Why did the LAN have to end?

Work sucks.  Gone for one day and everything goes crazy.

Woohoo Microsoft

This is probably not going to interest many people on the site and it will show how much of a geek I am. Visual Studio 2008 service pack 1 came out today. Also .NET 3.5 SP1 came out. This also includes SQL Server Compact Edition service pack 1.

I have a really good reason to be happy about it though. At work we've been moving from Visual Basic 6.0 (yuck!) to C#, .NET 3.5, WPF. To help learn this newer technology quicker I've come up with a project to do at home. One thing I want to do is take an old 50s wood radio and make it a modern mp3 jukebox. I want to find something like the following where I don't have to change the outside. I can put a touchscreen in place of the turntable.

There's jukebox software out there already, but I am going to make my own. I don't learn well by just reading a book. I need a project, a reason to use the stuff. This projectis perfect and will have stuff that is analogous to the business world.

So, why I am excited about these service packs. There's something with SQL Server Compact that has been annoying me, it had no TOP command. I am using SQL Server Compact because then I don't have to install anything extra. It's part of .NET 3.5. Yeah, it's limitted but I am not making a business application. I just need to keep track of songs. It's a simple database. What TOP does is limit the amount of data that is returned. Sometimes you don't need everything. I have such a case.

Take a look at the following screenshot. I am working on how to do the song selection. The following screenshot show the albums in order of artists. I only have one database table which stores all the songs. To make that screenshot I ask for the unique artist/album combinations from that table. Basically in return I get a list of all the albums, no song information. However, to get the cover art I need to get it from one of the mp3s. Before the service pack there was no way to ask for a single song that matches the album and artist. Currently I just take the first song in the list that is returned and use that mp3 to get the cover art. However, returning all of those songs takes up memory and extra processing cycles. Now with TOP being supported I can have the database return only the first song (Top 1) instead of all the songs in the album. With today's computers you won't see a difference in a small change like this. But I think most of today's programmers have become lazy. Doing a bunch of small improvements like this will affect the system as a whole.

(Click for actual size)

Interesting tidbit. The look and feel is programmed using WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation). This is a new thing Microsoft is introducing. It;s what Vista's interface is programmed in. It's vector based which basically means it will look the same at any resolution. That window is 800x600 but the contents are in a 640x480 box that is being stretched. doesn;t looked stretched, does it? That's vector graphics for you.

Thinking about selling my computer

I pieced it together on newegg and if it was new parts it would be worth $1300.  Think I could get at least $1000 for it?  If so I'd sell it.  If you search my blog you can fin the specs otherwise I will post them if someone is interested.  Screw it, I did a search.  The motherboard is a MSI Neo-F since the Asus tanked.
http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=37011

I am thinking about geting a desktop replacement laptop.  I have been using my cheap laptop a lot lately.  I don't think I have turned on my desktop in a couple of weeks.  I just recently turned it on to install .net 3.5, update C#, and install Windows SDK so I cna learn WPF programming for work.

I've been researching laptops.  It would be between Dell M1730, Alienware m17x, and HP HDX.  I tried to configure them as close to the following as possible since it is close to what my desktop is.

17" screen (HP has 20")
2.4ghz T8300
4gig memory
8800M GPU (alienware only has dual so I did 8600M)
400g hdd (this ends up being 2x200 at 7200, alienware only at 320g)
Vista Home Premium 64bit
No other software
Regulr DVD burner, though Dell did not mention LightScribe which I use

Dell - $3,199
Alienware - $3,009
HP - $1,965

Notice something?  I saw this and I first though HP must be crap then or I am missing something.  As far as I can tell they are all configured as closely as possible.  I put allt he windows up side by side and I don't see any significant difference.  I did look at Toshiba and theirs is not configurable.  The closest laptop they has was mostly they same except the cpu had smaller cache and a smaller hdd.  Their website is currently down but I think it was like $2100.

But after reading reviews of the HDX and seeing youtube reviews it seems like it is a very good system.  It has a 20" monitor so it is huge.  It have a tv tuner built in with a remote built in.  It has a couple more ports than the others do.  Add $350 for 1900x1200.  I am happy with the 1650x1080 my desktop currently does so I left that on the HP.  The other only do the higher resolution. But still, it much cheaper at that resolution.

