When I tried to uninstall Symantec Antivirus, it asked for a password.  When I put in the correct password, it refused it.  So how to uninstall it with a messed up password?  Easy..

Open up regedit (as an administrator) and change HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\INTEL\LANDesk\VirusProtect6\CurrentVersion\AdministratorOnly\Security\UseVPUninstallPassword to “0″ (zero).

I was able to uninstall and reinstall Symantec Antivirus.

Install ActiveState Perl from http://www.activestate.com (free) and install DBI if it isn’t already installed.  It should be but you never know…

1. Start -> ActiveState Perl -> Perl Package Manager
2. install DBI
3. exit

Now, the easy part.  Install the DBD::Sybase 1.09.01 PPM:

1. download DBD::Sybase 1.09.01 PPM
2. extract zip file to temporary directory (e.g. c:\test)
3. Start -> Run -> cmd.exe (as Administrator if Vista or Windows 7)
4. cd \test
5. ppm install DBD-Sybase.ppd
6. exit

That’s it

It should automatically install the DBD::Sybase for Perl 5.8 or 5.10 depending on which version of Active State Perl you have installed.

Tuesday, I took Jason to the oral surgeon’s to have all four of his wisdom teeth pulled. The surgery itself took about 45 minutes. It turned out there was a lot of infection back there, and as the doctor put it “it was messy”. The anesthesia made Jason really funny, and he took direction very well, which was nice for a bit.

However, the bleeding didn’t stop the way it should have. After a few hours of constant, continuous, copious bleeding, I called the doctor’s office again, and they had us go back in. They gave him two more stitches, and Jason finally clotted, after losing about 2 pints of blood.

We came home, and I got Jason to drink a bit of milkshake, and managed to keep him conscious until the fear of actually losing him passed.

He’s still incredibly weak and tired – mostly due to the blood loss.

- My wife’s account of it

The oral surgeon wasn’t aware of how much blood was lost, neither myself or my wife were in any condition to think clearly Tuesday. I should have received a transfusion.

Nearly a week later and even though my mouth is doing fine, I’m quite low on red blood cells. Made it into the office today (wife drove) and am leaving early because the room is spinning nearly nonstop and I’m fighting to stay conscious. Going to try to see a doc today/tomorrow … maybe I’ll get some blood. If not, give me a blinkin’ straw and I”ll do it myself… Who’s A Positive around here?

Replace with:

It should work fine now

While it is free, you have to fill out a form to get access to the download.  Sybase Sales will likely call you regarding purchasing a full blown version of Power Designer.  If you’re not interested in purchasing it, just tell them – Sybase Sales People are generally very nice folk.

Jeff Tallman also provided us with the MDA posters for Sybase 15.0.3 last year.

International Sybase User Group

For those of you that don’t know, I have written several articles for the ISUG Technical Journal.  I’ve been paid for one and refused payment on the others.  Are there other authors that haven’t been paid for one reason or another?

This is not meant as a dig at ISUG but simply determining if I’m the only one or if there are others.

Assuming that you installed Sybase OpenClient 15.5 from the 15.5 PC Client:

Install ActiveState Perl from http://www.activestate.com (free) and install DBI if it isn’t already installed.  It should be but you never know…

1. Start -> ActiveState Perl -> Perl Package Manager
2. install DBI
3. exit

Now, the easy part.  Install the DBD::Sybase 1.09 PPM:

1. download DBD::Sybase 1.09 PPM
2. extract zip file to temporary directory (e.g. c:\test)
3. Start -> Run -> cmd.exe (as Administrator if Vista or Windows 7)
4. cd \test
5. ppm install DBD-Sybase.ppd
6. exit

That’s it

Sybase

Install VMware ESXi 4.0 on an unsupported motherboard (SATA controller must support AHCI):

