Category: Programming

PodTech:iPhone: What We Know, What We Don\’t Know

~ rbonini ~ 1 Comment

I Quote:

From iPhoneDevCamp, this presentation by Christopher Allen (slides available). Christopher covers the various aspects of using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, different media formats, and then the human interaction methods to keep in mind when developing for the iPhone. Also, check out the community site iPhoneWebDev.

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/08/PID_012381/Podtech_iphone_known_and_unknowns.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/3990/iphone-what-we-know-what-we-dont-know&totalTime=1987000&breadcrumb=09db1b9d189b4fd8a8892e90837044ae]

Windows Home Server Help!!!!!

~ rbonini

Knew it would come to this…

The server has been running at 90% CPU for a few days.

Investigation using Process Explorer  tells me that the culprit is the Interrupt process that is chewing up 50% to 70% of the CPU ( DEMigrator.exe was the other suspected culprit) . As you can imagine, this has a wonderful effect on Server response times and watching SageTV 🙂 .

I figured that the Hauppanuge  Nova 500-T  board that I use for sageTV  (over the network using thier add-in) was throwing all the interrupts ( since its not officially supported on WHS, right?).

 I update the driver off the Hauppanuge’s website. And Reboot.  No change.

I physically remove the PCI-board from the the server. Still no change.

Nothing else has changed on the server(save for the fact its now in danger of blowing up from overheating).

So help please!!!!!!!

 

PS I cross-posted this over at the WHS Forums

WHS Add In: DHCP

~ rbonini ~ 3 Comments

Now I’ve tried getting the built in DHCP server that is part of the underlying Windows Server 2003 working and it didn’t turn out very well.

Now, however a new Windows Home Server Add In takes the pain out of DHCP. DHCP4WHS is great. I just spent ten minutes getting it working.

This thing handles anything you care to throw at it: Remote Access, Remote desktop, VPN connections.

Basically I ticked the box on the Router setup page ( I have a Linksys  W54WAG gateway/Router) for DHCP Server Relay, typed in the the static IP address I’d just set up for the server (be sure to do this first), get the nameservers from the DSL  status page and finally, amend the port forwarding on my router to get Remote Access working. The nameservers are the most important bit as you need them to get online.

In the DCHP4WHS config page, if you do change settings, be sure to restart the service for the new settings to take effect.

I’ll grant you that a DHCP Server isn’t very sexy… but it does have something very unique that I think is worth bragging about… as far as I can tell DHCP4WHS is the first and only DHCP server written in C# and/or for the .NET Framework.

It is quite an achievement. I’d love to see the source.

In the finest tradition of Windows Home Server, DHCP4WHS “just works”.

It gets my Code2Fame vote.

(Thanks to MS Homeserver blog and We got served for the info)

SageTV for WHS

~ rbonini

If you’ve been reading my blog lately you’ll know I’m installing SageTV for WHS. The idea is to eventually have Freeview (for those outside Britain its free-to-air Digital TV) on all PC’s and Tv in the house come through WHS.

Now the Website isn’t entirely clear on exactly how SageTv 6 integrates with WHS.

Does it use the console? Does it run as a service (a big thing for WHS software since no-one is logged in most of the time)? How does it deal with the WHS folder structure? Does PlaceShifter integrate with the Remote Website?And a million and one other questions.

Now I was just browsing through the feature list for SageTv and it is impressive.

Here are my favorites:

    Multiple Tuner Support
    Record two or more shows at the same time! No limits to the number of tuners allowed. I can’t seem to find a card with more than two tuners so expandability is great.

    SageTV Studio Development Kit (learn more)
    Let’s you customize or develop new applications for SageTV . Need I say more?

    Support for multiple formats across multiple tuners (can mix MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/DivX hardware encoders). Better and better.

    Favorites ManagerTM
    Never miss your favorite shows whether it’s first runs, re-runs, or all episodes. This is good since I currently have Google Calendar remind me of shows 🙂 .

Sounds too good to be true. I’ll let you know how it plays out when I get it. It might be soon, it might not. Stay tuned.

Subtle Hints

~ rbonini

BBC blogger Bill Thompson has just blasted electronic voting machines due to the inability of manufacturers to put adequate security on them. He titled his post “The Ghost in the Voting Machine”.

