I spent some time today battling to try to get RoundCube webmail to work well with:

• Windows 2008
• SQL Server Express 2008
• hMailServer
• IIS 7.0 With PHP

Well it took some fiddling but after some time I got it to work. My major issue seemed to be getting PHP to see MSSQL extensions. I found the documentation a little misleading not realising that you needed to install FreeTDS.

But after getting that setup all worked well will give it a try as a webmail client see how it goes if not might try migrating to Google.

I have ranted a lot in the past about Fasthosts and Streamline with poor customer service and bad uptime and what not. But today I'm proud to say I have something positive to say.

After slating Streamline for there poor uptime they made a suggestion that worked. I moved my MySQL database from one server to another, seems simple enough. But has moved me from 85-90% uptime to near enough always 100%

I am not sure what that says for people who don't have multiple SQL servers to move between but it atleast suggests if your having problems its worth uprooting and moving your db to another server. I also don't know what this says about the quality of Streamline servers.

None the less my first positive comment and about Streamline!

I was watching Would I lie To you on the BBC (Link) and something that astonished me is the Bible was produced in Cockney.

All I can say is what the? but if you are desperate to get your hands on this fine tomb then its available from Amazon

I was looking at my website and realised how bland all the websites I make are they don't tend to have many if any pictures. So I've decided to cram some in and ask for people to give me some pictures to liven up my website.

I'm no artist so please help a developer have a pretty site 

Today I've started learning ActionScript to make a simple game of Asteroids, I have only looked at Flash that is for designers so it always seemed very alien to me. But ActionScript I am glad to say is a nice change and allows some quite easy programming of games.

I plan on doing some posts on how to use ActionScript for games programming but I want to complete my demo first so I can talk from experience.

If you would like to know more about ActionScript games programming a good place to start is:

http://www.adobe.com/flashplatform/apps/playfish/

Playfish are a games studio that make flash games that integrate with social networking site API's.

Anyway, will post again soon with a beginning of ActionScript Games.

Play fair!

I recently graduated from the University of Hull with a Second Class Division One BSc Hons in Computer Science with Games Development. I graduated from the winter ceremony so my parents could be in attendance.

I wont say huge amounts about the photos, but this is me! This is before the ceremony and before the snow.

This is me and Ivan Zlatev, he is a close friend I lived with throughout University. For some reason in this photo my cape seems to be flying and Ivan has a blue gem on his suit. We wont question the wonders of photography.

Just a couple of shots of the ceremony, was really quite nice. Although me and Ivan were at opposite ends of the rows. Couldn't get further apart

Me cantering along the stage, didn't really give Nettles a chance to take a picture. It was the evil stairs they distracted me

Finally throwing mortar board in the SNOW!!! How about that Winter graduation 2010 at Hull snowed for a few minutes around the throwing! Shame the town crier wouldn't be quiet and stop us getting soaked

Happy graduation everyone!

I was recently using Putty an open source SSH client software and I noticed a notice I had not seen before.

LEGAL WARNING: Use of PuTTY, PSCP, PSFTP and Plink is illegal in countries where encryption is outlawed. I believe it is legal to use PuTTY, PSCP, PSFTP and Plink in England and Wales and in many other countries, but I am not a lawyer and so if in doubt you should seek legal advice before downloading it. You may find this site useful (it's a survey of cryptography laws in many countries) but I can't vouch for its correctness.

Now this got me interested so I started looking into it more and found more and more worrying information. As I'm a UK Citizen my first country to read more into was the UK I found that it is legal to use encryption within the UK but you have to apron request be able to decrypt the information. That's not really an issue because they have to get a warrant to be able to ask you to do this and if they can do that they can take your PC that has the information on it anyway.

So anyway back to my dilemma for TooGaming we are going to be international trade with countries such as India and the middle-east since it seems that these countries tend to big players of the older DirectX play games. Now looking into it I found an interesting issue under the Wassenaar Arrangement there are restrictions on distributing crypto information within certain countries.

