Search Results

Search found 654 results on 27 pages for 'ray hayes'.

Page 24/27 | < Previous Page | 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27  | Next Page >

• delete multi-line block of text with internal flag in povray file

  - by Sibo Lin

  I have a pov-ray file, which defines a lot of cylinders and spheres. Sometimes these shapes are defined to have "color@", which makes the povray unrenderable. One solution I've found is to delete the offending cylinders and spheres. So a file that contains this text cylinder { < -0.17623, 0.24511, -0.27947>, < -0.15220, 0.22658, -0.26472>, 0.00716 texture { colorO } } sphere { < -0.00950, 0.00357, 0.00227>, 0.00716 texture { color@ } } cylinder { < -0.00950, 0.00357, 0.00227>, < 0.00327, 0.00169, 0.00108>, 0.00716 texture { color@ } } sphere { < 0.15373, 0.00601, 0.18223>, 0.00716 texture { colorO } } would turn into this text cylinder { < -0.17623, 0.24511, -0.27947>, < -0.15220, 0.22658, -0.26472>, 0.00716 texture { colorO } } sphere { < 0.15373, 0.00601, 0.18223>, 0.00716 texture { colorO } } Is there some way to do this replacement with a shell script? Preferably in tcsh. Thanks!

  Read the article

• UDP server doesnt accept calls from outside.

  - by rayman

  Hi, ive implement simple udp server on my Android device.(sdk 1.5) it works fine when i am runnning a local client on the phone sends through it trigger to my server. but when i try to get udp call from an outside server to my phone, it doesnt work. already make sure the outside server isnt blocked by firewall and it's sending the udp trigger to the right port, which my phone is listening to. i used natstat on the phone and checked that the phone is realy listening to the it's local ip and the port ive setted it to. here is my code of the server:(on the device) // server will listen to one client try { Thread udpServerThread = new Thread() { @Override public void run() { try { // Retrieve the ServerName InetAddress serverAddr = InetAddress .getByName("localhost"); Log.d("UDP", "S: Connecting..."); // Create new UDP-Socket socket = new DatagramSocket(SERVERPORT,serverAddr); byte[] buf = new byte[17]; // * Prepare a UDP-Packet that can contain the data we // * want to receive DatagramPacket packet = new DatagramPacket(buf, buf.length); Log.d("UDP", "S: Receiving..."); // wait to Receive the UDP-Packet socket.receive(packet); Log.d("UDP", "S: Received: '" + new String(packet.getData()) + "'"); acceptedMsg=new String(packet.getData()); notifyService(acceptedMsg); Log.d("UDP", "S: Done."); } catch (Exception e) { Log.e("UDP", "S: Error", e); } } }; udpServerThread.start(); } catch (Exception E) { Log.e("r",E.getMessage()) ; } so as i said, when i try it with local client(seperate thread) which sends udp trigger it works fine, but when i take this client implementation and put it on an outside real server, after UDP being sent, the phone doesnt respond to it. any idea? thanks, ray.

  Read the article

• What's the best Linux backup solution?

  - by Jon Bright

  We have a four Linux boxes (all running Debian or Ubuntu) on our office network. None of these boxes are especially critical and they're all using RAID. To date, I've therefore been doing backups of the boxes by having a cron job upload tarballs containing the contents of /etc, MySQL dumps and other such changing, non-packaged data to a box at our geographically separate hosting centre. I've realised, however that the tarballs are sufficient to rebuild from, but it's certainly not a painless process to do so (I recently tried this out as part of a hardware upgrade of one of the boxes) long-term, the process isn't sustainable. Each of the boxes is currently producing a tarball of a couple of hundred MB each day, 99% of which is the same as the previous day partly due to the size issue, the backup process requires more manual intervention than I want (to find whatever 5GB file is inflating the size of the tarball and kill it) again due to the size issue, I'm leaving stuff out which it would be nice to include - the contents of users' home directories, for example. There's almost nothing of value there that isn't in source control (and these aren't our main dev boxes), but it would be nice to keep them anyway. there must be a better way So, my question is, how should I be doing this properly? The requirements are: needs to be an offsite backup (one of the main things I'm doing here is protecting against fire/whatever) should require as little manual intervention as possible (I'm lazy, and box-herding isn't my main job) should continue to scale with a couple more boxes, slightly more data, etc. preferably free/open source (cost isn't the issue, but especially for backups, openness seems like a good thing) an option to produce some kind of DVD/Blu-Ray/whatever backup from time to time wouldn't be bad My first thought was that this kind of incremental backup was what tar was created for - create a tar file once each month, add incrementally to it. rsync results to remote box. But others probably have better suggestions.

  Read the article

• Should try...catch go inside or outside a loop?

  - by mmyers

  I have a loop that looks something like this: for(int i = 0; i < max; i++) { String myString = ...; float myNum = Float.parseFloat(myString); myFloats[i] = myNum; } This is the main content of a method whose sole purpose is to return the array of floats. I want this method to return null if there is an error, so I put the loop inside a try...catch block, like this: try { for(int i = 0; i < max; i++) { String myString = ...; float myNum = Float.parseFloat(myString); myFloats[i] = myNum; } } catch (NumberFormatException ex) { return null; } But then I also thought of putting the try...catch block inside the loop, like this: for(int i = 0; i < max; i++) { String myString = ...; try { float myNum = Float.parseFloat(myString); } catch (NumberFormatException ex) { return null; } myFloats[i] = myNum; } So my question is: is there any reason, performance or otherwise, to prefer one over the other? EDIT: The consensus seems to be that it is cleaner to put the loop inside the try/catch, possibly inside its own method. However, there is still debate on which is faster. Can someone test this and come back with a unified answer? (EDIT: did it myself, but voted up Jeffrey and Ray's answers)

  Read the article

• Creating 1 page PDF of iPad Screen view - How?

  - by user314695

  Hi All, I've asked this question on a couple other forums and have had zero response, so I'm hoping someone here can help point me in the right direction. I have a pretty simple one screen application for my work. It's basically just a recreation of a 1 page paper report that has a company logo, some labels, a few text boxes and a scroll text box for the report. I need to be able to fill out the report then click a button to save it in a graphical form so I can fax, print or email it later. Currently, I'm just programmatically taking a screen capture and saving it to the photo's library (default for screen capture). Then I can just email it from photo's. This works ok, but is kind of hacky, at best. I've read through the new iPad 3.2 guide for creating PDF's (apparently it's supposed to be much easier than before) but I can not get it to work and I've spent countless hours on it now. I'm hoping someone has the answer for me. Alternatively, if anyone knows how I can redirect where the screen capture is stored (default is in the photo album) then maybe I can make that function work. If I could redirect the screen capture to store in my applications document folder, then I can use MFMailCompose to attach it to an email. Lastly, on a side note, does anyone know of a good way to capture a digital signature via touch. For instance, I'd love to have my users be able to just sign their name via touch at the bottom of the document before I convert to PDF or take a screen capture. Thanks in advance for your help. -Ray

  Read the article

• Oracle Virtualization at Oracle OpenWorld 2012

  - by Chris Kawalek

  Mini-Series Entry 1 of 3: Hands-On Virtualization This is the first entry of a 3 part mini-series aimed at highlighting server and desktop virtualization at this year’s Oracle OpenWorld.  Oracle OpenWorld 2012 is fast approaching! If you are as excited as we are about the fascinating new Oracle virtualization content featured at Oracle OpenWorld 2012, you won’t want to miss this blog mini-series. We will be highlighting sessions that cover advances and innovations in our products, our product strategy and roadmap, and hands on labs for step-by-step instructions from our field and product experts. In the blog mini-series you will learn about: The Oracle Virtualization general keynote session Hands-on labs  Key Oracle server and desktop virtualization sessions In this entry, we will cover the Oracle Virtualization keynote session and the hands-on labs you won't want to miss. General Session: Oracle Virtualization Strategy and Roadmap Session ID: GEN8725 Oracle offers the industry’s most complete and integrated virtualization portfolio enabling organizations to realize benefits beyond simple consolidation as they transform their data centers into flexible cloud-based infrastructures. Join Oracle executives and experts to learn about Oracle’s desktop-to-data-center virtualization solutions, such as the OS, with built-in management integration at all layers that can help you virtualize and manage the complete computing environment, from physical servers to virtual servers and applications. This “don’t-miss” session offers details of the latest product updates and strategy; product roadmaps; integration with enterprise applications; and real-world examples of how Oracle server, desktop, and storage virtualization is benefiting customers. Here are our top picks for Hands-On Labs for Oracle OpenWorld 2012: Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Performance and Tablet Mobility Session ID: HOL9907 This hands-on lab demonstrates the performance (using an industry-standard load tester) and roaming capabilities of Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure with Oracle’s Sun Ray Clients, Apple iPad and other clients. Deploying an IaaS Environment with Oracle VM: Hands-On Lab  Session ID: HOL9558 This hands-on lab takes you through the planning and deployment of an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) environment with Oracle VM as the foundation. It covers a range of topics, from planning storage capacity, LUN creation, network bandwidth planning, and best practices to designing and streamlining the environment for ease of management. Learn from deeply experienced field engineers and product experts. Virtualize and Deploy Oracle Applications in Minutes with Oracle VM: Hands-On Lab Session ID: HOL9559 This hands-on lab is for application architects or system administrators who will need to deploy and manage Oracle Applications. You’ll learn how Oracle VM Templates can turn you into a power user who can virtualize and deploy complex Oracle Applications in minutes. Longtime field-experienced engineers and product experts will show you, step by step, how to download and import templates and deploy the applications. x86 Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure with Oracle VM 3.x and Sun ZFS Storage Appliance Session ID: HOL9870 The purpose of this hands-on lab is to demonstrate the functionality and usage of Oracle’s enterprise cloud infrastructure for x86 with Oracle VM 3.x. It covers:  Creation of VMs Migration of VMs  Quick and easy deployment of Oracle applications with Oracle VM Templates  Usage of the Storage Connect plug-in for the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance You can find these and other great sessions on the Oracle OpenWorld 2012 Content Catalogue. Start checking now to better plan and organize your week at the conference. Then you’ll be ready to sign up for all of your sessions in mid-July when the scheduling tool goes live. While the hands-on labs allow you to directly interact with Oracle virtualization products, the conference sessions allow you to hear from a wide variety of industry experts on how they're using they technology in real world deployments, solving specific challenges, and more. In tomorrow's entry, we'll start talking about the many conference sessions related to Oracle server and desktop virtualization you can attend during the show. See you then! - The Oracle Virtualization marketing team

