The surprise might be that none of the images were actually missing.  The StarCraft site was among the first web sites I ever made and my inexperience led me to use the cursed .art image format.  Ever heard of it?  The art image format is a propriety format developed by America Online for use in their software.  By default (at least back in 1999) all AOL users were served art images in place of the actual image files.  Not knowing any better I then used these art images on my own web sites.  I never noticed the problem because the AOL browser was really a modified Internet Explorer browser – i.e. Internet Explorer 6 possessed the capability to display AOL’s propriety format.

Remember there was no Firefox back then!

Anyway, I never noticed when Microsoft released a security update last summer preventing art images from displaying in IE.  My AOL days ended long, long ago so I suddenly lost the ability to view my own images.  Indeed, I had always planned to convert the images back to a common format but suddenly it appeared to be too late.

The StarCraft site was the hardest hit, but in all three different sites of mine used at least one cursed art image. (not all of my sites are available in the library)

No more!  Today I installed the free Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 and installed Windows XP SP 2 on my virtual computer.  Lacking the security update from last summer, I was able to save all the art images as bit maps and then back on Vista complete the process by saving the bit maps as either jpegs or GIF’s.  Yes, I realize that AOL’s art images are super compressed so a serious quality loss exists but my goal was to simply restore my archived sites back to how they originally were.

So enjoy my StarCraft site once again, now for the first time on non-IE browsers!

Oh yeah, and that key is the power button.

I am hoping (and we have several reasons to believe) that the issue is with the button itself and not something more complicated and expensive. We can hope anyway. I have purchased a new power button which includes both the plastic button (probably not broken) and the small electronic card underneath (what we hope is broken). The component should arrive in the mail next week.

The computer in question is my Toshiba Satellite which uses the computer name “Shok.” The computer most recently has been used as my file server and torrent download station throughout last school year. Now that I have purchased a new laptop and my desktop will assume the role of my file server the Toshiba is the “least important” of my computers – but I am still determined to get the thing operational again.

Here’s hoping…

My desktop with over a GB of RAM is capable of handling Firefox even when it peaks at just under 400MB of RAM consumption.  But even then tabbing between pages is sluggish, video streaming is choppy, downloads stall on the prompt, and GMail even refuses to open at times.  Interestingly enough, even with a 400MB Firefox process open, IE7 can play video and download without trouble.  So the issue is definitely not broadband.

I’ve finally had enough.  I tried switching about two weeks ago and turned back as neither Opera nor IE7 was Firefox, and my extensions were sorely misssed.  But enough.  This isn’t fun anymore.

And so I reinstalled Opera (I had experimented with it two weeks ago but reverted back to Firefox).  I’ve been messing around with the customizability and themes to try and imitate what I really enjoyed about Firefox.  For those who want the tabs to be below the address bar, I will link to the fix below.

http://my.opera.com/operafan2006/blog/index.dml/tag/Tab%20bar%20below%20address%20bar

Alas, Opera lacks the extensibility of Firefox, but I will just have to make due.  I have heard some positive comments on Opera, many who even prefer it.  So I will say this, Mozilla, if you don’t release that update soon I may actually end up prefering Opera.

Silly me.

The gods in the Zelda universe must be at war with each other, unable to decide if they want me playing the game or not.  Because tonight went something like this:

For probably two hours or so I was being annoying to my mom, trying to get her off of the big screen TV so that I could continue my game on the big screen.  Since regular TV programming has been terrible lately, it looked like it was finally my turn.  So I power up the console, move my character 5 steps forward, and a set of twilight pillars fall from the sky.  Still a bit shaky with the canine control scheme I dispatch the onslaught and decide to save the game (Yes, for whatever reason I really did save my game just 5 minutes after loading it).

Two steps forward and everything goes dark.  It’s not like I was sucked into the twilight realm or anything – since I was already there.  With the kitten biting me on my leg and my inability to see said leg came the realization that this darkness spread further than just Hyrule.

Great, so much for that idea.  The rest of the evening involved finding flashlights, then upgrading to candles.  Finally we tried to watch a DVD on a laptop, and when the battery of that system ran out we popped the disk out and put it in another laptop.  Ray, I want to see you try this with your VHS collection! Muhahaha.

Anyway, the electricity did come back on before we had to swap in a third laptop to complete the DVD movie*.  I did end up getting some time on Twilight Princess, but ultimately not as much as I had hoped.

