work

Dec 21 10:02

Enabling Intel VT for Hardware Virtualisation

I use VMWare Server quite a lot at work for testing and evaluating operating systems and things, and this does a really good job of allowing me to take my work with me to any machine and just running the VM to get going.

I've been experiencing something strange recently, every now and again when I move a VM from our works laptop (Dell Vostro 1500, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2gb RAM etc) to my desktop VMWare kept giving me a "VT is Available but not Enabled" message, which was funny since my desktop (again a Dell Vostro 200, Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gb RAM) clearly had "Virtualization Technology (VT)" set to "Enabled" in the BIOS. I'd even upgraded to the latest BIOS version from the Dell website to make sure there were not problems there.

Since Intel VT Virtualization Technology is supposed to be real good for helping improve the speed of virtualised systems and the only way to run a 64bit guest under VMWare Server, this morning I decided to have a go at fixing this and I managed to solve the problem.

It turns out that in order to enable VT technology on my Dell Vostro 200 desktop I needed to not just reboot the pc, not just power off the pc, but to unplug the power cord completely and allow the PC to go cold!

There is some kind of residual power consumption that means that changing the setting in the BIOS and rebooting is not sufficient to actually change the setting on the CPU! This even persists through a BIOS upgrade!

Let me know if this information is helpful to anyone :)

EDIT: 23/Jan/2008 - It would appear the setting didn't persist or something since I'm still finding the same problem again! Grrrr... If anyone from Dell knows how to fix this PLEASE get in touch!

EDIT2: 08/May/2008 - It seems Dell have fixed the problem in the latest 1.0.13 BIOS revision, available from the Dell support site.

Jun 22 02:07

Big Week

Well, the first meeting of the DIGGSML Environmental SIG went very well, we managed to work out some ideas and produce the beginnings of a DIGGSML implementation which was an excellent result for three hard days of meetings (in a windowless room in true DIGGSML fashion).

I hired a car last night, tried to get the awesome looking Shelby GT-H but sadly missed the boat a little bit as by the time I got to the rental car station Hertz were all out of cars! Never mind, Dollar to the rescue in the shape of a zero-mile '07 Dodge Charger. It's no Shelby, the 2.7 V6 is a little breathless when you need it to kick, but it's fun enough, at least it's nice and comfortable even if it is a bit heavy on the gas (-I'm starting to even talk American now, what's going on?!) at 25mpg, but at $2.83/gal that's not the end of the world.

Roger and I spent the day traveling up to Gainesville, FL to visit DIGGSML Core and Geotechnical group member Dr Mark Hoit and DIGGSML developer Erica Hughes at University of Florida and that meeting went really well too, we've identified some things that need to be looked at but in general it was really good to meet Erica and hear comments and thoughts from someone else who's implementing DIGGSML in the real world!

We've agreed some extra functionality and content to go on the DIGGS Blog and it's looking like a really good site with all the major parties in the development of DIGGSML involved with creating content and writing features.

I'm actually writing this post from a hotel room just outside Ocalda, FL after dropping Roger at the airport and then back-tracking nearly 100 miles up the Florida Turnpike to visit the Big Daddy Don Garlits museum for a bit of rest and relaxation. Had an awesome rib dinner from Sonnys BBQ but it's real warm here and I've still not properly adjusted, I just seem to want to sleep at strange times and there's only Law and Order on TV so I thought I'd post up here with some news of the trip.

Anyways, gonna do the Garlits museum tomorrow then look at times and stuff, see if I can get over to Cape Canaveral to see Kennedy Space Centre on the day the shuttle lands, maybe try out the new simulator that's supposed to rock big style.

I'm flying back Saturday night, so I'll head back to Orlando tomorrow night, grab a cheap room on I-Drive and see if I can get round Universal Studios or somewhere on Saturday morning before the red-eye back to London on Saturday night! Kat's been a star this week, she dropped me off last week and she's picking me up from Gatwick on Sunday morning, then we're heading over to Essex for Sunday Lunch with some friends that I'm really looking forward to catching up with, seeya Sunday guys.

It's gonna be a busy couple of days but I think it's gonna be a good one, if I could only get a few hours sleep...

Curriculum Vitae

Christopher John Bray

Personal Details


Date of Birth 24-August-1980

Address 15 Brotherton Ave
Webheath
Redditch
Worcestershire
B97 5SA


Mobile Telephone +44 777 9333 938

Home Telephone
+44 1527 544049


Email Address chris@chrisbray.co.uk

Website http://www.chrisbray.co.uk

Driving License Full British (since Jan-1999), Clean

Key Skills

Development

Extensive use of:
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 to 2005 inclusive
  • Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (C# in server, desktop and embedded situations)
  • Microsoft Compact Framework for development of .NET applications in C# on PDA's
  • Microsoft Visual Basic 5 and 6,Microsoft Access and Excel VBA/COM
  • XML, XHTML, HTML, WebServices and Javascript
  • MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005, Oracle 10g XE and SQLite (on embedded system)
  • PostgreSQL, PostGIS and OGC spatial technolgies
  • PHP and Microsoft ASP.NET
  • UML modeling for the design and development of both software and XML Schema

Operating Systems

Extensive experience of:
  • Fedora Linux 6, 7 and 8 for desktop use.
  • Ubuntu Linux 7.10 and 8.04 for both server and desktop use.
  • CentOS Linux 3, 4, 5 and 5.1 (RedHat Enterprise Linux clone) for server use.
  • Gentoo Linux for both server and desktop use.
  • Microsoft Windows 95/98, 2000 Professional and Server, XP Professional and Home, Vista and Windows Server 2003

