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The Galway VHF Group plays a very active part in sporting activities around Co. Galway, providing communications support and expertise where publicly available technologies and knowledge do not suffice.

One of the traditional outings is the annual Head of the River regatta, hostd every year by the Tribesmen Rowing Club on Galway’s river Corrib.

This year, it was held over the Easter weekend, and was attended by Galway VHF Group members Steve, EI5DD, myself, EI8DRB and John, EI/G8FZW. Steve manned the scoring desk, John, the start line and I the finish. John called in the start times in batches, and I called in the finish times, also in one page batches.

Immediately, however, a problem reared its head. John’s position on the river and low(ish) power output coupled with a large metal siding providing much unwanted occlusion, meant that plenty of fading and noise decreased the quality of John’s signal to Steve quite badly, necessitating much repitition. I however heard him fine, giving me an idea. I had my new Yaesu FT8900 in the car, and thought that this might be the ideal time to try out the cross band repeat feature. I suggested this to Steve, and we decided that for the next race, we’d try it out.

Well before the start of the next race, I put the FT8900 into X-Band repeat mode on 145.450MHz and 433.450MHz, and all reports were very good. Since John didn’t have a 70cm rig, myself and Steve called on 433.450, repeating to 145.450, whereas John called in on 145.450, repeating to 433.450 and coming in to Steve at 20 over 9, meaning that we got through the timing sheets in short order.

The day was pretty uneventful, in that it went smoothly and with no real issues, bar the aforementioned. The Tribesmen comittee expressed their thanks at a job well done.

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Portable, or /P operation is one af the aspects of amateur radio that attracts me the most. It combines the challenge of QRP with a nice walk in places with great views. I recently got the FT817 out and took it up Derrybrien hill in Galway. The occasion was the day of the Kerry Amateur Radio Group’s QSO Party.

I had a couple of brief chats with Irish amateurs and one or two in Wales. Not bad for 2.5w and a bit of wire.

I used the FT817, a 6m fishing pole, a bunch of wire for radiator and radials and the Emtech ZM2 tuner to get them to talk. I also tried a few calls on 50.125MHz using a simple dipole made from bamboo & wires, but no answers there.

The setup…

6m antenna…

Gamtug, in cooperation with Microsoft Ireland, held a launch event for Visual Studio 2008, yesterday, which was February 6th, 2008. Other launch products which were covered at the event included Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008. The event was held at the G Hotel in Galway.

The day commenced at 1:30pm with registration, followed by a 2 hour session on Windows Server 2008, presented by the highly capable and ever interesting Dave Northey of MS Ireland. He covered the entire Server 2008 family in admirable detail, considering the 2 hour slot he had at his disposal. Items covered included…

Server Core… the new lightweight install of Windows Server. Ideal for DNS, DHCP and other Active Directory type Roles. Also, eminently suitable for cluster node Roles, as demonstrated by Dave, who, by virtue of the new Role based install model, had a 3 node failover cluster with SAN storage up and running in minutes.

Hyper-V… the new MS virtualisation hypervisor. Takes virtualisation to a new level, leveraging the Hardware Virtualisation functionality in modern processors to give close to bare-metal performance in virtualised guest OSes.

IIS 7… the newest iteration of IIS. Taking a few leaves out of the frontrunning Apache webserver, IIS now impliments a similar pluggable module structure, improving on security and performance. Also, in dumping the old binary metabase configuration system and implimenting a human readable, XML based system… again a tip of the hat to Apache, and one which might finally elevate IIS to similar levels of usage. Other features include fastcgi and result caching to give blazing performance levels in PHP apps, previously the exclusive domain of the LAMP stack.

This iteration of Windows Server will be the last of the 32 bit server OSes from MS, but since even older hardware these days is based on 64 bit processors, that shouldn’t be much of an issue. SBS is promised for later this year by insiders at MS.