1. make sure the SATA controller(s) is set to AHCI in the computer’s BIOS
2. download VMware ESXi 4 iso
3. burn the iso to either a cdrom or a USB thumb drive (512mb minimum) using unetbootin
4. boot the computer into VMware ESXi
5. Before you’re prompted to hit Enter to begin, hit ALT-F1 which will get you to a console screen without a prompt
6. Type “unsupported” followed by Enter
7. When prompted for a password, just hit Enter
8. Type “vmkload_mod ahci” followed by Enter.  This will load in the driver for just about any AHCI compliant SATA controller
9. Hit ALT-F2 to finish the installation

At this point VMware ESXi 4.0 will be installed but it won’t start when you reboot.  This is because VMware won’t load the AHCI driver by default.  So… we will have to tell it to load it automatically.  You will need a Linux Live CD such as Ubuntu.

1. Boot into Linux
2. From the desktop you will need to mount the VMware partitions.  In Ubuntu 8.04 and higher, you just need to click on the folders in the drop down menu
3. Locate oem.tgz on the second VMware partition and overwrite it with this oem.tgz.  It includes a system.map file telling VMware to load the AHCI driver
4. reboot and boot into VMware ESXi

You should have a fully working VMware ESXi server installed and ready for you to setup virtual machines!

… plus a package of free Sybase Software valued at over $7000

Unfortunately there is a bit of misunderstanding that Not for Retail software are full versions.

The ISUG will happily entice you to join at the Gold level for the software:

^{New Version!} Free Developer Edition of Appeon for PowerBuilder 6.2

^{New Version!} Free NFR copy of Sybase PocketBuilder 2.5 (e-shop)

^{New Version!} Free NFR copy of WorkSpace Studio 2.1 (e-shop)

^{New Version!} Free NFR copy of Sybase DataWindow.NET 2.5 (e-shop)

^{New Version!} Free NFR copy of Sybase PowerBuilder Enterprise 11.5 (e-shop)

^{New Version!} EAServer 6.2 Developers Edition (e-shop)

Free copy of IQ 12.7 Developers Edition (e-shop)

ASE 15.0 Evaluation Kit (includes licenses, training materials, etc.)

Free Copy of SQL Anywhere Studio for Windows or Linux/UNIX (e-shop)

(User Group Presidents Only): Free NFR copy of Sybase PowerDesigner Studio

Let’s take a look at Sybase’s Not for Retail license:

NFR License

Please note that the NFR copies of PowerDesigner, WorkSpace, PowerBuilder, PocketBuilder and DataWindow .NET are for development and personal use, and not for commercial deployment purposes. A copy of the NFR license can be found below. Please note that references to development in the license typically refer to full-scale development. Prototyping (also a form of development) is generally permitted. All questions related to what can and can not be done with the program in question should be directed to your local Sybase sales representative for clarification and not ISUG.

PRODUCT-SPECIFIC LICENSE TERMS

NOT FOR RESALE — DEMONSTRATION VERSION

1. DEMONSTRATION USE OF PROGRAMS. You may install and use this Program internally in your organization solely for demonstration purposes on a single Machine. You may not use the Program for any development or production purpose, or transfer, assign, sublicense or otherwise convey the Program (or any portion thereof) to another party without Sybase’s prior written consent. You may not copy the Program except that you may either install the Program on your hard disk or make one copy for inactive back-up and archival purposes for your own use.
2. TERMINATION. You acknowledge and understand that Sybase may terminate this Agreement at any time upon thirty days written notice to you. Upon any termination of this Agreement, you shall cease using the Program and shall destroy all copies of the Program in any form.
3. WARRANTY DISCLAIMER. This Not for Resale — Demonstration version Program is provided AS IS, without any warranty or support. SYBASE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABLE QUALITY, NON INFRINGEMENT, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
4. PRECEDENCE. THE ABOVE TERMS SHALL TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER ANY INCONSISTENT OR CONFLICTING TERMS OF THE ACCOMPANYING SYBASE LICENSE.

