nerds:~ #

Welcome, Brandon!

This blog has been modified to accommodate postings by my right hand tech companion of over 13 years, Brandon Abshire. Brandon has always been a part of NetNerds but only recently has decided to become more visible. Brandon has been working primarily at Qualcomm Inc for the past 7 years but starting this month, will begin a new endeavor as a SQL Server DBA at Sharp Healthcare in San Diego.

Brandon's posts are initially likely to focus around Android application development, SQL Server and SharePoint. You can view Brandon's resume here.

Hello World! I Created My First iPhone App (And Used Snow Leopard on a Netbook to do it.)

With the guidance of Apress's Beginning iPhone 3 Development, I was able to create my first iPhone App in less than two hours. While the book's first chapter used the classic yet very boring Hello World example, I knew I'd need to spice things up in order to keep my interest. Over the past few weeks, I've been playing pranks on my friend Chelsea and figured I could use an iPhone App to continue this trend.

Let's just say, if Apple made a commercial for my App, it would state: Need to turn Chelsea on? There's an App for that.

I know Netbooks are supposed to just be used for surfing, but they are plenty powerful as a secondary machine and hobbyist iPhone development. Earlier today, I was running Photoshop CS 4, Chrome, Adium and Xcode with no issues. Next up, writing a RealCajunRecipes.com iPhone app, then migrating the entire site to the WordPress platform!

Free Fundamental CDs for IT Pros and Developers

I found a link to this site on Facebook's SQL Server Magazine fanpage. Free Fundamental CDs for IT Pros and Developers While you can order the CDs, I just went ahead and downloaded the zip files. The SQL Server CD is pretty basic, but I still managed to learn something from it =)

Dual Boot MBR-based OS X Leopard (Vanilla) and Windows 7 on $330 Dell Mini 10v Netbook

Natively booting OS X and Windows 7 on a hella fine Dell Mini is initially challenging but well worth the reward of being the coolest nerd on the block. Here's what you'll need to accomplish this task:

1. Windows 7 DVD
2. Leopard Retail Vanilla (I have 10.5.6)
3. External USB Drive
4. External CD/DVD drive
5. DellMiniBoot123v8
6. EasyBCD (optional)
7. gparted disk partitioner (optional)
8. A Dell Mini 10v w/A06 BIOS. I purchased my Inspiron iM10-008B at Best Buy for ~$330 .

First thing is first, get setup by burning the CDs and DVDs that you'll need. Next, you will have to create a bootable USB drive with Leopard on it. You can probably do this using a Linux utility or you can do it if you have an extra Mac laying around, but I did it by temporarily booting to the Kalyway OS X DVD and then following the instructions for creating the USB boot drive. Note that this tutorial does not use the Kalyway DVD for the actual install. Then...

