Author: james

Death of an innocent

My mother showed me this poem. It moved me; let it move you too.

I went to a party Mum
I remembered what you said
You told me not to drink Mum
So I drank soft drink instead

I really felt proud inside Mum
The way you said I would
I didn’t drink & drive Mum
Even though the others said I should

I know I did the right thing Mum
I know you were always right
Now the party is ending Mum
As everyone is driving out of sight

As I got into my car Mum
I knew I’d get home in one piece
Because the way you raised me Mum
So resposible & sweet

I started to drive away Mum
But as I pulled onto the road
The other car didn’t see me Mum
And hit me like a load

As I lay there on the pavement Mum
I hear the policeman say
The other guy is drunk Mum
And now I’m the one who’ll pay

I’m lying here dying Mum
I wish you’d get here soon
How could this happen to me Mum?
My life just burst like a baloon

There is blood all around me Mum
And most of it is mine
I hear the medic say Mum
I’ll die in a short time

I just wanted to tell you Mum
I swear I didn’t drink
It was the others Mum
The others who didn’t think

He was probably at the same party as I
The only difference is he drank & I will die

Why do you think people drink Mum?
It can ruin yur whole life
I’m feeling sharp pains now
Pains just like a knife

The guy who hit me is walking Mum
And I don’t think it’s fair
I’m lying here dying Mum
And all he can do is stare

Tell my brother not to cry Mum
Tell Dad to be brave
And when I go to Heaven Mum
Write “Daddy’s Girl” on my grave

Someone should have told him Mum
Not to drink & drive
If only they had told him Mum
I would still be alive

My breath is getting shorter Mum
I’m becoming very scared
Please don’t cry for me Mum
When I needed you, you were always there

I have one last question Mum
Before I say goodbye
I didn’t drink & drive Mum
So why am I the one to die

Author Unknown

Australian Computer Stores

Tang – Perth – I use these people a lot
Dan Tech – Perth – I use these people sometimes
Navada – Perth (didn’t believe me when they sold me a faulty mobo in 1999)
Zeus Technology – Perth
Compaq Australia
Harris Technology
Micropro Computers
Harvey-Norman
Cydex – Sydney
Sigmacom – NSW
City Software – Victoria
Gateway 2000
Cetus (Lychan)
Beyond Computers

2001: Additions

Discount.com.au
YAHOO Listing: Computer Retails in Australia

Nov 2001: I have removed those that no longer exist.

Pastel on Windows 2000: Persistence

Pastel is an accounting package for the Win32 platform. Version 5 was originally written for either Windows 3.1 or WIndows 95: it seems to be a 16-bit application. Running this on Windows 2000 should be straight forward, if you are prepared to give users access to the Power Users user group on the workstation.

Lets add a little spice to this problem. I’m going to use Samba 2.2.2 (or newer, perhaps) as a Primary Domain Controller for authenticating the users ont he network and giving them access to the shared files. Pastel does multi-user by file sharing: samba is a damn fine file server for SMB protocols, and can be a PDC as well.

However, as at Samba 2.2.2, there are only two groups that Domain Users may be in: Administrators, and Users. Not Power Users.

So the task was this: get Pastel to run for standard Users.

The problem with this is file and registry key permissions: these are undocumented, and Pastel are either unwilling to tell me what these should be, or don’t know; its hard to tell with their confusion. I am hoping someone at Pastel will see this page, and correct any mistakes here: God know that phoning and emailing them has failed to extract the right information!

BTrieve

Pastel uses Btrieve microkernel as a back-end. So we must make this accessible as well. There are two parts to check: Registry keys and system DLLs.

In watching the %WINDOWS%/system directory during the install, I found that Btrieve installed the following files:

  • Butil.dll
  • bwcc.dll
  • dpu_ui.dll
  • dlsbarl.dll
  • dwspr.dll
  • mhcards.dll
  • mhrun300.dll
  • msafinx.dll
  • pdbbtrv.dll
  • qpro200.dll
  • vbrun300.dll
  • vtch.dll
  • apiguide.dll
  • gsw.exe
  • gsw.dll
  • inetwh16.dll
  • inetwh32.dll
  • mail16.dll
  • wbt32.res
  • wrapper.dll
  • xcdun32.dll
  • xcdunzip.dll
  • xcdzip.dll
  • xcdzip32.dll
  • nwlocale.dll
  • w32mkde.exe
  • m32kkrc.dll
  • w32mkset.dll
  • w32mkset.gid
  • wbtr32.dll
  • wbtr32.exe
  • wbtrcall.dll
  • wbrlocl.dll
  • wbtrthnk.dll
  • wbtrv32.dll
  • wbtrvdef.dll
  • wbtr.res
  • wdbvei32.dll
  • wdbuui32.dll

These files should be readable and executable where required for all users on the domain.

The registry keys are in HKLM/Software/Btrieve Technologies. This should have full access to everyone on the domain.

Next, Pastel permissions. Find the Pastel directory (possibly Pas5) and change that to be accessible to all users on the domain. Make the executables to be executable for all users on the domain.

Adaptec and Firewire

This page is for that tidbit of information you need to get firewire happening on your PC if you are using an Adaptec 8945HC or similar Adaptec card. If you are pulling your hair out, then hopefully you got here from a search engine and this may just be what you need. ;)

Why? Well I’ve spent three months trying to get this to work. The system, which was purchased new with this card, and assumed to be operational then, didn’t work when I came to actually plug a 1394 camera in to it. Much screaming at the vendor!

Over the three months that followed from me finding that it didnt work until today, the card has been replaced once, and the system has spent a few weeks with the vendor trying to get it to work. They finally gave up and offered to refund my money. They claimed to have had no help from Adaptec in getting it working, and I believe them.

However, as a last reort, I took yet another look around the Adaptec web site and saw a small note saying effectively not to use the microsoft driver. Yep, this fixed it for me.

The Microsoft driver is the the system comes up with as the recommended one, however when I forced it to use the adaptec driver, which was older, everything started to work.

So, if you’ve been having problems with firewire on a PC using an Adaptec card, check your driver. Right Click, choose properties, and then device manager. Select your 1934 device, and click Properties. See who the manufacturer is of the driver, and make the decision. You mileage may vary.

Good luck in getting firewire happening on your system!