Texasviking.com

Linked Server - Invalid Schema Error

Kevin Clark — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:12:00 GMT

Oh look! A blog.

Ran into an issue today when a new linked server connection. Turns out the fix was pretty simple, but I couldn't find it posted anywhere.

The Error:
An invalid schema or catalog was specified for the provider "SQLNCLI10" for linked server "MyLinkedServer".

My Query:

SELECT TOP 10 * FROM [MyLinkedServer].[MyDatabase]..[TableA]
Turns out I wasn't specifying a schema, obviously.

The Fix:

SELECT TOP 10 * FROM [MyLinkedServer].[MyDatabase].[dbo].[TableA]

Disappointment with iBooks - Why I use Kindle on iPhone and iPad

Kevin Clark — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:33:00 GMT

Book reading is not my forte, nor will it ever be. I'm not exactly sure why; I do enjoy the occasional book from time to time, and when one draws me in, I'm hooked - usually finishing it within a few days. I think the biggest problem for me is that consuming information comes too slowly via reading a book. I'd rather skim a dozen web pages or surf Wikipedia for 20 minutes and learn 50 things as opposed to reading a book for an hour a night for the next month.

That being said, when I do come across a book that I want to read, it's "kind of a big deal".

Before I go any further, you must know that I go crazy for new tech gadgets. I've owned every iPhone, standing in line on launch day, and feverishly hoped that Apple's "tablet device" would be announced for the 2009 Holiday season. It wasn't. A month later (my birthday is in January), I asked for Amazon gift cards so that I could buy a Kindle (hoping that it would entice me to read more). I did, in fact, buy a Kindle and even used it for a solid week. Content was plentiful, and the device was solid, easy to use, and did exactly what it was expected to do.

Then, the iPad was announced.

Of course, my inner-Apple-Fanboy rejoiced - even more so when Amazon returned my Kindle and all of the books that I'd purchased (4-5) without any "fees"! (Bonus points for Amazon!) I, along with a few other "devout fans" in the office, pre-ordered our iPads on pre-order day, and waited for delivery.

The iPad was/is mind-blowing! Not only did it give me the book reading experience of the Kindle, but it did/does so much more - endlessly feeding my inner "Information Cookie Monster"! All in a device that was bed-side friendly!

Now for the problem:

Like I've said, book reading isn't "really" my thing. So when I find a book that I'm interested in, I would hope that it's available on whatever platform I choose. Furthermore, since I'm mostly an Apple fan, I'd like to buy it through the Apple Bookstore (iBooks). First book on the list to buy, the original Bourne Trilogy. While the newer Bourne books are available, the original three, Identity, Supremacy, Ultimatum, were not and still are not available on iBooks. At this point in time, the Kindle app hadn't been released, so I was forced to buy hard-copies of the books. How un-green of me.

Fast forward to September 2010:

Stephen Hawking's new book, The Grand Design, is about to be released. Having read A Brief History of Time, I was very excited to read his new book. But wait, what's this? Not on iBooks? Odd... OH HEY! LOOK! It's on Kindle! By this time, the Kindle app for iPad was out and I wasn't about to cut down another tree. I opened the Kindle app on my iPad, browsed the store, found The Grand Design, and was reading it in less than a minute.

Fast forward to today:

Having read Tim Ferriss' The 4-Hour Workweek, I was again excited to learn of a new book coming out, The 4-Hour Body. Again, trying to be a good-little-Apple-Fanboy, I run off to iBooks to try and buy the book. No sign of it whatsoever. Again, I switch over to the Kindle bookstore, and sure enough, "available for pre-order, to be delivered on December 14th wirelessly to your iPad".

Strike 3 Apple. I'm now going to use the Kindle app exclusively for book reading.

300 Dollar Budget Computer Build with LCD

Kevin Clark — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:34:00 GMT

Goal:

A friend of mine was desperately in need of a new PC. His laptop was quickly becoming a paperweight, and he needed something inexpensive, yet upgradeable to get him through the rest of college.

The requirements were simple.

$300 (after rebate), including monitor! That realistically means $200 for the PC itself... not a lot, but doable.
Fast enough to run office
Maybe play a game of MineCraft.

We quickly scoured the Black Friday deals, and set out to make it happen. AMD seemed logical for the price point. The rest is based on finding the best deal, while still looking at NewEgg to make sure the product wasn't flawed in some way.

Parts:

Part	Product	Link	Price	Rebate	Final Price
Case	Zalman Z7 Plus	http://bit.ly/hxG0xU	$48	$40	$8
Power Supply	Thermaltake	http://bit.ly/eaHBXe	$42	$12	$30
Motherboard + Video	Asus M4A785-M	http://bit.ly/gBXzO4	$75		$75
CPU	AMD Phenom X3 8400	http://bit.ly/fEFqOT	$35		$35
CPU-Fan	Thermaltake CL-P0503	http://bit.ly/g8ZDIP	$7		$7
RAM	2x - OCZ 1GB DDR2-800	No link	2x $30	2x $25	$10
HDD	WD 500GB Caviar Blue	http://bit.ly/fyA7Gk	$40		$40
ODD	Asus 24x DVD-RW	http://bit.ly/fTmdMT	$30	$25	$5
Monitor	LG W2043TE	http://bit.ly/e289X7	$90		$90
				TOTAL	$300

Conclusion

Not bad, considering the budget we had to work with. We went with integrated video for budget purposes, but the board does have a PCI-Express 2.0 slot that will be used for a dedicated graphics card eventually. Also, the board is of AM2+ socket design, so Phenom X4 is in it's future for sure!

