Posts by MikeTackett

First off, how many screens do you have? It sounds like three, one for the monitor, one on the laptop, and a third 'free' one for your extended monitor. If you only have two (one laptop and one actual screen) there is nothing really you can do to have extended desktops on both the laptop and desktop.

Was gone for a few days. First question would (and I'm sure you've done it lots) is to check the IP of your router. If you can get to 192.168.0.1 from XP wired you should definitely be able to do it from ubuntu wired. Also check the wired connection on ubuntu overall. Again, if you can get to the 'net wired on ubuntu, we've eliminated the NIC/drivers.
I'm speculating your router uses a web interface to configure it. Check what protocol it's using (is it regular, HTTP or HTTPS). If it's the latter, be sure you can access HTTPS on ubuntu. Just to clarify, are you able to get to the router wirelessly on ubuntu? What about XP?

It is possible, add a handler to use a different key to move you through the controls based tabstops. I would use the enter key and have a "submit button" on your form that you can activate by giving it focus and hitting space. This is assuming you can use the enter key as well. If you can't use enter, think about one of the function keys or using alt+another key.

It's likely your router already has what you need to get these devices connected. The router is probably also your DHCP server, if you can connect both computers to the router and get to the internet with both, you're basically good to go with connectivity. Do you have anything else that's going on the network, like a printer?

In terms of file sharing, I follow the school of thought to have a central point of file storage that both computers can access as opposed to constantly connecting to various points between the two. You will want to designate some space on either your windows or linux box for this. I know software exists to get linux to read/write NTFS (assuming you're using NTFS), however I don't know what's available for Windows to read linux file systems. This might influence your decision there. You can basically make a Windows share and have ubuntu mount that. Someone more versed in linux (I've limited use of it, not even running it anywhere right now) should be able to help you there, I'll dig something up either way.

I've never used Synergy but it appears to be something different that just VNC software. It actually sounds pretty interesting, I'm going to check that out sometime.

I'm looking for any thoughts on how I am currently doing error handling in my VB.NET programs. Basically I put code in a try/catch, then call an error handling sub passing the exception and a string. The error handling sub gives an error message and writes to a text file:

Try
do some stuff
Catch ex As Exception
errorArg = "This failed because of something." 
errorHandle(errorArg, ex)

Sub errorHandle(ByVal errorArg As String, ByVal ex As System.Exception)
        Dim errorFile As String = "C:\dev\temp\errorfile.txt"
        Dim errorWrite As New IO.StreamWriter(errorFile, True)
        Dim machname As String = System.Environment.MachineName.ToString
        Dim close As DialogResult = MessageBox.Show(errorArg & vbCrLf & "Contact MIS", "System Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
        errorWrite.Write("*** ERROR on " & curDate & " @ " & machname & vbCrLf & errorArg & vbCrLf & ex.ToString & vbCrLf)
        errorWrite.Close()
        If close = DialogResult.OK Then End
End Sub

As you can see I'm displaying the 'custom' error message to user and writing it to an error file along with the exception data. I've been using this for a while (it's been successful so far), my question is really more of "should I be doing it this way"? The error handle sub is basically attached to the parent in an MDI or just in the same module if it's single form or console, should I be building a class for this sort of stuff?

I consider myself still a novice programmer but I'm starting to develop and maintain applications with end users for the company I'm working for. We don't have a policy on version numbers and I'm looking for advice on when best to update them. I understand the major.minor portion is largely a judgment call. Am I right that "build" is increased every time a working build is made during development and "hotfix' is used when ever a hotfix or patch is rolled out?

Where I'm at, they seem to only really update the hotfix portion regardless of when the software is updated, we're talking v1.0.0.258 or v 1.0.1.98
I don't like this methodology especially since we have scheduled service pack dates of once a month, and have made somewhat drastic changes to the functionality and interfaces of some software yet, everything is still at version 1.0.x.x.

Anyone care to share any thoughts on how they update their version numbers or what is an advisable method?

