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• XNA Notes 005

  - by George Clingerman

  Another week and another crazy amount of activity going on in the XNA community. I’m fairly certain I missed over half of it. In fact, if I am missing things, make sure to email me and I’ll try and make sure I catch it next week! ([email protected]). Also, if you’ve got any advice, things you like/don’t like about the way these XNA Notes are going let me know. I always appreciate feedback (currently spammers are leaving me the nicest comments so you guys have work to do!) Without further ado, here’s this week’s notes! Time Critical XNA News The XNA Team Blob reminds us that February 7th is the last day to submit XNA 3.1 games to peer review! http://blogs.msdn.com/b/xna/archive/2011/01/31/7-days-left-to-submit-xna-gs-3-1-games-on-app-hub.aspx XNA MVPS Chris Williams kicks off the marketing campaign for our book http://geekswithblogs.net/cwilliams/archive/2011/01/28/143680.aspx Catalin Zima posts the comparison cheat sheet for why Angry Birds is different than Chickens Can’t Fly http://www.amusedsloth.com/2011/02/comparison-cheat-sheet-for-chickens-cant-fly-and-angry-birds/ Jim Perry congratulates the developers selected by Game Developer Magazine for Best Xbox LIVE Indie Games of 2010 http://machxgames.com/blog/?p=24 @NemoKrad posts his XNAKUUG talks for all to enjoy http://twitter.com/NemoKrad/statuses/33142362502864896 http://xna-uk.net/blogs/randomchaos/archive/2011/02/03/xblig-uk-2011-january-amp-february-talk.aspx George  (that’s me!) preps for his XNA talk coming up on the 8th http://twitter.com/clingermangw/statuses/32669550554124288 http://www.portlandsilverlight.net/Meetings/Details/15 XNA Developers FireFly posts the last tutorial in his XNA Tower Defense tutorial series http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/26442/451460.aspx#451460 http://xnatd.blogspot.com/2011/01/tutorial-14-polishing-game.html @fredericmy posts the main difference when porting a game from Windows Phone 7 to Xbox 360 http://fairyengine.blogspot.com/2011/01/main-differences-when-porting-game-from.html @ElementCy creates a pretty rad video of a MineCraft type terrain created using XNA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Waw1f7wnl9I Andrew Russel gets the first XNA badge on gamedev.stackexchange http://twitter.com/_AndrewRussell/statuses/32322877004972032 http://gamedev.stackexchange.com/badges?tab=tags And his funding for ExEn has passed $7000 only $3000 to go http://twitter.com/_AndrewRussell/statuses/33042412804771840 Subodh Pushpak blogs about his Windows Phone 7 XNA talk http://geekswithblogs.net/subodhnpushpak/archive/2011/02/01/windows-phone-7-silverlight--xna-development-talk.aspx Slyprid releases the latest version of Transmute and needs more people to test http://twitter.com/slyprid/statuses/32452488418299904 http://forgottenstarstudios.com/ SpynDoctorGames celebrates the 1 year anniversary of Your Doodles Are Bugged! Congrats! http://twitter.com/SpynDoctorGames/statuses/32511689068908544 Noogy (creator of Dust the Elysian Tail) prepares his conversion to XNA 4.0 http://twitter.com/NoogyTweet/statuses/32522008449253376 @philippedasilva posts about the Indiefreaks Game Framework v0.2.0.0 Input management system http://twitter.com/philippedasilva/statuses/32763393957957632 http://indiefreaks.com/2011/02/02/behind-smart-input-system-feature/ Mommy’s Best Games debates what to do about High Scores with their new update http://mommysbest.blogspot.com/2011/02/high-score-shake-up.html @BinaryTweedDeej want to know if there’s anything the community needs to make XNA games for the PC. Give him some feedback! http://twitter.com/BinaryTweedDeej/status/32895453863354368 @mikebmcl promises to write us all a book (I can’t wait to read it!) http://twitter.com/mikebmcl/statuses/33206499102687233 @werezompire is going to live, LIVE, thanks to all the generosity and support from the community! http://twitter.com/werezompire/statuses/32840147644977153 Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG) Making money in Xbox 360 indie game development. Is it possible? http://www.bitmob.com/articles/making-money-in-xbox-360-indie-game-development-is-it-possible @AlejandroDaJ posts some thoughts abut the bitmob article http://twitter.com/AlejandroDaJ/statuses/31068552165330944 http://www.apathyworks.com/blog/view.php?id=00215 Kobun gets my respect as an XBLIG champion. I’m not sure who Kobun is, but if you’ve every read through the comment sections any time Kotaku writes about XBLIGs you’ll see a lot of confusion, disinformation in there. Kobun has been waging a secret war battling that lack of knowledge and he does it well. Also he’s running a pretty kick ass site for Xbox LIVE Indie Game reviews http://xboxindies.teamkobun.com/ @radiangames releases his last Xbox LIVE Indie Game...for now http://bit.ly/gMK6lE Playing Avaglide with the Kinect controller http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqAYbHww53o http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/30/kinect-hacks-take-to-the-skies-with-avaglide/ Luke Schneider of Radiangames interviewed in Edge magazine http://www.next-gen.biz/features/radiangames-venture Digital Quarters posts thoughts on why XBLIG’s online requirement kills certain genres http://digitalquarters.blogspot.com/2011/02/thoughts-why-xbligs-online-requirement.html Mommy’s Best Games shares the news that several XBLIGs were featured in the March 2011 issue of Famitsu 360 http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/33455/451487.aspx#451487 NaviFairy continues with his Indie-Game-A-Day http://gaygamer.net/2011/02/indie_game_a_day_epic_dungeon.html http://gaygamer.net/2011/02/indie_game_a_day_break_limit_r.html and more every day...that’s kind of the point! Keep your eye on this series! VVGTV continues with it’s awesome reviews/promotions for XBLIGs http://vvgtv.com/ http://vvgtv.com/2011/02/03/iredia-atrams-secret-xblig-review-2/ http://vvgtv.com/2011/02/02/poopocalypse-coming-soon-to-xblig/ ….and even more, you get the point. Magicka is an Indie Game doing really well on Steam AND it’s made using XNA http://www.magickagame.com/ http://twitter.com/Magickagame/statuses/32712762580799488 GameMarx reviews Antipole http://www.gamemarx.com/reviews/73/antipole-is-vvvvvvery-good.aspx Armless Octopus review Alpha Squad http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2011/01/28/xbox-indie-review-alpha-squad/ An interesting article about Kodu that Jim Perry found http://twitter.com/MachXGames/statuses/32848044105924608 http://www.develop-online.net/news/36915/10-year-old-Jordan-makes-games-The-UK-needs-more-like-her XNA Game Development Sgt. Conker posts about the Natur beta, a new book and whether you can make money with XBLIG http://www.sgtconker.com/ http://www.sgtconker.com/2011/01/a-new-book-on-the-block-and-a-new-natur-beta/ http://www.sgtconker.com/2011/01/making-money-in-xbox-360-indie-game-development-is-it-possible/ Tips for setting up SVN http://bit.ly/fKxgFh @bsimser found tons of royalty free music and soundfx for your XNA Games http://twitter.com/bsimser/statuses/31426632933711872 Post on the new features in the next Sunburn Editor http://www.synapsegaming.com/blogs/fivesidedbarrel/archive/2011/01/28/new-editor-features-prefabs-components-and-more.aspx @jasons_novaleaf posts source code for light pre-pass optimizations for #xna http://twitter.com/jasons_novaleaf/statuses/33348855403642880 http://jcoluna.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/xna-4-0-light-pre-pass-optimization-round-one/ I’ve been learning about doing an A.I. for turn based games and this article was a great resource. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1535/designing_ai_algorithms_for_.php?print=1

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• Do You Develop Your PL/SQL Directly in the Database?

  - by thatjeffsmith

  I know this sounds like a REALLY weird question for many of you. Let me make one thing clear right away though, I am NOT talking about creating and replacing PLSQL objects directly into a production environment. Do we really need to talk about developers in production again? No, what I am talking about is a developer doing their work from start to finish in a development database. These are generally available to a development team for building the next and greatest version of your databases and database applications. And of course you are using a third party source control system, right? Last week I was in Tampa, FL presenting at the monthly Suncoast Oracle User’s Group meeting. Had a wonderful time, great questions and back-and-forth. My favorite heckler was there, @oraclenered, AKA Chet Justice.  I was in the middle of talking about how it’s better to do your PLSQL work in the Procedure Editor when Chet pipes up - Don’t do it that way, that’s wrong Just press play to edit the PLSQL directly in the database Or something along those lines. I didn’t get what the heck he was talking about. I had been showing how the Procedure Editor gives you much better feedback and support when working with PLSQL. After a few back-and-forths I got to what Chet’s main objection was, and again I’m going to paraphrase: You should develop offline in your SQL worksheet. Don’t do anything in the database until it’s done. I didn’t understand. Were developers expected to be able to internalize and mentally model the PL/SQL engine, see where their errors were, etc in these offline scripts? No, please give Chet more credit than that. What is the ideal Oracle Development Environment? If I were back in the ‘real world’ of database development, I would do all of my development outside of the ‘dev’ instance. My development process looks a little something like this: Do I have a program that already does something like this – copy and paste Has some smart person already written something like this – copy and paste Start typing in the white-screen-of-panic and bungle along until I get something that half-works Tweek, debug, test until I have fooled my subconscious into thinking that it’s ‘good’ As you might understand, I don’t want my co-workers to see the evolution of my code. It would seriously freak them out and I probably wouldn’t have a job anymore (don’t remind me that I already worked myself out of development.) So here’s what I like to do: Run a Local Instance of Oracle on my Machine and Develop My Code Privately I take a copy of development – that’s what source control is for afterall – and run it where no one else can see it. I now get to be my own DBA. If I need a trace – no problem. If I want to run an ASH report, no worries. If I need to create a directory or run some DataPump jobs, that’s all on me. Now when I get my code ‘up to snuff,’ then I will check it into source control and compile it into the official development instance. So my teammates suddenly go from seeing no program, to a mostly complete program. Is this right? If not, it doesn’t seem wrong to me. And after talking to Chet in the car on the way to the local cigar bar, it seems that he’s of the same opinion. So what’s so wrong with coding directly into a development instance? I think ‘wrong’ is a bit strong here. But there are a few pitfalls that you might want to look out for. A few come to mind – and I’m sure Chet could add many more as my memory fails me at the moment. But here goes: Development instance isn’t properly backed up – would hate to lose that work Development is wiped once a week and copied over from Prod – don’t laugh Someone clobbers your code You accidentally on purpose clobber someone else’s code The more developers you have in a single fish pond, the greater chance something ‘bad’ will happen This Isn’t One of Those Posts Where I Tell You What You Should Be Doing I realize many shops won’t be open to allowing developers to stage their own local copies of Oracle. But I would at least be aware that many of your developers are probably doing this anyway – with or without your tacit approval. SQL Developer can do local file tracking, but you should be using Source Control too! I will say that I think it’s imperative that you control your source code outside the database, even if your development team is comprised of a single developer. Store your source code in a file, and control that file in something like Subversion. You would be shocked at the number of teams that do not use a source control system. I know I continue to be shocked no matter how many times I meet another team running by the seat-of-their-pants. I’d love to hear how your development process works. And of course I want to know how SQL Developer and the rest of our tools can better support your processes. And one last thing, if you want a fun and interactive presentation experience, be sure to have Chet in the room

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• Find the best OpenWorld sessions for learning about UX highlights

  - by mvaughan

  By Kathy Miedema, Oracle Applications User Experience  Have you clicked through the Oracle OpenWorld 2012 catalog? It’s amazingly dense, as usual. But one thing we noticed this year is that nearly half of the sessions mention some component of user experience, which is a sea change in our world. It means that more people understand, appreciate, and desire an effective user experience, and it also means that Oracle’s investment in its next-generation applications user experience, such as Oracle Fusion Applications, is increasingly apparent and interesting to its customers. So how do you choose the user experience sessions that make the most sense for you and your organization? Read our list to find out which sessions we think offer the most value for those interested in finding out more about the Oracle Applications user experience. If you’re interested in Oracle’s strategy for its user experience: CON9438: Oracle Fusion Applications: Transforming Insight into Action10:15 - 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2; Moscone West – 2007 CON9467: Oracle’s Roadmap to a Simple, Modern User Experience3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3; Moscone West - 3002/3004 CON8718: Oracle Fusion Applications: Customizing and Extending with Oracle Composers11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4; Moscone West – 2008 GEN9663: General Session: A Panel of Masterminds—Where Are Oracle Applications Headed?1:45 - 2:45 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1; Moscone North - Hall D If you’re interested in PeopleSoft/PeopleTools: GEN8928: General Session: PeopleSoft Update and Product Roadmap3:15 - 4:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1; Moscone West - 3002/3004 CON9183: PeopleSoft PeopleTools Technology Roadmap4:45 - 5:45 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1; Moscone West - 3002/3004 CON8932: New Functional PeopleSoft PeopleTools Capabilities for the Line-of-Business User5:00 - 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2; Moscone West – 3007 If you’re interested in E-Business Suite: GEN8474: General Session: Oracle E-Business Suite—Strategy, Update, and Roadmap12:15 - 1:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1; Moscone West - 2002/2004 CON9026: Latest Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1 User Interface and Usability Enhancements1:15 - 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2; Moscone West – 2016 If you’re interested in Siebel: CON9700: Siebel CRM Overview, Strategy, and Roadmap12:15 - 1:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1; Moscone West – 2009 CON9703: User Interface Innovations with the New Siebel “Open UI”10:15 - 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2; Moscone West – 2009 If you’re interested in JD Edwards EnterpriseOne: HOL10452: JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.1 User Interface Changes10:15 - 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3; Marriott Marquis - Nob Hill AB CON9160: Showcase of the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne User Experience1:15 - 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3; InterContinental - Grand Ballroom B CON9159: Euphoria with the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne User Experience11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3; InterContinental - Grand Ballroom B If you’re interested in Oracle Fusion Applications user experience design patterns: Functional design patterns that helped create the Oracle Fusion Applications user experience are now available. Learn more about these new, reusable usability solutions and best-practices at the Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle ADF demopods during Oracle OpenWorld 2012. Or visit the OTN Lounge between 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3, to talk to Ultan O'Broin from the Oracle Applications User Experience team.    Demopod location: Moscone Center, South Exhibition Hall Level 1, S-207 OTN (Oracle Technology Network) Lounge: Howard Street tent On the demogrounds: Head to the demogrounds to see new demos from the Applications User Experience team, including the new look for Fusion Applications and what we’re building for mobile platforms. Take a spin on our eye tracker, a very cool tool that we use to research the usability of a particular design. Visit the Usable Apps OpenWorld page to find out where our demopods will be located.Photo by Martin Taylor, Oracle Applications User ExperienceA tour takes place in one of the usability labs at Oracle’s headquarters in Redwood Shores, Calif. At our labs, on-site and at HQ: We are also recruiting participants for our on-site lab, in which we gather feedback on new user experience designs, and taking reservations for a charter bus that will bring you to Oracle headquarters for a lab tour Thursday, Oct. 4, or Friday, Oct. 5. Tours leave at 10 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. from the Moscone Center in San Francisco. You’ll see more of our newest designs at the lab tour, and some of our research tools in action. For more information on any OpenWorld sessions, check the content catalog, also available at www.oracle.com/openworld. For information on Applications User Experience (Apps UX) sessions and activities, go to the Usable Apps OpenWorld page.

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• How do i mount my SD Card? I am using ubuntu 10.04

  - by shobhit

  root@shobhit:/media# lsusb Bus 002 Device 017: ID 14cd:125c Super Top Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0c45:6421 Microdia Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 001 Device 011: ID 413c:8160 Dell Computer Corp. Bus 001 Device 006: ID 413c:8162 Dell Computer Corp. Bus 001 Device 005: ID 413c:8161 Dell Computer Corp. Bus 001 Device 004: ID 138a:0008 DigitalPersona, Inc Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0a5c:4500 Broadcom Corp. BCM2046B1 USB 2.0 Hub (part of BCM2046 Bluetooth) Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub root@shobhit:/home/shobhit/scripts/internalUtilities# sudo lspci -v -nn 00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [8086:3b3c] (rev 06) (prog-if 20) Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0441] Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 Memory at fbc08000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [58] Debug port: BAR=1 offset=00a0 Capabilities: [98] PCIe advanced features <?> Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd 00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [8086:3b34] (rev 06) (prog-if 20) Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0441] Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23 Memory at fbc07000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [58] Debug port: BAR=1 offset=00a0 Capabilities: [98] PCIe advanced features <?> Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd 00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev a6) (prog-if 01) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=20, subordinate=20, sec-latency=32 Capabilities: [50] Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0441] 00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller [8086:3b0b] (rev 06) Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0441] Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0 Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information <?> Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt 00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:3b2f] (rev 06) (prog-if 01) Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0441] Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 29 I/O ports at f070 [size=8] I/O ports at f060 [size=4] I/O ports at f050 [size=8] I/O ports at f040 [size=4] I/O ports at f020 [size=32] Memory at fbc06000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K] Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable+ Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [a8] SATA HBA <?> Capabilities: [b0] PCIe advanced features <?> Kernel driver in use: ahci Kernel modules: ahci 00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller [8086:3b30] (rev 06) Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0441] Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 3 Memory at fbc05000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] I/O ports at f000 [size=32] Kernel modules: i2c-i801 00:1f.6 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem [8086:3b32] (rev 06) Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0441] Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 3 Memory at fbc04000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable- 12:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation Device [14e4:4727] (rev 01) Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0010] Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17 Memory at fbb00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [58] Vendor Specific Information <?> Capabilities: [48] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable- Capabilities: [d0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00 Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting <?> Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel <?> Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number cb-c0-8b-ff-ff-38-00-00 Capabilities: [16c] Power Budgeting <?> Kernel driver in use: wl Kernel modules: wl 13:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8168] (rev 03) Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0441] Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 28 I/O ports at e000 [size=256] Memory at d0b04000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K] Memory at d0b00000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=16K] Expansion ROM at fba00000 [disabled] [size=128K] Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable+ Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 01 Capabilities: [ac] MSI-X: Enable- Mask- TabSize=4 Capabilities: [cc] Vital Product Data <?> Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting <?> Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel <?> Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-e0-4c-68-00-00-00-03 Kernel driver in use: r8169 Kernel modules: r8169 root@shobhit:/home/shobhit/scripts/internalUtilities# sudo lshw shobhit description: Portable Computer product: Vostro 3500 vendor: Dell Inc. version: A10 serial: FV1L3N1 width: 32 bits capabilities: smbios-2.6 dmi-2.6 smp-1.4 smp configuration: boot=normal chassis=portable cpus=2 uuid=44454C4C-5600-1031-804C-C6C04F334E31 *-core description: Motherboard product: 0G2R51 vendor: Dell Inc. physical id: 0 version: A10 serial: .FV1L3N1.CN7016612H00PW. slot: To Be Filled By O.E.M. *-cpu:0 description: CPU product: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 480 @ 2.67GHz vendor: Intel Corp. physical id: 4 bus info: cpu@0 version: 6.5.5 serial: 0002-0655-0000-0000-0000-0000 slot: CPU 1 size: 1197MHz capacity: 2926MHz width: 64 bits clock: 533MHz capabilities: boot fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx rdtscp x86-64 constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm ida arat tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid cpufreq configuration: id=4 *-cache:0 description: L1 cache physical id: 5 slot: L1-Cache size: 64KiB capacity: 64KiB capabilities: internal write-back unified *-cache:1 description: L2 cache physical id: 6 slot: L2-Cache size: 512KiB capacity: 512KiB capabilities: internal varies unified *-cache:2 description: L3 cache physical id: 7 slot: L3-Cache size: 3MiB capacity: 3MiB capabilities: internal varies unified *-logicalcpu:0 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.1 width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:1 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.2 width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:2 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.3 width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:3 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.4 width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:4 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.5 width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:5 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.6 width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:6 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.7 width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:7 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.8 width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:8 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.9 width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:9 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.a width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:10 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.b width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:11 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.c width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:12 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.d width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:13 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.e width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:14 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.f width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:15 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.10 width: 64 bits capabilities: logical *-memory description: System Memory physical id: 1d slot: System board or motherboard size: 3GiB *-bank:0 description: DIMM Synchronous 1333 MHz (0.8 ns) product: HMT112S6TFR8C-H9 vendor: AD80 physical id: 0 serial: 5525C935 slot: DIMM_A size: 1GiB width: 64 bits clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns) *-bank:1 description: DIMM Synchronous 1333 MHz (0.8 ns) product: HMT125S6TFR8C-H9 vendor: AD80 physical id: 1 serial: 3441D6CA slot: DIMM_B size: 2GiB width: 64 bits clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns) *-firmware description: BIOS vendor: Dell Inc. physical id: 0 version: A10 (10/25/2010) size: 64KiB capacity: 1984KiB capabilities: mca pci upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb zipboot biosbootspecification *-cpu:1 physical id: 1 bus info: cpu@1 version: 6.5.5 serial: 0002-0655-0000-0000-0000-0000 size: 1197MHz capacity: 1197MHz capabilities: vmx ht cpufreq configuration: id=4 *-logicalcpu:0 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.1 capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:1 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.2 capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:2 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.3 capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:3 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.4 capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:4 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.5 capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:5 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.6 capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:6 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.7 capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:7 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.8 capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:8 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.9 capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:9 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.a capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:10 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.b capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:11 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.c capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:12 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.d capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:13 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.e capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:14 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.f capabilities: logical *-logicalcpu:15 description: Logical CPU physical id: 4.10 capabilities: logical *-pci description: Host bridge product: Core Processor DRAM Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 100 bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0 version: 18 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz configuration: driver=agpgart-intel resources: irq:0 *-display description: VGA compatible controller product: Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 2 bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0 version: 18 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: msi pm bus_master cap_list rom configuration: driver=i915 latency=0 resources: irq:30 memory:fac00000-faffffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff(prefetchable) ioport:f080(size=8) *-communication UNCLAIMED description: Communication controller product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 16 bus info: pci@0000:00:16.0 version: 06 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list configuration: latency=0 resources: memory:fbc09000-fbc0900f *-usb:0 description: USB Controller product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1a bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.0 version: 06 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm debug bus_master cap_list configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0 resources: irq:16 memory:fbc08000-fbc083ff *-multimedia description: Audio device product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1b bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0 version: 06 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0 resources: irq:22 memory:fbc00000-fbc03fff *-pci:0 description: PCI bridge product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1c bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0 version: 06 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list configuration: driver=pcieport resources: irq:24 ioport:2000(size=4096) memory:bc000000-bc1fffff memory:bc200000-bc3fffff(prefetchable) *-pci:1 description: PCI bridge product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1c.1 bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.1 version: 06 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list configuration: driver=pcieport resources: irq:25 ioport:3000(size=4096) memory:fbb00000-fbbfffff memory:bc400000-bc5fffff(prefetchable) *-network description: Wireless interface product: Broadcom Corporation vendor: Broadcom Corporation physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:12:00.0 logical name: eth1 version: 01 serial: c0:cb:38:8b:aa:d8 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=5.60.48.36 ip=10.0.1.50 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11 resources: irq:17 memory:fbb00000-fbb03fff *-pci:2 description: PCI bridge product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1c.2 bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.2 version: 06 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list configuration: driver=pcieport resources: irq:26 ioport:e000(size=4096) memory:fba00000-fbafffff ioport:d0b00000(size=1048576) *-network description: Ethernet interface product: RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:13:00.0 logical name: eth0 version: 03 serial: 78:2b:cb:cc:0e:2a size: 10MB/s capacity: 1GB/s width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10MB/s resources: irq:28 ioport:e000(size=256) memory:d0b04000-d0b04fff(prefetchable) memory:d0b00000-d0b03fff(prefetchable) memory:fba00000-fba1ffff(prefetchable) *-pci:3 description: PCI bridge product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 5 vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1c.4 bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.4 version: 06 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list configuration: driver=pcieport resources: irq:27 ioport:d000(size=4096) memory:fb000000-fb9fffff ioport:d0000000(size=10485760) *-usb:1 description: USB Controller product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1d bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0 version: 06 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm debug bus_master cap_list configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0 resources: irq:23 memory:fbc07000-fbc073ff *-pci:4 description: PCI bridge product: 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1e bus info: pci@0000:00:1e.0 version: a6 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pci bus_master cap_list *-isa description: ISA bridge product: Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1f bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0 version: 06 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: isa bus_master cap_list configuration: latency=0 *-storage description: SATA controller product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 port SATA AHCI Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1f.2 bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2 logical name: scsi0 logical name: scsi1 version: 06 width: 32 bits clock: 66MHz capabilities: storage msi pm bus_master cap_list emulated configuration: driver=ahci latency=0 resources: irq:29 ioport:f070(size=8) ioport:f060(size=4) ioport:f050(size=8) ioport:f040(size=4) ioport:f020(size=32) memory:fbc06000-fbc067ff *-disk description: ATA Disk product: WDC WD3200BEKT-7 vendor: Western Digital physical id: 0 bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0 logical name: /dev/sda version: 01.0 serial: WD-WX21AC0W1945 size: 298GiB (320GB) capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=77e3ed41 *-volume:0 description: Windows NTFS volume physical id: 1 bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1 logical name: /dev/sda1 version: 3.1 serial: aa69-51c0 size: 98MiB capacity: 100MiB capabilities: primary bootable ntfs initialized configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2012-04-03 02:00:15 filesystem=ntfs label=System Reserved state=clean *-volume:1 description: Windows NTFS volume physical id: 2 bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2 logical name: /dev/sda2 version: 3.1 serial: 9854ff5c-1dea-a147-84a6-624e758f44b8 size: 48GiB capacity: 48GiB capabilities: primary ntfs initialized configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2012-04-10 13:55:31 filesystem=ntfs modified_by_chkdsk=true mounted_on_nt4=true resize_log_file=true state=dirty upgrade_on_mount=true *-volume:2 description: Extended partition physical id: 3 bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,3 logical name: /dev/sda3 size: 48GiB capacity: 48GiB capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended *-logicalvolume:0 description: Linux swap / Solaris partition physical id: 5 logical name: /dev/sda5 capacity: 1952MiB capabilities: nofs *-logicalvolume:1 description: Linux filesystem partition physical id: 6 logical name: /dev/sda6 logical name: / capacity: 46GiB configuration: mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,barrier=1,data=ordered state=mounted *-volume:3 description: Windows NTFS volume physical id: 4 bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,4 logical name: /dev/sda4 logical name: /media/56AA8094AA807273 version: 3.1 serial: 22a29e8d-56c7-9a4a-adea-528103948f6d size: 200GiB capacity: 200GiB capabilities: primary ntfs initialized configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2012-04-02 20:17:15 filesystem=ntfs modified_by_chkdsk=true mount.fstype=fuseblk mount.options=rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,default_permissions,allow_other,blksize=4096 mounted_on_nt4=true resize_log_file=true state=mounted upgrade_on_mount=true *-cdrom description: DVD-RAM writer product: DVD+-RW TS-L633J vendor: TSSTcorp physical id: 1 bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0 logical name: /dev/cdrom logical name: /dev/cdrw logical name: /dev/dvd logical name: /dev/dvdrw logical name: /dev/scd0 logical name: /dev/sr0 version: D200 capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc *-serial UNCLAIMED description: SMBus product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1f.3 bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3 version: 06 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz configuration: latency=0 resources: memory:fbc05000-fbc050ff ioport:f000(size=32) *-generic UNCLAIMED description: Signal processing controller product: 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 1f.6 bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.6 version: 06 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list configuration: latency=0 resources: memory:fbc04000-fbc04fff *-scsi physical id: 2 bus info: usb@2:1.1 logical name: scsi15 capabilities: emulated scsi-host configuration: driver=usb-storage *-disk description: SCSI Disk physical id: 0.0.0 bus info: scsi@15:0.0.0 logical name: /dev/sdb I have tried all options like fdisk /dev/sdb , pmount /dev/sdb but nothing is working .Pls guide me

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• Why is my external USB hard drive sometimes completely inaccessible?

