Publishing .NET to an IIS server woes..

Been having trouble at work getting an ASP.NET project to publish on a local dedicated server but ive finally found the simplest method. here goes:

1. With ASP.NET 2.0 there are no precompiled assemblies and everything is runtime compiled so all one needs to do is copy the project folder across to the \intepub\wwwroot\ folder on the server.

2. Make sure >NET 2.0 has been installed and is linked to IIS. You will know its working when under the IIS manager>Web Service Extensions it shows ASP.NET v2.0 is allowed. If there is no green check mark then select and allow it.



3. Now comes the part where everyone screws up. The .aspx file is now accessible but will always return an error when accessed from the local server or elsewhere on the network. The reason is the virtual directory containing our project files on the server has to be configured as an application in the IIS in order for the ASP code to be compiled at runtime. You will see something like this :

Configuration Error

Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: It is an error to use a section registered as allowDefinition='MachineToApplication' beyond application level. This error can be caused by a virtual directory not being configured as an application in IIS.

Source Error:

Line 49: ...
Line 50: -->
Line 51:
Line 52:

To get around this simply right-click on the website folder under "Default Web Site" in the IIS manager and under the Directory tab under Application settings select create and this registers the application with the IIS.


The website should be up and running now. Hope this helps.

The hidden artistic side of technology

To most of us technology is something we come across everyday yet something so un-human if we take a moment to step aside and see how much we interact with it compared to humans we would truly be shocked.

Yet like most of human-kinds creations there is an artistic depth in technology as well. It is not just something cold or hard to the touch but there is so much happening in the background that we may not necessarily see or hear, I speak of forms of expression beyond our perceptions. Enter the IBM 1401 mainframe from the 60's. A scientist using them in Iceland saw that during the operation of the mainframe, memory leaks were causing signals to be broadcast on AM frequencies. Now with some modifications the result :

Xbox 360 Intercooler Mod

Been hearing a lot of negative stuff about the Nyko intercooler for the Xbox 360 and after doing some digging around i came to the conclusion that having a 3rd party hardware sucking up and disturbing the streamlined power being sent to the console using extremely powerful fans which might have variable power inputs depending on their quaity is good enough to ruin ones 360. But we still need the intercooler as Microsoft has pretty much abandoned us when it comes to cooling their monsters down.

Hence I modded my intercooler. Here are the steps I took :

First off i thought I would simply open the intercooler and disconnect its fans. With the help of an opening I brought the wires out and tried to feed them power via USB.



there was a black and brown wire that I cut and brought out through the opening. The connections inside looked solid ( for the remaining cables ) so i decided to leave everything intact. I closed the intercooler, powered up the USB and gave it a test.



It could have been a disaster, the USB was maxed out at 5V while the fans needed 12 volts at .13 amps each ( power hungry monsters, another reason i dont want them sucking off my 360's power ) and the USB couldnt supply them with enough. The 360 actually became hotter than 2 hrs of Gears of War while it was simply idling !!

I had no choice, i needed a stronger power supply. The sollution : a cheap 350W computer power supply. I rigged the thing to turn on when connected and attached the fans to them and boy was there some cooling to be seen !! An hour of Ghost Recon AW and the 360 felt cooler than it does when its on the dashboard doing nothing !!



All was good but there was still a problem. The power input for the 360 was still comming through the intercooler and i wasnt too happy with this. Given that the cases where the intercooler fries the 360 its power plug leaves a burn mark on the 360 that voids the warranty I decided to get rid of it.

So with the aid of a saw from the dollar store i started off. I cut off the following portion...



.....and was left with....



this way the 360's power cable goes in directly and surprisingly the intercooler seems to be able to balance without its plug going into the 360.



Conclusion : the system is much cooler now and in multiplayer i have actually seen a performance difference ( Played Ghost Recon AW and some huge explosions caused everyones 360 to lag for a second, even the hosts but mine barely stuttered :) Also this allows me to run the fan for a few minutes after i turn off the 360 so that the heat does not stay inside when the internal fans turn off.

Let me know what you guys think.

Xbox 360 with VGA out

I recently tried out my Xbox 360 with the monster VGA cables on a 22" LG LCD monitor. I have heard several people complaining about the washed out look the VGA cable provides but I have come to realize that it is the LCD monitor that makes the difference. The below pics are of what gaming looks like in the LCD :



Honestly Gears of War looked great. The last level especially was the best test to see if the colors in the sky look rich and vibrant and I would place them around 80% as good as what I have seen on a Samsung 40" LCD tv. The LG lcd ( L204WT ) has a dynamic contrast ratio of 3000:1 and the dark colors look great in comparison to samsung LCD ( 225BW ) but the main thing is the f-engine which increases the richness of the color and makes the experience more HDTV like.

I also tested a DVD on the monitor. Not sure if its true but the 360 upscales a DVD when using the VGA cable. In effect i get a 720p HDTV upscaled output from a 480p dvd. the following screens are from Star Trek Voyager :



The aspect ratio was fullscreen so i used the 360 to soom in to fill my screen and i could not make out any artifacts at all, its was purely amazing !!!

Configuring A Network Bridge for the XBox 360 using a Laptop

Here is an amazing way to get your Xbox360 hooked up to your home wireless withoug having to bother about the overpriced M$ wireless connector ( USD $99 approximately )

Will try is ASAP

AIGLX and Beryl on my humble laptop

cd /etc/yum.repos.d/
wget http://wilsonet.com/packages/beryl/beryl.repo
yum -y install beryl-gnome beryl-kde

beryl-manager