So when writing software that you are going to distribute you not only have to worry about tax, trading law you also have to go onto encryption law I am not sure what other issues there are to be looked into but I doubt this will be the last red tape that makes me go .

I often have a lot of project ideas floating around, whether there little tech demo's like a HDR Scene or larger applications like a Nokia phone game or even to bigger projects like a 3D game engine.

Some of these projects turn from concept and manage to get on the starting grid some just get passed by and never to be heard of again. Often when I start thinking of a project it often hits problems with financing or just is unrealistic.

For example last night after talking to a friend got me thinking about developing for iPhone Android Windows Mobile and Nokia. Was just thinking of a small game of pool to get me started then work up. Near enough every project I do is done for free so it made an interesting dilemma. Most platforms now have an entrance fee to release onto there system they all use different languages in there SDK's and all have different API's.

Now I realise there is a big escape root built into all of this, java most platforms support it to some extent and yes you can do quite a lot with it, but is it really the best idea for cross-platform mobile development? Especially in games?Crossplatform for mobile games development, is java a solution?

For a few years now I have had hosting with Streamline.NET, but recently it seems to have got really bad. Luckily I don't use the domain for much other than a backup if something goes wrong with my main domains, www.StuartJames.info and this one www.MadTooey.co.uk where www.Tooey.co.ukis hosted on streamline and seems to be suffering some very appalling up times.

The original issue was in regard to the database just failing over and my MojoPortal CMS (ASP.NET) website failed to connect to the DB. Now it seems its got worse and is just down for long periods of time.

I contacted streamline about the DB that when they came to look at it a day later had been resolved (annoying). So I through up the issue of up time

 The issue has resolved itself, but I am very very concerned over the up time recently, the logs I have for the server are this:
2010-01-21 91.30
2010-01-20 92.47
2010-01-19 100.00
2010-01-18 96.77
2010-01-17 89.00
2010-01-16 100.00
2010-01-15 100.00
2010-01-14 97.80
2010-01-13 98.91
2010-01-12 100.00
2010-01-11 100.00
2010-01-10 90.82
2010-01-09 100.00
2010-01-08 100.00
This seems very unreliable

The issue has resolved itself, but I am very very concearned over the uptime recently, the logs I have for the server are this:

2010-01-21 91.30

2010-01-20 92.47

2010-01-19 100.00

2010-01-18 96.77

2010-01-17 89.00

2010-01-16 100.00

2010-01-15 100.00

2010-01-14 97.80

2010-01-13 98.91

2010-01-12 100.00

2010-01-11 100.00

2010-01-10 90.82

2010-01-09 100.00

2010-01-08 100.00

This seems very unreliabl

 Now me thinking this would get some response but instead I ran straight into a dead wall with this response:

Hi Tooey,

Thank you for your query

If you still encounter the same issue please let us know. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Kind Regards,
StreamlineNet
Streamline.Net - The home of good value web hosting

I must admit to being a little shocked seems hosting companies no matter how small or how big dont really care anymore.

It is quite concerning since if I as a more advanced web user have problems I can imagine to think what sort of treatment and problems people who aren't quite as uptodate are having.

Seems the recession has taken the customer service budget

During the other night my download speed went appalling around 50KB/s I know a lot of people would think that was good but I'm used to 700-800KB/s. I decided to do a speed test with BT and got these results.

Specifically this is what I found:

Now I realise that connections speed vary but I would of thought that BT would expect a reasonable level of consistency in there connection expecting within 50% of there line expected rate. But it seems that BT take it all the way to 10% being acceptable.

Am I crazy?  or does BT really just not care ?

I have had many discussions with friends about using Advertisement on websites. Now Ill prefix this rant with a comment. There are some exceptions.

Today while being loured to find out more about someones work I stumbled into a horrible field of advertisement. This wasn't the first time today I hit this nasty screen with text everywhere and bright colours on what is a carefully themed dark site, but this website managed to get me to write a rant about it.

