Dell sells rebranded USB memory keys under a variety of different vendors. These vendors include Lexmark, M-Systems, and SMART. This technical recipe covers the unofficial installation of a [SMART]. USB memory key under Windows 98 SE, as the default SMART driver does not work on the Dell SM9FLAMK Memory Key without modification.

1. Download and extract the the Windows 98 SE SMART driver, released on October 28, 2004.
2. Open the SMARTG2.INF file using a text editor such as Notepad, and change the string PID_1900 to PID_1700. There should be three occurrences.
3. Finally, insert the Dell Memory Key and run the Add New Hardware Wizard. During the Wizard installation, point the installation directory to your modified SMARTG2.INF.

If your memory key is, instead, from M-Systems, head over to DiskOnKey, and download their Windows 98SE driver. No changes to the drivers are necessary.

I skipped work and attended the Microsoft Ready to Launch tour right here in Atlanta at the Cobb Galleria Centre, an all day affair.

I really had a lot of high hopes for Visual Studio 2005, and I still do. But to me it’s a little unsettling that as much as Microsoft clamors the party line of reliability, integration, and security, not a single one of the presentations that Microsoft offered that day went without some sort of software glitch or lock up. In the seminar on Smart Clients, for instance, a simple “Hello World” application was corrupted entirely, merely by changing the name of a simple Windows Forms control. In another presentation, The Visual Team System managed to lock up completely, displaying the dreaded End Program dialog box, and once again while attempting to expand a Tree control on one of the Visual Studio IDE windows. And just when we thought we’d see the last of it, the ASP.NET presentation threw a SQL time-out exception during its membership and user management demonstration.

What’s more appalling is that these errors were not the fault of the presenters; stuck between a rock and a hard place, they did everything they were supposed to do in a pre-planned, pre-written application. While enthusiastic on-stage, Magenic consultants lamented off-stage at the incredulity of the situation. “It’s ridiculous that so-called production software should fail on a simple presentation,” commented one Magenic consultant.

I tend to agree. Michael Earls, Developer Evangelist at Microsoft, eagerly talks about their billions of dollars in research and development. Perhaps they should instead spend that billion in testing before shipping a buggy product out the door. If you’re going to tout reliability, at least make sure your projects work in the demo.

On a positive note, the presentation on ASP.NET 2.0 was a spectacular one, demonstrating many of the features that we’ve long been asking for. Indeed, Whidbey does rock. While I’m not going to go as far as to say that it’s completely innovative, the changes are much needed improvements to the ASP framework. Master Pages, for examples, have finally arrived as a competitor to Apache Struts Tiles. Other lower-level features include session and cache enhancements, much like those found in ORM tools like Hibernate, though ASP.NET appears to prefer the use of intelligent data source controls and Datasets in its place. Both techniques, of course, have their ups and downs. Additionally, an improved provider-based model allows for third-party enhancements, such as substituting Oracle in place of SQL Server, a feature already present in most J2EE models. Additionally, the new security and user management system is impressive when placed side-by-side to J2EE solutions like Acegi. And the icing of the cake: ASP.NET 2.0 can generate XHTML valid code.

Bugs aside, the features present in Visual Studio 2005 are light-years ahead of what we’re seeing in the Java world. Sure, we’ve got tools like AspectJ for aspect-oriented programming, but Visual Studio’s life cycle management integration — from project management to architecture, and from development to deployment — makes open source tools like Eclipse pale in comparison. It’s certainly a huge step up from our current development models, in my opinion. This, and Microsoft’s other efforts towards its Dynamic Systems Initiative, will be a huge step in formalizing the software development process, if successful. With an industry leader like Microsoft, I I hope that we can finally put the engineer back in software engineering.

This is a short description on how to get Quake 3 Arena running on Mac OS X, using a retail PC Quake 3 Arena CD-ROM.

