Add the args line in your /etc/qemu-server/<vm id>.conf file should give you sound:

args: -soundhw

On my Proxmox VE 1.8, I have several virtual audio devices available.   I’ve had the best luck with ac97 with Windows XP/Vista and Win7.

red:/etc/qemu-server# kvm -soundhw ‘?’
Valid sound card names (comma separated):
pcspk       PC speaker
sb16        Creative Sound Blaster 16
ac97        Intel 82801AA AC97 Audio
es1370      ENSONIQ AudioPCI ES1370
hda         Intel HD Audio

-soundhw all will enable all of the above

When I tried to uninstall Symantec Antivirus, it asked for a password.  When I put in the correct password, it refused it.  So how to uninstall it with a messed up password?  Easy..

Open up regedit (as an administrator) and change HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\INTEL\LANDesk\VirusProtect6\CurrentVersion\AdministratorOnly\Security\UseVPUninstallPassword to “0″ (zero).

I was able to uninstall and reinstall Symantec Antivirus.

Install ActiveState Perl from http://www.activestate.com (free) and install DBI if it isn’t already installed.  It should be but you never know…

1. Start -> ActiveState Perl -> Perl Package Manager
2. install DBI
3. exit

Now, the easy part.  Install the DBD::Sybase 1.09.01 PPM:

1. download DBD::Sybase 1.09.01 PPM
2. extract zip file to temporary directory (e.g. c:\test)
3. Start -> Run -> cmd.exe (as Administrator if Vista or Windows 7)
4. cd \test
5. ppm install DBD-Sybase.ppd
6. exit

That’s it

It should automatically install the DBD::Sybase for Perl 5.8 or 5.10 depending on which version of Active State Perl you have installed.

Assuming that you installed Sybase OpenClient 15.5 from the 15.5 PC Client:

Install ActiveState Perl from http://www.activestate.com (free) and install DBI if it isn’t already installed.  It should be but you never know…

1. Start -> ActiveState Perl -> Perl Package Manager
2. install DBI
3. exit

Now, the easy part.  Install the DBD::Sybase 1.09 PPM:

1. download DBD::Sybase 1.09 PPM
2. extract zip file to temporary directory (e.g. c:\test)
3. Start -> Run -> cmd.exe (as Administrator if Vista or Windows 7)
4. cd \test
5. ppm install DBD-Sybase.ppd
6. exit

That’s it

Sybase

Foundations of Qt® Development (Expert’s Voice in Open Source) is well written. He assumes that you have a little bit of C++ knowledge, avoiding into the trap that so many other authors do. You wouldn’t believe how many technical books I have where the first half or more of the book is simply a rehash of the basics. Forget that!

What I really like is that when he shows you an example of code, he explains why you would want to write it this way and how it differs from the Standard Template Language (STL – see C++ Programming Language, The (3rd Edition)). Where there are performance gains or penalties of using Qt instead of STL, he demonstrates it.

I never realized just how easy it is to write C++ using the Qt framework! Just the Signals and Slots alone make it very very powerful and that’s just the beginning. I’m completely blown away

Sybase

is an Eclipse distribution that uses highly customized Data Tools Platform (DTP) plugins.  Updating the Sybase version of DTP with the standard DTP release from Eclipse will break Sybase’s Workspace.

Last night I updated Workspace’s DTP with the standard DTP release from Eclipse’s website.  Several oddities started showing up when accessing the DTP releases:

Configuring the db connection

Testing the connection worked fine but when you open the database connection to a Sybase ASE database errors are reported:

Multiple errors have occurred

and

Connection errors

If you run into this issue, you will need to uninstall Sybase’s Workspace (delete the %SYBASE%/Workspace directory after the uninstall is complete) to resolve it.

I’ve created feature request CR 565285 with Sybase:

Workspace’s DTP (data tools platform) should be updated with the DTP current release from Eclipse. This will allow developers that work in a mixed environment to use Workspace with non-Sybase DBMS’s (view stored procedures, triggers, etc).

If you believe that this feature request is desired, please let Sybase know.

• Create a new 20GB preallocated disk in the D:\Virtual Devices\DBA Dev 1\Disk4 directory:

D:\Virtual Machines\DBA Dev 1\Disk 4>vmware-vdiskmanager -c -a buslogic -s 20Gb -t 3 Disk4.vmdk
Using log file C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\vmware-DBH1admin\vdiskmanager.log
Creating a split preallocated disk ‘Disk4.vmdk’
Create: 100% done.
Virtual disk creation successful.

• We need to determine which device slots are available.  Go to VM->Settings and look at the next free scsi device #

• Associate the new virtual device file using the free scsi4 slot

D:\Virtual Machines\DBA Dev 1>vmware-cmd “D:\Virtual Machines\DBA Dev 1\Ubuntu.vmx” setconfig scsi4:1.fileName “Disk 4\Disk4.vmdk”
setconfig(scsi4:1.fileName Disk 4\Disk4.vmdk) = 1
D:\Virtual Machines\DBA Dev 1>vmware-cmd -v “D:\Virtual Machines\DBA Dev 1\Ubuntu.vmx” setconfig scsi4:1.present true
API Version: 1.01
setconfig(scsi4:1.present true) = 1

After you restart the virtual machine, the device will now show up when you run fdisk -l.

The goal of the Flourish Conference is to promote the use and adoption of Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) by demonstrating the practical applications of FLOSS in the business and academic world. While everyone is familiar with businesses that focus on creating non-free proprietary software, the same cannot be said for those who specialize in developing and supporting FLOSS software, and an Open Culture.