I have several times been loured by the promise of basically free money to advertisement services like Google AdSense and Bidvertiser but is it really worth it?

I have made several websites and hit the question so much with the temptation of earning a little from the website do you really earn enough to make it worth the damage it causes to your websites reputation? I know not everyone is as grouchy as me but I hate adds and really need to do something about it. A friend I know uses scripts to avoid seeing any adds so who are adds really helping?

I guess my query really is do you value your website? Is it something you care about and are proud of?

Now for me the answer is Yes. Websites aren't a 5 minute job they take time to make the theme the take even more to make the content. Are you really willing to alienate part of your perspective audience by adding some obscene adds to it?

Now I will go back to my original statement there are some exceptions I have seen some adds that are incorporated well but most aren't. I'm not really the one to write guidance about good adds but I can tell you one thing for sure you will never have good advertisement if you don't plan it into your theme. Not only that if you want it to be a great success then you need to choose your advertisement. That means goodbye AdSense goodbye Bidvertiser it's time for you to put the leg work into getting the money as well as what you think is getting you the money.

My conclusion is simple if you are determined to make money from your website via advertisement that goes against what I think makes a good website. Then simply think it through. Work hard on everything don't drop the ball for a few minutes of ease keep your website looking good and you never know I might click an add if you catch me before installing adhideing scripts.

After a long time of working on TooGaming I have learnt a couple of things that really should of come earlier. Unfortunately these critical to a lot of projects. TooGaming is developed with .NET2.0 for the client to get maximum OS compatibility so using the .NET framework gives us a lot of advantages. Some of the modifications that had to be changed after partially developed haven't set us back to much.

Anyway...

1.      Application Localization (aka Multi-Lingual Applications)

This is a huge one that you have to decide on at the start how many of us have written

MessageBox.Show("Ahh its all gone wrong");

Well there is a fundamental problem with that, to a person that speaks German that means nothing. So at the start of all projects decide who am I aiming this at, what languages do the speak, an annoying first question to is will I ever support multiple languages if yes put the work in first set up your resource files to support your applications future development and avoid any hard coded strings.

2.      Skins and Layout

This is something that doesn't effect all projects but its something worth thinking about. Since our implementation was based on Windows Forms, we needed to be able to handle a more unique interface so that it didn't look like a dry windows application. Therefore we skinned the form to make it look more aesthetically pleasing.

Now making a form and deriving from it may seem obvious but plan it through first, think of what your layout is. We use a fixed layout with ajustable backgrounds so that we can simply change the style but this introduces limitations. We mainly did this for security we didn't want too much playing around with the underlying layout. None the less you need to think through what options you need.

Always remember the stray panel's like error messages critical errors we handle with the standard MessageBox but most of them should be handled with your theme in mind and therefore must look like they are part of your application.

3.      The wonders of Components

On TooGaming I went a little crazy with this one but In truth it helps being able to easily drop in a LogIn or a chat wherever you needed with minimal lines works well. This even led to the extent of a component based forms where you create a new form/control and the form will automatically layout it's self around the control this was a convenience for quick pop-ups.

Components give you a lot of flexibility and I've found made code a lot easier to re-read. Don't lock yourself down are you 100% sure you wont need that Contact Support form in the same or a different context in another place?

These are just a few of my ramblings, and although TooGaming is still in development I urge all to check it out. We aim to revolutionise PC gaming.

(Yes I dream big )

Today when leaving Nettles we looked back to an odd site, Pixel in the window and Jasper on the gate door, how crazy is that?

While at work there has been some crazy things this was before the snow in january just before christmas

I originally made this theme that I am currently using on several personal sites to have something a bit different. I've slowly been changing it and improving the features and am now nearly at a stage for a final test and clear out of old files then upload for others to use if they so wish. I was quite surprised how long it has taken me to iron out the bugs and bugs there have been many. Since my theme was based on one by dcater there was lots of values I didn't consider.

