Derek Smyth's Software Development Blog

XSL-FO to PDF, MathML, Virtual PC, and MSIs

First off many thanks to Digvijay for his comment, it was well appreciated. I'm not to clever at replying to comments, only to happy to help. You may have noticed that there was a noticable gap in time between some posts, the reason for this was two fold... I've started back with studying for the MCPD - Windows and my home computer died a death; I try not to post in my blog at work. 

Here are some links to some interesting things....

XSL-FO to PDF: This is a small tool (client and server .NET based api are available) that lets you create PDF's from XSL-FO files. I've been trying to convice my company to develop a web service that would allow anyone in the company to create PDF files, they liked the idea but the project was put on hold as there were no components that formatted XML to PDF, most were Office Documents or Printer drivers (not really suitable for a server). This component handles XML to PDF via XSL-FO format and also handles the new XML format of Office. There is a free client based utility, which is rather handy.

http://www.alt-soft.com/

MathML: this is an XML language that lets you write mathematical formulas for display in web pages. For any mechanical or structural engineers out there MathCAD fully supports MathML

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MathML

http://www.integretechpub.com/zed/    (free MathML editor and I.E. browser addin here)

Virtual PC 2007: So my computer died, RIP, and I'm needing to buy a new computer and specifically one with 4Gb of RAM. Phoned the shop and talked through a spec and was annoyed to find out that 32bit operating systems only support 3Gb of RAM. 32bit Vista might say it supports 4Gb of RAM but it doesn't really as some memory is lost in maintaining memory mapping. So in order to get the 4Gb of RAM (I'm actually wanting 8Gb) I needed to go for a 64bit version of Vista which means all my 32bit applications won't work; a-n-n-o-y-i-n-g.

Then I found out Microsoft are offering Virtual PC 2007 for free as one of a number of work arounds to this problem and everything didn't seem so bad now. With 64bit Vista running as the main OS and a virtual PC running a host 32bit Windows XP Pro OS, taken from the deceased, then there will a 64bit and 32bit OS on one machine, I can develop using new and old technology.... in theory it sounds great but need to see how well it works out.... but at least I can go up to the 8Gb of RAM!!!

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en

I'd recommend you getting a copy of this, although you will need a fairly decent machine.

MSIs: Orca is a small tool that lets you view the internals of an MSI. Unfortunately in order to get it you need to download a 300Mb CD. This is, of course, unless you visit the blog of Brent Norris.... cheers mate.

http://www.brentnorris.net/blog/?p=319

Thanks for reading folks... I appreciate it, and don't be annoyed if you don't get a reply to your comments. If your looking for my help in anyway then please check out the MSDN forums, I spend time there answering questions and if I don't get around to it, someone else there will.

TrueCrypt - Protecting USB Memory Sticks

For the last year I've been using a 8Gb JetFlash USB memory stick to store all my ebooks and projects on. It's a fantastic little memory stick because it comes with a piece of software called uFormat which partitions the stick into a unsafe and secure area. You need to login to the secure area.

I recently filled it, so I decided to go the next step and I upgraded to 16Gb (still a JetFlash).

Unfortunately it turned out uFormat was not supported on the higher memory stick, which was really annoying, and instead another tool JetElite was it's replacement. JetElite uses encryption instead to protect sensitive data and unfortunately it's slower than a week in jail, which was also very annoying.

So my memory stick was basically unusable because to make things safe required a slow encryption process. That was a problem, a big problem.... so I started searching.... and I found something wonderful.

TrueCrypt - http://www.truecrypt.org/

Here is a list of it's features....

• Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
• Encrypts an entire hard disk partition or a storage device such as USB flash drive.
• Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.
• Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish. Mode of operation: LRW.

It lets you create a single encrypted file that can be mounted as a real drive, a drive that you need to login to. It's encryption choices are so good that you can create a combined algorithim resulting in a 768 bit key (several universes would pass before being able to brute force crack it) and it is so blindingly fast you have no idea encryption is taking place, even though the data might be getting stored on a memory stick with limited transfer rates... and get this....

....it's free........ (everyone's favorite price).

There is also a traveller mode which makes it perfect for memory stick use. Traveller mode means you can run TrueCrypt from the memory stick your protecting without needing to do an install on the machine (although they say you need admin rights on the machine)

Your limited to 3.9 Gb on FAT formatted drives / memory sticks but thats a limitation on the FAT format and bsides it's not that bad creating different virtual drives for different types of data you might store. For example I split the 16Gb drive into 4 areas, one unsafe, one for books, one for projects, and one for personnal data, and it's better than before as each is protected differently; not so many eggs in one basket.

What a wonderful, wonderful, piece of software. A must have if you own a memory stick.

I'd even like to suggest a donation to the developers if you do decide to use it.