Mikel Berger: September 2005 Archives

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September 09, 2005

Desktop phone with .NET CF

I wonder if we can get one for the Mobile Computing Lab. I guess it's not very mobile, but it does run the compact framework.

https://www22.verizon.com/verizon-one/tour/

via Brad Abrams

Posted by mikel at 12:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 07, 2005

FolderShare

Scott Hanselman recommends FolderShare. Looks like this could be useful for DelMar IT and is along the lines of the DIT Offsite Backup program we're working on. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks interesting.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/PermaLink,guid,ec424166-0c90-4dfe-8f28-4feba56b9710.aspx

Posted by mikel at 10:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 05, 2005

Bought a Tivo

Thanks to PVRblog for pointing out the rebate deal on a Tivo going on. I've been wanting some sort of PVR for awhile. I had always been leaning towards building my own. It sounded like a fun project, Kyle had good success with his KyVo, and getting tied to something like Tivo seemed like a bad deal if they ever got bought out. But with $150 rebate on on the $100 Tivo, I can afford to play with it for awhile while paying the $12 monthly subscription without going into the hole for awhile. We'll see how it goes.

Posted by mikel at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 01, 2005

Serial Ports and .NET v1.1

If you need to read data from serial ports in .NET I highly recommend the free version of Sax CommStudio. You have to give some personal information to get the free download, but that's the only cost.

For my project I'm reading from fixed bar code scanners and for my basic tests it is working really well. I had debated using the beta of the .NET Framework to get the System.IO.Ports stuff. But using a beta wasn't really a good option for this project. I spent quite a bit of time working with the code from this MSDN article but it was implemented in (what I thought) was a strange way that had me pretty confused.

The SAX component used to be distributed by Microsoft as part of the VB.NET Resource Kit, so that gives me a little bit more piece of mind about the product too.

Posted by mikel at 06:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Select distinct and ntext

Today I learned the hard way that you can't do a Select Distinct on a column that is type ntext in SQL Server. So many hours wasted on simple SQL problems.

Posted by mikel at 05:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack