DDNS, Hosting your own website with a free domain

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Let say you have your normal ISDN line or broadband internet connection with a dynamic ip address, and you have successfully setting up web server on your own pc, and you want to be able to access your home web server when you are away from home. In other words, you want to host a website or blog from your home pc without registering any domain with your ISP. The problem is, almost every ISP uses Dynamic IP addresses that change on a regular basis if you buy a basic package and how you can give domain name without registering with any domain name? The answer is using DDNS or dynamic DNS.
As i can quoted from Wiki, "Dynamic DNS is a system which allows the domain name data held in a name server to be updated in real time. The most common use for this is in allowing an Internet domain name to be assigned to a computer with a varying (dynamic) IP address. This makes it possible for other sites on the Internet to establish connections to the machine without needing to track the IP address themselves. A common use is for running server software on a computer that has a dynamic IP address, as is the case with many consumer Internet service providers."

"Dynamic DNS service is provided on a large scale by various DNS hosting services, which retain the current addresses in a database and provide a "client" program to the user which will send an update to the service whenever the server's IP address has changed. Many routers and other networking components contain a feature such as this in their firmware."

The easiest way to implement Dynamic DNS or hosting a home website is to get a cool Modem which offers a Dynamic Domain Name System (DDNS) feature.DDNS lets you assign a fixed host and domain name to a dynamic Internet IP address. It is useful when you are hosting your own website, FTP server, or other server behind the Gateway. Before using this feature, you need to sign up for DDNS service such as www.dyndns.org, a DDNS service provider.

For me i used a linksys ADSL Home Gateway. This modem is already built in with Dynamic DNS feature in its firmware. I got two choices of service to use, dydns.org and tzo.com. For me, may be mytechnoguide.dydns.org sounds good, so i chose dydns.org. The initial step is to register free dynamic dns at www.dydns.org. After register, i got my username and password that i choose before.

After login, I create a new dynamic DNS host, mytechnoguide.dydns.org. The website is automatically check my ip and record it as their reference to my new host mytechnoguide.dydns.org .
To update the IP address regularly when my ISP gives different IP address daily, I have to enable DDNS on my Linksys modem as below;

After doing this, i can test my connection by typing http://mytechnoguide.dydns.org on the browser address. Because I did not set the local PC ip for the modem/gateway to forward to, the result I got is my modem configuration page. To fix this, I have to set Port Forwarding on Modem/gateway. For example as below.



This step is to enable my modem/gateway to forward all http port 80 request to a web server with local ip address given by the gateway/dhcp router as 192.168.1.64. By doing the steps, all request at address mytechnoguide.dydns.org will be automatically forwarded to 192.168.1.64. Then, you will see the default page of your homepage/intranet at port 80.

That's all. Have a nice try.

Tags: ddns, dynamic dns, domain name system

How to Write a Windows XP Driver

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Source: Microsoft Corporation July 2001

Summary: This document describes the steps you should take to create a Microsoft® Windows® XP driver for your device. To create a Windows XP device driver:

Install the current Windows DDK. Read the system requirements and installation instructions in the stand-alone Getting Started HTML file supplied with the DDK.

Read Getting Started with Windows Drivers. This document guides you through the planning and decision-making process involved in making a Windows device driver from design through distribution. You should also look through the DDK documentation for device-type-specific information.

The DDK documentation set has the following device-type-specific nodes:

-Battery Devices
-Display and Print Devices
-IEEE 1284.4 Devices
-Interactive Input Devices
-Modem Devices
-Multifunction Devices
-Network Devices and Protocols
-Parallel Ports and Devices
-Serial Ports and Devices
-Smart Card Devices
-Still Image Devices
-Storage Devices
-Streaming Devices (Video and Audio)
-Devices Requiring VDDs


IDE bus are described in System Support for Buses. Driver development for most device types also requires a strong understanding of Windows operating system fundamentals, which are described in Kernel-Mode Driver Architecture.

Look through the driver source code provided with the DDK for a sample that represents your device type. Use the sample code where possible, modifying it for your device's specifics.

The sample code can enhance your understanding of Windows XP driver implementation requirements and speed your development time.

Compile and build your driver. This should be done using the Build utility and not some other compiler, because the Build utility has certain features that are necessary for driver development.

Obtain a checked build of Windows XP, so that you can test and debug your driver using free and checked system builds.

The checked build of Windows XP provides extensive kernel-mode debugging capabilities not available in the free build.

Create an INF file so that you can install and test your driver.

Test and debug your driver. You should use Driver Verifier, a program that puts your driver through a variety of tests, stresses, and deliberate failures in order to test its response and reliability in many extreme situations. You should also use a debugger. Microsoft provides several powerful debuggers that can monitor and debug kernel-mode and user-mode drivers.

Using Driver Verifier in conjunction with these debuggers, on both the checked and free versions of the operating system, can be a powerful way to test your driver.

Provide an installation package so that customers can install devices that use your driver.

Submit your driver and installation package to Microsoft so that it can be digitally signed.

There are many resources available to you while developing your driver. The following sites describe some of the support available to you:

http://www.microsoft.com/ddk describes how to obtain the current DDK and provides other information, such as a driver development reading list.

