Category Archives: Just Rambling

The mysterious return of my Pocket PC – after 18 months!

Just Rambling

In June 2004, I returned from DevTeach in Montreal and couldn’t find my Pocket PC anywhere. I asked Marcie who I had shared my room with if she had found it. I called the hotel to see if it was still in the room. Nope. It did have a return address sticker on the back with my address and cell phone, so maybe just maybe…   Oh well.

Today I received a mysterious package from St. Louis, MO with no return address on it. In it? My pocket PC! One and a half years later.

Don’t Forget: www.acehaid.org

Tablet PC Development in Montreal (and playing hookey at the Fine Arts Museum)

Just Rambling

On Monday night, I did a somewhat lengthy overview of developing software for Tablet PCs at GUVSM, one of the .NET groups in Montreal.. As I started the session, I learned that only one person in the room had ever seen a tablet pc, so I decided to spend a little time showing them a bit about the technology, otherwise developing inkable software wouldn’t make too much sense! I did the whole presentation in VS2005, which says a lot about the updated API working pretty well with VS2005. It was also a great exercise for me because I haven’t played with a great variety of functionality in a while and preparing the demos gave me an excuse to refresh my memory.

The meeting was sponsored by MSDN Canada, who covered my travel expenses and enabled me to stay overnight rather than do the 3 hour drive back home so late at night. Thanks to Sasha and Wendy from MSDN Canada and for Guy and Jean-Rene for bringing me up. Naturally, the meeting was followed by a late night dinner of smoked meat. Though we normally go to the all-time classic Ben’s, this time we went to Reuben’s. I always have a blast with these guys: Mario Cardinal, Jean-Rene Roy, Eric Cote and Etienne Tremblay. The biggest lesson of the night was to stay away from Bell as your ISV if you can and to befriend a geek who likes to keep up with the latest toys, so when they shed their antiques (like 2 month old cell phones) you might be first in line!

To top it off, before I drove back home Tuesday morning, I got to go see an exhibit that I have been wanting to get to: Right Under the Sun. Landscape in Provence, from Classicism to Modernism (1750–1920) at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Though attempting to view about 200 works of art in a mere 2 hours was a little quick, it was wonderful to see. Provence has a beautiful combination of landscapes – mountains, canyons, harbors, the sea – and it was a magnet for painters including those that are more commonly known, such as VanGogh, Cezanne, Monet, Georges Braque, Renoir. Some of the landscapes became familiar as many painters had captured them – most memorable were Mt. Saint-Victoire and a canyon whose name I can no longer remember. It was also fascinating to watch the styles evolve. Perhaps I’ll get up there one more time before the show ends in early January to linger a bit longer.

Don’t Forget: www.acehaid.org

PCI vs PCIx vs PCIe vs AGP and my dual monitor dreams

Just Rambling

When someone told me that the AGP interface for plug in cards for my PC was “like pci but better” I made the assumption that it would plug into my PCI port. Dumb me. After 20+ years with computers, I should know better.

AGP is different from the ground up and requires it’s own interface on the motherboard.

PCIe (PCI Express) is also different and is even newer than AGP.

These two are mostly for the high intensity graphics that are used in gaming.

PCI-X is not another way of saying “PCI Express”. It’s totally different and was an enhancement to PCI.

My Dell 170LN does not take AGP or PCIe. I was lucky to find a dual DVI card that can plug into my PCI slot. It took me a long time to find it because when I saw pictures of this one, I passed it by. It only has one port to plug a cable into. However, it is designed to sort out sending signals to multi-monitors. You only need a special Y cable to plug the two in.

So if you are stuck with “Conventional PCI” but want to use dual digital monitors the thing to get is an NVIDIA Quadro4 VNS 280 PCI card. This is made by PNY and also HP. You also need a separate Y cable. Be careful because you can get Y cables that have one VGA and one DVI or one that has two VGAs or one that has 2 DVIs.



Don’t Forget: www.acehaid.org

Google AdSense – I ain’t gonna retire any time soon

Just Rambling

I did an experiment a few months ago by putting some google ads on my blog. I was just curious what would happen. I replaced one of them after Katrina with a more worthy cause than my own, but left the others there. I have basically forgotten about them until I had a nice email from DonXML with some suggestions about how I could make the ads more effective.

This reminded me to go check my earnings. Here’s where they stand:

You can’t collect on this until you reach a certain amount  (is it $50? I forget). Maybe sometime next year, I’ll collect the $50 and donate it to a local Vermont charity. I get free hosting from Alentus (thanks Alentus) so I have no real need for the adsense anyway.

Don’t Forget: www.acehaid.org

Would cheap computers help Africa?

Just Rambling

Last month, I noted an article about HP trying to bring technology into impoverished communities in Africa with the hope that access to information will be a big help. Perhaps in some insulated cases, the benefits will be measurable. However, you may have noticed the many references yesterday (AIDS awareness day) to the fact that South Africa has the highest rate of AIDS in the world. Will people in those AIDS striken AND impoverished communities benefit from access to the internet?

Caterina Fake, on misbehaving.net, points to a counter argument by a woman from a different part of Africa, Cameroon.

Update: Dare Obasanjo, who is from Nigeria and someone who has my utmost respect,  chimes in.  Dare certainly knows more about Africa, as a continent, politically and socially,than most of us who are looking at this issue through our small and distant portholes.

Don’t Forget: www.acehaid.org