.hgignore for Visual Studio Projects
I'll just put this here....
/*.bak.*
/*.bak
thumbs.db
App_Data/*
bin/*
obj/*
_ReSharper.*/
tmp/
/*.user
/*.suo
/*.pidb
/*.userprefs
/*.usertasks
WCF, .NET 4.0, Server 2008 R2 Installation Problems
I've had quite a time installing WCF .NET 4.0 on Server 2008 R2 this evening. Here's some things I ran into, hopefully they'll help!
1. - AppPool has to be set to 4.0. This is a no brainer, but one I forgot.
2. - 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30128\Temporary ASP.NET Files' - Needs to have app's user set to be able to write (Change version to version of 4.0 you use)
3. - I installed IIS in some funky manner apparently! I kept getting "Bad module "ManagedPipelineHandler" in its module list" errors on all my apps. Re-running C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30128\aspnet_regiis.exe -i got me where I needed to go. Again, replace the version with your v4 version.
4. - Another obvious but tricky one. I was getting 404.0 errors on ALL asp.net pages, but not static files. Remember to give both your app user and IIS_IUSRS access to your files!
Visual Studio 2010, .NET 4.0 Woes
So, I had VS 2010 RC installed, and it was working beautifully. Then I had to go and mess with things. Turns out VS2010 really HATES it when you uninstall .NET 4.0.
I had to uninstall it for a bit due to a conflict with a .NET 2.0 app, that couldn’t find the runtime when 4.0 was installed. Uninstalling it did the trick, I ran the app, and then reinstalled 4.0.
This is where the problems started.
VS2010 started complaining all the time. It’s like it knew that I’d killed it’s carnival prize fish, and replaced it with an identical one from the pet store. I checked the dependencies, they were all good, checked the mappings, they were there. VS2008 worked just fine, however, 2010 was still pouting in the corner, refusing to do any work.
I decided to “Repair/Uninstall” and see if that fixed. On most of the dependencies, I got a “The Operation Could Not Be Completed” message. BOO!
So now I’ve tried a complete uninstall, which also is giving those same damn errors. Hopefully I won’t have to reinstall Windows 7, cause that will be a big bummer.
Server Upgrades
Today I went through and did some much needed patching and upgrade of all of our core servers.
In doing this I noticed the web server that hosts this blog was chugging along on a measly 256MB of RAM. NO GOOD! So I pushed her up to a gig, and now she runs alot smoother.
I'm also going to be migrating the databases, and merging the rails apps in with the PHP apps, all on the same server. This means that I'll be running Passenger on Apache for the first time, so there's obviously going to be some reading going down this weekend!
This should pull my costs down a bit, while at the same time giving the individual engines a bit more gusto.
I'll let you know how it goes...
Nisme version 2.1 Released
This is a maintenance update to update to the new API that lala uses for login.
Download: http://c0409371.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/2.1.zip
Using Your Blog as an OpenID Provider With Google
If your like me, you love the idea of OpenID. However, over the years, I've signed up for so many different providers, I've lost track of which I've used where. I know, I know, it's completely the opposite of what OpenID was designed for, but hey, what can you do?
Anyways, here's a simple way to make any URL a proxy of sorts for your OpenID requests. Simply add the following two lines (my example is for my Google account, yours will differ) to the head of your site, and voila! You can now start pushing OpenID requests to your URL, and they will be forwarded to the provider you list.
<link rel="openid2.provider openid.server" href="https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/ud" /> <link rel="openid2.local_id openid.delegate" href="http://www.google.com/profiles/<YOUR PROFILE NAME HERE>" />
Just remember, your OpenID server is different from your delegate. Your delegate is the actual URL you used to put in to OpenID requests before, the server is the base OpenID server.
Here's some common one's I've found:
LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/openid/server.bml
Vox: http://www.vox.com/services/openid/server
VeriSign: https://pip.verisignlabs.com/server
MyOpenID http://www.myopenid.com/server
Google: http://www.google.com/accounts/o8/ud
The State of Web Usability
Sparking from a recent IRC conversation about usability, I've decided to write a rant/informational post regarding my feelings on usability in the web today.
