I ran into a bit of weirdness yesterday when trying to install SQL Server 2008.  I have Visual Studio 2008 installed as well as a couple of the Visual Studio 2008 Express products (for testing solutions for the Coding4Fun site and the upcoming book).  I installed Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and all went as planned.  After looking at the Help –> About screens, Visual Studio and all of the Express products showed the proper version tag:  9.030729.1 SP1.  So I figured all the products were updated and good to go.

Next I tried to install SQL Server 2008 and got an error stating Rule “Previous releases of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008” failed.  I re-installed SP1 figuring something had gone wrong, but no dice.  After digging through the SQL Server 2008 install logs I realized what was happening.  The installer was using the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DevDiv\XXX\Servicing\9.0\SP keys to determine if SP1 had been installed and the registry settings were set that it hadn’t been installed for the Express products.

BlueSoleil has released a new version of their software which supposedly fixes the BSOD problem many people were having.  If you were one of them, download and give it a try!

I was contacted by Boon Jin Goh recently about his super awesome Wiimote Smoothboard application.  Boon Jin took Johnny Lee’s original Wiimote Whiteboard app and added a ton of functionality.  What was a proof of concept or tech demo is now a fully functional electronic whiteboard capable of being used in a real environment.  Here’s a video showing functionality from the 0.1 version of his app, which has had several updates since.  Definitely give it a try if you’re looking for a very capable electronic whiteboard.  Great job!

Also note that both Johnny Lee and Boon Jin have contributed to our upcoming “Coding4Fun: 10 .NET Programming Projects for Wiimote, YouTube, World of Warcraft, and More” book (yes, the name changed again) with a chapter dedicated to the Wiimote Whiteboard.  This chapter will teach you how to build Johnny’s original whiteboard with the Smoothboard’s spiffy smoothing algorithm added in.

Well, after a few survey responses and posts to my forum, it appears that everyone experiencing the BSOD issue with WiimoteLib is running the BlueSoleil stack.  I was also pointed to the following links on www.wiimoteproject.org with others having the problem and apparently BlueSoleil is aware of the issue.

• Link 1
• Link 2
• Link 3

So, I guess the only solution now is to wait for BlueSoleil to issue a patch and fix the problem on their end.  If/when I get any news on this (or if someone notifies me if I miss it), I’ll be sure to post the resolution here and update the WiimoteLib docs.

I’ve gotten a few emails of late with people getting BSODs when using WiimoteLib.  It appears most, if not everyone, experiencing this problem is using BlueSoleil.  That said, I’m still unsure what is happening, when it started happening, or what the resolution is.  Therefore, I have put together a short survey that I’m hoping anyone experiencing the issue will take the time to fill out that might help me determine what the root cause is.

I’m looking for answers from people who are specifically having an issue where using WiimoteLib or an application using WiimoteLib is causing their computer to spontaneously BSOD and/or restart.  If that’s not you, please do not fill out the survey.

To take the survey, please click here.  Thanks!