I'm not going to use this like a laptop.  I've just been using my cheap laptop a lot lately because it sits on the end table and and I don't need a lot of power to surf the web or email.  I'm will be doing more programming at home because I need ot learn WPF for work.  I installed the tools on the cheap laptop but it isn't fast enough.  It's nice to program on the sofa while watching TV.

Do you guys know any brands that aren't huge name brands.  Falcon Northwest is expensive also.  Gateway is tempting, they have one that has those exact specs and it is $2000.  It has a LabelFlash drive though and I have a ton of LightScribe dvds.  From what I can tell in the pics it has only one USB port, but it has esata.  Asus has a similar one also for $2000 but it has the 8700M.

And theere is this Acer on Newegg. N82E16834115475.  I wonder how a 9500M compares to a 8800M.

Must have for your home theater

A couple weeks ago I lost the remote for my receiver. Usually when something like htis happens if I stop looking it will show up in a couple days. Well, it hasn't. I looked online for an OEM replacement, the only one I could find was at remotes.com and they want $97. Sorry, way too much for a remote for an eight year old receiver.

Last weekend I visited my parents because they wanted help buying a TV. While at Best Buy I picked up a Harmony 550 remote that was an open box item. This remote rocks! When I lost my receiver remote I eyed the Harmony One, but that was too expensive. Looking up on Logitech's site I knew they supported my receiver so I wouldn't need my remote to program it. This remote does everything!

The only thing I wish it had was bluetooth so I could control the PS3. I don't expect to see anything like that for a while. Dumb move on Sony's part to not have IR for universal remotes.

The software to program this can be easy to use but some stuff is difficult. The initial wizard will setup most everything and start you off with basic activities (like watch tv or watch dvd).

You see on the screen it shows 4 items with a button next to each item and buttons below the screen to page through screens. I have my first screen setup to Watch TV, Play 360, Play PS3, and Turn On All. I have more activities but I don't do those that often.

The first three the wizard setup and it works great. I press Play 360 and it turns the TV on switching it to the proper input, turns the receiver on switching it to the proper input, turns the 360 on, and volume is set to adjust the receiver. If I press Watch TV it will turn off devices it doesn't need. So it would turn off the 360 and receiver and the volume buttons will then control my TV volume.

The Turn On All activiy I setup from scratch. It will turn the TV, PS3, 360, and receiver on. Then when I am in the activity my 4 buttons on the screen are setup as 360, PS3, TV, Fav. the 360, PS3, and TV options will switch the receiver and TV to the proper input. Fav will let me go through my TV's favorites. It took a while to set this up. When I select 360 I setup the button on the remote to control the 360, same with the other ones. I do have all of the systems on at the same time sometimes. Like when I am downloading a demo on one I will switch to the other.

One cool feature of the remote is if it didn't do something correctly you can press the help button. It will then step through the process and ask you what's turned on and stuff. Every once and a while it won't turn my 360 on so I have to use that.

I think the remote detectes motion because this morning I put when I picked up my cell phone which was next to the remote the remote lit up.

You can control individual devices also. It's a pain. For example my receiver remote had a lot of buttons. Butons to set input, buttons to setup the speakers, buttons to setup the surround mode, etc... What the remote does is list all action in the screen. So you see 4 actions at a time, alphabetized. When I select my receiver it has 27 pages of actions.

The remote has a sound and picture button at the bottom. Those set the mode of the remote. For example, let's say I set it up so my TV's sound goes through my receiver. I don't do this now because I only have a couple of HD channels that are 5.1. My TV speakers are really good with voices. Anyway, if I wanted to change the input on the receiver or the TV I could press Picture and then the input button would control the TV, or press Sound and it will control the receiver.

If you want a remote like this watch ebay for the Harmony Advance.  It's just like the 550 but has the 360 buttons on the remote.  It tends to be cheaper then the 550.

Quote of the Day

"The coolest thing about these cars is the noise...Forty-three electric cars rolling by going 'weeeeeee' just isn't all that cool."

-Darrell Waltrip in this article.

That's why electric motorcycles are not going to catch on.  Well, you'll see a bunch of smaller electric motorcycles and scooters that will get you to and from work.  But you won't see a highway cruiser go electric and be popular in the US.  I wouldn't mind an electric bike to go to work with.