  Read the article

• Adobe Photoshop CS5 vs Photoshop CS5 extended

  - by Edward

  Adobe Photoshop has been an industry standard for most web designers & photographers worldwide. Photoshop CS5 has made photography editing much more refined and the composition process has become much easier than ever before.  To study the advantage of Photoshop CS5 extended over Photoshop CS5 we have written this comparison article, with both a Designer’s & Photographer’s perspective. Hopefully it shall help you in your buying/upgrade decision. Photoshop CS5 Photoshop CS5 has refining feature with powerful photography tools. It made editing process easy as fewer steps are involved to remove noise, add grain, create vignettes, correct lens distortions, sharpen, and create HDR images. It has quick image correction and color and tone control for professional purpose. Intelligent image editing and enhancement , extraordinary advanced compositing has made it a better tool than earlier versions for photographers. It allows users to accelerate workflow with fast performance on 64-bit Windows® and Mac hardware systems and smoother interactions due to more GPU-accelerated features. It also boasts of a state-of-the-art processing with Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 6 and helps to maximize creative impact. It provides for tremendous precision and freedom. It allows user to easily select intricate image elements, such as hair and create realistic painting effects. It also allows to remove any image element and see the space fill in almost magically. It has easy access to core editing and streamlined work flow and flexible work ambience. It has creative tools and contents. Photoshop CS5 Extended Photoshop CS5 extended is quite innovative and has incorporated 3D elements to 2D artwork directly within digital imaging application, which enables user to do an easy on-ramp to 3D image creation. It also provides for 3D editing. It has intelligent image editing and enhancement. It offers advance composing and has extraordinary painting and drawing toolset. It provides for video and animation designing. It helps to work with specialized images for architecture, manufacturing, engineering, science, and medicine. Where CS5 extended scores over CS5 CS5 extended has many features, which were not included in CS5. These features make it score more over CS5. These features are: Technology for creating 3D extrusion 3D material library and picker Field depth for 3D 3D merging and scene composition improvements 3D workflow improvement Customization of 3D features Image based light source Shadow catcher for shadow creation Enhanced ray tracer Context sensitive widgets, which allows easy control of objects, lights and cameras. Overlays for materials and mesh boundaries Photoshop CS5 extended is far better than CS5 as it incorporates all the features of CS5 and have more advanced features. It allows 3D creation and editing and has other advanced tools to make it better. Redefining the Image-Editing Experience  : A Photographer’s point of View Photoshop CS5 delivers amazing features and creative options so even new users can perform advanced image manipulations and compositions. Breath taking image intelligence behind Content-Aware Fill magically removes any image detail or object, examines the surroundings and seamlessly fills in the space left behind. Lighting, tone and noise of the surrounding area can be matched. New Refine Edge makes nearly-impossible image selections possible. Masking was never easier, the toughest types of edges, such as hair and foliage seem easier to fix. To sum up following are few advantages of CS5 extended over previous versions 64-bit processing Content Aware Fill Refine Edge, “makes nearly-impossible image selections impossible” HDR Pro, including ghost artifact removal and HDR toning, which gives the look of HDR with a single exposure New brush options Improved image management with enhanced Adobe Bridge Lens corrections Improved black-and-white conversions Puppet Warp: Precisely reposition or warp any image element Adobe Camera Raw 6 Upgrade Buy Online Pricing and Availability Adobe Photoshop CS5 and CS5 Extended are available through Adobe Authorized Resellers & the Adobe Store. Estimated street price for Adobe Photoshop CS5 is US$699 and US$999 for Photoshop CS5 Extended. Upgrade pricing and volume licensing are also available. Related posts:10 Free Alternatives for Adobe Photoshop Software Web based Alternatives to Photoshop 15 Useful Adobe Illustrator Tutorials For Designers

  Read the article

• WebCenter Marketing and Upcoming Events

  - by rituchhibber

  Events: Events: Date Event Name Location/Country October 30, 2012 ResCare Solves Content Lifecycle Challenges with Oracle WebCenter Webcast November 1, 2012 Paper Burying Your HR Processes? Dig Your Way Out With Oracle WebCenter! Webcast November 15, 2012 Social Business Thought Leader Webcast: Three Ways to Fix Your Broken Organization, featuring Christian Finn Webcast Marketing: Marketing: WebCenter Sites Sales eVite:Embrace the Base: Create an Exceptional Online Customer Experience with Oracle WebCenter Sites Directs recipients to the Connected Customer Experience Resource Center to see the latest demos, analyst reports, and customer webcasts promoting WebCenter Sites. For more information Click  here. WebCenter Social Business Thought Leaders Series: Digital Darwinism: How Brands Can Survive the Rapid Evolution of Society and TechnologyBrian Solis, Altimeter Group digital analyst and futuristDecember 13, 2012 10am PDTRegistration available soon, find other content from this speaker here. Webcast: WebCenter Sites for Applications: Disconnected Online Customer Experience? Connect it with Oracle WebCenter November 8, 2012  eVite | Registration Page WebCenter in Action Customer & Partner webcast series: Started earlier in FY13, a new webcast series featuring WebCenter customer deployments that are executed by a partner.The next webcast in the series will be November 14th:Los Angeles Department of Building & Safety Lowers Customer Service Costs with Oracle WebCenter Click here to learn more. OnDemand Webcast: ResCare Solves Content Lifecycle Challenges with Oracle WebCenterComplex documents must be created, assembled, reviewed, and tracked. To avoid fragmented, chaotic information processes, organizations must adopt an integrated set of strategies, standards, best practices, and technologies for managing information. Attend this webcast to learn how Oracle WebCenter has allowed ResCare to: solve content lifecycle challenges, reduce compliance and business risks and increase adoption of intranet as primary business communication tool. On-Demand Assets Date Event Name Location/Country On Demand Avoid Social Media Fatigue - Learn the 9 C’s of Customer Engagement, featuring Ray Wang, Principal Analyst and CEO, Constellation Research Webcast On Demand WebCenter in Action Series: Hitachi Data Systems Improves Global Web Experience with Oracle WebCenter, presented by Hitachi Data Systems and Lingotek. Webcast On Demand Managing Social Relationships for the Enterprise, featuring Jeremiah Owyang, Industry Analyst, Altimeter Group and Reggie Bradford, Vice President, Oracle Webcast On Demand Oracle’s Vision for the Social-Enabled Enterprise, presented by Mark Hurd, Thomas Kurian and Reggie Bradford Webcast On Demand WebCenter in Action Series: Qualcomm Provides a Seamless Experience for Customers with Oracle WebCenter, presented by Qualcomm and Keste. Webcast On Demand Social Business Thought Leaders Series: 6 Counterintuitive Best Practices for Social Collaboration Adoption, featuring John Brunswick, Oracle. Webcast On Demand Oracle WebCenter Connects Patients and Researchers in Cancer Control Mission, presented by Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and App-Systems Webcast On Demand Oracle WebCenter: Modernize, Aggregate and Extend Your Portals Webcast On Demand Top 10 Technology Trends Driving Business Innovation, featuring Andy Mulholland, CTO, Capgemini Webcast On Demand Ancestry.com Helps Families Uncover History with Oracl e WebCenter Webcast On Demand Organic Business Networks: Doing Business in a Hyper-Connected World, featuring Mike Fauscette, GVP, IDC Webcast On Demand Social Business and Innovation, featuring John Mancini, President, AIIM Webcast On Demand Do More with Oracle WebCenter: Expand Beyond Web Experience Management Webcast On Demand Race Against the Machine, featuring Andrew McAfee, author and principal scientist at MIT Webcast On Demand Introducing Oracle WebCenter Sites 11gR1: Transforming the Online Experience Webcast On Demand Mobile is the New Face of Engagement, featuring Ted Schadler, Vice President & Principal Analyst, Forrester Research Inc Webcast Analyst Report: IDC Research: Oracle Debuts New Release of Oracle WebCenter Sites.

  Read the article

• June is going to be a busy month!

  - by Monica Kumar

  Who says things slow down in summer? Well, maybe for school kids, but certainly not for Oracle's Virtualization team! June is turning out to be one of the busiest months for us. We are going to be participating in a number of industry events. If you happen to be at any of these, please stop by the Oracle booth and our session/s. Let's go through a run down of these events. 1. 13th Annual Call Center Week June 4-8 Ceasar's Palace, Las Vegas  Event website You're now wondering...why are we at this call center show. It's really simple, Oracle's Desktop Virtualization solutions offer the best way for call center to reliably and securely access enterprise apps using a variety of endpoint devices such as an iPad or a Sun Ray Client. Provisioning new employees becomes a breeze. We'll be jointly showcasing our solution with Oracle's CRM team. Come check us out.  2. Gartner Infrastructure & Management, Florida June 5-7 Orlando, FL  Event website Oracle is a Premier sponsor of the Gartner IOM Summit this June 5 – 7, 2012 in Orlando, FL.  Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with Oracle experts in a variety of sessions, including demonstrations during the showcase receptions. 3. Cloud Expo East Check out our website for details of our participation. Stop by at booth 511 to talk to our Cloud, Virtualization and Big Data experts. In addition, we're delivering a number of sessions at Cloud Expo. The one I want to highlight is the following: Session: Borderless Applications in the Cloud with Oracle VM and Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder Abstract: As virtualization adoption progresses beyond server consolidation, this is also transforming how enterprise applications are deployed and managed in an agile environment. The traditional method of business-critical application deployment where administrators have to contend with an array of unrelated tools, custom scripts to deploy and manage applications, OS and VM instances into a fast changing cloud computing environment can no longer scale effectively to achieve response time and desired efficiency. Oracle VM and Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder allow applications, associated components, deployment metadata, management policies and best practices to be encapsulated into ready-to-run VMs for rapid, repeatable deployment and ease of management. Join us in this Cloud Expo session to see how Oracle VM and Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder allow you to deploy complex multi-tier applications in minutes and enables you to easily onboard existing applications to cloud environments.  Get your free Cloud Expo pass now!  We're offering complimentary VIP Gold Passes. Go to https://www.blueskyz.com/v3/Login.aspx?ClientID=19&EventID=56&sg=177, click “Continue” if you are a New User or log-in if you have already created an account. Once there, you can view the Agenda or Register for Cloud Expo. To register - fill out the basic business card questions and then enter oracleVIPgold in the Priority Code field to change the price from $2,000 to $0. 4. CiscoLive 2012  June 10-14 San Diego, CA Event website Our Oracle VM and Oracle Linux experts will talk about joint collaboration with Cisco on UCS. We'll also highlight customer use cases. 5. Gartner Infrastructure & Operations Management Summit, EMEA Dates: June 11-12 Frankfurt, Germany Event website Meet experts from our Virtualization and Linux team in EMEA. Stop by our booth and find out what's new in Oracle VM Server for x86 and Oracle Linux. June is going to be busy.

  Read the article

• Systems of Engagement

  - by Michael Snow

  12.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}  Engagement Week 12.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} This week we’ll be looking at the ever evolving topic of systems of engagement. This topic continues generating widespread discussion around how we connect with businesses, employers, governments, and extended social communities across multiple channels spanning web, mobile and human face to face contact. Earlier in our Social Business Thought Leader Webcast Series, we had AIIM President John Mancini presenting "Moving from Records to Engagement to Insight" discussing the factors that are driving organizations to think more strategically about the intersection of content management, social technologies, and business processes. John spoke about how Content Management and Enterprise IT are being changed by social technologies and how new technologies are being used to drive innovation and transform processes along and what the implications of this transformation are for information professionals. He used these two slides below to illustrate the evolution from Systems of Record to Systems of Engagement. The AIIM White Paper is available for download from the AIIM website. Later this week (09/20), we'll have another session in our Social Business Thought Leader Webcast Series featuring  R “Ray” Wang (@rwang0) Principal Analyst & CEO from Constellation Research presenting: "Engaging Customers in the Era of Overexposure"  More info to come tomorrow on the upcoming webcast this week. ~~~~~~ In the spirit of spreading good karma - one of the first things that came to mind as I was thinking about "Engagement" was the evolution of the Marriage Proposal.  Someone sent me a link to this link a couple of months ago and it raises the bar on all proposals. I hope you'll enjoy!

