Currency maps

Still down. I believe there's some fault with the original kml source so i'm running plenty of tests to find the fault. Should be another two days.

Windows 7 and Star-Force protection drivers

Installing Toca Race Driver 3 killed my windows 7 box today. It installs an old Star-Force protection driver and this popped up as corrupted on a reboot. Windows 7 wouldn't load and running the repair tool couldn't fix it or if i ran it from the MS disc wouldn't even find the fault.

Here's the bad file: c:\windows\system32\drivers\sfsync04.sys

Rebooting back to last known configuration worked and I quickly made a restore point. That'll teach me. If that wasn't going to work i was going to reboot with driver signing protection off (in adv. boot options) and that might have worked to. Ok not a big thing but i was hesitant to run last known config as I hadn't done this under win 7 and wasn't sure of the consequences. The strange difference between win 7 and xp is that there doesn't appear to be a reinstall option from the dvd. If anyone knows better please comment.

Windows 7 and MySQL 3.51 driver

There are two versions of this driver: 32 and 64 bit. The 64 bit version does not come with an installer from mysql.. and try as I might I can't get it to install. The idea is that you unzip the package, command line to the folder as administrator and run 'install 0'. But it fails..

On the plus side the 32 bit version does come with an installer and installs fine. It won't appear in the ODBC panel but you can still use it. I'm using Visual Studio 2005 to develop with still and it's a simple case of loading up your project, selecting the project's properties and select to build for x86 machines only. On a debug run you'll find the mysql driver is picked up and used without fuss.

If anyone has a solution for the 64 bit driver I'm all ears... and so would the mysql forum - there doesn't appear to be much interest in it.

Here's one nice resource on the matter and I hope he can provide a little more info on his method.

Ah some problem with the currency maps

I've noticed a bug with some of the currency maps available. I'll investigate the problem asap.

USD, EUR AND CHF currency maps still work.
AUD, CAD, GBP, HKD, JPY currencies don't work.

It's a little odd as they all use the same data so i'm too worried. It will be done.

Switching Audio Devices in Windows 7

/update

I've just released Coastal Audio Changer. This neat little tool will set in your system tray and swap between audio devices with a couple of clicks of the button.


The scripts I've placed below certainly work but they don't work if you hit the corresponding button of your current device. Selecting a different device is fine but if you hit the current device's button the audio control panel won't disappear. That's a little messy and I knew I could do better.

/update over

Those that were use to VistaAudioChanger or STADS in XP to swap between audio devices may have found that like me there was no working version for Windows 7.

Some simple modifications to [Kevin Lo's vbscripts] and [VistaGadgetAudioSwitch] and i've got a working gadget that swaps audio devices.

Instructions
Grab audio switch and drop it's folder into C:\Users\You\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets

Load up the AudioSwitch.html in notepad and add height:130px; to the css body definition
and the javascript should look like this

var WshShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
function SetAudio(index)
{
switch(index)
{
case 0:
WshShell.Run("Speakers.vbs");
break;
case 1:
WshShell.Run("Headphones.vbs");
break;
default:
break;
}
}

i have two buttons defined, first one is speakers with an onclick value of SetAudio(0), a second headphones button has an onclick value of SetAudio(1)

I would have pasted the complete code but bloody blogger won't allow the html to be displayed - got some reading to do of my own.

Now you have to create the two vbs scripts for headphones and speakers.

My speakers.vbs looks like this (thanks Kevin);
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run "%windir%/system32/control.exe /name Microsoft.Sound"
WScript.Sleep(1000)
WshShell.SendKeys "{DOWN}"
WshShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"
WshShell.SendKeys "{TAB}"
WshShell.SendKeys "{ENTER}"
WScript.Sleep(1000)
WshShell.SendKeys "{ESC}"
Set WshShell = Nothing

The above script selects the first option in your sound devices list, sets it as the default sound device and then quits the window. You can test the file is correct by just double clicking on it and checking the results. My headphones is the third device so i have an extra couple of WshShell.SendKeys "{DOWN}" before the {TAB} lines and that's named headphones.vbs.

Drop both files to your windows\system32 folder and you're ready to launch your desktop gadget. That's right click on the desktop and select Gadgets. Drag Audio Switch to the desktop and you should have a working audio switcher.

brief pause in currency transmissions..

Sorry - went on holiday and had to shut down the little server that does all the currency maps. Now it's back on you should see them appearing any day now. I forget the time gap used in generating the change in exchange rate but i think it's a week.

Radio 4 mms url

For winamp, mms://wmlive.bbc.net.uk/wms/bbc_ami/radio4/radio4_bb_live_int_eq1_sl0