Pranay Sharma

So, one of the first thing I wanted to do after setting up my server, was to setup DLNA to stream videos. It is vital for any non-PC devices like TV, Blu-ray players, PS3. I was astonished that Microsoft decided to manually remove this feature from Windows Server 2008 R2. The feature works perfectly in Windows 7 and integrates perfectly with its Libraries. However, some developer makes anesthetic choice to remove it from the OS and do a crappy job at it.

So here goes my experience,

At first when I din't find the Media Streaming, the first shot was installing "Windows Media Services 2008 for Windows Server 2008 R2". This obviously is very misleading as it does not include DLNA.

 

The next try was installing "Windows Media Connect". It worked partially. I was able to see the Videos in all my devices, however it was not willing to stream, the devices kept complaining about invalid protocol. After scratching my hair for couple of hour, I decided to use my own brain cells instead of google's.

So, the first thing that came to my mind was using Hyper-V, I hosted a regular Windows 7 Ultimate as a Virtual Machine and turned on the DLNA server in it and voilà, the sample videos were showing up on my devices and streaming. Now, just the small task of including my videos on the host 2008 R2 Server in Windows 7 Virtual Machine. NOT POSSIBLE! You cannot add a Shared Folder to your library and use it for streaming.
Now, my biggest issue was the amount of Videos I had, about 1 TB. Else, I would just copy paste the videos to my Virtual Machine and share them.
I would think Microsoft would have put a better way of sharing data between Virtual and Host than just sharing folders. Then, I tried to add a Symbolic Link using mklink as a Local Drive, so Media Library would think of the Shared Folder as a local folder and include in Streaming. Once again I was at the same point. I could see the Videos in the devices, however they were unable to stream due to security issue. I tried to give full rights to the shared folder (read/write), but still no luck.

That was the ending point for me and I decided to scrap Windows Server 2008 R2 and install Windows 7 Ultimate for the time being. The main reason for going with 2008 R2 was to install SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise and Hyper-V.

I went with SQL Server 2008 R2 Developer Edition and Virtual PC as substitute and wait for Windows Server 8 and hope Microsoft fixes it.

Tags: dlna, dlna, dlna, dlna, windows server 2008 r2, windows server 2008 r2, windows server 2008 r2, windows server 2008 r2, stream, stream, stream, stream
Categories: Computers | Computers | Computers | Computers | Software | Software | Software | Software | Technology | Technology | Technology | Technology

So I finally received HPE-550F today. The case looks pretty compact for the amount of power this system has in it. The original specification of the system was

• Intel Quad Core i7-2600 Processor
• 8GB DDR3 system memory
• ATI Radeon HD 6770 1GB DDR5 PCI Express 2.1
• 1.5TB Western Digital 5400rpm
• Blu-ray drive
• Wi-Fi 802.11n
• 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN
• Windows 7 Home Premium x64

Some tweaks were made to boost up the performance:

• +8GB DDR3 system memory
• +1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm
• +60GB Solid State Drive
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Final specifications are:

• Intel Quad Core i7-2600 Processor
• 16GB DDR3 system memory
• ATI Radeon HD 6770 1GB DDR5 PCI Express 2.1
• 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm
• 60GB Solid State Drive
• 1.5TB Western Digital 5400rpm
• Blu-ray drive
• Wi-Fi 802.11n
• 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows 7 Ultimate x64

The system has a startup boot time of 6 seconds and shut down of 3 seconds. These awesome times were achieved by making 60GB Solid State Drive boot drive and store Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows 7 Ultimate x64 files. The “Users”, “ProgramData”, ”Program Files “ and “Program Files (x86)” were moved to 1TB 7200rpm Seagate. The 1.5TB Western Digital is used to store data.

The biggest hurdle was adding the 2 hard drives. The 3.5” internal bay has ample place to fit another drive however there is no way to open the bay and insert the drive, everything seems to be welded together. The 1TB Seagate had to go into 5.25” bay below the Blu-ray Drive.  The SSD is 2.5”, fitting even that drive was a pain. The graphics card was put in place using some hinges which leave no room for anything else to be added or moved in the box. Overall the challenge was worth the effort since, it has become a much faster machine than before (5400rpm drive kills it).
Windows  System Performance Rating was 7.6 (Graphics Card) and once again the system has a startup boot time of 6 seconds and shut down of 3 seconds.

Tags: hpe-550f
Categories: Computers | Hardware | Technology

Windows Xp drivers for Gateway DX4710-05 with Intel G33 chipset motherboard

 

Here is a rar file for all the drivers:

http://www.gouravsharma.com/pranay/gatewaydrivers/Gateway_Drivers.rar

The SATA Driver is "Intel(R) ICH9R/DO/DH SATA AHCI Controller" located in the file: iaAHCI.inf

Use nLite to Slipstream it in your Xp CD.

nLite:

• Install Nlite
• Insert your XP Disk into the cd drive
• Run Nlite, it will ask you where your xp installation is. Chose the drive the XP disk is in, and it should recognise it.
• Next, it will ask you where you would like to save your installation.
• Next, Task Selection Screen should come up. Make sure you check Drivers, and Bootable ISO. I also like to check Unattended, so I have less work to do during the installation
• Next, you have the chance to insert the SATA Driver. Click Insert > Single Driver. From the f6flpy32_85.zip, chose iaAHCI.inf, it will open up a screen of the contraining drivers. Select the Intel(R) ICH9R/DO/DH SATA AHCI Controller
• Next, you have the options to change the default values of the XP install, you can pre-insert your serial number so you never have to type it in at installation, add desktop themes... you can toy around with some of the settings that you're familiar with at this point.
• Next, it will build your install of windows. Click yes if it asks : do you want to start the process
• Next, the final step. You have the option to either burn your install to a disk or write it as an image file.

 

DONE!!

 

Tags: gateway, dx4710-05, dx4710, windows xp, drivers, xp, intel, g33
Categories: Hardware

Ajax Control Toolkit Calendar Extender date range - StartDate EndDate for AjaxControlToolkit CalendarExtender - Disable Dates

I found a fix for this somewhere.

It was hard to google it so I am putting it on my blog with compiled DLL for people who want it on-the-fly

And also a source code for people who need to incorporate in their custom dll's

The calendar provides you with startDate and EndDate in order to provide a dateRange and disables it.

Syntax:

<asp:TextBox ID="selected_date" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
<asp:ImageButton ID="Image0" runat="server" ImageUrl="images/cal_icon.gif" AlternateText="Cal"
ToolTip="Click here for Calendar" />
<ajaxtoolkit:calendarextender id="selected_date_CalendarExtender" runat="server"
targetcontrolid="selected_date" format="MMMM d, yyyy" popupbuttonid="Image0"
startdate="5/1/2009 " enddate="5/31/2009 " />

Here are the link:

DLL

Source Code

Tags: ajaxcontroltoolkit, calendarextender, startdate, enddate, ajax control, toolkit, calendar, extender
Categories: ASP.Net

Lucid Dreams Wiki -A lucid dream is a dream in which the person is aware that they are dreaming while the dream is in progress, also known as a conscious dream. When the dreamer is lucid, they can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can be extremely real and vivid depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream.

http://gouravsharma.com/pranay/LucidRemix.mp3

 

Tags: lucid dream, lucid dreaming, lucid dreams
Categories: Psychology