Loren Halvorson's Blog

If your only tool is a hammer...

  • Media Center Extender Update available from MS.

    I've spoken to two people who own Media Center Extenders who weren't aware that there is an update available from Microsoft for both the Linksys and the HP extenders. For me it significantly improved the stability of my Linksys WMCE54AG extender. I haven't had one lockup since I installed it, and it no longer cuts the last couple of seconds off of songs I am playing. Just thought I'd post the link to the update in case any of you happen to be running extenders at home.

  • PocketDashboard for CruiseControl.NET wins award

    This was pretty cool, I entered PocketDashboard, my first Compact Framework application, in the "Will Code For Device" contest posted by Thom Robbins (thanks for bringing it to my attention Jamie) and I was chosen as one of the winners. I have no idea what I won, all they said is a shiny new Windows Mobile device...we'll see what shows up. Whatever it is, I probably won't be able to use it since I already have an iPaq I'm quite happy with, and my wireless provider doesn't support smart phones...we'll just have to see. It was fun to enter.

  • XmlPreprocess released

    I finally waded through the process of setting up a sourceforge project and uploading content.

  • Updated WiX generation script

    This is long overdue, but I finally sat down and tweaked the script I provided in WiX for dummies post so it no longer uses FileGroup. This walks through a tree and generates a component for every file. The FileGroup element now appears to have been removed from WiX rather than just deprecated, so if any of you followed the steps in the original post, you'll need this when you update to a newer build of WiX. Another approach is to use Tallow.exe, but I haven't played with it enough to say how.

  • Media Center 2005 and Extender

    After a couple of years of talking about it (as my friends will attest) I finally ordered a new PC with the recently released Windows Media Center Edition 2005 for the den, and a Linksys Media Center Extender for the living room. I've only had it set up for a couple of days, but so far I think it's great. The extender is a TV set-top box that allows you to access most of the Media Center features from the TV via a remote. For some time now, I've been interested in getting a Tivo/DVR for my wife who is always missing her favorite shows because she forgets to stick a tape into the VHS recorder and program it to tape. Additionally since we home-school our kids, we figured it would be handy to record educational shows for them. I was hesitant to get a Tivo because of the monthly subscription charge and limited recording capacity. Now I have the DVR functionality, plus the ability to view my digital pictures, listen to my music collection, and more, with no monthly subscription. I needed to replace my old PC anyway, so this was ideal for me. I don't think many people know about the Extenders, I just wanted to spread the word that they are shipping, and they are a great solution for those who want to access their Media Center features from different rooms in your house. I'm looking into buying a couple more extenders for other TVs in the house. Maybe the $79 kit that converts an Xbox into a Media Center Extender will finally get me to buy an Xbox for the "educational" value :-).