EliveCD Elightenment Debian resolution problem

There are plenty of posts around the web indicating you can resolve resolution problems in Debian by editing the etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file. I'm betting someone telling you what file to edit really doesn't help much. You wouldn't be reading this otherwise.

When running the EliveCD installed to hard disk, the Elightenment enviroment looked fabulous, but all the applications ran at very low resolutions. The problem occurs in both E16 and E17, and from liveCD and HD installs. After enableing randr (left click upper left corner | modules | Randr | enabled), I found the highest available resolution on the configuration menu was 640X480. During a reboot in verbose mode (F2 during cool Elive splash screens) I found XFree86 server using 640X480. So how do you change it?

Here's a real example that actually works:

snippet of the original etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file:

Section "Screen"

Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"

Depth 1
Modes "640x480"

EndSubSection

snippet of file with modifications:

Section "Screen"

Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"

Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"

Depth 1
Modes "640x480"

EndSubSection

I prevously tried modifying startup variables in GRUB like vga=788 instead of 791, depth=16 instead of 24, using the eliveCD graphics problems startup, etc. but none seem to make a difference.

Incidentally, I am running it on a PII 350mhz with 192MB RAM and the video card is a cheapo on-board AGP SIS6326 job. If I wasn't tied to MS by my office and my daughters' school, I would happily convert to this platform.

Hope this helps.

NEC 2400 IPX PMS integration

To move the PMS output from a serial port to the LAN see ASYDL.

ASYDL, SYS 1, INDEX 897, bit 0 = 1
ASYDL, SYS 1, INDEX 897, bit 4 = 0

Bit 4 is used for ACK/NAK control and is invalid when integrating with a Flagler / LMS system. Your results may vary.

Ethereal running on a hub card port is very revealing when troubleshooting conversation for the first time. L records and responses can be viewed in clear text.

Adaptec 2400 RAID drive zap

Before you can introduce a used drive into a RAID array, you need to remove the meta data regarding the previous array from that drive. The scenario is you have an old server with old drives in a RAID5 array, one fails, and you can only acquire refurbished exact replacement drives.

When using an Adaptech 2400 (maybe other) SCSI / RAID controller, you can do this at the BIOS / SMOR level.

Highlight the new refurbished drive, and press ALT-F10-Z. You will mysteriously now have a "Zap drive" option available on the Action menu. Choose to zap it and it can now be used to rebuild the existing degraded array.

Excel VBA, SQL Stored Procedures and Michelob Light

There is no difference between how Excel VBA passes parameters to stored procedures and any other VB based app.

Michelob Light on Saturday night will make me forget to leave a SPACE after the procedure name before the close quote though.

SQL="SP_MyStoredProc " & data1 & "," & data2 & ";" will work.
SQL="SP_MyStoredProc" & data1 & "," & data2 & ";" will not.

For future reference, stolen from Patrick Molloy, Microsoft Excel MVP, here's some basic Excel and SQL stuff to drink to:

Option Explicit
Property Get MyDatabase() As String
MyDatabase = ControlsA1
End Property
Property Get MyServer() As String
MyServer = ControlsA2
End Property

Sub LoadFromSQL()
Dim RST As ADODB.Recordset
Dim db As Connection
Dim SQL As String
Dim i As Long
Set db = New Connection
db.CursorLocation = adUseClient
db.Open "PROVIDER=MSDASQL;driver={SQL Server};server=" & MyServer & ";uid=;pwd=;database=" & MyDatabase & ";"
Set RST = New Recordset
SQL = "SELECT DISTINCT [Instrument] FROM PL"
RST.Open SQL, db, adOpenStatic, adLockOptimistic
' prepare active sheet
Cells.ClearContents
With RST
For i = 0 To .Fields.Count - 1
Cells(1, i + 1).Value = .Fields(i).Name
Next
End With
Range("A2").CopyFromRecordset RST
RST.Close
db.Close
Set RST = Nothing
Set db = Nothing
End Sub

ADIX IX-12IPKTD and IP-SUB notes

For those of you with access to it, the best document I could find is at the Iwatsu dealer site Engineering Bulletins 2003 PN 108234.

The quickly forgoten notes are below:
IX-8IPSUB default address: 192.168.0.1
IX-8IPSUB default user / pw: manage / 4192
IX-12IPKTD default address: 192.168.0.5
IX-12IPKTD default user / pw: manage / 4192
IX-12IPKTD LCD access: MENU for 5 seconds down to DISTRIBUTOR DATA
IX-8IPSUB / IX-12IPKTD default ports usage:

		UDP
	TCP	RTP	RTCP
1	50000	5004	5005
2	50000	5006	5007
3	50000	5008	5009
4	50000	5010	5011
5	50000	5012	5013
6	50000	5014	5015
7	50000	5016	5017
8	50000	5018	5019