will take him 3 months to get to Melbourne. His website is http://www.walkingman.org/ and I felt humble at meeting someone who flys into a country... walks around it... then flys off to the next one.

That is the shop in the background... impressive hu!...

TVF-8533-B/DF Tuner Card Hell

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:51:56 GMT

Sorting through my clutter, (I'm something of a hoarder), I came across an old and somewhat rusty tv tuner card.

I ended up after a couple of days of searching for an appropriate driver at this link. It turned out to be a Hercules TV Series 2 Stereo, but the only marking visible on the card was TVF-8533-B/DF which is just the connextant tuner... The actual driver was much harder to track down and took me a couple of days.

I wanted to use the card in the spare computer in the spare room to put a tv in there. Its an older box with this older card, all I needed to make it come together was the driver.

So if you are googling that tuner... I found heaps of linux Stuff the best of which seemed to be here.

So this may help you. If not let me know.

Wile.

Call for help

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:23:13 GMT

Ok... I get the basics of data binding. I get that you can plonk a data grid onto a windows form. I get that you can allow edits and sorts and all sorts of wonderful things. What I dont get is how the data in the grid is safely conveyed between the server on which it resides and my form.

A lot of reading shows me that it is safest to bind via a data service which runs on an accesable server. The manner in which you can do this is where it gets really really confusing. The beginner articles take you through a bunch of stuff about binding to data. Let me tell you folks, these methods taught to the beginners are totally ugly, and ignore aspects of security, scaling speed and reliablility. They do nothing to show you how to create objects with methods and properties. Eg you are encouraged to data bind to a customer table using a defined ODBC connection method. It doesnt think about other connection types / multiple user/ sychronous versus asynchronous update, remote data and a whole bunch of stuff that I am thinking about. More reading I fear. My call for help is that I am interested in other people's frustration at the plethora of conflicting information, and if generosity permits, the road map to a simple solution.

I know how to build a windows form. I know how to pull out data and fill up a data grid. Indeed there are a couple of great pod casts which show how. All I can say is that simple can be nasty. I will keep you all posted.

Addendum... My call for help has fallen on deaf ears. ... I posted 17 June and got 0 responses... What - no one else is starting out and running up against this plethora of beginners advice???

IS THERE A SINGLE METHOD OF REMOTELY CONNECTING TO DATA USING ASP.NET WHICH IS SECURE AND RELIABLE NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES A CONNECTION IS USED?

Imagine thousands of enquiries coming into your SQL tables , some the result of search, some the result of a specific request. How does Google do it??? Is that the best way? Is it effective?

Fair dinkum... a bloke can sit and read and decide, then be totally wrong a month later and have to start again. I really do want to hear from you, and share with you some of my experiences. We may be able to help each other.

Cheers...

Sharing Delight

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:35:55 GMT

Before I close off today, I wanted to share a delightful meeting of a person I experienced today. She and her husband both. I attended their home to fix their computer, and found to my great delight that the lady was a wealth of intelligent conversation. An ex teacher, she wrote many childrens books which were published for adoption by the education department in the teaching of children.

It is not often you meet someone of this calibre, and I wanted to share this with you in the hopes that you too will find delight in meeting someone, as I did today.

Cheers.

Simple concepts

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:09:38 GMT

I am looking at what I need to do to get a sound back end store for my application. The plethora of articles and reading I have done points at an SQL data store. This decision is relatively simple for me, as it becomes something I can totally control at install time. What I really want is a simple generic way of accessing the data store which is secure and portable. These two ideas do not have a good fit, at least not one that I have read about.

The base problem for me is that I want this to be simple. I keep profiling my design out of my MS Access experience. I have to tell you folks, I have not found anything which is as easily wrapped as MS Access. I realise however, that it has not got the universality that I am looking for. So here I sit undecided at how to put a back end on my application. I am being pulled in the direction of ASP.net in terms of my design, but there are many conflicting things being said about it. Particularly how to approach it. So I started at this site.

I feel that putting multiple layers into the design strengthens its stability, but weakens its security. If you cant trust the foundations, how can you trust the application? This was my major reason for moving away from MS Access. I couldnt trust the foundations. Parts of my application would dissapear for no apparent reason. I still love the product for its simplicity, and I can arrive at desired results fast. I hate that I need to constantly patch up the app to keep it functioning.

So the concept as I see its structure is... Database .... ASP.net Data Service... Windows Forms Application... This is the simple concept I have for my design, having done my data design and knowing what I want in my forms, the confusing bit is the data service. From what I have read, I am not alone. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has other reference points for me to try out. I feel confused.

Cheers.