  Read the article

• Organization &amp; Architecture UNISA Studies &ndash; Chap 6

  - by MarkPearl

  Learning Outcomes Discuss the physical characteristics of magnetic disks Describe how data is organized and accessed on a magnetic disk Discuss the parameters that play a role in the performance of magnetic disks Describe different optical memory devices Magnetic Disk The way data is stored on and retried from magnetic disks Data is recorded on and later retrieved form the disk via a conducting coil named the head (in many systems there are two heads) The writ mechanism exploits the fact that electricity flowing through a coil produces a magnetic field. Electric pulses are sent to the write head, and the resulting magnetic patterns are recorded on the surface below with different patterns for positive and negative currents The physical characteristics of a magnetic disk   Summarize from book   The factors that play a role in the performance of a disk Seek time – the time it takes to position the head at the track Rotational delay / latency – the time it takes for the beginning of the sector to reach the head Access time – the sum of the seek time and rotational delay Transfer time – the time it takes to transfer data RAID The rate of improvement in secondary storage performance has been considerably less than the rate for processors and main memory. Thus secondary storage has become a bit of a bottleneck. RAID works on the concept that if one disk can be pushed so far, additional gains in performance are to be had by using multiple parallel components. Points to note about RAID… RAID is a set of physical disk drives viewed by the operating system as a single logical drive Data is distributed across the physical drives of an array in a scheme known as striping Redundant disk capacity is used to store parity information, which guarantees data recoverability in case of a disk failure (not supported by RAID 0 or RAID 1) Interesting to note that the increase in the number of drives, increases the probability of failure. To compensate for this decreased reliability RAID makes use of stored parity information that enables the recovery of data lost due to a disk failure.   The RAID scheme consists of 7 levels…   Category Level Description Disks Required Data Availability Large I/O Data Transfer Capacity Small I/O Request Rate Striping 0 Non Redundant N Lower than single disk Very high Very high for both read and write Mirroring 1 Mirrored 2N Higher than RAID 2 – 5 but lower than RAID 6 Higher than single disk Up to twice that of a signle disk for read Parallel Access 2 Redundant via Hamming Code N + m Much higher than single disk Highest of all listed alternatives Approximately twice that of a single disk Parallel Access 3 Bit interleaved parity N + 1 Much higher than single disk Highest of all listed alternatives Approximately twice that of a single disk Independent Access 4 Block interleaved parity N + 1 Much higher than single disk Similar to RAID 0 for read, significantly lower than single disk for write Similar to RAID 0 for read, significantly lower than single disk for write Independent Access 5 Block interleaved parity N + 1 Much higher than single disk Similar to RAID 0 for read, lower than single disk for write Similar to RAID 0 for read, generally  lower than single disk for write Independent Access 6 Block interleaved parity N + 2 Highest of all listed alternatives Similar to RAID 0 for read; lower than RAID 5 for write Similar to RAID 0 for read, significantly lower than RAID 5  for write   Read page 215 – 221 for detailed explanation on RAID levels Optical Memory There are a variety of optical-disk systems available. Read through the table on page 222 – 223 Some of the devices include… CD CD-ROM CD-R CD-RW DVD DVD-R DVD-RW Blue-Ray DVD Magnetic Tape Most modern systems use serial recording – data is lade out as a sequence of bits along each track. The typical recording used in serial is referred to as serpentine recording. In this technique when data is being recorded, the first set of bits is recorded along the whole length of the tape. When the end of the tape is reached the heads are repostioned to record a new track, and the tape is again recorded on its whole length, this time in the opposite direction. That process continued back and forth until the tape is full. To increase speed, the read-write head is capable of reading and writing a number of adjacent tracks simultaneously. Data is still recorded serially along individual tracks, but blocks in sequence are stored on adjacent tracks as suggested. A tape drive is a sequential access device. Magnetic tape was the first kind of secondary memory. It is still widely used as the lowest-cost, slowest speed member of the memory hierarchy.

  Read the article

• Screen Aspect Ratio

  - by Bill Evjen

  Jeffrey Dean, Pixar Aspect Ratio is very important to home video. What is aspect ratio – the ratio from the height to the width 2.35:1 The image is 2.35 times wide as it is high Pixar uses this for half of our movies This is called a widescreen image When modified to fit your television screen They cut this to fit the box of your screen When a comparison is made huge chunks of picture is missing It is harder to find what is going on when these pieces are missing The whole is greater than the pieces themselves. If you are missing pieces – you are missing the movie The soul and the mood is in the film shots. Cutting it to fit a screen, you are losing 30% of the movie Why different aspect ratios? Film before the 1950s 1.33:1 Academy Standard There were all aspects of images though. There was no standard. Thomas Edison developed projecting images onto a wall/screen He didn’t patent it as he saw no value in it. Then 1.37:1 came about to add a strip of sound This is the same size as a 35mm film Around 1952 – TV comes along NTSC Television followed the Academy Standard (4x3) Once TV came out, movie theater attendance plummets So Film brought forth color to combat this. Also early 3D Also Widescreen was brought forth. Cinema-Scope Studios at the time made movies bigger and bigger There was a Napoleon movie that was actually 4x1 … really wide. 1.85:1 Academy Flat 2.35:1 Anamorphic Scope (aka Panavision/Cinemascope) Almost all movies are made in these two aspect ratios Pixar has done half in one and half in the other Why choose one over the other? Artist choice It is part of the story the director wants to tell Can we preserve the story outside of the theaters? TVs before 1998 – they were very square Now TVs are very wide Historical options Toy Story released as it was and people cut it in a way that wasn’t liked by the studio Pan and Scan is another option Cut and then scan left or right depending on where the action is Frame Height Pixar can go back and animate more picture to account for the bottom/top bars. You end up with more sky and more ground The characters seem to get lost in the picture You lose what the director original intended Re-staging For animated movies, you can move characters around – restage the scene. It is a new completely different version of the film This is the best possible option that Pixar came up with They have stopped doing this really as the demand as pretty much dropped off Why not 1.33 today? There has been an evolution of taste and demands. VHS is a linear item The focus is about portability and not about quality Most was pan and scan and the quality was so bad – but people didn’t notice DVD was introduced in 1996 You could have more content – two versions of the film You could have the widescreen version and the 1.33 version People realized that they are seeing more of the movie with the widescreen High Def Televisions (16x9 monitors) This was introduced in 2005 Blu-ray Disc was introduced in 2006 This is all widescreen You cannot find a square TV anymore TVs are roughly 1.85:1 aspect ratio There is a change in demand Users are used to black bars and are used to widescreen Users are educated now What’s next for in-flight entertainment? High Def IFE Personal Electronic Devices 3D inflight

  Read the article

• Best approach to depth streaming via existing codec

  - by Kevin

  I'm working on a development system (and game) intended for games set mostly in static third-person views. We produce our scenery by CG and photographic techniques. Our background art is rendered off-line by a production-grade renderer. To allow the runtime imagery to properly interact with the background art, I wrote a program to convert from depth output by Mental Ray into a texture, and a pixel shader to draw a quad such that the Z data comes from the texture. This technique is working out very well, but now we've decided that some of the camera angle changes between scenes should be animated. The animation itself is straightforward to produce from our CG models. We intend to encode it to some HD video codec such as H.264. The problem is that in order to maintain our runtime imagery on the screen, the depth buffer will need to be loaded for each video frame. Due to the bandwidth, the video's depth data will need to be compressed efficiently. I've looked into methods for performing temporal compression of depth info and found an interesting research paper here: http://web4.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/j.kautz/publications/depth-streaming.pdf The method establishes a mapping between 16-bit depth values and YCbCr values. The mapping is tuned to the properties of existing video codecs in order to maximize precision of the decoded depths after the YCbCr has undergone video compression. It allows an existing, unmodified video codec to be used on the backend. I'm looking at how to pull this off with the least possible work. (This design change was unplanned.) Our game engine itself is native C++, presently for Win32 and DirectX, although we've worked hard to keep platform dependence segregated because we intend other ports. We don't have motion video facilities in the engine yet but will ultimately need that anyway for cinematics. I was planning on using some off-the-shelf motion video solution we can plug into our engine, and haven't chosen one yet. This new added requirement makes selecting one harder since, among other things, we'll now need to bypass colourspace conversion on one of the streams, and also will need to be playing two streams simultaneously in lockstep, on top of in some cases audio on one of them (for the cinematics). I'm also wondering if it's possible (or even useful) to do the conversion from YCbCr to depth in a pixel shader, or if it's better to just do it in CPU and separately load the resulting depth values into a locked tex. The conversion unfortunately does involve branching logic per-pixel. (There are more naive mappings that don't need branching, but they produce inferior results.) It could be reduced to a table lookup but the table would be 32MB. Programming is second-nature to me but I'm not that experienced with pix shaders and have zero knowledge of off-the-shelf video solutions. I'd therefore be interested in advice from others who may have dealt more with depth streaming, pixel shaders, and/or off-the-shelf codecs, regarding how feasible the proposed application is and what off-the-shelf video systems out there would best get along with this usage case.