* My own laptop, the “third” laptop, would not have been very useful since  the battery is on its last leg of life (~about 10 minutes of computer time at full charge and max LCD brightness, probably about 15 minutes at a reasonable LCD brightness).

It was not too surprising that my Intel paycheck was a bit smaller than usual, considering the photo shoot I had Thursday, eye injuring on Friday, and finals throughout the following week.

What was surprising was the almost complete lack of work study money.  The Pacific University office paid me for 3 hours of work instead of 31 hours for the month of November.  Jeez, great job Pacific University.  Right on time for the holiday season too.  But rest assured, this holiday bonus will not be accepted.

Now to dig through the couch to come up with funding for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess tonight….

I pulled this router from the cabinet here at the lab at Intel where we store the shiny new stuff.  I was looking for a small, reliable router that I could mount on my desk so that I could connect multiple computers to one Internet port.  The RT042 is a very nice looking piece of hardware, and the box makes it sound like any other router – with the addition a second Internet port and QoS.

I admit, I have no idea what QoS stands for, but it sounds like a good thing.  Be as it may, the RT042 is not.

The router has been plagued with unexplainable fits of un-cooperation.  It would work for a while, even dolling out IP addresses – but then it would just stop.  The first thing I tried to do was access the DHCP settings and found none whatsoever.  A router with no DHCP settings page?  My manager thought I was crazy for suggesting such an omission – but in fact he found none himself.  In the end, the only solution I ever found was to factory reset the router and then configure everything back to the way I had it before.

Today I had had enough and googled for “RT042″ and at the top of the list was a blog entry titled “Linksys RT042 is crap.”  Agreeing with title I followed the URL.  There I found that I was not alone in hating this piece of junk.

The blog writing and one of his posters had sent Linksys scathing emails, both provided for easy viewing.  One of the posters even uploaded his instant message chat conversation with Technical Support.  That’s what best addressed my dilemma.

Jerry Kindall: Linksys RT042 is crap

Hi, my name is Karol Joseph V(19288). How may I help you?
Richard: Hello I just received my RT042 QOS router and I am having a problem with it
…
Richard: I have done that
Richard: I have 5 machines total
Richard: this is number 5
Richard: the others work
Karol Joseph V(19288): Please give me a few moments. I am currently doing some research and will return shortly. I apologize in advance for the delay.
…
Karol Joseph V(19288): The router can actually accomodate a maximum of 6. Are all the computers QoS set to high?
Richard: dont know
Richard: what about DHCP
Richard: whats the limit on that
Karol Joseph V(19288): 6 DHCP including static.
…
Richard: hang on
Karol Joseph V(19288): Ok sir.
Richard: still there?
Richard: Are you saying six (6) computers only or six static IP addresses
Richard: Because I have about 8 machines total
Richard: and I was using a Linksys BEFSR81 with no problems
Karol Joseph V(19288): Yes sir 6 IP addresses (DHCP and static).
Richard: thats absurd
Richard: this is NAT
Richard: I should be able to put as manay machines as I want
Richard: as long as I have the bandwidth
…
Richard: guess I will be refunding this one
Richard: that is absurd
Richard: my BEFSR81 had an 8 port switch and could handle as many machines as I could put behind it and cost 1/2 as much
Richard: where dose it state this in the specs on the unit
Karol Joseph V(19288): The BEFSR81 is different from the RT042. Since the RT042 has QoS the number of clients that it can handle is limited.
Richard: again where does it state this in the specs…had I read this anywhere I would never have ordered it
Karol Joseph V(19288): Currently Linksys is working on that one. It was not included in the data sheet. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Richard: I am assuming I can send it back to Amazon for a full refund.
Karol Joseph V(19288): You may check if their warranty allows refunds.
Richard: If not then Linksys is liable
Richard: as the serious limitations of the router were omitted from the specs
…

A router that can only connect up to 6 computers to the net?  What the hell?  And this thing isn’t cheap.  The router is about a year old and still costs around $100 at many sites.  And then the joke is that no where on the box does it mention the limit of “up to 6 devices.”  Granted the most I’ve put on the router at once is 5 – but here is the thing, the thing that was causing the problems I was experiencing: The router would assign IP addresses to the first 6 devices that connected to it and wouldn’t release any of the devices that were no longer connected.  So all this time the router would work 6 times, and then stop working.  Damn, good thing now I know that I need to manually release IP’s from the interface.  Now if only I could configure the DHCP to lease IP’s for a shorter interval… oh yeah, there is no DHCP settings on this thing!