Keep it simple

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:44:27 GMT

Whatever happened to simple thoughts. I need to write this to admonish myself a tad.

I am working on a project to realise a simple idea.

A one page thing that takes you through a process.

Then I introduced this concept of security. Now for some reason its not so simple.

GET BACK TO BASICS MATE AND LET THE USER DEAL WITH SECURITY.

Cheers.

Begin to learn VB - where to start

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:37:38 GMT

Looking back at what I have waded through to get to where I am with Visual Basic, I felt I would post a series of links to help budding developers find their way a tad faster than I did. I still have a quite rudimentary knowlege of Visual Studio. I keep to the basics, and I know that what I am writing can be rewritten more efficiently using less code by more experienced developers. The point is, there is nothing in my application that I did not put there, and I understand most of what it is attempting to do.

I started writing my applications using MS Access... 2.0 - 97 - XP and finally 2007. I have written a lot of applications in that platform, I find it easy and fast. The problem is that the applications degrade with use, requiring the original mdb application to be reinstalled to recover functionality. This is just not acceptable in a large market. So I took the decision to migrate into Visual Basic, a logical move since I already know something of VB for Applications through Access.

But where to start. The beginner is confronted with many confusing choices, which technologies, will they survive, which courses/ reference points. Much of the courseware when I started to look was dated. Given the plethora of change bombarding the frameworks and data platforms, no one was game to adopt a simple training path.

Thankfully, a clear direction seems to be emerging with the expansion of Visual Studio 2008 and team platforms. There is still some shift in response to process, but the paradigm's direction appears to be simple. WWW. Mobile workplace... Terminal Services... all solid places to invest your time and learning. So lets get to it... where does one start.

Even installing the software you are presented with some confusing options. I downloaded the beta here. Just use the default options, whatever you need will ask you to insert a disk if it isnt there. Install the software (make sure you have IIS turned on before you start) and then fire it up. Select Visual Basic when it starts the first time and most of what you will need will be there. Cool eh?

Next I downloaded and installed Microsoft SQL Express Edition and its companion management tool then I did nothing until all the service packs and updates finish. This takes the better part of 7 hours on a high speed connection. Make sure all of the service packs go on, or you will be in a world of hurt.

So on my play box, I have as an OS Vista 32 bit. I put this on with all the drivers required for my PC. Next I put on Microsoft Office Ultimate. Then I run all the service packs and updates. Next I put on Visual Studio 2008. Finally I put on SQL Express, SQL Management Studio and then its service pack. Ahh well. Finally I installed the Adobe Acrobat reader, flash player and Microsoft Silverlight. Thus a good 8 hours of my life went.

Then you fire up Visual Studio for the first time and select your desired development environment. I of course chose Visual basic. Ready to get onto a tutorial site and jump in. There are a plethora of them. The best one I feel was this one. It was easy to follow and had everything I needed for free. My kind of price.

It goes on to more advanced forms and links to more advanced training. This is the right path for the budding confused beginner. The material is NOT reference grade and some of the code is clumsy. It is however a good place to understand what you are doing.

I will keep you guys posted on what I get to next. Some of you will have been following my Build a sandpit server stuff, I have not blogged where I am up to on that thread, I will get it up to date soon. This is all very basic stuff, and hopefully some of you will get started the right way.

Cheers.

All In one Protection that works?

Thu, 29 May 2008 16:37:08 GMT

Folks, I am a tad fed up at the moment. I operate in a 64 bit environment and I love my laptop computer. What I dont love is the lack of an all in one solution for my antivirus/spamfighting/adblocking software. I love my Eset antivirus/email filtering. I used to love Ad Aware until if froze my system and killed it. I do not like Nortons, as it doesnt work as effortlessly as Nod does. Also it leaves the viruses lying around for me to deal with in stead of just deleting them. To the folks at ESET... build an all in one solution - extend your product to AD Blocking and phishing protection while browsing, and you will have an even better winner on your hands. Then make it work seamlessly in the 64 bit environment, and I will promote your efforts far and wide. GO ESET...

Microsoft Bashing - Cripes

Thu, 29 May 2008 16:29:15 GMT

Ok folks.... here goes... Im jumping in with both feet and all my hands here...

A "Friend" sent me this link which alleges a number of things... First the author claims VISTA IS DEAD OFFICIALLY... then goes on to announce why... Steve Balmer and Bill Gates "Officially" unveiled what is to come in Windows 7. Well whoop te doo!!!!

Openning a window to the future obviously sets fire to the step ladder... cripes... if you are going to report something... leave out the bi ass... sets my temper off to see such irresponsible rubbishing. What the hell is wrong with company executives wetting the appetite of the future market. Who says Vista is not part of an evolution.

