Put the knife down and take a green herb, dude. (c) Ruffin Bailey 2001-2021

SQL Server Express ist evil.

Authentication Mode (SQL Server Express):

If you select Windows Authentication, Setup creates an sa account that is disabled by default. To use Mixed Mode Authentication and activate the sa account after Setup completes, see the How to: Change Server Authentication Mode and ALTER LOGIN (Transact-SQL) topics in SQL Server 2005 Books Online.

But wait, there's more.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188670.aspx

If Windows Authentication mode is selected during installation, the sa login is disabled. If you later change authentication mode to SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode, the sa login remains disabled. To enable the sa login, use the ALTER LOGIN statement.
...
To enable the sa login by using Transact-SQL

1. Execute the following statements to enable the sa password and assign a password.

ALTER LOGIN sa ENABLE ;
GO
ALTER LOGIN sa WITH PASSWORD = '<password>' ;
GO

This is probably the best sum of what's got to go on to get JDBC working with SQL Server Express Edition 2005 when you use a named instance (say SQLEXPRESS) rather than a default on port 1433.

Sql Express is going to be a good match for the Sql Server 2005 JDBC provider, it is free, it is relatively easy to set up and deploy and it has all the power of Sql Server 2005 for low end applications.

There are a few things to keep in mind when using Sql Express with the JDBC driver:

· You need to enable mixed mode security when you install the server so that you can connect using user name and password.
· Make sure that the sqlbrowser is enabled. Sql Server configuration Manager ->SQL Server 2005 Services ->SQL Server Browser ->Start
· The JDBC provider only works with the TCP/IP protocol which is disabled by default on Sql Express. You need to enable the TCP/IP Protocol from the SQL Server Configuration Manager that ships with SqlExpress and re-start the server. Look under SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> Protocols for SQLEXPRESS-> TCP/IP->Enable.

Note from the code he gives that your connection string for, say, SQuirreL SQL, would be...

jdbc:sqlserver://localhost\SQLEXPRESS

You won't need a port because the SQL Browser will provide it for you, I think. It works, anyhow.

Labels: FUN, jdbc, SQL Server

Okay, I admit it. I get some hare-brained ideas. It's fun to research them, knowing all along that unless manna from heaven drops embedded with the mats for the project, they'll never happen.

Regardless, the latest is the proverbial disposable portable computer. Just for fun, I thought it'd be neat to think about building one based on a 6502 processor with a USB port or two and VGA output. Here's what little I found on the net worth possibly recording.

The pointless 6502 computer	That's right, somebody beat me to it, at least in theory. No prototype yet.
6502.org	Hobbyist/fan site for the 6502, with lots of introductory projects. A couple of the projects look promising, but many haven't been updated in a while or never got past the "twinkle in the eye" stage. Look, let me be clear. You're an idiot if you build a system around a 6502. At least go 16-bit so that you can have more than 64k of easily accessed memory.
The Western Design Center, Inc. (samples URL)	A place that apparently owns the rights to the 6502 design in some capacity, and licenses IP based on the 6502. There are lots of places where a good, cheap, familiar processor is still useful when it comes to embedded platforms or whatever the heck. Allows you to purchase samples. They have both 8 and 16 bit 6502 style procs, whether microprocessors, microcontrollers, or periph controller. Not too expensive, all things considered.
comp.arch.embedded	Usenet group for embedded jive
LCD2USB open hardware	Haven't checked closely, bulids on the Mega8 chip for periphs mentioned on the pointless computer, above. Always thought it was strange how the disc drive for a C=64 had the same chip as the CPU, and here it's kinda neat to think how you could have chips more powerful than your CPU controlling periphs!
Bass tabs for Message in a Bottle	Okay, unrelated to the disposable portable computer, but why not learn guitar instead of play Guitar Hero 2?
OpenCores.org VGA project	I'm too ignorant to be sure of what this is. I think it's a design for a VGA-compliant chip that you could slap into your own open hardware.
Wishbone description at Wikipedia (VHDL -- another "good to know")	Lots of cores at opencores.org is based on this wishbone jive. Here's what that jive be.
VGA at Wikipedia	Heck, why not explain what VGA is while we're at it? Apparently it's exactly what you suspected, a sort of bottom common denominator for speaking video to video card/chip hardware. The neat bit is that if you limit yourself to VGA, you can pretty much get whatever chip you want that's cheapest for your DIY rig.
Free VGA	Awfully cool site, it appears, even if it hasn't been updated since 1998. "dedicated to providing a totally FREE source of information about video hardware." Seems to get into the nuts & bolts of VGA assembly programming.
Abebook's search for Richard F. Ferraro books with "Guide to the EGA" in the title.	Richard F. Ferraro's Programmer's Guide to the EGA and VGA Cards, ISBN: 0201570254, or the same author's slightly more expensive book that seems to be an update of the previous, Programmer's Guide to the EGA, VGA, and Super VGA Cards, ISBN: 0201624907, both insanely old, seem to be the place to figure out how VGA works. We'll see how the former is once it arrives for $4.99 shipped. Again, you can still talk VGA to today's video cards. Have fun shoving this asm into whatever NVidia's pushing these days.
Freescale 68k prices	Motorola spun off its processor business, and the prices, if you order 1000 or so, really aren't bad for a good, 32-bit proc. Comparable to the 6502 prices, above, and samples are free if you're legit.