Below is a concise user review I found.

Ratings and Reviews – Broadband Router with QoS (Linksys-RT042) – PriceGrabber.com

Do not buy this piece of garbage!

Strengths: – it does function as a router, in a very limited sort of way – the case is sleek and sort of attractive
Weaknesses: – by default prevents internet access from all PCs – you cannot disable the dhcp server – only supports 6 PCs
Summary: Also, you cannot manage it from the web interface, it also requires using an unwieldy piece of junk software.

My main problem with this router is that its capabilities are totally unlike those of all the other Linksys routers (and I’ve worked with many, many). And there is no warning on the box that it is different.

Of course the embarrassing part was that only after reading the first side and distributing it to two of my roommates did I realize I was only reading the back side.  Apparently “hidden” (well as much as a paragraph clearly marked on the first page can be) was the below question and answer:

Are the reflective journals required?

No, although they are highly encouraged. When else do you have a chance to receive feedback from a faculty member you may or may not know regarding your free-flowing thoughts on connections in life? As a positive incentive to participate in this program, freshman, sophomores, and juniors receive a better standing in this spring’s lottery process if they participate in both the fall and spring. Seniors receive a gift certificate to McMenamins. All participating students receive thoughtful feedback.

No complaints here, first of all.  Who cares if I already wrote something, this is good news.  But if this really was the intention all along, it certainly was not communicated in any intelligible way.  Looking back at the e-mail we received a while back, it does not use the words “mandatory” or “required” – but it does not say anything to the contrary either.  Could it be that the residential hall association realized how ridiculous the journal actually was? Or perhaps they foresaw the abysmal participation that would occur even if it was required?

*sigh*

Despite continuous trouble on my computer science capstone (for instance, the bizzare lag time between being awarded funding and actually receiving it), that project is falling into place well enough and I think it will come together.  The greatest challenges with it will be the computer vision aspect and *gasp* I will begin tackling that component this week.

My mathematics capstone is perhaps more troubling.  I have completed my study on the basics but am at a loss as to where to go now.  There is no requirement in undergraduate capstone projects to leap ahead and explore unanswered questions or topics, but certainly something along that line is more exciting than a mere “study and learn” project.  And the problem is not simply that I cannot immediately think of where to take it – I really just do not put the required thought and passion into it.  I feel like I only have time to get excited about my CS project and my math one just goes where the pages land on the floor.

*sigh*

Alright… now to talk about this Journal… I feel that my opinions on this have been well discussed with my friends.  Nonetheless I will reiterate them here.  Not entirely long ago we received an e-mail from the resident assosiation providing instructions on the so called journal we have to write up in order to comply with our residency contract.  The part that kills me the most is that this is the first we heard of anything beyond the “you must write a journal of some-sort.”  In fact, my roommate Ray asked about the journal when we signed the contract and we received the very clear impression that they had no idea what the journal actually was.  Moreso, Ray actually received permission to use his web site as the journal.  Of course that was back when everyone was under the assumption that journal meant a daily log – which is now clearly not the case.  The journal is a 1000 word essay.

That is total crap. And apparently the professors are not keen on the idea either. And why would they be? The professors know as well as the students that many of us do not have the time to write an essay that is worth nothing academically and professionally. This essay is worth nothing except to satisfy some residential committee, who probably pass the essay along to whoever donated the most money to the construction. Heck, come to think of it, I once received a message in my UC box last year demanding that I fill out a form and submit an essay about how Pacific University has changed my life in order to pass it along to the wigs handing out money to the school.

Of course back then I signed no prior contract, and the message itself was dated a full month before I actually received it – which was a mere two days before the “mandatory” deadline.  I felt disrespected by the short notice and felt no guilt ignoring it. But this time around they got us. We signed the contract. And we knew the journal was on it.

But whatever. We asked ourselves what they could do. Throw us on the streets? Of course not, they need our money to pay for the building. But then someone suggested they fine us. Yeah, that is totally their style. Whatever. I’ll submit to their damn essay. I do not care anymore. The best way to stop bitching about the stupid journal is to write it and be done with it. And while I really did not want to designate any time for it, I was content with spending someone else’s time! I found some unsuprevised time at Intel and wrote my 1000 words in 2 hours.  So there you have it – I was payed $22.50 to write an essay about donating my time to community service!

