Aug
30
IronRuby News
August 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
As some may know, in recent months there have been a number of initiatives regarding Open Source from Microsoft, one of which is their Shared Source site CodePlex (see my Blogroll).
Last August, Microsoft shipped IronPython, which was a version of Python designed to work with .Net 2.0 Common Language Runtime (CLR).
Now, according to that invaluable source of information, Redmond Developer News, comes news of a second Open Source .Net implementation, IronRuby, which will be based upon the popular Ruby Language. This however will not be hosted on CodePlex, but on a popular Ruby site called RubyForge.
Apparently, Microsoft are hoping to release a pre-Alpha version of IronRuby at the end of August. This will be a Dynamic Language that will run on top of the recently released Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR).
What is the DLR, you ask? ScottGu has the answer:
It provides a set of features on top of the CLR designed explicitly for dynamic language scenarios. These include a shared dynamic type system, language hosting model, and support to make it possible to generate fast dynamic code. These features make it much easier to build high-quality dynamic language implementations on .NET. These implementations can access and use any of the APIs in the .NET Framework, as well as easily interoperate with code written in any other .NET language (for example: you could write a Ruby class that invokes and uses a C# class, which in turn invokes a Python class).
Other upcoming open source dynamic languages from Microsoft include Dynamic Visual Basic and Managed JScript.
For more information on Ruby, please checkout ScottGu’s Blog
Source: Redmond Developer News
Aug
24
More Mini-ITX thoughts
August 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I am probably not a typical Mini-ITX customer in the sense that, so far at least, I have not built/bought a Mini-ITX box for use as a Set Top Box, a Home Theatre System, a Firewall etc. These are all good uses to which Mini-ITX systems can be put, but at this point I don’t need to build or use any of these types of systems.
So far, the two systems that I have built are running Windows Server 2003 and are helping power the website that you are reading right now.
A possible new use for a Mini-ITX system occurred to me recently when I was contemplating the sort of PC needed to effectively run development environments and compilers, most particularly Visual Studio 2008, which according to Microsoft requires a gigabyte of RAM minimum.
I am keen to get to grips with all the new software now coming available, but what do I run it on?
My current development PC is my laptop, a Fujitsu 1510D, with 512 MB of RAM and a 60GB Hard Drive.Â
As a laptop, it is great as it is a convertible tablet with an 8.9″ screen, is extremely small and light and has a very long battery life, especially with the extended battery. This makes it easy to carry around and use when travelling.
As a development machine, it is terrible as it does not have enough memory or hard disk space to manage the latest software or manage multiple virtual environments in which to test beta software. Running Visual Studio 2005 at the same time as SQL Server puts quite a load on the available memory and there is no way that it could run Visual Studio 2008.
Therefore, I was thinking about possible solutions for this problem.
The machine I have in mind would have maybe a 200GB Hard Drive, a very fast CPU, perhaps Core Duo, and 2-4 GB of RAM in order to maximise the applications that can be run simultaneously.
One solution would be to buy a new laptop with a bigger hard drive, lots more memory etc. This would be quite an expensive option as I am very happy with my current laptop on the whole and laptops still tend to be more expensive than desktop equivalents especially laptops specifically designed for development tasks.
Another solution would be to build a desktop machine to manage my development needs, however, desktops are not exactly portable and I travel a lot. It would be possible to access it with Remote Desktop, but then it would be in Canada and I would be abroad and it would still be slow from a UI perspective at least.
Another solution would be to upgrade my laptop memory. The problem with this is that the Fujitsu 1510 cannot use more than 1GB of RAM which is not much by today’s standards and the RAM module itself is hard to find and very expensive.
The thought occurred to me that a Mini-ITX machine could be the solution I am looking for, Mini-ITX machines can use fairly standard components and provided that I pick the right motherboard, could be fast enough and have enough memory to provide the environment I require.
The beauty of the Mini-ITX solution here is that the physical size is very small if you choose the right case and therefore would be easy to transport when travelling and yet would not cost as much as an equivalent laptop where you are paying for specialised proprietary components, such as the screen and the battery technology which are expensive to upgrade.
Talking of screens; with the Mini-ITX solution, I would still have to carry a LCD display, keyboard, mouse etc as well, right?
Well, wrong actually!
Using Remote Desktop, I could use my current laptop as the thin client and just add the Mini-ITX box to my local WIFI network. Therefore, I don’t need a keyboard, mouse or screen! I just need the box itself.
In addition, as long as the Mini-ITX had an S-Video connection, I could also use a TV as the display if necessary, so who needs another display. In that case, you would just need a small keyboard.
In this situation, the Mini-ITX does not replace the laptop, it supplements it.