I missed a part of Bruce Perens’ Innovation Goes Public presentation due to Chicago’s closing several sidewalks that go over or under the tristate. I’m not quite sure I agree with him that the road a head for open source is all rosey. Perhaps I misunderstood him but it seemed to me that the idea of simply giving the source of an application to the public would allow the programmers to still be paid via the support/service agreements.  This may work for some applications, but for others there wouldn’t be a sufficient number of support contracts to financially support the programmers Personally, I prefer open source but I will also pay for commercial proprietary software. I use what works.

The company I work for, Sungard Investment Systems, uses open source for many internal projects. One such product uses VMware and Linux for a portable monitoring system so I was highly interested in rBuilder Online from rPath. I attended the Appliance Development and Conary session presented by Stephanie Watson from rPath. I’m currently investigating on how well and easy it is to make a VMware appliance that would house a Sybase ASE server (DBMS) with no unnecessary os files. If the testing turns out well, I will ask my fellow Sybase ASE DBAs whether Sybase need certify it or whether we are ‘on our own’. The monitoring machine itself really doesn’t need Sybase ASE on it but since we have the license….

Dr. John Waclawsky, from Motorolla, gave a feel good presentation about the state of communication between wireless gadgets. The Revolution at the Edge of the Network Abstract. Short version: things are going to get very interesting in the next year

James Gray, from IBM, presented IBM’s Open Source Strategy – Turning Threat into Opportunity. While essentially a case study of how IBM has interacted as a semi-liason between the business executives and the open source community. IBM, to me, has seemed to be stuck in a love/hate relationship with open source and a dislike/hate relationship with the Free Software Foundation. That being said, it is necessary to give IBM credit giving credence to the open source community with the business executives. The IT folks no longer had to quietly use open source in the business but were free to use it extensively in many places. Linux, in particular, is no longer the wild west in many CTOs’ eyes but a integral part of their business.

I met Tony Wong in the Chicago Perl Mongers ‘booth’. We discussed the upcoming Yet Another Perl Conference (YAPC::NA 2008) that is being held in Chicago and the horrible documentation of the Catalyst MVC web framework. I informed him that the only way to learn Catalyst was the new book Catalyst by Jonathan Rockway (ISBN: 978-1-847190-95-6). I also warned him that the book should have gone through another round of proofreading prior to being published due to excessive example code errors, etc. I playfully suggested that Joshua McAdams be tormented because he wasn’t able to make it Friday morning.

The panel discussion on Friday afternoon was highly entertaining and a bit of a kangaroo court for Bobby Moore of Microsoft. I do not believe Mr. Moore was expecting Bruce Perens to repeatedly ask very pointed and informed questions. Moore did an excellent job of remaining cool and listening with an open mind to the criticism of Microsoft as a company. He explained that, yes, Microsoft did some not so nice things in the past but they are attempting to work with the open source community. Bruce Perens, Jon “Maddog” Hall, and James Bottomley brought up the pending MS Office OpenXML standard format issue where much of the format is proprietary and the published format won’t actually be used by Microsoft. Moore conceded that it was unlikely that Microsoft would use the published format as-is but the Office developers would likely base the actually used format off of the published format. Perens, Hall, Bottomley and James Gray all expressed their opinions that this was very typical of Microsoft. (side note: Microsoft has been accused of having the attitude of Embrace, Extend, Eliminate when it comes to industry standards.)

Perens, Hall and James Bottomley, as well as members of the audience, pummeled both James Gray of IBM and Bobby Moore of Microsoft for their companies’ approach and support of software patents.

Unfortunately, I was only able to attend the first day as my mother was in town from North Dakota to visit my three month old daughter (and the rest of us). If only I could have cloned myself… Don’t forget to check out the Flickr photo group for the Flourish 2008 Conference in Chicago!

How to:

1. download and run the Vista 32 bit (yes, you need the Vista software) PC Upgrade software from Dell’s web page which will completely uninstall the XP driver
2. download and run the Windows XP driver from Dell’s web page.

You may need to reboot the machine between steps 1 & 2.

What *I* personally would like to see is:

1. step by step online tutorials to create a multitude of projects – from simple ‘hello world’ applications to database connected applications to .NET to AJAX enabled .NET web apps
2. online videos for the new and experienced developers rather than just feature highlights
3. more books… from the “Beginning PowerBuilder 11″ (perhaps a ‘for Dummies’ series type book) to super advanced PB11
4. more podcasts ( take a look at Meet the Gimp for example format )
5. PowerBuilder gallery of open source and commercial PB applications (please don’t just point to the abomination known as codexchange) and online pb communities
6. A better tiered licensing model: Free version (take a look at Microsoft’s VB Express for a model of what should be included for free), Student (K-university) edition, Professional / Small Business, Enterprise. There should be NO feature differences between the student and enterprise editions – the only difference should be in what PB can be used for (licensing).
7. Open source & hobby-ist development should be actively promoted to help rebuild the PB community

Can anyone think of anything else to help new developers learn PowerBuilder?

Running ASE, ASIQ, or SQL Anywhere under virtualization software such as Xen, VMWare, Parallels, etc is very useful under a number of situations:

1. development of new applications – each developer group can have its own “db server” on the same machine
2. testing new ebfs/releases with your applications
3. reproducing problems either in the sybase software or in the application code – a ‘virgin’ instance that can be duplicated at will
4. trying out new operating systems (moving from Windows to Linux or Windows to Solaris x86?) without investing in new hardware

The main caveat is that the performance stinks – databases typically require high disk i/o, memory i/o and cpu responsiveness. The virtualization software currently available, even with hardware help (newer Intel,AMD chips), are not up to the task of running a *production* database.  In a couple years… possibly.