A day to watch on the Internet

Not too far away, June 8 (http://server9.test-ipv6.com/ipv6day.html) is the 24-hour stress test day for the IPV6 appropriately called the World IPV6 day. IPV6 will surely take us from the unavialability of IPV4 address space. New changes bring new problems. On June 8, this Internet Society sponsored event features many participant companies to run their main websites on IPV6 protocol. Many of the stake holders, the ISPs, hardware and networking equipement makers, OS vendors, etc will be able to see how they size up against this big change. The guys with black hats will also be busy to see how they can continue to remain in business. You may want to know whether your computer is ready for this change. I checked mine by going to this site here http://test-ipv6.com/  which I got form here http://gcn.com/Articles/2011/05/30/World-IPv6-Day.aspx?Page=2  . This is a very informative article. Pasted below is how my computer would stack up.

What is common to Microsoft, Ford and Diabetes?

We are entering the next phase in human industrial evolution by bringing in health monitoring into our most cherished and useful device, the car. Ford is now equipped with devices to check the blood sugar count and advice the driver appropriately to take a sugar pill if the sugar falls below a certain level. A reduced sugar count implies a negative effect on driving ability. Well this is where Microsoft comes in with its Voice-activated communication system synced to Ford. May be Ford should also provide a pill delivery system. This is good especially for emerging countries, most specifically India, the largest producer and consumer of sugar with perhaps the largest number of diabetics in the world.

If this is possible why not eliminate drunken driving altogether by stopping the engine when it detects traces of alcohol. I am not sure which is the biggest killer, Sugar (the lack thereof)  or alcohol.

Read full story here;
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-26/ford-sees-sales-surge-with-new-diabetes-to-heart-dashboard-cars.html?cmpid=yhoo

Microsoft LightSwitch Database Wizard stopped working! Why?

Steve Hoag has covered a lot of ground in troubleshooting LightSwitch Beta 2 related problems. Still there are problems that may arise due to various interactions. This post is regarding one such problem.

What was the problem?

LightSwitch can source data not only from SQL Servers, SharePoint lists and WCF RIA Services but can also obtain its data from MySQL and Oracle albeit limited to certain versions. By installing the MySQL Connector (Connector/Net 6.3.6) from here  and executing the msi you can start seeing the MySQL Provider in the Change Data Source Window after the Connection Properties window  in LightSwitch. After which it is real easy.

Due to some corruption problems with the LightSwitch it was reinstalled which required reinstalling VS2010 SP1. After these changes it became clear that the Database Wizard on the reinstalled Beta 2 was broken (could not connect to any databases) as it came back with this error,

This was followed with this error,

Microsoft Visual Studio Message:
"An unexpected error occurred in the .NET Framework Data Provider for MySQL. Please contact the provider vendor to resolve this problem"

Now the Connection Properties Window does not show up anymore.

Solution:

I ran the msi file (mysql-connector-net-6.3.6.msi) once again choosing to repair. The operation completed but did not add the required DbProviderFactories entry in the machine.config file. The problem persisted.

Finally, I uninstalled the MySQL Connector and now the LightSwitch Database Wizard is happy and I see the Connection Properties Window popping-up. Of course to connect to MySQL Databases I will have to install the connector again.

Your Windows 7 computer does not connect to Kindle Mass Storage

Two great software, but do they work in unison?

No, was the answer I experienced until I found the solution for Windows 7 Ultimate (x32).

I have not been reading much these days. My wife asked me to take a look at her Kindle, the screen had gone blank.

I tried to work the switches on the Kindle to no avail. I plugged it into my notebook running Windows 7 Ultimate (x32) and looked like it got into drive E:. Of course I could not open Kindle. It was very frustrating and I started cursing silently. The Device Manager did show that I was connected to the Kindle's mass storage. The Microsoft disk drivers are the latest. The drive does not appear to have a problem. So where is the problem? The Device Manger recognizes the software but the drive system does not.

After looking all over the internet, I finally decided to look if a device driver exists for Kindle. It turns out you have to have the Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 for Windows Vista (x32) shown here.

In order to install this you have to pass the Microsoft’s Windows genuine validation here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/ExeValidation.aspx?familyid=46f72df1-e46a-4a5f-a791-09f07aaa1914

With this installed Amazon’s Mass storage can be accessed from your notebook.

Happy Reading! Happy Ending!

VS 2010 SP1 repair is not easy

Installation using Web Platform Installer 3.0 is easy but repairing is anything but..

I had corrupted my Microsoft LightSwitch Beta 2, so I removed the Beta but then I think the problem was the VS 2010 Professional and I tried to repair the VS 2010 SP1.

I was trying to repair my SP1 with the following program, 

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 (Installer), downloaded from here,

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=75568aa6-8107-475d-948a-ef22627e57a5&displaylang=en

This installs the VS10sp1-KB983509.exe file (795KB)

I found this very difficult to use as it stops and asks for files very difficult to locate. For example it will ask you locate RiaServices.msi file and no matter where I get it from it does not accept (even after downloading the iso  file and creating a folder for its layout .

 I finally got around downloading WCF RIA Services V1.0 SP1 and it stopped asking for this file. But it just did not install. Looking into error log file I find that an UrlMon did not download. 

What the heck is this? I am not researching and specializing on installation of MS Products, I just want to use the program.

Actually I am on a (x32) bit machine and I don't care about this (x64bit) stuff,

 I am beginning to think that the registry (who else is to blame) is both the strength and weakness. Moreover, the warning while if you try to remove does not help,

Warnings:

The removal of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 may put this computer in an state in which projects cannot be loaded and Service Pack 1 cannot be reinstalled. For instructions about how to correct the problem, see the readme on the Microsoft Download Center website.

The readme file which is quite extensive and more details (downloading iso file etc )did not help and leads you to another web page and so on.

 Well I was about to give up, but then I came across this Web Platform Installer 3.0.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=32b0dfe5-f139-4e1c-b412-3da39f50bbf9#Overview

I installed this (WPI) and Voila! this installer installs the VS 2010 SP1 without any problem (does it and can it?). This is a real time saver (I should have known about this some 3 days ago!!).

 

Unfortunately it did not repair, it just assumed that (the installed, but broken) VS 2010 SP1 is present and moved on. 

The problem never got rectified. So much for the WPI 3.0.

Here are some of the programs that WPI did install out of the 12 it tried.

I am back to the forum to figure out what this URLMon is about and how to fix the broken VS 2010 SP1