  - by Eliah Kagan

  I have an external USB hard drive, consisting of an 1 TB SATA drive in a Rosewill RX35-AT-SU SLV Aluminum 3.5" Silver USB 2.0 External Enclosure, plugged into my SONY VAIO VGN-NS310F laptop. It is plugged directly into the computer (not through a hub). The drive inside the enclosure is a 7200 rpm Western Digital, but I don't remember the exact model. I can remove the drive from the enclosure (again), if people think it's necessary to know that detail. The drive is formatted ext4. I mount it dynamically with udisks on my Lubuntu 11.10 system, usually automatically via PCManFM. (I have had Lubuntu 12.04 on this machine, and experienced all this same behavior with that too.) Every once in a while--once or twice a day--it becomes inaccessible, and difficult to unmount. Attempting to unmount it with sudo umount ... gives an error message saying the drive is in use and suggesting fuser and lsof to find out what is using it. Killing processes found to be using the drive with fuser and lsof is sometimes sufficient to let me unmount it, but usually isn't. Once the drive is unmounted or the machine is rebooted, the drive will not mount. Plugging in the drive and turning it on registers nothing on the computer. dmesg is unchanged. The drive's access light usually blinks vigorously, as though the drive is being accessed constantly. Then eventually, after I keep the drive off for a while (half an hour), I am able to mount it again. While the drive doesn't work on this machine for a while, it will work immediately on another machine running the same version of Ubuntu. Sometimes bringing it back over from the other machine seems to "fix" it. Sometimes it doesn't. The drive doesn't always stop being accessible while mounted, before becoming unmountable. Sometimes it works fine, I turn off the computer, I turn the computer back on, and I cannot mount the drive. Currently this is the only drive with which I have this problem, but I've had problems that I think are the same as this, with different drives, on different Ubuntu machines. This laptop has another external USB drive plugged into it regularly, which doesn't have this problem. Unplugging that drive before plugging in the "problem" drive doesn't fix the problem. I've opened the drive up and made sure the connections were tight in the past, and that didn't seem to help (any more than waiting the same amount of time that it took to open and close the drive, before attempting to remount it). Does anyone have any ideas about what could be causing this, what troubleshooting steps I should perform, and/or how I could fix this problem altogether? Update: I tried replacing the USB data cable (from the enclosure to the laptop), as Merlin suggested. I should've tried that long ago, since it fits the symptoms perfectly (the drive works on another machine, which would make sense because the cable would be bent at a different angle, possibly completing a circuit of frayed wires). Unfortunately, though, this did not help--I have the same problem with the new cable. I'll try to provide additional detailed information about the drive inside the enclosure, next time I'm able to get the drive working. (At the moment I don't have another machine available to attach it.) Major Update (28 June 2012) The drive seems to have deteriorated considerably. I think this is so, because I've attached it to another machine and gotten lots of errors about invalid characters, when copying files from it. I am less interested in recovering data from the drive than I am in figuring out what is wrong with it. I specifically want to figure out if the problem is the drive or the enclosure. Now, when I plug the drive into the original machine where I was having the problems, it still doesn't appear (including with sudo fdisk -l), but it is recognized by the kernel and messages are added to dmesg. Most of the message consist of errors like this, repeated many times: [ 7.707593] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Unhandled sense code [ 7.707599] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Result: hostbyte=invalid driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE [ 7.707606] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Sense Key : Medium Error [current] [ 7.707614] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] Add. Sense: Unrecovered read error [ 7.707621] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdc] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 [ 7.707636] end_request: critical target error, dev sdc, sector 0 [ 7.707641] Buffer I/O error on device sdc, logical block 0 Here are all the lines from dmesg starting with when the drive is recognized. Please note that: I'm back to running Lubuntu 12.04 on this machine (and perhaps that's a factor in better error messages). Now that the drive has been plugged into another machine and back into this one, and also now that this machine is back to running 12.04, the drive's access light doesn't blink as I had described. Looking at the drive, it would appear as though it is working normally, with low or no access. This behavior (the errors) occurs when rebooting the machine with the drive plugged in, and also when manually plugging in the drive. A few of the messages are about /dev/sdb. That drive is working fine. The bad drive is /dev/sdc. I just didn't want to edit anything out from the middle.

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• Record Screen Activity with CamStudio

  - by Asian Angel

  Sometimes a visual demonstration works much better than a list of instructions. If you need to make a demo video for family and/or friends then you might want to have a look at CamStudio. Using CamStudio To get properly set up you will need to install two different files (the main program followed by the codec). Once that is done you are ready to get started. When you start the program you will see a surprisingly small window. Notice the highlighted Record to text…it serves as a visual indicator for the video type selected for recording. Before you start creating a video it would be a good idea to look through some of the settings. The first one to look at is the region or area that you want to record. Next you will want to look through the video options since these will affect the quality and final size of your video files. The default setting for quality is 70…adjust that to the level that best suits your needs. Note: For our example we maxed out the various video settings for best quality. On our system Microsoft Video 1 was listed as the default compressor but as you can see there were other options available. You can configure the settings for the compressor you want to use if desired. Keep in mind that each compressor will have unique settings of their own, so if you change it, be certain to go back and check. We decided to use the CamStudio Lossless Codec for our example (it gave the best results while trying the software). Going back to the main window you can toggle back and forth between .avi and .swf output using the last button. Once you are satisfied with the settings click on the red record button to start. If you need to pause while recording or stop recording click on the system tray icon and select the appropriate command. When you are finished recording, you will be presented with the save file window. Browse for the desired save location and name your new file. Once you have saved the file the movie player window will automatically open so that you view your new video. Our sample video shown here is at 50% of original size so may look slightly “gritty”. The detail was much better at 100%. If you decide to record and save as .swf the process will be identical to recording in .avi format until the movie player window opens. At that time the conversion process from .avi to .swf will begin. When complete you will have a new flash video and html file that goes with it. Depending on which browser you have set as default, you may run into a small problem when the preview for your new .swf file tries to open. There is a small bug in the generated html file. You can use this work-around or… Just open the .swf file directly in your favorite browser. Conclusion CamStudio may not produce the highest quality videos, but it’s free and does a very nice job nonetheless. If you are working on a tight budget or only need to make an occasional video then CamStudio is a very sensible choice. Links Download CamStudio Stable Version & CamStudio Codec *Download links are approximately half-way down the page. Download CamStudio Stable Version & CamStudio Codec at SourceForge *Beta version also available here. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Get the Classic Style Network Activity Indicator Back in Windows 7How To Copy a DVD with VLC 1.0ALLCapture 3.0 [Review]Listen and Record Over 12,000 Online Radio Stations with RadioSureGeek Reviews: Play And Record Internet Radio With Screamer Radio TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 TimeToMeet is a Simple Online Meeting Planning Tool Easily Create More Bookmark Toolbars in Firefox Filevo is a Cool File Hosting & Sharing Site Get a free copy of WinUtilities Pro 2010 World Cup Schedule Boot Snooze – Reboot and then Standby or Hibernate

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• Kill a tree, save your website? Content strategy in action, part III

  - by Roger Hart

  A lot has been written about how driving content strategy from within an organisation is hard. And that's true. Red Gate is pretty receptive to new ideas, so although I've not had a total walk in the park, it's been a hike with charming scenery. But I'm one of the lucky ones. Lots of people are involved in content, and depending on your organisation some of those people might be the kind who'll gleefully call themselves "stakeholders". People holding a stake generally want to stick it through something's heart and bury it at a crossroads. Winning them over is not always easy. (Richard Ingram has made a nice visual summary of how this can feel - Content strategy Snakes & ladders - pdf ) So yes, a lot of content strategy advocates are having a hard time. And sure, we've got a nice opportunity to get together and have a hug and a cry, but in the interim we could use a hand. What to do? My preferred approach is, I'll confess, brutal. I'd like nothing so much as to take a scorched earth approach to our website. Burn it, salt the ground, and build the new one right: focusing on clearly delineated business and user content goals, and instrumented so we can tell if we're doing it right. I'm never getting buy-in for that, but a boy can dream. So how about just getting buy-in for some small, tenable improvements? Easier, but still non-trivial. I sat down for a chat with our marketing and design guys. It seemed like a good place to start, even if they weren't up for my "Ctrl-A + Delete"  solution. We talked through some of this stuff, and we pretty much agreed that our content is a bit more broken than we'd ideally like. But to get everybody on board, the problems needed visibility. Doing a visual content inventory Print out the internet. Make a Wall Of Content. Seriously. If you've already done a content inventory, you know your architecture, and you know the scale of the problem. But it's quite likely that very few other people do. So make it big and visual. I'm going to carbon hell, but it seems to be working. This morning, I printed out a tiny, tiny part of our website: the non-support content pertaining to SQL Compare I made big, visual, A3 blowups of each page, and covered a wall with them. A page per web page, spread over something like 6M x 2M, with metrics, right in front of people. Even if nobody reads it (and they are doing) the sheer scale is shocking. 53 pages, all told. Some are redundant, some outdated, some trivial, a few fantastic, and frighteningly many that are great ideas delivered not-quite-right. You have to stand quite far away to get it all in your field of vision. For a lot of today, a whole bunch of folks have been gawping in amazement, talking each other through it, peering at the details, and generally getting excited about content. Developers, sales guys, our CEO, the marketing folks - they're engaged. Will it last? I make no promises. But this sort of wave of interest is vital to getting a content strategy project kicked off. While the content strategist is a saucer-eyed orphan in the cupboard under the stairs, they're not getting a whole lot done. Of course, just printing the site won't necessarily cut it. You have to know your content, and be able to talk about it. Ideally, you'll also have page view and time-on-page metrics. One of the most powerful things you can do is, when people are staring at your wall of content, ask them what they think half of it is for. Pretty soon, you've made a case for content strategy. We're also going to get folks to mark it up - cover it with notes and post-its, let us know how they feel about our content. I'll be blogging about how that goes, but it's exciting. Different business functions have different needs from content, so the more exposure the content gets, and the more feedback, the more you know about those needs. Fingers crossed for awesome.

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• EU Digital Agenda scores 85/100

  - by trond-arne.undheim

  If the Digital Agenda was a bottle of wine and I were wine critic Robert Parker, I would say the Digital Agenda has "a great bouquet, many good elements, with astringent, dry and puckering mouth feel that will not please everyone, but still displaying some finesse. A somewhat controlled effort with no surprises and a few noticeable flaws in the delivery. Noticeably shorter aftertaste than advertised by the producers. Score: 85/100. Enjoy now". The EU Digital Agenda states that "standards are vital for interoperability" and has a whole chapter on interoperability and standards. With this strong emphasis, there is hope the EU's outdated standardization system finally is headed for reform. It has been 23 years since the legal framework of standardisation was completed by Council Decision 87/95/EEC8 in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. Standardization is market driven. For several decades the IT industry has been developing standards and specifications in global open standards development organisations (fora/consortia), many of which have transparency procedures and practices far superior to the European Standards Organizations. The Digital Agenda rightly states: "reflecting the rise and growing importance of ICT standards developed by certain global fora and consortia". Some fora/consortia, of course, are distorted, influenced by single vendors, have poor track record, and need constant vigilance, but they are the minority. Therefore, the recognition needs to be accompanied by eligibility criteria focused on openness. Will the EU reform its ICT standardization by the end of 2010? Possibly, and only if DG Enterprise takes on board that Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have driven half of the productivity growth in Europe over the past 15 years, a prominent fact in the EU's excellent Digital Competitiveness report 2010 published on Monday 17 May. It is ok to single out the ICT sector. It simply is the most important sector right now as it fuels growth in all other sectors. Let's not wait for the entire standardization package which may take another few years. Europe does not have time. The Digital Agenda is an umbrella strategy with deliveries from a host of actors across the Commission. For instance, the EU promises to issue "guidance on transparent ex-ante disclosure rules for essential intellectual property rights and licensing terms and conditions in the context of standard setting", by 2011 in the Horisontal Guidelines now out for public consultation by DG COMP and to some extent by DG ENTR's standardization policy reform. This is important. The EU will issue procurement guidance as interoperability frameworks are put into practice. This is a joint responsibility of several DGs, and is likely to suffer coordination problems, controversy and delays. We have seen plenty of the latter already and I have commented on the Commission's own interoperability elsewhere, with mixed luck. :( Yesterday, I watched the cartoonesque Korean western film The Good, the Bad and the Weird. In the movie (and I meant in the movie only), a bandit, a thief, and a bounty hunter, all excellent at whatever they do, fight for a treasure map. Whether that is a good analogy for the situation within the Commission, others are better judges of than I. However, as a movie fanatic, I still await the final shoot-out, and, as in the film, the only certainty is that "life is about chasing and being chased". The missed opportunity (in this case not following up the push from Member States to better define open standards based interoperability) is a casualty of the chaos ensued in the European Wild West (and I mean that in the most endearing sense, and my excuses beforehand to actors who possibly justifiably cannot bear being compared to fictional movie characters). Instead of exposing the ongoing fight, the EU opted for the legalistic use of the term "standards" throughout the document. This is a term that--to the EU-- excludes most standards used by the IT industry world wide. So, while it, for a moment, meant "weapon down", it will not lead to lasting peace. The Digital Agenda calls for the Member States to "Implement commitments on interoperability and standards in the Malmö and Granada Declarations by 2013". This is a far cry from the actual Ministerial Declarations which called upon the Commission to help them with this implementation by recognizing and further defining open standards based interoperability. Unless there is more forthcoming from the Commission, the market's judgement will be: you simply fall short. Generally, I think the EU focus now should be "from policy to practice" and the Digital Agenda does indeed stop short of tackling some highly practical issues. There is need for progress beyond the Digital Agenda. Here are some suggestions that would help Europe re-take global leadership on openness, public sector reform, and economic growth: A strong European software strategy centred around open standards based interoperability by 2011. An ambitious new eCommission strategy for 2011-15 focused on migration to open standards by 2015. Aligning the IT portfolio across the Commission into one Digital Agenda DG by 2012. Focusing all best practice exchange in eGovernment on one social networking site, epractice.eu (full disclosure: I had a role in getting that site up and running) Prioritizing public sector needs in global standardization over European standardization by 2014.

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• IBM "per core" comparisons for SPECjEnterprise2010