The highlight of the event was the VS2008 talkthrough, presented by Ronan Geraghty. In the 2 hours allotted, Ronan managed to cover what seemed like every nook and cranny of VS2008, including a packed half hour on SQL Server 2008, from the developer prospective.

There’s a lot of new stuff to look out for, but the star of the show is LINQ, or Language INtegrated Query. This is an abstraction layer which seeks to streamline such things as data management, especially XML and SQL. In much the same way as Rails abstracts database activity with Activerecord, VS2008 does with LINQ.

On the surface, it looks much like SQL, but it removes much of the nit-picky joins and so on by using a Query By Example type structure to create a dataset to be acted on by LINQ. Ronan did a good job of explaining, and making almost exciting, something which is definitely not the stuff of dinner party conversation. Nonetheless, I do feel that LINQ will make the tedious job of data management slightly less so.

While on the topic of data management, Ronan covered the new SQL Server 2008 in some detail also. Much to get excited about here too, if datasets and such float your boat. Personally, I find data management a but of a necessary chore rather than an end in itself, but if you’re the latter type, then you’ll be very into the details of what SQL Server 2008 has to offer. As I am the former, however, the most I can offer is that it is a vast improvement in terms of security and reliability, has LINQ integration to enable reduced-pain data management and, which came as a bit of surprise to me, a spatial data type.

Spatial datatype? WTF? Well that was my initial response, but suffice to say that for the mathematically challenged SQL developer, this new datatype will allow such things as polygon-polygon intersection searches, set membership queries and all sorts of other geometric stuff that hasn’t troubled any of us since school. Nice.

There are also lots of toys for the web developers out there. VS2008 now does Javascript. Really. It also ties in nicely with IE to do proper breakpoint debugging. I know the rest of the world have had this with Firefox for a long time now, but for MS houses, this level of integration is very welcome. And Firefox isn’t exactly group policy-able either, so not every admin is going to want to have it roaming unfettered around their networks. It does a good line in CSS debugging too… all in all, things are looking very nice for the MS-centred websmith.

Other items covered included the new .NET framework, version 3.5 and the associated new build targets in VS, the apparently much easier upgrade path, the new Office Development tools and much, much more. The much abridged version of the story is that it looks really good, even for a dyed in the wool Linuxphile such as myself. The Express version is available as a free download from MS and full versions are available to trial, so go get it.

Finally, and a minor highlight in itself, the nibbles provided by the G Hotel were above the standard usually found at such things…

Over the last few months I have received a few letters… actual paper letters… in my letterbox. These come from the infamous Domain Registrar of America, with a return address in London. Apparently I am in grave danger of losing my valuable domains if I don’t do something now, and through them.

A little research throws up evidence that they are scammers. I’m happy with my registrar, and particularly with their pricing, so the DRoA weren’t going to hook me with their promise of “best savings”. Obviously a definition of savings of which I was previously unaware, given that their prices are more than 400% up on what I am currently paying. I’d be willing to bet that they’d continue to offer such competitive prices, “saving” a further 400% every year until my annual fee is in excess of the US GDP.

I can usually spot a scam a mile away, but I’d be willing to bet that there are plenty that will fall for this. All I can say is treat any and all offers of this sort with the contempt they deserve. That and a judicious application of transfer-lock on all domains… just in case.

Ok, not exactly, but the results are much the same. MIT has opened up what seems like all their coursework and documentation. If you’ve ever wanted to know what MIT is the geeks university, now you can find out.

Check it…

In parallel with the worldwide Madriva Installfest on November 17th, the Galway Linux User Group will be holding our own, distribution agnostic, Installfest at DERI on the Newcastle Road.

Basically, the idea behind this is that anyone who has an interest, however latent, in Linux, but is unsure where to go next, can attend and we will install whatever distribution is most suitable and in accordance with the user’s preferences.

The confirmed distros being installed are:

Mandriva, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu (of course), Debian and possibly Gentoo.