I have to admit, I have not tried this yet, but it definitely has possibilities. I will keep you posted.
Aug
23
First Reviews of the new Pico-ITX Board
August 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment
First announced earlier this year, VIA’s tiny new Pico-ITX motherboard has been somewhat elusive…until now. Finally reviews are appearing of the smallest motherboard from VIA, the PX10000.
The Pico-ITX measures only 10cm x 7.2 cm which is a lot smaller than the almost mainstream Mini-ITX board which is 17cm x 17cm and which looks pretty small to me!
Both Mini-ITX.com and Geek.com have reviews which are, dare I say, pretty interesting.
The board itself has a 1.0 GHz embedded C7 processor and can take 1 DDR2 533 SIMM upto 1Gb in size. The board has a full range of connectors including 1 SATA, 1 44 pin ATA and 4 USB. Graphics is provided by Integrated UniChrome™ Pro II 3D/2D AGP with MPEG-2/4 and WMV9 Video Decoding Acceleration. It also has the usual connectors including DVI, VGA, Ethernet, Audio and PS/2.
For more information, please checkout the two reviews linked to below.
As this great picture illustrates, it is pretty small….
Sources: Mini-ITX.com, Geek.com
Aug
10
Microsoft has released quite a few beta updates to up coming .NET and Visual Studio technologies in the past week.
Here is a summary of what’s new along with a few links …
.NET Framework 3.5 builds incrementally on the new features added in .NET Framework 3.0, for example, Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Windows CardSpace. In addition, .NET Framework 3.5 contains a number of new features in several technology areas. These new features have been added as new assemblies to avoid breaking changes. They include the following:
- Deep integration of Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and data awareness. This new feature will let you write code written in LINQ-enabled languages to filter, enumerate, and create projections of several types of SQL data, collections, XML, and DataSets by using the same syntax.
- ASP.NET AJAX lets you create more efficient, more interactive, and highly-personalized Web experiences that work across all the most popular browsers.
- New Web protocol support for building WCF services including AJAX, JSON, REST, POX, RSS, ATOM, and several new WS-* standards.
- Full tooling support for WF, WCF, and WPF, including the new workflow-enabled services technology.
- New classes in .NET Framework 3.5 base class library (BCL) address the most common customer requests.
Visual Studio 2008 delivers new functionality for developers in the following areas:
- Developer Productivity
- Enhancements to Data Access, LINQ
- Develop for multiple versions of .NET (2.0, 3.0, 3.5)
- Integration with Expression family of design tools
- Click Once Application Deployment including support for Firefox
- Improvements to Windows Forms Designer
- Support for new technologies
- Development of MS Office Applications from within Visual Studio
- Support for XAML and Silverlight
- Support for ASP.NET AJAX, WWF, WCF
- Develop Vista Apps in Native-mode C++
- Develop Applications for Sharepoint Server
- Develop Applications for SQL Server Compact Edition
- Improvements to Application Life-Cycle Management, Team Collaboration, Code Analysis and Unit Testing
Expression Blend August Preview
The Expression Blend 2 August Preview allows you to create Silverlight-based applications and adds support to Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 and .NET Framework 3.5.
Silverlight 1.0 Release Candidate
Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of Microsoft .NET–based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.
Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET-based media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, C#, Python, and Ruby and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight media capabilities include fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality audio and video to all major browsers including Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and Windows Internet Explorer running on Mac OS or Microsoft Windows.
Silverlight 1.1 Alpha Refresh is intended for developers and designers interested in learning more about how to build experiences with Silverlight using both managed code (C#) and script.
Silverlight Tools Alpha for Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2
This is an add-on to the Beta 2 release of Visual Studio 2008 to provide tooling for Microsoft Silverlight 1.1 Alpha Refresh. It provides a Silverlight project system for developing Silverlight applications using C# or Visual Basic.
Aug
9
New Posts coming soon!
August 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Well this Web Log has been quiet for a week or two but I am hoping that this period of quietitude will not last too much longer.
I am now back on the European side of the pond where I recently started a new contract after two months on garden leave. So I have been busy finding accomodation, going to work etc.
I have also had to solve a few bugs etc with the Military database as a result of moving all my databases to my new Mini-ITX box; which I have to say I am very happy with as I have had no problems with it since I completed the move.
However, there is lots of interesting news out there, particularly on the .NET world what with Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2008 being released. I hope to publish some articles very soon.
I have not been able to play with the new technologies yet as I have no suitable machine to use while I am on the road as my laptop only has 512 MB of RAM which is not really enough for Visual Studio 2008 and I do not want to potentially corrupt my current installation of Visual Studio 2005. This is a situation I hope to rectify over the next few months.