Make sense?  Well, for far too many people, it doesn’t.  So let’s just go over what you can and can not do with NFR software:

What you can do:

• Install and run the software on one and only one computer (your computer)
• Demonstrate the software
• Build diagrams, binaries, libraries, etc.

What you can not do:

• Only you can operate the software
• Share any diagrams
• Share binaries or libraries
• Release any source code generated or even YOUR OWN source code that YOU produce while using the NFR software.  Unfortunately, this also includes taking the source code (or diagrams,etc) and using them with other software outside of a ‘demonstration’.

There isn’t anything distinguishing Not for Retail software from demo software. 

International Sybase User Group

While ISUG does state that the software is Not for Retail, ISUG stating that the NFR software is valued at over $7,000 is not just a misrepresentation but a bold faced lie bordering on bait and switch.

The purpose of this post is not to direct people away from being ISUG members, you do get a nifty Technical Journal where  article authors are only sometimes paid for their work, but to have people join with their collective eyes open.

This is, currently, an undocumented security feature of VirtualBox 3.1x to prevent just anyone from accessing the virtual machine console. For most folk, this might be a very good thing but if you have a team of sysadmins that should have access to the virtual machine consoles, you probably don’t want them to use the same login.

If that is the case, you can add the user(s) that should have access the virtual machine console to the shadow group on the host Linux machine. Be warned though that the user(s) that are added to the shadow group should not be able to log into the host machine else they will be able to read the shadow file where all the passwords to the box are stored. If the users need access to the host box, then they should have a login for host access (not part of the shadow group) and another for virtual machine console access.

Adding linux user jason_vrdp to the shadow group:

Prevent jason_vrdp from logging in to the host or anyone from sudo’ing to it:

(root) # usermod --shell /bin/false jason_vrdp

That’s it

Yeah, it’s Who Better Than Me by Phil Collins with the Turk and Tarzan names changed but it covers just about any two closely aged siblings IMHO:

Miriam
You’re one of a kind, I can’t explain it.
You’re kind of cool, in a wonderful way.
Though you’re weird, you can make it.
And who better than me to teach you.
Who better then me to set you on your way. (Mhm)

This could take some hangin’ in there
Though with persuasion I can take you on up
Make you grow up, beside the others
And who better than me to lead you
Who better than me to take you all the way (Hey hey hey yeah)

Asher & Miriam
Struggling along for years and years

Miriam
Until I came along for you
Now its all comin’ together

Asher & Miriam
And together will see this through
You for me and me for you

Asher
I can learn, I can listen
I know there’s something
Deep inside but
I need assistance to go the distance

Miriam
And who better than me

Asher
To teach me

Miriam
Who better than me

Asher
To tell me all you know

Miriam
Who better than me

Asher
You reach me

Miriam
Who better than me

Asher & Miriam
To show them all we know!

Foundations of Qt® Development (Expert’s Voice in Open Source) is well written. He assumes that you have a little bit of C++ knowledge, avoiding into the trap that so many other authors do. You wouldn’t believe how many technical books I have where the first half or more of the book is simply a rehash of the basics. Forget that!

What I really like is that when he shows you an example of code, he explains why you would want to write it this way and how it differs from the Standard Template Language (STL – see C++ Programming Language, The (3rd Edition)). Where there are performance gains or penalties of using Qt instead of STL, he demonstrates it.

I never realized just how easy it is to write C++ using the Qt framework! Just the Signals and Slots alone make it very very powerful and that’s just the beginning. I’m completely blown away

We purchased the wiring adapter and the harness so that it fits well and looks nice in my Saturn 2000 SL2 sedan for an extra $44. Not bad. The problem was that while the colored wiring diagram provided by the adapter was correct, it had me put the power wire from the ignition in the wrong pin slot as the casing was reversed! Argh! It needed to go into pin 6 but it was on the wrong side. I figured it out after taking a good look at the plug on the old stock radio.

No, I couldn’t find my multimeter which is in a box somewhere in the house. head*desk

Once I moved the wire to the correct pin hole, the radio came alive.