I will also probably do a demo install of one of the security appliance distros, like IPCop or Smoothwall.

All Galway Linux Users, whether members or not, would be encouraged to come along. Even the dyed in the wool Windows or Mac users might learn something…

Date: November 17th

Time: 10am - 12am

Location: DERI, Newcastle Road, Galway

I came across this little cartoon on Bruce Schneier’s Blog and also on WWdn and it cracked me up…

Turns out, it’s a frame out of a bigger cartoon… I prefer the smaller version though. Things are less funny if you have to spell them out.

Credit to xkcd

Recently Microsoft kindly donated a server, complete with MS Server 2003 R2, SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007 (the whole point of this) to MTUG for research, experimentation and general playing around. Since I have experience deploying Windows Sharepoint Services through Windows 2003 Small Business Server, it fell to me to do the requisite playing around. Always up for some fun and games with new software, I jumped at the chance.

We have RDP access to the server, located at MS in Dublin. No little VM servers here either… a proper, quad core rig had been laid on for our entertainment (and, yes… research). Dave Northy provided the install files for SQL Server 2005 and MOSS 2007 (along with install keys for standard and enterprise). The installation was pretty straightforward. The .NET framework 3.0 and SDK 2.0 needs to be installed initially and ASP.NET 2.0 registered with IIS, and the MOSS install wizard won’t proceed until they have been, once it’s kicked off, though, it takes a short while to get the job done, and, one reboot and run of the MOSS configuration wizard later and we’re up and running.

I fired up IE and connected to localhost where I was presented with the MOSS front page. Coming from WSS2003, it looks familiar enough initially. The expected quick links down the left, the central ‘announcements’ pane and top menu. A deeper foray reveals much the same as what we had in 2003, the various list types and document types are all still present and correct. If I sound in any way disappointed, I don’t mean to… keeping close to the original is no bad thing, being that, in my opinion, Sharepoint provides some of the best perceived cost-benefit of any MS server product. A few nice little additions are noticable too. RSS for all and sundry is available out of the box. Another great feature for the CEO’s Treo, giving access to the sort of on the spot information that CEOs love to have.

Allowing access to the outside world is almost trivial, but when allowing anonymous access, the configuration is a little more unweildy. The quick rundown on all the steps involved is…

• Create an Alternate Access Mapping
• Open the requisite ports.
• Set up DNS.
• Configure Anonymous Access for Sharepoint in IIS.
• Configure Anonymous Access for Sharepoint in Sharepoint Central Admin tool.
• Configure Anonymous Access for Sharepoint in Sharepoint.

Now I see where MS is going with all of this, but that still doesn’t make it any the less unweildy. That said, once it’s done, it’s done. Then all you need to do is add your users, assign them their groups and your full on, document managing, collaborating, information centralising, group enabling system is ready to change how you do business.

Not bad for a day’s work.

I’ll be posting more on our experiences with MOSS2007 as time permits.

On the 17th of October, 100 years ago, Guigliemo Marconi (of both Irish and Italian extraction) made his first commercial transatlantic transmission from Clifden in Galway to his station in Nova Scotia. This was the culmination of much research, many failed attempts and much rivalry between himself and Nikola Tesla.

In recognition of this milestone event, the Galway Radio Experimenter’s Club are holding a special event in Clifden. This consists of a number of radio stations with a variety of antenna types communicating with both the sister station in Nova Scotia and any other stations who wish to add this important event to their logs.

I managed a brief QSO on 3670 SSB, with Enda who was operating the station under the special event callsign EI100MFT on Sunday 14th at about 1pm and am delighted to have taken even this small part in such a momentous occasion.

Details from the IRTS News…

Marconi Clifden Celebrations

On the 17th of October 1907 Guglielmo Marconi sent his
first commercial message from the then new station at
Clifden, Ireland. This October in celebration of this
historic event members of the Galway Radio
Experimenters Club is running a special event station
until this coming Wednesday the 17th from Clifden. The
club has been issued the call sign EI100MFT for the
event, MFT been the last call sign used on the
original station.

