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• C++ Undeclared Identifier (but it is declared?)

  - by Joshua

  I'm pretty sure I've included the qanda class, but when I try to declare a vector that contains it or a class of that type I get an error saying that qanda is undefined. Any idea what the problem might be? bot_manager_item.h #pragma once #include "../bot_packet/bot_packet.h" #include <vector> class bot_manager_item; #include "qanda.h" #include "bot_manager.h" class bot_manager_item { public: bot_manager_item(bot_manager* mngr, const char* name, const char* work_dir); ~bot_manager_item(); bool startup(); void cleanup(); void on_push_event(bot_exchange_format f); bool disable; private: void apply_changes(); bot_manager *_mngr; std::string _name; std::string _work_dir; std::string _message; std::string _message_copy; std::vector<qanda> games; qanda test; char _config_full_path[2600]; }; qanda.h #ifndef Q_AND_A #define Q_AND_A #include "users.h" #include "..\bot_packet\bot_packet.h" #include "bot_manager.h" #include <string> #include <algorithm> #include <map> #include <vector> #include <fstream> class qanda { public: qanda(bot_manager * manager, std::string name, std::string directory); ~qanda(){}; void room_message(std::string username, std::string user_message); void timer_tick(); private: // data members std::string question; std::string answer; std::string directory; std::string command_prefix; std::string name; Users users; std::map <std::string, std::string> questions_and_answers; int time_per_question; // seconds int time_between_questions; // seconds int timer; // milliseconds bool is_delayed; bool is_playing; bot_manager * manager; // functions void new_question(); void send_message(std::string msg); void announce_question(); void load_questions(); }; #endif

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• Opinions on collision detection objects with a moving scene

  - by Evan Teran

  So my question is simple, and I guess it boils down to how anal you want to be about collision detection. To keep things simple, lets assume we're talking about 2D sprites defined by a bounding box. In addition, let's assume that my sprite object has a function to detect collisions like this: S.collidesWith(other); Finally the scene is moving and "walls" in the scene can move, an object may not touch a wall. So a simple implementation might look like this (psuedo code): moveWalls(); moveSprite(); foreach(wall as w) { if(s.collidesWith(w)) { gameover(); } } The problem with this is that if the sprite and wall move towards each other, depending on the circumstances (such as diagonal moment). They may pass though each other (unlikely but could happen). So I may do this instead. moveWalls(); foreach(wall as w) { if(s.collidesWith(w)) { gameover(); } } moveSprite(); foreach(wall as w) { if(s.collidesWith(w)) { gameover(); } } This takes care of the passing through each other issue, but another rare issue comes up. If they are adjacent to each other (literally the next pixel) and both the wall and the sprite are moving left, then I will get an invalid collision since the wall moves, checks for collision (hit) then the sprite is moved. Which seems unfair. In addition, to that, the redundant collision detection feels very inefficient. I could give the player movement priority alleviating the first issue but it is still checking twice. moveSprite(); foreach(wall as w) { if(s.collidesWith(w)) { gameover(); } } moveWalls(); foreach(wall as w) { if(s.collidesWith(w)) { gameover(); } } Am I simply over thinking this issue, should this just be chalked up to "it'll happen rare enough that no one will care"? Certainly looking at old sprite based games, I often find situations where the collision detection has subtle flaws, but I figure by now we can do better :-P. What are people's thoughts?

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• meteor mongodb _id changing after insert (and UUID property as well)

  - by lommaj

  I have meteor method that does an insert. Im using Regulate.js for form validation. I set the game_id field to Meteor.uuid() to create a unique value that I also route to /game_show/:game_id using iron router. As you can see I'm logging the details of the game, this works fine. (image link to log below) Meteor.methods({ create_game_form : function(data){ Regulate.create_game_form.validate(data, function (error, data) { if (error) { console.log('Server side validation failed.'); } else { console.log('Server side validation passed!'); // Save data to database or whatever... //console.log(data[0].value); var new_game = { game_id: Meteor.uuid(), name : data[0].value, game_type: data[1].value, creator_user_id: Meteor.userId(), user_name: Meteor.user().profile.name, created: new Date() }; console.log("NEW GAME BEFORE INSERT: ", new_game); GamesData.insert(new_game, function(error, new_id){ console.log("GAMES NEW MONGO ID: ", new_id) var game_data = GamesData.findOne({_id: new_id}); console.log('NEW GAME AFTER INSERT: ', game_data); Session.set('CURRENT_GAME', game_data); }); } }); } }); All of the data coming out of the console.log at this point works fine After this method call the client routes to /game_show/:game_id Meteor.call('create_game_form', data, function(error){ if(error){ return alert(error.reason); } //console.log("post insert data for routing variable " ,data); var created_game = Session.get('CURRENT_GAME'); console.log("Session Game ", created_game); Router.go('game_show', {game_id: created_game.game_id}); }); On this view, I try to load the document with the game_id I just inserted Template.game_start.helpers({ game_info: function(){ console.log(this.game_id); var game_data = GamesData.find({game_id: this.game_id}); console.log("trying to load via UUID ", game_data); return game_data; } }); sorry cant upload images... :-( https://www.evernote.com/shard/s21/sh/c07e8047-de93-4d08-9dc7-dae51668bdec/a8baf89a09e55f8902549e79f136fd45 As you can see from the image of the console log below, everything matches the id logged before insert the id logged in the insert callback using findOne() the id passed in the url However the mongo ID and the UUID I inserted ARE NOT THERE, the only document in there has all the other fields matching except those two! Not sure what im doing wrong. Thanks!

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• How can I set an image for background of GUI interface?

  - by enriched

  hey everyone, im having some troubles displaying the background image for a GUI interface in java. Here is what i have at the moment, and with current stage of code it shows default(gray) background. import javax.swing.*; import java.awt.event.*; import java.util.Scanner; import java.awt.*; import java.io.File; import javax.imageio.ImageIO; import java.awt.image.BufferedImage; import java.io.IOException; ////////////////////////////////// // 3nriched Games Presents: // // MIPS The Mouse!! // ////////////////////////////////// public class mipsMouseGUI extends JFrame implements ActionListener { private static String ThePDub = ("mouse"); //the password JPasswordField pass; JPanel panel; JButton btnEnter; JLabel lblpdub; public mipsMouseGUI() { BufferedImage image = null; try { //attempts to read picture from the folder image = ImageIO.read(getClass().getResource("/mousepics/mousepic.png")); } catch (IOException e) { //catches exceptions e.printStackTrace(); } ImagePanel panel = new ImagePanel(new ImageIcon("/mousepics/neonglowOnwill.png").getImage()); setIconImage(image); //sets icon picture setTitle("Mips The Mouse Login"); setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); pass = new JPasswordField(5); //sets password length to 5 pass.setEchoChar('@'); //hide characters as @ symbol pass.addActionListener(this); //adds action listener add(panel); //adds panel to frame btnEnter = new JButton("Enter"); //creates a button btnEnter.addActionListener(this);// Register the action listener. lblpdub = new JLabel(" Your Password: "); // label that says enter password panel.add(lblpdub, BorderLayout.CENTER);// adds label and inputbox panel.add(pass, BorderLayout.CENTER); // to panel and sets location panel.add(btnEnter, BorderLayout.CENTER); //adds button to panel pack(); // packs controls and setLocationRelativeTo(null); // Implicit "this" if inside JFrame constructor. setVisible(true);// makes them visible (duh) } public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent a) { Object source = a.getSource(); //char array that holds password char[] passy = pass.getPassword(); //characters array to string String p = new String(passy); //determines if user entered correct password if(p.equals(ThePDub)) { JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Welcome beta user: USERNAME."); } else JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "You have enter an incorrect password. Please try again."); } public class ImagePanel extends JPanel { private BufferedImage img; public ImagePanel(String img) { this(new ImageIcon(img).getImage()); } public ImagePanel(Image img) { Dimension size = new Dimension(img.getWidth(null), img.getHeight(null)); } public void paintComponent(Graphics g) { g.drawImage(img, 0, 0, null); } } }

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• Connection between Properties of Entities in Data Oriented Design

  - by sharethis

  I want to start with an example illustrating my question. The following way it is done in the most games. class car { vec3 position; vec3 rotation; mesh model; imge texture; void move(); // modify position and rotation void draw(); // use model, texture, ... }; vector<car> cars; for(auto i = cars.begin(); i != cars.end(); ++i) { i->move(); i->draw(); } Data oriented design means to process the same calculation on the hole batch of data at once. This way it takes more advantage out of the processor cache. struct movedata { vec3 position; vec3 rotation; }; struct drawdata { mesh model; imge texture; }; vector<movedata> movedatas; vector<drawdata> drawdatas; for(auto i = movedatas.begin(); i != movedatas.end(); ++i) { // modify position and rotation } for(auto i = drawdatas.begin(); i != drawdatas.end(); ++i) { // use model, texture, ... } But there comes a point where you need to find other properties according to an entity. For example if the car crashes, I do not need the drawdata and the movedata any more. So I need to delete the entries of this entity in all vectors. The entries are not linked by code. So my question is the following. How are properties of the same entity conceptually linked in a data oriented design?

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• Getting caught in loops - R

  - by user334898

  I am looking at whether or not certain 'systems' for betting really do work as claimed, namely, that they have a positive expectation. One such system is based on the rebate on loss. You basically have a large master pot, say $1 million. Your bankroll for each game is $50k. The way it works, is as follows: 1) Start with $50k, always bet on banker 2) If you win, add the money to the master pot. Then play again with $50k. 3) If you lose(now you're at $30k) play till you either: (a) hit 0, you get a rebate of 10%. Begin playing again with $50k+5k=$55k. (b) If you win more than the initial bankroll, add the money to the master pot. Then play again with $50k. 4) Continue until you double the master pot. I just cant find an easy way of programming out the possible cases in R, since you can eventually go down an improbable path. For example, you start at 50k, lose 20, win 19, now you're at 49, now you lose 20, lose 20, now youre at 9, you either lose 9 and get back 5k or you win and this cycle continues until you either end up with more than 50k or hit 0 and get the rebate on the 50k and start again with $50k +5k. Here's some code i started, but i havent figured out a good way of handling the cases where you get stuck and keeping track of the number of games played. Thanks again for your help. Obviously, I understand you may be busy and not have time. p.loss <- .4462466 p.win <- .4585974 p.tie <- 1 - (p.win+p.loss) prob <- c(p.win,p.tie,p.loss) bet<-20 x <- c(19,0,-20) r <- 10 # rebate = 20% br.i <- 50 br<-200 #for(i in 1:100){ # cbr.i<-0 y <- sample(x,1,replace=T,prob) cbr.i<-y+br.i if(cbr.i > br.i){ br<-br+(cbr.i-br.i); cbr.i<-br.i; }else{ y <- sample(x,2,replace=T,prob); if( sum(y)< cbr.i ){ cbr.i<-br.i+(1/r)*br.i; br<-br-br.i} cbr.i<-y+ }else{ cbr.i<- sum(y) + cbr.i; }if(cbr.i <= bet){ y <- sample(x,1,replace=T,prob) if(abs(y)>cbr.i){ cbr.i<-br.i+(1/r)*br.i } }