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev provides information, such as device-type-specific white papers and late-breaking news, and a list of resources available to driver developers.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/ddk contains DDK product support information.

Tags: XP Driver, Windows DDK, Driver Development

Free Text to Speech

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In case you are very lazy to read all the words in a very long articles, I have solution for you. You don't have to read, just tell the computer to read for you.

How? The answer is your computer can talk and it can read whatever and whenever you want it.

Just find a text to speech programs available on the net. The text-to-speech programs can convert text or web documents to human speech.
There is a free programs that i found. Never have to buy it or never have to develop yourself. This programs is called Alien Speech.

Below is the screenshot of it. By installing the programs, all you have to do is copy all the text from a blog or web, and paste it into the programs.

When you click "Play All" button, the programs will read the text for you. Isn't that great?



For those who are interested, you are free to download it at, http://www.aliensoftware.co.uk/Products/Speech/Download.asp

The programs is simple, That's why its free. It just made used the available text to speech library like Microsoft Speech API.

Tags: Text to Speech, Microsoft Speech API, reading tool

How to logon to multiple Gmail accounts using firefox

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By default Firefox does not allow you to login more than one accounts at the same time.
Managing multiple gmail accounts will coz you headache. You have to logout from the first account, before you can logon into seconds account. You can not login into more than one accounts at the same time.So, for those who wants to manage more than one gmail accounts, the best solution that i recommend is to install Gmail Manager.

Gmail Manager is a Firefox extension that allows you to manage multiple Gmail accounts and receive new mail notifications. It can displays account details including unread messages, saved drafts, spam messages, labels with new mail, space used, and new mail snippets.

Installing this extension will allows you to open multiple accounts by selecting your gmail accounts on the statusbar in the bottom right of firefox browser. By right clicking to the chosen gmail accounts, Firefox will open a new tab and automatically open-up the selected gmail account.

You can download the gmail manager from https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1320/

Tags: Gmail manager, firefox, firefox add-ons, multiple gmail, multiple gtalk

About Windows Vista

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I don't have Windows Vista to really try and learn it, but I have experience trying it when it first introduced to the developer at Microsoft PDC 2005, L.A. At the time it was knows by its famous codename "Longhorn". So, what i can comments on from the first experience, Windows Vista has rich and smooth of multimedia and graphics capabilities compared to XP. This latest version of Windows, was officially released by Microsoft on January 30, 2007.

What so special about Windows Vista?

Windows Vista contains hundreds of new features; some of the most significant include an updated graphical user interface (GUI) and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and completely redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network using peer-to-peer technology, making it easier to share files and digital media between computers and devices. For developers, Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework out of the box. The .Net Framework makes it significantly easier for developers to write high-quality applications than with the traditional Windows API. - wiki

To See live demo from microsoft, click here.

Tags: windows vista, vista

Modify the Windows XP System Properties logo

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Typically, if you buy a brand new computer, you will see manufacturer logo and contact information in the windows system properties.

For example, if you buy a computer for HP manufacturer, the HP logo is displayed on your Windows XP system properties as below.

To invoke the system properties dialog, click the Start button, right-click "My Computer" and select "Properties."

In this guide you can learn how you can insert your own logo in the system properties dialog and complete it with your own contact information.

To change the HP logo, below is the steps you have to do:-
1. Create your image in a .bmp graphic file.
- By using image composer software such as windows paint, create your own image with the same background shade of gray (RGB: 192, 192, 192) used in the Properties dialog. The best image size is 180 (wide) x120 (high) pixels.
2. Save the image file as .bmp file
3. Copy the image file to c:\windows\system32.
4. Rename the image file to oemlogo.bmp
5. Create a new text file using notepad in this same folder and name it as oeminfo.ini
6. Edit the file and type content of the file as below ;

[General]

Manufacturer=My Techno Guide
Model=Proton Waja Campro

[Support Information]
Line1=" "
Line2="No additional support for this computer."
Line3=""
Line4=" This is my own computer."
Line5=" I don't need support for this computer. "
Line6=" Please don't make full with this computer."
Line7="My Phone Number:"
Line8="+60311111111"
Line9="+6032222222"
Line10=""
Line11=""
Line12=" http://mytechnoguide.blogspot.com/"

7. Save and close the file.
8. From now on, you can see your own design logo on Windows XP System Properties and your own contact information.

Tags: system properties, change system logo

Microsoft Media Server or MMS protocol

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MMS or 'Microsoft Media Server' protocol is Microsoft's proprietary network streaming protocol. MMS protocol running on top of TCP and UDP transport protocols. It is extensively used by Microsoft media player software. The special capabilities of this protocol is that, it can be used to stream live audio and video content from the host server to your computer without any need to download the file before playing with media player.

Typically when accessing video files from the internet, user has to download the video first before it can play with media player. Using the MMS protocol, Windows media player can play the video without having to wait until the download process completely done. the protocol allows the data to be delivered to the client as a continuous flow with minimal delay before playback can begin. URLs that point to media clips on a Windows Media™ Server usually begin with mms://.

Tags: MMS, Microsoft Media Server, video streaming