Computer Aided Design

Extensive experience of AutoCAD (Release 12 to 2008 inclusive) use in both 2D and 3D and development in C++ (ObjectARX), AutoLISP, .NET (C#) and VBA

Publications

Bray, C., Chandler, R. J, Walthall, S., Hoit, M. and Lefchik, T. (2008) "Extending the Geotechnical Dictionary. Best practice for customizing the international framework for Geotechnical Data", The Proceedings of GeoCongress 2008, March 9-12, New Orleans, LA. - Buy From Amazon

Career History

May 2005 - Present - Lead Software Engineer - Keynetix Ltd

In May 2005 Key Systems Geotechnical merged with it's sister company KeyGIS and their child company Keynetix Ltd to become Keynetix Ltd, my role as chief software engineer continued as did development on the existing projects as all products were carried on across the merger. I continued working on embedded systems, AutoCAD based visualization systems and a laboratory information management system. I also develop and maintain the corporate anti-piracy system, a non-central software and hardware based user licensing system that is in active use in hundreds of locations all over the world, and is as yet un-broken and secure.

Since that time my work has included the design and implementation of C# web services, accessible from everything from PocketPC's to full Windows desktop computers.  I have implemented both FTP and SMTP sending capabilities on PocketPC devices in the C# language, using Sockets and both Synchronous and Asynchronous communication. I spent time researching Binary and XML Serialization of .NET objects for their transmission via web service, this research facilitated the design, implementation, testing (which led to the implementation of an NUnit based unit testing procedure throughout the company) and maintenance of a company-wide object modeling framework. This framework allows objects to be modelled in C# and persisted to and from a SQLServer, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite or Oracle database or even an XML file, and transmitted over the Internet via a web service.

I have recently been heavily involved with the DIGGSML project to internationally standardise transfer of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental data in an GML Application Schema (XML based file format) and in addition to publishing research I maintain a well respected blog on this topic located at www.diggsml.com

Sep 1999 - May 2005 - Software Engineer - Key Systems Geotechnical

As I studied at University I was putting the theory into practice in the workplace and rapidly gaining confidence as a Visual Basic developer. I wrote a laboratory information management system residing within Microsoft Excel inter-operating with Visual Basic using COM, which then managed all the data and testing requirements of a soils laboratory inside a collection of Microsoft Access databases accessed using DAO.

Recently I have been involved in large scale systems for government bodies in the UK, principally the Highways Agency, where we developed a system called the Highways Agency Geotechnical Data Management System in partnership with Mott MacDonald. A national GIS system for managing geotechnical data. In the early days my responsibility in this project was implementing a C++ COM component that inspected the database of UK roads conducting shortest path searches down routes. After this component was deemed successful my skills were turned to developing an embedded system running on Microsoft PocketPC based PDA's.

My first minor role in the system was implementing an interface to NMEA compatible Bluetooth GPS systems, to allow for accurate positioning and placement of features within the embedded system, this was implemented quickly and effectively allowing me to move onto the more important aspects of the project. My second responsibility was mapping on the device, implementing a system allowing the user to download hundreds of megabytes of aerial photography, to a PDA with limited resources and making it usable in the field. The limitations of the PocketPC architecture are huge when it comes to graphics and manipulating large amounts of data, so this was a very challenging project, a third party component was used for the actual drawing itself to avoid re-implementing something that could be purchased, but this C component still needed to be integrated to our Embedded C++ and C# system. Extensive use of P/Invoke and various other .NET techniques saw the system implemented successfully.

Qualifications

Programming AutoCAD in .NET

A two day course presented by Autodesk teaching the development processes involved in developing for AutoCAD using .NET.

Systematix SQLServer 2000 System Administration and Database Design

A four day, Microsoft Certified course about using the Transact-SQL language to query, program, install, configure, administer, and troubleshoot Microsoft SQL Server 2000 in a Windows 2000 Server environment.

1999 - 2004 BSc (Hons) Computer Science (Software Engineering) Second Class (Upper Division) 2:1

I studied Computer Science at Wolverhampton University whilst on day release from Key Systems Geotechnical, modules studied included Requirements Analysis, Specification (both formal and non-formal), Design, Estimation, Development and Implementation and Testing. We did extensive development work mainly using the C++ language, however other development work was conducted using Visual Basic, Microsoft Access, PHP, Python and Oracle PL/SQL. For my dissertation I wrote an Internet based mapping system, using dynamically generated and generalised Scalable Vector Graphics produced from both PHP and Python scripts to draw interactive maps on-screen in an SVG capable browser such as Mozilla Firefox.

Leisure Interests

I am a keen participant and observer of motor sport with my main pastime being the driving of my Volkswagen Golf GTi in the Volkswagen Drag Racing Club's Sportsman championship, I am also currently sitting on the committee of the club itself.

My interest in computing and computer science continues out of work as I am an experienced Linux and UNIX user on my own desktops, laptops and servers. I also manage and administer my home wireless network and the associated remote access systems.

I am a keen follower of music, particularly live music, attending concerts and I have been an amateur performer in the past having successfully produced my own CD.

Referees

References and exam certificates / further educational history are available upon request.
May 03 11:14

Kean Walmsley's Through the Interface

A blog for developers working with Autodesk technology.

May 03 11:11

DIGGSML

The number one source of DIGGSML, geotechnical, geoenvironmental and related data transfer information in the world.

Written by geotchnics professionals, for geotechnics professionals.

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