Node-Webkit Pre-Built Binary Fails to Run on Ubuntu 13.10

Node-Webkit Pre-Built Binary Fails to Run on Ubuntu 13.10

   |  Mark Pitman

I was trying to run the pre-built binaries for Node-Webkit and was getting an error:

./nw: error while loading shared libraries: libudev.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

To fix this on a 64-bit system:

sudo ln -sf /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libudev.so.1 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libudev.so.0

On a 32-bit system:

sudo ln -sf /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libudev.so.1 /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libudev.so.0

After that, Node-Webkit started up fine!

Changing Default Colors in Git and Posh-Git

Changing Default Colors in Git and Posh-Git

   |  Mark Pitman

Git In Git, color.status.changed, color.status.untracked and color.branch.remote, default to red on normal (whatever your console background color is). This can be difficult to read. You can change them using: git config "foreground-color background-color attribute" ​For example: git config --global color.status.changed "yellow normal bold" git config --global color.status.untracked "yellow normal bold" git config --global color.branch.remote "yellow normal bold" Note that “yellow normal dim” will show up as white in PowerShell, so if you want to use yellow, you must also specify bold. [Read More]

Rooster in the Parking Lot?

   |  Mark Pitman

I was at the Staples in Issaquah with my family and we saw a rooster in the parking lot. Apparently it lives in a little house near the drive-up coffee stand there. No, that’s not my truck :)

Configuration Section Designer

   |  Mark Pitman

I found this really cool Visual Studio add-in today that allows you to visually design a set of classes to handle custom configuration sections in .NET config files. It builds the code and even creates an XSD so you get Intellisense when typing in the config file. It saved me a bunch of time. I always forget the ins and outs of the ConfigurationSection classes and this add-in means I won’t have to go look them up every time I want to do some custom configuration. [Read More]

HP Support

   |  Mark Pitman

I recently had a problem with my Presario R3000 laptop. The battery was completely drained and would not charge. The laptop is still under warranty, so I figured I would contact support and see what my options were. Before doing that thought I checked the Compaq/HP support website to see if there were any updates for my laptop. There was a firmware update that was supposed to fix a problem where if the battery is completely drained, the laptop won’t charge it. [Read More]

Free of Defects

   |  Mark Pitman

I was reading a mailing list that I subscribe to when I came across a job posting. In the “Job Responsibilites” I found this gem:

Design, develop, and validate performance of work to ensure that any software release is free of defects and does not require an additional release to correct defects.

If they find someone who can do that, they should pay that person millions of dollars!

COM and .NET

   |  Mark Pitman

If you are developing an addin for Outlook in C# or another .Net language, automating Outlook or even just using COM from .Net, you should be cleaning up your COM objects (duh!). But, setting them to null is not enough. You must use the System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject() method to remove all references to that COM object. Here’s a little class that you can use so you don’t have to retype the code all over the place. [Read More]

Windows Debugging

   |  Mark Pitman

I have been lucky enough to be in a Windows debugging class for the last 4 days. The company I work for had an instructor from Microsoft come in to give us two classes. Windows DNA Debugging and .NET Debugging. If you are a Windows developer and you ever have the opportunity to take these classes, do it! Years ago, I was having troubles with IIS crashing. I remember talking to Microsoft support and they sent me a utility to capture a crash dump when IIS crashed. [Read More]

Outlook and .Net

   |  Mark Pitman

If you are developing an addin for Outlook in C# or another .Net language or even just using COM from .Net, you should be cleaning up your COM objects (duh!). But, setting them to null is not enough. You must use the System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject method to remove all references to that COM object. Here’s a little class that you can use so you don’t have to retype the code all over the place. [Read More]