Well the server will likely never handle the actual data in most any type of transfer for what you're looking to do. If you are looking for something user friendly there are a few applications out there that will help you to accomplish this and perform nearly all of the setup (save for maybe something at the server end). You could also code something that will do what you need and that will also make the necessary setup on the client computers. Beware that a lot of applications don't like to see much beyond the subnet they are running in.

You are going to need some way of having the end users identify each other, whatever application they are using to send files will need to give them this information. Understanding how you want to do that is likely to be the pivot point of this solution.

It could be as simple as shared folders perhaps? After the users are on the network (authenticated from the central server or where ever) they can browse the network shares and send files over to whom ever. The central server will not even look at the data, it will only 'tell you' what computers are available. The down side to this is setup and management, it will all need to be done at each location and each computer for the entirety of the network. You should give meaningful names to your shares to be able to identify them.

I'm guessing that the central server was also where you stored whatever data for the end users and you want to mitigate that responsibility away from the server, maybe smaller local servers then? I'm sure you looked at the risks of moving to P2P but if there is a way to reduce stress from your central server while still keeping something of a centralized data environment would you be open to it?

Are you in a Windows environment or some thing else?

Honestly it's a bit of a tough call. Having more than one card is really only going to boost performance. Sure, boosting performance is great, but if you could save cash on just getting one card/two ports and still be satisfied with the results...

I would recommend two cards, but don't forget to consider a few points first:
How many video cards can you put into the computer and how do you plan to do it. If you only have one AGP slot and you want two AGP cards you'll have to get a splitter (or whatever those dual socket cards are called). You will also be having three outputs for the three devices. Some mobos will not let you use the onboard VGA if you are using a video card of any kind. In that case you would be better off getting a card with one or two HDMI ports and another with HDMI/DVI.

Something else you might want to consider that you are really only extending the desktop (assuming windows here), and this could either present a whole new set of problems or not be a factor at all.

A suggested setup: quality card with HDMI dedicated to the big TV, HDMI/DVI split for the smaller TV and monitor, respectively.

Firstly I would recommend running the higher quality interfaces to the higher quality displays. HDMI to the Large TV, HDMI or DVI to the smaller, and DVI or VGA to the monitor. Really it's your choice that's just a suggestion.

You can use Cat5 to run some of this. A popular device is video over Cat5, however understand you still need the outputs on your computer. You can use a VGA(or DVI or HDMI or whatever) to cat5 video extender and get yourself three outputs going on. These are generally all hardware based, no software, and I use them often at work with on board VGA.

Basically, decide what outputs you want, checkout the cat5 over video options available and maybe revise your plan, then run the install. This could get pricey however, I pay about $300usd for 1 VGA over cat5 device from StarTek or something.

Sounds like a virus/malicious software of whatever sort.

Frankly I don't think you have much of an option without either some kind of centralized environment or know who you want to connect to on the other end. You say you want a connection even if the central server went down? I'm assuming (and only assuming) that this is some kind of domain controller and your addresses are managed locally.
It is possible for the central server to manage the connection without really seeing any traffic but this depends on your implementation.

If you could offer more scope on what you are trying to accomplish we might be able to offer a good solution rather than (again, ASSUMING) one end user speaking with another end user. Is your project more for redundancy or security, or is it that you want to do something else entirely?

It sounds like a hardware problem really, I have to question if it's taking longer than normal to get the boot screen. It's not uncommon for the initial boot to take a few seconds to load. If it is taking longer then troubleshoot it as a hardware problem.

How is the monitor connected? VGA, DVI, etc? Are you using an adapter of any kind? Could you try a different monitor on the computer and see how that works? Video card or on board video?

Checkout Solarwinds, they have some great tools and the LANsurveyor is a great tool for mapping your topology. Their stuff is a little pricey for what it is but if you want something for personal use they have lots of demos that are fairly unrestricted.

LANSurveyor doesn't show any traffic, but you will be hard pressed to find a simple install or quick tool that will give you the kind of details you want.