Argotic Syndication Framework Desillusion

When I discovered Argotic Syndication Framework a few hours ago, I thought : One to rule them all. They say on their web site that I don't have to speak the syndication langage. But, I failed to make it work on the first syndication feeds I tried : blog.free.fr atom feeds generated with dotclear raise the following exception :

   at Argotic.Common.Guard.ArgumentNotNullOrEmptyString(String value, String name)
   at Argotic.Syndication.AtomPersonConstruct.set_Name(String value)
   at Argotic.Syndication.AtomPersonConstruct.Load(XPathNavigator source)
   at Argotic.Syndication.AtomPersonConstruct.Load(XPathNavigator source, SyndicationResourceLoadSettings settings)
   at Argotic.Data.Adapters.Atom10SyndicationResourceAdapter.FillFeedCollections(AtomFeed feed, XPathNavigator source, XmlNamespaceManager manager, SyndicationResourceLoadSettings settings)
   at Argotic.Data.Adapters.Atom10SyndicationResourceAdapter.Fill(AtomFeed resource)
   at Argotic.Data.Adapters.SyndicationResourceAdapter.FillAtomResource(ISyndicationResource resource, SyndicationResourceMetadata resourceMetadata)
   at Argotic.Data.Adapters.SyndicationResourceAdapter.Fill(ISyndicationResource resource, SyndicationContentFormat format)
   at Argotic.Syndication.AtomFeed.Load(XPathNavigator navigator, SyndicationResourceLoadSettings settings, SyndicationResourceLoadedEventArgs eventData)
   at Argotic.Syndication.AtomFeed.Load(Uri source, ICredentials credentials, IWebProxy proxy, SyndicationResourceLoadSettings settings)
   at Argotic.Syndication.AtomFeed.Create(Uri source, ICredentials credentials, IWebProxy proxy, SyndicationResourceLoadSettings settings)
   at Argotic.Syndication.AtomFeed.Create(Uri source, SyndicationResourceLoadSettings settings)
   at Argotic.Syndication.AtomFeed.Create(Uri source)

It fails to parse publication dates in Univers Freebox syndication feeds or Slashdot feeds. Well, it seems I have to learn this langage anyway... Edit : After failing again on slashdot feeds with .NET 3.5 classes, I found Peter's blog. Actually my code was getting closer to his solution.

Merci à la TVA !

Les opérateurs profitent de la hausse de la TVA pour augmenter les tarifs des téléphones. Il y a deux semaines, on pouvait avoir un forfait Bouygues Telecom Evasio 1h+1h à 34 € (engagement d'un an), avec un HTC Desire pour :

• phoneandphone : 1 € - Aujourd'hui : 169 €
• BT : 59 € - Aujourd'hui : 180 €

Voleurs ! Mais bon, il suffit de se détendre ! 51 € en blanc :^( chez Virgin Mobile avec le code promo DESIRE et le forfait E-Devine à 31 €.

Recover Acer Aspire 1650

Useful keys :

• F2 : Enter BIOS Setup
• F12 : Choose boot device (if F12 key enabled in BIOS)

Notes :

• You definitely need a backup DVD where Acer eRecovery has burnt the content of the hidden partition. Unfortunately, this DVD might not include everything (like Acer eRecovery for example - as if this restore process should be a one-time thing).

Steps :

• Boot on backup DVD and wait for restore process to end. This will ovewrite the first partition with the content of the DVD big file. It takes about 12 min. Then the laptop reboots on the DVD to finish copying files. It seems that the real copy happens at 40 % (see HD activity). If I kept some linux partitions, it would froze at 40 % doing nothing (HD led off)

Then, if you reboot, Windows would use the following partitions :

• C: : old hidden partition (hda1)
• D: : old C: (hda2)
• E: : old D: (hda3 or hda5)

IMHO, having two C:-like partitions is really messy. That's why I want to hide the first partition again. This can be done in a few steps :

• Hide the first partition
• Copy the first partition (hda1) to the second (hda2)
• Eventually reboot

Linux comes to the rescue. I use the Gentoo Minimal Install dvd (iso) for x86. So the detailed steps are :

• Burn Gentoo minimal dvd
• Reboot on this dvd (F2 or F12 can help)
• Hide hda1 : (this commands sets hda1 type to Compaq Diagnostics, disables boot on hda1, enables boot for hda2 and save)

fdisk /dev/hda
t 1 12
a 1
a 2
w

• Mount hda1 and hda2 :

mkdir /mnt/win/c
mkdir /mnt/win/d
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/win/c
mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/win/d

• Optional : save hda2 content :

mkdir /mnt/win/d/old
mv /mnt/win/d/* /mnt/win/d/old

• Copy hda1 to hda2 :

cp -a /mnt/win/c/* /mnt/win/d

• Reboot to windows

reboot

Then your fresh new WindowsXP will start using second partition. Acer sucks, try Asus. Edit :

• Radeon X300 does not work after reboot. ATI driver fails to install.
• Intel 2200BG wifi card does not work either.
• Keyboard is not recognized and locks the Touchpad.
• Startup desktop.ini file is opened automaticaly when XP starts ? Might be because the linux copy did not take into account the hidden attribute...

Edit : Merging the two first partitions to get 30 GB on C:\ fixes them all. No more post-install copy step. No more problem with ATI driver, etc.

TechEd 2010

I am currently in Berlin for Microsoft TechEd 2010. It is a first-time Tech Ed and a first time in Berlin. Unfortunately I fear I will not have time to discover the city as there is a lot to do at the conference. I attended the Silverlight pre-conference as Visual Studio's was dedicated to beginners. Funny thing : they use a lot of penguin images in their example. The infrastructure in place is quite impressive. Lots of machines everywhere, with wireless network, that's great ! The keynote was a lot about aaS (as a service) stuff : infra/platform/app as a service, with clouds everywhere. Well even the newest private cloud seems quite far away for day to day real life problems.

New UE46B8000 firmware

Samsung has just issued a new firmware for the UE46B8000 models. This is version 3002. If you still have version 3000, you must upgrade to version 3001 first. Changes :

• DLNA browsing speed has been greatly improved.

Windows 7 Elevated Startup Shortcuts

Shortcuts in Windows 7 Startup folder configured with elevation (administrative privileges) will not be launched. You need to create a scheduled task with administrative (maximum) rights configured to start when you open a session.

Asus U30JC-QX010X : Asus WebStorage

Asus WebStorage suddenly stopped asking for a login/password. I mistakenly clicked on the icon below Computer and it just asked for EULA agreement. Then I've been able to use the dedicated 1000 GB storage for my backups. Asus support told me a couple of months ago that U30JC-QX010X had no WebStorage offer included. But :

• This is just a 2 months trial.
• Asus WebStorage pollutes all synchronized folders with .awo directories.
• You cannot disable default folders (Favorites, Documents and some BackupDemo folder on the desktop).