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• Making a grid on iPhone using Opengl

  - by TheGambler

  I'm trying to make a grid similar to what you would see in these geo games(geoDefense/geometry wars). I'm wanting to apply separate transformation matrixes to each to create different effects. So, it makes since to me that I need to draw each square separately to that I can apply a different transformation to each one. The problem I'm having is mapping these grids out or connecting the squares. The coordinate systems is still confusing to me. I know it would be easy just to create a huge triangle strip but I'm not able to figure out a way to apply separate transformations to each square( quad ) if I use triangle strips. So first question: Can you apply different transformations to quads if you use a triangle strip to draw a huge grid? If so, any tips suggestions on how to do so? If not, how does one usually connect textures without using triangle strips? Here is my coord setup: const GLfloat zNear = 0.01, zFar = 1000.0, fieldOfView = 45.0; GLfloat size; glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST); glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION); size = zNear * tanf(DEGREES_TO_RADIANS(fieldOfView) / 2.0); CGRect rect = view.bounds; glFrustumf(-size, size, -size / (rect.size.width / rect.size.height), size / (rect.size.width / rect.size.height), zNear, zFar); glViewport(0, 0, rect.size.width, rect.size.height); Here is my draw: - (void)drawView:(GLView*)view; { int loop; //glColor4f(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.5); glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT); //Grid Loop for( loop = 0; loop < kNumberSectionsInGrid; loop++ ) { //glLoadIdentity(); static Matrix3D shearMatrix; Matrix3DSetShear(shearMatrix, 0.2, 0.2); static Matrix3D finalMatrix; //Matrix3DMultiply(temp2Matrix, shearMatrix, finalMatrix); glLoadMatrixf(shearMatrix); glTranslatef(-1.0f,(float)loop,-3.0f); glScalef(0.1, 0.1, 0.0); Vertex3D vertices[] = { {-1.0, 1.0, 0.5}, { 1.0, 1.0, 0.5}, { -1.0, -1.0, 0.5}, { 1.0, -1.0, 0.5} }; static const Vector3D normals[] = { {0.0, 0.0, 1.0}, {0.0, 0.0, 1.0}, {0.0, 0.0, 1.0}, {0.0, 0.0, 1.0}, }; GLfloat texCoords[] = { 0.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0 }; glEnableClientState(GL_VERTEX_ARRAY); glEnableClientState(GL_NORMAL_ARRAY); glEnableClientState(GL_TEXTURE_COORD_ARRAY); glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texture[0]); glVertexPointer(3, GL_FLOAT, 0, vertices); glNormalPointer(GL_FLOAT, 0, normals); glTexCoordPointer(2, GL_FLOAT, 0, texCoords); glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP, 0, 4); glDisableClientState(GL_VERTEX_ARRAY); glDisableClientState(GL_NORMAL_ARRAY); glDisableClientState(GL_TEXTURE_COORD_ARRAY); } } glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);

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• Illegal Start of Expression

  - by Kraivyne

  Hello there, I have just started to learn the very basics of Java programming. Using a book entitled "Programming Video Games for the Evil Genius". I have had an Illegal Start of Expression error that I can't for the life of me get rid of. I have checked the sample code from the book and mine is identical. The error is coming from the for(int i = difficulty; i = 0; i- - ) line. Thanks for helping a newbie out. import javax.swing.*; public class S1P4 {public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { int difficulty; difficulty = Integer.parseInt(JOptionPane.showInputDialog("How good are you?\n"+ "1 = Great\n"+"10 = Terrible")); boolean cont = false; do { cont = false; double num1 = (int)(Math.round(Math.random()*10)); double num2; do { num2 = (int)(Math.round(Math.random()*10)); } while(num2==0.0); int sign = (int)(Math.round(Math.random()*3)); double answer; System.out.println("\n\n*****"); if(sign==0) { System.out.println(num1+" times "+num2); answer = num1*num2; } else if(sign==1) { System.out.println(num1+" divided by"+num2); answer = num1/num2; } else if(sign==1) { System.out.println(num1+" plus "+num2); answer = num1+num2; } else if(sign==1) { System.out.println(num1+" minus "+num2); answer = num1-num2; } else { System.out.println(num1+" % "+num2); answer = num1%num2; } System.out.println("*****\n"); for(int i = difficulty; i >= 0; i- - ) { System.out.println(i+"..."); Thread.sleep(500); } System.out.println("ANSWER: "+answer); String again; again = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Play again?"); if(again.equals("yes")) cont = true; } while(cont); } }

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• How to add Items to GridView in C# Windows Store App (Win8)

  - by flexage

  To keep things simple let's just say I have a c# Windows Store Project for Windows 8 that has the following items: GridView (PlatformsGrid) List«PlatformSearchResult» (allPlatforms) DataTemplate (PlatformDataTemplate) in standardstyles.xaml allPlatforms is a collection of "PlatformSearchResult"objects populated from an online API, and has the following 3 properties: ID Name Alias I am able to add a new item to the gridview for each object that exists in my allPlatforms collection, however the items are blank and do not show the data from my objects. A quick summary of the current code looks like this: XAML Markup: <!-- Platforms Content --> <GridView x:Name="PlatformsGrid" Grid.Row="1" CanReorderItems="True" CanDragItems="True" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource PlatformDataTemplate}" > <GridView.ItemsPanel> <ItemsPanelTemplate> <WrapGrid MaximumRowsOrColumns="2" VerticalChildrenAlignment="Top" HorizontalChildrenAlignment="Center" /> </ItemsPanelTemplate> </GridView.ItemsPanel> </GridView> Data Template <!-- Platform Item Template --> <DataTemplate x:Key="PlatformDataTemplate"> <Grid Background="#FF939598" Height="250" Width="250"> <Image Source="/SampleImage.png" Stretch="UniformToFill"/> <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" Background="#CC000000" Height="90" VerticalAlignment="Bottom"> <TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}" Margin="10,3,0,0" Width="242" Height="62" TextTrimming="WordEllipsis" TextWrapping="Wrap" HorizontalAlignment="Left"/> <TextBlock Text="{Binding Alias}" Margin="10,2,0,0" Width="186" Height="14" TextTrimming="WordEllipsis" HorizontalAlignment="Left" FontSize="9" Opacity="0.49"/> </StackPanel> </Grid> </DataTemplate> Controlling Function private async void FetchItemInfo_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { // Get List of Top Games List<PlatformSearchResult> allPlatforms = new List<PlatformSearchResult>(); allPlatforms = await GamesDB.GetPlatforms(); // Dynamically Create Platform Tiles foreach (PlatformSearchResult platform in allPlatforms) { PlatformsGrid.DataContext = platform; PlatformsGrid.Items.Add(platform); } } How do I get the added items to show the appropriate object properties (ignoring the image for now), I'm just interested in populating the content of the TextBlocks. I appreciate any help anyone can provide! Thanks, Alex.

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• Methods in Customized View did not get invoke in AppDelegate, Why?

  - by NorthKyut

  I want the methods pauseGame in customized UIView - MyGameView get invoked when the phone is locked or interrupted. So I have a pauseGame method but it can't stop the timer when user lock screen (command+L). The lock screen did appear but the game still running at the background. So I added the testPause method to MyGameView and MyGameAppDelegate and and put a breakpoint to debug it. When screen locked it, the screen lock appeared and the code did stop at the breakpoint. But when I tried to step into the testPause method, it didn't take me to the method in MyGameView (it just passed it, not skipped) and no message was printed on terminal by NSLog. Why? What did I miss? // // MyGameAppDelegate.h // MyGame // #import <UIKit/UIKit.h> @class MyGameViewController; @class MyGameView; @interface MyGameAppDelegate : NSObject { UIWindow *window; MyGameViewController *viewController; MyGameView *view; } @property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIWindow *window; @property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet MyGameViewController *viewController; @property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet MyGameView *view; @end // // MyGameAppDelegate.m // MyGame // #import "MyGameAppDelegate.h" #import "MyGameViewController.h" #import "MyGameView.h" @implementation MyGameAppDelegate @synthesize window; @synthesize viewController; @synthesize view; - (void)applicationWillResignActive:(UIApplication *)application { /* Sent when the application is about to move from active to inactive state. This can occur for certain types of temporary interruptions (such as an incoming phone call or SMS message) or when the user quits the application and it begins the transition to the background state. Use this method to pause ongoing tasks, disable timers, and throttle down OpenGL ES frame rates. Games should use this method to pause the game. */ [view pauseGame]; [view testPause]; } @end // // MyGameView.h // MyGame @interface MyGameView : UIView { - (void)pauseGame; - (void)testPause; @end // // MyGameView.m // MyGame // #import "MyGameView.h" #import "AtlasSprite.h" #import "MyGameViewController.h" #import "SecondViewController.h" @implementation MyGameView - (void)pauseGame { [theTimer invalidate]; theTimer = nil; } - (void)testPause{ NSLog(@"TestPause"); } @end

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• OpenVPN Error : TLS Error: local/remote TLS keys are out of sync: [AF_INET]

