Software Development

Node.js Encrypted Lantronix XPort Comms

The Lantronix XPort is a popular embedded "device server" which is effectively an ethernet card for microcontrollers. It provides transparent ethernet connectivity to a serial device sonnected via

Technology

PuTTY, TMUX and NPM

I use PuTTY often when I'm on a Windows machine to connect to my Linux boxes to do work. I also use TMUX and NPM which both do line-drawings to display UI. NPM When listing a tree of installed modules, NPM uses lines to

Technology

Node.js Sprinkler Controller - Part 1

Why is it that every spring there is something broken on my sprinkler system? This year my, supposedly waterproof, commercial-grade sprinkler controller ended up being non-responsive; leaving my whole sprinkler system as a useless, mindless, zombie moaning for brains. What does a software/hardware

Technology

jQuery Form Serialization Plugin

For a number of projects I've needed to serialize all of the values in a form on the client to JSON in order to post the data back to the server via AJAX. Here's a little jQuery plugin I wrote to help with this

Technology

Bitbucket Support for git and Attractive Pricing

I've been using github for quite a while for working against open-source code bases, but continued to use my own git installation for private repositories; and I did this because of their pricing model. Their UI is very nice, and their features unbeatable, but

Technology

Why Use an Object Relational Mapper

I occasionally (still!) get in heated discussions with fellow developers on the finer points of writing -- or generating -- data access code versus using an O/RM. Usually this discussion is happening at a restaurant or some social gathering place (yes we socialize)

Technology

Hiding ReaderWriterLockSlim housekeeping in a using statement

Fredrik Mörk has an interesting post on using extension methods to hide housekeeping code related to protecting access to a share resource using a ReaderWriterLockSlim. I recommend reading the article, but the short of it is that the standard try, lock, operate, finally, unlock

Technology

Exiting a Windows Phone Application

<UPDATE> Turns out that the Application Certification Requirements 4.2.5 expressly disallows calling any methods in the Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game and .Graphics assemblies when your application uses any methods from the System.Windows.Controls namespace. So using the method below

Technology

Using Git with Visual Studio C# and VB.NET projects

I just recently started using git for source control with some C++ projects and have been loving it! Naturally, I also wanted to start using it with some C# .NET projects in Visual Studio. There are a number git add-ons for Visual Studio but

Technology

Linq Aggregate Empty Sequence

Linq is great for its compact expressions, and for its -- usually efficient -- lazy-evaluation. These two virtues seem to be spit upon by the Aggregate function. Say you want to aggregate a list of ints. var s = new int[] {1, 2, 3}; int

Editorial

Opera Mini on the iPhone, for now

So, today(2010-04-13) it was announced that Opera Mini for the iPhone had been accepted by Apple and indeed it was revealed in the Appstore within a few hours. Many have written on the loophole that Opera used to make this happen; Opera mini

Technology

Gentoo Installation Bullet-point List

I install Gentoo often enough that the Gentoo Handbook is way too verbose, but not often enough to memorize the steps involved. This list is meant mainly for me, but also for anyone who is comfortable enough in Linux to know what to do

Technology

C++/CLI Converting from String to wchar_t and to char*

I recently started working on a managed wrapper for the Terminal Services API, and as my C++/CLI is a bit rusty I ran into some issues which I'm sure are common when trying to handle the impedance mismatch between the managed and unmanaged

Editorial

Using the GPL as a Dual-Licensing Monopolistic Haven

Can a company control the use of their software intellectual property more completely if they release it under the open-source GNU General Public License (GPL)? I hadn't really thought about it before, but while researching the OSS position of MySql I read an interesting

Technology

Subclipse for SVN on Eclipse CDT

Subversion is a great way to work on code in a collaborative fashion. There are a couple subversion plugins that work with Eclipse, one of them is called Subclipse. To install Subclipse in Eclipse goto the Help menu and choose "Software Updates..."

Technology

USB Communications Device Class on 64-bit Windows

There is a class of device specified by the USB-IF as a Communication Device, this class was meant to to include devices such as modems, and network adapters. This specification is detailed as the Communications Device Class (CDC). Ever since USB has replaced RS-232

Editorial

Palm Afraid of anti-"TiVoization"

Palm Inc. with the release of their Linux powered smartphone called the Pre, now has a vested interest in the group of manufacturers using Linux as their embedded OS. As opposed to companies like Apple and their BSD based OSX in the iPhone Linux

Technology

Windows 7 RC Fish

When the Win7 beta was released Microsoft had a witty default background greet new users. The background consisting of a Betta (get it? beta, Betta?) fish and 7 bubbles was a well-done, light and colorful. Now that the Win7 RC is in the hands

Technology

Sharing Media Outside Your User Profile on Windows 7 Media Player 12

Windows 7 has taken Vista's media sharing and streaming capabilities and really put the shine on them, take a look at this post for some great in-depth coverage. Reading about these new features I was excited to give them a try. Like a lot

Technology

Qualcomm Gobi WWAN Card on Windows 7

<Update> The latest 64-bit version of most vendor's drivers now work fine without following these instructions or using GobiLoader. I updated my Thinkpad to Win7 Retail x64 using Lenovo System Update to install all the drivers and now my Gobi card works