Cricalix.Net

Someone at work has requested a way to access our SugarCRM system from their Outlook 2007 / PDA client, so that the meetings can be synchronized properly.  A bit of research led me to the Sugar iCal patch on SugarForge, and the Internet Calendars option in Outlook 2007.  Unfortunately, the first set of instructions I found said to use the Files > Data Files Management option to access the Internet Calendars.  This method didn’t work very well (actually, it didn’t work at all), as Outlook would never synchronize the iCal file (it always said pending), and would promptly lose the setting when I closed Outlook.

It turns out the proper way to do it, when using Exchange integration, is to access Tools > Accounts, and add the calendar subscription there.  The Send/Receive option in Outlook then works flawlessly, pulling down all the changes in the SugarCRM source every time Send/Receive is run.

Felt a bit nostalgic, installed DOSbox, and went looking for some older games that I used to play.

Found Lemmings.

Lost time.

Having recently purchased a new LCD panel (HP 24″ S-IPS), I decided to calibrate it using my Spyder2Express.  So, I installed the 2.3.1 software, and immediate fail - it’s not designed to work with a 64-bit installation of Vista; Vista is less tolerant of unsigned drivers.  So, a bit of research, and I found I needed the 2.3.5 version of the software.  Downloaded, installed, ran.  What do you mean ’serial number’?  Hunted around, dug through paperwork piles, CD casings, boxes - nada.  Against all hope I filled in a form on Datavision’s site, explaining my dilemma and asking if I’d have to buy a new Spyder2 to get a new serial number (which I could do easily).  To my surprise, I had a reply within 24 hours, with a new key no less.  My display is now colour calibrated, and I’m trawling through 17,000 photos to verify the calibration.

Datavision++.

Got tired of the green cable that ran from the back of the router downstairs, up over the back of a hanging picture, wrapped around a light fixture, then around a banister, then draped across the floor of the landing upstairs.

Went looking for some Powerline carrier modules, and settled on the Belkin 200 Mbps model (though I paid less than that link).  The pair arrived today, and took all of 2 minutes to hook up.  No hiccups at all, no software required (there is software, but I can’t think what it might do that would be useful to me).

Now all I need is a 2-way or 3-way power block for downstairs so I can remove the long extension cable, and then the additional phone cabling and it’ll look a lot neater.

And now, the penultimate part of my tale - crackers, another dragging anchor and 20 foot seas.

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I’m doing some final tuning work on the Puppet recipes for our Glassfish installation, and Java has reared one of its ugly heads again. In this case, it’s the whole management of the command line arguments for the JVM.

The majority of the arguments we need to configure take the form
-D$variable=$value
-XX:$variable=$value

The problem is, Java also has arguments that look like
-X$variable$value

This means my nice simple recipe to deal with tweaking the Glassfish JVM options doesn’t actually handle all the cases, so I now need to either go write a more complex one (and imbue it with knowledge as to what variables don’t have equal signs), or write a second recipe with a different name to handle these special snowflake options.

Feh.

Continuing the vacation tale, I present you with Christmas in the Cays…

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