Since rolling out Windows XP SP2 around the office network, I’ve come across curious differences in the way Internet Explorer handles file form inputs (input type="file"...), before and after SP2 is applied. At least I think I have…

Some Context.

Pre-SP2, it seemed possible to just type in a value to the input (rather than use the Browse button). For example, a user could type in ”/home/chris/my_file.txt”. In the context of our intranet, “not applicable” was a valid value that the user could enter.

The Issue.

Once SP2 was applied, this no longer worked. In our Intranet system, typing in a value produced an error in our server-side validation script – the script thought that the input had been left blank. Curiously, the page returned by the server had a javascript error warning (“Object Not Found”), despite there being no client-side scripting done on this particular page.

If the input was given a value by clicking on the browse button and selecting a file, everything would work fine.

This issue has caused us a few problems, as a few of our intranet apps suddenly “broke” with no immediate or obvious explanation.

Over to You

Has anyone else come across this little quirk? Could someone else confirm or debunk this?

I must admit to not testing this in any great depth, but I have come across this problem on a number of different pages (not all on our intranet), using a couple of different machines. I did a quick google search and nothing related came up.

Or is it all me fault? Actually, don’t answer that…

Some pure geekery ahead – and possibly a lot of misinformed rambling. You have been warned! This is as much for me as it is for you guys… I had a load of this stuff going around in my head so much today that it was getting distracting.

One thing anyone who really knows me will tell you, is I’m very interested in the whole media centre PC thing (also known as HTPCs). I really like the idea of storing/accessing all my media content (music, TV, film and photo) through one networked device which connects to my TV/speaker system and has a nice, friendly, interface. Heck, to be honest, I’ve been eying up having a decent home cinema system in any shape or form for some time – the HTPC route is just the most appealing of late. At the moment, I have a fairly cheap DVD player, my Gamecube, and a Sky digi-box – not exactly the most cutting edge setup!

The HTPC has been begging to be built for some time. In fact, I’ve got all the bits except the case. I did make one previous, aborted attempt, using a VIA Mini-ITX board and Linux – but hardware compatibility issues killed that one off. This time, I have a 3.2GHz P4 monster just waiting to find a new body. I’ve got my eyes on a DiGN HV5 case, but it’s expensive enough to make my wallet whimper in fear.

The biggest problem, however, is when the time comes to connect everything together.

Here in the UK (I don’t know about anywhere else), most AV connections are done through SCART sockets and leads. It provides good quality audio and video connections using just one cable. The Sky Digibox produces best results when connected via SCART. My lovely widescreen TV has only two SCART connectors and an RF connector (it also has an S-video and RCA connections, but these are on the side of the TV – not practical when you have a toddler). The HTPC doesn’t do SCART. Doh.

What the HTPC does do, is S-Video and SP-DIF audio in and out. It also does good old RF in. This is where a new box of tricks is introduced: the A/V Receiver. A good A/V Receiver will take all your audio and video inputs and let you switch between them. It will output your sound to your speaker systems (after running the sound through an internal Dolby/DTS decoder and amp/preamp) and will give you a variety of ways to output the video signal. So in my case, the inputs would be my HTPCs S-Video and SP-DIF, and my Gamecube. The output goes to by TV by way of a component to SCART converter.

You may have noticed something missing from the above – the Sky digi-box. This is where I’m not sure where to go. The digibox really, really, really wants to be plugged into a SCART socket. Unfortunately, I want to run it through my HTPC so I can record TV and do all that other cool DVR stuff. The simple thing to do would be to run it into the RF socket of the TV tuner card, but I’m not too sure how much the picture/sound quality would suffer… Does anyone know by any chance?

While I’m canvassing opinion, I will add that if anyone has any suggestions for my setup, please give them. I’ll point out that I’m on an extremely tight budget, but I’ll hear any and all advice!

Pixel Meadow has been online since September 2004. In that time, I’ve written (fairly) regularly and hopefully haven’t been too boring!