  Read the article

• Windows XP update not working

  - by Josh

  I have a problem with XP updating. It hangs when I try to search for updates on the website. But the automatic updates still work. And it's running IE6, so I'm trying to update to IE8, hoping that will fix the problems with the website. But when installing IE8 it just hangs at Installing Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP And if I try to install it manually, it hangs when installing the updates for IE8. So looking at these logs, is there anything going wrong with the update process? Here is the end of ie8_main.log: 00:00.547: Started: 2012/09/15 (Y/M/D) 08:14:31.046 (local) 00:00.719: Time Format in this log: MM:ss.mmm (minutes:seconds.milliseconds) 00:00.781: Command line: c:\cac6f883a91a15abdac3e9\update\iesetup.exe /wu-silent 00:00.828: INFO: Checking version for c:\cac6f883a91a15abdac3e9\update\iesetup.exe: 8.0.6001.18702 00:01.047: INFO: Acquired Package Installer Mutex 00:01.078: INFO: Operating System: Windows Workstation: 5.1.2600 (Service Pack 3) 00:01.328: ERROR: Couldn't read value: 'LIPPackage' from [Version] section in update.inf 00:01.359: INFO: Checking Prerequisites 00:01.391: INFO: Prerequisites Satisfied: Yes 00:01.484: INFO: Checking version for C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe: 6.0.2900.5512 00:01.516: INFO: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe version: 6.0.2900.5512 00:01.562: INFO: Checking if iexplore.exe's current version is between 8.0.6001.0... 00:01.594: INFO: ...and 8.1.0.0... 00:01.625: INFO: Maximum version on which to run IEAK branding is: 8.1.0.0... 00:01.656: INFO: iexplore.exe version check success. Install can proceed. 00:01.703: INFO: Checking version for C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe: 6.0.2900.5512 00:01.719: INFO: Checking version for C:\WINDOWS\system32\mshtml.dll: 6.0.2900.6266 00:01.750: INFO: Checking version for C:\WINDOWS\system32\wininet.dll: 6.0.2900.6254 00:01.906: INFO: EULA not shown in passive or quiet mode. 00:01.984: INFO: Skip directly to Options page. 00:02.078: INFO: |PreInstall >>> CPageProgress::DlgProc: Exiting Phase PH_NONE 00:02.109: INFO: |PreInstall >>> CPageProgress::_ChangeState: Original Phase: 0 00:02.141: INFO: |Initialize >>> CPageProgress::_UpdateDisplay: Actual Phase: 1 00:02.187: INFO: |Initialize >>> >[BEGIN]------------------------------ 00:02.219: INFO: |Initialize >>> CPageProgress::_UpdateDisplay: Actual Phase: 1 00:02.250: INFO: |Initialize >>> SKIP[FALSE]>>Looking for skip clauses 00:02.281: INFO: |Initialize >>> SKIP[FALSE]>>Result: RUNNING This Phase 00:02.312: INFO: |Initialize >>> Calculating bytes needed to install. 00:02.375: INFO: |Initialize >>> Diskspace Required: 151918308 00:02.422: INFO: |Initialize >>> Diskspace Available to user: 223816298496 00:02.453: INFO: WindowsUpdate>>CWindowsUpdateMgr::Initialize: CoCreateInstance.CLSID_UpdateSession: HResult 0x00000000 00:02.484: INFO: WindowsUpdate>>CWindowsUpdateMgr::Initialize: PutClientApplicationID: HResult 0x00000000 00:02.516: INFO: WindowsUpdate>>CWindowsUpdateMgr::Initialize: CreateUpdateSearcher: HResult 0x00000000 00:02.547: INFO: WindowsUpdate>>CWindowsUpdateMgr::Initialize: CreateUpdateDownloader: HResult 0x00000000 00:02.594: INFO: WindowsUpdate>>CWindowsUpdateMgr::Initialize: CreateUpdateInstaller: HResult 0x00000000 00:02.625: INFO: WindowsUpdate>>WindowsUpdateMgr::Initialize: State Change: SS_INITIALIZED. 00:02.656: INFO: |Initialize >>> CStateInitialize::OnInitialize: Windows Update Manager Initialization Result: 0x00000000 00:02.687: INFO: |Initialize >>> CInstallationState::_ExitState: Preparing to Leave State. 00:02.719: INFO: |Initialize >>> CInstallationState::_ExitState: Setting Progress 100. 00:02.766: INFO: |Initialize >>> CInstallationState::_SetProgress: Post Set Progress Message Succeeded. 00:02.797: INFO: |Initialize >>> CInstallationState::_ExitState: Posting Exit Phase Message. 00:02.828: INFO: |Initialize >>> CInstallationState::_ExitState: Post Exit Phase Message Succeeded. 00:02.859: INFO: |Initialize >>> CPageProgress::DlgProc: Received WM_PR_SETPROGRESS, 64, 0 00:02.891: INFO: |Initialize >>> CPageProgress::_UpdateDisplay: Actual Phase: 1 00:02.953: INFO: |Initialize >>> CPageProgress::DlgProc: Received WM_PR_EXITPHASE, 0, 0 00:02.984: INFO: |Initialize >>> CPageProgress::_UpdateDisplay: Actual Phase: 1 00:03.016: INFO: |Initialize >>> <[END]-------------------------------- 00:03.047: INFO: |Initialize >>> CPageProgress::_ChangeState: Original Phase: 1 00:03.078: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> >[BEGIN]------------------------------ 00:03.109: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CPageProgress::_UpdateDisplay: Actual Phase: 2 00:03.156: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> SKIP[FALSE]>>Looking for skip clauses 00:03.187: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> SKIP[FALSE]>> Adding [FALSE] Condition: !_psdStateData->GetIsInitSuccessful() 00:03.219: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> SKIP[FALSE]>> Adding [TRUE ] Condition: !g_pApp->GetState()->AreWeDoingUninstall() 00:03.250: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> SKIP[TRUE ]>>Result: SKIPPING This Phase 00:03.281: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CInstallationState::_ExitState: Preparing to Leave State. 00:03.312: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CInstallationState::_ExitState: Setting Progress 100. 00:03.344: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CInstallationState::_SetProgress: Post Set Progress Message Succeeded. 00:03.375: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CInstallationState::_ExitState: Posting Exit Phase Message. 00:03.391: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CInstallationState::_ExitState: Post Exit Phase Message Succeeded. 00:03.437: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CPageProgress::DlgProc: Received WM_PR_SETPROGRESS, 64, 0 00:03.469: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CPageProgress::_UpdateDisplay: Actual Phase: 2 00:03.500: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CPageProgress::DlgProc: Received WM_PR_EXITPHASE, 0, 0 00:03.531: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CPageProgress::_UpdateDisplay: Actual Phase: 2 00:03.562: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> <[END]-------------------------------- 00:03.594: INFO: |Uninstall Prev. >>> CPageProgress::_ChangeState: Original Phase: 2 00:03.625: INFO: |WU Download >>> >[BEGIN]------------------------------ 00:03.656: INFO: |WU Download >>> CPageProgress::_UpdateDisplay: Actual Phase: 3 00:03.703: INFO: |WU Download >>> SKIP[FALSE]>>Looking for skip clauses 00:03.734: INFO: |WU Download >>> SKIP[FALSE]>> Adding [FALSE] Condition: !_psdStateData->GetIsInitSuccessful() 00:03.766: INFO: |WU Download >>> SKIP[FALSE]>> Adding [FALSE] Condition: !g_pApp->GetState()->GetOptShouldUpdate() 00:03.781: INFO: |WU Download >>> SKIP[FALSE]>> Adding [FALSE] Condition: g_pApp->GetState()->GetOptIEAKMode()==IEAK_BRANDING 00:03.812: INFO: |WU Download >>> SKIP[FALSE]>> Adding [FALSE] Condition: g_pApp->GetState()->AreWeDoingUninstall() 00:03.859: INFO: |WU Download >>> SKIP[FALSE]>>Result: RUNNING This Phase 00:03.891: INFO: Setting Windows Update Registry Keys: LookingForUpdates=0x00 - ForcePostUpdateDownload=0x00 - ForcePostUpdateInstall=0x00 00:03.953: INFO: Setting Windows Update Registry Keys: LookingForUpdates=0x01 - ForcePostUpdateDownload=0x01 - ForcePostUpdateInstall=0x00 00:03.984: INFO: WindowsUpdate>>Search: Search criteria: 'IsInstalled=0 and Type='Software' and CategoryIDs contains '5312e4f1-6372-442d-aeb2-15f2132c9bd7'' 00:04.031: INFO: |WU Download >>> Looking for Internet Explorer updates... And here is the end of the WindowsUpdate.log: 2012-09-15 08:14:16:109 1168 fc AU ############# 2012-09-15 08:14:16:109 1168 fc AU ## START ## AU: Search for updates 2012-09-15 08:14:16:109 1168 fc AU ######### 2012-09-15 08:14:16:109 1168 fc AU <<## SUBMITTED ## AU: Search for updates [CallId = {92AA8321-2BDA-46EA-828E-52D43F3BD58C}] 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {B4B9471C-1A5E-4D9C-94EF-84B00592946A}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {7F28CDA0-8249-47CA-BD3C-677813249FE9}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {F1B1A591-BB75-4B1C-9FBD-03EEDB00CC9D}.103 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {6384F8AC-4973-4ED9-BC7F-4644507FB001}.102 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {1C81AA3A-6F53-499D-B519-2A81CFBAA1DB}.102 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {7A25C7EC-3798-4413-A493-57A259D18959}.103 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {D6E99F31-FBF4-4DBF-B408-7D75B282D85B}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {1D45A361-56E7-4A3E-8E9F-AE022D050D13}.101 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {AA38D853-2A3E-4F72-86E9-32663D73DC55}.102 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {3ABE760C-4578-4C84-A1CB-BF1DF019EFE4}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {596ADB47-108D-482D-85BA-A513621434B7}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {0F90F2F5-18A2-412C-AEB9-7F027D6C986D}.104 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {7079BEEB-6120-4AFD-AD07-FB4DFA284FBE}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent Update {A566B4B1-D44F-46F8-A862-64EFA6684948}.100 is pruned out due to potential supersedence 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent Update {A2E271BC-57AE-44C3-8BFF-919D81299B5D}.100 is pruned out due to potential supersedence 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {DE76AB56-5835-46D4-A6B7-1ABED2572F00}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {C683FDC6-3997-4D12-AABB-49AE57031FE6}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {4C5429B5-22FE-4656-9E82-D80C1B99D73E}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:16:140 1168 2c4 Agent * Found 16 updates and 69 categories in search; evaluated appl. rules of 1868 out of 3469 deployed entities 2012-09-15 08:14:16:171 1168 2c4 Agent ********* 2012-09-15 08:14:16:171 1168 2c4 Agent ** END ** Agent: Finding updates [CallerId = MicrosoftUpdate] 2012-09-15 08:14:16:171 1168 2c4 Agent ************* 2012-09-15 08:14:16:187 1168 2c4 Agent ************* 2012-09-15 08:14:16:187 1168 2c4 Agent ** START ** Agent: Finding updates [CallerId = AutomaticUpdates] 2012-09-15 08:14:16:187 1168 2c4 Agent ********* 2012-09-15 08:14:16:187 1168 2c4 Agent * Online = No; Ignore download priority = No 2012-09-15 08:14:16:187 1168 2c4 Agent * Criteria = "IsHidden=0 and IsInstalled=0 and DeploymentAction='Installation' and IsAssigned=1 or IsHidden=0 and IsPresent=1 and DeploymentAction='Uninstallation' and IsAssigned=1 or IsHidden=0 and IsInstalled=1 and DeploymentAction='Installation' and IsAssigned=1 and RebootRequired=1 or IsHidden=0 and IsInstalled=0 and DeploymentAction='Uninstallation' and IsAssigned=1 and RebootRequired=1" 2012-09-15 08:14:16:187 1168 2c4 Agent * ServiceID = {7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D} Third party service 2012-09-15 08:14:16:187 1168 2c4 Agent * Search Scope = {Machine} 2012-09-15 08:14:16:203 4000 59c COMAPI >>-- RESUMED -- COMAPI: Search [ClientId = MicrosoftUpdate] 2012-09-15 08:14:16:203 4000 59c COMAPI - Updates found = 16 2012-09-15 08:14:16:203 4000 59c COMAPI --------- 2012-09-15 08:14:16:218 4000 59c COMAPI -- END -- COMAPI: Search [ClientId = MicrosoftUpdate] 2012-09-15 08:14:16:218 4000 59c COMAPI ------------- 2012-09-15 08:14:20:843 1168 69c AU AU received install approval from client for 1 updates 2012-09-15 08:14:20:843 1168 69c AU ############# 2012-09-15 08:14:20:843 1168 69c AU ## START ## AU: Install updates 2012-09-15 08:14:20:859 1168 69c AU ######### 2012-09-15 08:14:20:859 1168 69c AU # Initiating manual install 2012-09-15 08:14:20:859 1168 69c AU # Approved updates = 1 2012-09-15 08:14:20:875 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {0F90F2F5-18A2-412C-AEB9-7F027D6C986D}.104 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:20:875 1168 2c4 Agent * Found 1 updates and 69 categories in search; evaluated appl. rules of 1326 out of 3469 deployed entities 2012-09-15 08:14:20:875 1168 2c4 Agent ********* 2012-09-15 08:14:20:875 1168 2c4 Agent ** END ** Agent: Finding updates [CallerId = AutomaticUpdates] 2012-09-15 08:14:20:875 1168 2c4 Agent ************* 2012-09-15 08:14:20:875 1168 69c AU <<## SUBMITTED ## AU: Install updates / installing updates [CallId = {BB25B2FA-1DA6-46EF-BBAD-93AEC822BD21}] 2012-09-15 08:14:20:890 1168 eac AU >>## RESUMED ## AU: Search for updates [CallId = {92AA8321-2BDA-46EA-828E-52D43F3BD58C}] 2012-09-15 08:14:20:890 1168 eac AU # 1 updates detected 2012-09-15 08:14:20:890 1168 280 Agent ************* 2012-09-15 08:14:20:890 1168 280 Agent ** START ** Agent: Installing updates [CallerId = AutomaticUpdates] 2012-09-15 08:14:20:890 1168 280 Agent ********* 2012-09-15 08:14:20:890 1168 280 Agent * Updates to install = 1 2012-09-15 08:14:20:890 1168 eac AU ######### 2012-09-15 08:14:20:890 1168 eac AU ## END ## AU: Search for updates [CallId = {92AA8321-2BDA-46EA-828E-52D43F3BD58C}] 2012-09-15 08:14:20:890 1168 eac AU ############# 2012-09-15 08:14:20:890 1168 eac AU Featured notifications is disabled. 2012-09-15 08:14:20:906 1168 2c4 Report REPORT EVENT: {F352ECAD-2C8C-4F9A-A225-333B5018F1F0} 2012-09-15 08:13:23:234-0500 1 188 102 {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} 0 0 AutomaticUpdates Success Content Install Installation Ready: The following updates are downloaded and ready for installation. This computer is currently scheduled to install these updates on Sunday, September 16, 2012 at 3:00 AM: - Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP 2012-09-15 08:14:20:906 1168 2c4 Report REPORT EVENT: {707D1D6E-BA62-438F-B704-0CC083B1FB6C} 2012-09-15 08:13:23:234-0500 1 202 102 {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} 0 0 AutomaticUpdates Success Content Install Reboot completed. 2012-09-15 08:14:20:906 1168 2c4 Report REPORT EVENT: {65C04CE5-D046-4B6F-92F1-E2DF36730338} 2012-09-15 08:14:16:156-0500 1 147 101 {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} 0 0 MicrosoftUpdate Success Software Synchronization Windows Update Client successfully detected 16 updates. 2012-09-15 08:14:20:921 1168 280 Agent * Title = Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP 2012-09-15 08:14:20:921 1168 280 Agent * UpdateId = {0F90F2F5-18A2-412C-AEB9-7F027D6C986D}.104 2012-09-15 08:14:20:921 1168 280 Agent * Bundles 2 updates: 2012-09-15 08:14:20:921 1168 280 Agent * {114743B0-0F07-4000-8C51-BE808D819516}.104 2012-09-15 08:14:20:921 1168 280 Agent * {81B41B2D-E98D-4DFE-9CB7-E88AE50E9B42}.104 2012-09-15 08:14:25:078 1168 280 Handler Attempting to create remote handler process as RAY\Ray in session 0 2012-09-15 08:14:25:250 1168 280 DnldMgr Preparing update for install, updateId = {114743B0-0F07-4000-8C51-BE808D819516}.104. 2012-09-15 08:14:27:453 1256 528 Misc =========== Logging initialized (build: 7.6.7600.256, tz: -0500) =========== 2012-09-15 08:14:27:453 1256 528 Misc = Process: C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe 2012-09-15 08:14:27:453 1256 528 Misc = Module: C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuaueng.dll 2012-09-15 08:14:27:453 1256 528 Handler ::::::::::::: 2012-09-15 08:14:27:453 1256 528 Handler :: START :: Handler: Command Line Install 2012-09-15 08:14:27:453 1256 528 Handler ::::::::: 2012-09-15 08:14:27:453 1256 528 Handler : Updates to install = 1 2012-09-15 08:14:35:062 676 684 Misc =========== Logging initialized (build: 7.6.7600.256, tz: -0500) =========== 2012-09-15 08:14:35:062 676 684 Misc = Process: c:\cac6f883a91a15abdac3e9\update\iesetup.exe 2012-09-15 08:14:35:062 676 684 Misc = Module: C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuapi.dll 2012-09-15 08:14:35:062 676 684 COMAPI ------------- 2012-09-15 08:14:35:062 676 684 COMAPI -- START -- COMAPI: Search [ClientId = Windows Internet Explorer 8 Setup Utility] 2012-09-15 08:14:35:062 676 684 COMAPI --------- 2012-09-15 08:14:35:078 1168 2c4 Agent ************* 2012-09-15 08:14:35:078 1168 2c4 Agent ** START ** Agent: Finding updates [CallerId = Windows Internet Explorer 8 Setup Utility] 2012-09-15 08:14:35:078 1168 2c4 Agent ********* 2012-09-15 08:14:35:078 1168 2c4 Agent * Online = Yes; Ignore download priority = No 2012-09-15 08:14:35:078 1168 2c4 Agent * Criteria = "IsInstalled=0 and Type='Software' and CategoryIDs contains '5312e4f1-6372-442d-aeb2-15f2132c9bd7'" 2012-09-15 08:14:35:078 1168 2c4 Agent * ServiceID = {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} Third party service 2012-09-15 08:14:35:078 1168 2c4 Agent * Search Scope = {Machine} 2012-09-15 08:14:35:078 676 684 COMAPI <<-- SUBMITTED -- COMAPI: Search [ClientId = Windows Internet Explorer 8 Setup Utility] 2012-09-15 08:14:35:078 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir\9482F4B4-E343-43B6-B170-9A65BC822C77\muv4wuredir.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:35:093 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:35:156 1168 2c4 Misc WARNING: WinHttp: SendRequestToServerForFileInformation failed with 0x80190194 2012-09-15 08:14:35:156 1168 2c4 Misc WARNING: WinHttp: ShouldFileBeDownloaded failed with 0x80190194 2012-09-15 08:14:35:156 1168 2c4 Misc WARNING: DownloadFileInternal failed for http://download.windowsupdate.com/v9/1/windowsupdate/redir/muv4wuredir.cab: error 0x80190194 2012-09-15 08:14:35:156 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir\9482F4B4-E343-43B6-B170-9A65BC822C77\muv4wuredir.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:35:171 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:35:312 1168 2c4 Misc WARNING: WinHttp: SendRequestToServerForFileInformation failed with 0x80190194 2012-09-15 08:14:35:312 1168 2c4 Misc WARNING: WinHttp: ShouldFileBeDownloaded failed with 0x80190194 2012-09-15 08:14:35:312 1168 2c4 Misc WARNING: DownloadFileInternal failed for http://download.microsoft.com/v9/1/windowsupdate/redir/muv4wuredir.cab: error 0x80190194 2012-09-15 08:14:35:312 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir\9482F4B4-E343-43B6-B170-9A65BC822C77\muv4wuredir.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:35:312 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:35:406 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir\9482F4B4-E343-43B6-B170-9A65BC822C77\muv4wuredir.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:35:421 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:35:437 1168 2c4 Agent Checking for updated auth cab for service 7971f918-a847-4430-9279-4a52d1efe18d at http://download.windowsupdate.com/v9/1/microsoftupdate/redir/muauth.cab 2012-09-15 08:14:35:437 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\AuthCabs\authcab.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:35:437 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:35:578 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\AuthCabs\authcab.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:35:593 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:35:687 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir\7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D\muv4muredir.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:35:718 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:35:765 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir\7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D\muv4muredir.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:35:781 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:35:781 1168 2c4 PT +++++++++++ PT: Starting category scan +++++++++++ 2012-09-15 08:14:35:781 1168 2c4 PT + ServiceId = {7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D}, Server URL = https://www.update.microsoft.com/v6/ClientWebService/client.asmx 2012-09-15 08:14:35:906 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir\7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D\muv4muredir.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:35:921 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:35:968 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir\7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D\muv4muredir.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:35:984 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:35:984 1168 2c4 PT +++++++++++ PT: Synchronizing server updates +++++++++++ 2012-09-15 08:14:35:984 1168 2c4 PT + ServiceId = {7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D}, Server URL = https://www.update.microsoft.com/v6/ClientWebService/client.asmx 2012-09-15 08:14:37:250 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir\7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D\muv4muredir.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:37:265 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:37:312 1168 2c4 Misc Validating signature for C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\WuRedir\7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D\muv4muredir.cab: 2012-09-15 08:14:37:328 1168 2c4 Misc Microsoft signed: Yes 2012-09-15 08:14:37:328 1168 2c4 PT +++++++++++ PT: Synchronizing extended update info +++++++++++ 2012-09-15 08:14:37:328 1168 2c4 PT + ServiceId = {7971F918-A847-4430-9279-4A52D1EFE18D}, Server URL = https://www.update.microsoft.com/v6/ClientWebService/client.asmx 2012-09-15 08:14:37:453 784 314 DtaStor WARNING: Attempted to add URL http://download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/software/dflt/2010/06/3888874_6c6699387d7465bc17c02cc31a660b216427fc78.cab for file bGaZOH10ZbwXwCzDGmYLIWQn/Hg= when file has not been previously added to the datastore 2012-09-15 08:14:37:468 784 314 DtaStor WARNING: Attempted to add URL http://download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/software/dflt/2011/12/4876484_606d98885a70abb9e5e7f3821682cf5541b17c27.cab for file YG2YiFpwq7nl5/OCFoLPVUGxfCc= when file has not been previously added to the datastore 2012-09-15 08:14:37:468 784 314 DtaStor WARNING: Attempted to add URL http://download.windowsupdate.com/msdownload/update/software/dflt/2012/08/5179550_0e825c9da8f36ff2addcbbf4089e12bff764e0a0.cab for file DoJcnajzb/Kt3Lv0CJ4Sv/dk4KA= when file has not been previously added to the datastore 2012-09-15 08:14:37:937 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {551EF226-28CF-44D9-B318-4959C2B73B26}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:37:937 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {955266A7-6210-4C18-BAEF-0E8244D975A9}.100 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:37:937 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {797D3C3F-CFD2-4D26-BB52-BE038205C7C4}.105 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:37:937 1168 2c4 Agent * Added update {EDB28194-3635-480E-A069-1D1984CCB2AB}.102 to search result 2012-09-15 08:14:37:937 1168 2c4 Agent * Found 4 updates and 5 categories in search; evaluated appl. rules of 52 out of 65 deployed entities 2012-09-15 08:14:37:937 1168 2c4 Agent ********* 2012-09-15 08:14:37:937 1168 2c4 Agent ** END ** Agent: Finding updates [CallerId = Windows Internet Explorer 8 Setup Utility] 2012-09-15 08:14:37:937 1168 2c4 Agent ************* 2012-09-15 08:14:37:953 676 8cc COMAPI >>-- RESUMED -- COMAPI: Search [ClientId = Windows Internet Explorer 8 Setup Utility] 2012-09-15 08:14:37:953 676 8cc COMAPI - Updates found = 4 2012-09-15 08:14:37:953 676 8cc COMAPI --------- 2012-09-15 08:14:37:953 676 8cc COMAPI -- END -- COMAPI: Search [ClientId = Windows Internet Explorer 8 Setup Utility] 2012-09-15 08:14:37:953 676 8cc COMAPI ------------- 2012-09-15 08:14:42:937 1168 2c4 Report REPORT EVENT: {88008109-CF47-404E-940D-6C21A85DFF64} 2012-09-15 08:14:37:937-0500 1 147 101 {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} 0 0 Windows Internet Explorer 8 Set Success Software Synchronization Windows Update Client successfully detected 4 updates. I could upload the entire WindowsUpdate.log file to dropbox if required.

