People who are aware of, and ashamed of, their prejudices are well on the road to eliminating them. — Gordon Allport
Archive for March, 2009
New Photography: Kensington Train Station (1)
1042 days
by musashi
in Photography
There’s a new photo on the Photography page; the print will be available from DeviantArt shortly and there are two more pictures from this set on their way. In the meantime though, here’s a preview, enjoy!
Transferring old MAS 90/200 data to a new server (clean installation)
DISCLAIMER: This post assumes that both the source server and the destination server are windows servers. Once upon a time there was a UNIX version of MAS 90/200 but I’ve never had to administer that version so I cannot guarantee that any of this will work for it.
Here’s the scenario:
Your current server is dated and needs to be replaced; you need to move MAS 90/200 data to the new server, and you’d also like to keep your existing users/roles… basically you’d like to move the data with the least amount of trouble possible. To do this, the following conditions must first be met:
(1) Your new server has a clean installation of MAS 90/200.
(2) Both installations are the same version; they both have had the most recent service pack installed from Sage (which you can usually download from their support site however you’ll need an active account)
(3) The data on the old installation is at the appropriate level (i.e. it has been converted/updated to the format required by the latest update/service pack.)
(4) The MAS service has been stopped on both servers (this service can usually be found in the “Services” snap-in, within the Microsoft Management Console.)
If these conditions are met, then the only thing you should have to do is copy the following directories from the old MAS 90/200 directory (Usually something like: “C:\Program Files\Sage Software\MAS 200\Version4\MAS90″) to the MAS 90/200 directory on the new server:
(a) All “MAS_XXX” directories (where XXX is the 3 character company code)
(b) MAS_SYSTEM (yes, if asked to overwrite)
(c) MAS_USERS (yes, if asked to overwrite)
(d) Reports (yes, if asked to overwrite)
Depending on your environment, you may need to update the MAS client on each workstation. On my network, MAS runs in a terminal services environment so the only thing *I* need to do at this point is run Wksetup.exe from the MAS90Wksetup directory (one time only, on the new server).
Sometimes after running the workstation setup program, your users will get an error stating that you are out of licenses. To fix this, copy the following file:
C:\Program Files\Sage Software\MAS 200\Version4\MAS90\Home\Lib\Keys\activate.pvx
To:
C:\Program Files\Sage Software\MAS 200 Client\Version4\MAS90\Home\Lib\Keys\activate.pvx”
Be sure to select “yes” if asked to overwrite the existing file.
That’s all there is to moving the data, however there is one problem you are likely to encounter:
Data location for company xxx is invalid
Or, when you try to access a module for a client, you’ll get an error message about certain modules not being activated. Just close the error message and check the following:
(1) Select ‘Utilities’ -> ‘Data File Display and Maintenance’ from the menu at the top of the screen and click ‘OK’ on the warning message that appears.
(2) Click the ‘Browse’ icon:
(3) You’ll need to navigate to the ‘\MAS_SYSTEM\SY_Company.M4T’ file, and click ‘Open’
(4) Then, at the bottom of the window, you’ll need to select the ‘Key Scan’ button in order to select the company that you’re having problems with:
(5) In the window that appears, look through the list of companies until you see the company that you’re trying to fix. Double-click the company, or, single-click the company and then click the ‘Select’ button.
(6) Now you should be back at the “Data File Display and Maintenance” window; click the ‘Edit’ button and select key #13 (AlternateDirectory$) from the drop-down menu:
Clear the data in the ‘Change’ field and select ‘OK’. Do the exact same thing for key #14 (AlternatePayrollDirectory$). When finished, just close the ‘Data File Display and Maintenance’ window by clicking the ‘x’ in the upper right-hand corner.
Repeat these steps for every client/company that you’re experiencing issues with. There are other errors that can occur, specifically this one:
Unable to spawn a new session. The command line required for the server process is too long
Instructions on how to address this, here.
Concerned about the “Serve America Act”?
Are y’all ready for an early-morning cup of ignorance? A little background info first; there’s an e-mail making it’s rounds on the ‘net that contains the following text:
Do you love your children and grandchildren? Of course you do. Well, how would you like it if these children were forced to enter a camp at age 18, run by Michelle Obama and other government enforcers, and forced to be trained to be a “volunteer” until age 21? How would you, yourself like to look forward to retiring and devoting your time to some volunteer service of your own choosing only to be forced to enter the same kind of government camp for seniors? Does this sound suspicious to you? Me too. Especially when I learned that just such a bill has already quickly passed the House of Representatives and is scheduled to be voted on as early as next week by the Senate – with or without going to conference as is the usual protocol when it passes out of committee. This is another rush-rush effort just like the last stimulus bill was rushed to a vote before anyone had a chance to read the whole thing and really discern what was included in the bill.
This effort was called the GIVE ACT in the House which has already passed. In the Senate, it’s called the SERVE ACT (#277). Besides the fact that it is a bill that would require every 18-21 year old, male and female to attend a camp and “volunteer” to be trained and taught a government-sponsored ideology, the fact that it is being rushed through the legislature and not reported on by the media, makes me extremely suspicious What’s the rush and why the silence? What is in these bills that they don’t want us to know about? In addition, does it make sense to spend $75 million or more a year to put our young people in camp when we’re in the middle of hard economic times?