  - by jhenning

  I recently stumbled upon a blog entry from Roman Kharkovski (an IBM employee) comparing some SPECjEnterprise2010 results for IBM vs. Oracle. Mr. Kharkovski's blog claims that SPARC delivers half the transactions per core vs. POWER7. Prior to any argument, I should say that my predisposition is to like Mr. Kharkovski, because he says that his blog is intended to be factual; that the intent is to try to avoid marketing hype and FUD tactic; and mostly because he features a picture of himself wearing a bike helmet (me too). Therefore, in a spirit of technical argument, rather than FUD fight, there are a few areas in his comparison that should be discussed. Scaling is not free For any benchmark, if a small system scores 13k using quantity R1 of some resource, and a big system scores 57k using quantity R2 of that resource, then, sure, it's tempting to divide: is  13k/R1 > 57k/R2 ? It is tempting, but not necessarily educational. The problem is that scaling is not free. Building big systems is harder than building small systems. Scoring  13k/R1  on a little system provides no guarantee whatsoever that one can sustain that ratio when attempting to handle more than 4 times as many users. Choosing the denominator radically changes the picture When ratios are used, one can vastly manipulate appearances by the choice of denominator. In this case, lots of choices are available for the resource to be compared (R1 and R2 above). IBM chooses to put cores in the denominator. Mr. Kharkovski provides some reasons for that choice in his blog entry. And yet, it should be noted that the very concept of a core is: arbitrary: not necessarily comparable across vendors; fluid: modern chips shift chip resources in response to load; and invisible: unless you have a microscope, you can't see it. By contrast, one can actually see processor chips with the naked eye, and they are a bit easier to count. If we put chips in the denominator instead of cores, we get: 13161.07 EjOPS / 4 chips = 3290 EjOPS per chip for IBM vs 57422.17 EjOPS / 16 chips = 3588 EjOPS per chip for Oracle The choice of denominator makes all the difference in the appearance. Speaking for myself, dividing by chips just seems to make more sense, because: I can see chips and count them; and I can accurately compare the number of chips in my system to the count in some other vendor's system; and Tthe probability of being able to continue to accurately count them over the next 10 years of microprocessor development seems higher than the probability of being able to accurately and comparably count "cores". SPEC Fair use requirements Speaking as an individual, not speaking for SPEC and not speaking for my employer, I wonder whether Mr. Kharkovski's blog article, taken as a whole, meets the requirements of the SPEC Fair Use rule www.spec.org/fairuse.html section I.D.2. For example, Mr. Kharkovski's footnote (1) begins Results from http://www.spec.org as of 04/04/2013 Oracle SUN SPARC T5-8 449 EjOPS/core SPECjEnterprise2010 (Oracle's WLS best SPECjEnterprise2010 EjOPS/core result on SPARC). IBM Power730 823 EjOPS/core (World Record SPECjEnterprise2010 EJOPS/core result) The questionable tactic, from a Fair Use point of view, is that there is no such metric at the designated location. At www.spec.org, You can find the SPEC metric 57422.17 SPECjEnterprise2010 EjOPS for Oracle and You can also find the SPEC metric 13161.07 SPECjEnterprise2010 EjOPS for IBM. Despite the implication of the footnote, you will not find any mention of 449 nor anything that says 823. SPEC says that you can, under its fair use rule, derive your own values; but it emphasizes: "The context must not give the appearance that SPEC has created or endorsed the derived value." Substantiation and transparency Although SPEC disclaims responsibility for non-SPEC information (section I.E), it says that non-SPEC data and methods should be accurate, should be explained, should be substantiated. Unfortunately, it is difficult or impossible for the reader to independently verify the pricing: Were like units compared to like (e.g. list price to list price)? Were all components (hw, sw, support) included? Were all fees included? Note that when tpc.org shows IBM pricing, there are often items such as "PROCESSOR ACTIVATION" and "MEMORY ACTIVATION". Without the transparency of a detailed breakdown, the pricing claims are questionable. T5 claim for "Fastest Processor" Mr. Kharkovski several times questions Oracle's claim for fastest processor, writing You see, when you publish industry benchmarks, people may actually compare your results to other vendor's results. Well, as we performance people always say, "it depends". If you believe in performance-per-core as the primary way of looking at the world, then yes, the POWER7+ is impressive, spending its chip resources to support up to 32 threads (8 cores x 4 threads). Or, it just might be useful to consider performance-per-chip. Each SPARC T5 chip allows 128 hardware threads to be simultaneously executing (16 cores x 8 threads). The Industry Standard Benchmark that focuses specifically on processor chip performance is SPEC CPU2006. For this very well known and popular benchmark, SPARC T5: provides better performance than both POWER7 and POWER7+, for 1 chip vs. 1 chip, for 8 chip vs. 8 chip, for integer (SPECint_rate2006) and floating point (SPECfp_rate2006), for Peak tuning and for Base tuning. For example, at the 8-chip level, integer throughput (SPECint_rate2006) is: 3750 for SPARC 2170 for POWER7+. You can find the details at the March 2013 BestPerf CPU2006 page SPEC is a trademark of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation, www.spec.org. The two specific results quoted for SPECjEnterprise2010 are posted at the URLs linked from the discussion. Results for SPEC CPU2006 were verified at spec.org 1 July 2013, and can be rechecked here.

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• Inside Red Gate - Be Reasonable!

  - by Simon Cooper

  As I discussed in my previous posts, divisions and project teams within Red Gate are allowed a lot of autonomy to manage themselves. It's not just the teams though, there's an awful lot of freedom given to individual employees within the company as well. Reasonableness How Red Gate treats it's employees is embodied in the phrase 'You will be reasonable with us, and we will be reasonable with you'. As an employee, you are trusted to do your job to the best of you ability. There's no one looking over your shoulder, no one clocking you in and out each day. Everyone is working at the company because they want to, and one of the core ideas of Red Gate is that the company exists to 'let people do the best work of their lives'. Everything is geared towards that. To help you do your job, office services and the IT department are there. If you need something to help you work better (a third or fourth monitor, footrests, or a new keyboard) then ask people in Information Systems (IS) or Office Services and you will be given it, no questions asked. Everyone has administrator access to their own machines, and you can install whatever you want on it. If there's a particular bit of software you need, then ask IS and they will buy it. As an example, last year I wanted to replace my main hard drive with an SSD; I had a summer job at school working in a computer repair shop, so knew what to do. I went to IS and asked for 'an SSD, a SATA cable, and a screwdriver'. And I got it there and then, even the screwdriver. Awesome. I screwed it in myself, copied all my main drive files across, and I was good to go. Of course, if you're not happy doing that yourself, then IS will sort it all out for you, no problems. If you need something that the company doesn't have (say, a book off Amazon, or you need some specifications printing off & bound), then everyone has a expense limit of £100 that you can use without any sign-off needed from your managers. If you need a company credit card for whatever reason, then you can get it. This freedom extends to working hours and holiday; you're expected to be in the office 11am-3pm each day, but outside those times you can work whenever you want. If you need a half-day holiday on a days notice, or even the same day, then you'll get it, unless there's a good reason you're needed that day. If you need to work from home for a day or so for whatever reason, then you can. If it's reasonable, then it's allowed. Trust issues? A lot of trust, and a lot of leeway, is given to all the people in Red Gate. Everyone is expected to work hard, do their jobs to the best of their ability, and there will be a minimum of bureaucratic obstacles that stop you doing your work. What happens if you abuse this trust? Well, an example is company trip expenses. You're free to expense what you like; food, drink, transport, etc, but if you expenses are not reasonable, then you will never travel with the company again. Simple as that. Everyone knows when they're abusing the system, so simply don't do it. Along with reasonableness, another phrase used is 'Don't be a ***'. If you act like a ***, and abuse any of the trust placed in you, even if you're the best tester, salesperson, dev, or manager in the company, then you won't be a part of the company any more. From what I know about other companies, employee trust is highly variable between companies, all the way up to CCTV trained on employee's monitors. As a dev, I want to produce well-written & useful code that solves people's problems. Being able to get whatever I need - install whatever tools I need, get time off when I need to, obtain reference books within a day - all let me do my job, and so let Red Gate help other people do their own jobs through the tools we produce. Plus, I don't think I would like working for a company that doesn't allow admin access to your own machine and blocks Facebook!

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• Subscribable World Cup 2010 Calendar

  - by jamiet

  I bang on quite a lot on this blog about ways in which data can get published over the web and one of the most interesting ways, in my opinion, of publishing data in a structured manner that is well understood is to use the iCalendar specification. There isn’t much information in the world that doesn’t have some concept of “when” so iCalendar is a great way of distributing that information. You have probably used iCalendar at some point without even knowing about it. All files with a .ics suffix are iCalendar format files and that is why you can happily import them into Outlook, Hotmail Calendar, Google Calendar etc… where they can be parsed and have the semantic data (when, where and who) extracted from them. Importing of iCalendar format data is really only half the trick though; in my opinion the real value of iCalendar-formatted calendar is the ability to subscribe to them. Subscribing has a simple benefit over importing but that single benefit is of massive importance: a subscriber to an iCalendar calendar can periodically check to see if any updates have been made and, if they have, automatically update the local copy. The real benefit to the user is the productivity gain – a single update to an iCalendar means that all subscribers are automatically made aware of the change and there is zero effort on the part of the subscriber; as my former colleague Howard van Rooijen is fond of saying, “work smarter not harder” – nowhere is this edict more ably demonstrated than subscribing versus importing of calendars. If you want to read some more thoughts about iCalendar then go and read my past blog post Calendar syndication - My big hope for 2009's breakthrough technology or better still go and seek out Jon Udell who speaks very authoritatively on the issue of iCalendar. With this subject of iCalendar on my mind I was interested to discover (via Steve Clayton’s blog post Download the world cup fixtures) that the BBC had made a .ics file available containing all of the matches in the upcoming World Cup. As you can probably guess this was a file that was made available so that it could be imported into your calendar of choice. It had one obvious downside though, right now nobody knows who is going to be playing in the knock-out stages so the calendar looks like this: with no teams being named after 25th June. How much more useful would this calendar have been if the BBC had made it possible to subscribe to the calendar instead, thus the calendar could be updated with the teams for the knock out stages when they are known and every subscriber would have a permanently up-to-date record of all the fixtures in their calendar. Better still, the calendar could be updated with match results as well or perhaps even post a match report from the BBC sport pages; when calendars are made subscribable a sea of opportunity opens up for distribution of information. So with that in mind I have decided to go one better than the BBC. I have imported their .ics into a brand new Hotmail calendar and made it publicly available at the following URLs: HTML http://cid-dc1ed121af0476be.calendar.live.com/calendar/World+Cup+2010/index.html iCalendar webcal://cid-dc1ed121af0476be.calendar.live.com/calendar/World+Cup+2010/calendar.ics The link you’re really interested in is the second one - click on that and it should open up in your calendar software of choice. Or, if you want to view it in an online calendar such as Hotmail Calendar or Google Calendar, copy and paste that URL into the appropriate place. Some people have told me they’re having trouble with the iCalendar link in which case hit the HTML link and then click “View ICS” at the resultant web page: I shall endeavour to keep the calendar updated throughout the World Cup and even if I don’t you’re no worse off than if you had imported the BBC’s .ics file so why not give it a try? If I do keep it up to date then you will have a permanent record of the 2010 World Cup available in your calendar. Forever. If you have your calendar synced to your smartphone then you’ll be carrying match reports around with you without you having to do a single thing. Surely that’s worth a quick click isn’t it?   If you have any thoughts let me have them in the comments below. Thanks for reading. @Jamiet Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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• Monitoring Events in your BPEL Runtime - RSS Feeds?

  - by Ramkumar Menon

  @10g - It had been a while since I'd tried something different. so here's what I did this week!Whenever our Developers deployed processes to the BPEL runtime, or perhaps when a process gets turned off due to connectivity issues, or maybe someone retired a process, I needed to know. So here's what I did. Step 1: Downloaded Quartz libraries and went through the documentation to understand what it takes to schedule a recurring job. Step 2: Cranked out two components using Oracle JDeveloper. [Within a new Web Project] a) A simple Java Class named FeedUpdater that extends org.quartz.Job. All this class does is to connect to your BPEL Runtime [via opmn:ormi] and fetch all events that occured in the last "n" minutes. events? - If it doesn't ring a bell - its right there on the BPEL Console. If you click on "Administration > Process Log" - what you see are events.The API to retrieve the events is //get the locator reference for the domain you are interested in.Locator l = .... //Predicate to retrieve events for last "n" minutesWhereCondition wc = new WhereCondition(...) //get all those events you needed.BPELProcessEvent[] events = l.listProcessEvents(wc); After you get all these events, write out these into an RSS Feed XML structure and stream it into a file that resides either in your Apache htdocs, or wherever it can be accessed via HTTP.You can read all about RSS 2.0 here. At a high level, here is how it looks like. <?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'UTF-8'?><rss version="2.0">  <channel>    <title>Live Updates from the Development Environment</title>    <link>http://soadev.myserver.com/feeds/</link>    <description>Live Updates from the Development Environment</description>    <lastBuildDate>Fri, 19 Nov 2010 01:03:00 PST</lastBuildDate>    <language>en-us</language>    <ttl>1</ttl>    <item>      <guid>1290213724692</guid>      <title>Process compiled</title>      <link>http://soadev.myserver.com/BPELConsole/mdm_product/administration.jsp?mode=processLog&amp;processName=&amp;dn=all&amp;eventType=all&amp;eventDate=600&amp;Filter=++Filter++</link>      <pubDate>Fri Nov 19 00:00:37 PST 2010</pubDate>      <description>SendPurchaseOrderRequestService: 3.0 Time : Fri Nov 19 00:00:37                   PST 2010</description>    </item>   ...... </channel> </rss> For writing ut XML content, read through Oracle XML Parser APIs - [search around for oracle.xml.parser.v2] b) Now that my "Job" was done, my job was half done. Next, I wrote up a simple Scheduler Servlet that schedules the above "Job" class to be executed ever "n" minutes. It is very straight forward. Here is the primary section of the code.           try {        Scheduler sched = StdSchedulerFactory.getDefaultScheduler();         //get n and make a trigger that executes every "n" seconds        Trigger trigger = TriggerUtils.makeSecondlyTrigger(n);        trigger.setName("feedTrigger" + System.currentTimeMillis());        trigger.setGroup("feedGroup");                JobDetail job = new JobDetail("SOA_Feed" + System.currentTimeMillis(), "feedGroup", FeedUpdater.class);        sched.scheduleJob(job,trigger);         }catch(Exception ex) {            ex.printStackTrace();            throw new ServletException(ex.getMessage());        } Look up the Quartz API and documentation. It will make this look much simpler.   Now that both components were ready, I packaged the Application into a war file and deployed it onto my Application Server. When the servlet initialized, the "n" second schedule was set/initialized. From then on, the servlet kept populating the RSS Feed file. I just ensured that my "Job" code keeps only 30 latest events within it, so that the feed file is small and under control. [a few kbs]   Next I opened up the feed xml on my browser - It requested a subscription - and Here I was - watching new deployments/life cycle events all popping up on my browser toolbar every 5 (actually n)  minutes!   Well, you could do it on a browser/reader of your choice - or perhaps read them like you read an email on your thunderbird!.      