  Read the article

• Optimal setup for ASUS P6X58D Premium BIOS (no OC)?

  - by rumtscho

  Normally, I'd trust the mainboard manufacturer to choose the best options as defaults. But I had trouble with the board, because even with Quick Boot enabled, it booted twice as slowly as a Pentium 4 Celeron. Then I changed lots of options at once (most of them weren't explained in the manual, just mentioned with a single sentence) and the boot time is only marginally worse than the Pentium 4 (54 sec against 46 sec from button to pw entering screen). Now I don't know if I have turned something off which should have stayed on. I guess I even won't be able to boot from a CD now, because even though it is present in the boot sequence, I took off a timeout I think it needs to check whether there is a disk in the drive. The second reason is that I don't have an internal HDD, only a SSD. I forgot my sources blush but I am under the impression that today's BIOS and OS options are geared toward booting from a HDD, which is often less than optimal when one boots from a SSD, especially when there are functions which cause avoidable writing cycles, as a SSD wears out after too many writing cycles. Most of the things I've read concern the OS, but there are some BIOS-relevant options too. I am especially confused about the disk mode. The board supports AHCI, IDE-simulation and RAID, but of the different articles I've read, there is a proponent for each and no clear arguments for any. So can one tell me which options are important in general and which are important for a SSD-only system? I don't want to overclock the CPU, so you don't have to say anything about this (yes I know the board is meant for OC:)). I am thinking of overclocking the RAM, since they sold me 1600er heatsinked modules which are running at 1066 now, but I'm not sure yet about that. The rest of the system: i7-930, Intel X25-m G2, 6 GB RAM, GTS 250, some no-name Blue-ray ROM. 2 external HDDs over USB 2.0. Lots of other USB-connected hardware (12 devices I think), no SATA 3 drives (will disabling the controller have an impact on performance?), no LAN, only WiFi. Lucid Lynx 64 bit, no dual boot, no virtual installations. The main uses of the system are: managing and playing/showing all the media stored on the external disks, lots of image manipulation, some video editing, a bit of (non-demanding) gaming, rarely development. Lots of Internet surfing too, but this shouldn't have much impact on performance.

  Read the article

• System won't boot: Gigabyte HD 7790 1GB OC GPU issue or Corsair VS550 PSU issue?