Mate, if you want to highlight the warts, perhaps you should look at the stats you actually reported. Mr. Ballmer said the company has shipped 150 million copies of the program. How many copies of your rag do you ship? and it's free!!!

People base their decisions on all sorts of things, but saying something is a lemmon because "everyone else is saying it" just is not good enough for a magazine trying to establish a niche in respectable business decision making circles. Get some backbone and say it like it is sport... nothing is ALL bad.

Sandpit Server Continued

Wed, 28 May 2008 10:10:42 GMT

The server still has nothing more installed on it. It is currently a basic system running only Server 2003 and ALL of the service packs - and SQL Server 2008 (Beta) and all service packs. I can fire up the SQL browser and there is my SQL server in all of its glory, and given that I have not done anything with it, its happy. I decided to employ Nortons Ghost at this point and ghost an image of the server onto an external hard drive.

Ghost went on happily and I ran the Disk Backup with no problems onto the external USB drive. I am invested about 19 work hours into this box with service packs and updates and it is still a very basic box, with 2 system users (Administrator and Guest) - no Exchange Server and no sharepoint. No Roles - No groups other than the system ones. There have been no departures from any default settings other than to stop some services to allow installs to happen. Those services I assume automatically restarted as they were instructed to do. I decide not to tempt fate, in that sticking with the defaults has worked for me up to this point.

I am still undecided as to whether to put on Exchange Server or Sharepoint next. I am leaning toward Exchange. I have the Ghost image if this is wrong, so Exchange it is. I now need to quickly understand what my Domain is up to. At some point I did put a second network card into the box, this I forgot to mention. I have the external facing card Hooked up to my router/modem which is connected to the net. The internal card is ready to hook up to an 8 port switch/hub. The Key to everything here is that I have always logged into the box as the Administrator, and I have not set up any other users. I have decided not to add ANY more users until all of the operating servers are installed. Bear in mind this is an older box with 2 P3 processors and 4 gb of ram in it. In its day it was the best money could buy, now its a museum piece. It works reliably, and thats all I ask of it.

Exchange requires some planning. The domain needs to be structured correctly before you even think of putting this on. DHCP ... what is controlling it and what settings are invoked. I have not told my server it is to be a domain host yet. This server is only for me to use internally as a sandpit. My domain will be something .local My exchange server will need to be visible to the web as I wish to send to it from an external connection - using portable devices as well. So some thought needs to be given to this.

I can not afford to let the spammers clog me up, nor can I afford intrusions corrupting my tests etc. Up to now, my firewall router has been dealing with things, but Exhange opens a door. So lets get this right. I have a domain I can use, it will need to be registered and I am thinking I want a static IP Address. There are some costs involved here. The folks at Westnet have helped me get this right, and My thanks to them. They are my ISP... Whatever you think, plan this with your ISP. It will save you a lot of grief. Decide some stuff like whether you want your site prominent on Google etc. or whether you just want a quiet little corner of the internet (if there is such a place) all to yourself. Again I just want to get a result here. There is a plethora of advice on what to do... white papers etc. Talk to your ISP.

Thats it for now.

Push Back Sometimes

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:41:13 GMT

It would be fair to say that I feel stressed. With so many deadlines upon me, I have allowed people to push in on me. I have in my character a fatal flaw. I want to be everybody's friend. This of course translates to I have very few friends, and a lot of people who take advantage of me. Still I cant seem to help myself. I want to keep in with the IN crowd, have this profile which will help me professionally, and eek out a living somewhere.

On top of this I now have a cold, making me feel even more miserable. So I have been too sick to travel, thus missing an important gathering in Wagga, and now I am backing up as my brain is just not working the way it should. So... why blog this?

This is a note to me. Strip off some of the pressure, and push some of these deadlines back. Give yourself a chance to get well, and buggar the consequences.

Cheers.

Cut the Crap

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:46:12 GMT

A lot is being made in blog sites I am visiting about rubbish being posted in public forums... Joanne has raised the issue and several other bloggers have run the gambit of rubbish coming onto the blogs, and forums to which they subscribe.

Heres an idea, why dont we all self regulate... ie do not initiate spam, do not solicit pedaphelia, ie do the right thing... a kind of internet eutopia... no hacking, no virus infiltrations... no doing anything that would earn you a decent punch in the teeth face to face.

That appears to be a tad hard for some... and so rubbish proliferates the blogosphere... to where some organisations need to employ trained people to deal with the rubbish and psychologists to minimize its impact on their workforce. I know Mitch uses a blog spam filter, although which one I can not remember. (Akismet)

When will the world grow up... do we need to start up an invitation only system... discouraging new comers until they are vetted? I would hate that, I welcome comments by all, where they are relevant and not too insulting. Here is a wonderful opportunity for freedom of speech, but put it against the yard stick folks.