First of all. I don't like usability. Not in the current form that most people see it as today. I think usability should relate to the masses. Not the minuscule percentages that tend to plague my hoptoad log. If an app I develop can be used by 80% of the visitors, I've succeeded in usability (IMO). Those people who have disabilities and need screen readers to use the web are not my problem. I don't have the time nor the desire to code for every possible situation. I cover the majority of my bases, and move on.
Now, I'm not saying that those people don't deserve to use my app, I'm saying that they need to get a better screen reader. Imagine if we started putting up road signs in EVERY SINGLE LANGUAGE just because at some point, some time, somewhere, there might be someone who doesn't know English. Heaven forbid, right? It's impossible to think that we should have to do that, and we don't.
Instead, usually, those people purchase a translation book, or some other cipher for English-to-whatever, and they process the information themselves. It may take them a bit longer, and be slightly inconvenient, but that's the way it goes.
What if that person turned the wrong way down an off ramp and caused a huge accident. Could they sue the government for not making a road sign in their language? NO! They would be told they should have gotten a better translator.
I'm all for better usability in websites, but do not sacrifice functionality to do so. If you absolutely must, make a seperate, text only, no JS version of your site. But don't spend 20% of your time, working on something that only 1% (if that) of your audience will use.
Installing Chromium OS (Google Chrome OS)
I've taken the liberty of building and compiling the latest source tree of the chromium-os git repo.
Note to write the USB image to a usb stick use the following command:
dd if=<path_to_usb.img> of=<dev_of_your_usb_stick> bs=4M
After logging in, use CTRL+ALT+T to open a new terminal and execute:
/usr/sbin/chromeos-install
Enter the password: "wedtm" with out the enclosing quotation marks.
Enjoy!
I still haven't even tried it yet, as I was busy getting these images out, so I'll make sure to update this page with my findings.
Downloads:
Base Images (mbr.image & rootfs.image): Download
VMWare VMDK: Download
USB Stick Image: Download
I’m finally getting my money from that Nigerian guy!
I really don't understand what's going on here....
Attn:, I am Mrs Mary Susan Fredrick,
I am a US citizen, 48 years Old. I reside here in New Braunfels Texas. My residential address is as follows. 108 Crockett Court. Apt 303, New Braunfels Texas, United States. I am one of those that executed a Compesation in Nigeria, many years ago and they refused to pay me, I had paid over $20,000 while in the US, trying to get my payment all to no avail.
So I decided to travel down to Nigeria with all my compensation documents, And I was directed to meet Mr.Scott Gill, who is the member of COMPENSATION AWARD COMMITTEE, and I contacted him and he explained everything to me. He said whoever is contacting us through emails are fake.
He took me to the paying bank for the claim of my Compensation payment. Right now I am the most happiest woman on earth because I have received my compensation funds of $500,000.00 Moreover, Mr Scott Gill, showed me the full information of those that are yet receive their payments and I saw your name as one of the beneficiary, and your email address, that is why I decided to email you to stop dealing with those people,they are not with your fund, they are only making money out of you. I will advise you to contact Mr Scott Gill
You have to contact him direct on this information below.
MR SCOTT GILL COMPENSATION HOUSE
Name:Mr.Scott Gill.
Email: mr_scott_fedexdelivery01@yahoo.com.hk
Tel: +234-807-909-3316
Office Address: 13, Cole Street, Ikeja Lagos Nigeria.You really have to stop dealing with those people that is contacting you and telling you that your fund is with them, it is not in anyway with them, they are only taking advantage of you and they will dry you up until you have nothing.The only money I paid was just $520,take note of that.
Once again stop contacting those people, I will advise you to contact Mr Scott Gill so that he can help you to Deliver your fund instead of dealing with those liars that will be turning you around asking for different kind of money to complete your transaction.
Thank You and Be Blessed.
Mrs. Laura Susan Fredrick.
MS or OS?
I've been fighting an internal battle recently as to whether or not I should focus on OS (RoR, PHP, Java, Python) or go the MS route (.NET, WCF, WPF, C#). I enjoy the simplicity of Visual Studio so much, that recently I've focused quite a bit of my resources on WPF, however, I feel dirty in doing so.
I really feel like I should be giving back to the community that has given me so much, and yet, I can't seem to make the leap. I am trying to take full advantage of all the issues that plague me day to day by adapting to the most reasonable format, however, I seem to be stuck in this endless loop of trying to please this insatiable thirst for "more".
Grrr....