IF you remember correctly this is a paraphrasing of an expression used by Dr. Lanning in iRobot. He said that the Ghost in The Machine was/were random fragments of code that would allow machines to develop consciousness. Now how’s that thought: A voting machine with a conscience, or is that a contradiction in terms?

Subtle hint, or what?

How True

~ rbonini

I’ve just read this post from Jeff Atwood:

I believe there’s a healthy balance all programmers need to establish, somewhere between…

  1. Locking yourself away in a private office and having an intimate dialog with a compiler about your program.
  2. Getting out in public and having an open dialog with other human beings about your program.

If you didn’t catch the humor there, it had to do with the “intimate dialog with a compiler” bit 🙂 .

Funny things are often true. Hold that thought.

So this bit had me chuckling:

Most programmers are introverts, so they don’t usually need any encouragement to run off and spend time alone with their computer. They do it naturally. Left to their own devices, that’s all they’d ever do. I don’t blame them; computers are a lot more rational than people. That’s what attracts most of us to the field. But it is possible to go too far in the other direction, too. It’s much rarer, because it bucks the natural introversion of most software developers, but it does happen. Take me, for example. Sometimes I worry that I spend more time talking about programming than actually programming.

 

Natural introvert. Hmmm. Remarkable timing on Jeff’s part. I was telling myself  just the other day how much more comfortable it is to talk to a C++ compiler….

Jeff spends the rest of his post urging the rest of us to stop talking about implementing features and implement them. I’m as guilty of this as the next programmer/developer, so I’d better get a move on.

Open Source at Microsoft

~ rbonini

A contradiction in Terms? Well, no. But I can’t blame you for thinking it.

Port25, Microsoft’s open source blog, is worth subscribing to because of posts like this:

Today, Microsoft has published 175 projects on CodePlex, we have written a pair of open licenses that are under a page in length and over the 500-project mark in adoption as others in the community have decided to use them

As Microsoft’s engagement with open source grows, we have to move from being trailblazers to being road-builders. When you’re blazing a trail, organization, bureaucracy, and majority rule are a burden. In the beginning, a passionate group of people with strongly held beliefs and the will to persevere in the face of doubts and doubters is what it’s all about.

Never thought I’d see the day when this was corporate strategy at Microsoft.

In my view this about-face has come about because of a change in the environment that Microsoft operates in.

Think of it. Sun completely open sourced Solaris. The rise of the blog,  the wiki and the Twitter (perhaps not in that order, but humor me) has lead to an increasingly networked community where people’s calls for change can gain plenty of traction. And if Microsoft wasn’t going to do something about them, others would – and did. Think of Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and Open Office – or even Linux.

Secondly, Microsoft had a huge pool of untapped resources in the form of techies who had a great deal of experience in Microsoft products and blogged about it. I mean what better to find out what gripes (or ideas, for that matter) people had than by reading their blogs. And Microsoft could always hire the best ones.

And finally, the perception that Microsoft was opening up and actively engaging with the community has done wonders to its once-flagging reputation.

So while Microsoft may not be on the road to open sourcing its flagship products (Windows, office, Visual and Expression Studio), it is opening up.

iPhone Hacks: What Will Apple Do?

~ rbonini ~ 1 Comment

Despite the clear lack of a SDK, intrepid iPhone hackers err developers haven’t stopped churning out thier stuff. Here’s a small list from todays TUAW RSS feed:

This posses an interesting dilemma for Apple. Since all this stuff clearly isn’t intended to be done, Apple can either crack down on it by having hacked iPhones simply stop working( a la Microsoft) or they can go Google’s way and turn a blind eye.

Perversely, Apple will get more consumer attention and popularity at the cost of a potential showdown with AT&T ( who are obviously the very bad guys behind the draconian lockdown of said mobile device 😉 ).

So the question is: What will Apple Do??

Update: TUAW Asks the same Question:

the iPhone apps are arriving en masse. So far the list includes tools like a working Apache we server, python, shell — and a pile of associated binaries like ls, rm, echo, csh, and tsh — and while these might not be terribly thrilling for Joe everyday user, they are a pretty kicking start. We could start to see all manner of fun stuff arriving in the coming weeks, unless, of course, Apple pulls the plug via an update. Again, we won’t link to the goods, but a wee bit of searching should get you on your way