  - by MGOwen

  Installed a new GPU, and PC won't boot. Turn it on and: No monitor signal at all (tried HDMI and VGA via DVI, on 2 working monitors). CPU and GPU fans DO spin, but No system beeps, no sounds from drives (they might make a small noise in the first 1 second or so, but there's definitely no OS loading or anything like that) If hit "power off" button it turns off immediately (no holding down for 3 seconds like usual) If I put my old HD 5670 GPU back in, everything works fine. But (plot twist!) card is not totally dead. My friend put it in his PC, and it works fine (he even played a game for 15 minutes, no issues). He has a Corsair TX850 850W and a Gigabyte MB. So my main theory is: the GPU isn't getting enough power from the PSU. But is it: Bad PSU? Seems unlikely, since it works fine with the other GPU. Also, the PSU Is brand new and 550W (single 42A/504W 12V rail). Overkill for this GPU. Corsair is a decent brand, but maybe just mine is faulty? Bad GPU? Could it be drawing more power than it should be, somehow, or something? Supposedly HD 7790 needs only 21A/75W on the 12v rail, though this one is factory overclocked a bit... but should that triple the power requirement? Something else? Could there be a motherboard incompatibility somehow? Both MB and GPU are less than a year old and PCI Express 3.0 x16. Things I've tried: Re-seating the video card Testing PC with old GPU (works fine, same PCIe slot). Checked AMD's stated amp/watt requirements of a 7790 and my PSU (see above). My PSU can output twice the amps (single rail) and 5x the Wattage a 7790 needs. Here are the full specs: Gigabyte HD 7790 1GB OC GPU Corsair VS550 550W PSU 4GB RAM AsRock H61M U3S3 motherboard i3-2100 500GB SATA HDD (2007-ish) blu-ray drive (new) PCI 802.11g card Edit: Motherboard BIOS Update seems to have fixed it. (If anyone has same problem and it doesn't work, comment here).

  Read the article

• Last week I was presented with a Microsoft MVP award in Virtual Machines – time to thank all who hel

  - by Liam Westley

  MVP in Virtual Machines Last week, on 1st April, I received an e-mail from Microsoft letting me know that I had been presented with a 2010 Microsoft® MVP Award for outstanding contributions in Virtual Machine technical communities during the past year.   It was an honour to be nominated, and is a great reflection on the vibrancy of the UK user group community which made this possible. Virtualisation for developers, not just IT Pros I consider it a special honour as my expertise in virtualisation is as a software developer utilising virtual machines to aid my software development, rather than an IT Pro who manages data centre and network infrastructure.  I’ve been on a minor mission over the past few years to enthuse developers in a topic usually seen as only for network admins, but which can make their life a whole lot easier once understood properly. Continuous learning is fun In 1676, the scientist Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke used the phrase (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/268025.html) ‘If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants’ I’m a nuclear physicist by education, so I am more than comfortable that any knowledge I have is based on the work of others.  Although far from a science, software development and IT is equally built upon the work of others. It’s one of the reasons I despise software patents. So in that sense this MVP award is a result of all the great minds that have provided virtualisation solutions for me to talk about.  I hope that I have always acknowledged those whose work I have used when blogging or giving presentations, and that I have executed my responsibility to share any knowledge gained as widely as possible. Thanks to all those who helped – a big thanks to the UK user group community I reckon this journey started in 2003 when I started attending a user group called the London .Net Users Group (http://www.dnug.org.uk) started by a nice chap called Ian Cooper. The great thing about Ian was that he always encouraged non professional speakers to take the stage at the user group, and my first ever presentation was on 30th September 2003; SQL Server CE 2.0 and the.NET Compact Framework. In 2005 Ian Cooper was on the committee for the first DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper! day, the free community conference held at Microsoft’s UK HQ in Thames Valley park in Reading.  He encouraged me to take part and so on 14th May 2005 I presented a talk previously given to the London .Net User Group on Simplifying access to multiple DB providers in .NET.  From that point on I definitely had the bug; presenting at DDD2, DDD3, groking at DDD4 and SQLBits I and after a break, DDD7, DDD Scotland and DDD8.  What definitely made me keen was the encouragement and infectious enthusiasm of some of the other DDD organisers; Craig Murphy, Barry Dorrans, Phil Winstanley and Colin Mackay. During the first few DDD events I met the Dave McMahon and Richard Costall from NxtGenUG who made it easy to start presenting at their user groups.  Along the way I’ve met a load of great user group organisers; Guy Smith-Ferrier of the .Net Developer Network, Jimmy Skowronski of GL.Net and the double act of Ray Booysen and Gavin Osborn behind what was Vista Squad and is now Edge UG. Final thanks to those who suggested virtualisation as a topic ... Final thanks have to go the people who inspired me to create my Virtualisation for Developers talk.  Toby Henderson (@holytshirt) ensured I took notice of Sun’s VirtualBox, Peter Ibbotson for being a fine sounding board at the Kew Railway over quite a few Adnam’s Broadside and to Guy Smith-Ferrier for allowing his user group to be the guinea pigs for the talk before it was seen at DDD7.  Thanks to all of you I now know much more about virtualisation than I would have thought possible and it continues to be great fun. Conclusion If this was an academy award acceptance speech I would have been cut off after the first few paragraphs, so well done if you made it this far.  I’ll be doing my best to do justice to the MVP award and the UK community.  I’m fortunate in having a new employer who considers presenting at user groups as a good thing, so don’t expect me to stop any time soon. If you’ve never seen me in action, then you can view the original DDD7 Virtualisation for Developers presentation (filmed by the Microsoft Channel 9 team) as part of the full DDD7 video list here, http://www.craigmurphy.com/blog/?p=1591.  Also thanks to Craig Murphy’s fine video work you can also view my latest DDD8 presentation on Commercial Software Development, here, http://vimeo.com/9216563 P.S. If I’ve missed anyone out, do feel free to lambast me in comments, it’s your duty.

  Read the article

• Big Data – Buzz Words: Importance of Relational Database in Big Data World – Day 9 of 21

  - by Pinal Dave

  In yesterday’s blog post we learned what is HDFS. In this article we will take a quick look at the importance of the Relational Database in Big Data world. A Big Question? Here are a few questions I often received since the beginning of the Big Data Series - Does the relational database have no space in the story of the Big Data? Does relational database is no longer relevant as Big Data is evolving? Is relational database not capable to handle Big Data? Is it true that one no longer has to learn about relational data if Big Data is the final destination? Well, every single time when I hear that one person wants to learn about Big Data and is no longer interested in learning about relational database, I find it as a bit far stretched. I am not here to give ambiguous answers of It Depends. I am personally very clear that one who is aspiring to become Big Data Scientist or Big Data Expert they should learn about relational database. NoSQL Movement The reason for the NoSQL Movement in recent time was because of the two important advantages of the NoSQL databases. Performance Flexible Schema In personal experience I have found that when I use NoSQL I have found both of the above listed advantages when I use NoSQL database. There are instances when I found relational database too much restrictive when my data is unstructured as well as they have in the datatype which my Relational Database does not support. It is the same case when I have found that NoSQL solution performing much better than relational databases. I must say that I am a big fan of NoSQL solutions in the recent times but I have also seen occasions and situations where relational database is still perfect fit even though the database is growing increasingly as well have all the symptoms of the big data. Situations in Relational Database Outperforms Adhoc reporting is the one of the most common scenarios where NoSQL is does not have optimal solution. For example reporting queries often needs to aggregate based on the columns which are not indexed as well are built while the report is running, in this kind of scenario NoSQL databases (document database stores, distributed key value stores) database often does not perform well. In the case of the ad-hoc reporting I have often found it is much easier to work with relational databases. SQL is the most popular computer language of all the time. I have been using it for almost over 10 years and I feel that I will be using it for a long time in future. There are plenty of the tools, connectors and awareness of the SQL language in the industry. Pretty much every programming language has a written drivers for the SQL language and most of the developers have learned this language during their school/college time. In many cases, writing query based on SQL is much easier than writing queries in NoSQL supported languages. I believe this is the current situation but in the future this situation can reverse when No SQL query languages are equally popular. ACID (Atomicity Consistency Isolation Durability) – Not all the NoSQL solutions offers ACID compliant language. There are always situations (for example banking transactions, eCommerce shopping carts etc.) where if there is no ACID the operations can be invalid as well database integrity can be at risk. Even though the data volume indeed qualify as a Big Data there are always operations in the application which absolutely needs ACID compliance matured language. The Mixed Bag I have often heard argument that all the big social media sites now a days have moved away from Relational Database. Actually this is not entirely true. While researching about Big Data and Relational Database, I have found that many of the popular social media sites uses Big Data solutions along with Relational Database. Many are using relational databases to deliver the results to end user on the run time and many still uses a relational database as their major backbone. Here are a few examples: Facebook uses MySQL to display the timeline. (Reference Link) Twitter uses MySQL. (Reference Link) Tumblr uses Sharded MySQL (Reference Link) Wikipedia uses MySQL for data storage. (Reference Link) There are many for prominent organizations which are running large scale applications uses relational database along with various Big Data frameworks to satisfy their various business needs. Summary I believe that RDBMS is like a vanilla ice cream. Everybody loves it and everybody has it. NoSQL and other solutions are like chocolate ice cream or custom ice cream – there is a huge base which loves them and wants them but not every ice cream maker can make it just right  for everyone’s taste. No matter how fancy an ice cream store is there is always plain vanilla ice cream available there. Just like the same, there are always cases and situations in the Big Data’s story where traditional relational database is the part of the whole story. In the real world scenarios there will be always the case when there will be need of the relational database concepts and its ideology. It is extremely important to accept relational database as one of the key components of the Big Data instead of treating it as a substandard technology. Ray of Hope – NewSQL In this module we discussed that there are places where we need ACID compliance from our Big Data application and NoSQL will not support that out of box. There is a new termed coined for the application/tool which supports most of the properties of the traditional RDBMS and supports Big Data infrastructure – NewSQL. Tomorrow In tomorrow’s blog post we will discuss about NewSQL. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Big Data, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

  Read the article

• IOUG and Oracle Enterprise Manager User Community Twitter Chat and Sessions at OpenWorld

  - by Anand Akela

  Like last many years, we will have annual Oracle Users Forum on Sunday, September 30th, 2012 at Moscone West, Levels 2 & 3 . It will be open to all registered attendees of Oracle Open World and conferences running from September 29 to October 5, 2012 . This will be a great  opportunity to meet with colleagues, peers, and subject matter experts to share best practices, tips, and techniques around Oracle technologies. You could sit in on a special interest group (SIG) meeting or session and learn how to get more out of Oracle technologies and applications. IOUG and Oracle Enterprise Manager team invites you to join a Twitter Chat on Sunday, Sep. 30th from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM.  IOUG leaders, Enterprise Manager SIG contributors and many Oracle Users Forum speakers will answer questions related to their experience with Oracle Enterprise Manager and the activities and resources available for  Enterprise Manager SIG members. You can participate in the chat using hash tag #em12c on Twitter.com or by going to  tweetchat.com/room/em12c      (Needs Twitter credential for participating).  Feel free to join IOUG and Enterprise team members at the User Group Pavilion on 2nd Floor, Moscone West. Here is the complete list of Oracle Enterprise Manager sessions during the Oracle Users Forum : Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Time Session Title Speakers Location 8:00AM - 8:45AM UGF4569 - Oracle RAC Migration with Oracle Automatic Storage Management and Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c VINOD Emmanuel -Database Engineering, Dell, Inc. Wendy Chen - Sr. Systems Engineer, Dell, Inc. Moscone West - 2011 8:00AM - 8:45AM UGF10389 -  Monitoring Storage Systems for Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Anand Ranganathan - Product Manager, NetApp Moscone West - 2016 9:00AM - 10:00AM UGF2571 - Make Oracle Enterprise Manager Sing and Dance with the Command-Line Interface Ray Smith - Senior Database Administrator, Portland General Electric Moscone West - 2011 10:30AM - 11:30AM UGF2850 - Optimal Support: Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control, My Oracle Support, and More April Sims - DBA, Southern Utah University Moscone West - 2011 11:30AM - 12:30PM IOUG and Oracle Enterprise Manager Joint Tweet Chat  Join IOUG Leaders, IOUG's Enterprise Manager SIG Contributors and Speakers on Twitter and ask questions related to practitioner's experience with Oracle Enterprise Manager and the new IOUG 's Enterprise Manager SIG. To attend and participate in the chat, please use hash tag #em12c on twitter.com or your favorite Twitter client. You can also go to tweetchat.com/room/em12c to watch the conversation or login with your twitter credentials to ask questions. User Group Pavilion 2nd Floor, Moscone West 12:30PM-2:00PM UGF5131 - Migrating from Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Grid Control to 12c Cloud Control    Leighton Nelson - Database Administrator, Mercy Moscone West - 2011 2:15PM-3:15PM UGF6511 -  Database Performance Tuning: Get the Best out of Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control Mike Ault - Oracle Guru, TEXAS MEMORY SYSTEMS INC Tariq Farooq - CEO/Founder, BrainSurface Moscone West - 2011 3:30PM-4:30PM UGF4556 - Will It Blend? Verifying Capacity in Server and Database Consolidations Jeremiah Wilton - Database Technology, Blue Gecko / DatAvail Moscone West - 2018 3:30PM-4:30PM UGF10400 - Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c: Monitoring, Metric Extensions, and Configuration Best Practices Kellyn Pot'Vin - Sr. Technical Consultant, Enkitec Moscone West - 2011 Stay Connected: Twitter |  Face book |  You Tube |  Linked in |  Newsletter