  - by Lucidity

  Fist off thanks for reading this, I appreciate any and all suggestions. I am having some serious problems reconnecting to my OpenVPN client using Riseup.net's VPN. I have spent a few days banging my head against the wall in attempts to set this up on my iOS devices....but that is a whole other issue. I was however able to set it up on my Mac OS X specifically on my Windows Vista 32 bit BootCamp VM with relatively little trouble. To originally connect I only had to modify the recommended Config file very slightly (Config file included at the end of this post): - I had to enter the code directly into my config file - And change "dev tap" to "dev tun" So I was connected. (Note - I did test to ensure the VPN was actually working after I originally connected, it was. Also verified the .pem file (inserted as the coding in my config file) for authenticity). I left the VPN running. My computer went to sleep. Today I went to use the internet expecting (possibly incorrectly - I am now unsure if I was wrong to leave it running) to still be connected to the VPN. However I saw immediately I was not. I went to reconnect. And was (am) unable to. My logs after attempting to connect (and getting a connection failed dialog box) show everything working as it should (as far as I can tell) until the end where I get the following lines: Mon Sep 23 21:07:49 2013 us=276809 Initialization Sequence Completed Mon Sep 23 21:07:49 2013 us=276809 MANAGEMENT: >STATE:1379995669,CONNECTED,SUCCESS, OMITTED Mon Sep 23 21:22:50 2013 us=390350 Authenticate/Decrypt packet error: packet HMAC authentication failed Mon Sep 23 21:23:39 2013 us=862180 TLS Error: local/remote TLS keys are out of sync: [AF_INET] VPN IP OMITTED [2] Mon Sep 23 21:23:57 2013 us=395183 Authenticate/Decrypt packet error: packet HMAC authentication failed Mon Sep 23 22:07:41 2013 us=296898 TLS: soft reset sec=0 bytes=513834601/0 pkts=708032/0 Mon Sep 23 22:07:41 2013 us=671299 VERIFY OK: depth=1, C=US, O=Riseup Networks, L=Seattle, ST=WA, CN=Riseup Networks, [email protected] Mon Sep 23 22:07:41 2013 us=671299 VERIFY OK: depth=0, C=US, O=Riseup Networks, L=Seattle, ST=WA, CN=vpn.riseup.net Mon Sep 23 22:07:46 2013 us=772508 Data Channel Encrypt: Cipher 'BF-CBC' initialized with 128 bit key Mon Sep 23 22:07:46 2013 us=772508 Data Channel Encrypt: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication Mon Sep 23 22:07:46 2013 us=772508 Data Channel Decrypt: Cipher 'BF-CBC' initialized with 128 bit key Mon Sep 23 22:07:46 2013 us=772508 Data Channel Decrypt: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication Mon Sep 23 22:07:46 2013 us=772508 Control Channel: TLSv1, cipher TLSv1/SSLv3 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, 2048 bit RSA So I have searched for a solution online and I have included what I have attempted below, however I fear (know) I am not knowledgeable enough in this area to fix this myself. I apologize in advance for my ignorance. I do tech support for a living, but not this kind of tech support unfortunately. Other notes and troubleshooting done - - Windows Firewall is disabled completely, as well as other Anti-virus programs - Tor is disabled completely - No Proxies running - Time is correct in all locations - Router Firmware is up to date - Able to connect to the internet and as far as I can tell all necessary ports are open. - No settings have been altered since I was able to connect successfully. - Ethernet as well as wifi connections attempted, resulted in same error. Also tried adding the following lines to my config file (without success or change in error): persist-key persist-tun proto tcp (after reading that this error generally occurs on UDP connections, and is extremely rare on TCP) resolv-retry infinite (thinking the connection may have timed out since the issues occurred after leaving VPN connected during about 10 hrs of computer in sleep mode) All attempts resulted in exact same error code included at the top of this post. The original suggestions I found online stated - (regarding the TLS Error) - This error should resolve itself within 60 seconds, or if not quit wait 120 seconds and try again. (Which isnt the case here...) (regarding the Out of Sync" error) - If you continue to get "out of sync" errors and the link does not come up, then it means that something is probably wrong with your config file. You must use either ping and ping-restart on both sides of the connection, or keepalive on the server side of a client/server connection, in order to gracefully recover from "local/remote TLS keys are out of sync" errors. I wouldn't be surprised if my config file is lacking, or not correct. However I can confirm I followed the instructions to a tee. And was able to connect originally (and have not modified my settings or config file since I was able to connect to when the error began occurring). I have a very simple config file: client dev tun tun-mtu 1500 remote vpn.riseup.net auth-user-pass ca RiseupCA.pem redirect-gateway verb 4 <ca> -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- [OMITTED] -----END CERTIFICATE----- </ca> I would really appreciate any help or suggestions. I am at a total loss here, I know I'm asking a lot here. Though I am a new user on this site I help others on many forums including Microsoft's support community and especially Apple's support communities, so I will definitely pass on anything I learn here to help others. Thanks so so so much in advance for reading this.

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• Graphics card initialisation problems when booting - requires a "double" boot

  - by DMA57361

  Problem Outline When booting from cold (and my machine is disconnected from main power when off, but leaving it connected doesn't help) the graphics card (single PCI-e card GeForce 460) will not initialise on the first boot, leaving me with the motherboards on-board graphics (which kick in automatically if no PCI-e card is found). However, if I restart the computer - normally I do this by powering it off just after the numlock lights up on the keyboard (ie, just after POST/BIOS and before Windows takes over), wait for the system to whirr down, and power up again - the graphics card will work correctly. Once double-booted in this matter the system seems to work correctly - with no noticeable problems. This is reproducible every time I try to boot - it has been working like this for about a month now. Background Information Sept 2010 - I suffered a hardware malfunction (crashes in Windows and graphics corruption on BIOS screens). By way of spare hardware I determined that replacing the PSU removed the issue, so I replaced the PSU with a brand new one of slightly higher power (460W replaced with 500W). Oct 2010 - The problem resurfaced. I purchased a new graphics card (GeForce 460), which removed the problem. The new graphics card immediately started having the boot initialisation problems mentioned. I presumed there was a motherboard fault all along, but because the system worked once booted, and I was temporarily out of spare money, I left the system alone and continued to use it. Early/Mid Dec 2010 - In the space of 5 days I recieved 3 instances of hard drive corruption (seemlingly fixed by chkdsk and sfc in each case...). Since I was already under the impression the motherboard was faulty, I purchased a new one ASAP, this also required new RAM (as I dropped from 4 slots to 2 and didn't want to drop mem quantity). Past 3-4 weeks - With a brand new PSU, Graphics Card, Motherboard and RAM I'm suffering the problem outlined above. So, what could be causing this and how do I can resolve it? Additional Notes Once double-booted the system seems to work entirely correctly. The graphics card problem has occured on two entirely different motherboards. I do not have the opportunity to test the graphics card in a different computer (I've only the old motherboard, which is dubious, or a really old desktop that still has an AGP port). Under load (ie, modern games for long enough for temperatures to plateau) the system remains stable and performs as expected. The software that came with the new motherboard and SpeenFan both report all voltages and temperatures are within nominal bounds, when idle and when under load. I've looking over the BIOS settings for my motherboard multiple times and can find nothing that helps. This system is configured to run with everything at standard levels - no overclocking. I've tried booting the system with only the mobo and graphics card connected (thinking maybe my new PSU was too weak for the new gfx card, even though it meets the quoted PSU requirements for the card) but the same problem persists (and really if the PSU was weak I'd have problems with the system under load). When the gfx card does not initialise the fan on its cooling unit is running, possibly slower than otherwise - but this measurement is by eye and so unreliable.

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• Portable scripting language for a multi-server admin?

  - by Aaron

  Please Note: Portable as in portableapps.com, not the traditional definition. Originally posted on stackoverflow.com, asking here at another user's suggestion. I'm a DBA and sysadmin, mostly for Windows machines running SQL Server. I'm looking for a programming/scripting language for Windows that doesn't require Admin access or an installer, needing no install process other than expanding it into a folder. My intent is to have a language for automation on which I can standardize. Up to this point, I've been using a combination of batch files and Unix shell, using sh.exe from UnxUtils but it's far from a perfect solution. I've evaluated a handful of options, all of them have at least one serious shortcoming or another. I have a strong preference for something open source or dual license, but I'm more interested in finding the right tool than anything else. Not interested that anything that relies on Cygwin or Java, but at this point I'd be fine with something that needs .NET. Requirements: Manageable footprint (1-100 files, under 30 MB installed) Run on Windows XP and Server (2003+) No installer (exe, msi) Works with external pipes, processes, and files Support for MS SQL Server or ODBC connections Bonus Points: Open Source FFI for calling functions in native DLLs GUI support (native or gtk, wx, fltk, etc) Linux, AIX, and/or OS X support Dynamic, object oriented and/or functional, interpreted or bytecode compiled; interactive development Able to package or compile scripts into executables So far I've tried: Ruby: 148 MB on disk, 23000 files Portable Python: 54 MB on disk, 2800 files Strawberry Perl: 123 MB on disk, 3600 files REBOL: Great, except closed source and no MSSQL or ODBC in free version Squeak Smalltalk: Great, except poor support for scripting ---- cut: points of clarification ---- Why all the limitations? I realize some of my criteria seem arbitrarily confining. It's primarily a product my environment. I work as a SQL Server DBA and backup Unix admin at a division of a large company. In addition to near a hundred boxes running some version or another of SQL Server on Windows, I also support the SQL Server Express Edition installs on over a thousand machines in the field. Because of our security policies, I don't login rights on every machine. Often enough, an issue comes up and I'm given local Admin for some period of time. Often enough, it's some box I've never touched and don't have my own environment setup yet. I may have temporary admin rights on the box, but I'm not the admin for the machine- I'm just the DBA. I've no interest in stepping on the toes of the Windows admins, nor do I want to take over any of their duties. If I bring up "installing" something, suddenly it becomes a matter of interest for Production Control and the Windows admins; if I'm copying up a script, no one minds. The distinction may not mean much to the readers, but if someone gets the wrong idea I've suddenly got a long wait and significant overhead before I can get the tool installed and get the problem solved. That's why I want something that can be copied and run in the manner of a portable app. What about the small footprint? My company has three divisions, each in a different geographical location, and one of them is a new acquisition. We have different production control/security policies in each division. I support our MSSQL databases in all three divisions. The field machines are spread around the US, sometimes connecting to the VPN over very slow links. Installing Ruby \using psexec has taken a long time over these connections. In these instances, the bigger time waster seems to be archives with thousands and thousands of files rather than their sheer size. You could say I'm spoiled by Unix, where the admins usually have at least some modern scripting language installed; I'd use PowerShell, but I don't know it well and more importantly it isn't everywhere I need to work. It's a regular occurrence that I need to write, deploy and execute some script on short notice on some machine I've never on which logged in. Since having Ruby or something similar installed on every machine I'll ever need to touch is effectively impossible because of the approvals, time and and Windows admin labor needed I makes more sense find a solution that allows me to work on my own terms.

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• Nginx no longer servers uwsgi application behind HAProxy - Looks for static file instead