Prior to opening Pixel Meadow, I had another site. This site had an almost schizophrenic nature. One month it was an out and out blog. The next month it was a developer site. The next, it was both, then a portfolio/CV site… and so on, etc. With no clear focus, it’s a surprise it lasted as long as it did. I grew bored with it often, neglecting it for months on end. Pixel Meadow was me moving forward, getting focused.

However, ChrisMcLeod.Net was my first real website. Before that, I’d just mucked around with homepage builders on various free hosts such as Lycos Tripod. So there was an attachment there that meant that I couldn’t just shut it down and forget it.

Over the last few days, I’ve been working on the archives of my old site; cleaning and recategorising them. Today, I have added them to the archives of Pixel Meadow.

These additions represent everything that was left of ChrisMcLeod.Net. Over the course of its life many changes occured and data was lost – so these additions don’t represent everything that I’ve written there over the years.

It’s been an interesting process looking over old entries. I can see a definite improvement in my writing. I’m a bit more focussed and less “ranty” then I used to be. No matter the quality of the writing, I’d like to think that adding these old entries will add depth to Pixel Meadow as a reflection of self.

I’ve been fascinated by the Transformers – the “Robots in Disguise” – since I was a young’un. There’s just something about giant robots that transform into everyday vehicles and objects that is plain cool!

As is the way, most of my original toy collection was thrown out long ago. However, during the later stages of my stint at University, I happened across the (then) latest toy line. That was it – they’d pulled me back in. A couple of years later and I had a fairly substantial collection again, covering toys, DVDs and comics. For a while, I even ran a (now defunct) community site for fellow collectors.

I still have my collection, but it’s packed away in the loft, for the most part as there’s just no room for it in our home. It’s a bit of a shame, really, but it needs to be done. I think that I’ll probably sell it on ebay one day. After all, I think it’s maybe better in the hands of someone that can appreciate it properly.

Ok, so it’s official, I’m switching to Mac. The iBook is all but fully ordered – I’m just waiting on my next pay cheque to come in. It’s sitting there smugly in my saved basket on the Apple Store UK. I can virtually hear it saying “I knew you couldn’t resist!”

Barring any last-minute changes of heart on just how much I’m going to spend, here’s what I’ve gone for:

• 12-inch iBook G4 with 1.2GHz processor
• 14-inch iBook G4 with 1.33GHz processor
• 60GB HDD
• Bluetooth module
• Additional 512MB RAM from Crucial

I’m lead to believe that installing the additional RAM will be a piece of cake. Far easier than spending the extra £140 for the same amount of RAM from Apple…

I’m counting the days already.

So… anybody want to buy a 18 month old Centrino laptop?

Update 15/01/05 Ok, so I finally managed to find somewhere local that had iBooks in stock for me to give one a test drive. The 12” screen was a little too small for me, so I’ve upped my spec to the 14” model. To offset some of that extra cost, I’ve dropped the bluetooth module. So basically, I can just buy one off the shelf at the store and do the RAM upgrade later. As a bonus, the store guarantees everything for 2 years – so no paying for extended AppleCare!

I witnessed something quite bizarre on the way home from work today. I’d popped into our nearest PC World store on the way, to pick up a USB hub for my parents (2x USB Ports + 8 USB devices = cable nightmare). While I was browsing around, edging closer to the Mac section as I usually do, I overheard another customer talking to a member of staff about antivirus/security software.

Unfortunately, it’s a habit of mine that when a store sales person is talking about anything computer related I listen in to see how clued up – or not – they are. With PC World, normally the staff aren’t particularly good. This staff member seemed reasonably knowledgable about spyware/virii, how they get on your machine and cause havoc and how to avoid them. Slightly better than average I’d say. He was recommending an overpriced, not-so-good bit of software though…

Anyway, conversation finishes and customer leaves contented. It was only then that I realised who they had been speaking to – the store security guard! I was amazed, simply because he seemed more clued in about computers than most of the other staff I’ve had dealings with in PC World (or most big chain-stores for that matter). I hope they pay him extra for being a decent salesperson as well as keeping the store secure!