  Read the article

• List of Commonly Used Value Types in XNA Games

  - by Michael B. McLaughlin

  Most XNA programmers are concerned about generating garbage. More specifically about allocating GC-managed memory (GC stands for “garbage collector” and is both the name of the class that provides access to the garbage collector and an acronym for the garbage collector (as a concept) itself). Two of the major target platforms for XNA (Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360) use variants of the .NET Compact Framework. On both variants, the GC runs under various circumstances (Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360). Of concern to XNA programmers is the fact that it runs automatically after a fixed amount of GC-managed memory has been allocated (currently 1MB on both systems). Many beginning XNA programmers are unaware of what constitutes GC-managed memory, though. So here’s a quick overview. In .NET, there are two different “types” of types: value types and reference types. Only reference types are managed by the garbage collector. Value types are not managed by the garbage collector and are instead managed in other ways that are implementation dependent. For purposes of XNA programming, the important point is that they are not managed by the GC and thus do not, by themselves, increment that internal 1 MB allocation counter. (n.b. Structs are value types. If you have a struct that has a reference type as a member, then that reference type, when instantiated, will still be allocated in the GC-managed memory and will thus count against the 1 MB allocation counter. Putting it in a struct doesn’t change the fact that it gets allocated on the GC heap, but the struct itself is created outside of the GC’s purview). Both value types and reference types use the keyword ‘new’ to allocate a new instance of them. Sometimes this keyword is hidden by a method which creates new instances for you, e.g. XmlReader.Create. But the important thing to determine is whether or not you are dealing with a value types or a reference type. If it’s a value type, you can use the ‘new’ keyword to allocate new instances of that type without incrementing the GC allocation counter (except as above where it’s a struct with a reference type in it that is allocated by the constructor, but there are no .NET Framework or XNA Framework value types that do this so it would have to be a struct you created or that was in some third-party library you were using for that to even become an issue). The following is a list of most all of value types you are likely to use in a generic XNA game: AudioCategory (used with XACT; not available on WP7) AvatarExpression (Xbox 360 only, but exposed on Windows to ease Xbox development) bool BoundingBox BoundingSphere byte char Color DateTime decimal double any enum (System.Enum itself is a class, but all enums are value types such that there are no GC allocations for enums) float GamePadButtons GamePadCapabilities GamePadDPad GamePadState GamePadThumbSticks GamePadTriggers GestureSample int IntPtr (rarely but occasionally used in XNA) KeyboardState long Matrix MouseState nullable structs (anytime you see, e.g. int? something, that ‘?’ denotes a nullable struct, also called a nullable type) Plane Point Quaternion Ray Rectangle RenderTargetBinding sbyte (though I’ve never seen it used since most people would just use a short) short TimeSpan TouchCollection TouchLocation TouchPanelCapabilities uint ulong ushort Vector2 Vector3 Vector4 VertexBufferBinding VertexElement VertexPositionColor VertexPositionColorTexture VertexPositionNormalTexture VertexPositionTexture Viewport So there you have it. That’s not quite a complete list, mind you. For example: There are various structs in the .NET framework you might make use of. I left out everything from the Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.PackedVector namespace, since everything in there ventures into the realm of advanced XNA programming anyway (n.b. every single instantiable thing in that namespace is a struct and thus a value type; there are also two interfaces but interfaces cannot be instantiated at all and thus don’t figure in to this discussion). There are so many enums you’re likely to use (PlayerIndex, SpriteSortMode, SpriteEffects, SurfaceFormat, etc.) that including them would’ve flooded the list and reduced its utility. So I went with “any enum” and trust that you can figure out what the enums are (and it’s rare to use ‘new’ with an enum anyway). That list also doesn’t include any of the pre-defined static instances of some of the classes (e.g. BlendState.AlphaBlend, BlendState.Opaque, etc.) which are already allocated such that using them doesn’t cause any new allocations and therefore doesn’t increase that 1 MB counter. That list also has a few misleading things. VertexElement, VertexPositionColor, and all the other vertex types are structs. But you’re only likely to ever use them as an array (for use with VertexBuffer or DynamicVertexBuffer), and all arrays are reference types (even arrays of value types such as VertexPositionColor[ ] or int[ ]). * So that’s it for now. The note below may be a bit confusing (it deals with how the GC works and how arrays are managed in .NET). If so, you can probably safely ignore it for now but feel free to ask any questions regardless. * Arrays of value types (where the value type doesn’t contain any reference type members) are much faster for the GC to examine than arrays of reference types, so there is a definite benefit to using arrays of value types where it makes sense. But creating arrays of value types does cause the GC’s allocation counter to increase. Indeed, allocating a large array of a value type is one of the quickest ways to increment the allocation counter since a .NET array is a sequential block of memory. An array of reference types is just a sequential block of references (typically 4 bytes each) while an array of value types is a sequential block of instances of that type. So for an array of Vector3s it would be 12 bytes each since each float is 4 bytes and there are 3 in a Vector3; for an array of VertexPositionNormalTexture structs it would typically be 32 bytes each since it has two Vector3s and a Vector2. (Note that there are a few additional bytes taken up in the creation of an array, typically 12 but sometimes 16 or possibly even more, which depend on the implementation details of the array type on the particular platform the code is running on).

  Read the article

• How to properly add texture to multi-fixture/shape b2Body

  - by Blazej Wdowikowski

  Hello to everyone this is my first poste here I hope that will be not fail start. At start I must say I make part 1 in Ray's Tutorial "How To Make A Game Like Fruit Ninja With Box2D and Cocos2D". But I wonder what when I want make more complex body with texture? Simple just add n b2FixtureDef to the same body. OK but what about texture? If I will take code from that tutorial it only fill last fixture. Probably it does not takes every b2Vec2 point. I was right, it did not. So quick refactor and from that -(id)initWithTexture:(CCTexture2D*)texture body:(b2Body*)body original:(BOOL)original { // gather all the vertices from our Box2D shape b2Fixture *originalFixture = body->GetFixtureList(); b2PolygonShape *shape = (b2PolygonShape*)originalFixture->GetShape(); int vertexCount = shape->GetVertexCount(); NSMutableArray *points = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:vertexCount]; for(int i = 0; i < vertexCount; i++) { CGPoint p = ccp(shape->GetVertex(i).x * PTM_RATIO, shape->GetVertex(i).y * PTM_RATIO); [points addObject:[NSValue valueWithCGPoint:p]]; } if ((self = [super initWithPoints:points andTexture:texture])) { _body = body; _body->SetUserData(self); _original = original; // gets the center of the polygon _centroid = self.body->GetLocalCenter(); // assign an anchor point based on the center self.anchorPoint = ccp(_centroid.x * PTM_RATIO / texture.contentSize.width, _centroid.y * PTM_RATIO / texture.contentSize.height); } return self; } I came up with that -(id)initWithTexture:(CCTexture2D*)texture body:(b2Body*)body original:(BOOL)original { int vertexCount = 0; //gather total number of b2Vect2 points b2Fixture *currentFixture = body->GetFixtureList(); while (currentFixture) { //new b2PolygonShape *shape = (b2PolygonShape*)currentFixture->GetShape(); vertexCount += shape->GetVertexCount(); currentFixture = currentFixture->GetNext(); } NSMutableArray *points = [NSMutableArray arrayWithCapacity:vertexCount]; // gather all the vertices from our Box2D shape b2Fixture *originalFixture = body->GetFixtureList(); while (originalFixture) { //new NSLog((NSString*)@"-"); b2PolygonShape *shape = (b2PolygonShape*)originalFixture->GetShape(); int currentVertexCount = shape->GetVertexCount(); for(int i = 0; i < currentVertexCount; i++) { CGPoint p = ccp(shape->GetVertex(i).x * PTM_RATIO, shape->GetVertex(i).y * PTM_RATIO); [points addObject:[NSValue valueWithCGPoint:p]]; } originalFixture = originalFixture->GetNext(); } if ((self = [super initWithPoints:points andTexture:texture])) { _body = body; _body->SetUserData(self); _original = original; // gets the center of the polygon _centroid = self.body->GetLocalCenter(); // assign an anchor point based on the center self.anchorPoint = ccp(_centroid.x * PTM_RATIO / texture.contentSize.width,_centroid.y * PTM_RATIO / texture.contentSize.height); } return self; } I was working for simple two fixtures body like b2BodyDef bodyDef; bodyDef.type = b2_dynamicBody; bodyDef.position = position; bodyDef.angle = rotation; b2Body *body = world->CreateBody(&bodyDef); b2FixtureDef fixtureDef; fixtureDef.density = 1.0; fixtureDef.friction = 0.5; fixtureDef.restitution = 0.2; fixtureDef.filter.categoryBits = 0x0001; fixtureDef.filter.maskBits = 0x0001; b2Vec2 vertices[] = { b2Vec2(0.0/PTM_RATIO,50.0/PTM_RATIO), b2Vec2(0.0/PTM_RATIO,0.0/PTM_RATIO), b2Vec2(50.0/PTM_RATIO,30.1/PTM_RATIO), b2Vec2(60.0/PTM_RATIO,60.0/PTM_RATIO) }; b2PolygonShape shape; shape.Set(vertices, 4); fixtureDef.shape = &shape; body->CreateFixture(&fixtureDef); b2Vec2 vertices2[] = { b2Vec2(20.0/PTM_RATIO,50.0/PTM_RATIO), b2Vec2(20.0/PTM_RATIO,0.0/PTM_RATIO), b2Vec2(70.0/PTM_RATIO,30.1/PTM_RATIO), b2Vec2(80.0/PTM_RATIO,60.0/PTM_RATIO) }; shape.Set(vertices2, 4); fixtureDef.shape = &shape; body->CreateFixture(&fixtureDef); But if I try put secondary shape upper than first it starting wierd, texture goes crazy. For example not mention about more complex shapes. What's more if shapes have one common point texture will not render for them at all [For that I use Physics Edytor like in tutorial part1] BTW. I use PolygonSprite and in method createWithWorld... another shapes. Uff.. Question So my question is, why texture coords are in such a mess up? It's my modify method or just wrong approach? Maybe I should remove duplicated from points array?