The age old question of cencorship in a free society. There should not be a need for it... lets just use some uncommon sense.

Cheers.

Sound Design

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:20:22 GMT

It has been a while since I blogged.. we can thank the good folk at Telstra for that.

I have been thinking about my pet project, and how it took shape. Some of my design contributions happened on the back of a napkin while having a coffee.. so what is good design...

This project while it has a very large end use application, is essentially the result of a one man process... mine.

I saw it all come together in my head, and jotted it down as pictures on the backs of napkins and bits of paper. I then laid all these out on my floor and started to form entities and relationships, identifying uniqueness and lines of communication between the pictures. It was such a simple picture that I ended up putting it into power point... then I was able to show my picture to other people, who gave me clarification on bits, and grew it into a profiled design.

From there I had a systems engineer take all the pictures and powerpoint and everything, and organise it into a formal specification. At this point I had not written any formal code, but in Access I started forming data, and screens, modelling how I wanted things to work.

Finally I took my model into a real world enterprise, and got it working in Access. This was my baby emerging into something embroyonic. So now what. What technologies do I need - what scale do I need to think about.

The application can fit everything from the garage business to the multinational conglomerate. Its a common sense approach to a universal problem. Bottom line, its a lateral marketplace. Done correctly, it will take off. Its a great design, because the people working on it all have the same picture, Mine.

Catch Up

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 09:22:43 GMT

Folks I have been fighting with Telstra... yeah I know... Im not robinson Cruso... In fact Im nobody in the scheme of things... a fact not lost on Telstra...

We moved into our new digs 20 Dec 2007... we organised a Telstra connection for that date... with broadband etc... it is now 8 Feb and I am still without a connection which works reliably at my home... we have been connected and disconnected several times... we had our number changed without being told... we have had conversations on a line that sounds like a fax machine... in short... I have not been on line... and still do not have a reliable service.

So I come to you via a local internet cafe... a wonderful arrangement where I have to pay them as well as be charged by Telstra... man am I happy.

Telstra is a complete joke... their customer service is non existent... my wife has been insulted... abused by support line people... I tell you folks... if there were an alternative to dealing with Telstra, I would sign up.

you just can not get around their line rental, and then you are caught in a nightmare of no service and bills for things you cant use...

So we are in our new digs... Leonie has been working on them tirelessly to remove the traces of the previous tenants.. and turn this into our home... man the walls are all marked, the doors have holes in them... Leonie has been patching and sanding... and painting... now it looks great... but with the rain we have discovered the place leaks!! The landlord just wants us to pay the rent despite the work we have done... (I get roped into it even tho I see it as a total waste of our efforts, and I guarantee now that we have it all clean and painted and looking great they will put the rent up... no win there)

So generally the challenges continue to stack up... UBills is still marching along, training is ongoing, dancing is keeping us sane, and we refuse to give up...

Cheers.

Invitation to JK Rowling

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:50:09 GMT

For Christmas I was given the complete boxed set of the Harry Potter novels. I started on them in the new year and finished the last book a week back.

I am definitely a fan and to that end I offer this humble invitation to tea...

Am an

Unwise man

Who never quite can

Find a conduit to span

The gap between the situation and plan

Extending an invitation to Jo Anne

To take afternoon tea with a fan

Taking our minds farther than

the stretch which we ran

further than

pecan

A humble muggle.

Travelmate 7200 Review

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:48:33 GMT

Ok... its up and running... as are 3 of my 5 vpc's. The drivers for the fingerprint reader and card reader still need sorting, but I am not using those devices at this point.. so I am living with the lack of them... despite they are in the device manager and all appears well. I just cant use them.

Vista 64 bit has not blue screened... the graphics still only score a 1.0 which is rubbish... the system is fast... the screen is better than the MSI one ... and the resolutions seem adequate in all the op systems... so that driver still needs sorting...

I am functioning and that is the main thing for me at the moment.

I will feed back to Acer the driver issue when I have more time... bottom line is the drivers will fit onto a CD... and will compress into a 240 mb zipped file.

A single download of a 240mb file will take me on my cable connection about 25 minutes... this is something they should make available to people.

The finger print controller is one which I suspect is not unpacking correctly in 64 bit... same for the card reader... I will follow that up.

I have not even begun to make a dent on the 2 x 160 gb drives on board... very happy with that...

The Ram has been installed and I have the full 4gb at my disposal...