Check it out. See what you can find out. But, in the meantime, since they are trying to rush this into law before you have a chance to investigate, call your Senators and tell them to vote, “No” on Senate bill #277, telling them that you object to this bill. The people I know who have already done so have received surprised responses that they even know about the bill.
Let us BURN THE PHONES LINES tomorrow to call our Senators to demand that they NOT vote on S. 277: The Serve Act, when it reaches the floor of the Senate next week. Then, please call all your friends and ask them to do the same; then to call their friends.
When calling Congress, it is best to keep your comments short, like this:
“I am calling to ask Senator _____ to vote NO on a bill that is due to reach the Senate floor next week. The name of this bill is The Serve Act and its number is S. 277.” That’s all you have to say; staffers are BUSY and will not ask you WHY you are stating this.
But you and I BOTH KNOW the reason: This bill is DANGEROUS for our youth, and now also for our seniors. It is not “voluntary” but “mandatory” and we want nothing to do with it!
Here is the news from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on this new bill:
http://help.senategov/Maj_press/2009_03_18.pdf
It DOES say that “retirees” can be called into service, too!!
Here is the article on Fox News about the GIVE ACT – the House version that did pass yesterday, 3/18:
Note that SOME House members ARE concerned about the ramifications of this bill on the young.
Finally, here is an article from our friends in CANADA that “spills the beans” on the REAL AGENDA behind these two bills:
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/9374
Remember the regulation the Department of Defense made last week that would limit ammunition sales and drive the price up as well as create hundreds of lost jobs? It was announced on talk radio last Sunday and both ammunition makers and pro-gun sales people pounced on it, making phone calls, sending faxes, meeting with the proper people and it’s now been shelved – in less than a week’s time from the announcement. We need the same kind of quick action on the SERVE ACT.
Does Hitler Youth ring a bell?
But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me – it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea!” (Matthew 18:6) HCSB
I believe I’ve located the source but I haven’t been able to confirm that yet—it also could be that the e-mail was the source of the article; who knows. Anyway, aside from the fact that this frantic plea is an obvious piece of fearmongering, I entertained it’s claims long enough to disprove them.
I’m not sure if this e-mail was a hoax or propaganda, either one is equally likely. What we have here is someone mixing truth with fiction—the usual conspiracy bullshit; S. 277 is real, but the claims made in this e-mail are patently absurd. Read the bill. As far as I can tell, the purpose of this bill is to provide incentives for people to volunteer in their communities—that’s a generalization, but the prospect of “involuntary volunteer” camps initiated though this bill, is < 0. Which leads me to the most glaring flaw in this e-mail: if the author were genuinely trying to prove his/her case, then why not link to the actual text of the bill (rather than fox “news” or other questionable sources?) I think we all know why. But it does contain a broken link to a PDF file that supposedly supports it’s claims; there’s just one problem though, it doesn’t. Neither does the linked fox “news” article; and the Canada Free Press article? All commentary, no backup.
I wonder how many people that received this e-mail noticed that the following url: http://help.senategov/Maj_press/2009_03_18.pdf is missing a “.” between the senate and gov portion of the domain name? The website that I cited as the possible source of the text also contains this link and the text portion is missing the dot as well, but the href portion of the link points here:
mailbox:///C%7C/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner.backup/Application%20Data/Mozilla/Profiles/default/ea23c0xc.slt/Mail/west.pop.cox.net/Inbox?number=1608772594
In case you’re interested, here’s a working link to the PDF file that the e-mail references:
http://help.senate.gov/Maj_press/2009_03_18.pdf.
My opinion is that this is just another attempt to associate President Obama’s image with Soviet-style Communism. This campaign has been going on for a while now; every time you hear a Conservative talk about Obama, it’s one of the first things they mention; “Obama’s a commie!!1!1! blah blah blah”, which is really quite sad because in most (read: all) cases, the only thing they “know” about Communism/Socialism/Marxism is that it is “evil”. I wrote a post a while ago about how the majority of Americans don’t know jack about Marxism, Communism or Socialism—the only thing they know is that Soviet Russia was “Communist” and that’s all they need to know about the subject. They aren’t open to any debate about the merits of Marxism or Marx’s contribution to philosophy or society; instead, they are content with blaming acts committed by people who chose to twist and stretch his philosophy to fit their own personal wants on Marx himself. Don’t misconstrue that as an endorsement of Marxism or Socialism… it’s not.
This post has nothing to do with defending Obama or his image—that’s his job, but when I see ignorant shit like this, I feel that it is my civic duty to set the record straight. But I must admit, trying to keep up with the tide of bullshit that I see on a regular basis really tests my limits… that’s why this post isn’t a lot longer.
Autoresponse 1.6.2 (bugfix) released!
1054 days
This version of autoresponse addresses a minor bug that could cause any text in the message body that resembles a “To” header to be replaced with something other than what the user intended. There was a fairly small chance that this would happen, but it’s an improvement nonetheless. You can find the new version on the projects page.