  Read the article

• Copies of GameScene created when called additional times

  - by Orin MacGregor

  I have a game with a level select managed by a SceneManager, which basically just uses ReplaceScene. The first time I load a level everything works fine. On subsequent calls, for example: completing the level and continuing to the next, things blow up. The level loads fine, but when I try to pan the map or try to move the player the game crashes. Debugging through I found that there are multiple occurrences of self and related children like player and mapLayer. As a test, I put this code in my ccTouchesBegan: NSLog(@"test %i", [self retainCount]); The first time a level is loaded, it gives: test 2 The second time I load a level it gives: test 2 test 1 as in it spits out both values by looping through twice, not just appending an output to the last. It continues with this pattern for each subsequent load. So the third time will give 2 1 1. Particular code that causes the game to crash involve calling _tileMap.tileSize because there is a second GameScene with a tileMap that was supposedly destroyed, so it has tileSize and mapSize of 0. I noticed dealloc doesn't really ever get called, so I tried to manage some things with -(void) onExit -(void) onExit { [self unscheduleAllSelectors]; [_player stopAllActions]; //stop any animations just in case. normally handled in ccTouchesEnded [self removeAllChildrenWithCleanup:YES]; } I never replace the GameScene while I'm in a GameScene; if the level is completed it goes to a GameOver scene, or I use a back button that goes to the LevelSelect scene. This is [the relevant parts of] my init, in case something like the adding of children matters: -(id) init { _mapLayer = [CCLayer node]; //load data for level GameData *gameData = [GameDataParser loadData]; int selectedChapter = gameData.selectedChapter; int selectedLevel = gameData.selectedLevel; Levels *chapterLevels = [LevelParser loadLevelsForChapter:selectedChapter]; //loop until we get selected level, then do stuff for (Level *level in chapterLevels.levels) { if (level.number == selectedLevel) { //load the level map _tileMap = [CCTMXTiledMap tiledMapWithTMXFile:level.file]; } } _background = [_tileMap layerNamed:@"Background"]; _foreground = [_tileMap layerNamed:@"Foreground"]; _meta = [_tileMap layerNamed:@"Meta"]; _meta.visible = NO; //initialize Spawn Point object and place player there CCTMXObjectGroup *objects = [_tileMap objectGroupNamed:@"Objects"]; NSAssert(objects != nil, @"'Objects' object group not found"); NSMutableDictionary *spawnPoint = [objects objectNamed:@"SpawnPoint"]; NSAssert(spawnPoint != nil, @"SpawnPoint object not found"); int x = [[spawnPoint valueForKey:@"x"] intValue] / retinaScaling; int y = [[spawnPoint valueForKey:@"y"] intValue] / retinaScaling; //setup animations [[CCSpriteFrameCache sharedSpriteFrameCache] addSpriteFramesWithFile:@"MouseRightAnim_24x21.plist"]; CCSpriteBatchNode *spriteSheet = [CCSpriteBatchNode batchNodeWithFile:@"MouseRightAnim_24x21.png"]; [_mapLayer addChild:spriteSheet z:1]; NSMutableArray *rightAnimFrames = [NSMutableArray array]; for(int i = 1; i <= 3; ++i) { [rightAnimFrames addObject: [[CCSpriteFrameCache sharedSpriteFrameCache] spriteFrameByName: [NSString stringWithFormat:@"MouseRight%d_24x21.png", i]]]; } CCAnimation *rightAnim = [CCAnimation animationWithSpriteFrames:rightAnimFrames delay:0.1f]; self.player = [CCSprite spriteWithSpriteFrameName:@"MouseRight2_24x21.png"]; _player.position = ccp(x, y); self.rightAction = [CCRepeatForever actionWithAction:[CCAnimate actionWithAnimation:rightAnim]]; rightAnim.restoreOriginalFrame = NO; [spriteSheet addChild:_player]; //get map size in pixels mapHeight = _tileMap.contentSize.height; mapWidth = _tileMap.contentSize.width; //setup defaults //this value works well for the calculation later, trial and error really distance = 150; lastGoodDistance = 150; mapScale = 1; [self setViewpointCenter:_player.position]; [_mapLayer addChild:_tileMap]; [self addChild:_mapLayer z:-1]; self.isTouchEnabled = YES; } return self; } And here's the SceneManager code for replacing scenes: +(void) goGameScene { CCLayer *gameLayer = [GameScene node]; [SceneManager go:gameLayer:[GameHUD node]]; } //this is what every call looks like besides the GameScene one above +(void) goLevelSelect { [SceneManager go:[LevelSelect node]:nil]; } +(void) go:(CCLayer *)layer: (CCLayer *)hudLayer { CCDirector *director = [CCDirector sharedDirector]; CCScene *newScene = [SceneManager wrap:layer:hudLayer]; if ([director runningScene]) { [director replaceScene:newScene]; } else { [director runWithScene:newScene]; } } +(CCScene *) wrap:(CCLayer *)layer: (CCLayer *)hudLayer { CCScene *newScene = [CCScene node]; [newScene addChild: layer]; if (hudLayer != nil) { [newScene addChild: hudLayer z:1]; } return newScene; } Any ideas why I'm getting these fatal artifacts? I'm hoping this isn't considered too localized since it basically combines 3 tutorials that anyone could end up following. (Ray Wenderlich Animations, Tim Roadley Scene Manager, Pan and Zoom with Tiled Maps.

  Read the article

• Download And Install apk from a link.

  - by rayman

  Hi, I`am trying to download and install an apk from some link, but for some reason i get an exception. I have one method downloadfile() which downloading the file and a call to and installFile() method, which supposed to install it in the device. some code: public void downloadFile() { String fileName = "someApplication.apk"; MsgProxyLogger.debug(TAG, "TAG:Starting to download"); try { URL u = new URL( "http://10.122.233.22/test/someApplication.apk"); try { HttpURLConnection c = (HttpURLConnection) u.openConnection(); try { c.setRequestMethod("GET"); c.setDoOutput(true); try { c.connect(); FileOutputStream f = context.openFileOutput(fileName, context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE); try { InputStream in = c.getInputStream(); byte[] buffer = new byte[1024]; int len1 = 0; int totsize = 0; try { while ((len1 = in.read(buffer)) > 0) { totsize += len1; f.write(buffer, 0, len1);// .write(buffer); } } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } f.close(); MsgProxyLogger.debug(TAG, TAG + ":Saved file with name: " + fileName); InstallFile(fileName); } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } catch (ProtocolException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } catch (MalformedURLException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } and this is the install file method: private void InstallFile(String fileName) { MsgProxyLogger.debug(TAG, TAG + ":Installing file " + fileName); String src = String.format( "file:///data/data/com.test/files/", fileName); Uri mPackageURI = Uri.parse(src); PackageManager pm = context.getPackageManager(); int installFlags = 0; try { PackageInfo pi = pm.getPackageInfo("com.mirs.agentcore.msgproxy", PackageManager.GET_UNINSTALLED_PACKAGES); if (pi != null) { MsgProxyLogger.debug(TAG, TAG + ":replacing " + fileName); installFlags |= PackageManager.REPLACE_EXISTING_PACKAGE; } } catch (NameNotFoundException e) { } try { // PackageInstallObserver observer = new PackageInstallObserver(); pm.installPackage(mPackageURI); } catch (SecurityException e) { //!!!!!!!!!!!!!here i get an security exception!!!!!!!!!!! MsgProxyLogger.debug(TAG, TAG + ":not permission? " + fileName); } this is the exception details: "Neither user 10057 nor current process has android.permission.INSTALL_PACKAGES". and i have set in my main app that permission in the manifest. anyone has any idea? thanks, ray.

  Read the article

• point light illumination using Phong model

  - by Myx

  Hello: I wish to render a scene that contains one box and a point light source using the Phong illumination scheme. The following are the relevant code snippets for my calculation: R3Rgb Phong(R3Scene *scene, R3Ray *ray, R3Intersection *intersection) { R3Rgb radiance; if(intersection->hit == 0) { radiance = scene->background; return radiance; } ... // obtain ambient term ... // this is zero for my test // obtain emissive term ... // this is also zero for my test // for each light in the scene, obtain calculate the diffuse and specular terms R3Rgb intensity_diffuse(0,0,0,1); R3Rgb intensity_specular(0,0,0,1); for(unsigned int i = 0; i < scene->lights.size(); i++) { R3Light *light = scene->Light(i); R3Rgb light_color = LightIntensity(scene->Light(i), intersection->position); R3Vector light_vector = -LightDirection(scene->Light(i), intersection->position); // check if the light is "behind" the surface normal if(normal.Dot(light_vector)<=0) continue; // calculate diffuse reflection if(!Kd.IsBlack()) intensity_diffuse += Kd*normal.Dot(light_vector)*light_color; if(Ks.IsBlack()) continue; // calculate specular reflection ... // this I believe to be irrelevant for the particular test I'm doing } radiance = intensity_diffuse; return radiance; } R3Rgb LightIntensity(R3Light *light, R3Point position) { R3Rgb light_intensity; double distance; double denominator; if(light->type != R3_DIRECTIONAL_LIGHT) { distance = (position-light->position).Length(); denominator = light->constant_attenuation + (light->linear_attenuation*distance) + (light->quadratic_attenuation*distance*distance); } switch(light->type) { ... case R3_POINT_LIGHT: light_intensity = light->color/denominator; break; ... } return light_intensity; } R3Vector LightDirection(R3Light *light, R3Point position) { R3Vector light_direction; switch(light->type) { ... case R3_POINT_LIGHT: light_direction = position - light->position; break; ... } light_direction.Normalize(); return light_direction; } I believe that the error must be somewhere in either LightDirection(...) or LightIntensity(...) functions because when I run my code using a directional light source, I obtain the desired rendered image (thus this leads me to believe that the Phong illumination equation is correct). Also, in Phong(...), when I computed the intensity_diffuse and while debugging, I divided light_color by 10, I was obtaining a resulting image that looked more like what I need. Am I calculating the light_color correctly? Thanks.

  Read the article

• Query Results Not Expected

  - by E-Madd

  I've been a CF developer for 15 years and I've never run into anything this strange or frustrating. I've pulled my hair out for hours, googled, abstracted, simplified, prayed and done it all in reverse. Can you help me? A cffunction takes one string argument and from that string I build an array of "phrases" to run a query with, attempting to match a location name in my database. For example, the string "the republic of boulder" would produce the array: ["the","republic","of","boulder","the republic","the republic of","the republic of boulder","republic of","republic of boulder","of boulder"]. Another cffunction uses the aforementioned cffunction and runs a cfquery. A query based on the previously given example would be... select locationid, locationname, locationaliasname from vwLocationsWithAlias where LocationName in ('the','the republic','the republic of','republic','republic of','republic of boulder','of','of boulder','boulder') or LocationAliasName in ('the','the republic','the republic of','republic','republic of','republic of boulder','of','of boulder','boulder') This returns 2 records... locationid - locationname - locationalias 99 - 'Boulder' - 'the republic' 68 - 'Boulder' - NULL This is good. Works fine and dandy. HOWEVER... if the string is changed to "the republic", resulting in the phrases array ["the","republic","the republic"] which is then used to produce the query... select locationid, locationname, locationaliasname from vwLocationsWithAlias where LocationName in ('the','the republic','republic') or LocationAliasName in ('the','the republic','republic') This returns 0 records. Say what?! OK, just to make sure I'm not involuntarily HIGH I run that very same query in my SQL console against the same database in the cf datasource. 1 RECORD! locationid - locationname - locationalias 99 - 'Boulder' - 'the republic' I can even hard-code that sql within the same cffunction and get that one result, but never from the dynamically generated SQL. I can get my location phrases from another cffunction of a different name that returns hard-coded array values and those work, but never if the array is dynamically built. I've tried removing cfqueryparams, triple-checking my datatypes, datasource setups, etc., etc., etc. NO DICE WTF!? Is this an obscure bug? Am I losing my mind? I've tried everything I can think of and others (including Ray Camden) can think of. ColdFusion 8 (with all the latest hotfixes) SQL Server 2005 (with all the greatest service packs) Windows 2003 Server (with all the latest updates, service packs and nightly MS voodoo)

  Read the article

< Previous Page | 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27  | Next Page >