The system has not crashed once, and updates still manage to find their way into the overnite download...

All of my programs are up and running... I have not burned a DVD yet... but that test is coming...

Now I can address the work load which has piled up... I will probably surface at the end of the week and catch up on blogs and emails...

Cheers folks...

Custom List: My Favorite Bloggers

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:44:09 GMT

My Favorite Bloggers

Dr Neil Roodyn
Despite we share the first names... This bloke truly is a genius... well worth a look.
Joanne
Shes like this really really bright chick... but it would be fair to say she's politically biassed... not that you would ever hold that against her... and stand in one spot...
Chuck Sterling
Chuck is definitely "Plugged In" but I cant guarantee that he's switched on
Mitch
I have a lot of respect for Mitch Denny, as do a lot of other developers in the community. He is a C / C# guru and always has something interesting to say.
Mike
This bloke has his ear to the ground, if youve ever met him you will realise just what a feat that is. REALLY BRIGHT GUY.
Frank Arrigo
Want the best informative blogger...here he is
Greg
If this guy doesnt know whats going on in the Microsoft SQL world, there has been an arms embargo in the middle east.
MSDN News Blog
If its hot... its here

Custom List: Developer Sites

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:31:01 GMT

Developer Sites

MSDN Home Page
The place to look for solutions
Technet Popular Downloads
I check in here to see what the fuss is about also if you need it fast its probably here.
Virtual Earth
Ok this is really cool... you can even build from their source... wow.
SQL Code camp Down Under
If you dont go to this youre mad
Exchange Answers
Forum for the Microsoft Exchange... Well laid out and easy to use - no nonsense site.
Got Dot Net Code Gallery
Defies explanation
Code Camp OZ
Dont Miss this one... It is free and well worth the trip.
Charles Sturt University
Education Excellence tailored to you and your schedule...
Visual Basic Team Site
The Microsoft VB Team post to this... very useful web cast links often appear here.
Queensland MSDN Group
Useful posts here
Qld Visual Studio Team Services User Group
Mingle - find good ideas, get answers. Friday Brekky but with high profile industry mentors. Well worth joining.

Custom List: Seek "Professional" Help

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 05:14:17 GMT

Seek "Professional" Help

Software 4RM
Expanding the functionality of MYOB's RetailManager software.I wrote this too
Rewards Plus
DIY Customer Loyalty Program - it must be good... I wrote it
New York Ballroom
Dancing on the Gold Coast Queensland
Semfire Marketing
Christine Parfitt is something of a Search Engine Optimisation evangelist. I found her knowlegeable and engaging. You would benefit from talking with her or just reading her blog.
Battery Allsorts
Need any sort of battery? UPS car truck bike boat jet ski golf cart phone webcam power tool hobby/toy battery whatever? Start here.
Allstar Computers
Got a broken computer or need a new one... Best bloke on the gold coast
Sotware Programming
I like Mike.
Database Anything
Anything to do with SQL start here. The best people in SQL work here.

Custom List: Sites I Like

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:46:21 GMT

Sites I Like

Poetry Site
yes if you know what to look for i have posted poems here
97.3 FM
This is on line radio in brisbane. Well i like it
Hubble Space Telecsope
Man I just love looking at this stuff... I download everythingfrom here and yes im on the mailing list
Geek Test
If you like anything on this site then you qualify. T-shirts, Gadgets Etc. I liked most things I saw on the site. Its Official.. Im a Geek.
Victory Lain
This is my sons band... He is the lead guitarist.... WICKED.... oh and I love him... so support the band if you can

Custom List: Blogoshpere

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 02:17:27 GMT

Blogoshpere

Kwoff
Great list of topics to blog on - comment post
Get UP
Political Blogging Forum

Custom List: Gadgets

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:49:18 GMT

Gadgets

Queensland Traffic Flows
Traffic Cams Around Brisbane...

Custom List: Useful SItes

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 01:23:40 GMT

Useful SItes

Australian White Pages
Phone book Australia
You Send It
need to send a file too big for email but only have email?
Brisbane Regional Weather Radar
ok so i gave away my region... but do i still live here?
Brisbane Public Transport
Plan your trip and know your fare no i dont own a car... im thinking of getting a bike tho.
Sydney Public Transport
Very useful when you do not have a car.
Melbourne Public Transport
Useful for getting around Melbourne without a car
Perth Public Transport
useful for getting about Perth without a car
Adelaide Public Transport
You guessed it... Adelaide without a car
Australian Yellow Pages
Australian Business Directory

Custom List: Search Engines

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 00:21:17 GMT

Search Engines

Dogpile
I believe its better than Google
google
Google Aussie - no search engine is complete without it