  - by Ralph

  We implemented our web application using web2py. It consists of several modules offering a REST API at various resources (e.g. /dids, /replicas, ...). The API is used by clients implementing requests.py. My problem is that our web app works fine if it's behind HAProxy and hosted by Apache using mod_wsgi. It also works fine if the clients interact with nginx directly. It doesn't work though when using HAProxy in front of nginx. My guess is that HAProxy somehow modifies the request and thus nginx behaves differently i.e. looking for a static file instead of calling the WSGI container. Unfortunately I can't figure out what's exactly going (wr)on(g). Here are the relevant config sections of these three component's config files. At least I guess they are interesting. If you miss anything, please let me know. 1) haproxy.conf frontend app-lb bind loadbalancer:443 ssl crt /etc/grid-security/hostcertkey.pem default_backend nginx-servers mode http backend nginx-servers balance leastconn option forwardfor server nginx-01 nginx-server-int-01.domain.com:80 check 2) nginx.conf: sendfile off; #tcp_nopush on; keepalive_timeout 65; include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf; server { server_name nginx-server-int-01.domain.com; root /path/to/app/; location / { uwsgi_pass unix:///tmp/app.sock; include uwsgi_params; uwsgi_read_timeout 600; # Requests can run for a serious long time } 3) uwsgi.ini [uwsgi] chdir = /path/to/app/ chmod-socket = 777 no-default-app = True socket = /tmp/app.sock manage-script-name = True mount = /dids=did.py mount = /replicas=replica.py callable = application Now when I let my clients go against nginx-server-int-01.domain.com everything is fine. In the access.log of nginx lines like these are appearing: 128.142.XXX.XX0 - - [23/Aug/2014:01:29:20 +0200] "POST /dids/attachments HTTP/1.1" 201 17 "-" "python-requests/2.3.0 CPython/2.6.6 Linux/2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64" "-" 128.142.XXX.XX0 - - [23/Aug/2014:01:29:20 +0200] "POST /dids/attachments HTTP/1.1" 201 17 "-" "python-requests/2.3.0 CPython/2.6.6 Linux/2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64" "-" 128.142.XXX.XX0 - - [23/Aug/2014:01:29:20 +0200] "POST /dids/user.ogueta/cnt_mc12_8TeV.16304.stream_name_too_long.other.notype.004202218365415e990b9997ea859f20.user/dids HTTP/1.1" 201 17 "-" "python-requests/2.3.0 CPython/2.6.6 Linux/2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64" "-" 128.142.XXX.XX0 - - [23/Aug/2014:01:29:20 +0200] "POST /replicas/list HTTP/1.1" 200 5282 "-" "python-requests/2.3.0 CPython/2.6.6 Linux/2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64" "-" 128.142.XXX.XX0 - - [23/Aug/2014:01:29:20 +0200] "POST /replicas/list HTTP/1.1" 200 5094 "-" "python-requests/2.3.0 CPython/2.6.6 Linux/2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64" "-" 128.142.XXX.XX0 - - [23/Aug/2014:01:29:20 +0200] "POST /replicas/list HTTP/1.1" 200 528 "-" "python-requests/2.3.0 CPython/2.6.6 Linux/2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64" "-" 128.142.XXX.XX0 - - [23/Aug/2014:01:29:21 +0200] "GET /dids/mc13_14TeV/dids/search?project=mc13_14TeV&stream_name=%2Adummy&type=dataset&datatype=NTUP_SMDYMUMU HTTP/1.1" 401 73 "-" "python-requests/2.3.0 CPython/2.6.6 Linux/2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64" "-" 128.142.XXX.XX0 - - [23/Aug/2014:01:29:21 +0200] "POST /replicas/list HTTP/1.1" 200 713 "-" "python-requests/2.3.0 CPython/2.6.6 Linux/2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64" "-" 128.142.XXX.XX0 - - [23/Aug/2014:01:29:21 +0200] "POST /dids/attachments HTTP/1.1" 201 17 "-" "python-requests/2.3.0 CPython/2.6.6 Linux/2.6.32-358.23.2.el6.x86_64" "-" But when I switch the clients to go against HAProxy (loadbalancer.domain.com:443), the error.log of nginx shows lines like these: 2014/08/23 01:26:01 [error] 1705#0: *21231 open() "/usr/share/nginx/html/dids/attachments" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 128.142.XXX.XX1, server: localhost, request: "POST /dids/attachments HTTP/1.1", host: "loadbalancer.domain.com" 2014/08/23 01:26:02 [error] 1705#0: *21232 open() "/usr/share/nginx/html/replicas/list" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 128.142.XXX.XX1, server: localhost, request: "POST /replicas/list HTTP/1.1", host: "loadbalancer.domain.com" 2014/08/23 01:26:02 [error] 1705#0: *21233 open() "/usr/share/nginx/html/dids/attachments" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 128.142.XXX.XX1, server: localhost, request: "POST /dids/attachments HTTP/1.1", host: "loadbalancer.domain.com" 2014/08/23 01:26:02 [error] 1705#0: *21234 open() "/usr/share/nginx/html/replicas/list" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 128.142.XXX.XX1, server: localhost, request: "POST /replicas/list HTTP/1.1", host: "loadbalancer.domain.com" 2014/08/23 01:26:02 [error] 1705#0: *21235 open() "/usr/share/nginx/html/dids/attachments" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 128.142.XXX.XXX, server: localhost, request: "POST /dids/attachments HTTP/1.1", host: "loadbalancer" 2014/08/23 01:26:02 [error] 1705#0: *21238 open() "/usr/share/nginx/html/replicas/list" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 128.142.XXX.XXX, server: localhost, request: "POST /replicas/list HTTP/1.1", host: "loadbalancer.domain.com" 2014/08/23 01:26:02 [error] 1705#0: *21239 open() "/usr/share/nginx/html/dids/attachments" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 128.142.XXX.XXX, server: localhost, request: "POST /dids/attachments HTTP/1.1", host: "loadbalancer.domain.com" 2014/08/23 01:26:02 [error] 1705#0: *21242 open() "/usr/share/nginx/html/replicas/list" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 128.142.XXX.XXX, server: localhost, request: "POST /replicas/list HTTP/1.1", host: "loadbalancer.domain.com" 2014/08/23 01:26:02 [error] 1705#0: *21244 open() "/usr/share/nginx/html/dids/attachments" failed (2: No such file or directory), client: 128.142.XXX.XXX, server: localhost, request: "POST /dids/attachments HTTP/1.1", host: "loadbalancer.domain.com" As you can see, that request looks the same, only the client IP changed, from the client's host to the one from loadbalancer.domain.com. But due to what ever reasons ngxin seems to assume that it is a static file to be served which eventually results in the file not found message. I searched the web for multiple hours already, but without much luck so far. Any help is very much appreciated. Cheers, Ralph

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• Bad disks in ancient server

  - by Joel Coel

  I have a 1998-era Netware 3.12 server that runs everything on our campus: general ledger, purchasing, payroll, student information, grades, you name it. The server has an Adaptec RAID controller with two volumes: RAID 1, 2 17GB scsi disks, Seagate ST318417W RAID 5, 3 4GB scsi disks, 2 Seagate ST34573W and 1 ST34572W. We are currently in the early stages of a project to replace this system, but you don't just jump into a new system like that and so I need to keep this server running until at least November 2011. This week we had not one but two hard drives fail. Thankfully they are from different volumes and we're able to keep running for the moment, but given the close nature of these failures I have serious doubts that I'll be able to avoid catastrophic failure from this server through the November target as is without restoring the RAID redundancy — it'll only take one more drive failure anywhere and I'm completely hosed. We are fortunate enough to have exact match "spares" lying around for both drives, but the spares are in unknown condition. I tried swapping just them in, but the RAID controller isn't smart enough to handle this and it renders the system unbootable. As for the RAID controller itself, there is utility I can get into during POST via a Ctrl-A shortcut, but I can't do much useful from there. To actually manage volumes I must first boot in to Netware, at which point I can use CI/O Array Management Software Version 2.0 to actually look at volume information. I suspect that the normal way to manage things is to boot from a special floppy with the controller software on it, but that floppy is long gone. Going through the options in the RAID software, I think the only supported way to replace a disk in an existing RAID volume is to physically add the disk, boot up and configure it as a "spare" for a volume, force the volume to use the spare to replace an existing down disk (and at this point I'm only guessing) so that the down disk becomes the spare, repair the volume, remove the spare from the volume, and then shut down and remove the disk. Then start all over for the other failed disk. All this amounts to a lot of downtime, assuming I can even make it work and that my spares are any good. As for finding reliable spares, I have no clue where to even begin looking to find a new 4GB scsi drive, or even which exact scsi system I'm looking for, as it's gone through a few different iterations over time. Another option is to migrate this to a virtual machine (hyper-v), but all previous attempts we've made in this area have failed to get very far. When this machine was installed I was just graduating from high school, and so it requires lower level knowledge of netware and dos than I ever developed, or if I did have since forgotten (I'm not exactly a dos neophyte, either). Part of my problem is this is a high-use server, and taking it down for a few days to figure things out isn't gonna fly very well. As for the question, I'm looking for anything that might be helpful in this situation: a recommendation on a place to find good spares from this era, personal experience repairing RAID volumes using a similar controller or building a hyper-v vm from an old netware server, a line on a floppy with better software for the RAID controller, recommendation on a good Novell consultant in Nebraska that would be able to put things right, a whole other option I haven't considered yet, etc. Update: For backups, we have good (recently verified via restore) backups of the data only -- nothing for the software that actually runs things. Update 2: Just a progress report that I currently have a working Netware 3.12 install in VMWare Virtual Server 2.0, thanks largely to the guide I found here: http://cerbulescubogdan.blogspot.com/2010/11/novell-netware-312-on-vmware.html The next steps are preparing empty netware volumes to match the additional volumes on my existing server, taking a dump of everything on the C:\ drive and netware volumes on my existing server, and figuring out from that information what modules need added to netware, installing my licenses (we do still have that disk, if it's any good), and moving data over. I have approval to bring the server down for a week after the first of the year (sadly not before), so, aside from creating empty volumes, the rest of the work will have to wait until then. Final Update (Jan 5, 2011): I was able to get spares working in both raid arrays without data loss this week. Both are now listed by the controller as "FAULT TOLLERANT" (yay!). I was also able to build on the progress from my last update and now have a functional "spare" server in VMWare Server 2.0. The spare can run and use our erp software, but I can't put it into production because I can't (yet) print from that box (and I have no idea why). Even so, this VM will do in a pinch if I have no other choice, and between it and the repaired RAID arrays I'm comfortable pushing on until I can junk the machine in November.

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• Various problems with software raid1 array built with Samsung 840 Pro SSDs

