Author Archives: tig

pinvoke.net

April 20, 2004
Coding
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A new site has sprung up that provides a very cool, and very creative, way for helping people construct C# managed code declarations for native code interfaces. http://www.pinvoke.net/ Almost every time I write C# code I end up having to do some native code interop. Even though I used to know the Win32 API as well as anyone, my p/invoke declarations worry me…I find I typically guess on what types to use etc… Now with …Continue reading →

Thin Media Clients and Home Servers

April 16, 2004
Smart Home
8 Comments

Ravi posted an article on www.hageeks.com on the topic of “thin media clients vs. thick media clients“. He’s got the right general idea but fails to talk about the other end of the equation: The thing that is providing the content to these clients. The server. He says thin client is used to gain access to content locked away on your computers or even the Internet via the home network. First, I want to mention …Continue reading →

Premise and .NET

April 16, 2004
Coding, Smart Home
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Premise Systems has been sold (to an unannounced, but apparently BIG, buyer) and they have released preview versions of both thier Hardware and Services Development Kit (HSDK) and MiniBroker that are .NET based. I’ve spent some time playing with both the new HSDK.NET and Minibroker.NET and the productivity difference is stunning. It took me weeks to implement my Cestron to Premise bridge driver using the old HSDK. If I were to re-write it using the …Continue reading →

The Green Button

April 10, 2004
Coding, Smart Home
1 Comment

Wow. I’m impressed. It was just a week or so ago that The Green Button had issues with the hoster and now they have the site up and running on a new host. New look & feel. Most content appears to have moved over. Great work folks! The Green Button is a community website for Windows Media Center Edition (MCE). MCE is the coolest version of Windows you can get for home use. It includes …Continue reading →

I love Strong Bad

April 9, 2004
Uncategorized
4 Comments

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail.html Strong Bad is my hero.

Technology Complexity

April 2, 2004
Technology & Execution
1 Comment

Mostly when I read Don Box’s blog I say to myself “Hmmm, interesting. I didn’t know that. I wonder how long his hair is these days?” What he’s working on (Indigo) is interesting to me (it was my former life), but it’s not where my passion currently lies. Today Don posted a piece as a response to Eric Raymond’s article on software usability. I hadn’t read Eric’s article, but after I did (and John Gruber’s analysis …Continue reading →

HTTP.SYS

March 30, 2004
Uncategorized
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Good ‘ole Don Box has written a very clear description of HTTP.SYS and it’s relationship to IIS and Indigo. I have to admit that even I was confused (and I worked on HTTP.SYS way back when it was called “Duct Tape”)!

MCE Controller 1.0.3 Released

March 27, 2004
Coding, Smart Home, Uncategorized
1 Comment

No code changes. Just added an installer using the very cool NullSoft Scriptable Install System. Wow, that was easy! Download and install from http://www.kindel.com/products/mcecontroller/  

MaxiVista

March 26, 2004
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A few weeks back Scott posted about MaxiVista. I had just multi-mon at work with 2 DELL 20” LCDs using DVI and was loving it. I also had a 19” LCD on my desk I used for my server machines via a KVM switch. I thought it would be cool to somehow use the 3rd monitor in my multi-mon setup, but adding another video card to my main machine was questionable. MaxiVista to the rescue! …Continue reading →

New MCE Controller Version

March 24, 2004
Coding, Smart Home, Uncategorized
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Tonight I posted version 1.0.2 of MCE Controller. Basically one new feature: The ability to shutdown, restart, standby, or hibernate the system. See the V1.0.2 readme at http://www.kindel.com/products/mcecontroller/1.0.2/Readme.htm. The product page is at http://www.kindel.com/products/mcecontroller. Looking for feedback!