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• Silverlight Cream for December 18, 2010 -- #1012

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Mark Monster, Kevin Dockx, Jeremy Likness(-2-,-3-), Timmy Kokke, Den Delimarsky, Mike Snow, Samuel Jack(-2-), and Renuka Prasad(-2-). Above the Fold: Silverlight: "Trigger a Storyboard on ViewModel changes" Mark Monster WP7: "Microsoft Push Notification in Windows Phone 7" Renuka Prasad Shoutouts: SilverlightGal sent me the link to The Silverlight Dossier ... I think it's a pretty good start... additions I'd like to see are ways to submit to the various areas. Michael Crump put up a contest that runs from now to January 1st... Win a set of Infragistics Silverlight Controls with Data Visualization!... pretty cool, Michael! If you visit WynApse.com, you'll see I have a subscription to LearnVisualStudio.net... and now they have posted a batch of WP7 videos... 64 of them to be exact... wow!: New video series From SilverlightCream.com: Trigger a Storyboard on ViewModel changes Mark Monster has a great post up about triggering Storyboard on ViewModel changes using the DataTrigger from Blend... cool stuff, and you can also do GoToStateAction or other actions or build yourowndang Trigger Action... fun awaits! ... sorry it took a while to post, Mark... been a tad overloaded here! Working with the Silverlight Rich Text Box control Kevin Dockx has had a post up for a while at SilverlightShow where he takes a good look at the RichText control and it's various capabilities, including source so you can give it a dance yourself. Lessons Learned in Personal Web Page Part 3: Custom Panel and Listbox Jeremy Likness's part 3 of his Personal Web Page lessons learned is covering the tres-cool 3D Panel he did... and he's got it all explained out... building from scratch via a custom panel and a Listbox control... A Silverlight MVVM Feed Reader from Scratch in 30 Minutes Jeremy Likness has a video tutorial showing building an MVVM/Silverlight feedreader in 30 minutes ... plus a couple mods that he noticed after the fact... beat that HTML5 :) Jounce Part 8: Raising Property Changed In Jeremy Likness's latest post, he has number 8 in his series on his MVVM platform, Jounce. This time he's explaining the property changed notification, has a very cool way of doing it, and some interesting comments from readers. Dependency Injection, MVVM, Ninject and Silverlight Timmy Kokke has a great tutorial up with associated demo project on Dependency Injection in MVVM and Silverlight. Some hidden features in the Windows Phone 7 emulator Den Delimarsky shows how to get some of the hidden features on your WP7 emulator like the Call History, Call Settings, and Details about the numbers. Playing sound effects on Windows Phone 7 Mike Snow's latest tip is playing sound effects on your WP7 ... a little bit of XNA here and there, and badabing, badaboom, you got sound! Day 3 of my “Build a Windows Phone 7 game in 3 days” Challenge Samuel Jack has a couple more posts up about his 'Build a WP7 game in 3 Days' challenge... first up is Day 3 from 8:50 to 22:30 ... wow... long day! ... but he's got something good going now... some good external links also Day 3.5 of my “Build a Windows Phone 7 game in 3 days” Challenge Samuel Jack's 3rd day ended with another half-day added on to put on some finishing touches... again, some good external links... and he finished with this Say hello to Simon Squared, my 3.5 day old WP7 Game Microsoft Push Notification in Windows Phone 7 Renuka Prasad has a bunch of material up that I've not been aware of (how did that happen, people??) ... here's the first of a couple of his posts on Code Project ... a very nice tutorial on the Push Notification process... great diagrams and external links. Windows Phone 7 – Toast Notification Using Windows Azure Cloud Service Renuka Prasad has another WP7 post on CodeProject... this one on Toast Notification... and he's using Azure and WCF all rolled into it as well... great diagrams, descriptions and all the code. Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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• Acer aspire 5735z wireless not working after upgrade to 11.10

  - by Jon

  I cant get my wifi card to work at all after upgrading to 11.10 Oneiric. I'm not sure where to start to fix this. Ive tried using the additional drivers tool but this shows that no additional drivers are needed. Before my upgrade I had a drivers working for the Rt2860 chipset. Any help on this would be much appreciated.... thanks Jon jon@ubuntu:~$ ifconfig eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1d:72:ec:76:d5 inet addr:192.168.1.134 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::21d:72ff:feec:76d5/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:7846 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:7213 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:8046624 (8.0 MB) TX bytes:1329442 (1.3 MB) Interrupt:16 lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 RX packets:91 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:91 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:34497 (34.4 KB) TX bytes:34497 (34.4 KB) Ive included by dmesg output below [ 0.428818] NET: Registered protocol family 2 [ 0.429003] IP route cache hash table entries: 131072 (order: 8, 1048576 bytes) [ 0.430562] TCP established hash table entries: 524288 (order: 11, 8388608 bytes) [ 0.436614] TCP bind hash table entries: 65536 (order: 8, 1048576 bytes) [ 0.437409] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 524288 bind 65536) [ 0.437412] TCP reno registered [ 0.437431] UDP hash table entries: 2048 (order: 4, 65536 bytes) [ 0.437482] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 2048 (order: 4, 65536 bytes) [ 0.437678] NET: Registered protocol family 1 [ 0.437705] pci 0000:00:02.0: Boot video device [ 0.437892] PCI: CLS 64 bytes, default 64 [ 0.437916] Simple Boot Flag at 0x57 set to 0x1 [ 0.438294] audit: initializing netlink socket (disabled) [ 0.438309] type=2000 audit(1319243447.432:1): initialized [ 0.440763] Freeing initrd memory: 13416k freed [ 0.468362] HugeTLB registered 2 MB page size, pre-allocated 0 pages [ 0.488192] VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.2 [ 0.488254] Dquot-cache hash table entries: 512 (order 0, 4096 bytes) [ 0.488888] fuse init (API version 7.16) [ 0.488985] msgmni has been set to 5890 [ 0.489381] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 253) [ 0.489413] io scheduler noop registered [ 0.489415] io scheduler deadline registered [ 0.489460] io scheduler cfq registered (default) [ 0.489583] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.489633] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: irq 40 for MSI/MSI-X [ 0.489699] pcieport 0000:00:1c.1: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.489741] pcieport 0000:00:1c.1: irq 41 for MSI/MSI-X [ 0.489800] pcieport 0000:00:1c.2: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.489841] pcieport 0000:00:1c.2: irq 42 for MSI/MSI-X [ 0.489904] pcieport 0000:00:1c.3: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.489944] pcieport 0000:00:1c.3: irq 43 for MSI/MSI-X [ 0.490006] pcieport 0000:00:1c.4: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.490047] pcieport 0000:00:1c.4: irq 44 for MSI/MSI-X [ 0.490126] pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5 [ 0.490149] pciehp: PCI Express Hot Plug Controller Driver version: 0.4 [ 0.490196] intel_idle: MWAIT substates: 0x1110 [ 0.490198] intel_idle: does not run on family 6 model 15 [ 0.491240] ACPI: Deprecated procfs I/F for AC is loaded, please retry with CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS_POWER cleared [ 0.493473] ACPI: AC Adapter [ADP1] (on-line) [ 0.493590] input: Lid Switch as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0C0D:00/input/input0 [ 0.496771] ACPI: Lid Switch [LID0] [ 0.496818] input: Sleep Button as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0C0E:00/input/input1 [ 0.496823] ACPI: Sleep Button [SLPB] [ 0.496865] input: Power Button as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXPWRBN:00/input/input2 [ 0.496869] ACPI: Power Button [PWRF] [ 0.496900] ACPI: acpi_idle registered with cpuidle [ 0.498719] Monitor-Mwait will be used to enter C-1 state [ 0.498753] Monitor-Mwait will be used to enter C-2 state [ 0.498761] Marking TSC unstable due to TSC halts in idle [ 0.517627] thermal LNXTHERM:00: registered as thermal_zone0 [ 0.517630] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZS0] (67 C) [ 0.524796] thermal LNXTHERM:01: registered as thermal_zone1 [ 0.524799] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZS1] (67 C) [ 0.524823] ACPI: Deprecated procfs I/F for battery is loaded, please retry with CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS_POWER cleared [ 0.524852] ERST: Table is not found! [ 0.524948] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 32 ports, IRQ sharing enabled [ 0.680991] ACPI: Battery Slot [BAT0] (battery present) [ 0.688567] Linux agpgart interface v0.103 [ 0.688672] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: Intel GM45 Chipset [ 0.688865] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: detected gtt size: 2097152K total, 262144K mappable [ 0.689786] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: detected 65536K stolen memory [ 0.689912] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: AGP aperture is 256M @ 0xd0000000 [ 0.691006] brd: module loaded [ 0.691510] loop: module loaded [ 0.691967] Fixed MDIO Bus: probed [ 0.691990] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2 [ 0.692065] tun: Universal TUN/TAP device driver, 1.6 [ 0.692067] tun: (C) 1999-2004 Max Krasnyansky <[email protected]> [ 0.692146] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver [ 0.692181] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7: PCI INT C -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20 [ 0.692206] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.692210] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7: EHCI Host Controller [ 0.692255] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1 [ 0.692289] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7: debug port 1 [ 0.696181] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7: cache line size of 64 is not supported [ 0.696202] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7: irq 20, io mem 0xf8904800 [ 0.712014] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1a.7: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00 [ 0.712131] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 0.712136] hub 1-0:1.0: 6 ports detected [ 0.712230] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: PCI INT A -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23 [ 0.712243] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.712247] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: EHCI Host Controller [ 0.712287] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2 [ 0.712315] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: debug port 1 [ 0.716201] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: cache line size of 64 is not supported [ 0.716216] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: irq 23, io mem 0xf8904c00 [ 0.732014] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00 [ 0.732130] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 0.732135] hub 2-0:1.0: 6 ports detected [ 0.732209] ohci_hcd: USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver [ 0.732223] uhci_hcd: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver [ 0.732254] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20 [ 0.732262] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.732265] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.0: UHCI Host Controller [ 0.732298] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3 [ 0.732325] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.0: irq 20, io base 0x00001820 [ 0.732441] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 0.732445] hub 3-0:1.0: 2 ports detected [ 0.732508] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.1: PCI INT B -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20 [ 0.732514] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.1: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.732518] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.1: UHCI Host Controller [ 0.732553] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4 [ 0.732577] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.1: irq 20, io base 0x00001840 [ 0.732696] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 0.732700] hub 4-0:1.0: 2 ports detected [ 0.732762] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.2: PCI INT C -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20 [ 0.732768] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.2: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.732772] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.2: UHCI Host Controller [ 0.732805] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 5 [ 0.732829] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1a.2: irq 20, io base 0x00001860 [ 0.732942] hub 5-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 0.732946] hub 5-0:1.0: 2 ports detected [ 0.733007] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23 [ 0.733014] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.733017] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: UHCI Host Controller [ 0.733057] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 6 [ 0.733082] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: irq 23, io base 0x00001880 [ 0.733202] hub 6-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 0.733206] hub 6-0:1.0: 2 ports detected [ 0.733265] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: PCI INT B -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17 [ 0.733273] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.733276] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: UHCI Host Controller [ 0.733313] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 7 [ 0.733351] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: irq 17, io base 0x000018a0 [ 0.733466] hub 7-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 0.733470] hub 7-0:1.0: 2 ports detected [ 0.733532] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: PCI INT C -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18 [ 0.733539] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.733542] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: UHCI Host Controller [ 0.733578] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 8 [ 0.733610] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: irq 18, io base 0x000018c0 [ 0.733730] hub 8-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 0.733736] hub 8-0:1.0: 2 ports detected [ 0.733843] i8042: PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:KBD0,PNP0f13:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12 [ 0.751594] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1 [ 0.751605] serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12 [ 0.751732] mousedev: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice [ 0.752670] rtc_cmos 00:08: RTC can wake from S4 [ 0.752770] rtc_cmos 00:08: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0 [ 0.752796] rtc0: alarms up to one month, y3k, 242 bytes nvram, hpet irqs [ 0.752907] device-mapper: uevent: version 1.0.3 [ 0.752976] device-mapper: ioctl: 4.20.0-ioctl (2011-02-02) initialised: [email protected] [ 0.753028] cpuidle: using governor ladder [ 0.753093] cpuidle: using governor menu [ 0.753096] EFI Variables Facility v0.08 2004-May-17 [ 0.753361] TCP cubic registered [ 0.753482] NET: Registered protocol family 10 [ 0.753966] NET: Registered protocol family 17 [ 0.753992] Registering the dns_resolver key type [ 0.754113] PM: Hibernation image not present or could not be loaded. [ 0.754131] registered taskstats version 1 [ 0.771553] Magic number: 15:152:507 [ 0.771667] rtc_cmos 00:08: setting system clock to 2011-10-22 00:30:48 UTC (1319243448) [ 0.772238] BIOS EDD facility v0.16 2004-Jun-25, 0 devices found [ 0.772240] EDD information not available. [ 0.774165] Freeing unused kernel memory: 984k freed [ 0.774504] Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 10240k [ 0.774755] Freeing unused kernel memory: 20k freed [ 0.775093] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input3 [ 0.779727] Freeing unused kernel memory: 1400k freed [ 0.801946] udevd[84]: starting version 173 [ 0.880950] sky2: driver version 1.28 [ 0.881046] sky2 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16 [ 0.881096] sky2 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.881197] sky2 0000:02:00.0: Yukon-2 Extreme chip revision 2 [ 0.881871] sky2 0000:02:00.0: irq 45 for MSI/MSI-X [ 0.896273] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: addr 00:1d:72:ec:76:d5 [ 0.910630] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: version 3.0 [ 0.910647] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: PCI INT B -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19 [ 0.910710] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: irq 46 for MSI/MSI-X [ 0.910775] ahci: SSS flag set, parallel bus scan disabled [ 0.910812] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: AHCI 0001.0200 32 slots 4 ports 3 Gbps 0x33 impl SATA mode [ 0.910816] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: flags: 64bit ncq sntf stag pm led clo pio slum part ccc ems sxs [ 0.910821] ahci 0000:00:1f.2: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.941773] scsi0 : ahci [ 0.941954] scsi1 : ahci [ 0.942038] scsi2 : ahci [ 0.942118] scsi3 : ahci [ 0.942196] scsi4 : ahci [ 0.942268] scsi5 : ahci [ 0.942332] ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xf8904000 port 0xf8904100 irq 46 [ 0.942336] ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xf8904000 port 0xf8904180 irq 46 [ 0.942339] ata3: DUMMY [ 0.942340] ata4: DUMMY [ 0.942344] ata5: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xf8904000 port 0xf8904300 irq 46 [ 0.942347] ata6: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m2048@0xf8904000 port 0xf8904380 irq 46 [ 1.028061] usb 1-5: new high speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd [ 1.181775] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas [ 1.260062] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300) [ 1.261126] ata1.00: ATA-8: Hitachi HTS543225L9A300, FBEOC40C, max UDMA/133 [ 1.261129] ata1.00: 488397168 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (depth 31/32), AA [ 1.262360] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133 [ 1.262518] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA Hitachi HTS54322 FBEO PQ: 0 ANSI: 5 [ 1.262716] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0 [ 1.262762] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/232 GiB) [ 1.262824] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off [ 1.262827] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00 [ 1.262851] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA [ 1.287277] sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 [ 1.287693] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk [ 1.580059] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300) [ 1.581188] ata2.00: ATAPI: HL-DT-STDVDRAM GT10N, 1.00, max UDMA/100 [ 1.582663] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/100 [ 1.584162] scsi 1:0:0:0: CD-ROM HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GT10N 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5 [ 1.585821] sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 24x/24x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray [ 1.585824] cdrom: Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20 [ 1.585953] sr 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 [ 1.586038] sr 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 5 [ 1.632061] usb 6-1: new low speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd [ 1.908056] ata5: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300) [ 2.228065] ata6: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300) [ 2.228955] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver... [ 2.229052] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage [ 2.229054] USB Mass Storage support registered. [ 2.235827] scsi6 : usb-storage 1-5:1.0 [ 2.235987] usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-realtek [ 2.244451] input: B16_b_02 USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb6/6-1/6-1:1.0/input/input4 [ 2.244598] generic-usb 0003:046D:C025.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [B16_b_02 USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-1/input0 [ 2.244620] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid [ 2.244622] usbhid: USB HID core driver [ 3.091083] EXT4-fs (loop0): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null) [ 3.238275] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic- Multi-Card 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS [ 3.348261] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0 [ 3.351897] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk [ 47.138012] udevd[334]: starting version 173 [ 47.177678] lp: driver loaded but no devices found [ 47.197084] wmi: Mapper loaded [ 47.197526] acer_wmi: Acer Laptop ACPI-WMI Extras [ 47.210227] acer_wmi: Brightness must be controlled by generic video driver [ 47.566578] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint [ 47.584050] ndiswrapper version 1.56 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no) [ 47.620666] type=1400 audit(1319239895.347:2): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/sbin/dhclient" pid=624 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 47.620934] type=1400 audit(1319239895.347:3): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action" pid=624 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 47.621108] type=1400 audit(1319239895.347:4): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script" pid=624 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 47.633056] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810 [ 47.722594] i915 0000:00:02.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16 [ 47.722602] i915 0000:00:02.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 47.807152] ndiswrapper (check_nt_hdr:141): kernel is 64-bit, but Windows driver is not 64-bit;bad magic: 010B [ 47.807159] ndiswrapper (load_sys_files:206): couldn't prepare driver 'rt2860' [ 47.807930] ndiswrapper (load_wrap_driver:108): couldn't load driver rt2860; check system log for messages from 'loadndisdriver' [ 47.856250] usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper [ 47.861772] i915 0000:00:02.0: irq 47 for MSI/MSI-X [ 47.861781] [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 1 (10.10.2010). [ 47.861783] [drm] Driver supports precise vblank timestamp query. [ 47.861842] vgaarb: device changed decodes: PCI:0000:00:02.0,olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=io+mem:owns=io+mem [ 47.980620] fixme: max PWM is zero. [ 48.286153] fbcon: inteldrmfb (fb0) is primary device [ 48.287033] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 170x48 [ 48.287062] fb0: inteldrmfb frame buffer device [ 48.287064] drm: registered panic notifier [ 48.333883] acpi device:02: registered as cooling_device2 [ 48.334053] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/LNXVIDEO:00/input/input5 [ 48.334128] ACPI: Video Device [GFX0] (multi-head: yes rom: no post: no) [ 48.334203] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20080730 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0 [ 48.334644] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: power state changed by ACPI to D0 [ 48.334652] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: power state changed by ACPI to D0 [ 48.334673] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 21 [ 48.334737] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: irq 48 for MSI/MSI-X [ 48.334772] HDA Intel 0000:00:1b.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 48.356107] Adding 261116k swap on /host/ubuntu/disks/swap.disk. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:261116k [ 48.380946] hda_codec: ALC268: BIOS auto-probing. [ 48.390242] input: HDA Intel Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input6 [ 48.390365] input: HDA Intel Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0/input7 [ 48.490870] EXT4-fs (loop0): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro,user_xattr [ 48.917990] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver [ 48.950729] type=1400 audit(1319239896.675:5): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf" pid=941 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 48.951114] type=1400 audit(1319239896.675:6): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=941 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 48.977706] Synaptics Touchpad, model: 1, fw: 7.2, id: 0x1c0b1, caps: 0xd04733/0xa44000/0xa0000 [ 49.048871] input: SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input8 [ 49.078713] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: enabling interface [ 49.079462] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready [ 50.762266] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex, flow control rx [ 50.762702] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready [ 54.751478] type=1400 audit(1319239902.475:7): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-guest-session-wrapper" pid=1039 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 54.755907] type=1400 audit(1319239902.479:8): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/sbin/dhclient" pid=1040 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 54.756237] type=1400 audit(1319239902.483:9): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action" pid=1040 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 54.756417] type=1400 audit(1319239902.483:10): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script" pid=1040 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 54.764825] type=1400 audit(1319239902.491:11): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/bin/evince" pid=1041 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 54.768365] type=1400 audit(1319239902.495:12): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/bin/evince-previewer" pid=1041 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 54.770601] type=1400 audit(1319239902.495:13): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/bin/evince-thumbnailer" pid=1041 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 54.770729] type=1400 audit(1319239902.495:14): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/share/gdm/guest-session/Xsession" pid=1038 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 54.775181] type=1400 audit(1319239902.499:15): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/telepathy/mission-control-5" pid=1043 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 54.775533] type=1400 audit(1319239902.499:16): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/telepathy/telepathy-*" pid=1043 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 54.936691] init: failsafe main process (891) killed by TERM signal [ 54.944583] init: apport pre-start process (1096) terminated with status 1 [ 55.000373] init: apport post-stop process (1160) terminated with status 1 [ 55.005291] init: gdm main process (1159) killed by TERM signal [ 59.782579] EXT4-fs (loop0): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,commit=0 [ 60.992021] eth0: no IPv6 routers present [ 61.936072] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode [ 62.053949] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.16 [ 62.054005] NET: Registered protocol family 31 [ 62.054007] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized [ 62.054010] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized [ 62.054012] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized [ 62.054993] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized [ 62.058750] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized [ 62.058758] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized [ 62.058760] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11 [ 62.059428] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3 [ 62.059432] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast [ 62.460389] init: plymouth-stop pre-start process (1662) terminated with status 1 '

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• Open World Day 3

  - by Antony Reynolds

  A Day in the Life of an Oracle OpenWorld Attendee Part IV My third day was exhibition day for me!  I took the opportunity to wander around the JavaOne and OpenWorld exhibitions to see what might be useful for me when selling WebLogic, Coherence & SOA Suite.  I found a number of interesting vendors and thought I would share what I found here.  These are not necessarily endorsements, but observations on companies that I thought had interesting looking products that fill a need I have seen at customers. Highly Available EBS Upgrades A few years ago I worked with a customer that was a port authority.  They wanted to tie E-Business Suite into their operations to provide faster processing of cargo and passengers.  However they only had a 2 hour downtime window to perform upgrades.  This was not a problem for core database and middleware technology, this could accommodate those upgrade timescales easily.  It was a problem for EBS however so I intrigued to find Rapid E-Suite Inc offering an 11i to 12i upgrade service that claims to require no outage.  This could be a real boon to EBS customers like my port friends that need to upgrade without disruption to their business. Mobile on WebLogic I have come across a number of customers who want a comprehensive mobile solution, connected and disconnected operation and so forth.  ADF only addresses part of these requirements currently so I was excited to discover mFrontiers Inc offering an apparently comprehensive solution that should integrate easily with Oracle SOA Suite to mobile enable a SOA infrastructure.  The ability to operate without a network is important for many applications, particularly in industries that require their engineers to enter buildings to perform maintenance or repairs, because network access is not always available – many of my colleagues don’t have mobile access from their homes because they live in the middle of nowhere – and disconnected support is crucial in these situations. Sharepoint Connector for WebCenter Content Obviously Sharepoint is an evil pernicious intrusion into a companies IT estate but it is widely deployed and many people like it but also would like to take advantage of Oracle products such as WebCenter Content.  So I was encouraged to see that Fishbowl Solutions have created a connector for Sharepoint that allows it to bring in content from WebCenter, it looks like a valuable way to maintain the Sharepoint interface end users are used to but extend the range of content by pulling stuff (technical term for content) from WebCenter.   Load Balancing The Enterprise Deployment Guides are Oracles bible on building highly available FMW environments, and each of them requires a front end load balancer.  I have been asked to help configure F5 Load Balancers on a number of occasions over my time at Oracle and each time I come back to it I find more useful features have been added to the BigIP line of load balancers that F5 sell, many of their documents are tailored to FMW.  I like F5, they provide (relatively) easy to use products that do what they say on the side of the box.  They may not have all the bells and whistles of some of their more expensive competitors but they do the job and do it well!  Besides which I like their logo! Other Stuff I saw lots of other interesting products and services, such as a lightweight monitoring tool for Coherence, Forms migration services, JCAPS migration services and lots of cool freebies to take home to the children! A Quiet Night Wednesday night was the partner appreciation event and I had decided to go back to the hotel and have an early night.  I decided to attend the last session of the day – a Maven/Hudson/WebLogic tutorial.  I got the wrong hotel for the session and snuck in 20 minutes late at the back and starting working on the hands on workshop.  One of my co-attendees raised his hand for help and as the presenter came over to help he suddenly stopped and yelled – “Is that Antony”!  It was my old friend Steve Button who used to be based in Redwood Shores but is now a WebLogic guru PM in Australia.  It was good to catch up with him.  As he yelled out a guy with really bad posture turned around to see who he was talking to, this turned out to be my friend Simon Haslan, Oracle ACE from the UK.  After the tutorial Simon and I retired to the coffee shop to catch up and share stories.  2 and half hours later we decided it was time to retire, so much for an early night but great to renew old friendships and find out what real customers are worrying about.

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• Stand-Up Desk 2012 Update

  - by BuckWoody

  One of the more popular topics here on my technical blog doesn't have to do with technology, per-se - it's about the choice I made to go to a stand-up desk work environment. If you're interested in the history of those, check here: Stand-Up Desk Part One Stand-Up Desk Part Two I have made some changes and I was asked to post those here.Yes, I'm still standing - I think the experiment has worked well, so I'm continuing to work this way. I've become so used to it that I notice when I sit for a long time. If I'm flying, or driving a long way, or have long meetings, I take breaks to stand up and move around. That being said, I don't stand as much as I did. I started out by standing the entire day - which did not end well. As you can read in my second post, I found that sitting down for a few minutes each hour worked out much better. And over time I would say that I now stand about 70-80% of the day, depending on the day. Some days I don't even notice I'm standing, so I don't sit as often. Other days I find that I really tire quickly - so I sit more often. But in both cases, I stand more than I sit. In the first post you can read about how I used a simple coffee-table from Ikea to elevate my desktop to the right height. I then adjusted the height where I stand by using a small plastic square and some carpet. Over time I found this did not work as well as I'd like. The primary reason is that the front of these are at the same depth - so my knees would hit the desk or table when I sat down. Also, the desk was at a certain height, and I had to adjust, rather than the other way around.  Also, I like a lot of surface area on top of a desk - almost more of a table. Routing cables and wiring was a pain, and of course moving it was out of the question.   So I've changed what I use. I found a perfect solution for what I was looking for - industrial wire shelving: I bought one, built only half of it (for the right height I wanted) and arranged the shelves the way I wanted. I then got a 5'x4' piece of wood from Lowes, and mounted it to where the top was balanced, but had an over-hang  I could get my knees under easily.My wife sewed a piece of fake-leather for the top. This arrangement provides the following benefits: Very strong Rolls easily, wheels can lock to prevent rolling Long, wide shelves Wire-frame allows me to route any kind of wiring and other things all over the desk I plugged in my UPS and ran it's longer power-cable to the wall outlet. I then ran the router's LAN connection along that wire, and covered both with a large insulation sleeve. I then plugged in everything to the UPS, and routed all the wiring. I can now roll the desk almost anywhere in the room so that I can record, look out the window, get closer to or farther away from the door and more. I put a few boxes on the shelves as "drawers" and tidied that part up. Even my printer fits on a shelf. Laser-dog not included - some assembly required In the second post you can read about the bar-stool I purchased from Target for the desk. I cheaped-out on this one, and it proved to be a bad choice. Because I had to raise it so high, and was constantly sitting on it and then standing up, the gas-cylinder in it just gave out. So it became a very short stool that I ended up getting rid of. In the end, this one from Ikea proved to be a better choice: And so this arrangement is working out perfectly. I'm finding myself VERY productive this way. I hope these posts help you if you decide to try working at a stand-up desk. Although I was skeptical at first, I've found it to be a very healthy, easy way to code, design and especially present over a web-cam. It's natural to stand to speak when you're presenting, and it feels more energetic than sitting down to talk to others.

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• PeopleSoft at Alliance 2012 Executive Forum

  - by John Webb

  Guest Posting From Rebekah Jackson This week I jointed over 4,800 Higher Ed and Public Sector customers and partners in Nashville at our annual Alliance conference.   I got lost easily in the hallways of the sprawling Gaylord Opryland Hotel. I carried the resort map with me, and I would still stand for several minutes at a very confusing junction, studying the map and the signage on the walls. Hallways led off in many directions, some with elevators going down here and stairs going up there. When I took a wrong turn I would instantly feel stuck, lose my bearings, and occasionally even have to send out a call for help.    It strikes me that the theme for the Executive Forum this year outlines a less tangible but equally disorienting set of challenges that our higher education customer’s CIOs are facing: Making Decisions at the Intersection of Business Value, Strategic Investment, and Enterprise Technology. The forces acting upon higher education institutions today are not neat, straight-forward decision points, where one can glance to the right, glance to the left, and then quickly choose the best course of action. The operational, technological, and strategic factors that must be considered are complex, interrelated, messy…and the stakes are high. Michael Horn, co-author of “Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns”, set the tone for the day. He introduced the model of disruptive innovation, which grew out of the research he and his colleagues have done on ‘Why Successful Organizations Fail’. Highly simplified, the pattern he shared is that things start out decentralized, take a leap to extreme centralization, and then experience progressive decentralization. Using computers as an example, we started with a slide rule, then developed the computer which centralized in the form of mainframes, and gradually decentralized to mini-computers, desktop computers, laptops, and now mobile devices. According to Michael, you have more computing power in your cell phone than existed on the planet 60 years ago, or was on the first rocket that went to the moon. Applying this pattern to Higher Education means the introduction of expensive and prestigious private universities, followed by the advent of state schools, then by community colleges, and now online education. Michael shared statistics that indicate 50% of students will be taking at least one on line course by 2014…and by some measures, that’s already the case today. The implication is that technology moves from being the backbone of the campus, the IT department’s domain, and pushes into the academic core of the institution. Innovative programs are underway at many schools like Bellevue and BYU Idaho, joined by startups and disruptive new players like the Khan Academy.   This presents both threat and opportunity for higher education institutions, and means that IT decisions cannot afford to be disconnected from the institution’s strategic plan. Subsequent sessions explored this theme.    Theo Bosnak, from Attain, discussed the model they use for assessing the complete picture of an institution’s financial health. Compounding the issue are the dramatic trends occurring in technology and the vendors that provide it. Ovum analyst Nicole Engelbert, shared her insights next and suggested that incremental changes are no longer an option, instead fundamental changes are affecting the landscape of enterprise technology in higher ed.    Nicole closed with her recommendation that institutions focus on the trends in higher education with an eye towards the strategic requirements and business value first. Technology then is the enabler.   The last presentation of the day was from Tom Fisher, Sr. Vice President of Cloud Services at Oracle. Tom runs the delivery arm of the Cloud Services group, and shared his thoughts candidly about his experiences with cloud deployments as well as key issues around managing costs and security in cloud deployments. Okay, we’ve covered a lot of ground at this point, from financials planning, business strategy, and cloud computing, with the possibility that half of the institutions in the US might not be around in their current form 10 years from now. Did I forget to mention that was raised in the morning session? Seems a little hard to believe, and yet Michael Horn made a compelling point. Apparently 100 years ago, 8 of the top 10 education institutions in the world were German. Today, the leading German school is ranked somewhere in the 40’s or 50’s. What will the landscape be 100 years from now? Will there be an institution from China, India, or Brazil in the top 10? As Nicole suggested, maybe US parents will be sending their children to schools overseas much sooner, faced with the ever-increasing costs of a US based education. Will corporations begin to view skill-based certification from an online provider as a viable alternative to a 4 year degree from an accredited institution, fundamentally altering the education industry as we know it?

