Wrapping up Vista

Well I think my days of testing Vista is at an end. My webcam never did work, however, updating my Bios caused my function keys to work, including my screen to dim. So if you have a Toshiba Laptop, update your BIOS!

ZDLSharp

Well, ZDLSharp has it’s own Sourceforge Projects Page. ZDLSharp as mentioned below, is based off ZDL, with a few bugfixes and enhancements. Currently still in Alpha, I’m still adding basic functionality. I have a few plans for ZDL 4.0, including a very simple yet robust multiplayer aide. I’m not going to actually give details, but I’ll hint here, and only here.

Live Blogging

Haha, what’s better than reading a blog? Seeing it being written. (To Mal)

Continued Vista Testing

Well, after quite a while of Vista testing, I have an opinion:

Vista makes a lot of things easier than in XP, these enhancements are almost all exclusivly networking only. There are a lot of hardware problems. I was unable to get my Motorolla E815 to work, through the cable, or via bluetooth. The bluetooth in Vista wouldn’t work with the Widcomm, Windows, or Toshiba stacks. After checking out the Toshiba Stack, I was left wondering what the point of it is. It didn’t even let me access OBEX on my phone. Widcomm was just broken, and the Windows only recognized the DUN profile. While I was able to connect my phone to Vista, the Motorola Phone Tools would not work, and froze at “Initializing…”. Other software that doesn’t work quite right was Visual Studio 2005, which always promts you about admin privledges.

I would not install Vista yet. Even with a gig of ram, and plenty of horsepower, after getting set back up with MSN and PC-Cillin, the system is running a little sluggish. I also don’t have access to Function (Fn) keys, or the media buttons. I’m also not sure why my screen can’t dim.

Now for a little about my laptop:
Toshiba A100-SK9 (PSAA9-SK900E)

If you’re new to my blog, check back a few posts for other Vista related problems.

ZDLSharp Alpha Test

Hello, as you can see, Bio posted here earlier today.

Anyways, to business. ZDLSharp is in the alpha testing stage. Grab a copy from the DRDTeam Forums. As mentioned, you need the .NET Framework 2.0, linked in that thread. Tell me how it works out! If you’ve already tested it, there’s been no changes. I have a list of bugs to fix, but I’m at the stage to make sure there’s basic functionality. Interestingly enough, it works in Linux (with a few bugs and annoyances, just ask Bio!)

Hi everyone!

Well, I figured since Q gave me access here, I might as well use it.

Hey everyone! I’m Bio, one of Q’s friends he’s never met. You may have heard of me (probably not).
Anyway, it looks like I’m here now — which is cool.

Here’s a little bit about myself:
I live in the western part of the big place below Canada in a house on a street.
I work for a local magazine company. I single-handedly manage all the computer systems on-site and lay-out/make the PDFs of the magazine every issue.
I also like writing programs, fiddling with my computers and taking various things apart.. …and not always putting them back together…
I also like cookies, comfy chairs and kittens.
Q is going to get all mad that I told you guys all that and he had to fight for every last drop of info I gave him.

At work, I’ve been setting up servers. Pretty boring, but fun at the same time. Funny how that works.
At home I deal with my chronic Wii addiction. It’s so much fun to play with.
My current computer project is fiddling with Beryl. It’s a really, really cool thingy. I’ve been playing with it for weeks now.

Anyway, yeah. Hi and everything. /me waves

ZDLSharp

It looks like ZDLSharp is almost done. Sporting a few bug fixes over the old ZDL, it might be a good idea to upgrade anyways. I’ve ported a modified version of Bio’s ReadINI() function, and you’re able to open ZDL and automatically load your zdl.ini file. I’m hoping to have it done by today if not tommorow at the latest. Once I release the finished version, there’s a few things I want to do differently in the code, but those would be completely transparent to the user.

For the most part, it looks almost the same at ZDL. One of the thing Bio talked to me about was changing the interface to something less squished. I’ll have to see about that.

Like I said, check back tommorow to see if you can grab a release.

ZDL on Vista

I just updated Bio’s ZDL program with a Vista Manifest so that the controls don’t look they’re from the 2000 and earlier days. Here’s a look:

A friendly configuration reminder

ZDL Main Window

ZDL Main Window with Multiplayer

ZDL About Screen

ZDL Configuration and File Association Options

The following are the Vista replacements for the open/save dialogs:

Save Configuration Dialog

Load Configuration Dialog

I’m thinking about doing a re-write in C# for some experience and to teach myself C#, but I gotta get schoolwork out the way first.

Vista, Continued

Happy Monday Everyone! Up to over 1,200 hits so far!

To get right to business, my ongoing testing of Microsoft’s new version of Windows, Windows Vista, seems to be going pretty good. There have been a few problems. Most notibly, my USB Bluetooth adapter, my Motorola Phone, and my webcam.

Here we go:
USB Bluetooth Dongle: While I got the MSI drivers for it, they were for XP SP2 only. THat didn’t stop me though, I installed it anyways, the only problem is, I cannot access OBEX support on my phone, only DUN. As I’m trying to transfer stuff off my phone, and put some music on, this is very limiting. As I have a motorola phone cable, I tried that next…
Motorola E815: Not supported on the stock vista, I had to grab drivers. Booo, when I installed the drivers, Vista only recognized it as a USB modem. That’s no good. I tried then installing Motorola Phone Tools, which brings me to the next…
Motorola Phone Tools Did not properly work. The best I could get out of it is “Initializing…”. Vista said it wsan’t working properly, and it would apply some compatiblity settings to the next execution. I tried it again, but got no further. Bahh humbug.
Toshiba Function Keys/Media Keys: Looks like I can’t use my functions keys on my Toshiba Satellite A100 SK9. That’s no fun, I can’t have single touch access to screen locking, sleep, and hibernate. Also, I can’t press a single button to load a browser, play/pause, stop, next/prev media keys either.
Built in Monitor My Toshiba’s monitor doesn’t seem to be able to dim. While this sounds trivial, I go mobile a lot. Not being able to dim reduces my battery significantly. The normal dim controls are function keys, but I just don’t think Vista recognizes it for what it is.
nVidia Control Panel: This is severly limited. All of the normal functions are just not there, like advanced timing. I’m really dissipointed in this.
Logitech Messenger Webcam: According to the Logitech website, my webcam isn’t Vista compatible. That’s about as far as I’ll take it, because I don’t even use it a great deal. It’s a pain that I can’t use it, but I’ll live.

Other than that, most things work really good. There are some known program incompatilities with Visual Studio, mainly that I have to run it in administrator mode. That isn’t so bad, I needed to do that in XP as well for debugging access.

Motorola Phone Solution: Use a transflash memory card. I left my transflash-SD card adapter home, so I’ll either have to go home to get it, or buy another one.

Thanks for tuning in!

Happy 1000

It’s offical, I’ve just recieved 1000 hits! Thanks everyone for visiting!