Source Control

March 23, 2004
Coding
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Tonight I moved my source code out from the under the control of Visual Source Safe to Source Gear Vault. Even though I’m a single developer I really like having all my source stored in a source control system. It allows me to have “undo”, to be able to go back and build/update old versions of products, and ensures I have everything in a single place that can easily be backed up. VSS is a …Continue reading →

Spring

March 22, 2004
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It’s the time of year again for the sun to start showing here again. That means fun yard projects! Man, do I have a list of things to do this year: Get the sprinkler system up and running again. I started this today. I fired it up (my in-lake pump got bumped around during a storm in November so I was a bit nervous about it’s condition…it worked!), and replaced a few broken heads and …Continue reading →

Web based photo gallery using SQL

March 10, 2004
Coding, Uncategorized
2 Comments

In an entry last November I noted that I was enjoying ADO.NET and ASP.NET so much that I’d have another go at writing a web based photo gallery app that stored the images in SQL. I had most of it working by the end of the year, but my cat ski trip to Canada gave me the perfect excuse to actually work on it. It’ now at the point where I can actually use it. …Continue reading →

Cat Skiing

March 4, 2004
Skiing
1 Comment

Wow. My cat skiing trip was amazing. This was the 6th year I’ve done it and while the conditions were not as good as they had been in the past, the experience was still unbelievable. Now I have the task of updating my Revelstoke web site with all of the pictures (145+) and movies (45+ minutes) we took. I caught a bit of a cold and have been going to bed early so haven’t been …Continue reading →

Powder Skiing

February 25, 2004
Skiing
2 Comments

This week I’m in Canada on my annual Cat Powder skiing trip. My buddy Erik and I have been doing this (along with a bucnh of other guys) for 6 years. We go to this place called Cat Powder Skiing (www.catpowder.com/indexcatsi.htm) in Revelstoke, BC. It takes us about 8 hours to drive directly from Seattle to Revelstoke, but this year we stopped first at Mt. Baker on Tuesday, and I’m writing this while sitting in …Continue reading →

MCE Controller v1.0.1 Released!

February 23, 2004
Coding, Smart Home, Uncategorized
20 Comments

Today I released the first public version of MCE Controller. MCE Controller allows the Media Center application of Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) to be integrated into an advanced AV control system by enabling programmatic control of the user interface via a TCP/IP connection. To put it simply, MCE Controller, allows you to simulate a press of any button on the MCE IR remote control by sending a text command to a TCP/IP port on …Continue reading →

Why do I do this to myself?

February 12, 2004
Uncategorized
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I had my Crestron system talking to Media Center just fine. I had written an MD5 implementation required by the Girder iserver component, and although the solution was a bit of a hack, it worked. And well. But noooo. I have to make it work right. So I set about writing my own app that listens on a TCP socket and controls the ehshell.exe app (MCE Controller). “It will be a great excuse to do …Continue reading →

I’m a hardware geek

February 12, 2004
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Well, actually, I’m just a geek in general. If it makes noise, has to do with moving lots of electrons around, or involves code I’m into it. And even though I’m mostly a software guy in terms of the things I create, I love learning and knowing about all kinds of hardware. There are a ton of really great resources on the web for someone like me. Here’s a sampling of my favorites: Tom’s Hardware …Continue reading →

Quick Reivew Creative Labs “SoundBlaster Wireless Music”

February 12, 2004
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2 Comments

I purchased a Creative Labs “SoundBlaster Wireless Music” (the product name is in quotes!) to play with.  $249 from Creative’s website. Creative’s website on this is here: http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=119&subcategory=121&product=9192 Summary: The SoundBlaster Wireless Music (which I will refer to as SBWM below) is an 802.11b (only) “digital audio receiver” or DAR that includes a bi-directional RF (not 802.11b based) remote control for UI. Time from opening the box to when I was playing music wirelessly, using the …Continue reading →

Quick Review of Linksys EFG120 Network Attached Storage/Print server

February 12, 2004
Uncategorized
9 Comments

I purchased a Linksys EFG120 Network Attached Storage/Print server device to play with. You can buy these online for $675 or so (e.g. http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=56-124-001&depa=1). The Linksys page describing the product is at: http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=35&prid=555. Summary: The EFG120 is a expandable 120GB NAS device with a built-in print server. It includes drive bays for 2 removable IDE hard drives; one is occupied by a Maxtor 120GB drive (6Y120L0). Installing a 2nd drive gives you either double the …Continue reading →