  - by Andy B

  I am bringing to ServerFault a problem that is tormenting me for 6+ months. I have a CentOS 6 (64bit) server with an md software raid-1 array with 2 x Samsung 840 Pro SSDs (512GB). Problems: Serious write speed problems: root [~]# time dd if=arch.tar.gz of=test4 bs=2M oflag=sync 146+1 records in 146+1 records out 307191761 bytes (307 MB) copied, 23.6788 s, 13.0 MB/s real 0m23.680s user 0m0.000s sys 0m0.932s When doing the above (or any other larger copy) the load spikes to unbelievable values (even over 100) going up from ~ 1. When doing the above I've also noticed very weird iostat results: Device: rrqm/s wrqm/s r/s w/s rsec/s wsec/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await svctm %util sda 0.00 1589.50 0.00 54.00 0.00 13148.00 243.48 0.60 11.17 0.46 2.50 sdb 0.00 1627.50 0.00 16.50 0.00 9524.00 577.21 144.25 1439.33 60.61 100.00 md1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 md2 0.00 0.00 0.00 1602.00 0.00 12816.00 8.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 md0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 And it keeps it this way until it actually writes the file to the device (out from swap/cache/memory). The problem is that the second SSD in the array has svctm and await roughly 100 times larger than the second. For some reason the wear is different between the 2 members of the array root [~]# smartctl --attributes /dev/sda | grep -i wear 177 Wear_Leveling_Count 0x0013 094% 094 000 Pre-fail Always - 180 root [~]# smartctl --attributes /dev/sdb | grep -i wear 177 Wear_Leveling_Count 0x0013 070% 070 000 Pre-fail Always - 1005 The first SSD has a wear of 6% while the second SSD has a wear of 30%!! It's like the second SSD in the array works at least 5 times as hard as the first one as proven by the first iteration of iostat (the averages since reboot): Device: rrqm/s wrqm/s r/s w/s rsec/s wsec/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await svctm %util sda 10.44 51.06 790.39 125.41 8803.98 1633.11 11.40 0.33 0.37 0.06 5.64 sdb 9.53 58.35 322.37 118.11 4835.59 1633.11 14.69 0.33 0.76 0.29 12.97 md1 0.00 0.00 1.88 1.33 15.07 10.68 8.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 md2 0.00 0.00 1109.02 173.12 10881.59 1620.39 9.75 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 md0 0.00 0.00 0.41 0.01 3.10 0.02 7.42 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 What I've tried: I've updated the firmware to DXM05B0Q (following reports of dramatic improvements for 840Ps after this update). I have looked for "hard resetting link" in dmesg to check for cable/backplane issues but nothing. I have checked the alignment and I believe they are aligned correctly (1MB boundary, listing below) I have checked /proc/mdstat and the array is Optimal (second listing below). root [~]# fdisk -ul /dev/sda Disk /dev/sda: 512.1 GB, 512110190592 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62260 cylinders, total 1000215216 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00026d59 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 2048 4196351 2097152 fd Linux raid autodetect Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sda2 * 4196352 4605951 204800 fd Linux raid autodetect Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sda3 4605952 814106623 404750336 fd Linux raid autodetect root [~]# fdisk -ul /dev/sdb Disk /dev/sdb: 512.1 GB, 512110190592 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62260 cylinders, total 1000215216 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0003dede Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 2048 4196351 2097152 fd Linux raid autodetect Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sdb2 * 4196352 4605951 204800 fd Linux raid autodetect Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sdb3 4605952 814106623 404750336 fd Linux raid autodetect /proc/mdstat root # cat /proc/mdstat Personalities : [raid1] md0 : active raid1 sdb2[1] sda2[0] 204736 blocks super 1.0 [2/2] [UU] md2 : active raid1 sdb3[1] sda3[0] 404750144 blocks super 1.0 [2/2] [UU] md1 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda1[0] 2096064 blocks super 1.1 [2/2] [UU] unused devices: Running a read test with hdparm root [~]# hdparm -t /dev/sda /dev/sda: Timing buffered disk reads: 664 MB in 3.00 seconds = 221.33 MB/sec root [~]# hdparm -t /dev/sdb /dev/sdb: Timing buffered disk reads: 288 MB in 3.01 seconds = 95.77 MB/sec But look what happens if I add --direct root [~]# hdparm --direct -t /dev/sda /dev/sda: Timing O_DIRECT disk reads: 788 MB in 3.01 seconds = 262.08 MB/sec root [~]# hdparm --direct -t /dev/sdb /dev/sdb: Timing O_DIRECT disk reads: 534 MB in 3.02 seconds = 176.90 MB/sec Both tests increase but /dev/sdb doubles while /dev/sda increases maybe 20%. I just don't know what to make of this. As suggested by Mr. Wagner I've done another read test with dd this time and it confirms the hdparm test: root [/home2]# dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/null bs=1G count=10 10+0 records in 10+0 records out 10737418240 bytes (11 GB) copied, 38.0855 s, 282 MB/s root [/home2]# dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/null bs=1G count=10 10+0 records in 10+0 records out 10737418240 bytes (11 GB) copied, 115.24 s, 93.2 MB/s So sda is 3 times faster than sdb. Or maybe sdb is doing also something else besides what sda does. Is there some way to find out if sdb is doing more than what sda does? UPDATE Again, as suggested by Mr. Wagner, I have swapped the 2 SSDs. And as he thought it would happen, the problem moved from sdb to sda. So I guess I'll RMA one of the SSDs. I wonder if the cage might be problematic. What is wrong with this array? Please help!

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• BSOD Code 16, artifacts all over the place (gtx 260)

  - by belinea

  I have a following, quite dated rig E8400 Core 2 Duo cpu Intel Dragontail Peak DP35DP motherboard on Intel Bearlake P35 chipset 4GB ram Geforce 260gtx Corsair 650W PSU Windows 7 64 bit The following things has happened in the last few days. I first decided to update my Nvidia drivers to the latest version. That was 4 days ago. PC worked fine for 2 days and I was able to play few games as well without any problems. Then 2 days ago a first crash happened while playing the new XCOM game. BSOD code 16. Just the blue screen, no artifacts. PC rebooted and worked well again, I continued playing this game for another 2 hours and went to sleep. Next evening I tried to play some BF3 multiplayer (use to play on LOW settings). Approx. 10 minutes into the game red/pink-ish artifacts appeared on the screen and game quit to desktop. Restarted the game and another 3-4 minutes afterwards another crash to desktop but this time followed shortly by BSOD Code 16. From that moment I started to seeing artifacts on random startups, including Windows loading screen and the BIOS itself. Windows would still load but soon enough it would BSOD on a simple task like opening a Internet browser. Today I get tons of artifacts (little small red dashes all over the screen) on BIOS, loading screen, normal Windows mode as well as safe mode. I suspect it wouldn't be drivers but I tried removing and sweeping them entirely in the safe mode. PC would still start with artifacts all over the place but would load the normal mode, just without the driver, in the default lowest resolution. As soon as proper Nvidia drivers are installed though and PC rebooted, Windows doesn't load at all as BSOD now appears on loading screen. However, again, if I go to safe mode and remove drivers, normal mode launches fine. So obviously crash happens only on high resolution. I opened my machine this morning and gave it a proper cleaning even though it wasn't heavily dusted. It didn't help and number of artifacts seems to increase with every PC restart. I write these words in safe mode, which works, but I have to look through all the red dots and dashes. I don't have built in GPU chipset so I can't try removing my Geforce card nor can I borrow A GPU from anyone else. What are my options? I was looking into getting a completely new rig around Christmas so I'm not freaking out about this. If everything points to hardware issue I may simply decide to get the new machine earlier and don't bother with fixing this one. However it would be great to learn more if this is indeed situation that has slim chances of getting sorted. I realize BSOD Code 16 is rather popular topic online but every story seems a bit different and there can be number of issues with it. Hence a new thread.

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• Hard drive after PCB swap strange stuff

  - by ramyy

  I’ve done a PCB swap to my HDD. The HDD model is: WD6400AAKS-00A7B2. The original PCB PN matches the new one (first three letter groups), though the cache mismatches (16MB original, 8MB new). The Hardware store that made the swap told me it was hard to do the swap, they have done firmware adaptation. I can see that this firmware version does not match the original, (01.03B01 original, 05.04E05 new). Still I can see that the serial number and model of the drive is correct, the hard drive appeared normal in the BIOS, all the partitions show and everything appears normal. I have encountered three things though, I have left the drive non operated for 2-3 weeks after the swap to avoid corrupting the data or anything else the new PCB might cause, until I buy a new drive and backup the data. I got a drive, and when I powered the old drive manually (I have a laptop, I use a normal desktop power supply and a USB/SATA connector), I heard the motor start and I could hear ticking as if the motor’s somehow struggling to start, and then the motor sound starts again then the ticking, and so on.. I tried powering again it happened again. The third time it started normally and I could see everything normally. I took the chance and copied all the data over to the new drive. When I was done, I powered off the drive (after more than 25 hours of continuous operation), tried to power it up again and it did so normally, and so are the times I powered it up later; but I got very suspicious now. What could be the problem here? And what happened new, it used to power normally after the swap directly? The second thing that happened is that I found size differences with some files; some include movies, songs, (.iso) files for games, and programs. I could find the size is the same, but size on disk is a little more on the new drive for these files. . I’ve tried some of those files (with size differences) they worked fine. They are not too much but still make you suspicious of the integrity of the data copied; one cannot try if all files are working for about (580 GB) worth of data. I tried copying these files on the same partition they exist of the old drive; they are the same in size as when copied to the new drive (allocation unit size not the issue). I took an image of a partition (sector by sector including empty ones) and when I explore it, these file sizes are equal to the original (old drive); I copy them anywhere else their size on disk, increases, i.e becomes equal to the ones I copy from the old drive itself anywhere. Why the size difference and can one trust the integrity of the data?? The third thing is that when I connect my new external USB HDD, the partitions of the old HDD unmount and then mount again. Connected are: (USB mouse + Old HDD) then external HDD. Why that happens?? Considering the following: I compared the SMART reports from after the swap directly and after the copying, no error readings or reallocated sectors where reported. Here they are: http://www.image-share.com/ijpg-1939-219.html I later ran both WD data life guard tests and they came out passed. I’m worried for this drive since I must be sure the data is fine and safe on the new one, and I will consider it backup for the new one, since you can’t trust anything anymore. I hope you can forgive me for the length of the post, but couldn’t ignore any of the details, this hard drive contains very important data to me and I have to deal with the situation with great care.

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• The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials

  - by Ross

  The Apple iPad is the latest new toy, and we’ve put together a comprehensive list of every tip, trick, and tutorial that we could find to help you get the most out of it—and we’re even giving one away to one lucky reader. So read on! Note: We’ll be keeping this page updated as we find more great articles, so you should bookmark this page for future reference. Want Your Own iPad? How-To Geek is Giving One Away! All you have to do to enter is become a fan of our Facebook page, and we’ll pick a random fan to win the prize. Win an iPad on the How-To Geek Facebook Fan Page Disable the “clicking sound” on the iPad Keyboard Does the clicking sound when you tap the iPad keyboard bother you? Thankfully it’s easy to disable with a couple of taps. How to disable the “clicking sound” on your iPad’s keyboard Enable and add bookmarks to the Safari Bookmarks Bar on your iPad By default, Safari doesn’t display the Bookmarks Bar. This tip shows you how to change that. How to enable and add bookmarks to the Safari Bookmarks Bar on your iPad Clear the Cache, History and Cookies in Safari for the iPad You’re probably used to clearing this kind of data right from within the browser. Not so with Safari on the iPad – but here’s how you can. How to clear the cache, history and cookies in Safari for iPad How to add more Apps to your iPad Dock The iPad has four icons in its ‘dock’. Did you know it can hold 6? How to add more Apps to your iPad Dock Convert PDF files to ePub files to read on your iPad with iBooks ePub is the format that iBooks are in. So for those of you with large eBook collections in PDF, here’s how you convert them to read in iBooks. How to convert PDF files to ePub files to read on your iPad with iBooks How to force your iPad to restart Has an app caused your iPad to freeze up, and you can’t escape? This tip shows you how to force your iPad to restart. How to force your iPad to restart How to export Keynote for iPad presentations to your Mac or PC Exporting Keynote presentations from your iPad to your Mac or PC isn’t as straight forward as you might have expected. This tutorial shows you how. How to export Keynote for iPad presentations to your Mac or PC How to import presentations to Keynote on your iPad Having trouble getting your presentations onto your iPad? How to import presentations to Keynote on your iPad How to import documents to Pages on your iPad This guide shows you how to transfer documents (MS Word or Pages) from your Mac/PC to your iPad. How to import documents to Pages on your iPad How to insert photos in a Pages document using iPad and share it as a PDF Want to spice up that doc with a picture you just took? This tutorial will show you how – and how to export that document as a PDF. How to insert photos in a Pages document using iPad and share it as a PDF How to lock your iPad If you have kids or co-workers/friends who think it’s funny to mess with your iPad – lock it. How to lock your iPad How to remove the “Sent from my iPad” signature from outgoing email on your iPad Does everyone need to know you just sent that email from your iPad? Probably not. This guide shows you how to remove the “Sent from my iPad” signature and replace it with your own (or none). How to remove the “Sent from my iPad” signature from outgoing email on your iPad How To Sync Multiple Calendars to the iPad With Google Sync This tutorial will show you a workaround on how to sync multiple calendars on your iPad using Google Sync. How to Sync Multiple Calendars to the iPad With Google Sync How to determine the MAC address of your iPad If your network restricts connections via MAC address – this guide will show you how to determine what yours is. How to determine the MAC address of your iPad How to take a screenshot of your iPad Do you need to take a screenshot of your iPad? This quick tip shows you how to do just that. How to take a screenshot of your iPad How to delete apps from your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad Anyone who had an iPod Touch or iPhone before they had an iPad won’t need this tutorial. But if you’re new to the experience, this one will help. How to delete apps from your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad How to determine the iPad ECID on Windows and Mac iPadintosh shows us how to determine the iPad’s ECID code – something you’ll want to have come Jailbreak time. How to grab the iPad ECID in Windows or OS X iPad Apps: Twitter and social networking essentials Enggadget has you covered with reviews of the first slew of iPad specific Twitter and other social networking apps. iPad Apps: Twitter and social networking essentials What does your website look like on an iPad? iPad Peek is a web based tool that allows you to enter any given URL, and it will display that page the same way Safari on the iPad does. Great for web site owners who don’t have access to an iPad. iPadPeek Stream Music and Videos to your iPad Gizmodo reviews the iPad app StreamToMe, which allows you to stream media from your Mac to your iPad across your local network. Their feelings in a nutshell – worth the $3, but not perfect. Review: StreamToMe for the iPad Apple iPad : Change links in Google Reader to point to full HTML webpage How to change links in Safari for iPad so that Google Reader points to a full HTML webpage How to connect an iPad to your existing wireless keyboard This video will show you how to connect your iPad to a wireless keyboard if you’re having any problems – and from the sound of things, quite a few folks are. via TUAW How to get started with the iPad Mashable has a very entry-level guide that will help you set up your iPad for the first time. Mashable’s Guide to Setting up the iPad Essential iPad Apps Downloadsquad gives mini-reviews to 8 iPad apps that you should install as soon as you get your iPad. iPad App Buyers Guide: Essential Apps you should get on day one Videos: The Official iPad Guided Tours From none other than Apple! Great getting started videos for all the included iPad apps. The Official iPad Guided Tours The Official iPad Manual When you buy an iPad, you don’t get a manual. But that’s not to say there isn’t one. Apple provides a 150 guide for your iPad in PDF format. The Official iPad Manual (pdf) How to print from your iPad Sure, it’s actually just an App (PrintCentral – $9.99 USD), but as of right now, it’s the only way. PrintCentral How to make your own iPad Wallpaper A perfectly detailed tutorial on how to make your own wallpaper for your iPad. The author also provides a really nice sample wallpaper, published under the Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic license. How to make your own iPad Wallpaper Got any more tips? Share them in the comments, and we’ll update the post with the links, or just the tip itself. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Want an iPad? How-To Geek is Giving One Away!Why Wait? Amazing New Add-on Turns Your iPhone into an iPad! [Comic]Clear the Auto-Complete Email Address Cache in OutlookAsk the Readers: Share Your Tips for Defeating Viruses and MalwareStupid Geek Tricks: Tile or Cascade Multiple Windows in Windows 7 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 DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Are You Blocked On Gtalk? Find out Discover Latest Android Apps On AppBrain The Ultimate Guide For YouTube Lovers Will it Blend? iPad Edition Penolo Lets You Share Sketches On Twitter Visit Woolyss.com for Old School Games, Music and Videos

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• Scan a Windows PC for Viruses from a Ubuntu Live CD

  - by Trevor Bekolay

  Getting a virus is bad. Getting a virus that causes your computer to crash when you reboot is even worse. We’ll show you how to clean viruses from your computer even if you can’t boot into Windows by using a virus scanner in a Ubuntu Live CD. There are a number of virus scanners available for Ubuntu, but we’ve found that avast! is the best choice, with great detection rates and usability. Unfortunately, avast! does not have a proper 64-bit version, and forcing the install does not work properly. If you want to use avast! to scan for viruses, then ensure that you have a 32-bit Ubuntu Live CD. If you currently have a 64-bit Ubuntu Live CD on a bootable flash drive, it does not take long to wipe your flash drive and go through our guide again and select normal (32-bit) Ubuntu 9.10 instead of the x64 edition. For the purposes of fixing your Windows installation, the 64-bit Live CD will not provide any benefits. Once Ubuntu 9.10 boots up, open up Firefox by clicking on its icon in the top panel. Navigate to http://www.avast.com/linux-home-edition. Click on the Download tab, and then click on the link to download the DEB package. Save it to the default location. While avast! is downloading, click on the link to the registration form on the download page. Fill in the registration form if you do not already have a trial license for avast!. By the time you’ve filled out the registration form, avast! will hopefully be finished downloading. Open a terminal window by clicking on Applications in the top-left corner of the screen, then expanding the Accessories menu and clicking on Terminal. In the terminal window, type in the following commands, pressing enter after each line. cd Downloadssudo dpkg –i avast* This will install avast! on the live Ubuntu environment. To ensure that you can use the latest virus database, while still in the terminal window, type in the following command: sudo sysctl –w kernel.shmmax=128000000 Now we’re ready to open avast!. Click on Applications on the top-left corner of the screen, expand the Accessories folder, and click on the new avast! Antivirus item. You will first be greeted with a window that asks for your license key. Hopefully you’ve received it in your email by now; open the email that avast! sends you, copy the license key, and paste it in the Registration window. avast! Antivirus will open. You’ll notice that the virus database is outdated. Click on the Update database button and avast! will start downloading the latest virus database. To scan your Windows hard drive, you will need to “mount” it. While the virus database is downloading, click on Places on the top-left of your screen, and click on your Windows hard drive, if you can tell which one it is by its size. If you can’t tell which is the correct hard drive, then click on Computer and check out each hard drive until you find the right one. When you find it, make a note of the drive’s label, which appears in the menu bar of the file browser. Also note that your hard drive will now appear on your desktop. By now, your virus database should be updated. At the time this article was written, the most recent version was 100404-0. In the main avast! window, click on the radio button next to Selected folders and then click on the “+” button to the right of the list box. It will open up a dialog box to browse to a location. To find your Windows hard drive, click on the “>” next to the computer icon. In the expanded list, find the folder labelled “media” and click on the “>” next to it to expand it. In this list, you should be able to find the label that corresponds to your Windows hard drive. If you want to scan a certain folder, then you can go further into this hierarchy and select that folder. However, we will scan the entire hard drive, so we’ll just press OK. Click on Start scan and avast! will start scanning your hard drive. If a virus is found, you’ll be prompted to select an action. If you know that the file is a virus, then you can Delete it, but there is the possibility of false positives, so you can also choose Move to chest to quarantine it. When avast! is done scanning, it will summarize what it found on your hard drive. You can take different actions on those files at this time by right-clicking on them and selecting the appropriate action. When you’re done, click Close. Your Windows PC is now free of viruses, in the eyes of avast!. Reboot your computer and with any luck it will now boot up! Alternatives to avast! If avast! and a liberal amount of Googling doesn’t fix your problem, it’s possible that a different virus scanner will fix your obscure issue. Here are a list of other virus scanners available for Ubuntu that are either free or offer free trials. See their support forums for help on installing these virus scanners. Avira AntiVir Personal for Linux / Solaris Panda Antivirus for Linux Installation and usage guide from Ubuntu F-PROT Antivirus for Linux ClamAV installation and usage guide from Ubuntu NOD32 Antivirus for Linux Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 Bitdefender Antivirus for Unices Conclusion Running avast! from a Ubuntu Live CD can clean the vast majority of viruses from your Windows PC. This is another reason to always have a Ubuntu Live CD ready just in case something happens to your Windows installation! Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Secure Computing: Windows Live OneCareHow To Remove Antivirus Live and Other Rogue/Fake Antivirus MalwareUse the Windows Key for the "Start" Menu in Ubuntu LinuxScan Files for Viruses Before You Download With Dr.WebAsk the Readers: Share Your Tips for Defeating Viruses and Malware 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 DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 The Ultimate Guide For YouTube Lovers Will it Blend? iPad Edition Penolo Lets You Share Sketches On Twitter Visit Woolyss.com for Old School Games, Music and Videos Add a Custom Title in IE using Spybot or Spyware Blaster When You Need to Hail a Taxi in NYC

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• Week in Geek: 4chan Falls Victim to DDoS Attack Edition

  - by Asian Angel

  This week we learned how to tweak the low battery action on a Windows 7 laptop, access an eBook collection anywhere in the world, “extend iPad battery life, batch resize photos, & sync massive music collections”, went on a reign of destruction with Snow Crusher, and had fun decorating our desktops with abstract icon collections. Photo by pasukaru76. Random Geek Links We have included extra news article goodness to help you catch up on any developments that you may have missed during the holiday break this past week. Note: The three 27C3 articles listed here represent three different presentations at the 27th Chaos Communication Congress hacker conference. 4chan victim of DDoS as FBI investigates role in PayPal attack Users of 4chan may have gotten a taste of their own medicine after the site was knocked offline by a DDoS attack from an unknown origin early Thursday morning. Report: FBI seizes server in probe of WikiLeaks attacks The FBI has seized a server in Texas as part of its hunt for the groups behind the pro-WikiLeaks denial-of-service attacks launched in December against PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, and others. Mozilla exposes older user-account database Mozilla has disabled 44,000 older user accounts for its Firefox add-ons site after a security researcher found part of a database of the account information on a publicly available server. Data breach affects 4.9 million Honda customers Japanese automaker Honda has put some 2.2 million customers in the United States on a security breach alert after a database containing information on the owners and their cars was hacked. Chinese Trojan discovered in Android games An Android-based Trojan called “Geinimi” has been discovered in the wild and the Trojan is capable of sending personal information to remote servers and exhibits botnet-like behavior. 27C3 presentation claims many mobiles vulnerable to SMS attacks According to security experts, an ‘SMS of death’ threatens to disable many current Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, Micromax and LG mobiles. 27C3: GSM cell phones even easier to tap Security researchers have demonstrated how open source software on a number of revamped, entry-level cell phones can decrypt and record mobile phone calls in the GSM network. 27C3: danger lurks in PDF documents Security researcher Julia Wolf has pointed out numerous, previously hardly known, security problems in connection with Adobe’s PDF standard. Critical update for WordPress A critical update has been made available for WordPress in the form of version 3.0.4. The update fixes a security bug in WordPress’s KSES library. McAfee Labs Predicts Geolocation, Mobile Devices and Apple Will Top the List of Targets for Emerging Threats in 2011 The list comprises 2010’s most buzzed about platforms and services, including Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone, foursquare, Google TV and the Mac OS X platform, which are all expected to become major targets for cybercriminals. McAfee Labs also predicts that politically motivated attacks will be on the rise. Windows Phone 7 piracy materializes with FreeMarketplace A proof-of-concept application, FreeMarketplace, that allows any Windows Phone 7 application to be downloaded and installed free of charge has been developed. Empty email accounts, and some bad buzz for Hotmail In the past few days, a number of Hotmail users have been complaining about a rather disconcerting issue: their Hotmail accounts, some up to 10 years old, appear completely empty.  No emails, no folders, nothing, just what appears to be a new account. Reports: Nintendo warns of 3DS risk for kids Nintendo has reportedly issued a warning that the 3DS, its eagerly awaited glasses-free 3D portable gaming device, should not be used by children under 6 when the gadget is in 3D-viewing mode. Google eyes ‘cloaking’ as next antispam target Google plans to take a closer look at the practice of “cloaking,” or presenting one look to a Googlebot crawling one’s site while presenting another look to users. Facebook, Twitter stock trading drawing SEC eye? The high degree of investor interest in shares of hot Silicon Valley companies that aren’t yet publicly traded–like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Zynga–may be leading to scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Random TinyHacker Links Photo by jcraveiro. Exciting Software Set for Release in 2011 A few bloggers from great websites such as How-To Geek, Guiding Tech and 7 Tutorials took the time to sit down and talk about their software wishes for 2011. Take the time to read it and share… Wikileaks Infopr0n An infographic detailing the quest to plug WikiLeaks. The New York Times Guide to Mobile Apps A growing collection of all mobile app coverage by the New York Times as well as lists of favorite apps from Times writers. 7,000,000,000 (Video) A fascinating look at the world’s population via National Geographic Magazine. Super User Questions Check out the great answers to these hot questions from Super User. How to use a Personal computer as a Linux web server for development purposes? How to link processing power of old computers together? Free virtualization tool for testing suspicious files? Why do some actions not work with Remote Desktop? What is the simplest way to send a large batch of pictures to a distant friend or colleague? How-To Geek Weekly Article Recap Had a busy week and need to get caught up on your HTG reading? Then sit back and relax while enjoying these hot posts full of how-to roundup goodness. The 50 Best How-To Geek Windows Articles of 2010 The 20 Best How-To Geek Explainer Topics for 2010 The 20 Best How-To Geek Linux Articles of 2010 How to Search Just the Site You’re Viewing Using Google Search Ask the Readers: Backing Your Files Up – Local Storage versus the Cloud One Year Ago on How-To Geek Need more how-to geekiness for your weekend? Then look through this great batch of articles from one year ago that focus on dual-booting and O.S. installation goodness. Dual Boot Your Pre-Installed Windows 7 Computer with Vista Dual Boot Your Pre-Installed Windows 7 Computer with XP How To Setup a USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 7 Dual Boot Your Pre-Installed Windows 7 Computer with Ubuntu Easily Install Ubuntu Linux with Windows Using the Wubi Installer The Geek Note We hope that you and your families have had a terrific holiday break as everyone prepares to return to work and school this week. Remember to keep those great tips coming in to us at [email protected]! Photo by pjbeardsley. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The 20 Best How-To Geek Linux Articles of 2010 The 50 Best How-To Geek Windows Articles of 2010 The 20 Best How-To Geek Explainer Topics for 2010 How to Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista How to Use the Avira Rescue CD to Clean Your Infected PC The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Tune Pop Enhances Android Music Notifications Another Busy Night in Gotham City Wallpaper Classic Super Mario Brothers Theme for Chrome and Iron Experimental Firefox Builds Put Tabs on the Title Bar (Available for Download) Android Trojan Found in the Wild Chaos, Panic, and Disorder Wallpaper

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• Try out Windows Phone 7 on your PC today

  - by Matthew Guay

  Anticipation has been building for the new Windows Phone 7 Series ever since Microsoft unveiled it at the Mobile World Congress in February.  Now, thanks to free developer tools, you can get a first-hand experience of the basic Windows Phone 7 Series devices on your PC. Windows Phone 7 Series represents a huge change in the mobile field for Microsoft, bringing the acclaimed Zune HD UI to an innovative phone platform.  Windows Mobile has often been criticized for being behind other Smartphone platforms, but Microsoft seeks to regain the lead with this new upcoming release.  A platform must have developers behind it to be useful, so they have released a full set of free development tools so anyone can make apps for it today.  Or, if you simply want to play with Windows Phone 7, you can use the included emulator to try out the new Metro UI.  Here’s how to do this today on your Vista or 7 computer. Please note: These tools are a Customer Technology Preview release, so only install them if you’re comfortable using pre-release software. Getting Started First, download the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP (link below), and run the installer.  This will install the Customer Technology Preview (CTP) versions of Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, Windows Phone Emulator, Silverlight for Windows Phone, and XNA 4.0 Game Studio on your computer, all of which are required and cannot be installed individually. Accept the license agreement when prompted. Click “Install Now” to install the tools you need.  The only setup customization option is where to save the files, so choose Customize if you need to do so. Setup will now automatically download and install the components you need, and will additionally download either 32 or 64 bit programs depending on your operating system. About halfway thorough the installation, you’ll be prompted to reboot your system.  Once your computer is rebooted, setup will automatically resume without further input.   When setup is finished, click “Run the Product Now” to get started. Running Windows Phone 7 on your PC Now that you’ve got the Windows Phone Developer tools installed, it’s time to get the Windows Phone emulator running.  If you clicked “Run the Product Now” when the setup finished, Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone should have already started.   If not, simply enter “visual studio” in your start menu search and select “Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone”. Now, to run the Windows Phone 7 emulator, we have to test an application.  So, even if you don’t know how to program, we can open a phone application template, and then test it to run the emulator.  First, click New Project on the left hand side of the front page. Any of the application templates would work for this, but here let’s select “Windows Phone Application”, and then click Ok. Here’s your new application template, which already contains the basic phone application framework.  This is where you’d start if you want to develop a Windows Phone app, but for now we just want to see Windows Phone 7 in action. So, to run the emulator, click Debug in the menu and then select Start Debugging. Your new application will launch inside the Windows Phone 7 Series emulator.  The default template doesn’t give us much, but it does show an example application running in Windows Phone 7.   Exploring Windows Phone 7 Click the Windows button on the emulator to go to the home screen.  Notice the Zune HD-like transition animation.  The emulator only includes Internet Explorer, your test application, and a few settings. Click the arrow on the right to see the available applications in a list. Settings lets you change the theme, regional settings, and the date and time in your emulator.  It also has an applications settings pane, but this currently isn’t populated. The Time settings shows a unique Windows Phone UI. You can return to the home screen by pressing the Windows button.  Here’s the Internet Explorer app running, with the virtual keyboard open to enter an address.  Please note that this emulator can also accept input from your keyboard, so you can enter addresses without clicking on the virtual keyboard. And here’s Google running in Internet Explorer on Windows Phone 7. Windows Phone 7 supports accelerometers, and you can simulate this in the emulator.  Click one of the rotate buttons to rotate the screen in that direction. Here’s our favorite website in Internet Explorer on Windows Phone 7 in landscape mode. All this, running right inside your Windows 7 desktop… Developer tools for Windows Phone 7 Although it may be fun to play with the Windows Phone 7 emulator, developers will be more excited to actually be able to create new and exciting apps for it.  The Windows Phone Developer Tools download includes Visual Studio Express and XNA Game Studio 4.0 which lets you create enticing games and apps for Windows Phones.  All development for Windows Phones will be in C#, Silverlight, and the XNA game framework.  Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone includes templates for these, and additionally has code samples to help you get started with development. Conclusion Many features are still not functional in this preview version, such as the search button and most of the included applications.  However, this still gives you a great way to experience firsthand the future of the Windows Phone platform.  And, for developers, this is your chance to set your mark on the Windows Phone 7 Series even before it is released to the public.  Happy playing and developing! Links Download Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP Windows Phone Developer Site Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Keep Track of Homework Assignments with SoshikuWeekend Fun: Watch Television On Your PC With TVUPlayerEasily Manage Your Downloads with Download StatusbarCreate a Shortcut or Hotkey to Mute the System Volume in WindowsHow-To Geek on Lifehacker: How to Make Windows Vista Less Annoying 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 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Convert the Quick Launch Bar into a Super Application Launcher Automate Tasks in Linux with Crontab Discover New Bundled Feeds in Google Reader Play Music in Chrome by Simply Dragging a File 15 Great Illustrations by Chow Hon Lam Easily Sync Files & Folders with Friends & Family

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, March 09, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, March 09, 2010New Projects.NET Excel Wrapper - Read, Write, Edit & Automate Excel Files in .NET with ease: .NET Excel Wrapper encapsulates the complexity of working with multiple Excel objects giving you one central point to do all your processing. It h...Advancement Voyage: Advancement Voyage is a high quality RPG experience that provides all the advancement and voyaging that a player could hope for.ASP.Net Routing configuration: ASP.NET routing configuration enables you to configure the routes in the web.config bbinjest: bbinjestBuildUp: BuildUp is a build number increment tool for C# .net projects. It is run as a post build step in Visual Studio.Controlled Vocabulary: This project is devoted to creating tools to assist with Controlling Vocabulary in communication. The initial delivery is an Outlook 2010 Add-in w...CycleList: A replacement for the WPF ListBox Control. Displays only a single item and allows the user to change the selected item by clicking on it once. Very...Forensic Suite: A suite of security softwareFREE DNN Chat Module for 123 Flash Chat -- Embed FREE Chat Room!: 123 Flash Chat is a live chat solution and its DotNetNuke Chat Module helps to embed a live chat room into website with DotNetNuke(DNN) integrated ...HouseFly experimental controls: Experimental controls for use in HouseFly.ICatalogAll: junkMidiStylus: MidiStylus allows you to control MIDI-enabled hardware or software using your pressure-sensitive pen tablet. The program maps the X position, Y po...myTunes: Search for your favorite artistsNColony - Pluggable Socialism?: NColony will maximize the use of MEF to create flexible application architectures through a suite of plug-in solutions. If MEF is an outlet for plu...Network Monitor Decryption Expert: NmDecrypt is a Network Monitor Expert which when given a trace with encrypted frames, a security certificate, and a passkey will create a new trace...occulo: occulo is a free steganography program, meant to embed files within images with optional encrytion. Open Ant: A implementation of a Open Source Ant which is created to show what is possible in the serious game AntMe! The First implementation of that ProjectProgramming Patterns by example: Design patterns provide solutions to common software design problems. This project will contain samples, written in c# and ruby, of each design pat...project4k: Developing bulk mail system storing email informationQuail - Selenium Remote Control Made Easy: Quail makes it easy for Quality Assurance departments write automated tests against web applications. Both HTML and Silverlight applications can b...RedBulb for XNA Framework: RedBulb is a collection of utility functions and classes that make writing games with XNA a lot easier. Key features: Console,GUI (Labels, Buttons,...RegExpress: RegExpress is a WPF application that combines interactive demos of regular expressions with slide content. This was designed for a user group prese...RemoveFolder: Small utility program to remove empty foldersScrumTFS: ScrumTFSSharePoint - Open internal link in new window list definition: A simple SharePoint list definition to render SharePoint internal links with the option to open them in a new window.SqlSiteMap4MVC: SqlSiteMapProvider for ASP.Net MVC.T Sina .NET Client: t.sina.com.cn api 新浪微博APITest-Lint-Extensions: Test Lint is a free Typemock VS 2010 Extension that finds common problems in your unit tests as you type them. this project will host extensions ...ThinkGearNET: ThinkGearNET is a library for easy usage of the Neurosky Mindset headset from .NET .Wiki to Maml: This project enables you to write wiki syntax and have it converted into MAML syntax for Sandcastle documentation projects.WPF Undo/Redo Framework: This project attempts to solve the age-old programmer problem of supporting unlimited undo/redo in an application, in an easily reusable manner. 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• Test All Features of Windows Phone 7 On Your PC