• Install Windows 7 on freshly partitioned and formatted disk
  • I loosely followed the gizmodo dell mini 9 tutorial. First, I installed Windows 7 from scratch, with a fresh partition and a fresh format. Note: when you format/partition under Windows 7, it creates some kind of System partition. In order to avoid this, you can click "Cancel" when the message pops up about Windows automatically adding files/a partition. Alternatively, you can pre-partition the drive under the Kalyway boot or by using gparted disk partitioner. This will partition the drive using MBR; that's what you want, fa sho.
  • Make sure no other system formatted drives (such as the Mac OS X USB drive you will create) are plugged in when you attempt to install Windows 7. You'll run into a variety of errors. Check my blog for details.
• Create 2 new partitions for Mac OS X and the temporary installer
  • Once Windows was installed, I used Windows Disk Management to shrink my Windows partition and create two new partitions. One was 50gb (for Mac OS X) and one was 5GB (for a trick we'll do later). You can merge this partition later, don't fret.
• Using the DellMiniBoot123v8 CD, I booted to my USB Mac OS X install.
  • Basically, I pressed Esc at the boot prompt, typed in the hex for my USB drive (80) and then booted  with the -f option. Once I was able to, I opened the Disk Utility and properly formatted my two new drives to Mac OS X Journaled.
• I then used this INCREDIBLY EASY tutorial for enabling Leopard to install on MBR formatted disk
  • Leopard usually requires a GUID partioned drive but Windows 7 (x86) refuses to install on such a setup.
• I installed Vanilla Leopard 10.5.6
  • I deselected all the language and printer packages. This saved gigs of space.
• I used the DellMiniBoot CD to boot AGAIN into the OS X installer
  • Pressed escape, keyed in 80 at the prompt
  • Gave the -f param at the boot: prompt
• I set the Mac partition to active.
  • If you install the DellEMI utils without doing this, you will destroy your Windows 7 install and have to start all over again.
• I used the DellMiniBootCD to boot into my  new OS X install
  • Pressed escape, keyed in 81 at the prompt (ir 80 if you remove your USB drive)
  • Gave the -f param at the boot: prompt
• I copied the DellMini folder from the CD to the Desktop, and ran the installer.
• I repeated the last two steps once more for good measure
  • NOTE: This installs the Darwin boot loader. You can now boot up to Windows using this, but I prefer the prettier menu-driven one that defaults to Windows so I used EasyBCD for boot management.
• I removed all media (External CD drive, Mac OS X USB drive) and rebooted
• I used the Darwin boot loader to boot into Mac, threw my hands up in the air and drank a glass or three of La Crema Pinot Noir in celebration.
• I later booted into Windows and setup EasyBCD to manage my bootup.

It took about a week and about 3200 repartitions/reformats to get this routine down but it was time well spent; my $350 Hackbook is mega. Thanks to the slew of people who spent the time creating various tutorials that made this party possible!

Here are some of the resources I used:

MyDellMini.com:  USB Install (no DVD drive)
Gizmodo: Hackintosh a Dell Mini 9 Into the Ultimate OS X Netbook
How to: Install to an MBR Drive from an Unmodified Vanilla OSX DVD
Hack Attack: Dual Boot Windows and OS X Leopard
InsanelyMac: Setting Your Mac OS X Partition to Active
Upgrading to 10.5.8

If you have any questions or if I left something out, please feel free to comment.

Easily Install Mac OS X Leopard on an MBR Formatted Disk

Ugh, eff a GUID formatted disk! This is by far the easiest way to get OS X Leopard (Retail/Vanilla) to install on an MBR formatted disk. I've gone through about 400 other tutorials and most were so complex. This method, which consists of about 20 simple steps has worked like a charm so far. I suggest reading the tutorial, but it's pretty much as easy as this:

Create a temp 6 gig partition. Then, in a Terminal window, run:

• cp -R /System/Installation/Packages/* /Volumes/TempPart
• cd /Volumes/TempPart
• mkdir temp
• mv OSInstall.mpkg temp/
• cd temp
• xar -x -f OSInstall.mpkg
• cat Distribution | sed "s/eraseOptionAvailable='true'//g" > Distribution2
• mv Distribution2 Distribution
• rm -Rf OSInstall.mpkg
• xar -c -f OSInstall.mpkg *
• mv OSInstall.mpkg ../
• cd
• rm -Rf temp
• mount
• cd /
• umount /Volumes/TempPart
• mount -t hfs /dev/diskXsX /System/Installation/Packages

Getting Windows 7 and OSX Leopard to dual-boot on a Hackintosh/Hackbook has not been easy. I'll be posting how I did it once I've successfully booted into both.

A Case of the Haves: Should I Get My Degree and/or Microsoft Certification?

OK, I realize this is my fifth blog post in two days after a seven month blog posting deficit. Is it obvious I'm procrastinating? Well, I am, but writing blog entries is way easier than studying. Apparently, my brain is fed up with learning what Microsoft recommends I do with SQL Server 2005. So until it decides to cooperate, I'll just write about SQL Server, or related topics thereof.

So.. on September 1, 2001 I just submitted my resignation to the CEO at Trellion Technologies because I no longer felt challenged and thought it was time for me to move on. The dotcom was still sorta going on and numerous calls from Microsoft recruiters left me confident I'd be able to immediately find a job or contract. Then September 11th happened.

For months, my phone didn't ring. My resume was out there on Monster and the jobs were there (sorta) but nobody seemed to need a 2 year DBA with no degree and no certifications. I didn't want to just sit on my hands so I started self-studying for the MCDBA in late October. I studied a ton and fortunately, I learned a whole lot. My study time in Tahoe was especially nice; I'd snowboard during the day and study for my certification at the coffee house at night. I felt totally West Coast.

I finished my MCDBA sometime in early January 2002 and updated my resume on Monster and around the web. The calls started coming in immediately. Within three weeks, I had two job offers. One of which was from Luce Forward, my very amazing employer whom I'm so fortunate to still be with, ~7 years and one cross-country relocation later.

             
I found what I learned while studying immediately useful both on my side projects and at Luce. Remembering this, I've worked to obtain my BS in Information Systems and upgrade my MCDBA to an MCITP-DBA, even though my employer did not request I do so. I love the challenge of getting certified and I appreciate how much I learn while studying. Just recently, I finished up the SQL Server 2005 Administrator's Pocket Consultant and oddly enough (or not), I thoroughly enjoyed almost the entire book! Wrox's Professional SQL Server 2005 Administration is also pretty good, as well as the Microsoft Press Training Kit for exam 70-431. Those books, coupled with nearly 10 years of experience as a DBA, helped me pass my first SQL Server 2005 exam with relative ease.

I'm currently studying for the last two of the SQL Server 2005 certs and hope I find the next exams as easy as I did the first.

So to answer the question posed in the subject of this post, I recommend getting a college degree to everyone and I recommend obtaining certifications to techies aiming to work for Corporate America. Geeks who specialize in working for or creating start-ups (like many of my friends in Silicon Valley) probably won't benefit much from certifications, but I do believe they will benefit greatly from CS and CE degrees, and to a lesser extent, IS degrees. But that's just my two cents. For reasons deeper than "it works for me," check out these posts from other bloggers about this topic.

The Simple-Talk Cookbook: A Cookbook for Geeks by Geeks

I can't believe I forgot about this! I blame it on my crazy school schedule back in the day. In December of 2006, I was asked to contribute a recipe to the Simple-Talk Cookbook. Of course, I gladly obliged. The editor, Claire Brooking, published the very professional-looking cookbook to the opinion section of simple-talk. where she stated:

With over ten contributing chefs, all MVPs and experts from the SQL Server and .NET community, the cookbook is written by geeks for geeks. To get cooking, simply download the cookbook by clicking on the zip file in the top right-hand corner of this article or on the link below.

Happy cooking from the editorial team at Simple-Talk and all the starring chefs!

I won't lie, it made me feel great being addressed as an "expert" in my community. Thank you, simple-talk! Sorry for saying Phil Factor's anonymity kinda freaked me out

Anyway, to download the cookbook which has my recipe titled "Chrissy's Favorite Bread Pudding," visit the article on on simple-talk.com. Alternatively, you can see the recipe here on RealCajunRecipes.com, or buy our Real Cajun Cookbook for yourself or a friend

iTunes Alternative: Songbird is to iTunes What Firefox is to IE

When I first moved back to Louisiana, I bought a car that fulfilled a few of my childhood dreams. It's an Audi A4 2.0T with rims, tint, sport suspension, BOOM and a Pioneer touch-screen iPod-compatible/GPS-enabled stereo system. I'm such a teenage kid. Haha. Anyway, what's even better is that I'm able to have a dedicated "iPod" for my car at no cost because I was able to recycle my friend's broken iPhone. After she dropped her iPhone in a drink at the bar and broke the touch screen, she got a Blackberry Curve and gave me her iPhone. I didn't need to use the screen (my stereo navigates through it via it's interface), so I was able to just wipe all of her data and load the disabled phone with my tunes.