I'll post a performance review once we find the time to build it.

Monoprice.com USB Video Adapter 6038 Review

Kevin Clark — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 21:33:00 GMT

Now that my workstation setup is beginning to take shape, I realized that I needed a third monitor for my "optimal" environment.

One small issue though, the Macbook Pro only supports 1 external monitor natively. You do have the option of using a Matrox device that extends that external output onto 2 or more displays. Not really ideal for me though. I need native display support. Once again, I went to Monoprice for my needs... this time for a USB video adapter. I've been reading about this over the last year or so, and finally decided that the ~$50 was a worthy investment if it solved my problem.

The Site: http://www.monoprice.com
The USB Video Adapter: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?p_id=6038
Shipped price to Dallas: $55

Pros:

It does exactly what it's supposed to do.
Adds a third native monitor to the Macbook Pro.

Cons:

Because the device uses the CPU to render images instead of the GPU, response rate is slow. Not drastically slow. Any normal use (web browser, email, documents) will act pretty much the same as your onboard displays.
Graphic intensive rendering gets choppy. Full screen videos, games aren't meant for this device.

Easily worth the $50. Buy one now!

Photos

Kevin Clark — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:26:00 GMT

My Personal Photo Gallery!

Monoprice.com Monitor Arm 6419 Review

Kevin Clark — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:00:00 GMT

Following the laptop arm that I sourced, I realized I needed a monitor arm to raise the height of my screen to a "more ergonomic" location.

After being so satisfied with my laptop arm, I considered ordering a single monitor arm from the same place. They don't carry single screen arms though, so it was back to square 1. However, one of my top 3 favorite tech equipment sites came to the rescue!

The Site: http://www.monoprice.com
The Monitor Arm: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?p_id=6419
Shipped price to Dallas: $26

Pros:

The arm is sturdy. There appears to be no sag from weight of the monitor, and even if there is, the tilt joint allows you to compensate for any skewness.
The polished steel arm is pretty! Very nice design!

Cons:

Adjusting the tilt joint front to back is almost impossible with the screen mounted. I found it much easier to unmount the screen (a guided plate just slides in and out), adjust the tilt angle, and put it back again.
The bolts used to secure the arm to the desk are poorly designed. Instead if having a plate at the top of the bolt to spread the pressure out over a greater area, there are just little rubber caps. This made it difficult to tighten the arm down evenly.

Cons aside, the arm still performs wonderfully, and is an easy recommend not only because of it's fantastic price, but also because it does a fantastic job too!

(My boss bought one; a co-worker purchased 2!)

Tykesupply.com Laptop Stand Review

Kevin Clark — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:55:00 GMT

Because a MacBook Pro is only capable of pushing a single external monitor (without any extra equipment...hopefully more on this in a future blog post), I needed to still use the onboard display as my second screen. This is all fine and dandy, except that the body of the laptop gets in the way of where I naturally want my keyboard to sit.

Luckily, I'd run across a great discount website that sells monitor arms and thought I'd remembered seeing a laptop stand too! Sure enough, I was right, and so I ordered one.

The Site: http://www.tykesupply.com
The Laptop Arm: http://www.tykesupply.com/Products_Notebook_ARM_with_swivel_shelves.html
Shipped Price to Dallas: $42.35

I ditched the shelves (as that's where I wanted my keyboard to sit), and mounted the arm to the back of my desk.

Pros:

Solid Construction: The arm feels like something you'd want to bring to a fight; it's that solid.
No sag: I was worried that the torque coming from the weight of the laptop would cause the tray to sag, thus pitching the laptop screen a few degrees. It doesn't do this at all.
Great price: I don't think I found another laptop arm for under $100, so to come away with this one shipped to Dallas for under $50 was fantastic!

Cons:

I don't really understand what purpose the silver, sliding bar that extends out of the front of the tray serves. I ended up removing it completely, as I couldn't get it to stay in. (It would just slide out because of the forward pitch of the tray. Maybe a TykeSupply rep will see this post and comment on it's function! :)

All in all though, I would highly recommend this stand. It has great maneuverability, is very sturdy, and the price is extremely reasonable!

New Job - New Server - New Site

Kevin Clark — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:43:00 GMT

New Job

I now work for Match.com! (You probably already knew this from Facebook, or LinkedIn.)

Pretty sweet setup too, I might add!

New Server - New Site

Also, I've moved the site from my previous server to a new one! Yes, I know links are broken. I wanted to change dataproviders for Graffiti, and decided to start with a fresh database instead of trying to migrate and upgrade the old one. I will manually import the old posts as I have time.