  - by Matthew Guay

  Are you developer or just excited about the upcoming Windows Phone 7, and want to try it out now?  Thanks to free developer tools from Microsoft and a new unlocked emulator rom, you can try out most of the exciting features today from your PC. Last week we showed you how to try out Windows Phone 7 on your PC and get started developing for the upcoming new devices.  We noticed, however, that the emulator only contains Internet Explorer Mobile and some settings.  This is still interesting to play around with, but it wasn’t the full Windows Phone 7 experience. Some enterprising tweakers discovered that more applications were actually included in the emulator, but were simply hidden from users.  Developer Dan Ardelean then figured out how to re-enable these features, and released a tweaked emulator rom so everyone can try out all of the Windows Phone 7 features for themselves.  Here we’ll look at how you can run this new emulator image on your PC, and then look at some interesting features in Windows Phone 7. Editor Note: This modified emulator image is not official, and isn’t sanctioned by Microsoft. Use your own judgment when choosing to download and use the emulator. Setting Up Emulator Rom To test-drive Windows Phone 7 on your PC, you must first download and install the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP (link below).  Follow the steps we showed you last week at: Try out Windows Phone 7 on your PC today.  Once it’s installed, go ahead and run the default emulator as we showed to make sure everything works ok. Once the Windows Phone Developer Tools are installed and running, download the new emulator rom from XDA Forums (link below).  This will be a zip file, so extract it first. Note where you save the file, as you will need the address in the next step. Now, to run our new emulator image, we need to open the emulator in command line and point to the new rom image.  To do this, browse to the correct directory, depending on whether you’re running the 32 bit or 64 bit version of Windows: 32 bit: C:\Program Files\Microsoft XDE\1.0\ 64 bit: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft XDE\1.0\ Hold your Shift key down and right-click in the folder.  Choose Open Command Window here. At the command prompt, enter XDE.exe followed by the location of your new rom image.  Here, we downloaded the rom to our download folder, so at the command prompt we entered: XDE.exe C:\Users\Matthew\Downloads\WM70Full\WM70Full.bin The emulator loads … with the full Windows Phone 7 experience! To make it easier, let’s make a shortcut on our desktop to load the emulator with the new rom directly.  Right-click on your desktop (or any folder you want to create the shortcut in), select New, and then Shortcut. Now, in the box, we need to enter the path for the emulator followed by the location of our rom.  Both items must be in quotes.  So, in our test, we entered the following: 32 bit: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft XDE\1.0\” “C:\Users\Matthew\Downloads\WM70Full\WM70Full.bin” 64 bit: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft XDE\1.0\” “C:\Users\Matthew\Downloads\WM70Full\WM70Full.bin” Make sure to enter the correct location of the new emulator rom for your computer, and keep both items in separate quotes.  Click next when you’ve entered the location. Name the shortcut; we named it Windows Phone 7, but simply enter whatever you’d like.  Click Finish when you’re done. You should now have a nice Windows Phone icon and your fully functional shortcut!  Double-click it to run the Windows Phone 7 emulator as above. Features in the Unlocked Windows Phone 7 Emulator So let’s look at what you can do with this new emulator.  Almost everything you’ve seen in demos from the Mobile World Conference and Mix’10 are right here for you to play with.  Here’s the application menu, which you can access by clicking on the arrow on the top of the home screen, which shows how much stuff they’ve got in this!   And, of course, even the home screen itself shows much more activity than it did in the original emulator. Let’s check out some of these sections.  Here’s Zune running on Windows Phone 7, and the Zune Marketplace.  The animations are beautiful, so be sure to check this out yourself. The new picture hub is much nicer than any picture viewer included with Windows Mobile in the past…   Stay productive, and on schedule with the new Calendar. The XBOX hub gives us only a hint of things to come, and the links to games now are simply placeholders. Here’s a look at the Office hub.  This doesn’t show up on the homescreen right now, but you can access it in the applications menu.  Office obviously still has a lot of work left on it, but even at a glance here it looks like it includes a lot more functionality than Office Mobile in Windows Mobile 6. Here’s a look at each of the three apps: Word, Excel, and OneNote, and the formatting pallet in Office apps.   This emulator also includes a lot more settings than the default one, including settings for individual applications. You can even activate the screen lock, and try out the lift-to-peek-or-unlock feature… Finally, this version of Windows Phone 7 includes a very nice SystemInfo app with an advanced task manager.  We hope this is still available when the actual phones are released. Conclusion If you’re excited about the upcoming Windows Phone 7 series, or simply want to learn more about what’s coming, this is a great way to test it out.  With these exciting new hubs and applications, there’s something here for everyone.  Let us know what you like most about Windows Phone 7 and what your favorite app or hub is. Links Please note: These roms are not officially supported by Microsoft, and could be taken down. Download the unlocked Windows Phone 7 emulator from XDA Forums – click the link in this post to download How the unlocked emulator image was created Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Try out Windows Phone 7 on your PC todayGet stats on your Ruby on Rails codeDisable Windows Vista’s Built-in CD/DVD Burning FeaturesWeek in Geek – The Slick Windows 7 File Copy Animation EditionGeek Fun: Virtualized Old School Windows – Windows 95 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 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Get Better Windows Search With UltraSearch Scan News With NY Times Article Skimmer SpeedyFox Claims to Speed up your Firefox Beware Hover Kitties Test Drive Mobile Phones Online With TryPhone Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day, 3/23/10

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• Top 10 Reasons SQL Developer is Perfect for Oracle Beginners

  - by thatjeffsmith

  Learning new technologies can be daunting. If you’ve never used a Mac before, you’ll probably be a bit baffled at first. But, you’re probably at least coming from a desktop computing background (Windows), so you common frame of reference. But what if you’re just now learning to use a relational database? Yes, you’ve played with Access a bit, but now your employer or college instructor has charged you with becoming proficient with Oracle database. Here’s 10 reasons why I think Oracle SQL Developer is the perfect vehicle to help get you started. 1. It’s free No need to break into one of these… No start-up costs, no need to wrangle budget dollars from your company. Students don’t have any money after books and lab fees anyway. And most employees don’t like having to ask for ‘special’ software anyway. So avoid all of that and make sure the free stuff doesn’t suit your needs first. Upgrades are available on a regular base, also at no cost, and support is freely available via our public forums. 2. It will run pretty much anywhere Windows – check. OSX (Apple) – check. Unix – check. Linux – check. No need to start up a windows VM to run your Windows-only software in your lab machine. 3. Anyone can install it There’s no installer, no registry to be updated, no admin privs to be obtained. If you can download and extract files to your machine or USB storage device, you can run it. You can be up and running with SQL Developer in under 5 minutes. Here’s a video tutorial to see how to get started. 4. It’s ubiquitous I admit it, I learned a new word yesterday and I wanted an excuse to use it. SQL Developer’s everywhere. It’s had over 2,500,000 downloads in the past year, and is the one of the most downloaded items from OTN. This means if you need help, there’s someone sitting nearby you that can assist, and since they’re in the same tool as you, they’ll be speaking the same language. 5. Simple User Interface Up-up-down-down-Left-right-left-right-A-B-A-B-START will get you 30 lives, but you already knew that, right? You connect, you see your objects, you click on your objects. Or, you can use the worksheet to write your queries and programs in. There’s only one toolbar, and just a few buttons. If you’re like me, video games became less fun when each button had 6 action items mapped to it. I just want the good ole ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘SELECT’, and ‘START’ controls. If you’re new to Oracle, you shouldn’t have the double-workload of learning a new complicated tool as well. 6. It’s not a ‘black box’ Click through your objects, but also get the SQL that drives the GUI As you use the wizards to accomplish tasks for you, you can view the SQL statement being generated on your behalf. Just because you have a GUI, doesn’t mean you’re ceding your responsibility to learn the underlying code that makes the database work. 7. It’s four tools in one It’s not just a query tool. Maybe you need to design a data model first? Or maybe you need to migrate your Sybase ASE database to Oracle for a new project? Or maybe you need to create some reports? SQL Developer does all of that. So once you get comfortable with one part of the tool, the others will be much easier to pick up as your needs change. 8. Great learning resources available Videos, blogs, hands-on learning labs – you name it, we got it. Why wait for someone to train you, when you can train yourself at your own pace? 9. You can use it to teach yourself SQL Instead of being faced with the white-screen-of-panic, you can visually build your queries by dragging and dropping tables and views into the Query Builder. Yes, ‘just like Access’ – only better. And as you build your query, toggle to the Worksheet panel and see the SQL statement. Again, SQL Developer is not a black box. If you prefer to learn by trial and error, the worksheet will attempt to suggest the next bit of your SQL statement with it’s completion insight feature. And if you have syntax errors, those will be highlighted – just like your misspelled words in your favorite word processor. 10. It scales to match your experience level You won’t be a n00b forever. In 6-8 months, when you’re ready to tackle something a bit more complicated, like XML DB or Oracle Spatial, the tool is already there waiting on you. No need to go out and find the ‘advanced’ tool. 11. Wait, you said this was a ‘Top 10′ list? Yes. Yes, I did. I’m using this ‘trick’ to get you to continue reading because I’m going to say something you might not want to hear. Are you ready? Tools won’t replace experience, failure, hard work, and training. Just because you have the keys to the car, doesn’t mean you’re ready to head out on the race track. While SQL Developer reduces the barriers to entry, it does not completely remove them. Many experienced folks simply do not like tools. Rather, they don’t like the people that pick up tools without the know-how to properly use them. If you don’t understand what ‘TRUNCATE’ means, don’t try it out. Try picking up a book first. Of course, it’s very nice to have your own sandbox to play in, so you don’t upset the other children. That’s why I really like our Dev Days Database Virtual Box image. It’s your own database to learn and experiment with.

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