On Wednesday they will be making a special linkup with
the Marconi sister station in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.
Part of this linkup will be an exchange of greetings
between President Mary McAleese and Lieutenant Governor
of Nova Scotia the Honourable Mayann E. Francis. The
group will also be honoured to have Princess Electra
Marconi present as she is coming to Clifden for the
festival along with an Exhibit from the Marconi
Foundation in Bologna. The Galway Radio Experimenters
Club will also be presenting a display of vintage
equipment. More details on the festival can be found at
www.clifden.ie. Visitors to the station are more than
welcome and if you would like to participate this can
also be arranged.

I attended an event last night, held by GAMTUG in the Marriott in Galway. The topic was Silverlight, Microsoft’s new cross-platform, cross-browser runtime engine. The speaker was a very capable Martha Rotter, currently with the MS Ireland Developer and Platforms team and recently of the IE6 team, she displayed a deep knowledge of not just Silverlight, but the surrounding and enabling technologies.

When I first heard of Silverlight, I had envisaged some sort of Flash type thing using C# or somesuch instead of Actionscript, but I was more than a little wrong in this. Ok, so it does do stuff like Flash, UIs and games can be created and scripted in a similar way, but whereas Flash is basically a black box as far as a web page is concerned, all of the scripting and UI description of Sliverlight is simply text files containing XML and Javascript.
When this became clear, I had a feeling of deja vu… a glitch in the Matrix. A few years ago, I did some development using XUL. XUL, for those who don’t know, is Mozilla’s UI description framework. Whenever you use a Mozilla product, be it Firefox, Thunderbird or the Mozilla Suilte itself, you are using an XUL app. The Gecko renderer provides a window frame and that’s all. Everything else is provided by the developer, as chrome. Chrome is, in its simplest form, some XML page description tags, some related CSS to style it and some Javascript to provide the logic.
All of which takes us nicely back to Silverlight, as it is a chrome of sorts that Silverlight executes to generate some of the cool apps we were shown as examples to what Silverlight is capable of. Animations, media streaming (in weirdly shaped containers) and all of the rich content Flash has led us to expect is there in force, but that’s all flashy gimmickry… is there any meat on the bones?
In short, yes. Sliverlight is lightweight and will be ubiquitous (already on Windows and OS X, Linux pending). I asked about plans for other platforms… Windows Mobile? Opera on the Wii? and was assured that these were in the pipeline, although how long this pipeline was was not disclosed.
Anyone familiar with modern Javascript techniques will be at home here… The Canvas, which is the top level construct in the XAML description correlates to the Document object in a standard DOM tree, and traversion, insertion, deletion of nodes is much as we would expect. The getElementById() functionality we would expect is there in the form of the findName() function and the usual dotted heirarchy applies. I am assured that the XMLHttpRequest() object will handle Canvas XML snippets as well as it does DOM snippets. This is good news, as AJAX is here to stay, and combining the snappiness of AJAX with the richness of Silverlight will be something to see.

V1.1 of Silverlight is scriptable with not just Javascript, adding the various .NET languages and including the trendy NKOTBs Python and Ruby. All good news… so where’s the downside? Well, as yet, I don’t see it. I’m enthused by this product in a way that I haven’t been by an MS offering in a long long time, and the promise of a Linux runtime makes it all the sweeter.
During the talk, I did find one question funny in a topically ironic sense. One attendee asked what penetration was projected for Silverlight, to which Martha answered “100%”, and when asked if it was going to be bundled had to laugh, as did many, given the current legal pummeling MS is taking at the hands of the European courts. I have to admit, however, that MS’ ubiquity on the desktop will prove to be this product’s biggest gain, after all, Flash has been bundled with IE, Firefox Opera et al for years now and nobody’s screaming unfair at Adobe (nee Macromedia).