Maybe when making a theme you should sit down and go through every variable to make sure you don't get inconsistencies. Well none the less its almost finished I have anouther theme I'm making for a game I am developing and then have to dream up another for  a rpg game. The fun never stops Seems I spend a lot of time doing web development these days. TooGaming hasn't helped with that

For anyone who hasn't used MojoPortal check it out at www.MojoPortal.com

Today I made a shift in source control, previously I installed Source Gear Vault for a single user developer today I moved up a level and installed Fortress!

A bold move I know not really adding much functionality, but the main reason was I am looking for some more task/milestone tacking facilities I was considering moving to  SVN and Trac to help me manage my projects but sadly to really be of use I would of needed to pay for additional hosting that didn't really make me bounce up and down with joy.

There isnt huge amounts to say other than WOOT! it all upgraded fine my project source directories all seem intact. Will give more information on benefits soon.

Happy Sourcing Folks!

Just a short note to wish all that view this a very very merry Christmas, be safe have fun and drink lots

I got an email today from what seemed a repeatable company that asked the company I work for to put a link to a emergency dental website on our website. Now this got me thinking about how to comment on things that annoy you. This is obviously an SEO technique to try to get this website higher in the ranking. But my issue is if I then write a comment and link to the website I do there job for them annoying hey.

This also got me onto the topic of how to review something without promoting something. There is very little ways around reviewing a product without linking to the spec or some aspect of details about the product.

Its an interesting dilemma, especially with the time of year when lots of reviews come out

Best Christmas Wishes

The Mad Tooey

Its weird the unaware affiliations we create that cloud our judgement of power and performance, I got an email tonight that got me thinking along this strange path from XFX. I have always liked XFX graphics hardware it always comes in groovy boxes well kitted with accessories strange I know but its one of those things the last 3 graphics cards I have owned have been XFX. While on graphics cards consider the chip manufacturers ATI NVIDIA and Intel(Not really a player in my opinion) I always buy NVIDIA the drivers are nicer the additional software is nicer and I like the development tools they give.

Moving onto motherboard, motherboards I tend to always go with Gigabyte or Asus, both providing good build quality and a variety of good quality accessories ok, when it comes to motherboards its more important to consider the accessories as this can pad up the price on a board but still the affiliates I develop tend to rule my judgements on purchases.

Long ago there were big issues with AMD and over heating now im not entirely sure if this problem has been overcome but I am pretty sure that the issue is long in the past yet I still favour Intel having bought only Intel chips for years.

Maybe next pc its worth taking a gamble and trying something new, does everyone have these weird obsessions?

The company I work for is doing more advertisements and one of my roles is overseeing online advertisement so we have been with Pay per click google adwords for a bit now and had good success from the campaign. So we are looking into expanding into other search engines so I have spent a little time today setting up our account to get started in the new year.

Now I know Microsoft in a way arent as dominent in the market in fact is 3rd place with a 9.28% in September 2009 but on some mythical reasoning *taps nose* we are working on adwords equivalent for it. We all know MS spend big on projects but sometimes I do feel they get a little too serious. As I have had many conversations with colleagues about the wonders of making numbers go up and there is nothing better than visualising that with a crazy graph that really means very little. I think MS has missed a trick when you log into Google Adwords you get a great graph showing how things are going where your hard earned money is going, when I logged into Microsoft adCenter i get a table and a FAQ  where's the fun in that?

Granted I haven't spent ages on Microsoft adCenter and I'm sure it can generate some nice business like reports but I think the UI could do with a little work. The graphs aren't only my niggle with the UI experience seems the Tools dint really work(may just be a problem on my computer). The sign up process doesn't support Chrome so I'm back on IE and still tools don't work. Its interface is very cold like it was designed for boring suite like people who look at reports instead of playing with mechano.

Maybe it will grow on me but MS need to learn to be a bit more fun