And finally… what ever happened to my RPG? You ask me. So far this fall I have been spending one weekend on the thing every three weeks.  That is a pitiful way to meet my goals. Technically it is not too late to meet my 50% Complete goal during Thanksgiving weekend. But it will be difficult, and may not happen. It hinges on two things: (1) How busy I will be next month, and (2) if I can motivate myself enough to work on it. I have not been destracted on video games yet – but it has been so long since I played one it would be like putting a spark on a field of dry grass. And then that would be that.

One thing is for sure: Twilight Princess is set to come out this December, and that is exactly what I will be doing during the holiday break.

Anyway, the guy I have been working with for the CD duplications told me a little about the IDF conference and AMD’s equivalent.  Just as our official web site appears, the conference is pretty simple.  Oh, it is a big deal, no doubt, but each booth is really no more than a wooden bench all decked out with expensive monitors and other equipment to show off the next generation of Intel products.

What was funny was spending some time looking at AMD’s conference.  Apparently AMD copied Intel’s idea for a conference and created their own, called the AMD Virtual IT Experience.  There is no guessing on this one, the web site clearly shows what each booth looks like and they are really cool.  What is even more is that Microsoft is a participant.  Microsoft actually pulled out of IDF four months ago because the conference no longer interested them, but they, HP, and other big players are there on AMD’s main floor.  AMD is also giving away t-shirts to the first people to walk in the door and also sponsoring treasure hunts – neither of which are present at IDF.

AMD’s web site itself is also significantly more decked out.  Willy made the comment that he still prefers Intel’s site because AMD misused flash.  I can see his point.  I am a minimalist myself, and believe in making pages as accessible as possible.  However, I think the target audience for these pages are probably more likely to have access to high-speed Internet then for more general sites.  What AMD’s site certainly does have going for it is an easy to follow layout.  And I really like how they visually show how the conference will look.  Granted, IDF takes place on more than one site, it is actually an international conference with many locations throughout the next few months.

CSS is simply style, Javascript can be functionality.  And it is in Javascript that browser inconsistencies really kicks in.  Not only do some browsers support up to a certain version of Javascript, but the compenents within that version they do accept could be completely different than another given browser that supports the same version of Javascript.  Think Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.  If Javascript fails you on a browser, that  could very well be it – and those users are left in the dark.

Check this out.

This is a screen shot of the web site I am working on at Intel that sits on top of a System Log Server.  The page is scrolled extremely far to the right so the log itself is not visible.  For debugging purposes, I set the scrollbars on the inline frame to visible (normally that are invisilbe in this application).  The blackness is the problem.  On large system logs the log will suddenly go black somewhere in the middle of the page.  This was very hard for me to rationalize what the heck was going on.  There is no HTML inside the log output to control formatting – it is all one big PRE tag.  The log itself was not currupted, viewing the source exposed all of the system log in tact well below the point where it goes black on screen.  At first I thought it was some invisible control character, but when I viewed the page outside of its inline frame it displayed perfectly fine.

It might be hard to see on the small picture above, but when I unhid the scrollbars I realized the black was not a formatting problem.

Circled in the image above, the scrollbar inside the inline frame actually slips into the void of oblivion.  The only thing it could possibly be at this point is the Javascript I use to resive the frames.  For some inexplicable reason in Mozilla Firefox when I resive the height of an inline frame using Javascript for really tall pages with a lot of height, it draws the inline frame box correctly but does not allocate enough space for the page that is placed inside the box.  It is like it is placing the frame box correctly, but the container inside it is cut in half, rendering the unfilled container as a black void.

This problem only seems to occur on pages with a lot of height.  Smaller pages have no such problem.  One possibility is that it is exceeding the maximum size of a Javascript integer – though that fails to explain why the frame box is the correct height and according to my manager Javascript uses 32 bit integers, which should be plenty big enough.

There is no such problem in Internet Explorer.  It is well known that Internet Explorer supports some Javascript methods that are not W3C.  This is not the case, I checked.  The entire two lines of Javascript I use are W3C complient. //change the height of the iframe document.getElementById('content').height document.getElementById('content').  contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight; //change the height of the iframe document.getElementById('content').width= document.getElementById('content').  contentWindow.document.body.scrollWidth;

So what is the deal? A bug in Firefox of all things?