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• What's New In 11.1.2.1 (Talleyrand SP1)

  - by russ.bishop

  This release is primarily about bug fixes and that's what we spent the most time on, but we also addressed a number of other things: 1. Performance improvements We've done a lot of work to improve the performance of page load and execution times. For example, the View Compare page is about half the size it was previously! We've also done a lot of work on the server to improve performance of queries, exports, action scripts, etc. We implemented some finer-grained locking so fewer operations will block other users while they are in progress. We made some optimizations to improve performance when you have a lot of network or database latency as well. Just a few examples: An Import that previously took 8 GB of memory and hours to complete now runs in about 30 minutes and never takes more than 1 GB of RAM. Searching by exact Node Name now completes within 2 seconds even for a hierarchy with millions of nodes. Another search that was taking 30 seconds to run now completes in less than 5 seconds. 2. Upgrade support This release supports automatic upgrade from previous releases, built right into the console. 3. Console Improvements The Console has been reorganized and made easier to use. It is also much more multi-threaded so it responds quicker without freezing up when you save changes or when it needs to get status. 4. Property Namespaces Properties now have a concept called a Namespace. This is tied into the Application Templates to prevent conflicts with duplicate property names. Right now, if you have an AccountType and you pull in the HFM template, it also has AccountType so you end up creating properties with decorations on the name like "Account Type (HFM)". This is no longer necessary. In addition, properties within a namespace must have unique labels but they can be duplicated across namespaces. So in the Property Grid when you click on the HFM category, you just see "AccountType". When you click on MyCategory, you see "AccountType", but they are different properties with different values. Within formulas, the names are still unique (eg: Custom.AccountType vs HFM.AccountType). I'll write more about this one later. 5. Single Sign On DRM now supports Single Sign-On via HSS. For example, if you are using Oracle's OAM as your SSO solution then you configure HSS to use OAM just like you would before. You also configure DRM to use HSS, again just like before. Then you configure OAM to protect the DRM web app, like you would any other website. However once you do those things, users are no longer prompted to enter their username/password. They simply get redirected to OAM if they don't already have a login token, otherwise they pick their application and sail right into DRM. You can also avoid having to pick an application (see the next item) 6. URL-based navigation You can now specify the application you want to log into via the URL. Combined with SSO and your Intranet, it becomes easy to provide links on our intranet portal that take users directly into a specific DRM application. We also support specifying the Version, Hierarchy, and Node. Again, this can be used on your internal portal, but the scenarios get even more interesting when you are using workflow like Oracle BPEL you can automatically generate links within emails that will take users directly to a specific node in the UI. 7. Job status and cancellation A lot of the jobs now report their status and support true cancellation. Action Scripts also report a progress complete percentage since the amount of work is known ahead of time. 8. Action Script Options Action scripts support Option declarations at the top of the file so a script can self-describe (when specified in the file, the corresponding item in the file is ignored). For example: Option|DetectDelimiter Option|UsePropertyNames|true This will tell DRM to automatically detect the delimiter (a pipe symbol in this case) and that all references to properties are by Name, not by Label. Note that when you load a script in the UI, if you use Labels we automatically try to match them up if they are unique. Any duplicates are indicated and you are presented with a choice to pick which property you actually referred to. This is somewhat similar to Version substitution, but tailored for properties. There are other more minor changes and like I said earlier a lot of bug fixes and performance improvements. Hopefully I will get a chance to dig into some of these things in future blog posts.

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• Blog Buzz - Devoxx 2011

  - by Janice J. Heiss

  Some day I will make it to Devoxx – for now, I’m content to vicariously follow the blogs of attendees and pick up on what’s happening.  I’ve been doing more blog "fishing," looking for the best commentary on 2011 Devoxx. There’s plenty of food for thought – and the ideas are not half-baked.The bloggers are out in full, offering useful summaries and commentary on Devoxx goings-on.Constantin Partac, a Java developer and a member of Transylvania JUG, a community from Cluj-Napoca/Romania, offers an excellent summary of the Devoxx keynotes. Here’s a sample:“Oracle Opening Keynote and JDK 7, 8, and 9 Presentation•    Oracle is committed to Java and wants to provide support for it on any device.•    JSE 7 for Mac will be released next week.•    Oracle would like Java developers to be involved in JCP, to adopt a JSR and to attend local JUG meetings.•    JEE 7 will be released next year.•    JEE 7 is focused on cloud integration, some of the features are already implemented in glassfish 4 development branch.•    JSE 8 will be release in summer of 2013 due to “enterprise community request” as they can not keep the pace with an 18    month release cycle.•    The main features included in JSE8 are lambda support, project Jigsaw, new Date/Time API, project Coin++ and adding   support for sensors. JSE 9 probably will focus on some of these features:1.    self tuning JVM2.    improved native language integration3.    processing enhancement for big data4.    reification (adding runtime class type info for generic types)5.    unification of primitive and corresponding object classes6.    meta-object protocol in order to use type and methods define in other JVM languages7.    multi-tenancy8.    JVM resource management” Thanks Constantin! Ivan St. Ivanov, of SAP Labs Bulgaria, also commented on the keynotes with a different focus.  He summarizes Henrik Stahl’s look ahead to Java SE 8 and JavaFX 3.0; Cameron Purdy on Java EE and the cloud; celebrated Java Champion Josh Bloch on what’s good and bad about Java; Mark Reinhold’s quick look ahead to Java SE 9; and Brian Goetz on lambdas and default methods in Java SE 8. Here’s St. Ivanov’s account of Josh Bloch’s comments on the pluses of Java:“He started with the virtues of the platform. To name a few:    Tightly specified language primitives and evaluation order – int is always 32 bits and operations are executed always from left  to right, without compilers messing around    Dynamic linking – when you change a class, you need to recompile and rebuild just the jar that has it and not the whole application    Syntax  similarity with C/C++ – most existing developers at that time felt like at home    Object orientations – it was cool at that time as well as functional programming is today    It was statically typed language – helps in faster runtime, better IDE support, etc.    No operator overloading – well, I’m not sure why it is good. Scala has it for example and that’s why it is far better for defining DSLs. But I will not argue with Josh.”It’s worth checking out St. Ivanov’s summary of Bloch’s views on what’s not so great about Java as well. What's Coming in JAX-RS 2.0Marek Potociar, Principal Software Engineer at Oracle and currently specification lead of Java EE RESTful web services API (JAX-RS), blogged on his talk about what's coming in JAX-RS 2.0, scheduled for final release in mid-2012.  Here’s a taste:“Perhaps the most wanted addition to the JAX-RS is the Client API, that would complete the JAX-RS story, that is currently server-side only. In JAX-RS 2.0 we are adding a completely interface-based and fluent client API that blends nicely in with the existing fluent response builder pattern on the server-side. When we started with the client API, the first proposal contained around 30 classes. Thanks to the feedback from our Expert Group we managed to reduce the number of API classes to 14 (2 of them being exceptions)! The resulting is compact while at the same time we still managed to create an API that reflects the method invocation context flow (e.g. once you decide on the target URI and start setting headers on the request, your IDE will not try to offer you a URI setter in the code completion). This is a subtle but very important usability aspect of an API…” Obviously, Devoxx is a great Java conference, one that is hitting this year at a time when much is brewing in the platform and beginning to be anticipated.

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• Interview with Geoff Bones, developer on SQL Storage Compress

  - by red(at)work

  How did you come to be working at Red Gate? I've been working at Red Gate for nine months; before that I had been at a multinational engineering company. A number of my colleagues had left to work at Red Gate and spoke very highly of it, but I was happy in my role and thought, 'It can't be that great there, surely? They'll be back!' Then one day I visited to catch up them over lunch in the Red Gate canteen. I was so impressed with what I found there, that, three days later, I'd applied for a role as a developer. And how did you get into software development? My first job out of university was working as a systems programmer on IBM mainframes. This was quite a while ago: there was a lot of assembler and loading programs from tape drives and that kind of stuff. I learned a lot about how computers work, and this stood me in good stead when I moved over the development in the 90s. What's the best thing about working as a developer at Red Gate? Where should I start? One of the great things as a developer at Red Gate is the useful feedback and close contact we have with the people who use our products, either directly at trade shows and other events or through information coming through the product managers. The company's whole ethos is built around assisting the user, and this is in big contrast to my previous development roles. We aim to produce tools that people really want to use, that they enjoy using, and, as a developer, this is a great thing to aim for and a great feeling when we get it right. At Red Gate we also try to cut out the things that distract and stop us doing our jobs. As a developer, this means that I can focus on the code and the product I'm working on, knowing that others are doing a first-class job of making sure that the builds are running smoothly and that I'm getting great feedback from the testers. We keep our process light and effective, as we want to produce great software more than we want to produce great audit trails. Tell us a bit about the products you are currently working on. You mean HyperBac? First let me explain a bit about what HyperBac is. At heart it's a compression and encryption technology, but with a few added features that open up a wealth of really exciting possibilities. Right now we have the HyperBac technology in just three products: SQL HyperBac, SQL Virtual Restore and SQL Storage Compress, but we're only starting to develop what it can do. My personal favourite is SQL Virtual Restore; for example, I love the way you can use it to run independent test databases that are all backed by a single compressed backup. I don't think the market yet realises the kind of things you do once you are using these products. On the other hand, the benefits of SQL Storage Compress are straightforward: run your databases but use only 20% of the disk space. Databases are getting larger and larger, and, as they do, so does your ROI. What's a typical day for you? My days are pretty varied. We have our daily team stand-up meeting and then sometimes I will work alone on a current issue, or I'll be pair programming with one of my colleagues. From time to time we give half a day up to future planning with the team, when we look at the long and short term aims for the product and working out the development priorities. I also get to go to conferences and events, which is unusual for a development role and gives me the chance to meet and talk to our customers directly. Have you noticed anything different about developing tools for DBAs rather than other IT kinds of user? It seems to me that DBAs are quite independent minded; they know exactly what the problem they are facing is, and often have a solution in mind before they begin to look for what's on the market. This means that they're likely to cherry-pick tools from a range of vendors, picking the ones that are the best fit for them and that disrupt their environments the least. When I've met with DBAs, I've often been very impressed at their ability to summarise their set up, the issues, the obstacles they face when implementing a tool and their plans for their environment. It's easier to develop products for this audience as they give such a detailed overview of their needs, and I feel I understand their problems.

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• MCM Lab exam this week

  - by Rob Farley

  In two days I’ll’ve finished the MCM Lab exam, 88-971. If you do an internet search for 88-971, it’ll tell you the answer is –883. Obviously. It’ll also give you a link to the actual exam page, which is useful too, once you’ve finished being distracted by the calculator instead of going to the thing you’re actually looking for. (Do people actually search the internet for the results of mathematical questions? Really?) The list of Skills Measured for this exam is quite short, but can essentially be broken down into one word “Anything”. The Preparation Materials section is even better. Classroom Training – none available. Microsoft E-Learning – none available. Microsoft Press Books – none available. Practice Tests – none available. But there are links to Readiness Videos and a page which has no resources listed, but tells you a list of people who have already qualified. Three in Australia who have MCM SQL Server 2008 so far. The list doesn’t include some of the latest batch, such as Jason Strate or Tom LaRock. I’ve used SQL Server for almost 15 years. During that time I’ve been awarded SQL Server MVP seven times, but the MVP award doesn’t actually mean all that much when considering this particular certification. I know lots of MVPs who have tried this particular exam and failed – including Jason and Tom. Right now, I have no idea whether I’ll pass or not. People tell me I’ll pass no problem, but I honestly have no idea. There’s something about that “Anything” aspect that worries me. I keep looking at the list of things in the Readiness Videos, and think to myself “I’m comfortable with Resource Governor (or whatever) – that should be fine.” Except that then I feel like I maybe don’t know all the different things that can go wrong with Resource Governor (or whatever), and I wonder what kind of situations I’ll be faced with. And then I find myself looking through the stuff that’s explained in the videos, and wondering what kinds of things I should know that I don’t, and then I get amazingly bored and frustrated (after all, I tell people that these exams aren’t supposed to be studied for – you’ve been studying for the last 15 years, right?), and I figure “What’s the worst that can happen? A fail?” I’m told that the exam provides a list of scenarios (maybe 14 of them?) and you have 5.5 hours to complete them. When I say “complete”, I mean complete – you don’t get to leave them unfinished, that’ll get you ‘nil points’ for that scenario. Apparently no-one gets to complete all of them. Now, I’m a consultant. I get called on to fix the problems that people have on their SQL boxes. Sometimes this involves fixing corruption. Sometimes it’s figuring out some performance problem. Sometimes it’s as straight forward as getting past a full transaction log; sometimes it’s as tricky as recovering a database that has lost its metadata, without backups. Most situations aren’t a problem, but I also have the confidence of being able to do internet searches to verify my maths (in case I forget it’s –883). In the exam, I’ll have maybe twenty minutes per scenario (but if I need longer, I’ll have to take longer – no point in stopping half way if it takes more than twenty minutes, unless I don’t see an end coming up), so I’ll have time constraints too. And of course, I won’t have any of my usual tools. I can’t take scripts in, I can’t take staff members. Hopefully I can use the coffee machine that will be in the room. I figure it’s going to feel like one of those days when I’ve gone into a client site, and found that the problems are way worse than I expected, and that the site is down, with people standing over me needing me to get things right first time... ...so it should be fine, I’ve done that before. :) If I do fail, it won’t make me any less of a consultant. It won’t make me any less able to help all of my clients (including you if you get in touch – hehe), it’ll just mean that the particular problem might’ve taken me more than the twenty minutes that the exam gave me. @rob_farley PS: Apparently the done thing is to NOT advertise that you’re sitting the exam at a particular time, only that you’re expecting to take it at some point in the future. I think it’s akin to the idea of not telling people you’re pregnant for the first few months – it’s just in case the worst happens. Personally, I’m happy to tell you all that I’m going to take this exam the day after tomorrow (which is the 19th in the US, the 20th here). If I end up failing, you can all commiserate and tell me that I’m not actually as unqualified as I feel.