1. Download the Quake3-132-AltivecTest2.pkg.sit.
2. Using StuffIt Expander, decompress the point release. A package file will be placed on the desktop.
3. Double-click the package file, and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the point release installation.
4. Open the Quake III Arena CD.
5. Open the Quake3 folder.
6. Open the BaseQ3 folder.
7. Copy the PAK0.PK3 file from the CD to the BaseQ3 folder on your hard drive.

These simple steps are surprisingly difficult to find on the Internet.

I have recently accepted a position with Arch Chemicals as an Electrical Systems Engineer. Arch Chemicals, Inc. is a dynamic, global specialty chemicals company with more than $1 billion in annual sales. Arch and its subsidiaries have leadership positions in Treatment Products and Performance Products — and they serve leading customers in these key markets with forward-looking solutions to meet their chemical needs. Arch stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ARJ. This position is unlike any other that I’ve had before, so we’ll see what happens.

While you were gone, I went ahead and upgraded the weblog to the latest version of WordPress. I’ve taken extensive measures to ensure that links work exactly as they did in the previous weblog. There are still a few kinks to work out, such as the photo gallery, and the fact that the custom data import wasn’t perfect, but otherwise, here’s to a new era of blogging!

This is a review of my new portable MP3 player, the Creative Zen Nano Plus 1GB, an excellent alternative to the Apple iPod Nano.

The Apple iPod Nano has been gaining a lot of hype recently, both positive and negative. I’m not one to buy into hype, and I tend to look for practical over extravagent. The Creative Zen Nano Plus targets just such an audience. Though I still think that the iPod Nano is an good choice for typical consumers, its feature set and high price point make a technical savvy user such as myself look elsewhere.

My primary interest in a hardware MP3 player is to use it as a portable device while driving to and from work in the car. I want to wake up every morning, put the latest Audiobook, Podcasts, or language learning MP3s on it, and head off to deal with the rest of my busy day.

As a Linux user, my requirements are a little more stringent than most MP3 users. Any hardware purchase that I make must work in Linux. And by work, I don’t mean third-party hacks by volunteer developers, I mean actual, honest to god, standard support without any proprietary hooks or extensions.

To this end, the Zen Nano supports a standardized USB mass storage interface. Simply plug your Zen into the USB port, and copy your MP3 files over just as you would for any other hard drive. The Zen Nano even supports folders to organize your files, though they aren’t hierarchical. Though the iPod also supports USB storage, its obfuscated storage format pretty much necessitates the use of the iTunes software, unsupported on Linux without tools like WINE. Strike one against the iPod Nano.

Though the Zen Nano gets only 12 hours of continuous playtime, compared to the 14 hours with the iPod Nano, the use of a standard AAA alkaline battery is a huge win for me. Battery technology has come a long way in recent years, and it’s nice to be able to use devices that take advantage of it. With devices like the 15-Minute Rayovac Battery Charger for NiMH AAA batteries, which allow for up to 500 charges, this one is a definite no-brainer. As an electrical engineer, I’ve taken courses on power systems, and let me tell you: like all chemical batteries, the iPod Nano batteries will eventually fail on you, and they are not user-serviceable. Strike two against the iPod Nano.

It would be nice if the Zen Nano had more than 1 GB or storage, but otherwise, feature for feature, it beats the iPod Nano hands down. In addition to its backlit screen, the Zen Nano offers a FM tuner, a FM recorder, a voice recorder with built-in microphone, and a built-in mp3 encoder with line-in. Many of these features are available on the iPod, but with the Zen, these items are all packed into one little unit. Strike three against the iPod Nano.

Lately, the Apple iPod series has also gotten a lot of negative press about failing batteries and shoddy workmanship, especially with respect to the iPod Nano. While I’m sure that many of these reports have been greatly exaggerated, it has still left me with a bad impression.

The Zen Nano targets a different consumer market than the iPod Nano. But if you’re looking for a tiny, durable MP3 player that gets the job done without any fluff, look no further than this excellent purchase. (9/10)