Posted on

Data Source Names and 64-Bit Operating Systems

To build and run an application as a 32-bit application on a 64-bit operating system, you must create the ODBC data source with the ODBC Administrator in %windir%\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe.

A 64-bit Windows operating system has two odbcad32.exe files:

%SystemRoot%\system32\odbcad32.exe is used to create and maintain data source names for 64-bit applications.

%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe is used to create and maintain data source names for 32-bit applications, including 32-bit applications that run on 64-bit operating systems.

Yes, you read that right: the 32-bit version of the ODBC administrator is in SysWOW64 and the 64-bit one is in system32.  The Control Panel gives no indication of a 32-bit version and most applications you are running on 64-bit are likely 32-bit.

Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645931.aspx

– Soli Deo Gloria

Posted on

Fun with Routers

Now that I had my cool Nexus 7 tablet, I noticed that streaming video from my Windows 7 HTPC was a bit slow.  I had a Linksys WRT54GL running DD-WRT that’s been working great for the past 4 years.  Unfortunately, it only does B and G bands, so I decided to get a Asus RT-N66U with N band support.  It was the big antennas that sold me on it including a “Kickass Award” from Maximum PC.  Unfortunately, upon receiving the router, I could not get anything to connect above 54 Mbps.  The interface was miserable as well with broken English here and there and DDNS just wouldn’t work.  Back to Amazon it went.  After doing more researching, I decided on the Netgear WNDR3700.  It comes with 128MB of flash memory and it has very good DD-WRT support (the WNDR3400, however, does not).  Flashing it to DD-WRT firmware was a breeze.  After getting everything setup, I checked the Nexus 7 only to find it was connected at 65 Mbps.  More research lead to me the fact that 65 Mbps is the top speed for this thing as it only has a single channel wireless card.

The PC in the spare bedroom with a USB Medalink wireless stick faired better at 135 Mbps and my laptop does 72 Mbps.  So much for the 300 Mpbs speed listed on the box :(.

– Soli Deo Gloria