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• Top ten things that don't make sense in The Walking Dead

  - by iamjames

  For those of you that don't know, The Walking Dead is a popular American TV show on AMC about a group of people trying to survive in a zombie-filled world.Here's the top ten eleven things that don't make sense on the show (and have never been explained) 1)  They never visit stores.  No Walmarts, Kmarts, Targets, shopping malls, pawn shops, gas stations, etc.  You'd think that would be the first place you'd visit for supplies, but they never have.  Not once.  There was a tiny corner store they visited in a small town, and while many products were already gone they did find several useful items.  2)  They never raid houses.  Why not?  One would imagine that they would want to search houses for useful items, but they don't.3)  They don't use 2 way radios.  Modern 2-way radios have a 36-mile range.  That's probably best possible range, but even if the range is only 10% of that, 3.6 miles, that's still more than enough for most situations, for the occasional "hey zombies attacking can you give me a hand?" or "there's zombies walking by stay inside until they leave" or "remember to pick up milk at the store love mom".  And yes they would need batteries or recharging, but they have been using gas-powered generators on the show and I'm sure a car charger would work.4)  They use gas-guzzling vehicles.  Every vehicle they have is from the 80s or 90s except for the new Kia SUV there for product placement.  Why?  They should all be driving new small SUVs or hybrids.  Visit a dealership and steal more fuel-efficient vehicles, because while the Walmart's might be empty from people raiding them for supplies, I'm sure most people weren't thinking "Gee, I should go car shopping" when the infection hit5)  They drive a motorcycle.  Seriously?  Let's find the least protective vehicle and drive that.  And while motorcycles get reasonable gas mileage, 5 people in a SUV gets better gas mileage per person than 5 people all driving motorcycles so it doesn't make economical sense either.6)  They drive loud vehicles.  The motorcycle used is commonly referred to as a chopper and is about as loud as a motorcycle can get.  The zombies are attracted to loud noise, so wouldn't it make more sense to drive vehicles that makes less sound?  Because as soon as you stop the bike and get off you're surrounded by zombies that heard you coming.  And it's not just the bike, the ~1980s Chevy SUV in the show is also very loud.7)  They never run out of food.  Seems like that would be a almost daily struggle, keeping enough food available for about a dozen people, yet I've never seen them visit a grocery store or local convenience store to stock up.8)  They don't carry swords, machetes, clubs, etc.  Let's face it, biting is not a very effective means of attack.  It's good for animals because they have fangs and little else, but humans have been finding better ways of killing each other since forever.  So why doesn't everyone on the show carry a sword or machete or at least a baseball bat?  Anything is better than wasting valuable bullets all the time.  Sure, dozen zombies approaching?  Shoot them.  One zombie approaching?  Save the bullet, cut off it's head.  9)  They do not wear protective clothing.  Human teeth are not exactly the sharpest teeth in the animal kingdom.  The leather shoes your dog ripped to shreds within minutes would probably take you days to bite through.  So why do they walk around half-naked?  Yes I know it's hot in Atlanta, but you'd think they'd at least have some tough leather coats or something for protection.  Maybe put a few small vent holes in the fabric if it's really hot.  Or better:  make your own chainmail.  Chainmail was used for thousands of years for protection from swords and is still used by scuba divers for protection from sharks.  If swords and sharks can't puncture it, human teeth don't stand a chance.  10)  They don't build barricades or dig trenches around properties.  In Season 2 they stayed at a farm in the middle of no where.  While being far away from people is a great way to stay far away from zombies, it would still make sense to build some sort of defenses.  Hordes of zombies would knock down almost any fence, but what about a trench or moat?  Maybe something not too wide so it can be jumped over easily but a zombie would fall into because I haven't seen too many jumping zombies on the show.  11)  They don't live in a mall or tall office building.  A mall would be perfect.  They have large security gates designed to keep even hundreds of people from breaking in and offer lots of supplies and food.  They're usually hundreds of thousands of square feet and fully enclosed, one could probably live their entire life happily in a mall.  Tall office building with on-site cafeteria would be another good choice.  They also usually offer good security and office furniture could be pushed out of the windows to crush approaching zombies, and the cafeteria is usually stocked to provide food for hundreds or thousands of office workers so food wouldn't be a problem for a long time. So there you have it, eleven things that don't make sense in The Walking Dead.  Have any of your own you'd like to add or were one of these things covered in the show?  Let me know in the comments.

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• Adopt-a-JSR for Java EE 7 - Getting Started

  - by arungupta

  Adopt-a-JSR is an initiative started by JUG leaders to encourage JUG members to get involved in a JSR, in order to increase grass roots participation. This allows JUG members to provide early feedback to specifications before they are finalized in the JCP. The standards in turn become more complete and developer-friendly after getting feedback from a wide variety of audience. adoptajsr.org provide more details about the logistics and benefits for you and your JUG. A similar activity was conducted for OpenJDK as well. Markus Eisele also provide a great introduction to the program (in German). Java EE 7 (JSR 342) is scheduled to go final in Q2 2013. There are several new JSRs that are getting included in the platform (e.g. WebSocket, JSON, and Batch), a few existing ones are getting an overhaul (e.g. JAX-RS 2 and JMS 2), and several other getting minor updates (e.g. JPA 2.1 and Servlets 3.1). Each Java EE 7 JSR can leverage your expertise and would love your JUG to adopt a JSR. What does it mean to adopt a JSR ? Your JUG is going to identify a particular JSR, or multiple JSRs, that is of interest to the JUG members. This is mostly done by polling/discussing on your local JUG members list. Your JUG will download and review the specification(s) and javadocs for clarity and completeness. The complete set of Java EE 7 specifications, their download links, and EG archives are listed here. glassfish.org/adoptajsr provide specific areas where different specification leads are looking for feedback. Your JUG can then think of a sample application that can be built using the chosen specification(s). An existing use case (from work or a personal hobby project) may be chosen to be implemented instead. This is where your creativity and uniqueness comes into play. Most of the implementations are already integrated in GlassFish 4 and others will be integrated soon. You can also explore integration of multiple technologies and provide feedback on the simplicity and ease-of-use of the programming model. Especially look for integration with existing Java EE technologies and see if you find any discrepancies. Report any missing features that may be included in future release of the specification. The most important part is to provide feedback by filing bugs on the corresponding spec or RI project. Any thing that is not clear either in the spec or implementation should be filed as a bug. This is what will ensure that specification and implementation leads are getting the required feedback and improving the quality of the final deliverable of the JSR. How do I get started ? A simple way to get started can be achieved by following S.M.A.R.T. as explained below. Specific Identify who all will be involved ? What would you like to accomplish ? For example, even though building a sample app will provide real-world validity of the API but because of time constraints you may identify that reviewing the specification and javadocs only can be accomplished. Establish a time frame by which the activities need to be complete. Measurable Define a success for metrics. For example, this could be the number of bugs filed. Remember, quality of bugs is more important that quantity of bugs. Define your end goal, for example, reviewing 4 chapters of the specification or completing the sample application. Create a dashboard that will highlight your JUG's contribution to this effort. Attainable Make sure JUG members understand the time commitment required for providing feedback. This can vary based upon the level of involvement (any is good!) and the number of specifications picked. adoptajsr.org defines different categories of involvement. Once again, any level of involvement is good. Just reviewing a chapter, a section, or javadocs for your usecase is helpful. Relevant Pick JSRs that JUG members are willing and able to work. If the JUG members are not interested then they might loose motivation half-way through. The "able" part is tricky as you can always stretch yourself and learn a new skill ;-) Time-bound Define a time table of activities with clearly defined tasks. A tentative time table may look like: Dec 25: Discuss and agree upon the specifications with JUG Jan 1: Start Adopt-a-JSR for Java EE 7 Jan 15: Initial spec reading complete. Keep thinking through the application that will be implemented. Jan 22: Early design of the sample application is ready Jan 29: JUG members agree upon the application Next 4 weeks: Implement the application Of course, you'll need to alter this based upon your commitment. Maintaining an activity dashboard will help you monitor and track the progress. Make sure to keep filing bugs through out the process! 12 JUGs from around the world (SouJava, Campinas JUG, Chennai JUG, London Java Community, BeJUG, Morocco JUG, Peru JUG, Indonesia JUG, Congo JUG, Silicon Valley JUG, Madrid JUG, and Houston JUG) have already adopted one of the Java EE 7 JSRs. I'm already helping some JUGs bootstrap and would love to help your JUG too. What are you waiting for ?

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• Official and unofficial apps in the iOS, WP7, and Android marketplaces

  - by Bil Simser

  The last few months have seen people complaining about the lack of "official" apps in the Windows Phone marketplace. In fact a couple of months ago I wrote about this very thing here and if we really needed these official apps or could get by with third-party solutions. Recently a list of "Top 100 Mobile Apps" crossed my desk and it was curious. 40 iPhone apps, 40 Android apps, 10 WP7 apps, and 10 BlackBerry apps. Really? 10 for WP7? So I wondered if the media was just playing this up and maybe continuing to do what I think most vendors are doing which is treating Windows Phone as the red-headed step-child you keep in the basement while all along there's nothing wrong with them. I put together the list and went digging to see how many of the top 40 iOS and Android apps were also on the Windows Phone platform (sorry BlackBerry, you should just shut your doors right now). Here's the results. Note, these are all *free* apps. There might be other pay apps that have official representation across all mobile devices, I just chose to hunt these ones down because I'm cheap. In the top 40, I easily plucked out 20 that had official apps on all three platforms. These were: Amazon Mobile, ESPN Score Centre, Evernote, Facebook, Foursquare, Google Search, IMDB, Kindle, Shazam, Skype (yes, I know, in beta on WP7), SlackerRadio, The Weather Channel, TripIt, Twitter, Yelp, Flixster, Netflix, TuneIn Radio, Dictionary.com, Angry Birds, and Groupon. Hey, that's pretty good IMHO. 20 or so apps, all free, and all fully functional and supported (and in some cases, even better looking on the Windows Phone platform than the other platforms). A dozen or so more apps had official apps on some platforms but not all, so yes, there are gaps here. Here's a rundown of the hangers-on: Adobe Photoshop Express This looks great on the iOS platform and there's even an official version on droid. Hope Adobe brings this to WP7. There are other photo editing programs though if you go looking (maybe we can get Paint.NET to be ported to the phone?) BBC News A few apps offer news feeds but nothing official on the Windows Phone. The feeds are good but without video this app needs some WP7 love. Dropbox Again Windows Phone looses out here with no official app. There are a few third party ones that will help you along and offer most of the functionality that you need but no integration that an official app might bring. Epicurious Droid seems to be the trailer here as there are apps for it but nothing official (from what I can tell). Both iOS and WP7 have them. Flipboard It's sad with Flipboard as it's such a great newsreader. The only offiical app is for iOS but frankly the iPhone version looks horrible so without a tablet the experience here isn't that hot. Maybe with WP8. Currently there's nothing even remotely similar to this on the other platforms. Google+ Is anyone still using this? No official app for WP7 but some clones. Apparently there's no API so people are just screen scraping. Ugh. Mint.com This app has all kinds of buzz and a lot of votes on the application requests site. Official apps for iOS and droid. No WP7 love (yet). TED Quite a few TED apps on WP7 but nothing official. I think the third party ones suffice and some are pretty nice looking, taking advantage of the Metro interface and making for a good show. WebMD There's a third party app on WP7 here but nothing official. It seems to contain all the same information and functionality the official apps do so not sure if an official one is needed but its here for inclusion. The other apps in the top 40 were either very specific to the platform (for example all three of them have a "Find my Phone" app). There are others that are missing out on the WP7 platform like ooVoo, Words With Friends, and some of the Google apps (Google Voice for example). Since you can integrate your GMail account right into the Windows Phone (via linked inboxes) I'm not sure if there's a need for an official GMail app here. Looking at the numbers Windows Phone still gets the worst of the deal here with half a dozen highly popular "offical" apps that exist on the other mobile platforms and in some cases, nothing even remotely similar to the official app to compare. This doesn't include things like Instagram, PInterest, and others (don't get me started on those). Still, with over 20+ highly popular free apps all represented on all three mobile platforms I don't think it's a bad place to be in. The Windows Phone platform could get a little more love from the vendors missing here, or at least open up your APIs so the third party crowd can step in and take up the slack. P.S. these are just my observations and I might have got a few items wrong. Feel free to chime in with missing or incorrect information. I am after all human. Well, most of me is.

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• How to Customize Fonts and Colors for Gnome Panels in Ubuntu Linux

  - by The Geek

  Earlier this week we showed you how to make the Gnome Panels totally transparent, but you really need some customized fonts and colors to make the effect work better. Here’s how to do it. This article is the first part of a multi-part series on how to customize the Ubuntu desktop, written by How-To Geek reader and ubergeek, Omar Hafiz. Changing the Gnome Colors the Easy Way You’ll first need to install Gnome Color Chooser which is available in the default repositories (the package name is gnome-color-chooser). Then go to System > Preferences > Gnome Color Chooser to launch the program. When you see all these tabs you immediately know that Gnome Color Chooser does not only change the font color of the panel, but also the color of the fonts all over Ubuntu, desktop icons, and many other things as well. Now switch to the panel tab, here you can control every thing about your panels. You can change font, font color, background and background color of the panels and start menus. Tick the “Normal” option and choose the color you want for the panel font. If you want you can change the hover color of the buttons on the panel by too. A little below the color option is the font options, this includes the font, font size, and the X and Y positioning of the font. The first two options are pretty straight forward, they change the typeface and the size. The X-Padding and Y-Padding may confuse you but they are interesting, they may give a nice look for your panels by increasing the space between items on your panel like this: X-Padding:   Y-Padding:   The bottom half of the window controls the look of your start menus which is the Applications, Places, and Systems menus. You can customize them just the way you did with the panel.   Alright, this was the easy way to change the font of your panels. Changing the Gnome Theme Colors the Command-Line Way The other hard (not so hard really) way will be changing the configuration files that tell your panel how it should look like. In your Home Folder, press Ctrl+H to show the hidden files, now find the file “.gtkrc-2.0”, open it and insert this line in it. If there are any other lines in the file leave them intact. include “/home/<username>/.gnome2/panel-fontrc” Don’t forget to replace the <user_name> with you user account name. When done close and save the file. Now navigate the folder “.gnome2” from your Home Folder and create a new file and name it “panel-fontrc”. Open the file you just created with a text editor and paste the following in it: style “my_color”{fg[NORMAL] = “#FF0000”}widget “*PanelWidget*” style “my_color”widget “*PanelApplet*” style “my_color” This text will make the font red. If you want other colors you’ll need to replace the Hex value/HTML Notation (in this case #FF0000) with the value of the color you want. To get the hex value you can use GIMP, Gcolor2 witch is available in the default repositories or you can right-click on your panel > Properties > Background tab then click to choose the color you want and copy the Hex value. Don’t change any other thing in the text. When done, save and close. Now press Alt+F2 and enter “killall gnome-panel” to force it to restart or you can log out and login again. Most of you will prefer the first way of changing the font and color for it’s ease of applying and because it gives you much more options but, some may not have the ability/will to download and install a new program on their machine or have reasons of their own for not to using it, that’s why we provided the two way. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Enable User-Specific Wireless Networks in Windows 7 How to Use Google Chrome as Your Default PDF Reader (the Easy Way) How To Remove People and Objects From Photographs In Photoshop Ask How-To Geek: How Can I Monitor My Bandwidth Usage? Internet Explorer 9 RC Now Available: Here’s the Most Interesting New Stuff Here’s a Super Simple Trick to Defeating Fake Anti-Virus Malware The Splendiferous Array of Culinary Tools [Infographic] Add a Real-Time Earth Wallpaper App to Ubuntu with xplanetFX The Citroen GT – An Awesome Video Game Car Brought to Life [Video] Final Man vs. Machine Round of Jeopardy Unfolds; Watson Dominates Give Chromium-Based Browser Desktop Notifications a Native System Look in Ubuntu Chrome Time Track Is a Simple Task Time Tracker

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