Blogging, SSE and xFramework Dec 9 2005
Haven’t blogged much last few days, been working on cooking up a few ideas… Been playing around with the SSE support I added into xFramework a while ago. I’ve fixed a few problems with the namespacing, and made the base RSS classes better able to support extensions such as SSE. The SSE classes now seem to be working as intended, so it’ll be cool to see what comes out of this new extension to RSS :-)
CommentsFree the Mac Mini Dec 9 2005
Some excellent work going on here to release an open-source Linux driver for a Broadcom chipset used in a variety of wireless network cards, including the Airport Extreme. Using this new driver in conjunction with this cool guide to getting Fedora Core up and running on a Mac Mini (which stated, correctly at the time, that the only device that wasn’t supported is the Airport Extreme using the Broadcom chipset), will free the Mac Mini and allow you to get Linux up and running on it!
CommentsBird's Eye Dec 9 2005
Extremely cool stuff. The bird’s eye views bring a whole new dimension to online mapping apps.
CommentsNew stuff Dec 1 2005
Committed a few updates to xFramework this evening.
Firstly, tweaked xFramework.Common.Db slightly, and added the MySql provider I was talking about needing :-)
Secondly, I added a load of updates to the xFramework.Common.Xml library, specifically to the RSS classes. An overview of these classes explain how they now work, and should give a good idea of how they can be used. I consider both the xFramework.Common libraries now to be pretty stable, so if anyone has any problems with any of them, please drop me an e-mail!
Also, I’ve made a few other updates to the xFramework web site, to try and bring it a bit more up to date and in line with the codebase.
Check it out, check the updates out, any comments, let me know.
Validated Dec 1 2005
Ah yes, and I’ve updated my blogging software to use the most recent xFramework.Common.Xml version now, which results in valid RSS (validated here). As such, you’ll see that theres a little ‘Valid RSS’ image at the bottom of the blog page now :-)
CommentsEnclosures and xFramework Nov 30 2005
Tonight I added support for enclosures to the RSS classes within xFramework. And I’m now using this new support for enclosures within xFramework in order to achieve something that’d tie in nicely with today’s new support for streaming media using RSS enclosures on the Sony PSP. Watch this space ;-)
CommentsPostgreSQL vs MySql Nov 29 2005
So at the minute I’m using PostgreSQL for most apps I write that require a database back-end, including this very blog. It’s stable, it’s reliable, and it’s easy to use under .Net/Mono. However, I have recently been playing around with v5 of MySql. It had been awhile since I last toyed with MySql, and back then it’s lack of stored procedures was a bit of a pain in the ass. Now though, MySql really seems to be a lot more professional, and a lot more comprehensive, while still being lightning quick as always. I am quite tempted to start using that over PostgreSQL again and see how I get on. In fact, thanks to the xFramework database library (xFramework.Common.Db), changing databases will be as easy as writing a new database provider that implements IDbProvider, setting up the database schema on the new db server, migrating over any existing data between the two databases, and re-configuring the affected apps to use the new IDbProvider. I think xFramework could do with a MySql data provider anyhoo ;-)
CommentsPSPcast? Nov 29 2005
A new update for the Sony PSP was released today, which among other things included the capability to consume RSS feeds. This opens up the option of streaming music/podcasts straight to the PSP, as explained here. Awesome feature! I presume mpeg4 enclosures within RSS will be supported in the next firmware release? ;-)
CommentsSSE/RSS/xFramework Nov 28 2005
One thing I did get chance to do this weekend in amongst relaxing and doing nothing, was knock up a quick set of extensions to the existing RSS classes within xFramework. This set of extensions defines a new IDocument implementation within xFramework.Common.Xml, and you can use this to create an RSS feed complete with the new SSE extensions. This new code still requires more thorough validation and testing (testing is a bit tricky at the minute as there isn’t a great deal of SSE feeds out there yet) but it should be suitable enough for any app wishing to use SSE-enhanced RSS feeds as a bi-directional data source. I’ve got a couple of ideas cooking so far ;-)
CommentsExcessive downtime? Nov 28 2005
So the blog was down since Friday night, through to this evening. This was because I rather cunningly decided to upgrade the version of Mono on the box from 1.1.8.3 which it was running, to the latest version, 1.1.10. I wanted the latest ASP.Net improvements (added in 1.1.9 I think?) along with the new AutoConfiguration feature to make setting up apps a bit easier. Unfortunately in all the excitement, it slipped my mind to test my blogging software using 1.1.10 on one of my test machines here. No matter, after fixing the ‘conflicts’ between some of my code and the latest version, it’s back up and running. I also took this chance to alter the design slightly, in the hope of making the app a bit faster. 1.1.10 does seem a lot smoother anyway, and the new ASP.Net code seems a lot better :-) Also I got a test web app written using the 2.0 profile, compiling on-the-fly and running under the new version of Mono here! So all in all, a worthwhile upgrade ;-)
Anyway, I would have had the problem fixed sooner, but I’ve spent a really enjoyable weekend with my girlfriend doing pretty much nothing, really relaxing. Every time I sat down at the computer, I couldn’t be bothered to stay there for very long - just about long enough to catch up on news, e-mails etc. This evening I decided to stick at it and fix the issue, and voila, the blog is back!
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