Extract From Byte Magazine - August 20 - Geeky Products

[Steve Bildermann]

As BYTE is now a subscription service I thought some people might enjoy reading some extracts.

Radionet has announced its Linux based Radionet Open Source Environment ("ROSE"), which provides all the software required to build IEEE 802.11 standard based WLAN access points. ROSE allows users to turn any computer with a standard IEEE 802.11 WLAN card into a wireless access point. The software has low system requirements, allowing users to turn handheld devices and otherwise outdated computers into WLAN access points. The package includes a collection of open source software as well as Radionet's own technology, and is licensed under the GPL.
Radionet Oy, Ltd.
Keilaranta 6
FIN 02150 ESPOO
Finland
+358 9 4392 1070
http://www.rosewlan.com/

The XPeRT Keyboard layout moves several letters and adding a second E key, optimizing key sequences to be struck by opposite hands. Developed by Matrix Networks, the layout is designed to be as fast as DVORAK keyboards but easier to learn, since only two high frequency keys (A and N) are moved. A software download from Matrix Networks loads XPeRT into Windows language options, converting a standard keyboard into the XPeRT format. The key covers must be manually switched or relabeled, but no new hardware is required.
Matrix Networks, Inc.
#7 3978 B Hastings Street
Burnaby, BC
Canada V5C 6C1
http://www.xpertkeyboard.com/

Wolfram Research is celebrating the 15th anniversary of Mathematica software with the release of Mathematica 5, the new high performance version of its technical computing software. Over 100 new algorithms for symbolic and numeric computation have been implemented by in house developers. In addition to updated versions of J/Link and MathLink, Mathematica's standard connections to Java and C/C++, Mathematica 5 comes with the new .NET/Link, allowing developers to integrate Mathematica into applications using Microsoft's .NET framework.
Wolfram Research, Inc.
100 Trade Center Drive
Champaign, IL 61820 7237
http://www.wolfram.com/

Charting Components 2.0 is an extensible Flash component set from B Line Express, allowing developers to add interactive charting and graphic solutions to their Macromedia Flash front end. The components can consume static, dynamic, or real time data from any application server including: Cold Fusion, .NET, Java, PHP, ASP, or the Flash Communication Server, or the components can work independently with local data from XML files or Flash ActionScript Arrays. The programming interface provides access to dozens of methods and over two hundred style properties, and the component library can be extended programmatically.
B Line Express
PO Box 6146, Columbia, MD 21045
301 802 6890
http://www.blinex.com/

Green Hills Software has announced a hardware trace probe that brings one gigabyte, high speed software trace collection to processors with embedded trace ports. The Green Hills SuperTrace Probe provides both a means of controlling the processor's trace logic and a channel for capturing trace data while the processor is running. The new probe also includes all the run control features of the original Green Hills Probe. Compatible with the PowerPC 405, PowerPC 440, ARM7 Embedded Trace Macrocell (ETM), ARM9 ETM (multi core and single core), and ARM10 ETM, the SuperTrace Probe is capable of expanding to handle ColdFire processor families as well as Nexus compatible devices.
Green Hills Software Ltd.
Dolphin House, St. Peter Street
Winchester Hampshire SO23 8BW
UK
+44 (0)1962 829820
http://www.ghs.com/

Iosoft has released a new version of its microcontroller/802.11b development kit for designers of deeply embedded 8/16 bit systems. The kit provides a reference design for interfacing PICmicro microcontrollers to 802.11b including a lean Web server. The updated development board now provides access to PICmicro's analog and digital I/O plus an I2C interface used in the design making it easier to use the board directly in applications. Included in the kit is a combination of a PCB with a PIC18xxx family microcontroller with Flash memory, in circuit debug connector, and Ethernet and serial interfaces, linked to a commercial PCMCIA card for the 802.11b wireless network.
Iosoft Ltd
5 Woodlark Road
Cambridge CB3 0HT
UK
+44 (0)1223 507097
http://www.iosoft.co.uk/

Digerati Technologies has released version 4.0 of Select a Net, a $10 Windows utility for managing multiple network and web browser configurations. Select a Net makes it easy to switch among various network configurations or back up the current network and browser settings. Select a Net can be optionally run in the Windows system tray, for switching configurations on the fly.
Digerati Technologies, LLC
11733 Laura Ave.
Bellevue, NE 68123
http://www.digeratitech.com/

Alentum Software has announced WebLog Expert 2.0 for Windows systems. WebLog Expert analyzes Web logs and generates HTML reports using statistical figures and charts. Twenty adjustable option settings are provided, and the software can also generate error reports. WebLog Expert automatically detects log formats, and is able to extract information from compressed GZ and ZIP files. It can be automatically download logfiles through FTP and HTTP, and also upload compiled reports via FTP or send them via e mail.
http://www.weblogexpert.com/

The synthetic benchmarking system SynthMark XP balances its multi tasking requirements with all the software and services running on a computer system, thereby benchmarking a machine from a multi tasked applications point of view, as well as providing a real time mode to test the operating system. Included in SynthMark XP are 24 different benchmarks to perform including two CPU and FPU benchmarks, three operating system benchmarks, four hard drive benchmarks, two CD ROM benchmarks, three multimedia benchmarks, one Web processing benchmark, three networking and four interactive benchmarks.
RubyMicro Software
123 Westwood
Private Bag X2
Dunswart (Johannesburg)
1508
South Africa
http://www.rubymicro.com/

The Object Helper Library from Computer Simple is a DLL written in Visual Basic 6.0 and intended as a way to make Object Oriented Programming simpler and faster. The library uses an object which can represent complex hierarchical data and relationships, and which internally handles database connectivity and processing using ADO. The DataHelper object uses maps to perform data manipulation and translation, and can be used to read and write the data as text files. SQL and Oracle databases are currently supported.
Computer Simple, Inc.
26 Roseclair St., Unit 2
Dorchester, MA 02125
617 822 2236
http://www.computersimple.net/ObjHelper1.html

[Big Booger]

That linux WLAN access point software looks sweet. I am running Mandrake 9.1 on one of my PCs now and I might give this a go. I need to purchase a WLAN card to install into that machine.