It was at this time that I began to use iTunes extensively. Its speed was decent initially, but just recently, as my library grew, the load up time became unbearable. I didn't think I could find an alternative, however, because I didn't want to give up my iTunes store access and I figured all other media managers would be incompatible. So I was even looking for love when I found Songbird via a blog posting on audiojungle.net.

The first thing that caught my attention was Songbird's tabbed browsing. Then the add-ons. Then the mega-integration with one of my favorite sites, last.fm, which pretty much sold me on trying it.

During the install, I learned that Songbird stays in sync with my iTunes library/playlists so I can continue using iTunes when necessary (such as when I want to buy an album, though recently, I began buying more from Amazon MP3 [which my genius friend Ross helped to build ]). Once Songbird was up and running, I went load up on some add-ons. There's quite a few, some useful and some not so much. Here are the ones I used to pimp my Songbird:

LyricMaster
One of my favorite features! Songbird automatically gets Lyrics and displays them, plain text, in a selected pane.

iPod Support and Last.fm Scrobbling
Kinda boring but totally important.

Song Notifier
Pops up the name/artist of song near the system tray.

Concerts (by Songkick.com)
Ohhh, this would have been more useful when I lived in San Francisco. Takes the artists in your library and let's you know where they are playing in a given city or region. Apparently, not a lot of my favorites are playing in New Orleans/Baton Rouge or Lafayette anytime soon.

Last.fm Album Art
Awesome! Although I wish there was an option to just have last.fm's album art fill in the gaps and show the file's picture if there's one embedded.

Music Recommendations
Powered by Last.fm. Love the Dykeenies? You might like Little Man Tate, too (I totally do!)

MinimizeToTray Revived (MinTrayR)
This helps fill in the gap for one of the features I miss most in iTunes -- its built-in Windows Toolbar. But I can't have that right now, so at least I can minimize to tray and have Song Notifier tell me what's playing.

Click to see the prodigiousness up close.

Songbird 1.0 is totally my favorite app of 08. If you haven't tried it yet and you are iffy about your current media manager, I suggest giving it a shot. It works on Windows, Mac and Linux.

Whoa.. Microsoft Goes Open Source with the .NET Framework

I'm kinda late on this but arstechnica reports that "Microsoft has opened the source code to the .NET Framework libraries under a read-only reference license. Developers who want to check out the source code need only upgrade to the newly released Visual Studio 2008 to gain access to it."

This is something I've always dreamed about -- learning by a large software firm's example. I can remember how disappointed I was during the first dotcom when companies would go down and take their source code and website designs with them. Woudln't it have been amazing if they would have donated their site templates to OSWD.org? As for the code, I realized the other year after looking at my own dotcom code, that the styles were probably pretty bad and not so good to learn from.

Check out Scott Gu's blog entry for more information on the libraries that are being opened.

If You Dropped Out of College…

For those of you who dropped out of college and want to finish your undergrad degree, you may want to consider the online university, Western Governors University. I'm sharing this on my blog because I actually shared the URL with many of my tech friends who dropped out. I found an ad for WGU in some tech magazine (maybe TechNet?) and it made me curious. Here's what I found:

• Its accredited by the same org that accredits traditional universities (such as BYU), Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. It also earned some other national accreditation and was the first online and first non-traditional program to do so.
• Members of Sun and HP are on the board of trustees and a ton of big companies are listed as corporate collaborators including AT&T, Cisco, Dell, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Qwest, Sun and HP.
• It's only about $5,000 or $6000 a year
• The CEO of Google said: "Google has pioneered the idea of access to information. The reason Google thinks WGU is such a good idea is because WGU has pioneered the concept of competency- based education whenever you want it."
• You get a bunch of certifications while you are at it.

WGU offers undergrad and graduate degrees in IS, teaching, nursing and business.

Another alternative for those wanting a Masters in IS is Carnegie Mellon's Distance Learning program. It seems pretty awesome.