Lesson learned when installing a car radio: make sure you have your multimeter (or some other way of determining if the power pin is hot).

All but the fit to window worked well.  When I pulled the width and height from image1.GetSizeRequest(out width, out height), width & height were returned as -1.  Not helpful.  Google didn’t give me many clues either

What I needed was something that would provide the visible area of the Gdk.Image widget:

In order to get the visible area, we need to:

• upcast Gtk.Image to a Gtk.GdkWindow
• retrieve a Gdk.Region from the VisibleRegion method
• retrieve the first Gdk.Rectangle from the array returned from the visibleRegion.GetRectangles method
• extract the Height and Width from the Gdk.Rectangle

Now that we have the height and the width of the visible area of the Gtk.Image widget, we need to scale the image (Gdk.Pixbuf) while keeping the aspect. Assigning the image to the Gtk.Image widget will automatically redraw itself.

There we go
While the code above is C#, the same principle goes for any language that uses Gtk.

Subject: Old PowerBuilder Facebook page deactivated



PowerBuilder Fan Page

Hi Everyone,

Happy new year!

As of today, the old PowerBuilder facebook page is deactivated.

Please be sure to become a fan of PowerBuilder here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PowerBuilder/160355699256

Go PB!!

Step 1:

encode the mp3 files to “aac” (mpeg4) using your favorite converter (I use ffmpeg):

Step 2:

Create a chapters file so that MP4Box can understand it:

* Common syntax : CHAPTERX=h:m:s[:ms or .ms] on one line and CHAPTERXNAME=name on the other – the order is not important but chapter lines MUST be declared sequencially (same X value expected for 2 consecutive lines).

Step 3:

Add the chapters to the audio file (creates Nero format chapter markers):

Step 4:

Convert the Nero chapter markers to Quicktime chapter markers using mp4chaps from the mp4v2 project (you will want v1.9.1 or higher):

Step 5:

Rename the file from .mp4 to .m4b extension so iTunes will see it as an audiobook:

Proof that it works:

and VLC showing the chapters:

Of course, we aren’t putting in any tags such as “author” or “genre” in this example. Use your favorite tags editor to do so.

• Pull the hard drive from the laptop.  On my Dell Latitude, it was simply unscrewing the two screws on the bottom of the laptop marked with the hard drive simble
• Attach the drive to a SATA to USB connector and plug it in to your Linux box
• If you don’t have VirtualBox installed, do so now using apt-get, rpm, or whatever you use to install software
• Follow How to migrate existing Windows installations to VirtualBox but make sure you specify the entire drive (i.e. /dev/sdh) and not individual partitions else you will miss the hidden partitions that Vista and Windows 7 create

You should have a working Windows 7 Virtual Machine.  You’ll notice that you probably have a huge vdi file.  Let’s shrink that down:

• Within Windows
  • download and install sdelete from Microsoft
  • download and install PowerDefragmenter
  • Run PowerDefragmenter on your c: drive (as administrator)
  • Run “sdelete -c c:” from a cmd window (as administrator)
  • shutdown windows
• On the host
  • run “VBoxManage modifyvdi my_disk.vdi compact” replacing “my_disk.vdi” with the name of your vdi file you created earlier
  • Note that if you get a “Shrink hard disk operation is not implemented” error, then you’ve hit bug #2833 and you will want to download the latest VirtualBox to fix it.

MVC, DCI, and NetBeans Platform Applications

Jaroslav Tulach discusses the relationship between MVC and the NetBeans Platform and explains why the DCI approach offers a better understanding.

When we processed the files, namely running eye3D, we did so synchronously. Essentially, the file notification came in from the Linux kernel and we processed the file at that time. This may be an issue of overflowing the inotify queue within the Linux kernel if there are a lot of files to process.

A better solution would be to add the file to an internal queue and process the files in a sub process using POE::Wheel::Run. Of course we will limit the number of sub processes

Example output: